Janet from The Walrus Said posted a couple of comments on here today, which reminded me of our knock-down, drag-out fight over whether this blog should be called Hassenpfeffer or Hasenpfeffer. I have surrendered, in a way. The Livejournal version of this blog is called Hasenpfeffer. Never let it be said I cannot be persuaded …
Category: Blog
One step closer to a cloaking device…
A computer model developed at Liverpool University has shown that it’s possible to make objects appear invisible at close range: Dr Guenneau, at the University’s Department of Mathematical Science, explains: “A cloak, such as the one worn by the Harry Potter character for example, is not yet possible but it is a good example of …
And while we’re on the subject of my new novel…
…my underwater hunter/tracker robots destroy their targets with a sonic weapon. Now, thanks to the U.S. Navy, I know how it works.
The Segway of the seas…
My eye continues to be caught by unique above-and-below-water vehicles thanks to the watery setting of my new novel Marseguro (currently undergoing revision). This one looks like fun: As Sci-Fi Tech explains it: The SeaBob essentially works as a self-propelling riding vehicle and is roughly akin to a jetski. You grab hold of two “controlgrips” …
Mini-DNA replicator
This is pretty amazing: A pocket-sized device that runs on two AA batteries and copies DNA as accurately as expensive lab equipment has been developed by researchers in the US. The device has no moving parts and costs just $10 to make. It runs polymerase chain reactions (PCRs), to generate billions of identical copies of …
Slow-wave sleep
The science of sleep was one of my earliest column topics, way back in 1991. And why not? After all, as I pointed out then, sleep is so important birds, fish, reptiles and mammals all do it, we spend a third of our lives doing it, and if we don’t do it, we die. Like …
Post-signing post
Well, that went pretty well. McNally-Robinson did indeed have Lost in Translation (already signed, though, since I signed their entire stock on my last trip up here), A Safe and Prosperous Future and Genetics Demystified on hand. I signed two or three books and talked to several school librarians, so it was all good. And …
Signing in Saskatoon
So here I am at the Saskatoon Inn, due to go down in a couple of hours and take part in an Author Signing Coffee House as part of the Saskatchewan School Library Association Conference getting underway here, along with lots of other Saskatchewan writers: Rebecca Grambo, Byrna Barclay, Dave Glaze, Linda Aksomitis, Rod MacIntyre, …
Is it real, or is it ElectroStrad?
Very few violinists ever get to play a Stradivarius, but maybe they can still get the sound: Researchers at Manchester University claim to have a solution for all those string players who wish their cheap violins could sound like a Strad. According to an article in the London Guardian, the researchers have developed an electronic …
Exercise by taking a pill?
My kind of workout.
One of these things is not like the other…
From the CBC: James Doohan’s ashes headed for orbit Plans are on schedule for the remains of Star Trek actor James Doohan to head to a final frontier on Saturday. The Vancouver-born actor’s ashes are to be launched into suborbital space on a rocket launched from a private desert spaceport near Upham, N.M.So which is …
My waveform collapsed, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt
In view of the fact that quantum physics seems to suggest that reality doesn’t exist until it is observed, and since great portions of the universe are currently unobservable by humans, I’m thinking of creating a T-shirt with the slogan: GOD: Observing reality so you don’t have to. What do you think?
My latest live walk and vlog
Buy Autographed Books
