Month: May 2013

  • Sunday Science: M-Theory

    Sunday Science: M-Theory

    Branes!  And no, it’s not a new Zombie cereal knockoff.
    You know, like how they have Choco-Pebbles in the 50lb bags at the store?

    Anyhoo, Brane theory (short for Membrane Theory or M-Theory) puts forth the idea that all matter, instead of being a collection of tiny balls of matter, are instead collections of tiny vibrating strings.

    Now Jason, you say, isn’t this simply Superstring theory?
    Well, yes, you are correct.
    M-Theory seeks to unite the quantum world of strings with our observable world.
    The vibrational frequency of the string determines what we perceive it as (ie, gravity, matter, energy).

    A fascinating topic, especially when you get to the part about there being multiple dimensions, or that our universe could be floating along on one of the membranes.

    This is a very fascinating topic, and Tega Jessa over at UniverseToday.com has a great article about M-Theory

  • Saturday Sneak Peek: Mecha Madness!

    Quad mech trouble!
    Quad mech trouble!

    A quick look at an unfinished panel from an upcoming issue!

    It’s been a super hectic couple of weeks.  But in a good way.  I have finally hit my stride on Suzi, and have bandwidth for some exciting new projects that are on the horizon.  I will give more details as they firm up, but it’s looking like 2013 is going to be a great year!

  • Inspirations: Irwin Allen

    Inspirations: Irwin Allen

    I have a pretty extensive list of inspirations for Suzi, but right up at the top would have to be Irwin Allen.

    Lost in Space
    The space family Robinson

    Allen created just about every one of my favorite shows from my childhood. Classics like Lost in Space, Time TunnelVoyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Land of the Giants were all required viewing.

    Of course, I look back now and realize that most of his shows eventually morphed into kid shows. By season 3, Lost in Space had pretty much became the Will, Dr Smith and Robot Variety hour. I think if they could have stuck with the same formula they used in the first season, Lost in Space would have been remembered very differently.

    Time Tunnel
    Time Tunnel

    Time Tunnel was another show that had a great premise, but lacked in execution. I think this was more a matter of budget constraints that anything else.

    Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was a fun show with a great cast and concept. Land of the Giants was kinda the odd man out of the Allen stable.

    Voyage to the bottom of the sea
    Voyage to the bottom of the sea

    The writing was really all over the place, but back then, Deanna Lunds mini-skirts could make me overlook a lot of plot holes.

    Irwin Allen produced some popular disaster shows like The Towering Inferno and The Posideon Adventure in the 70’s,
    but was never able to recapture his success on the small screen.

    Land of the Giants
    Land of the Giants

    Irwin Allen had a good run, and created some iconic characters in science fiction. I hope to capture some of that fun in Suzi’s stories.

    What do you remember about Time Tunnel, Lost in Space or the other Allen shows?

    all images copyright of their respective copyright holders.
  • New Mix on Radio Cosmos

    New Mix on Radio Cosmos

    You like music?
    Who doesn’t?

    We beam our music into the heavens, so you never know what will turn up on Radio Cosmos.
    Playing the best music from, well, whenever!

    Click here or in the sidebar!

  • Sunday Science: Dude, where’s my jetpack?

    Sunday Science: Dude, where’s my jetpack?

    Jetpacks.  A long time staple of science fiction, and the true hallmark of the world of tomorrow.

    jetpack
    Never be late for work again!

    In the 50’s, everyone thought that the future would be full of the things.  Well, here we are in the 21at century and all I got is a Kia.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but dang, we can make celebrities out of Kim Kardashians and Justin Bliebers, but not be able to fly around free as birds?

    Or can we?
    Let’s take a look at the history of this crazy idea.
    I think you will find it’s even older than you thought!

    Leave to the Russians to come up with the idea of strapping rocket fuel to your back and lighting it off.  Inventor Aleksandr Fyodorovich Andreyev came up with the idea back in 1919.  Technologists of the time loved the concept, and a patent was issued, but it seems common sense prevailed as no prototypes were developed.

    In 1958, Garry Burdett and Alexander Bohr supposedly developed a jump belt that used compressed gas to propel the wearer up to 7 meters in the air, but it seems no one was interested and financing never developed.

    Cutting to the chase, in 1965 (a great year for innovative creations!) Bell Aerosystems began developing the Jet Belt.  The first test came in 1969, when a pilot flew about 100 meters in a circle, about 7 meters off the ground.  While the system worked, it was deemed too complicated and dangerous (it operated below minimum safe parachute distance and was very heavy!)

    The Bell Rocket Belt is probably the most famous of the jetpacks.

    Lost in space jetpack
    Gotta find Penny and that stupid Bloop!

    It was used in the James Bond film Thunderball, as well as on episodes of Lost in Space and the 70’s tv show Ark II.
    A really cool device, it could only fly a little over 30 seconds.

    So, it looks like we are still a ways off from being able to jetpack ourselves to work and avoid rush hour traffic.  Then again, if people can barely handle cars, do I really want to be flying around with them too?

    Texting and jetpacking?

    Nancy Atkinson over at UniverseToday.com has an article that shows us the jetpack technology of today.  Go learn something!  It will only hurt a little bit…

  • Saturday Sneak Peek:The sad time

    Sad Suzi
    Lost in another galaxy.

    It’s a big lonely galaxy out there…

  • Inspirations: Matt Mason

    Inspirations: Matt Mason

    Space toys.  Growing up, I wanted to be an astronaut.
    I remember all the rocket launches from the late 60’s and early 70’s, and watching as man took his first steps on the moon.

    Major Matt Mason
    Don’t bend those joints too much!

    Major Matt Mason was the must have space toy back in those days.  Remember, this was waaay before Star Wars made space toys common place.

    Made of a flexible rubber, he had a wire skeleton that suffered from metal fatigue once the joints were bent too much.
    That meant that if you bent his arms or legs alot, you soon had a Matt Mason that was missing some limbs!
    He did have a cool space station and accessories, like jetpacks, space sleds and more cool stuff.

    I remember having the space crawler and that rascal could rampage over just about any obstacle.

    Major Matt Mason
    Space Crawler laughs at your obstacles!

    You can still get these guys on ebay, and for a while, I had a home business that would refurbish the broken ones and sell them.
    Back in 2001, I was contacted by a guy who wanted to “lease” a Matt Mason from me to use as a prop in a play.

    I sent him one and a few months later I got a package from London.  Inside was an autographed program from the play This Is Our Youth, starring Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, and Summer Phoenix.

    They also included a photo of the cast holding the Matt Mason.

     

    What were some of the toys you remember growing up with?  Leave a comment and let me know!