TIL that in 1916 there was a proposed Amendment to the US Constitution that would put all acts of war to a national vote, and anyone voting yes would have to register as a volunteer for service in the United States Army. (www.huffpost.com)
TIL that after reading the first draft of "Smokey and the Bandit", Burt Reynolds told its director Hal Needham that it was the worst script he had ever read, but that he would still make the movie. Most of the dialogue in the movie was improvised on set. (en.wikipedia.org)
This article calls 'Arrival' as 'One of the Best Sci-Fi Films of the Century' but was it? I tried it and I was like ... 'meh' (www.msn.com)
spoilers ahead I felt like the character conflict arcs were contrived and ultimately the idea of learning a language makes you a pre-cog fell flat for me. In science fiction, the big idea goes 'woo!' or the characters go 'woo!' but in the case of Arrival, nothing really went 'woo!'...
TIL Creative people report greater trauma in their childhood (www.frontiersin.org)
Childhood adversity is identified as any exposure to abuse, neglect or family dysfunction. Greater exposure to childhood adversity has been strongly identified with increased morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to examine differences in creative experiences, fantasy proneness, dispositional flow, exposure to adult...
The godfathers of AI are at war (www.newstatesman.com)
Existential threat or humanity’s salvation? The founders of AI don’t know what’s next.
Liquid metal could turn everyday things like paper into smart objects (arstechnica.com)
This futuristic new liquid-metal coating can make ordinary objects extraordinary.
TIL Carrie Fisher delivered a cow tongue inside a Tiffany box to a predatory producer who had assaulted her friend. She said, "The next delivery will be something of yours in a much smaller box!" (www.bbc.com)
Strange thing found in student's meal is rat head, Chinese officials rule after food scare anger | CNN (www.cnn.com)
A strange object found in a school meal in China was the head of a rat, Chinese authorities have concluded, overturning previous official reassurances that it was duck neck in the latest twist to a food safety scandal that gripped the nation for weeks.
Postal worker dies in Dallas, woman found dead in Louisiana as temperatures reach record highs (abcnews.go.com)
New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana are under heat alerts amid record-breaking temperatures. Rain is expected to break the heat after Wednesday.
Not Science Fiction: Planet Orbiting 2 Stars Discovered Using New Technique (scitechdaily.com)
It is only the second such system found with 2 planets....
Outlander Is the Crazy, Sci-Fi Alien Beowulf Movie You Didn’t Know You Needed (www.yahoo.com)
An alien predator arrives on Earth and starts picking off the locals, evoking their culture’s tales of mythic glory in the process. One guy — a guy who might mean more to the natives than they know — stands up to find a weakness and fight back. Sound familiar? Nope, we’re not talking about the actual Predator… though...
30 Sci-Fi Movies That Are Over 90% On Rotten Tomatoes (www.msn.com)
While all forms of art require imagination, the genre of science-fiction is one in which it is especially crucial. Films in this category envision entire worlds of a bright (or dark) future or one inhabited by lifeforms of a greater intelligence — much like the filmmakers who created some of the following films that earned a...
NASA: Challenge drives students to develop moon-friendly portable microwave system (interestingengineering.com)
Undergraduate students nominated to build prototype in NASA’s Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge as part of its Artemis mission
Oppenheimer's Christopher Nolan on How A.I. Can Be an "Extraordinary Step Forward" for Filmmakers (www.syfy.com)
If the term "Pandora's box" was ever applicable to a scientific breakthrough, the Manhattan Project's detonation of the first atomic bomb in the summer of 1945 would have to be a frontrunner alongside genetic editing, super colliders, and artificial intelligence.
"We're shocked that Joe Rogan would do this" - people who watched Joe Rogan do this to everyone else (www.axios.com)
A feud on Twitter highlights the perils of engaging on the platform and a growing tension among researchers and medical professionals.
Spare a thought for Suleman Dawood, the 19 y/o scifi fan currently missing on the OceanGate Expeditions vessel (kbin.social)
I was thinking snarky things about 'rich people and their subs' when I read about this missing sub. This kid's bio got to me:...
Best Sci-Fi Movies for Kids, Ranked (www.msn.com)
Science fiction flaunts a broad spectrum of genre tropes and plots that can range from aliens to robotic technologies. Today, some of the very things that only seemed feasible in films are coming to life right before our eyes. Like child-friendly horror films, certain sci-fi movies tend to play nicer and cater to children’s...
TIL that millennial dads are spending 3 times as much times with their kids than their fathers spent with them. Back in 1982, 43% of fathers admitted they'd never changed a diaper. Today, that number is down to about 3%. (www.mother.ly)
"It's the content, stupid" - some #chaoticgood ways to encourage people to get off of Reddit and onto Kbin (kbin.social)
Jotting some quick notes I've observed so far from running /m/scifi for a couple of weeks and getting to 3K subscribers:...
'Midjourney Magazine' Is Here—and It’s Soulless (www.wired.com)
Filled almost entirely with AI-generated images, this magazine embodies the threat artificial intelligence poses to journalism.
TIL the FBI has struggled to hire hackers because of the FBI hiring rule that the applicant must not have used marijuana during the last 3 years. (www.nydailynews.com)
TIL that while filming The Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger caused everyone in a LA restaurant to freak out, scream and leave by showing up in character with battle-damage makeup (www.slashfilm.com)
Watch: Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Short Film 'Survivers' - Keep the Helmet On (www.firstshowing.net)
"I can't breathe with this plastic! That's enough!" Oh no. Why are so many people so stupid?! This clever little apocalyptic dark comedy short film called Survivers is from an up-and-coming Spanish filmmaker named Carlos Gómez-Trigo. The cast speaks French in this, though, and it does include subtitles in many languages. In a...
Apple Has Saved Smart Sci-Fi After The Movies Died Out - But There's A Catch (www.msn.com)
It is commendable how Apple TV+ has consistently delivered quality sci-fi television content, but the streamer still seems to have a long way to go. TV shows like Silo have been showing promising numbers in demand, but that does not necessarily translate to massive viewership. Also, given how Apple TV+ launched relatively...