Site of the Week -- June 5, 2000
Every week, veteran National Public Radio science correspondent Ira Flatow hosts "Science Friday," a two-hour radio show that covers everything from the topical (controlled fires, environmental politics) to the practical (memory and sleep) to the theoretical (why does antimatter matter?). Flatow introduces the attention-getting topics and then shepherds them through a lively panel discussion with top authorities.
For those of us who can't get "Science Friday," or who listen to NPR less than we should, there's the Science Friday site. This official Web site features information on upcoming programs plus searchable archives detailing topics, guests and related books and links for every show since 1994. Best of all, most programs are available in RealAudio, so that hearing about a favorite topic, whether it be dinosaurs or DNA, is a click away.
The site includes a bookshelf, where listeners can find books discussed on the program (and purchase them through the inevitable link to Amazon.com). These are not hardcore science texts, but rather selections--fiction and nonfiction--as vibrant and offbeat as the show itself. Science Friday also features a long page of links to science-related sites, as well as an extensive feedback area, where listeners sound off on things like SETI and solid waste.
Looks like science isn't just for Fridays anymore.
-- Mark Wilson
Site of the Week -- May 29, 2000
ead Cthulhu still lies dreaming ... but if he ever wakes up he'll probably want to surf over to Weirdass.net.
The site is built around a daily comic that puts a science fiction spin on H.P. Lovecraft's tales of cyclopean madness. The comic features beautifully drawn artwork coupled with computer-generated effects, and is filled with references to Old Ones, sunken cities, and other staples of the Cthulhu mythos. But instead of fixating on crumbling New England mansions, Weirdass.net spices up its Lovecraftian lore with healthy doses of late 20th-century mythology. The "Starry Ones" storyline is an excellent example--it combines the infamous "gray" aliens, alien abduction and a variety of ancient and sometimes horrifying races.
Weirdass.net maintains an extensive archive of stories, all of which are told in the classic one-to-four-cell comic format. This means that, although the site is updated regularly, the story advances at a crawl. A multi-panel "Sunday" comic each week would be a welcome addition to an otherwise excellent strip.
-- Kenneth Newquist
Site of the Week -- May 22, 2000
ne of the most frequently asked questions on science fiction and fantasy discussion boards is "Have you read any good books lately?"
The Internet Science Fiction/Fantasy List gives 100 answers to that question.
The list polls genre readers--at last count more than 2,700 of them--via its Web site and compiles a weekly list of the most popular books on the planet. An extended version of the list, showing every book that received at least two votes, is compiled every five weeks. There's also a short stories section that's updated every two weeks.
Books and stories are ranked using diffused averages, which is basically a way to make sure that a book with one vote that's ranked with a 10 doesn't automatically appear at the top of the list.
The site itself is bare-bones basic--no flashy graphics or technologies--but it gets the job done. Anyone looking to find a few--or a hundred--good books for their summer vacation would do well to visit.
-- Kenneth Newquist
