Japanese scientists herald live giant squid footage (from PhysOrg.com): Japanese scientists have released what they say could be the first live video footage of the elusive giant squid, exposing some of the creature’s underwater secrets. Note this is a giant squid, not a colossal squid, which I only mention because “colossal squid” is a search …
Well, I’m Edward Willett, of course, but according to the quiz in question, I am: Robert A. Heinlein Beginning with technological action stories and progressing to epics with religious overtones, this take-no-prisoners writer racked up some huge sales numbers. Which science fiction writer are you? Which ain’t bad.
It’s the Espresso from On Demand Books, and books is what it brews: The machine can produce two books simultaneously in seven minutes, a time which includes all the printing, binding and cutting involved. The machine even slaps a snazzy laminated full-color cover on its creations. Cost: about five cents per page. So a 300-page …
…is how this story about Madagascarian insect life is headlined, but never mind the science: doesn’t “Moths drink the tears of sleeping birds…” sound like the start to a wonderfully evocative poem by some terribly sensitive poet? Something like: Moths drink the tearsOf sleeping birds;I drink up beersAnd slur my words. *Sniff.* Brings a lump …
Nope. Turns out: “The main reason you can’t move the same way each and every time, such as swinging a golf club, is that your brain can’t plan the swing the same way each time,” says electrical engineering Assistant Professor Krishna Shenoy, whose research includes study of the neural basis of sensorimotor integration and movement …
Says the CBC: A move is underway to make Jesus Christ the honorary king of Poland, the country’s influential Rzeczpospolita newspaper reported on Wednesday. I wonder how that plays with those of a pre-millennial apocalyptic bent, like the guys who wrote Left Behind?
For those who recall (what? you didn’t take notes?) that today is the deadline for my new novel for DAW to be turned in, and are wondering whether I in fact made the deadline, the answer is…yes and no. Yes, I wrote the book and just this morning reached THE END on the revision. So …
More photos here.
‘Tis the season to start columns with the phrase ’tis the season…and, if you’re fortunate, to laugh a lot, at parties, at kids, at TV Christmas specials–or just because other people are laughing. Why is laughter contagious? A new study, just published in the Journal of Neuroscience, provides a hint. Researchers at University College London …
Of course, Shakespeare would have said it better than that. Here’s the gist of this new study: Shakespeare uses a linguistic technique known as functional shift that involves, for example using a noun to serve as a verb. Researchers found that this technique allows the brain to understand what a word means before it understands …
Just a reminder for any readers in the Regina area: I’ll be reading and signing my book A Safe and Prosperous Future: 100 years of engineering and geoscience achievements in Saskatchewan, tonight (Tuesday, December 19) at 7 p.m. at the Book & Brier Patch in Regina. Since my wife can’t even be there, it would …
To find out, SF writer Tobias S. Buckell ran an entirely unscientific but still illuminating poll at his blog, and has posted the results. Here’s the core: 32% wrote one novel13% wrote two11% wrote 38% wrote 49% wrote 53% wrote 613% wrote 7 or more novels6% wrote some short fiction first5% wrote a ton of …
