Merlin Corey

The Voynich manuscript is a total mystery since a century. It has lots of very detailed illustrations, but it’s written in a language that nobody can understand.

Of course, it’s easier to dismiss it and talk about an elaborate hoax, but some very serious scientists would disagree. According to a new analysis, it would be a real language.

For a writer, there are still a lot of theories to imagine about this book. A new Da Vinci trying to hide his knowledge? A book lost by a Fairy? By an Alien marooned on our planet? It’s up to you…

http://www.ghosttheory.com/2013/08/18/new-analysis-of-the-voynich-manuscript

Adding more and more realism to super-heroes stories has a downside. If you want to be truly realistic, your character might end up homeless and without a dime in their pocket.

http://observationdeck.io9.com/if-clark-kent-tried-to-get-a-newspaper-job-today-1163162396

Orson Welles’ radio version of the War of the Worlds is quite famous, but there are other similar cases of imaginary stories that people actually believed. Who will write a story about someone believing in an unbelievable story?

http://io9.com/7-scifi-literary-and-journalistic-hoaxes-that-readers-b-1161563745

Maybe one day a meteor will desintegrate in the atmosphere, but spread Fairy Dust all around. Or poison. Or worse? Here is a video showing how Chelyabinsk’s fireball spread all around the globe…

http://www.sen.com/news/dust-from-chelyabinsk-fireball-spread-round-globe.html

Miniaturization is always fascinating. How far can we go? These examples are quite fun, though.

http://listverse.com/2013/08/18/10-smallest-things-of-their-kind-in-the-world/

This isn’t a new age theory, but data collected by a real astronomer. He compared two different statistic charts: the distribution of multiple stars (solar systems with one, two, three… suns) and the number of adults in a household (in 6 different countries). The result is close to a perfect match. Quite surprising…
http://www.improbable.com/2013/08/18/the-stars-in-the-heavens-the-adults-in-the-house/

I was playing with the new Google Maps when I got this silly idea : since it’s a great tool for writers who can’t afford to travel all over the world every time they need to describe a place, why not using it to make some virtual trip to the ancient world? I started some research about the location of the Seven Wonders, did some screen captures, worked on the images a bit to give them a more “antique” look, and here we go:

1- Easy: the Great Pyramid of Giza (Egypt)

What is there to say? Even if we tried to review the antique notion of the Seven Wonders and include some monumental wonders from other parts of the world (like Stonehenge, Macchu Picchu, the Great Wall of China, Tiahuanaco and a few others), the Great Pyramid would still be among them.  

2- Less easy: the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Turkey)

Scattered ruins all over the place, as you can see on the Wikipedia picture of the site. But the satellite view from Google Maps is quite interesting too.

3- Still not too hard: the Colossus of Rhodes (Greece)

I remember sitting in the port of Rhodes, years ago, contemplating these two sides of the port, trying to imagine how it would have been to see a giant statue, one foot on each extremity, boats passing inbetween his spread legs. Unfortunately, there is nothing left, just the port…

4- We can find it: the temple of Artemis in Ephesus (Turkey)

I once walked the alleys of Ephesus, the Greek and Roman city on the shores of the actual Turkey. I wasn’t impressed by the remains of the temple itself, more by the library… and the sewer system, a pure example of Roman architectural genius.

5- A bit tougher: the statue of Zeus in Olympia (Greece)

The statue isn’t there anymore and the temple is in ruins. But it is said that Phydias’ masterpiece was truely a wonder.

6- Deep: the tower of Pharos in Alexandria (Egypt)

As the base of the tower has been used later to build a fortress, some of the remains of the old tower, the ancestor of all lighthouses, have been discovered by archaeologists in the harbour.

7- Hardest: the Hanging Gardens of Babylon… or is it Ninive?

Until recently, it was a common belief that the Hanging Gardens were in Babylon. But a recent theory, quite well argumented, points out to another Mesopotamian city: Ninive. If you’re interested in the controversy, you can see Ms. Stephanie Dalley’s findings here

When I was a kid, I read a series of books by an obscure French writer. I was totally amazed by the way he talked about terraforming Mars, and also about travelling to other planets with solar sailing ships. Today, I read about UK Space Agency and Nasa developing a solar propelled spacecraft, and it brought me back in time, when I was reading these epic stories.  I didn’t read anything like that in years.

I daydreamed about a space transposition of the XVIIth century world, with these bold sailors exploring new seas, new worlds. Sailing spaceships tacking in the asteroid belt, going from Mars to Titan space stations just by the power of their solar sails. It would be fun, really.

It was the time when men erected a circle of stones that would defy the ages. A place we call Stonehenge. She was a Queen in Windsor, and she died, and was buried there with all the ceremonial appropriate to her position. Who was she, we do not know. Her people didn’t put the stories in writing. They might have composed ballads about her. Maybe they told tales which became legends. But we don’t know. Maybe someone will tell her story ?

Here are the findings about that woman