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! ]
Someone who may or may not be SF writer Karl Schoeder is Twittering on likely surprises for 2009:
All fairly uncontentious, no?
While the needle-in-a-haystack search for life on other planets continues, we still consistently find new lifeforms on Earth when we look in the right places. Our oceans are still a source of biological mystery, but that’s not the only place that extremophile life can be found: the Indian Space Research Organisation recently announced the discovery of new bacterial species in the stratosphere:
Three bacterial colonies, namely, PVAS-1, B3 W22 and B8 W22 were, however, totally new species. All the three newly identified species had significantly higher UV resistance compared to their nearest phylogenetic neighbours.
“So what,” you may be thinking. Well:
The precautionary measures and controls operating in this experiment inspire confidence that these species were picked up in the stratosphere. While the present study does not conclusively establish the extra-terrestrial origin of microorganisms, it does provide positive encouragement to continue the work in our quest to explore the origin of life.
Another potential prop for panspermia? [via SlashDot; image by country_boy_shane]
“It is a real horrible place.” That’s how NASA atmospheric scientist Paul Newman describes an alternative world:
A NASA study about ozone-munching chemicals from aerosol sprays and refrigeration used a computer model to play a game of what-if. What if the world 22 years ago didn’t agree to cut back on chlorofluorocarbons which cause a seasonal ozone hole to form near the South Pole?
…In mid-latitudes like Washington, DNA-damaging ultraviolet radiation would have increased more than sixfold. Just 5 minutes in the summer sunshine would have caused a sunburn, instead of 15. Typical midsummer UV levels, now around 10 or 11, would have soared to 30. Summer thunderstorms in the Northern Hemisphere would have been much stronger.
Nice to know that a little foresight can pay off. There must be a lesson. What could it be? Oh:
Newman, the co-chair of the protocol’s scientific panel, said the study provides hope that the world can do the same thing on another looming but even harder to solve environmental problem: Global warming.
[Image: This is not a spray can by badjonni]
Five days of clear blue skies and fresh breezes have led me to suspect I’ve been displaced into a parallel dimension or simulated universe by some capricious deity or artificial intelligence… but hey, even a False Spring is better than no Spring at all, as far as I’m concerned.
And whatever reality I happen to be perceiving right now, it doesn’t seem to have any shortage of free fiction floating around in it…
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A lone classic novel at ManyBooks: Deathworld by Harry Harrison
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COSMOS Magazine presents “The Broken Hourglass” by Andy Heizler
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HUB Magazine presents “SBIR Proposal“ by Richard K Lyon
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Strange Horizons presents “Nira and I” by Shweta Narayan
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Tor.com presents “We Haven’t Got There Yet” by Harry Turtledove
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Jason Stoddard delivers chapter 3.1 of Eternal Franchise
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Jayme Lynn Blaschke is up to the 34th installment of Memory
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Chris Howard is giving away his novel Seaborn in digital form
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Jeffrey A Carver is giving away copies of his novel Sunborn in multiple DRM-free formats
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Subterranean Online presents “The Dry Spell” by James P Blaylock
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Weird Tales presents “All In” by Peter Atwood
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And as always our thanks to the tireless crew of the USS SF Signal, who boldly go further in search of free fiction online than almost anyone else:
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Once again my schedule means I’ll miss the bulk of this week’s Friday Flash, but as ever it’ll be collected up in next week’s post. Meanwhile, Sumit Dam came in early enough to make the cut with “The Black Dog“.
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And that’s it for another week, it seems. Don’t forget to let us know of anything you think merits inclusion in Friday Free Fiction; in the meantime, have a good weekend!