HOW TO PAINT THE MONA LISA IN LESS THAN ONE SECOND

One of the best TV shows running right now is Mythbusters. This is why.

[Via YesButNoButYes]

Who else would think of building a giant paintball cannon that can paint a copy of the Mona Lisa in one shot?

Artcore,

This is dF

THE WORLD JONES MADE

ITEM: io9 reports on how Intelligent Design is serving as the basis for some new sci-fi novels who treat it as though ID was the truth.

Jay Lake's Escapement is a perfect example, as is Walter Jon Williams' Implied Spaces — both are novels about people in clockwork worlds designed by some kind of higher power associated with spiritual realms. Other recent tales, such as Charles Stross' Saturn's Children and Iain M. Banks' Matter, flirt with the idea of an Intelligent Designer by suggesting that under some circumstances it is the most logical explanation for reality: For instance, if you are a creature who lives in a synthetic world (or body) designed by sophisticated engineers, your existence has been literally created for you rather than randomly evolved.

Artificial worlds are nothing new in SF, of course, and as far as I can tell, Lake is the only author listed above who acknowledges an ID influence. Note also that none of the stories above credit the Judeo-Christian God as being the “designer”, as ID more or less tends to do (and Creationism explicitly does).

Anyway, I like the idea of using ID as a basis for fiction. Why not? ID itself is a work of fiction, so it’s only fitting.

Ironically, I’m not that big a fan of massive world-building SF – or rather, it’s not the world-building itself that appeals to me. But I do like fiction that treats religious beliefs as a playground for exploring ideas – which is probably the result of reading Piers Anthony’s Tarot trilogy and Steven Brust’s To Reign In Hell as an impressionable teenager.

Of course, like any sub-genre, there are good examples (see above, plus Pratchett and Gaiman’s Good Omens, Garth Ennis’ Preacher, Vidal’s Live From Golgotha, even The Last Temptation Of Christ) and bad examples (anything by Tim “Rapture Me” LaHaye).

But I figure if yr going to write stories about gods, there’s no reason to stick to Greek mythology, Lovecraft or the D&D Deities and Demigods handbook. Except for the death threats and fatwas, I mean.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I’m hoping to contribute to the “good examples” list when I finish the Planet Of The Bulls project, which has somehow become populated with certain religious personas, which in turn has required me to outline a background under which they exist. So I’m probably going to offend some sensibilities. But then I was going to do that with all the explicit GLBT sex scenes, so why not?

When someone asks if yr a god, say yes,

This is dF

YR VERY OWN GROUCH

Here’s a sentence I’ve never typed before:

That’s a cool-ass garbage bag.



Via Pink Tentacle, which has an entry on Garbage Bag Art Work trash bags by MAQ, which also makes garbage bags that look like cute bunnies when you tie up the ends.

Available in Japan only. Obviously.

Sorry Ma, forgot to take out the trash,

This is dF

YOU’VE GOT SNAILS

For those of you just joing us from the Western hemisphere, good morning.


( Don't look ... )

Tiana Walton says: “It is relaxing but it feels a bit cold. They are quite smelly and you can see their big long eyes facing you.”

FUN FACT: The rules state that competitors have just one minute to put the snails on their face before tipping their head forward for 10 seconds. The previous record of 15 was held by Australian Liam Kenny.

Sit on my face,

This is dF