Linkee-poo Monday

Please note the previous linkee-poo posted late Sunday.

"For me, stories can start in a number of ways." Cat Rambo on where story ideas come from.

"The Emilia Report compared broadsheet coverage of 10 male and female writers in the same market. It found a “marked bias” towards male writers, who received 56% of review coverage. Looking at comparable authors Neil Gaiman and Joanne Harris, who had both written new works of fantasy – Gaiman’s Norse Mythology and Harris’s A Pocket Full of Crows – researchers found that while Gaiman’s received widespread coverage, Harris’s did not receive any coverage at all." Also the content of the coverage tends to differ as well. (Grokked from Neil Gaiman)

If a meteor explodes and nobody hears it, does it make a sound? "At about noon local time on 18 December, the asteroid barrelled through the atmosphere at a speed of 32km/s, on a steep trajectory of seven degrees."

There's this joke in healthcare that when you ask us for advice the answer is "gonorrhea." It's always "gonorrhea". "Tests show that dormant herpes viruses reactivate in more than half the astronauts who travel on the Space Shuttle and International Space station, according to new NASA research - a phenomenon the space agency says could pose problems for deep space missions." So if you were writing space opera and you forgot to include STDs in your world building…

"Frequent consumption of sugary drinks such as sodas, sports drinks and juice is linked to an increased risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease and, to a lesser extent, from cancer, according to new research." Cue the bog standard beverage industry response in 3… 2… 1… Also, "Substituting one sugary beverage per day with an artificially sweetened one was found to lower the risk of premature death, but drinking four or more artificially sweetened beverages increased the risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease in women. The same effect was not seen for men, and it was not seen for the risk of dying from cancer."

"This change comes after a large clinical trial found a daily low-dose aspirin had no effect on prolonging life in healthy, elderly people, and actually suggested the pills could be linked to major hemorrhages." Truth. (Grokked from Dan)

"There is no convincing evidence that delaying the introduction of allergenic foods beyond 4 to 6 months of age works in preventing food allergies, the report says. In addition, there is strong evidence that purposeful, early introduction of peanuts as early as 4 months may prevent the development of a peanut allergy in infants at high risk, defined in this report as those with a close relative with a history of an allergic condition." Who doesn't like to see babies with anaphylactic shock symptoms. Also note that you can develop these allergies later in life as well.

"New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that her cabinet has made an in-principle decision to tighten gun ownership in the aftermath of the Christchurch mosques massacre."

"Three people have been killed following a shooting on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, the city's mayor says… Five others were injured in the incident, which police say appears to be a terrorist attack." Oh, well, good think we have a Turkish suspect so we can take our eyes away from the white nationalists attacks.

How goes Brexit? "A 'lot more work' is required to get MPs to back Theresa May's Brexit deal, Jeremy Hunt has said, amid uncertainty over whether it will be put to a vote for a third time this week." And now some Brexiters are saying a "no-deal exit" would actually be the best for Britain. Uh, yeah, Bob.