An unanticipated personal encounter with the Canadian health system — Tobias Buckell in Montreal.

Smackdown: Orwell vs Huxley — Advantage Huxley. (Thanks to KF.)

Steampunk Monkey Nation — Mmm. Art.

Nanowires that behave like cells — For you futurists and hard SF types reading this. Some cool tech.

The Earth Impact Database — In case you were wondering.

Titan: A ‘Fishing License’ to Broaden the Hunt for Life — Centauri Dreams with more exobiology. I especially like the discussion of terrestrial or Martian contamination on the outer moons.

Tangled phrases or straight-out lies? — Language Log goes deep on the bizarre (largely) conservative meme that Medicare is not a government program.

The Edge of the American West on the New Stupid — Underneath the snarky rhetoric (which I did enjoy), an interesting analysis of why right wing idiocy seems so much more idiotic now (birtherism, deatherism, etc.) than it was in years past.

?otD: Tuesday again?

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8/11/2009
Body movement: n/a (post conventioneering oversleeping)
This morning’s weigh-in: 224.0 (yikes!)
Currently reading: Eight Skilled Gentlemen by Barry Hughart; Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott