It’s not very often that one runs across a scientific study whose methodology consisted largely of watching the Fox TV show COPS. But that was how Mardi Kidwell, assistant professor of communication at the University of New Hampshire, went about her research on “the role of gaze in the interactional management of hysteria by the …
No, seriously.
“By airship to the North Pole — Zeppelin expedition will survey sea ice in the Arctic.“ But it’s not.
Yes, I know, thousands of people have already linked to this video of a patient medieval tech support worker guiding a monk in the usage of the very latest information storage technology…but I haven’t! Well, until now, that is.
…to discover that “Chocolate gives people more of a buzz than passionate kisses“? “There is no doubt that chocolate beats kissing hands down when it comes to providing a long-lasting body and brain buzz — a buzz that, in many cases, lasted four times as long as the most passionate kiss.” Mmmm…chocolate…
“Study: Abstinence doesn’t delay sex.” Hint to headline writers: even though you’ve got limited space, there are certain words you cannot leave out. Like the subject of the sentence, for example. In this case, “abstinence” is actually an adjective modifying the word “programs.” Leave out “programs” and abstinence becomes the subject of the sentence itself, …
In response to this rant by the outgoing Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America vice-president Howard V. Hendrix, in which he takes issue with the growing practice of writers posting work online for anyone to read for free, World Fantasy Winner and current Nebula Award nominee Jo Walton has had an idea: I am …
All the advantages of a gas cooker with none of the disadvantages, this oil cooker promises it “Cooks the Food without Cooking the Cook,” and who could argue with that? I find it interesting how many of these old ads try to connect something that would seem to be merely a matter of simple preference–cooking …
Just for fun…and on the off chance it might be a useful novel-promotion tool…I’ve activated my LiveJournal account (which I’ve had for some time but haven’t really used) and will be cross-posting over there most of the stuff I post here. Although there may be some stuff that only appears there, and vice-versa. Should you …
Gordon & Dilworth’s doesn’t appear to be in operation any longer, but I found the old ad at left, also from Gordon & Dilworth’s, at the British Library’s site: it rhapsodizes even more effusively about the glories of tomato catsup. “This is the popular national sauce of America,” it proclaims, and ads, “It is made …
I’ve been asked a couple of times over the last day or so, presumably because people know I write science fiction, about my thoughts on the death of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Fact is, I don’t have any. I think I hit Vonnegut at the wrong point in my reading life–maybe tried to read him too …
I blogged briefly a couple of posts ago about the fact the early Earth might have been purple, not green. This means, of course, that other planets could even now be predominantly orange or purple rather than green, and still have organisms drawing their energy from the sun just as green plants do here. John …
