Quick Search of DRB:
Lijit Search
drb rss about
suggest
advertise
subscribe
rss rss
rss
airplanes | animals | architecture | art | auto | boats | famous | cool ads | funny pics | food | futurism | gadgets | history | japan
military | music | nature | photo | russia | sci-fi | signs | space | sports | steampunk | technology | trains | travel | vintage | weird

Monday, November 17, 2008

Pyrokinetic Writing!




A stroboscopic madhouse of ideas... SF masterpieces revisited and enjoyed.

Four in-depth updates over at DRB SF site:

1. Theodore Sturgeon's "The Cosmic Rape" (To Marry Medusa)
Reviews by M. Christian & Avi Abrams

"Lots of folks lay awake at night and shudder at the thought of being merged, combined with something else, of losing their identity to some monstrous and hungry collective...."

Click Here to Read the Rest

2. Alfred Bester's "The Computer Connection"
Review by author M. Christian


"Bester was the mountain, all the rest of us merely climbers toward that peak." - Each page sparkles with insane wit and crackling imagination. It's like trying to capsulize the effervescent, freeze-frame lightning...

Click Here to Read the Rest

3. Samuel R. Delany's "Nova" and "Babel-17"
Reviews by Sunday Williams & Avi Abrams

"Weaves a brilliantly-jeweled web of words, capturing imagination and causing various bubbles of mental presumption to burst deliciously in your brain (no drugs involved)..."

Click Here to Read the Rest

4. Isaac Asimov's (& Jerome Bixby) "Fantastic Voyage"
Review by Sunday Williams

"The story’s style is not exactly Asimov - originally conceived by Jerome Bixby and Otto Klement, this is a page-turner of the highest degree..."

Click Here to Read the Rest

Also read:
Alfred Bester, "The Stars My Destination"
Thomas M. Disch, "The Squirrel Cage"

More SF reviews forthcoming on a regular basis.
Subscribe to DRB SF rss feed.
Send your review of SF book or story listed on the site.


READ LATEST POSTS:

November 4, 2009 - Quantum Shot #597
Weird Food McDonald's Sells Around the World

Spaghetti! Soaked! In Sugarrr!

Biscotti Bits
Mixed Links & Images

incl. "Marvelous Burj Dubai Fountain Show"

SFSite
"Steampunk Anthology" Reviewed, in All Its Brass Glory

Making all sci-fi punks in the world "feel lucky", since 2008
(for other weekly "Biscotti" issues - see our main page and monthly archives)

COMMENTS:

1 Comments:

Anonymous Bill said...

This is the first time I can ever say, on any comments on any web page, "FIRST!"

I know, I know. It's been done before.

___  

Post a Comment

<< Home


SF ART & BOOK REVIEWS:
Don't miss: The Ultimate Guide to SF&F Writers!
Fiction Reviews: Alastair Reynolds "Chasm City"
Short Fiction Reviews: Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" (with pics)
New Fiction Reviews: The Surreal Office

MORE RECENT POSTS:


The World's Most Magnificent Pipe Organs

Simply Blockbusters of Their Time!


Lovely Cowgirls in Vintage Westerns

Beauties with guns scorched the screen... and it was good


Weirdest Cell Phones Ever!

Totally non-conventional looks and futuristic specs.


British Pubs: Signs of the Times, Part 2

Pub signs are almost like time machines...


Fabulous Las Vegas: Vintage Treasures

Part 1: Glamour vs. Kitsch


Incredible Astronomical Clocks

Antique and medieval technology blended with art


Battersea, and Other Abandoned Power Stations

Part 2 of popular urban exploration series


Hilarious & Crazy Signage

Part 13 of this side-splitting series


Living, Growing Architecture

Grow your house one root at a time


Alone in the Wild: Yukon Survival Saga

How to eat porcupine livers, and more!


Unusual and Marvelous Maps

Alternate histories, sea monsters, weird politics


Airships & Tentacles

Exclusive Interview with artist Myke Amend


Jet Engines on Trucks (For Fun and Profit)

Snow-blowers from hell, and more...


Star Wars for Your Mind, Heart and Soul

Part 3 of the popular series


Britain's Colorful Pub Signs, Part 1

A map to your last night adventures


Flying Colors! Creative Paint on Airliners

Groovy additions to the fleet...


Walled Cities: Keeping Out the Joneses

Highlights of the defensive architecture


Postage Stamps From the Future

...and some alternative realities


The Glamour of Flight: Sexy Stewardesses

Part 4 of highly popular series


Flags of Forgotten Countries

Don't just wave a black flag... consider your options


Spectacular Steampunk Art Update

Part 2 of this eye-popping, mind-boggling series

MORE OF THE RECENT POSTS:








Anything for the Perfect Shot! Part 3
Charmed by the Unknown Brazil
Ekranoplans Showcase, Part 2
Riot Vehicle with Water Cannon
Thrilling Vintage Movie Posters
Cheers to Beers!
Most Interesting Bridges, Part 3
Mesmerizing Kinetic Sculptures
Real Life Spy Gadgets
Tangled & Crazy Wiring
Underground Cities and Bunkers
Extraordinary Clocks & Watches
Pasta Monster & Other Strange Food
How Morgan Cars Are Made
Abandoned Boeing-747 Restaurant
Surprised Astronauts (Funny Pics)
One-Track Wonders: Early Monorails
Komodo Dragons: They Eat Meat
Spring Cleaning of the Mind: Surreal Art
Crazy & Funny Faces, Part 5
Wonder Weapons of World War Two
Narrow Buildings in Japan & Around the World
The Cutting Edge of Retro Tech
Bladerunner Tokyo Large-Format Photography
Nightmare Playgrounds, Part 3
Victorian Flea Circuses: A Lost Art Form
Strangest Music Scores, Part 2
Monstrous Aviation: Huge Helicopters!
- many more in the Archives and in the Contents Index (left bar)


FULL ARCHIVES (with previews, fast loading):

September 2009 -- August 2009 --
June-July 2009 -- May 2009 -- April 2009 -- March 2009 --
February 2009 -- January 2009 -- December 2008 --
November 2008 -- October 2008 -- September 2008
August 2008 -- July 2008 -- June 2008
May 2008 -- April 2008 -- March 2008
February 2008 -- January 2008 -- Dec, 2007
November 2007 -- October 2007 -- Sept, 2007
August 2007 -- July 2007 -- June 2007
May 2007 -- April 2007 -- March 2007
February 2007 -- January 2007 -- Dec, 2006
November 2006 -- October 2006 -- Link Lattes




CATEGORIES:
airplanes | animals | architecture | art | auto | boats | books | cool ads | funny pics | famous | futurism | food
gadgets | health | history | humour | japan | internet | link latte | military | music | nature | photo | russia | steampunk
sci-fi & fantasy | signs | space | sports | technology | trains | travel | vintage | weird



Discretion Advised! These cartoons contain some extreme animated violence!






Airplanes
Animals
Architecture
Art
Auto
Boats
Computers
Cool Ads
Extreme Weather
Food
Funny Pics
Futurism
Gadgets
History
Humour
Link Latte
Military
Music
Nature
Oops Accidents
Photography
Robots
Science
Science Fiction

Space
Sports
Technology
Trains
Travel
UE Abandoned
Vintage
Weird




Avi Abrams
Rachel Abrams
M. Christian
James Golbey
Simon Rose
Paul Schilperoord
Scott Seegert
Constantine vonHoffman
Steve Levenstein

- Join Our Team -
Guidelines








  • The Boohbahs aren't weird - they're a British kids' programme!
    Read more

  • man, I'm from Lithuania but that Lithuanian Folk Art cracked me up. I have no idea what is that. And maybe that really is an ancient handjob porn, carved in a tree, LOL.
    Read more

  • I think they're badly placed scissors. See, she has cloth in the other hand.
    Read more

  • Heh! the cupid peeping around the corner would certainly startle the bejesus out of someone if they didn't know it was there. :P
    Read more

  • I love the "Black Hole Office" video but I'm sorry it had an unhappy ending.
    Read more

  • Quite an amazing array of geeky goodness. The tower designs were pretty freaking amazing!
    Read more

  • Re: Japanese Toys Resting

    Ummm, I am not sure, but I think that the toys are possibly for ADULT MEN if you know what I mean. I believe that the Japanese make them in Anime style as well as more human-like form
    Read more

  • chocolate hills are spectacular
    Read more

  • Don't forget about Texas City, Texas, home of two major disasters in 60 years.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Disaster

    April 16, 1947 saw the ignition of 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate loaded on board the french-registered vessel SS Grandcamp. it is considered the worst industrial accident in US history with a death toll of 567.

    58 years later, as insult to injury the BP refinery there exploded do to a running truck.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Refinery_(BP)
    Read more

  • Another huge explosion occured in Siberia, 1982.

    A Soviet gas pipeline system exploded after the CIA modified the firmware in a shipment of pipeline control chips.

    The resulting 3 kiloton (approx) explosion was seen from space.

    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1071087/posts
    Read more

  • You also missed the PEPCON disaster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEPCON_disaster

    The two explosions, measuring 3 and 3.5 on the Richter scale respectively, left a crater 15 feet deep.
    Read more

  • Closer to us, in 2001 (10 days after 9/11), 300 tons of ammonium nitrate ignited in a fertilizer factory in the middle of the Toulouse, France. It was a 100 kiloton blast that killed 30 people, injured 3000 and made 40000 people homeless for several days.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZF

    The factory next door produces rocket fuel and uses phosgen (mustard gas). Miraculously, there were no deadly leaks, or else the death toll would have been between 50 and 100000 deaths.
    Read more

  • A picture of the Fauld, Staffordshire crater can be seen here http://www.gearthhacks.com/dlfile27084/RAF-Fauld-Explosion-near-Tutbury,-Burton-upon-Trent-in-Staffordshire.htm

    Also, regarding the anonymous comment about the Toulouse blast - there is no way 300 tons of ammonium nitrate can produce an equivalent blast of 100 kilotons. One ton of ammonium nitrate does not have the explosive force of 333.3 tons of TNT...
    Read more

  • In 1921 IG Farben (later BASF) used dynamite to break up a mixture of Ammonium Sulphate and Ammonium Nitrate that was stored in a warehouse. This was a process that they had reportedly followed numerous times previously.

    On 21 September they learned empirically that the mixture was explosive. 500 people died.

    A report: http://www.corporate.basf.com/en/ueberuns/profil/geschichte/1902-1924.htm?id=V00-QdITSDCGVbcp0-D

    A picture of the blast damage: http://www.bufata-chemie.de/reader/ig_farben/pics/1-4-3_01_oppau-big.jpg


    DRB is a compulsory daily read. Thanks for the interesting site.

    Andrew J. Winks
    Cape Town, South Africa
    Read more

  • Enschede, Netherlands

    A local firework factory blows up:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks5X0N8M_o8
    Read more

  • When I was a kid I read at Readers Digest about the Mont Blanc explosion and I remember a question. The anchor of the Mont Blanc it was found two milles far.
    Read more

  • I think the biggest non-nuclear explosion ever was the "Tunguska Event"

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

    The Tunguska Event, or Tunguska explosion, was a powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya (Lower Stony) Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia, at around 7:14 a.m.[1] (0:14 UT, 7:02 a.m. local solar time[2]) on June 30, 1908 (June 17 in the Julian calendar, in use locally at the time).[2]
    Although the cause is the subject of some debate, the explosion was most likely caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5–10 kilometres (3–6 miles) above Earth's surface. Different studies have yielded varying estimates for the object's size, with general agreement that it was a few tens of metres across.[3]
    Although the meteor or comet burst in the air rather than directly hitting the surface, this event is still referred to as an impact. Estimates of the energy of the blast range from 5 megatons[4] to as high as 30 megatons[5] of TNT, with 10–15 megatons the most likely[5] - roughly equal to the United States' Castle Bravo thermonuclear explosion set off in late February 1954, about 1,000 times as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan and about one third the power of the Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated.[6] The explosion knocked over an estimated 80 million trees over 2,150 square kilometres (830 square miles). It is estimated that the earthquake from the blast would have measured 5.0 on the Richter scale, which was not yet developed at the time. An explosion of this magnitude is capable of destroying a large metropolitan area.[7] This possibility has helped to spark discussion of asteroid deflection strategies.
    Although the Tunguska event is believed to be the largest impact event on land in Earth's recent history,[8] impacts of similar size in remote ocean areas would have gone unnoticed before the advent of global satellite monitoring in the 1960s and 1970s.
    Read more

  • Januar 12, 1807 a ship loaded with 17 tons of black powder exploded in the cite of Leiden blasting away a great part of the inner citty and killing 150 people.

    animation:
    http://www.infofilm.nl/animaties/kruitramp/kruitramp.html

    dutch wikipedia with some images:
    http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leidse_buskruitramp
    Read more

  • How about the even BIGGER explosions of stars? National Geographic has a photo gallery:
    http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/03/cosmic-explosions/cosmic-explosions-photography
    Read more

  • The Fauld crater appears to be more like 200m across, not 3/4 of a mile.

    The depth may have changed, but the crater width would remain unchanged.

    If you look at the detailed google map of the area, it is easy to see the dimensions have "grown" with time....
    Read more

  • You should look up the SS Richard Montgomery, its still loaded with thousands of tons of ammunition from WW2 sunk in the Thames estuary, read that if it goes up it will be the biggest non nuclear detonation, I have fished from a boat next to it a few times, worst fishing spot on the planet I imagine.
    Read more

  • 1800's - fertilizer plant in Opau Germany blew up. Flattened half the town.
    Read more

  • This is also a big explosion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nC0FetkeqA , a fireworks safety test(The tiny thing in the middle is the shipping container).
    Great site you have btw, one of my favourites :).
    Read more

  • Its looking more and more like I don't want to live near harbors nor anywhere having anything to do with bulk fertilizer.
    Read more

  • "..300 tons of ammonium nitrate ignited in a fertilizer factory in the middle of the Toulouse, France. It was a 100 kiloton blast.."

    Just to clarify, 300 tons of ammonium nitrate cannot ever equal 100 kilotons of TNT. For example, the fission weapon "Little Boy" detonated over Hiroshima produced a 13 to 16 kiloton blast. Ammonium Nitrate in a blast prepared slurry also containing nitromethane - not just stored fertilizer - has a TNT equivalency of 1.6, IE: 1 ton ANNM is equal to 1.6 tons of TNT.

    Comparatively, the most common fission nuclear warhead in the US arsenal is the B61 which has a disclosed yield up to 350 kilotons

    Better living through chemistry, eh?

    Ref:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boy
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANFO
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon_yield
    Read more

  • Thank you everybody for really explosive information... will go into the next part. Fantastic info.
    Read more

  • Ripple Rock--I believe it is supposed to be one of the largest intentional man-made non-nuclear explosions.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripple_Rock
    Read more

  • For another in humanity's long running attempts at self-immolation see:
    www.reddit.com/r/wikipedia/related/7d98l/the_largest_nonnuclear_explosion
    A tale of Russia executing the largest intentional non-nuclear explosion in our sorry history of blowing things up, intentional or otherwise.
    arrtist
    Read more

  • 1769 The city of Brescia, Italy is devastated when the Church of San Nazaro, near Venice, is struck by lightning. The resulting fire ignites 200,000 lb (90,000 kg) of gunpowder being stored there, causing a massive explosion which destroys 1/6 of the city and kills 3,000 people.
    Read more

  • You forgot the man made explosion in WW1. A whole line of trench was mined and filled with explosives. It obliterated everything. Second four of the sites are still active. (One exploded recently creating football long hole.) I believe this is the battle; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Messines
    Read more

  • I actually saw that digger climb the pole on TV. If I am not mistaken it happened in a German show called "Wetten Das".

    A show in which people claim they can do something or the other (such as climb a pole with a digger) and celebrities wager on whether or not they think it can be done.
    Read more

  • About the "future man" picture: Where exactly is his "tricycle retractable landing gear" supposed to retract..? :)
    Read more

  • I believe the pole climbing excavator was part of an advertising campaign by the company that makes the excavator. But I have no source to back this up so take it with a grain of salt.
    Read more

  • I can't comment on the digger unfortunately (that looks awesome tho, would love to see a vid) but I can say that the second mtn. goat photo is from the following flickr user:

    http://flickr.com/photos/wildphotons/2682928904/
    Read more

  • About the digger - I was wrong. They did the same thing, but at night:

    http://static.rp-online.de/layout/showbilder/19000-u-03.jpg
    Read more

  • It is called the Kinetic Sculpture Race, not the "creative art race." Flatmo's team always takes some award for the art, but usually not for speed, flipper, etc. You should do some research about the race itself... quite an illustrious history.
    Read more

  • Space the final frontier,well maybe,I really love this type os SF art,very cool. Thanks!
    Read more

  • Thanks so much for this post... Brilliant!

    And I hope i get to live to see the day space travel is as common as taking the bus...

    Change we can believe in!
    Read more

  • > Some unnamed planet is getting explored by a spider-like vehicle

    The planet is Mars, and the concept came from Arkadiy & Boris Strugatzkie's book "The land of crimson clouds" (Strana bagrovyh tuch).
    Read more

  • >> I hope i get to live to see the
    >> day space travel is as common as
    >> taking the bus...

    There is a number of problems with that scenario.

    [1] Energy. Going to space is uphill all the way. It takes a significant amount of energy just to put you there. Energy is getting more costly all the time.

    [2] Space. As the name suggests, it's empty. So why go there?

    [3] Planets are a credible destination because they have resources. What they don't have, is habitability. You could mine them, but why live there?

    When you take the bus it costs only a small amount of energy, and wherever you get out you will find air rather than vacuum and cosmic rays. Space travel will *never* resemble this.
    Read more

  • party booper.
    Read more

  • Some people have a hard time separating space fantasy from space reality. I love retro sci-fi art but I know most of it is impractical if not impossible. That breaks the child heart inside me. Space is a really big place and things are a lot farther than they look.
    Read more

  • Load up the Vista Cruiser, kids ... we're headed for Uranus!

    -from digg
    Read more

  • About the Nike Commercial, dude, that's not Walt Disney's style, that's John K! The guy who did Ren and Stimpy! C'mon!
    Read more

  • to the Obama facts:

    Barack means peach in Hungarian :)
    Read more

  • Great post !

    you did a lot of research finding these interesting pics !
    Read more

  • SO GREAT...WHAT IMAGINATION! P F
    Read more

  • I absolutely love stuff like this. Amazing post.
    Read more

  • Absolutely amazing photos. perhaps some of the best I have ever seen.
    Read more

  • Just found your blog and I think it's a keeper.

    I had Mummy dogs on Halloween night. I hadn't seen them before and I was impressed by how simple they were to make.

    I've got a recipe book for making eyeballs out of pickled onions but I've never taken the opportunity to try it.
    Read more

  • Just a bit of info for you Avi, The drunken angels are swimming around in Absinthe.
    Read more

  • OK, now somebody just have to drink absinthe with eyeballs from pickled onions...
    Read more

  • These are so creative! Reminds me of what my daughter isabel & i saw on her plate a while back...!...

    THANX for sharing 'a piece from your plate'!
    mark jaquette @
    illustrationism &
    bammgraphics !
    Read more

  • that's cool, i'll try some in my foods anyway, haha!

    and anyway, seeing those pictures just make me feel hungry.. amazing how looks can affect your appetite.. ^^
    Read more

  • that was busterkeaton!! in that one picture. i love him!! :D

    the chihauha was really cute
    but i like all the pics on this site
    :)
    Read more

  • It's unreal to me the amount of creativity some people have!
    Read more

  • Louise Bourgeois demos her version of the orange-peel guy for an interviewer--only hers ends up with a strategically placed spindle.
    Read more

  • part of me feels like a total spoiled jerk, getting so much joy out of seeing the (doubtless artful) wasting of food... but then the right side of my brain takes over, and i celebrate recklessly! ;) Love this post. thank you.
    Read more

  • about the turtle: "it lives", not "it leaves"

    :)
    Read more

  • He has had trouble with keeping the airplane warm enough in winter. I'm in Fairbanks now, I ride my bike past the airplane frequently in summer, lots of fun.
    Read more

  • About the picture of the guy "jumping" on the carrier deck, that's a type of extraction, he's not jumping, as you see he's straped to a rope and probaply there a few guys below or/and over him. This kind of extraction makes the helicopter less vunerable to enemy fire, as it is not needed to land.
    Read more

  • The kawaii girl is Kipi cosplaying as Asuka.
    Read more

  • Nude mice as shown in that picture very much do exist. There are many different breeds of them.
    Read more

  • Emily, you just added another nightmare to my nightmare-busy life.
    Read more

  • Despite looking a little odd up close most of them really are just normal mice, sans hair. I bet most animals would look weird witout hair--
    Read more


Send us your topic ideas, site suggestions, rants or sweet unpublished poetry. We love to hear from you.



Misc.:
Compare Prices
Samsung LED TV






Blu