[syn]finity:

What's wrong Simon? Is this music too interesting? Recently, whilst out shopping, my young son asked "why is all the music in these shops exactly the same?" He had a point. Every neon-illuminated consumer-hovel of fashion we visited was pumping out the same insidious four-to-the-floor musical effluent. There was no variation in rhythm, tempo, timbre or anything else. Absolute tedium. You've heard it said over and over again: "all today's music sounds the same!" It's something that your parents probably say about the music you listen to. Or you say about the music other people listen to. It was probably also something your grandparents said about the music your parents were into. But who is right? Are any of them right? Does today's music really all sound the same? Or is it just generational crankiness? If you're on the ball, you'll already know that the music industry doesn't have your best interests at heart when deciding w...

Gravitational waves can't actually be seen as in this simulation. When gazing at the night sky from here on Earth, it’s easy to picture the Universe as calm and unhurried. But in reality, out there in space, things move fast – really fast. Putting aside particle accelerators and the like, the fastest-moving man-made object was the Helios 2 spacecraft launched in the 1970s. It reached a top speed of 68.75 km/s (153,800 mph) on its mission to the Sun. But this was just a leisurely stroll compared to the fastest things in the Cosmos. So, where do we find the real speed freaks of the Universe? Here’s a run-down of the top five. 1. Expansion of the Universe Speed: Greater than the speed of light! The Universe is expanding. But the Universe isn’t filling up ‘empty space’ as it expands because it is ‘space’ itself which is expanding. Although the laws of physics say that two objects can’t move faster than light speed with respect to each other, there is no such restricti...

Independent authors are generally on their own when it comes to promoting their book. It's time-consuming work setting up on various social media, getting a presence on book-club or reader websites, trying to get people to like a Facebook author/book page, connecting with people and groups on Google+, developing your own website and possibly a blog too, and so on. In fact, the amount of work involved can seem very daunting, especially when it might only result in one or two extra fans or book sales. But persistence and patience are both required to make a success of your marketing plan. Hopefully, with a carefully thought-out campaign, and the ability to do all the right things whilst online, you should begin to build a following, increase your visibility and begin to shift a few more 'units' of your 'product'. Daunting as it is, there are many things you can do to make it easier to reach people. And one of those is using Twitter effectively. So, here's a few ...

I'm an accepting kind of person. I generally allow people to think what they want, believe what they want and (pretty much) say what they want, within reason. But occasionally an opinion is so far-fetched, insulting or incorrect that it debases human intelligence (all human intelligence, not just mine). And then I feel I must speak up. One such 'opinion' is the belief in a 'flat' Earth. Although this topic has a substantial history (see for example Christine Garwood's Flat Earth: The History of an Infamous Idea ), it has so far not been publicly contested in any great depth. Even Phil Plait, author of the ever-popular  Bad Astronomy Blog , declined to give such a preposterous proposition any real air-time. And I don't blame him. It really is the most absurd idea. But it should be denounced, for any number of reasons. The basic premise of the 'flat-Earth' protagonists is that ancient cultures were right, the Earth is flat , a circular disk bo...

A few days ago I looked at the date of Christmas and how this is probably tied up with ancient astronomers' observations of the skies. Today, I'd like to look at another 'astronomical' event that we associate with Christmas - the Star of Bethlehem. Could the description in Matthew's gospel be telling us something astronomical? The story of how the three wise men followed this 'star' to the newborn King of the Jews is a common part of the Christmas celebrations. Today, we stick a star on top of our Christmas trees, we attach copious amounts of tinsel to small children in school nativity plays and sing about this 'Star of Wonder'. Perhaps the Star of Bethlehem was a miracle sent to announce the coming of Christ. Perhaps it's just a story (or propaganda) that grew in the telling. But perhaps it was a natural astronomical event that happened by coincidence around the time of Christ's birth? You can see how such an event could easily bec...