Pixel Scroll 10/8/24 Whirling Pixels Will Make Anyone Who Watches Them Dizzy (2024)

(1) HEARTS OF DARKNESS. [Item by Steven French.] The Guardian situates the new Joker movie in the context of ‘dark’ musical more generally: “Singin’ in the nuclear rain: new films push the musical genre in a darker direction”.

A murderous psychopath mournfully sings his heart out in jail. A family living in a below-ground bunker chorus together about the end of the world. A lawyer belts out a number about gender re-assignment surgery. Welcome to the movie musical 2024 – a period, it seems, of radical reinvention for the genre. Never mind the ebullient nature of High Society and other Hollywood golden age musicals, film-makers are now turning to all-singin’, all-dancin’ spectaculars to express something much darker….

(2) NOBEL PRIZE IN MEDICINE. In an interesting footnote to yesterday’s Nobel announcement, the co-winner of the Prize for Medicine, Gary Ruvkin, is also part of the Search for Extraterrestrial Genomes project which is developing instruments that will enable comparison of the DNA of eg microbial life on Mars or other planetary bodies with that of life on Earth. “Medicine Nobel awarded for gene-regulating ‘microRNAs’” in Nature.

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to two geneticists who discoveredmicroRNAs, a class of tiny RNA molecules that help to control how genes are expressed in multicellular organisms.

Victor Ambros, who works at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, and Gary Ruvkun at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston share the prize pot of 11 million Swedish kronor (US$1 million), awarded by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

MicroRNAs perform a multitude of tasksin complex organisms, from embryonic development to cell physiology. Researchers have speculated that they were involved in evolutionary leaps, such as humans’ bulging brains, and they have been implicated in the onset of cancers and other diseases….

(3) THANKS SO MUCH, GUYS (/SARCASM). ABC News reports: “Nobel Prize in physics awarded to two scientists for machine learning discoveries”.

Two pioneers of artificial intelligence — John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton — won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for helping create the building blocks of machine learning that is revolutionizing the way we work and live but also creates new threats for humanity.

Hinton, who is known asthe godfather of artificial intelligence,is a citizen of Canada and Britain who works at the University of Toronto, and Hopfield is an American working at Princeton.

“These two gentlemen were really the pioneers,” said Nobel physics committee member Mark Pearce.

The artificial neural networks — interconnected computer nodes inspired by neurons in the human brain — the researchers pioneered are used throughout science and medicine and “have also become part of our daily lives,” said Ellen Moons of the Nobel committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences…

… Hinton predicted that AI will end up having a “huge influence” on civilization, bringing improvements in productivity and health care.

“It would be comparable with the Industrial Revolution,” he said in an open call with reporters and officials of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

“We have no experience of what it’s like to have things smarter than us. And it’s going to be wonderful in many respects,” Hinton said.

“But we also have to worry about a number of possible bad consequences, particularly the threat of these things getting out of control.”

The Nobel committee also mentioned fears about the possible flipside.

Moons said that while it has “enormous benefits, its rapid development has also raised concerns about our future. Collectively, humans carry the responsibility for using this new technology in a safe and ethical way for the greatest benefit of humankind.”

Hinton, who quit a role at Google so he could speak more freely about the dangers of the technology he helped create, shares those concerns.

“I am worried that the overall consequence of this might be systems more intelligent than us that eventually take control,” Hinton said….

(4) PRISON BANNED BOOKS WEEK. Learn about Prison Banned Books Week 2024 at the website.

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Prisons are the largest censors in the United States.

Single state prison systems censor more books than all state schools and libraries combined. Literature gets banned by prison mailroom staff quickly flipping through books as they inspect the mail. These cursory judgments sweep up medical books, drawing and art books, popular magazines, history books and literature of all kinds. Prison censorship prevents people in jails and prisons from reading.

Recently, prisons and jails have been contracting with private telecom companies to provide tablets to detained and incarcerated people.While tablets offer unprecedented access to loved ones and outside allies, they have also been used to curtail paper literature under specious claims that mail is the primary conduit of contraband.

Content on tablets is also highly limited–with titles largely in the public domain whose copyright has lapsed because they were published in the nineteenth century. Despite obtaining these works for free, many prisons and jails charge incarcerated people to access this content. This inaccessible and outdated reading material is used to justify the denial of paper literature, including health and legal news….

… Demand Department of Corrections, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Sheriffs ensure that people held in carceral facilities have equal access to both paper literature and tablets.Reading should not be restricted.

(5) ANOTHER SHUTTLE WILL COMMUTE TO ITS NEW L.A. HOME. “L.A. Gets a Second Space Shuttle and You Can Join the Motorcade”Los Angeles Magazine tells how.

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It’s missing a wing and the tail is a little janky, but jaws are sure to drop when a giant space shuttle cruises the streets of Downey next week en route to its new home. The shuttle mockupInspirationmeasures 35 by 122 feet and, while it never went to space, had an outsized impact on the space program and on Los Angeles history.

The idea of a reliable and reusable truck that could haul objects to orbit was around long before the first astronaut reached space. A 1959 proposal called for a vehicle that would be launched on a missile and glide back to earth. By 1972 engineers at Downey’s North American/Rockwell (later Lockheed/Boeing) plant were putting the finishing touches on an aluminum, plywood and plastic mockup of what a full-sized spacecraft might look like. “It was never meant to go into space,” says Ben Dickow, President and Executive Director of the Columbia Memorial Space Center. “It was a valuable tool in figuring out how to build the shuttle and see how things fit while still on the ground.”

A new $30 million pavilion next the Space Center will become the mockups new home, but for now it will reside in a temporary building at the museum. …

The 52-year-old classic will slowly trundle through city streets on October 17, like its younger cousinEndeavourdid in 2012, greeting fans, dodging trees, and saying hello toRandy’s Donutsas it traveled from LAX to the California Science Center.InspirationandEndeavour, the oldest and youngest versions of the Space Shuttle, will now both reside in Los Angeles….

… Along the way, it will pass a Kaiser Hospital, a TJ Maxx, and the 24 Hour Fitness built on the original site. When the old hangars were demolished,Inspirationwas moved to the city yard. “The public works guys have been asking for that to be gone for 10 years,” says Dickow. “So, they’re excited to get their parking spaces back.”

Thursday, October 17
Site opens at 8am, shuttle starts moving at 9am, speakers at 10am

Columbia Memorial Space Center
12400 Columbia Way, Downey, CA 90242
Bellflower Blvd. will be closed for the move between Imperial Highway and Washburn Road.

(6) CHIMERA BRIGADE TEASER. “’The Chimera Brigade’ Unleashes a WWII Era of Superheroes in Stunning Animation”Animation Magazine sets the frame.

…Based on the graphic novel by Serge Lehman & Fabrice Colin (published by L’Atalante),The Chimera Brigadeis an 8 x 40′ saga directed byLouis Leterrier&Antoine Charreyron(duration: 8 x 40’) which imagines a world where Marie Curie’s work with radium creates the world’s first superheroes on the eve of the Second World War. The project was recently presented at the2024 Cartoon Forum. The project is produced by Ron Dyens for Sacrebleu and Cilvy Aupin for Ciel de Paris.

About the Series:The Chimera Brigadeis an animated fantasy adventure series with an international scope. The universal nature of the subject matter, the mythology of superhumans, and the fundamental opposition between Magic and Science — ingredients that have been at the very heart of fiction — all bring a powerful and exciting narrative thrust to this reinterpretation of history. This story will sweep audiences away on a thrilling journey through a familiar period in History, seen through an entirely new lens.

The Chimera Brigadewill give a new take on the interwar period, covering the rise of fascism in Europe up to Hitler’s accession to power. It holds up a mirror to the tragic reality that tainted that era, its blind spots and stances, resonating with modern history, an example of how the fate of the entire world can sometimes crystallize in the neuroses of a single man.

(7) ONE MARYLAND – ONE BOOK. [Item by Maria Markham Thompson, CPA.] The Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) welcomes everyone to join in a discussion of What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J. A. Chancy on Sunday, October 20, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.

This book was chosen by Maryland Humanities as the 2024One Maryland One Book (OMOB)to bring together diverse people in communities across the state throughthe shared experience of reading the same book.

The book discussion will be held in person at the BSFS Building, 3310 E. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21224. The building is fully accessible to all people and easily reached by several bus lines. Anyone who cannot travel to the building is invited to join the discussion via Zoom. Details including link and password are available on the BSFS website,www.bsfs.org.

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(8) ROBERT J. RANDISI (1951-2024). Author, editor and screenwriter Robert J. Randisi has died reports Mystery Fanfare.

Bob was born August 24, 1951. Hewrote over 650 books in themystery, western, adventure, and fantasy genres, as well as being an Editor and Screenwriter. Bob foundedThe Private Eye Writers of Americain 1981, where he created theShamus Award.He also co-foundedThe American Crime Writers League; co-founded Western Fictioneers, and co-created the Peacemaker Award.

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Paul Weimer.]

Born October 8, 1920Frank Herbert. (Died 1986.)

By Paul Weimer: I readDunethanks to the originalDunemovie, even if I didn’t manage to see it for years. Once upon a time magazines like Starloghad multiple features over multiple months on SFF movies, and an issue ofStarlogwith Sting on the cover drew my eye. Whatwasthis movie? Who was “Paul” anyway? The movie came and went in theaters before I got to see it, but I came away with the key fact that this was based on a novel.

And so I found the novel in the library and read it. And it became one of my heart books, because I hit it at just the right time for it to speak to me. I didn’t get, until a re-read and reading the sequels, how muchDuneactually critiques its Chosen One narrative, and how much of a trap Paul walks into, but I was swept away by the characters, setting and infinitely recursive labyrinth of worldbuilding. It was on the re-reads that I’ve seen just how powerful, potent and nuanced Herbert’s novel was.

The next few novels beyond the original Dune only reinforced that belief, as I found myself endless fascinated by what Herbert created. I firmly believe people could and will remakeDunein other media for decades to come, and bring new and different perspectives on it, all of them equally valid — and all of them equally unable to capture the entirety of the novel, and its sequels. I eventually sought out some of Herbert’s other work and have found much of it much more of its time. The surrealThe Santaroga Barrierfor instance, feels like a counterculture version ofWalden Two. The strange giant insects ofThe Green Brain. The city prison of The Dosadi Experiment. But frankly, it isDuneand its sequels (and I owe myself a re-read of the entire series) that holds me to this day.

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(10) COMICS SECTION.

(11) MINTY-FRESH HORROR. “Mouthwashing is a horror gem set on a stranded courier ship in space” – a Polygon-recommended game.

A good horror game scares you in the moment, but a great horror game lingers in the back of your mind well past the end credits. We’ve been blessed in recent years with a plethora of excellent horror games, but with the arrival of October comes even more spooky games to get us nice and scared before Halloween.Mouthwashingimmediately gripped me with its jarring, off-putting visuals, and kept me pinned under the weight of mounting dread.

Mouthwashingis a three-hour narrative experience that takes place on the Tulpar, a Pony Express courier ship in the middle of a long-haul trip through space to deliver cargo….

…The game jumps around on the timeline, showing us the crew’s dynamic before the crash, and the mounting despair after the disaster. Months after the crash, still lost in space, the crew is eager to find an alternate source of food as their supplies dwindle. The captain was badly burned in the crash, leaving him reliant on a dwindling supply of painkillers. No one is coming for them, they’re running low on supplies, and all they have in the cargo bay is crate after crate of mouthwash….

… If this nightmare scenario has you even slightly intrigued, I heartily recommend checking outMouthwashingonSteamorItch.io. The game opens with a short message with the ship’s name, the delivery status, and an ominous note: “I hope this hurts.” It certainly did, and that’s why my mind is still stuck in far space on board the Tulpar….

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(12) NO MORE ORDERS OF ‘KAOS’. Variety reports “’Kaos’ Canceled After One Season at Netflix”.

“Kaos,” the Greek mythology comedy series that premiered in late August, has been canceled atNetflix,Varietyhas learned.

The show premiered on August 29 and starred Jeff Goldblum as the all mighty Zeus, albeit in a more whimsical and insecure portrayal. In a modern-day setting, Zeus has chained up Prometheus after interfering his with godly rule over humanity. Prometheus then attempts to overthrow Zeus with the help of three humans, Eurydice, Ariadne and Caeneus. Charlie Covell (“The End of the F***ing World”) wrote the entire eight-episode series….

(13) JUPITER WILL HAVE TO WAIT. “Hurricane Milton’s Imminent Landfall Officially Delays NASA Mission to Jupiter”Gizmodo has the story.

NASA’s Europa Clipper, a mission set to probe Jupiter’s icy moon, will no longer launch on Thursday due to a Category 5 hurricane making its way towards Florida.

The spacecraft’s launch window opens October 10 and remains open until November 6. The Europa Clipper was supposed to launch on the 10th, but the unexpected rapid development of Hurricane Milton means the launch is officially postponed. In arelease, NASA stated that the probe and the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket which will launch it into space are safely secured in a Kennedy Space Center hangar. NASA did not immediately state a revised launch date for the spacecraft….

(14) GRAPHENE: MAYBE NOT QUITE VIBRANIUM. [Item by Steven French.] Has graphene lived up to the hype? Let’s find out: “Graphene at 20: still no sign of the promised space elevator, but here’s how this wonder material is quietly changing the world” at The Conversation.

…Incredible claims about its properties made it sound like something out of a Stan Lee comic. Stronger than steel, highly flexible, super-slippery and impermeable to gases. A better electronic conductor than copper and a better thermal conductor than diamond, as well as practically invisible and displaying a host of exotic quantum properties.

Graphene was hailed as a revolutionary material, promisingultra-fast electronics,supercomputersandsuper-strong materials. More fantastical claims have includedspace elevators,solar sails,artificial retinas, eveninvisibility cloaks….

(15) THEORETICAL HOLES. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] From Nature,a reportthat primordial black holes, which are smaller than their better-known cousins, visit the inner Solar System once a decade, simulations suggest.“Black holes as big as atoms might be speeding through the Solar System”.

Microscopic black holes might whizz through the inner Solar System once a decade — and scientists should be able to detect them

Some physicists think that primordial black holes — tiny, super-dense bodies created soon after the Big Bang — could account for the 85% of the Universe’s mass that is invisible, known as dark matter. Studies have ruled out the existence of very heavy and very light primordial black holes, but testing whether they exist in the asteroid-mass range has been challenging.

Tung Tran at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, and his colleagues investigated how the gravitational pull of a passing atom-sized, asteroid-mass black hole would affect the Solar System. They simulated how much the black hole would shift planets off their usual trajectories and for how long. If primordial black holes do make up all dark matter, the team calculated that fly-bys should create an observable perturbation around once a decade.

Researchers could look for such blips in existing data — such as Earth-to-Mars measurements made by Mars orbiters — and use them to put limits on how abundant such black holes must be, they add.

See the primary research paperhere: “Close encounters of the primordial kind:”

(16) DIANA RIGG, MAGGIE SMITH SING TOGETHER. (MOSTLY DIANA RIGG). [Item by Daniel Dern.] Via my YouTube feed, showing that even algorithms can be right twice a day. From the 1982 (or 1981, depending who ya believe) film of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot Evil Under the Sun. (Peter Ustinov as Poirot.) “You’re The Top” is from Cole Porter’s musical Anything Goes, btw. “Diana Rigg & Maggie Smith sing Cole Porter’s ‘You’re the Top’”.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, Daniel Dern, Paul Weimer, N., SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, Mike Kennedy, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Cat Eldridge.]

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