…here’s my name via Erik Kastner’s “Spell with flickr” app: Pretty cool! And to think kidnappers used to have to do this by cutting letters out of magazines.
Willett of the Day: Edward Willett, Dime-Novelist
No, I’m not featuring myself. This Edward Willett lived in the 19th century and wrote dime novels for Beadle and Adams, with titles like Alone on the Plains, or The She Eagle’s Vengeance (see the cover at right). I can’t find anything else out about him. He may also have written the rhymes for the …
Good news for live musicians
Neuroscientists have found that a piano sonata played by a human being elicits stronger emotional responses than the same piece played by a computer: Senior research fellow in psychology [at the University of Susses] Dr Stefan Koelsch, who carried out the study with colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences …
Willett of the Day: Ed Willett, Cellist
Here’s another Ed Willett, this one a noted cellist: Ed Willett earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Southern California School of Music in Los Angeles, California. He is a cellist, guitarist, composer, arranger, and vocalist. During his education at U.S.C., he studied with cellist Eleanor Schoenfeld. While in Los Angeles, he …
Scientific evidence reading fiction is good for you AND for society
From the Globe and Mail: A group of Toronto researchers have compiled a body of evidence showing that bookworms have exceptionally strong people skills. Their years of research – summed up in the current issue of New Scientist magazine – has shown readers of narrative fiction scored higher on tests of empathy and social acumen …
I’ve been promoted to inspector!
Usually I think the Regina Leader Post does a pretty good job headlining my science column each week, but this week’s choice, for my column on high-tech cooking, is just weird: “Tips from a gadget inspector.“ Could have been worse, though. They could have titled it “Tips from Inspector Gadget.”
Willett of the Day: Ed Willett, ACCC Commissioner
This is on one of the other Ed Willetts who keep popping up when I’m ego-Googling (egoogling?) myself: Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs, Chris Bowen MP, is pleased to announce the reappointment of Mr Ed Willett as a member of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Mr Willett has …
I’ll never need to think up my own plot again…
…thanks to The Science Fiction TV Show Synopsis Generator: CH14 SAT 11:00AM CST: Dimension Three While being held captive by crablike aliens aboard a semi-organic spaceship, a homeless drifter whose living brain has been removed and attached to an electronic machine must make the ultimate sacrifice to save a friend’s life. (Via Paperback Writer.)
"Study: perception of hole size influenced by performance"
This explains why when I golf, the hole appears infinitesimal.
Willett of the Day: Marinus Willett, Revolutionary War Hero
When my family moved to Canada in 1967 (as I think I have recounted before) we were asked, during the process of becoming landed immigrants, what our nationality was. We (or rather, my parents; I was only eight and had little to do with the process) replied that we were American. We were told we …
Bruce Sterling’s SF workshop lexicon
I don’t know how I’ve missed this all these years. I know a lot of the terms–I’ve used them in workshops and more recently in all the work I’ve done with young writers–but I’ve never seen them all brought together in one place, even though this Workshop Lexicon, compiled by Bruce Sterling, has been around …
Willett of the Day: Marinus Willett, Revolutionary War Hero
When my family moved to Canada in 1967 (as I think I have recounted before) we were asked, during the process of becoming landed immigrants, what our nationality was. We (or rather, my parents; I was only eight and had little to do with the process) replied that we were American. We were told we …
My latest live walk and vlog
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