The Journal of Irreproducible Results
There's a great publication, the Journal of Irreproducible Results, which bills itself as "The fact-filled, fun-filled, thoughtful science humor magazine".
For those who are unfamiliar with the JIR, it is a magazine which has a go at the more dubious claims coming out of the scientific community. Hence the title.
Here's what Omni magazine has to say about JIR:
"There are few outlets in the world where scientists with a sense of humor can poke fun at themselves and publish theoretical breakthroughs. The finest one today is the Journal of Irreproducible Results."
So what? you might ask.
Well, today i had the pleasure of stumbling across a new publication which at first I thought must be satire, but in fact appears to be serious. In fact, the tagline reads "the world's 1st monthly magazine focusing on Space Tourism and Commercialization!"
Of course, there is no option to actually VIEW a bit of the content in advance, before deciding if one might want to subscribe to this publication. I'm almost tempted to sign up for it anyways - at a bit over $8/issue, it's pricey for something which I would be hard-pressed to believe could run more than 4 pages (after all, how much can you write about a non-existant business on a recurring monthly basis? Wait. Scratch that...)
I'd be particularly interested in seeing the questions on this topic:
"In addition each issue (starting with the May issue) of the magazine includes an educational space tourism quiz !!"
Exciting times.
I just wonder if they recall that little, well funded publication known as "Space Illustrated"?
Feel free to click on the link under the google sponsored ad - that way we too can say we are making money off an alt.space idea ;-)
For those who are unfamiliar with the JIR, it is a magazine which has a go at the more dubious claims coming out of the scientific community. Hence the title.
Here's what Omni magazine has to say about JIR:
"There are few outlets in the world where scientists with a sense of humor can poke fun at themselves and publish theoretical breakthroughs. The finest one today is the Journal of Irreproducible Results."
So what? you might ask.
Well, today i had the pleasure of stumbling across a new publication which at first I thought must be satire, but in fact appears to be serious. In fact, the tagline reads "the world's 1st monthly magazine focusing on Space Tourism and Commercialization!"
Of course, there is no option to actually VIEW a bit of the content in advance, before deciding if one might want to subscribe to this publication. I'm almost tempted to sign up for it anyways - at a bit over $8/issue, it's pricey for something which I would be hard-pressed to believe could run more than 4 pages (after all, how much can you write about a non-existant business on a recurring monthly basis? Wait. Scratch that...)
I'd be particularly interested in seeing the questions on this topic:
"In addition each issue (starting with the May issue) of the magazine includes an educational space tourism quiz !!"
Exciting times.
I just wonder if they recall that little, well funded publication known as "Space Illustrated"?
Feel free to click on the link under the google sponsored ad - that way we too can say we are making money off an alt.space idea ;-)
posted by Shubber Ali at 9:36 PM
3 Comments:
I looked up the WHOIS data - the domain belongs to someone named Alexander Windel in VA. He also, it seems, is starting up something called the "Space Elevator Club", and was even on a panel with Brad Edwards at last year's Space Exploration conference. He mentioned a magazine devoted to SE fans. Among his bullet points: "Everybody invited to contribute to the SE magazine. Has technical and layman content. Authors get magazine for free."
But now he's starting a publication devoted to space tourism. With no sample content.
It reminds me the "light reading" joke in the film "Airplane".
I went to the trouble of looking this up as I was certain this was another Odyssey Spacelines type scam. I could've handled that. However it's worse - it's a serious True Believer.
In a higher sense, this thing serves as an illustrative example of all True Believers, does it not? Just pony up and trust me to deliver.
Do you think this community is a bunch of fools and it will just hand you multiple subscriptions for saying "space tourism."
Um, do i need to answer this?
"Here's what Omni magazine has to say"
Omni magazine? Welcome to the 21st Century, time traveler.
If you really want to keep up on the space "tourism" news without paying money and wasting trees, check out Personal Spaceflight, from a brand you can trust.
Post a Comment
<< Home