In what won’t be the last instances of laser-related “friendly fire” three US soldiers in Iraq have been hospitalised, and one has been blinded in one eye, by a green dazzling laser:
Since November 2008, a single unit in Iraq “has experienced 12 green-laser incidents involving 14 soldiers and varying degrees of injury. Three soldiers required medical evacuation out of Iraq and one soldier is now blind in one eye,” writes Sgt. Crystal Reidy
Ever wondered why there aren’t more vampires around? Why more people haven’t seen one? You’re not alone – Laura McLay applies stochastic equations to the possible population fluxes of vampires and determines that they’d either over-run the planet or die out in short order:
I have yet to see a vampire movie that implicitly assumes that there is a reasonable model for vampire population dynamics (using a stochastic process framework or something else). And frankly, I’m pretty disappointed. Until I am offered a reasonable explanation for why there aren’t more vampires, I won’t be able to jump on the vampire bandwagon. If I had free time, maybe I would write a mathematically consistent vampire novel.
Please don’t bother, Laura. Maybe you could write a mathematically consistent novel about a genre trope that hasn’t been relentlessly flogged to death over the last decade instead?
Just sayin’. [via New Scientist Short Sharp Science; image by Robert Couse-Baker]
Here’s another military sf trope to add to the list of fictional gadgets gradually becoming a battlefield reality. This time it’s the turn of smart dust… though the team at Tel Aviv University have called it ‘smart dew’ instead:
Dozens, hundreds and even thousands of these Smart Dew sensors – each equipped with a controller and RF transmitter/receiver – can also be wirelessly networked to detect the difference between man, animal, car and truck.
[snip]
Each individual “dew droplet” can detect an intrusion within a parameter of 50 meters (about 165 feet). And at a cost of 25 cents per “droplet,” Prof. Shapira says that his solution is the cheapest and the smartest on the market.
A part of the appeal of Smart Dew is its near-invisibility, Prof. Shapira says. “Smart Dew is a covert monitoring system. Because the sensors in the Smart Dew wireless network are so small, you would need bionic vision to notice them. There would be so many tiny droplets over the monitored area that it would be impossible to find each and every one.”
Not quite the nanoscopic modular machines of fiction, then, but surely their primitive progenitors. Not to mention another example of military hardware that will litter disputed regions for years to come… somehow I doubt they’ve done much planning about how to retrieve them all once their job is done. [image from linked article]
Does Not Equal is a webcomic by Sarah Ennals – check out the pre-Futurismic archives, and the strips that have been published here previously.
[ Be sure to check out the Does Not Equal Cafepress store for webcomic merchandise featuring Canadians with geometrically-shaped heads! ]
I knew it was too good to last; a solid week of sunny weather, and now it seems we’re back to grey skies and low temperatures. But hey, the sun always shines on the internet (provided you’re searching the right tags on Flickr), and there’s always free science fiction stories at Futurismic on a Friday afternoon…
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Via Jonathan Strahan, we discover that Night Shade Books have made Ted Chiang’s Hugo-nominated short story “Exhalation” available for free in a variety of formats: PDF, HTML, RTF and Mobipocket
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Mary Robinette Kowal is a Hugo nominee, too; go check out her “Evil Robot Monkey”
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Lou Anders of Pyr reveals that the short story “A Book of Silences” by James Enge is now gracing their free samples page; looks to be more in the fantasy line than we’re usually interested in here at Futurismic, but hey, nothing says you can’t read other stuff too, right?
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We’re up to chapter 4.1 with Jason Stoddard‘s Eternal Franchise
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A message from Lee Gimenez:
My science fiction story “The Wellness Center” was just published in the March edition of Aphelion Magazine.
Congratulations, Lee, and thanks for the tip-off!
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As we’ve thrown some fantasy into the mix, why not a soupcon of horror, too? Tim Lebbon announces an excerpt from his new novel Bar None:
It’s a novel of ‘chilling suspense, apocalyptic beauty, and fine ales’. So as a pre-weekend treat, the first ever extract is now available at Dread Central for your perusal and delectation. It reads with a soft fruity aromas, a smooth mouthfeel, and finishes with a dark and complex aftertaste.
Knowing Lebbon, he was probably half-cut when he wrote it, too…
[ Disclosure – Tim Lebbon is one of my clients, and is not really a heavy drinker. Or so he claims. ]
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The DVD Extras are coming thick and fast for Season 2 of Shadow Unit; this one’s called “Ice”
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Strange Horizons presents “The Spider in You” by Sean E Markey
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HUB Magazine presents “Hush a Bye” by Beverley Allen
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Mary Robinette Kowal pops up again, this time at BoingBoing in her capacity as editor of Shimmer Magazine:
“For Shimmer magazine’s 10th issue, we’ve got twelve fantastic new stories and an interview with none other than Cory Doctorow. In honor of Cory’s work with Creative Commons, we are giving away the pdf of issue ten as a free download.”
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Jayme Lynn Blaschke‘s Memory rolls onwards with its thirty-fifth chapter.
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The SF Signal crew have been gathering free fiction links like gangbusters this week, so it appears. There are two massive roundup posts as well as the following tidbits:
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And finally, a fistful of Friday Flash Fiction:
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That should keep your eyeballs busy for a few hours… don’t forget to keep us informed if theres anything you think deserves a plug here at friday Free Fiction, and have a great weekend!