"The speed of light is a constant in all reference frames."
I believe this is one of relativity's postulates.
This means, if it's necessary for the reference frame to bend a little bit to keep the speed of light a constant in that frame, it bends.
Practically speaking, what happens is the tools you use warp just enough to give you the answer of c. Stopwatches slow down or speed up as needed, meter sticks (or anything you use to measure distance) either stretch or shrink, as needed.
The effects are real and have been measured. Years ago, I attended a seminar by a physics professor who tested the predictions of relativity by accelerating unstable radioactive particles to close to the speed of light. The decay lifetimes of the acclerated particles were longer than those at rest, by the amount predicted by the theory. (By multiplier tau, IIRC, for any physics people out there.)
Because, according to an article in today's Wall Street Journal, the MP3 format is patented. I quote:
"While most MP3 buffs assume that MP3 software is free, since they typically don't have to pay for it, makers of such programs as the popular Music Match CD "ripping" software must pay royalties starting at $15,000 to the Fraunhofer Institute of Germany and Thomson Multimedia, which invented the MP3 system. And musicians who sell their songs in MP3 format are supposed to pay royalties as well."
Hi, y'all. I have been lurking for months now, gathering materials for my stories. I'm a wannabe science fiction writer. I had no intention of ever saying a word, but y'all (Yes, I'm a Southerner.) are talking about a subject I know a little about, so I'd thought I'd add my two cents, and maybe add a little lagniappe.
For over-all quality, I'd pick Asimov's the best anywhere. The writing quality is high. Gardner Dozois (the editor) publishes character-oriented SF, and he's -good- at it, as his multiple Best Editor Hugo awards attest. If you want to see what I'm talking about, Asimov's has all of their Hugo-nominated stories available for reading free of charge at:
http://www.asimovs.com
(In my opinion, Greg Egan's story "Oracle" is brilliant and got my vote for the Hugo this year. It is not adventure SF, but rather philosophical SF. Highly interesting to someone who is familiar with C. S. Lewis and his philosophy.)
I don't really have a second place. F&SF, maybe, with Analog close behind. I'm not too much into fantasy, so F&SF doesn't do much for me, although as a writer I really appreciate Gordon Van Gelder's short response times and personalized rejection slips. Stanley Schmidt (Analog's editor) gives equal weight to ideas and characters. The result can be clunky writing, but the ideas are usually interesting. Oh, yes, Analog's Hugo-nominated stories are currently available free of charge at:
http://www.analogsf.com
(I recommend Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "The Retrieval Artist". Relatively decent hard-boiled detective writing.)
Re the decline of the print mags: It is odd, given the current cultural popularity of SF (I can remember when the only SF on TV was "Star Trek", and it was, no joke, considered to be sophisticated), that the mags' circulation numbers are going down, but it's true. It would be nice to see this change, but I am not making a plea here for you to "support" the print magazines. Something that has to beg for "support" has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. Instead, I hope that if you like what your read at their Web sites, to consider subscribing, and if you continue like it, then to renew your subscription. The print mags, at least currently, are the incubators from which a lot of the new writers spring.
I say "currently". There are a number of on-line mags as well. My current favorite is Strange Horizons, at:
http://www.strangehorizons.com
I have read some excellent fiction there. If you are a curious type, there is a beautifully done online catalog of of mags, print and Web, at:
http://www.ralan.com
This is mainly a writer's resource, and so contains a lot of info irrelevant to a reader, but the type of story each mag prints, plus their URL, is listed, from mainstream SF to really weird stuff. If you like to read flying-elephant fiction and want to know who publishes it, this is a good place to go. Probably most of the Web mags are free, but the mag scene is in constant flux these days, and things are changing rapidly.
The Sci-Fi channel also publishes fiction online, BTW, just not much. They have hired a prestigious editor, Ellen Datlow, to buy their stories for them. For unknown reasons, they only publish two new and two old stories a month, all short stories. (Why, oh God? It ain't like you got to chop down trees to make hard drives!) The quality is high, although Ellen sometimes gets a little too high-falutin' lit-'try for my taste. The URL is:
http://www.scifi.com/scifiction
But the subject was "The Best Sci-Fi On Television". My vote is for SG-1. I don't have cable and therefore have not seen Farscape, but it is getting raves everywhere, and I am almighty curious. I like SG-1 because it seemed to have it all, at least in the beginning. Action, good characters who developed, multiple-episode story arcs, and a strong effort to get the details right, military and scientific. I mourn its passing, even though my local Fox affiliate dropped it a year ago for, God help me, re-runs of local arena football games.
Final Conflict had good characters and a good situation, but not enough action. It failed to engage my attention. A TV show, any visual medium, has to -move-, the place for cerebration is print.
Futurama is one of the best shows on television, but I don't regard it as an SF show, just a comedy show set in the future.
Slashdot Mirror
You will get c--3*10^10 cm/s, IIRC--in all cases.
"The speed of light is a constant in all reference frames."
I believe this is one of relativity's postulates.
This means, if it's necessary for the reference frame to bend a little bit to keep the speed of light a constant in that frame, it bends.
Practically speaking, what happens is the tools you use warp just enough to give you the answer of c. Stopwatches slow down or speed up as needed, meter sticks (or anything you use to measure distance) either stretch or shrink, as needed.
The effects are real and have been measured. Years ago, I attended a seminar by a physics professor who tested the predictions of relativity by accelerating unstable radioactive particles to close to the speed of light. The decay lifetimes of the acclerated particles were longer than those at rest, by the amount predicted by the theory. (By multiplier tau, IIRC, for any physics people out there.)
Jeff Corkern
Because, according to an article in today's Wall Street Journal, the MP3 format is patented. I quote:
"While most MP3 buffs assume that MP3 software is free, since they typically don't have to pay for it, makers of such programs as the popular Music Match CD "ripping" software must pay royalties starting at $15,000 to the Fraunhofer Institute of Germany and Thomson Multimedia, which invented the MP3 system. And musicians who sell their songs in MP3 format are supposed to pay royalties as well."
--Wall Street Journal Online, Aug. 13, 20001
Hi, y'all. I have been lurking for months now, gathering materials for my stories. I'm a wannabe science fiction writer. I had no intention of ever saying a word, but y'all (Yes, I'm a Southerner.) are talking about a subject I know a little about, so I'd thought I'd add my two cents, and maybe add a little lagniappe.
For over-all quality, I'd pick Asimov's the best anywhere. The writing quality is high. Gardner Dozois (the editor) publishes character-oriented SF, and he's -good- at it, as his multiple Best Editor Hugo awards attest. If you want to see what I'm talking about, Asimov's has all of their Hugo-nominated stories available for reading free of charge at:
http://www.asimovs.com
(In my opinion, Greg Egan's story "Oracle" is brilliant and got my vote for the Hugo this year. It is not adventure SF, but rather philosophical SF. Highly interesting to someone who is familiar with C. S. Lewis and his philosophy.)
I don't really have a second place. F&SF, maybe, with Analog close behind. I'm not too much into fantasy, so F&SF doesn't do much for me, although as a writer I really appreciate Gordon Van Gelder's short response times and personalized rejection slips. Stanley Schmidt (Analog's editor) gives equal weight to ideas and characters. The result can be clunky writing, but the ideas are usually interesting. Oh, yes, Analog's Hugo-nominated stories are currently available free of charge at:
http://www.analogsf.com
(I recommend Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "The Retrieval Artist". Relatively decent hard-boiled detective writing.)
Re the decline of the print mags: It is odd, given the current cultural popularity of SF (I can remember when the only SF on TV was "Star Trek", and it was, no joke, considered to be sophisticated), that the mags' circulation numbers are going down, but it's true. It would be nice to see this change, but I am not making a plea here for you to "support" the print magazines. Something that has to beg for "support" has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. Instead, I hope that if you like what your read at their Web sites, to consider subscribing, and if you continue like it, then to renew your subscription. The print mags, at least currently, are the incubators from which a lot of the new writers spring.
I say "currently". There are a number of on-line mags as well. My current favorite is Strange Horizons, at:
http://www.strangehorizons.com
I have read some excellent fiction there. If you are a curious type, there is a beautifully done online catalog of of mags, print and Web, at:
http://www.ralan.com
This is mainly a writer's resource, and so contains a lot of info irrelevant to a reader, but the type of story each mag prints, plus their URL, is listed, from mainstream SF to really weird stuff. If you like to read flying-elephant fiction and want to know who publishes it, this is a good place to go. Probably most of the Web mags are free, but the mag scene is in constant flux these days, and things are changing rapidly.
The Sci-Fi channel also publishes fiction online, BTW, just not much. They have hired a prestigious editor, Ellen Datlow, to buy their stories for them. For unknown reasons, they only publish two new and two old stories a month, all short stories. (Why, oh God? It ain't like you got to chop down trees to make hard drives!) The quality is high, although Ellen sometimes gets a little too high-falutin' lit-'try for my taste. The URL is:
http://www.scifi.com/scifiction
But the subject was "The Best Sci-Fi On Television". My vote is for SG-1. I don't have cable and therefore have not seen Farscape, but it is getting raves everywhere, and I am almighty curious. I like SG-1 because it seemed to have it all, at least in the beginning. Action, good characters who developed, multiple-episode story arcs, and a strong effort to get the details right, military and scientific. I mourn its passing, even though my local Fox affiliate dropped it a year ago for, God help me, re-runs of local arena football games.
Final Conflict had good characters and a good situation, but not enough action. It failed to engage my attention. A TV show, any visual medium, has to -move-, the place for cerebration is print.
Futurama is one of the best shows on television, but I don't regard it as an SF show, just a comedy show set in the future.
My two cents.
Jeff Corkern