Sci fi writers have no sense of scale in several dimensions
Distance
Probably the most spectacular example is in the first segment of the Doctor Who story “The Trial of a Timelord”, where Earth was apparently hidden by moving its entire solar system several million miles, which is the celestial equivalent of hiding from your date in an empty movie theater by leaning an inch to the left. For scale, Mercury never comes within 28 million miles of our Sun, despite being its closest planet.
Or, for comic book lovers,
Green Lantern has the galaxy (or universe – DC seems to consider the terms synonymous) divided in 3600 sectors, each patrolled by a single sentient creature. This means a single being has to upkeep law and order in a hundred million solar systems.
15 unfortunately placed ads. Some were funny. Some were sad. Some I didn’t get.
50 Useless facts (or things everyone should know has some funny ones in there.
For instance, did you know that Coca-Cola is green without the food coloring?
You will be amazed at the lengths to which sci fi fans will go for their wedding cakes. At least, I was amazed by this one.
Apparently reading in public can get you visited by the FBI. I am so in trouble if that is true. And there’s no way I’ll be able to remember what I was reading on a particular day. I guess I could probably tell them what I’ve been reading for a week or so and let them figure it out.
An AMAZING physics video on the Kaye effect, using shampoo, and accessible to non-science types. (Though in full disclosure, I do have 20+ hours of undergrad biology.)
Funny signs in broken English. They aren’t meant to be funny; they just are.
This guy helped 150,000 motorists a year. It was part of an art project? No one even realized it hadn’t been done by “officials.â€
A general linking Shakespeare site.
Build a face at National Geographic. It was fun, even though I couldn’t build the face I wanted. The one I built looked a lot more like me than I was trying for.
An interesting point on the separation of church and state. It’s how all 50 states talk about God in their constitutions. “Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.” –Wm. Penn
Do you remember in the old days how signs were painted on barns? If you do, you will enjoy this new fangled technology, advertising through farming. Rice paddy.
How about a writer’s resource that may actually be helpful? And I like the quotes at the tops of the pages.
Find background on products you like or grew up with. I wish there were more images, but it is fascinating stuff. Kind of pop culture history.
Weird information you might not know is compiled Down here in Texas. Some include “The symbol on the “pound” key (#) is called an octothorpe. The dot over the letter ‘i’ is called a tittle.†Or, if you don’t care about that: “Los Angeles’s full name is “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula” and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, “L.A.” A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.â€
Oh my! I love it. Photoshop your pictures into coloring pages. Think how much your kids would love to color pictures of themselves! Here. I may have to make a separate entry for this.
If you can’t get to Egypt, but want to know more about things there, go on a virtual tour of a museum.
For weird and amazing ancient archaeological finds, go here.
An excellent site on more than I ever thought I would want to know about ancient cultures. Some great stuff. Good graphics, too. Not a slow load either.
I find these random sites when I am very bored or don’t want to work with Stumble Upon.