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A.C.Wise

Well, out with the old and in with the new. Episode 313 of Beam Me Up is the beginning of the seventh year of I am not sure what. It would seem it is popular though!

I open this week with a quick ditty from John Anealio called “Let Your Geek Flag fly” a cute “call to arms” for all the geeks of the world.

From there I play the first piece of fiction of the afternoon. a flash fiction, a story by J.P. Kelly that was influenced of all things by down-town LL Bean in Freeport! I kept thinking I would run it during the Christmas holidays but never got the chance. But now I read that he now is gearing up his site Free Reads and I thought what better story to remind everyone how good the site was. From there it is over to the blog with the article about a black hole that has some mind numbing features, Symphony of Science is back at it again, I play the newest compilation, “We Are Star Dust”. Earth Sky’s article this week points how different Mars really is from the Earth Forall that it seems to be like Earth. Another article from Courtney tells of scientists using space telescopes like the Spitzer have been able to resolve infra-red light from “super Earth” planets.

And finally I play part 2 of A.C. Wise’s Still Life

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A.C.Wise

wooooooooooo ever had one of those days? Yeah? Mine seem to last a week… soooooooo, what’s on tap this week? Well its episode 312 and I found a couple of entertaining stories and some very interesting articles plus a review.

Very first thing out the door I had a story with the same characters as in episode 308 Kevin Phyland’s Phobic. In this episode Kevin’s story may not be as graphic but it is every bit as thought provoking. His story this month is “Going Home” and I think you will enjoy it every bit as much as I did reading it.

Next I have a couple of articles from EarthSky.org. The articles of note this week deal with first, where is all the star building material come from? You will get a major Oh WOW when you find out not so much where as to when star making could have ceased….and speaking of star making material, how about surviving stars from just shortly after the big bang, yep, possible. From there I review the movie Cowboys and Aliens….lol don’t pass judgement now, listen to the review! From there, it’s the SuperMoon on the 5th / 6th if you are lucky tonight otherwise this is dated – I know, dont you hate that! Ron sends us in a study just starting up about pulsed fusion space engines that is very interesting! And check out hypervelocity stars. Yep 2 billion MPH now that is what I call faaaaaaaaaaast! And to get the ball rolling, Courtney wanted to remind me that this year is the last year for over 100 years in which we will be able to watch a transit of the Sun by Venus. It will be in June this year, and I will remind everyone so anyone that wants to can see it, at least we have some lead time huh?

And so on to our second story, Still Live by AC Wise will be this week’s ender. Still Life deals with the progression of tech to preserve a person’s memory. For most of the past century it was a picture. Literally a still life….. Now we have instant pictures and movies…so where will the tech progress from here. What will be the reaction of others that loved and cared for them as well. How do you consider other’s feelings for your love lost. And what of the replacement. Its more than a picture, but how much more…… I will only get about half read before the top of the hour, so more next week.

Enjoy

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Fox Dunham

Beam Me Up 311 and again it felt like I was all over the place, but in spite of myself, I managed to get a reasonably good show together.

I open the program with a great piece of music. followed by Fox Dunham’s Reality TV a biting satire on entertainment mediums and asks the question, what would it be like if All the World were a stage an all humanity just actors on that stage.

Before I play our final story, I took a trip over to the Beam Me Up Blog. First off, Discovery’s last flight over Washington was such a melancholy event, that I had to speak on it. Then, believe it or not, a middle school teacher of 14 year olds in South Carolina was placed on administrative leave for reading excerpts of Ender’s Game! Andrew Ryan, A researcher at Arizona State University, may have proved that valleys were formed by by lava not water….On February 23, 1987 in the Large Magellanic Cloud a star exploded with enough energy to be seen all the way across the universe. Along with NASA’s Hubble, the ESA photographed recently by the European Space Agency’s Faint Object Camera.

I close this week’s program with A New York Minuted by Edward McKeown. This strange piece of fiction in truth well couched fantasy. The premise is a tall tale told in a pub in down town New York about the strange court held in Central Park. Ron Huber reads this fast paced tale and I know you will love the read.

That’s about it for show 311, I think you will be well entertained.

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Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff

Here is Beam Me Up, episode 310 ready to go!  Not long now before the program will be starting it’s seventh year next month.

Very full hour indeed!
Enjoy

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Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff

I think you will find episode 308 to your liking. I start right off with a story from the pages of this month’s Antipodean magazine. The very graphic tale of an alien ummmm “visit”. “Phobic” by Kevin J. Phyland. Fair warning, the story contains strong images that some people might find unsettling.

From there I travel over to the blog. I review the blu-ray “Hanna” which I found moderately entertaining, next is a catchy tune called the bio-tech blues, you may not be able to follow all the lyrics, but you still find your toes tapping. Explorers think they have found the booster engines of the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket in 14,000 feet of water! The opening story came from this month’s Antipodean online flash fiction magazine. I take a moment going down through the rest of the stories available. There is more evidence every day supporting dark energy as the power source driving the galaxies apart. Once again a short piece of music. This time the “Zelda Girl” this time we are treated to 1 voice and one instrument blended through 120 tracks. Peter Hollens does the vocals and Lindsey Sterling does the  violin that and 120 tracks becomes Skyrim, it is truly an amazing piece of work. I have seen trailers on Youtube for a remake of Total Recall without Arnold S. and it looks BETTER! Not so cartoony and fake plastic sets and much better lightening…Might just be watchable!

And finally part one of Maya Kaathryn Bonhnhoff’s If it ain’t broke…. where one scientist has found a way not to be a total clutz all the time… But the solution is not always optimal…

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David Scholes

This week on Beam Me Up episode 307 I try to keep everything moving along as easily as possible with enough of a mix to keep everyone happy. I think you will find I hit the mark fairly well.

I start with Mr. Spaceman from the Byrds which is live, so you can make up your own mind about that. Next it is two from Earth-Sky that talks about the new m95 super-nova that was first see earlier this month. Also an innovative way that we may be able to spot alien cities in the future – look for their bright lights at night. Now I know we don’t have anywhere near enough power to do that now, but in the future it is very likely. Next Ron sends me the url to a couple of rather strange websites, one will teach you the ins and outs of construction and wearing the AFDB or the aluminum foil deflector beenie! The next is software that purports to counter electronic mind control! I didn’t realize that the “electronic” book reader has roots back to 1935! It is true and the plans are pretty damn inventive! On March 26th film director and James Cameron became the third person to bottom of the deep, in the submarine Deepsea Challenger . Cameron’s attempt is even more unusual in that he did the dive solo and there-for the first and only person to do so. New research from scientists at the University of Chicago, suggests that the impact hypothesis on how the Earth’s Moon was created, might be wrong! Here is a new one paleoclimatologists. The study of ancient even prehistoric weather. And it seems they are interested in raindrops from close to the beginning of the Earth.

And I close with a tale of Aliens on the lamb….on Earth. “Trath” Sometimes, very sadly preconceived notions are altogether wrong. When two aliens prisoners crashland on Earth, Human xenophobia kicks in full blast. Now the situation is likely beyond repair. David Scholes Trath tells the tale of companions of war lost and dying on an alien shore.

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Edward McKeown

Today in episode 306 of Beam Me Up – one can count on a boat load of entertainment. Yes a boatload!

Dan made the suggestion that Space Truckin from Deep Purple would make an excellent show opener which I agreed to!

Jeremy stops by to talk about the Disney movie, John Carter of Mars. I wish I could have spent more time on the review, but today was really loaded up.

After our review, I head over to the Beam Me Up blog at www.wrfrbeameup.blogspot.com.
For this week’s news. Scientists and researchers at the Virginia Tech, the University of Texas and other schools are working together to develop the robotic jellyfish that runs on sea water to move its artificial muscles. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has returned some great photos of its first stop off at the asteroid Vesta. While at the NASA website I took a look at how Messenger is doing at Mercury. On March 17, 2012, MESSENGER successfully wrapped up a year-long campaign to perform the first complete reconnaissance of the geochemistry, geophysics, geologic history, atmosphere, magnetosphere, and plasma environment of the solar system’s innermost planet. NASA is considering the ISS as a platform for a mock Mars mission, based somewhat on the results of the Russian land based experiment a few years ago. One of the main research points would be the effects of microgravity on the astronauts over an extended period of time. I play The audio from the 14th Symphony of Science video.
“The World of the Dinosaurs” is a musical celebration dinosaurs, their habits, extinction, and our methods of learning about them. Featuring Alice Roberts, Bill Nye, Nigel Marvin, Dallas Campbell and more. Easily worth the price of admission for sure!

This week’s story is part 2 and the conclusion to Ed McKeown’s Final Test which was excellently read by our most talented reader Ron Huber. This week the high school students come toe to toe with a most fearsome alien in a truly desperate effort to keep Earth from becoming a food source for alien carnivores.

That and more. I am all cued up and ready to go!

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Keith Latch

This week on Beam Me Up episode 304 contains top notch entertainment as well as thought provoking articles.

It seems there was so much stuff in such a short time.  Reminds me of something….blivit or not!  Enjoy!!

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Nancy Fulda

Strange and creepy are the cornerstones of this week’s Beam Me Up broadcast. I start off first with T. Fox Dunham’s spin on a well worn science fiction theme. I read his “Freedom Day” Where a long lost space traveler only to find humans enslaved by mechanical overlords. Upon freeing the oppressed human race our stalwart traveler garners a reward that was far beyond anything he could have imagined.

Next from Earth Sky – news on the VLA telescope soon to be fully operational in Chile called Alma and feathers caught in ancient tree sap helps demonstrate that early flightless dinosaurs and ancient birds both used feathers but for varying purposes.

From there I head over to the Beam Me Up blog to discover that dinosaurs themselves were plagued by fleas just as much as modern animals, but these were no ordinary fleas! Next I review the blu-ray Batman: year one which follows the genesis of the Batman mystique from the comic book history time line, Hubble has detected a gas cloud thought to be the precursor to a supernova that could happen at any moment, Some voice over actors find it difficult to drop their assumed personas once the project is finished. Watch Ben Shelton’s web series The Daly Show – I have a link and the mentioned video – funny just can not describe it! The most distant object in the visible universe had been discovered. Light from the GRB has been traveling to us for 13.2 billion years, that makes it 96% of the age of the Universe itself. I find another Darwin hopeful….this brain trust is not to be believed! And finally from the blog comes one of the most disturbing ideas yet to improve on meat production. You will not believe your ears!

And finally part two of Nancy Fulda’s story Movement which is up for the Nebula this year in the short story department. Good Luck Nancy!

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Jason Kahn

This week could have run out of control, but I kept somewhat of a tight hold on the reins, but still, towards the end….things frayed a bit…

Thanks to Mark, I played the proper episode of the Dark Inspectre by Jason Kahn. Last week I played episode 4 which I was sure was the proper episode….Nope. Mark wrote to tell me that I played episode 4 last month! So this week I play episode 5 – Thanks Mark.

But first I lead off with an Indie song from the game “To The Moon”. The song’s title is “Every-thing’s Alright” and it is sung by Laura Shighara. Laura sings all the parts and plays the instruments and I think you will fall right in love with the tune.

From the Beam Me Up Blog – research that black holes may indeed evaporate and that gravity may not be a fundamental force of nature! The Swiss are planning to launch an $11-million satellite called “CleanSpace One” in the near future as a start to cleaning up space junk. NASA activated Robonaut for a first ever robot / human hand shake. oh goodie…….

I take a short break to play the audio of Sagan’s wonderful “Pale Blue Dot” if you have never heard it before, your in for a treat and if you have, the revisit is just as moving. I finish reading from the blog with Topless Robot’s 10 toys with really questionable names and let me tell you it is beyond comprehension how some of these made it through product QC….I mean a game called Ball Buster? Really?

And the final story of the program is the fourth episode of Erin Bassett’s “Clock Work”. I really hope to have more of this extraordinary series in the future.