I doubt Hassenpfeffer will be on anyone’s research agenda, but: Researchers in the University at Buffalo’s School of Informatics have undertaken a long-term research project to study how information from blogs produced in specific American urban areas reflects the political agendas, opinions, attitudes and cultural idiosyncrasies of the general population of those places.
Andre Norton (1912-2005)
Sad news. From the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Web site: Andre Norton, 93, the “Grand Dame of Science Fiction and Fantasy,” author, poet, editor, whose published works span seven decades, died of congestive heart failure in her Murfreesboro, Tennessee home, early Thursday morning, March 17th. Andre Norton was one of the authors …
A Star Trek replicator? Not quite, but close!
Imagine having a machine in your house that could make anything from a cup to a clarinet to a digital camera (minus the computer chip and lens) for just a few dollars–and could also make a copy of itself, so you could have as many of these machines as you needed. Research by engineers at …
A quiet motorcyle is a good thing…or is it?
British engineers have produced a zero-emission motorcycle powered by a high-pressure hydrogen fuel cell that makes no more noise than your PC’s fan. (Probably less noise than mine, which I think will have to be replaced soon.) Those who are not enamored of the ripping roar of an ordinary motorcycle may cheer the quietness of …

