(2 of 2) There’s a deluge of these things now, pretending not only to be from contemporary authors but dead ones as well: James Joyce, Agatha Christie etc. (And bad actors are also posing as publishing executives, btw.)
Please repost to help spread the word!
"Hi folks, William Gibson here! I wrote novels about AI and computer crime in the 1980s and now I'm an AI computer-criminal myself" 🤖🦹♂️
Aside from anything else, it is astonishing that NASA can still control instruments on an object 25 billion kilometers/15.7 billion miles away from Earth.
The fact that they are preparing to change power sources to extend its functional life defies belief.
www.livescience.com/space/space-...
This is figure 1, which shows clinical course and treatments administered to the Oslo patient from HIV diagnosis to 48 months post HSCT.
Long-term HIV remission has been achieved in a patient following a stem cell transplant from a sibling carrying a certain genetic mutation, according to research in Nature Microbiology. go.nature.com/4dLAj2L #medsky 🧪
“NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected organic molecules on Mars, including chemicals widely considered building blocks for the origin of life of Earth.” And: “We think we’re looking at organic matter that’s been preserved on Mars for 3.5bn years.” [theguardian.com]
A mummy containing a rare papyrus fragment which included text from Book II of Homer’s Iliad, the famous “Catalog of Ships” which lists the Greek forces that sailed to Troy #classicalreception
arkeonews.net/archaeologis...
Trials for a pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine: “Nearly 90% of people whose immune systems responded to the vaccine were still alive up to six years after receiving the last treatment. The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is around 13%…” [mskcc.org]
A family of Ravens is putting the goth back in gothic at NYC's largest cathedral--St John the Divine. There are five mouths to feed, so the parents are staying busy! ⛪️⛪️⛪️ #Ravens #Cathedral #birding
the only picture you'll ever need when explaining "sea lions are what happened when bears decided they wanted to play in the ocean as a full time job"
"The zone has undoubtedly been shaped by radiation but also, crucially, by abandonment and time. As a consequence, the usual ecological rules no longer apply and this has meant Chernobyl now has some remarkable wildlife." theconversation.com/40-years-on-...
My photo shows a Paleo-Babylonian clay tablet inscribed with cuneiform text, still partially enclosed in its original clay envelope. The clay is pale orangey-brown in colour displayed against a grey display case background. The outer envelope has been broken open, revealing the inner tablet beneath. Both surfaces are covered with densely packed wedge-shaped characters, which record a contract for the sale of a house purchased by Mannum-balu-Samas at the price of 1/3 shekel and 15 grains of silver. This is followed by the names of the numerous witnesses including the mayor Sin-magir and the courier Apil-ilisu. The same text is repeated on the envelope in the event of a dispute, which was broken to inspect the internal document. It is dated 32nd year of Hammurabl's reign, 10th month, c. 1750 BC. The clay envelope measures 87 mm (height) × 55 mm (width), while the inner tablet measures 64 mm (height) × 43 mm (width). On display at the Museum of Antiquity in Turin. Collection number MAT 740.
A 3,750 year-old contract for the sale of a house recorded on a clay tablet, still in its original clay envelope!
Museo di Antichità, Turin
📷 by me
#Archaeology
Interior magazine artwork (from Omni, December 1982) for Ian Watson's 'Returning Home'
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1985. ‘White Socks’ by Ian Watson
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January 1987. ‘Salvage Rights’ by Ian Watson
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 1988. ‘The Mole Field’ by Ian Watson
Ian Watson sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/watson... who sadly died a week ago, was born on this day; here's magazine artwork for some of his stories 1982-88: 'Returning Home' ‘White Socks’ ‘Salvage Rights' & ‘The Mole Field’ (Artist: Jean-Marie Poumeyrol, RJ Krupowicz, David A Hardy & Stephen Gervais):
A copy of Gabriel Tallent’s novel Crux.
Currently reading
i feel like it's not talked enough about that in order for there to be a cyberpunk, there necessarily needs to be a like, cyber fascism that exists for a meaningful time for our lovable punks to rebel against.
and i'm worried that we're rapidly approaching cyber fascism
My photo shows a Hellenistic era hemispherical mosaic glass bowl viewed from above. The glass has a floral pattern made up of tiny, many-petalled blue, white, and yellowy-green flowers against a dark purple background (looks black in my photo). The bowl has an alternating diagonal-striped black and white glass rim. The bowl has been reconstructed from fragments and the plain light blue areas are where missing glass fragments have been replaced during reconstruction. It measures 13.2 cm in diameter and 7.5 cm in height. It was made in the eastern Mediterranean about 200-100 BC.
This Hellenistic mosaic glass bowl looks so modern, yet it was made over 2,000 years ago!
Ancient glassmakers created the tiny flower pattern using a technique now known as ‘millefiori’ (thousand flowers). A timeless design still made by glassmakers today!
British Museum 📷 by me
#Archaeology
Two hooded figures with lamps approach a moonlit, isolated cottage. A woman answers the door. We have come for the child, says the hooded figure So soon? she asks It is time, says the hooded figure. The woman is distraught. We should never have got him a library card! What is done cannot be undone, says the hooded figure We couldn’t see the harm! We just wanted him to enjoy reading! For most, it ends there, says the hooded figure, turning away and walking into the wilderness Oh lord, What have I done! says the woman, the child walks past her and out into the darkness with them. Do not cry mother. I am a writer now.
my latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com
Remember now listening to this a lot (among others) while writing Random Acts:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZt7...
Compare and contrast
Early morning sun tangles the shadows of trees coming into leaf across fresh green grass.
Hampstead Heath, 07:26
Frankenstein (1910). Kind of wild to consider that its release is closer in time to the publication of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel than to the present day
#CeilingsOnSunday King's Cross
A brown glazed fabric with a decorated shoulder connextion
Raincoat, late Edo Period, 1790–1800
Can you hear forest recovery? In Costa Rica, scientists analyzed 16,000 hours of audio to measure the success of payments for ecosystem services.
The data shows that naturally regenerated forests now sound more like protected primary forests than pastures, signaling a true return of biodiversity.
Several catalogues from Iain Sinclair Books 1980-1990. Street/ Beat: I was a regular
"Birds see fast enough that TV is a just slideshow of still images but slow enough they can see which direction the stars are moving" is really doing a number on me
Watered the garden (shaping up to be a dry spring), did a bunch of ironing, walked 10000+ steps, fixed the boiler, wrote a couple of good pages. #writinglife
‘Elephant Foot' Glacier, Greenland - Photographer and date unknown
"Envoyez le chat !" RIP Nathalie Baye, seen here (in specs) as Joëlle in one of cinema's Greatest Cat Moments, from François Truffaut's LA NUIT AMÉRICAINE aka DAY FOR NIGHT (1973). [cf the same director's LA PEAU DOUCE, 1964; see my book CATS ON FILM]
