SF/F Links: January 2008 Roundup

This is what happens when you have a lot of blogs to watch and a lot of time on your hands to click the stumble button: you find a lot of interesting new articles! So here they are:

• Wil McCarthy's Science Wiktion: an experimental collaborative writing project. Essentially he has become busy with a nanotech company and has decided to give up some of his works to anyone wanting to write them. There's more on the site, but it's an interesting prospect.
• James Wharris writes about what SF has to do to survive. "For science fiction to remain vital it must stay above the event horizon or be pulled down into the gravitation hole of fantasy."
• An online open-source publishing model for online magazines.
• Not sure if I linked this already, but check out these amazing steampunk-esque creations! They're robotic animals and the like. It's so cool!
• Did You Know? 2.0: A really interesting video I found that shows you a lot of things you probably didn't know about the world. Watch it. It's really cool.
• The International Space Station of the future! This is one of the coolest videos I've seen. Someone decided to make a 3D movie of future modifications to ISS as they develop. Watch it, it's wicked cool!
• The Sun. That's all. The Sun as a Google Video. Cool? Yes, and if you don't think so you have no respect for that glowing orb of burning gas that makes sure you can live every day.
• I found this company website called Solar Style. They have some really interesting solar products that you can buy such as conversion kits for your mp3 player or cell phone.
• An eclipse as shown from space! (Take from Mir). Jupiter has cool eclipses too, such as this one of Io.
  
• In October of 2007 the Pentagon apparently supported the idea to put a satellite facility in space to gather solar energy and beam it down. It's about damn time! My biggest concern is that the NSSO is recommending a 10 year project for a test satellite. My thoughts are if it's going to take 10 years to get that up, then it's going to take 30 to get a real program going. Cut it down to 2 years to get a test one up...let's get a move on people!
• All Your Base Are Belong To Us! You should know that phrase from this video.
• Spielberg is doing another WW2 miniseries called The Pacific. This one, it seems, is going to follow the soldiers who fought in, obviously, the Pacific Theater, much like Band of Brothers followed people in the European Theater, specifically the airborne members of Easy Company. I'm stoke, by the way. I love Band of Brothers.
• Need a definition of science fiction? Here's a huge list of definitions from authors in the field.
• Matt Mitchell talks about the differences between SF and F.
• The top ten science-based movies. It's a decent list I think. (Courtesy of SF Signal)
• BMW has said they are going to pull out the stops and create a hydrogen-powered car this year. Maybe it's not quite there, but I imagine that BMW will have them for sure by 2010. Alternately there is the air car from MDI.
  
• 11 Philip K. Dick books that have been turned into movies. I have some new reading and watching to do. (Courtesy of SF Signal)
• Universe Today has an article suggesting that some stars go through two planet-formation phases. That's pretty cool when you think about it. Also, apparently that asteroid that was going to hit Mars isn't going to after all.
  
• A really cool image. I'm not sure what it's of (as in the specifics), but I imagine it's a supernova or a nebula with massive gas jets.
• Wil McCarthy talks about the credibility of the AvP movie. The short version is that there isn't a whole lot of credibility.
  
• Futurismic tells us that Neuromancer by William Gibson is to be made into a movie. To be honest, I'm fearful. Read the article and you'll understand why.
  What about whether or not space travel is worth it? Is it? I think so, but look at what some other people think.
  And robots can lie! Yup, read this! They also evolve by the way.
• Sometimes people have too much time on their hands. Look no further than time wasting than this candy recreation of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields from Lord of the Rings. It's ridiculous and awesome at the same time.
• My io9 Roundup: Concept art of a spaceport on Titan. Beautiful work here. Stem Cell research gets another point as a man regrows a jaw bone in his stomach. Geneticists think they may have discovered how to expand our lives by hundreds of years. They've (USC) managed to extend the lifespan of yeast bacteria tenfold. Parents who get sick of their kids not concentrating have hope that scientists will be able to turn them autistic temporarily, since they can now do it with mice. McCarthy's The Road is going to be turned into a film with Viggo Mortensen. Scientists have also created a new method to 'fix' men that can be turned on and off via remote, which is good news for people that suddenly change their minds.
• The Zombie Food Pyramid. Learn it. It's important.
• Will Smith has gone crazy just like most of Hollywood and joined the crazy folks known as Scientologists--in some circles they're seen as criminals against humanity. Needless to say I just lost a lot of respect for him.
• Ender's Game is going to become a video game. (Courtesy of SF Signal)
• Clive Thompson talks about why SF is the last bastion of philosophical writing. (Courtesy of SF Signal)
• Jeremiah Tolbert brings up this really bizarre conspiracy theory that suggests that a good 300 years of European history was faked. I think the theory is crazy, but it's interesting nonetheless.
• What SF gets wrong about human nature! (Courtesy of SF Signal)
• A really cool thing I found at Technovelgy: a robotic exoskeleton for construction workers created in Japan.
• 20 Things You Didn't Know About SF. (Courtesy of SF Signal)

And that's all for the time being! Lots of goodies in there everyone! I have more for next weekend.

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