For the past 17 years, my science column (which continues to run weekly in the Regina Leader Post) also ran, at first weekly, then every other week, on CBC Radio’s Afternoon Edition here in Saskatchewan. As of two weeks ago, however, my CBC focus has changed to matters World Wide Webbish.I still write them up …
Category: Blog
"I always feel like somebody’s watching me…"
A Cambridge University security researcher has demonstrated the ability to read text and capture images from flat-screen displays…through as many as three intervening walls. Well, that’s unnerving.
Furryvision!
Phillips says it can build a video display that would consist of a piece of fabric covered with fur: Here’s how it works: imagine the fabric is red and the hair is blue. With the hairs lying flat obscuring the fabric beneath, the pixel looks blue. But applying an electrostatic charge causes the hairs to …
Rise of the aircar?
Gress Aerospace has plans for an automobile-sized single seat vertical take-off and landing aircraft. In SF circles, we call that an “aircar.”
Accents and dialects of the U.K.
This is a very cool site from the British Library: click on a map of the U.K. and hear a recording of someone from the region you’ve clicked on speaking in the local dialect. A great resource for actors trying to nail a particular accent, among other things. (Via The Corner.)
Possibly habitable world found
Astronomers have found the first extrasolar planet where carbon-based “life as we know it” could conceivably exist: A planet of about five times Earth mass, one whose radius is only 1.5 times that of our own world. Moreover, a planet that’s smack in the middle of its star’s habitable zone, with a mean temperature estimated …
Rust never sleeps
From nuclear terrorism to Earth-killing asteroids, avian flu and global warming, these days you can choose to set aside every hour of the day for a specific worry and never repeat yourself. To insure it stays that way, I’d like to introduce you to Ug99. Ug99 is a strain of black stem rust that attacks …
More technopeasants
Jo Walton (who started this whole thing) is keeping track of some of the other free online offerings for International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day.
Read online or download my YA novel Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star for free
In honour of International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, I have now posted Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star online in its entirety. Enjoy! This is free to read and to share (non-commercially, of course). If you’d prefer, you can download a PDF version here or a Mobipocket version here. If you do want to share Andy Nebula …
The real-life Atlantis?
Well, this is interesting. Reports the BBC: The legend of Atlantis, the country that disappeared under the sea, may be more than just a myth. Research on the Greek island of Crete suggests Europe’s earliest civilisation was destroyed by a giant tsunami. As John Scalzi, over at Ficlets, notes: Of course, this leaves Aquaman without …
"Tramping alien territory in search of the Fountain of Sales"
In the course of writing about the demise of “plogs” (author blogs attached to books on Amazon), Victoria Strauss pegs something I’ve been thinking, too: In the harsh world of self-promotion, we’re all snatching at straws, reading runes, casting spells, and chasing our own tails, hoping that each new opportunity–websites! Blogs! Plogs! MySpace! Podcasting!–will be …
I’m a thinking blogger!
At least, according to Sherry D. Ramsay, who has kindly awarded me that title. Here’s how it works: 1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,3. Optional: …
My latest live walk and vlog
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