With the world ending tomorrow, according to people who aren't Mayan, can anybody confirm that the dolphins are still with us? I might start believing if they bug out. They can't stand Vogon poetry, either.
The 27 science fictions that became science fact in 2012. That robotic arm in #1? Full disclosure, the company I work for developed the arm/hand and the ability to integrate the neural interface. PU Hospitals licensed it from us.
From histories almost forgotten to futures undreamt. A major hub for the internet is placed in the basement of an old press building where the workers plastered the walls with photos, wrote summations, and basically left behind a time capsule pierced by the optic fibers of today's technology. (Grokked from Chia Lynn)
Why you should probably stop eating wheat. Lots of biochemistry going on in there. And I've heard similar things, mostly in counter point to the Green Revolution. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Officials in Michigan close 33 schools because of fears people are freaking out over the Mayan End-of-World rumors. Seriously? Hey, remember in the 90s when conservatives tried to completely defund PBS because the educational factor has been taken over by cable channels like Discovery and History Channel? How's that concept tuning out? Last I checked, nobody when crazy because of something Robert Krulwich, David Pogue or Neil deGrasse Tyson said on Nova, or that Rick Steves finds the best deals for European travel. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
"This is (Tau) Ceti Alpha 5!" Okay, well, it's Tau Ceti something, but it's a rocky planet within the "Goldilock's Zone" orbiting a star that you can go outside and play "I Spy" with. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
We saw "ice flow flowers" last week, this week is "frost flowers." While it means probably death for the plant, those are just beautiful structures of ice. I've seen ice do weird things. A few years ago when the winter was really cold early, we could hear trees split from the ice pressure, it was like gunshots going off. I'll also get ice towers coming up out of the soil (it looks like ants on meth who couldn't agree where to build the mound). But I haven't seen these. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
The sink hole caused by oil and gas exploration (the wells produced a brine used in the process) and caused the evacuation of the area. Sounds like it happened in the third world, right? Otherwise you would have heard of it, right? Wrong. It happened in Assumption Parish, LA this year. (Grokked form Matt Staggs)
You know how some gun rights advocates like to talk about how concealed carry stops crime? You know, unless it actually leads to more crime. In this case one customer at a Little Caesars in St. Petersburg, FL, shooting another customer because the later was complaining about the service and the former admonished him. And you also heard about the guy who shot up a car of teenagers after an argument he started by asking the kids to turn down the music, right? Feel safer yet? I'm sure the pro-gun lobby will talk about how this will lead to a more "civil society." What most pro-gun lobbyist miss is that it becomes an arms race from who has the more powerful weapon to who will shoot first. This is exampled by a kid bringing a gun to school to supposedly stop a CT style attack (although how waving it around on the playground and threatening other kids does that, you've got me). And then there's just the fuckin' crazy people. I'm sure we're all glad he was just trying to relax and re-safetied the weapon after firing 50 rounds into the parking lot, not to mention being polite to the police. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Quote for you: "Writers end up writing stories – or rather, stories' shadows – and they're grateful if they can, but it is not enough. Nothing the writer can do is ever enough" —Joy Williams
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