John Scalzi has announced he is in the running as a write-in president for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). I just received my ballot and haven’t given it any serious thought yet, but after reading his comments and platform, I have to say I’m leaning toward writing him in. If you’re …
That’s what three scientists, one from Denmark and two from Canada, say in a new paper: The entire debate about global warming is a mirage. The concept of ‘global temperature’ is thermodynamically as well as mathematically an impossibility, says professor at The Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Bjarne Andresen who has analyzed this hot …
From Science Blog: Does God or some other type of transcendent entity answer prayer? The answer, according to a new Arizona State University study published in the March journal Research on Social Work Practice, is “yes.” David R. Hodge, an assistant professor of social work in the College of Human Services at Arizona State University, …
YA fantasy author Justine Larbalestier does not like unicorns. Just today she posted: What is it with you people? I tell you what an abomination in the sight of the Lord unicorns are and how much I love love love zombies and what do you do? You send me an endless stream of unicorn-related stuff. …
John Tierney, whose New York Times column and related blog post on laughter inspired and informed my Leader Post science column this week, has a follow-up blog post on a “shocking and unexpected development.” It seems “readers reported laughing out loud at the muffin joke“!
David Louis Edelman lists Five Things That Don’t Happen When You Become a Published Author…alas. (Via SFBC.com.)
Whenever an election is about to occur, we see stories of the “gender gap,” the difference in voting patterns between men and women. But there’s another gender gap that perhaps hasn’t had as much attention: the difference in laughing patterns between men and women. I’ve written before about laughter, but since I’ve noted sadly before …
While self-Googling today (something I like to do periodically, and no, I’m not ashamed of it!) I ran across a nice mention of the paperback of Lost in Translation at a new-to-me blog called Blog Happy. Writes Nicole: Why I picked up this book: Liked the cover, then the back blurb sounded interesting. Do I …
…but when you do see it, you think, “Cool!” It’s a collection of 19th century shipping posters. I like this one because of the name of the ship (natch). (Via Drawn.)
Scientists have used a drug to wipe out a specific memory, while leaving others intact. Only in rats…so far.
How Green Were the Nazis? Proceedings of the 18th International Seaweed Symposium The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification Tattooed Mountain Woman and Spoon Boxes of Daghestan Di Mascio’s Delicious Ice Cream: Di Mascio of Coventry, an Ice Cream Company of Repute, with an Interesting and Varied Fleet of …
…but it’s real: A web-based “expert system” that helped users prepare bankruptcy filings for a fee made too many decisions to be considered a clerical tool, an appeals court said last week, ruling that the software was effectively practicing law without a license. (Via KurzweilAI.Net.)
