Just heard from my agent that DAW is going to buy my proposed sequel to Marseguro, working title Terra Insegura. Woo-hoo! Watch for the return of “the first sentence I wrote today” in the very near future…
Well, it was nice while it lasted…
…but it turns out there was an error in my Persephone Theatre contract and I really am playing Monsier D’Arque, as I originally thought, not Maurice, in the upcoming production of Beauty and the Beast. That’s life upon the wicked stage, I guess. It makes more sense, though; I thought I would be an odd …
Smarter than the average Harvard senior!
I got 51 right out of 60 on this quiz about American history, government and politics, for an 85 percent average, and most of the questions I missed I don’t feel too badly about, although there were a couple where, when I read the correct answers, I felt extremely “Duh!” The quiz has been in …
An amazing compendium of visual illusions…
…can be found here. Well worth your time. You’ll never believe everything you see again. (Via Science Blog.)
"The most important words in journalism"
From GetReligion, a blog that examines the coverage of religion in the mainstream media, these words of wisdom: It’s a mantra that I have used with my students for years now. Repeat after me: The most important words in journalism are “comma, space, said, space, name, period.” In other words, mainstream journalism is not supposed …
Meteor strike makes Peruvians ill
Here’s an intriguing story: Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday. Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located …
A needle today keeps disease away
Download the audio version.Get my science column weekly as a podcast. **** Children, I have observed (and recall, for my own childhood has not yet faded into the misty depths of time) do not enjoy getting stuck with needles. And yet, getting stuck with needles is a part of growing up, because vaccinations, unpleasant as …
Guess who’s one of the new bloggers for Futurismic
Why, that would be me, thanks. What is Futurismic? I’ll let them answer that: Futurismic is a website for people interested in the future and the effects of science and technology on the present. Futurismic comes in three parts: the blog section consists of short, well-written, opinionated introductions to content that exists elsewhere on the …
Surfer, know thyself
This week’s CBC web column… Download an audio version. **** The forecourt of the ancient Greek temple of Apollo at Delphi bore the inscription “Know thyself.” These days, we find out about ourselves the same way we find out about everything else: we go on the Internet. For example, in recent weeks I’ve learned where …
"Most research findings are false"?
That’s what John P. A. Ioannidis, an epidemiologist at the University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece, and Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies at Tufts University, believes, and has stated in an essay in PLoS Medicine: Simulations show that for most study designs and settings, it is more likely for a …
A comic-book version of The War of the Worlds…
…is online at Darkhorse.com, free for the viewing! Much much better than that dreadful Spielberg/Cruise thing. (Via Drawn.)
Which gets tangled more: curly hair or straight hair?
Science at last has the answer: straight hair. To learn which kind of hair truly is the snarliest, biophysicist Jean-Baptiste Masson at the Ecole Polytechnique in France had hairdressers count tangles for a week in the hair of 212 people—123 with straight hair and 89 with curls. Counting was conducted between 4 p.m. and 7 …
My latest live walk and vlog
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