Jay Lake: Writer

[links] Link salad dreams mountain dreams

The first Apple, fetching prices that may crash the system

Acoustic Levitation — This is seriously cool. (Via threeoutside.)

Marketing to the Big Data Inside Us — In your DNA are clues to your health, your ancestry, and maybe even your purchasing preferences.

A molecular window on itch — Researchers discover chemical puppet master behind the need to scratch.

An Interplanetary GPS Using Pulsar Signals — Spacecraft could determine their position anywhere in the solar system to within five kilometres using signals from x-ray pulsars, say astronomers.

New Technique Could Probe Rocky Alien Planet Surfaces

Scientists: Arctic bacteria discovered on Earth may prove life could thrive on Mars

Glow-in-the-dark cockroach among top 10 new species of 2012

White tiger’s coat down to one change in a gene

Race, Intelligence, and Genetics For Curious Dummies

The Iraq War Wasn’t Inevitable — Nope. It was a trillion dollar war of choice based on knowingly false premises brought to you by leading conservatives. I wish more Republican voters understood those simple facts. But they watch FOX News and listen to Rush Limbaugh, so they never will.

C.I.A. to Focus More on Spying, a Difficult Shift — Hmm…

Ignorance loves company: Four examples — Ignorance loves company. The truly stupid resent those who are not and won’t be satisfied until they’ve burned all the books, torn down the libraries, closed the universities, and made it impossible for anyone else not to share their own proud ignorance. Who could he be talking about? What segment of American culture and politics? I really cannot imagine, can you?

How Van Halen explains Obamacare, salmon regulation and scientific grants — This is why it’s important to do nuance. Too bad Republicans have elected political vandals who proudly don’t do nuance to dominate the House and derail the Senate. (Snurched from Slacktivist Fred Clark.)

Toomey’s candor sheds light on post-policy party — “There were some on my side who did not want to be seen helping the president do something he wanted to get done, just because the president wanted to do it.” Speaking of the GOP as political vandals. (Snurched from Slacktivist Fred Clark.)

President Obama and Counter-Terrorism: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

QotD?: How was your dinner last night?

5/24/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.5 hours (WRPA editing, otherwise on workshop time)
Hours slept: 7.0 hours (very fitful)
Body movement: n/a
Weight: n/a
Number of FEMA troops on my block scamming disaster aid slush funds: 0
Currently reading: The Wee, Free Men by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Apple, Cool, Culture, healthcare, Iraq, Links, Mars, nature, Personal, Politics, race, Science, space, Tech

Posted: 5:58 am Fri May 24 2013 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad for a high altitude Wednesday

Cloned video GIFs — This is so cool. (Via threeoutside.)

The Phosphorous Atom Quantum Computing Machine — An Australian team unveils the fundamental building block of a scalable quantum computer that could be embedded in today’s silicon chips.

New Efforts to Overhaul Psychiatric Diagnoses Spurred by DSM Turmoil — (Via Marta Murvosh.)

If the Earth had rings — (Via Lisa Costello.)

Red Sprite Lightning with Aurora — A strange photo from APOD. Well worth reading the write-up.

Had the Cookie Crumbled Differently: East and West Dakota

Pat Robertson shrugs off adultery, CBN regrets the misunderstanding — Robertson said the “secret” was to “stop talking about the cheating. He cheated on you. Well, he’s a man. OK.” So glad religious conservatives had this viewpoint during the Clinton years. Imagine the political circus if they’d taken adultery seriously back then.

Asked by Wolf Blitzer if She Thanked God for Surviving the Tornado, Oklahoma Woman Responds: ‘I’m Actually An Atheist’ — Heh. It’s a stupid question on the face of things. If we’re supposed to thank God for surviving such an event, aren’t we equally blaming God for the lives lost? (Via shsilver.)

Anti-Sandy-relief Oklahoma Senator: Aid for Oklahoma is “totally different” than Sandy — The only difference is that the tornado victims vote in Oklahoma. Just like government support for hard working farmers is totally different from food stamps for the lazy urban poor. Ah, that justly famed conservative intellectual consistency.

Oklahoma GOP Sen. Tom Coburn Will Seek To Offset Tornado Aid — At least he’s being intellectually consistent in his conservative cruelty, unlike Senator Inhofe cited above. Unusual for a Republican, that.

Fisheries could be in hot water due to climate change — Warming waters are altering the distribution and abundance of fish species. Amazing, the lengths liberals will go to for their global warming hoax. Even to warming entire oceans. Thank god for Rush Limbaugh and the Republican party, otherwise we might have to do something about this.

Will Republicans Screw Up Again? Some Are Already Overreaching — Republicans allowed themselves to look as if they were primarily interested in scoring political points and overturning the results of the 1996 election, even if it meant paralyzing the government. That same danger exists once again for the GOP. “Look as if…” That’s remarkably kind to a party whose top legislative priority was ensuring that Obama was a one-term president. Not jobs. Not the economy. Not healthcare. Not our foreign wars. No, overturning the results of the 2008 election. And now, the 2012. They’re practically built their entire brand and message around it.

QotD?: What did you read yesterday?

5/22/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (workshop)
Hours slept: 5.5 hours (fitful)
Body movement: n/a
Weight: n/a
Number of FEMA troops on my block scamming disaster aid slush funds: 0
Currently reading: Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Art, climate, Cool, Culture, healthcare, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, Religion, Science, weird

Posted: 5:38 am Wed May 22 2013 | Comments(2) |

[links] Link salad wakes up groggy but rested

Geomedia — The intersection of tech and art can be gloriously strange.

Hot Lead: 1942 — Mmm, linotype machines.

Navy Dolphin Finds Rare 130-Year-Old Torpedo

Honeybees trained to sniff out landmines in Croatia

Formation of reptilian head scales

Apple’s Web of Tax Shelters Saved It Billions, Panel Finds — Oi.

How to Legalize Pot

6 Women Scientists Who Were Snubbed Due to Sexism — Despite enormous progress in recent decades, women still have to deal with biases against them in the sciences.

Wells Dry, Fertile Plains Turn to Dust — Nothing to see here, just liberal hoaxes being supported by conservative Midwestern farmers.

Alaskan villages try “climigration” in the face of climate change — When a town turns to a perpetual disaster area, it might be time to move it. Amazing, the lengths liberals will go to. Thank God for Rush Limbaugh and the Republican party, or we might have to take these things seriously.

Discrimination and Marriage Inequality — Jim C. Hines on the real world results of anti-gay bigotry. That means you, if you oppose gay marriage, regardless of how high-minded your rationalizations.

QotD?: How’d you sleep last night?

5/21/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (workshop)
Hours slept: 9.0 hours (solid)
Body movement: n/a
Weight: n/a
Number of FEMA troops on my block covering up evidence about Benghazi: 0
Currently reading: Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Apple, Art, climate, Cool, Culture, gay, gender, Links, nature, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Science, Tech, weird

Posted: 7:33 am Tue May 21 2013 | Comments(2) |

[links] Link salad checks in from 10,000 feet up in the mountains

Abandoned Stars Wars sets in the desert — Are these meta-artifacts? (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

Divide & conquer makes quantum light a breeze to detect

One-Time Pad Reinvented To Make Electronic Copying Impossible

The Brick Testament — The world’s largest, most comprehensive illustrated Bible. Mmm, Legos. Something I think I’ve featured before. (Thanks to seventorches.)

Beware Social Nostalgia — An essay that cuts the heart out of one of the core impulses of conservatism — the Myth of the Golden Age.

Lesbian forced from partner, two kids by Texas judge’s ‘morality clause’ — A lesbian woman has 30 days to evacuate her home after a judge ruled only relatives by ‘blood or marriage’ can be around her partner’s kids past 9 pm. Compassionate conservatism strikes again. (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

Washington Gets Explicit: Its ‘War on Terror’ is Permanent — Senior Obama officials tell the US Senate: the ‘war’, in limitless form, will continue for ‘at least’ another decade – or two. We have always been at war with Eurasia. (Thanks to tillyjane, a/k/a my mom.)

QotD?: What’s the highest altitude you’ve ever been at (not counting flight)?

5/20/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (con time)
Hours slept: 7.25 hours (fitful)
Body movement: n/a
Weight: n/a
Number of FEMA troops on my block covering up evidence about Benghazi: 0
Currently reading: Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Cool, Culture, Funny, gay, gender, Links, Movies, Personal, Politics, Religion, Tech

Posted: 6:17 am Mon May 20 2013 | Comments(6) |

[links] Link salad wanders off to New Mexico

A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste — Me and John Scalzi.

Mark Twain Captured on Film by Thomas Edison in 1909. It’s the Only Known Footage of the Author. — Oh, wow. (Thanks to scarlettina.)

How the Mighty Winds of Uranus and Neptune Blow — Uhh…

Earth’s Richat Structure — Oh. this is cool. Geology from space.

Has Justin Bieber Abandoned His Monkey?

Up to 1 in 5 children suffer from mental disorder: CDC — Sigh.

In the Box: A Tour Through the Simulated Battlefields of the U.S. National Training Center

Climate Change Denial is Costing us Trillions, Threatening Farming, Fishing, Animals (Video) — Rush Limbaugh and the GOP keep us better informed than any of those liberal “facts” and “data” possibly could.

Colorado GOPer Accused Of Storming Away From Aurora Victim’s Dad — Conservative policies have ugly, ugly consequences. Republican support for widespread private gun ownership with minimal responsibility or accountability kills 30,000 American adults and children every year. Running away from that doesn’t change anything, it just confirms once again the moral and political cowardice inextricably interwoven with the pro-gun position.

QotD?: Ever been to New Mexico?

5/19/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (con time)
Hours slept: 4.25 hours (fitful, yikes!!!)
Body movement: n/a
Weight: n/a
Number of FEMA troops on my block covering up evidence about Benghazi: 0
Currently reading: Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Tags: climate, Cool, Culture, Funny, guns, healthcare, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, Publishing, Science, space, Videos

Posted: 5:21 am Sun May 19 2013 | Comments(4) |

[links] Link salad parties with the pros in San Jose

“Into the Gardens of Sweet Night” by Jay Lake — A review of my 2003 Hugo-nominated novella.

Stone Age Cinema — This is cool.

Brain Stimulation Can Boost Math Skills — The study was small-scale and is not something that should be replicated at home, because of the possibility of harm/ Ya think? (Via David Goldman.)

Farm Equipment That Runs on Oats

Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion

Climate research nearly unanimous on human causes, survey finds — Of more than 4,000 academic papers published over 20 years, 97.1% agreed that climate change is anthropogenic. Reality’s well-known liberal bias is not an inherent property of the physical universe. Rather, it’s an emergent property of conservative privileging of ideological thinking over evidence-based thinking. Conservatives would serve themselves and the country as a whole a great deal better if they relied less on arguments from authority and more on arguments from reality.

Justifiable Cause — The Obama administration is making the case for conservatism better than Mitt Romney ever did. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

The Great Benghazi Conspiracy and Republican Forgeries — As I said on Twitter and Facebook yesterday, GOP makes up fake White House Benghazi emails, cons news with fakes, now can accuse White House of covering up when real emails are released. Classy. The worst part, it works. Keeps their white men angry over outright lies.

QotD?: Have you handicapped the Nebula ballot?

5/18/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (WRPA)
Hours slept: 4.25 hours (solid, but yikes!)
Body movement: n/a
Weight: n/a
Number of FEMA troops on my block covering up evidence about Benghazi: 0
Currently reading: Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Art, climate, Cool, history, Links, Personal, Politics, reviews, Science, space, stories, weird

Posted: 6:01 am Sat May 18 2013 | Comments(2) |

[links] Link salad wonders how it can dance when our earth is turning

JayFest — Sci-Fi Book Fair & Group Signing — My friends at Powell’s are hosting a group signing in support of my cancer journey, book sales to benefit the Clayton Memorial Medical Fund. The evening of June 13, 2013, two days before JayCon, at Powell’s Cedar Hills in Beaverton, OR.

Almost All the Way Home From the Stars: Seven Science Fiction Stories — An ebook of my collaborate work with Ruth Nestvold is now available. Includes the story we had in SCI FICTION together.

Vintage Book Jacket Art — (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

Two uncomfortable truths: New Merida looks a little whorey. Fewer people care about this than you would think.

Brain Training Helps Clear Cognitive Fog Caused by Chemotherapy — The mental fuzziness induced by cancer treatment could be eased by cognitive exercises performed online, say researchers. I play sudoku online rather obsessively when I am in chemo, as a form of cognitive self-check.

Ranbaxy: Looking Under the Rock — Why generic drugs do not always stack up. (Via David Goldman.)

Eyeball — A throwable building-mapping sphere from Bounce Imaging was recently chosen by PopSci for a 2013 Invention Award. The “throwable, expendable, baseball-size probe,” in PopSci’s words, “has a shock-absorbing shell embedded with six cameras, plus clusters of near-infrared LEDs to light up dark rooms (for the cameras).” Wow.

Opportunity Breaks NASA’s 40-Year Roving Record

Danish Teenager Makes Rare Viking Find — Cool!

Thrilling video of Portland PD high-speed chase… wait for it… — Ah, Portland.

Survey of 12,000 studies finds strong agreement on climate change — We already knew 97% of climate scientists backed the scientific consensus. It’s amazing the lengths liberals will go to in order to spread their climate change lies, even to the extent of using reality-based “facts” and “data”.

GOP raffling AR-15 “Sandy Hook”-type rifles as macabre pro-gun stunt — Stay classy, conservative America. It’s what you do best.

CBS: It was congressional GOP who faked Benghazi email — Conservatives can almost never win on the facts, so of course they lie. That’s the entire idea behind FOX News. And the Bush administration. (WMDs in Iraq, anyone? Anyone? Bueller?) Why should it be any different in the GOP congressional delegation? Water is wet, too.

QotD?: How do we sleep while our beds are burning?

5/17/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (0.5 revisions on my novella for METAtropolis: Green Space, plus WRPA)
Hours slept: 6.25 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 249.2
Number of FEMA troops on my block covering up evidence about Benghazi: 0
Currently reading: Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Books, Cancer, climate, Cool, events, Funny, guns, health, healthcare, Iraq, Links, Mars, media, Personal, Politics, Portland, Publishing, Science, stories, Tech, Videos

Posted: 4:36 am Fri May 17 2013 | Comments(4) |

[writing|science] Geeking out over asteroid strikes

One of the things I love about writing is research. One of the things I love about research is interviewing experts. An acquaintance (and fan) is an asteroid geologist and runs a meteorite laboratory. I asked her about the kinetic strike on Seattle that occurs in my METAtropolis: Green Space novella, “Rock of Ages”. Here is part of what she sent me, redacted somewhat for clarity and confidentiality:
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cool, friends, Science, Writing

Posted: 5:24 am Thu May 16 2013 | Comments(9) |

[links] Link salad for another hump day

Biology, Chemistry and Science Pick-up Lines! — Hahahaha! (Via Gabrielle Harbowy.)

It’s Time to Talk about the Burgeoning Robot Middle Class — How will a mass influx of robots affect human employment?

Synthetic Biology Could Speed Flu Vaccine Production — Advanced genetic engineering is already changing vaccine development and could make inroads into other branches of medicine.

The Extinction Orchestra — Designer Marguerite Humeau reconstructs the voices of extinct animals based on speculative extrapolations from their skull structure.

Parents sue South Carolina for surgically turning child into a female — This is about state intervention in an intersexed child’s medical care.

How climate change denial works — Fox’s broadcast was really quite ingenious. They can claim they presented “both sides,” when in fact there were never two sides to the question. That’s the typical conservative response. Their ideas are intellectually bankrupt, so they lie.

RNC Hispanic Outreach Director Becomes A Democrat — What did he expect? He was a Republican. Good for him for finally waking up when his own ox was gored. Like I keep saying, no one likes conservative policies when applied to them personally. (Via shsilver.)

National Security Brief: Poll Finds Americans Aren’t Buying GOP Benghazi Witch-Hunt — A whopping 41 percent of Republicans polled think the Obama administration’s handling of Benghazi is the greatest scandal in U.S. history. “One interesting thing about the voters who think Benghazi is the biggest political scandal in American history,” PPP adds, “is that 39% of them don’t actually know where it is.” Sometimes the jokes just write themselves. Also, Jim Wright with a lot more on the conservative “position” on Benghazi.

When the IRS targeted liberals — Under George W. Bush, it went after the NAACP, Greenpeace and even a liberal church. Yeah, remember all the Republican outrage back then? Nah, neither do I. Not that this makes what’s going on now right, but it certainly underscores yet again the profound hypocrisy of conservatism in general.

QotD?: What’s your favorite day of the week?

5/15/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.5 hours (Revision on my novella for METAtropolis: Green Space)
Hours slept: 5.75 hours (fitful)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 248.2
Number of FEMA troops on my block covering up evidence about Benghazi: 0
Currently reading: The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett

Tags: climate, Cool, Funny, gender, healthcare, Links, music, Personal, Politics, race, Science, sex, Tech, weird

Posted: 5:03 am Wed May 15 2013 | Comments(2) |

[links] Link salad prove to you that it’s no fool, walks across your swimming pool

It’s hard to rely on my good intentions, when my head’s full of things that I can’t mention — Lisa Costello on how my cancer news is affecting her.

Game Theory and the Treatment of Cancer — Thinking about cancer as an ecosystem is giving biologists access to a new armoury of mathematical tools for tackling it, such as evolutionary game theory.

The History of Typography – Animated Short — This is kind of nifty. (Via threeoutside.)

Alice E. Kober, 43; Lost to History No More — Ancient languages and eccentric professors. It doesn’t get any better! (Via my Dad.)

Dull Flag and Tongue of Gangsta: The Laugh-out-loud Place-names of Shetland and Orkney

Beatnik JFK: 1957 — For some reason, I find this photo very funny.

Researcher Analyzes Oldest Fossil Hominid Ear Bones Ever Recovered

Fossil Amber Challenges Theories About Glass — Scientists discover that glass doesn’t flow like a liquid.

Kangaroos have three vaginas — Mmm, marsupials. (Via David Goldman.)

One Small Step for Geoengineering — or Is “Ecoengineering” Better?

Space Oddity — David Bowie’s Space Oddity, recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station. We are indeed living in the future. (Via David Goldman and others.)

‘Einstein’s Planet’: New Alien World Revealed by Relativity

Climate Sensitivity Stunner: Last Time CO2 Levels Hit 400 Parts Per Million The Arctic Was 14°F Warmer!

The Dark Art of Racecraft — Jason Richwine’s place in the long history of research on race and IQ. Ta-Nehisi Coates is powerful on race and racism in academic tradition.

Infographic: Is Your State’s Highest-Paid Employee A Coach? (Probably) — I’m so proud of America at moments like this. With all the budget problems of government, and all the human suffering in our debated economy, we still have our priorities straight. (Via danjite.)

Japan WWII ‘comfort women’ were ‘necessary’ – Hashimoto — A prominent Japanese politician has described as “necessary” the system by which women were forced to become prostitutes for World War II troops. Oh, God. Really? Not only seven kinds of wrong, but disgusting and morally depraved. China indignant at Japanese politician’s “comfort women” statement.

Homophobes Might Be Hidden Homosexuals — A new analysis of implicit bias and explicit sexual orientation statements may help to explain the underpinnings of anti-gay bullying and hate crimes. Also, this just in: water is wet. Inside a great number of angry conservative bigots is a fabulous gay man struggling to get out.

Naked TSA Protester’s Appeal to Be Heard Tuesday — A story of local interest here in Portland. It would be pretty funny if it weren’t so darned serious.

Police search for 19-year-old man shooting, wounding of 19 at New Orleans Mother’s Day parade — Because an armed society is a polite society, and guns make us all safer. Think how much harder it would have been for this shooter to exercise his theoretical defense of essential liberties without the smiling protection of the NRA and the Republican Party.

Right-wing media check up: still crazy — The right-wing media hasn’t learned anything from its failures in 2012. It’s the same-old ‘Obama is evil’ conspiracy theories.

Gates: Administration Critics view of US Military Capabilities in Benghazi “Cartoonish” — Former Bush and Obama administrations secretary of defense Bob Gates, a lifelong Republican, replied to some of the GOP fantasies about the possibility of a US military mission into Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012. The Republican obsession with Benghazi is just as bizarre and counterfactual as the vast majority of their other obsessions. Not that bizarre counterfactuals stopped Whitewater from morphing into the Clinton impeachment. Essentially, the GOP has been unable to accept the legitimacy of any Democratic president since LBJ.

Government secretly obtains phone records from journalists — Prosecutors targeted the Associated Press in an attempt to learn who leaked information about the CIA and an apparent terrorist plot in Yemen. If proven out, this is seven kinds of wrong. I don’t care what your politics are, this isn’t what our government does or should be doing. Should these allegations be substantiated, Attorney General Eric Holder needs to go, and Obama needs to answer for this. If nothing else, can this administration give us accountability? And some counterpoint on this.

QotD?: What is it that you have got that puts you where you are?

5/14/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.5 hours (1.25 hours of revision, plus WRPA, editing METAtropolis: Green Space)
Hours slept: 5.0 hours (fitful)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: m/a (forgot)
Number of FEMA troops on my block digging for fossils in the yards of God-fearing Republicans: 0
Currently reading: The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Cancer, climate, Cool, economy, gay, guns, health, history, Japan, Language, Links, media, nature, Personal, Photos, Politics, race, radiantlisa, Science, space, sports, Travel, Videos, weird

Posted: 5:15 am Tue May 14 2013 | Comments(4) |