Jay Lake: Writer

[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 wonders what’s the fuss

Save Trent’s Teeth, Save His Life — Trent Zelazny needs help with a medical fundraiser of his own.

The Algorithm That Automatically Detects Polyps in Images from Camera Pills — Analysing the footage from camera pills is a time-consuming task for medical professionals. Now computer scientists are attempting to automate the process.

The British ‘Atlantis’ is mapped in detail — Using dual frequency identification sonar, the ruins of Dunwich rise again.

8BBC News – Close-up on Japan’s amazing lunchboxes — Mmm, bento. (Via willyumtx.)

Watch 32 discordant metronomes achieve synchrony in a matter of minutes — Huh. (Via David Goldman.)

‘Junk’ DNA Mystery Solved: It’s Not Needed — I am dubious of this story. National Geographic with more.

Happy whatever — Blogess Jenny Lawson says some very important things about women in general and mothers in specific.

Transgender woman wins right to marry in Hong Kong — Not exactly a noted hotbed of progressivism, that.

Dalai Lama Calls For Care For Our ‘Only Home’ Earth

‘Dramatic decline’ warning for plants and animals — More of that liberal conspiracy to keep the climate change hoax going.

Researchers Create “Hate Map” of the U.S. With Twitter Data — The same researchers previously mapped racist Tweets about President Obama. In both cases there’s reason to be a little skeptical.

Pediatricians take on gun lobby – carefully — Well, the NRA is better armed, and unlike doctors, some NRA members have a habit of publicly threatening people.

QotD?: Tell me what’s a-happening?

5/13/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.5 hours (1.0 hours of revision, plus WRPA, editing METAtropolis: Green Space)
Hours slept: 7.0 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 249.4
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, China, climate, Cool, Culture, Food, gender, guns, health, Japan, Links, nature, Personal, Politics, Science, sex, Tech, UK, Videos, weird

Posted: 4:36 am Mon May 13 2013 | Comments(3) |

[links] Link salad thinks of its mothers

The Latest on the Women in SFF Debate — Cora Buhlert with some interesting analysis and a number of links.

That Monkey Don’t Swim: Maps, Sex and Violence — Pongoid anthropology and cartography.

Every Every Every Generation Has Been the Me Me Me Generation — Kids today. Everyone knows the past is golden, our generation is noble, and the youth are wastrels. It’s always been true!

Plague Helped Bring Down Roman Empire, Graveyard Suggests

Nontoxic radioactive Listeria^at is a highly effective therapy against metastatic pancreatic cancer — Huh.

A patient’s view on the Oregon Medicaid experiment — (Via threeoutside.)

Clouds, Birds, Moon, Venus — Another stunning image from APOD. A Maxfield Parrish sky in real life.

Then he heard the ice coming — Wow, this is weird. Several houses were destroyed, the Winnipeg Free Press reports, after “a massive ice floe rose out of Dauphin Lake” in central Canada.

The Coming GOP Civil War Over Climate Change — We should be so lucky. I was struck by this: Soon after his experience in South Carolina, Emanuel changed his lifelong Republican Party registration to independent. “The idea that you could look a huge amount of evidence straight in the face and, for purely ideological reasons, deny it, is anathema to me,” he says. Hello? You were a Republican? Virtually any GOP position requires precisely that approach.

QotD?: Where is your mother today?

5/12/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.25 hours (WRPA, editing METAtropolis: Green Space)
Hours slept: 9.75 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 248.2
Number of FEMA troops on my block digging for fossils in the yards of God-fearing Republicans: 0
Currently reading: Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Cancer, climate, Culture, gender, healthcare, history, Links, Oregon, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Science

Posted: 8:04 am Sun May 12 2013 | Comments(3) |

[links] Link salad cried because it had no shoes

The fate of today’s book bloggers — Toby Buckell is interesting.

Pear-shaped nuclei may be a key to why our universe survived the big bang — Being rather pear shaped myself, I consider this good news.

Hubble finds dead stars “polluted” with planetary debris

Moon and Earth Have Common Water Source — Researchers used a multicollector ion microprobe to study hydrogen-deuterium ratios in lunar rock and on Earth. Their conclusion: The Moon’s water did not come from comets but was already present on Earth 4.5 billion years ago, when a giant collision sent material from Earth to form the Moon. (Snurched from james_nicoll here.)

Google Earth enters fourth dimension, highlights humanity’s heavy hand — Satellite imagery lets you follow terrain changes over time.

Printing Electronics Just Got Easier — A new technique developed by researchers in China allows easier printing of electronic components onto paper.

Sim City: An Interview with Stone Librande — This is interesting. Also, a long time ago, I was addicted to Sim City, and still remember it fondly. Ta-Nehisi Coates on how EA screwed up the new launch, big.

How to Make an Implant that Improves the Brain

Gang stole $45m from cash machines across globe in hours, say prosecutors — ‘Virtual criminal flash mob’ used bogus swipe cards loaded with data from hacked bank databases to commit thousands of thefts.

That old-time religion — Yep, the intellectual consistency of the religious mind on display once more. (Via Slacktivist Fred Clark.)

After passage, same-sex supporters express bliss — Go, Minnesota. Another domino falls. There simply is no principled opposition to gay marriage, only bigotry disguised as piety and principle. (Hint: nearly identical arguments were used to oppose interracial marriage by people who thought of themselves as high-minded and moral. Does their opposition to interracial marriage seemed anything but bigoted now?)

Boy, 2, dies after shooting self at Corsicana home — Because guns make us all safer, right?

Arizona AG Pleads No Contest To Leaving The Scene Of An Accident — He was in the car with the woman with whom he was having an affair. Ah, those family values, law and order Republicans — so much better than dirty liberals who just want to make sure people have food and clothes and jobs and educations and clean air and clean water.

QotD?: Got feet?

5/10/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (stress)
Hours slept: 7.25 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 247.8
Number of FEMA troops on my block digging for fossils in the yards of God-fearing Republicans: 0
Currently reading: Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Christianists, Cool, Culture, economy, gay, guns, Links, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, Science, space, Tech

Posted: 5:05 am Fri May 10 2013 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad knows that it is not Iron Man

Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy — This is freaking genius. (Spotted lots of places, but sent to me first by Lisa Costello.)

Batman: 1966 — Adam West, back in the day. Courtesy of Shorpy.

Linguists identify 15,000-year-old ‘ultraconserved words’ — Hmmm. (Via my brother.)

European migration evident in DNA patterns — A study of people in 40 countries illustrates long-established changes in Europe’s population. Going back a few thousand years, researchers find that everyone on Earth is related to everyone else. This is cool, but hardly surprising, I should think.

More than one-third of Oregon’s National Merit Scholars live in a single Portland-area ZIP code

More than half of the world’s population lives inside this circle

US Air Force Measures Potato Cannon Muzzle Velocities

Antibiotics could cure 40% of chronic back pain patients — Really? (Thanks to David Goldman.)

On the Rise — BLDG BLOG on the elevation of Galveston, TX after the devastating hurricane of 1900.

Tropical Climate History…Shrinking — Ice in the tropics.

“While some are seeking to withhold Communion from pro-choice and pro-marriage-equality Catholics, I have heard no call to withhold Communion from priests and bishops who have engaged in horrific sexual abuse against vulnerable children, nor their enablers.” — Yes. This. Religious activism in pursuit of anti-gay bigotry is all about politics and power. Not about morality or what is right and good. (Via Slacktivist Fred Clark.)

QotD?: Do you face Stark choices?

5/8/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (stress)
Hours slept: 7.25 hours (fitful)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 248.0
Number of FEMA troops on my block digging for fossils in the yards of God-fearing Republicans: 0
Currently reading: The Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Christianists, climate, Culture, Funny, healthcare, Language, Links, Movies, Oregon, Personal, Photos, Politics, Religion, Science, Tech, television, Texas, Videos

Posted: 5:22 am Wed May 08 2013 | Comments(3) |

[links] Link salad has scan anxiety

10 Classic TV Shows You Still Can’t Watch Online — (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

Has Big Data Made Anonymity Impossible? — As digital data expands, anonymity may become a mathematical impossibility.

US returns stolen Tyrannosaurus dinosaur to Mongolia

In Poland, Pursuing Valuable Energy Deep in the Earth Fuels Dissent Above Ground — Fracking oil.

Why did Komen for the Cure give Nancy Brinker a 64 percent raise? — Now that the Komen foundation has become a shill for right wing politics and policies, as opposed to a non-partisan charity devoted to cancer research, I think all of our cancer donations should go almost anywhere else. And believe me, nothing about this story convinces me otherwise. I’ve certainly stopped supporting any Races for the Cure.

Brady resigns as Illinois GOP chairman amid gay marriage controversy — The ‘controversy’ being that Brady showed insufficient bigotry to retain his qualifications as a good conservative. The GOP keeps pretending to clean up its brand, but the true face of conservative America keeps showing through.

5 Lowlights From The NRA Convention — Because the gun culture is all about high-minded principle, reasoned discourse and keeping it classy. Remember, according to the NRA you are safer with guns, even if you happen to be one of the 30,000 who die unnecessarily every year. (Thanks to danjite.)

Blade Runner, Terminator, Minority Report and the deliberate sabotage of the Postal Service — So if your whole political shtick is based on being anti-government, then the Postal Service is a threat you’ve got to get rid of. That’s why, back in 2006, Republicans in Congress passed something called the “Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act,” requiring the agency to “pre-fund its future health care benefit payments to retirees for the next 75 years in an astonishing ten-year time span.” If you haven’t heard of this, pay attention. It’s all the GOP’s intellectual dishonesty and ongoing vandalism of government rolled into one neat package.

QotD?: What scares you?

5/7/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hour (WRPA)
Hours slept: 7.75 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 248.2
Number of FEMA troops on my block digging for fossils in the yards of God-fearing Republicans: 0
Currently reading: The Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Cancer, Culture, gays, guns, healthcare, Links, Mongolia, nature, Personal, Poland, Politics, Tech, Videos

Posted: 5:18 am Tue May 07 2013 | Comments(2) |

[links] Link salad gets ready to jet home

The Author Exploitation Business — A commentary on Penguin and Author Solutions. Penguin has been looking under the Author Solutions hood for 10 months now. Its conclusion was this: we can make this bigger. We can take this scam on the road and start exploiting writers all over the planet.

The Kitten Setting: An Experiment — On trollery, pace John Scalzi.

San Diego-Tijuana Region — A satellite photo from NASA’s Earth Observatory site. Mildly ironic, because I woke up this morning in San Diego. I think I can see myself waving from my hotel window.

Sunday Fun: Vintage Cockroach Racing Game — Uh…

Telomeres Affect Gene Expression — As telomeres shorten with age, genes as far as 1,000 kilobases away could be affected, including one responsible for an inherited muscle disease.

Why gamma-ray burst shocked scientists — I believe that Dr. Bruce Banner is on the case.

Mars Expedition Possible in 20 Years — Do you really want to go to heaven?

Gearing up to search for gravity waves — Hunt will be on in 2017, but finding the source may still be a challenge.

Government Lab Reveals It Has Operated Quantum Internet For Over Two Years — A quantum internet capable of sending perfectly secure messages has been running at Los Alamos National Labs for the last two and a half years, say researchers. I am deeply suspicious of any claim of “perfect security”.

Organic vapors affect clouds leading to previously unidentified climate cooling — Interesting.

No charges to be filed in accidental shooting of Davidson County 10-year-old — Because guns make us all safer. (Via danjite.)

QotD?: What did you have for dinner last night?

5/6/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (Con activity all day long)
Hours slept: 6.0 hours (fitful)
Body movement: 0.0 hours (foot hurts)
Weight: n/a (away from home)
Number of FEMA troops on my block digging for fossils in the yards of God-fearing Republicans: 0
Currently reading: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

Tags: California, climate, Cool, Culture, guns, Links, Mars, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Science, space, weird

Posted: 7:16 am Mon May 06 2013 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad parties with the steampunks

If I traveled back in time, would I get ancient diseases? — Straight Dope on a topic of interest to authors of time travel fiction.

Stride Rite’s New Star Wars Shoes — Because reasons, damn it. :: shakes cane ::

Google Glass Will Soon Also Let iPhone Users Access Navigation And Text Messages — I would not have expected this from the maker of Android, especially given their fractious relationship with Apple these past few years.

Your Smartphone Just Diagnosed You with Postpartum Depression — Using Twitter as a public health tool. (Via David Goldman.)

Robotic insect: World’s smallest flying robot takes off

NASA Rover Prototype Set to Explore Greenland Ice Sheet — Careful, there might be some of those liberal “facts” and “data” to be found.

10 Weapons You Won’t Believe Are Legal — A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

Arizona Law Puts Kibosh On Gun Buybacks In Phoenix — More of that measured rationality and public spirit from conservatives and the gun culture. (Translation: These people are fucking nuts.)

Say Hello to the Liberator, Supposedly the Word’s First Entirely 3D-Printed Gun — Just like religion doesn’t have to make you stupid, gun enthusiasm doesn’t have to turn you sociopathic, but in both cases each does so an alarming amount of the time. MIT Tech review with more.

Sarah Palin gets standing O from NRA crowd — Speaking of gun-oriented sociopathy, the poster child for the Dunning-Kruger effect in politics talks to her natural audience.

QotD?: Will I see you at Gaslight Gathering today?

5/4/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (WRPA on audiobook prep)
Hours slept: 6.25 hours (fitful)
Body movement: 0.0 hours (foot hurts)
Weight: n/a (away from home)
Number of FEMA troops on my block digging for fossils in the yards of God-fearing Republicans: 0
Currently reading: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Apple, Cool, Culture, guns, Links, Personal, Politics, Science, Tech, weird, Writing

Posted: 5:32 am Sat May 04 2013 | Comments(4) |

[links] Link salad tools up to head to southern California

David: Illness and Death — Debbie Notkin with a thoughtful narrative on her brother’s death from cancer.

‘Death cafes’ normalize a difficult, not morbid, topic — Yeah, well. Welcome to my dinner table. (Via Slacktivist Fred Clark.)

Genomics to reshape endometrial cancer treatment — This is very similar to what we were hoping to do for me.

Banned Baby Names: Justice Just As Bad As Anal And 4Real, One Country Says — Ah, New Zealand.

How to play chess properly — Hahahah. (Via willyumtx.)

The Robie Metric System — Because he could? Wow… (Thanks to Lisa Costello.)

Le cigare volant est Francais! — x planes with a particularly weird piece of French aviation concept art from the 1950s.

Nasa telescope has close shave with Soviet satellite

What’s Next for Curiosity? Mars Mountaineering

Bones reveal a tale of desperation — Scientists find evidence of cannibalism at Jamestown, America’s first permanent English colony.

Bring Your Camera — Some stunning images of arctic ice, courtesy of NASA.

The Twitter Account to Watch If You’re Worried About Climate Change — More reality-based liberal lies, of course. Ask any conservative.

While Sequestration Cuts Programs For The Poor, The U.S. Ranks Second-To-Last On Child Poverty — That’s what conservative social policies get you. (Via Slacktivist Fred Clark.)

GOP fundraising video mocks grieving Sandy Hook mom who lost 6 y.o. — Ah, those moral stewards of compassionate conservatism. Are you proud of your Republican party? The gun culture has absolutely no shame or conscience.

2-Year-Old Girl Shot, Killed By 5-Year-Old Brother With Rifle He Recieved As A Gift — Because guns make us all safer, right?

Toomey doubts second Senate gun-control vote any time soon — The toughest thing to do in politics is to do the right thing when your supporters think the right thing is something else,” Toomey said. That’s the GOP in a nutshell. In their own words, the right thing isn’t what their own base thinks the right thing is. On guns. On taxes. On deficits. On education. On climate. On jobs. On immigration. And their leadership knows better. No shame. No conscience. Are you proud of your Republican party? Doing the right thing since never, once again in their own words.

Poll: 29% Think Armed Rebellion Might Soon Be Necessary — 44% of self-identified Republicans say that “in the next few years, an armed revolution might be necessary in order to protect our liberties.” Once again, are you proud of your Republican party?

Pat Buchanan joins Manhattan Declarers in ‘civil disobedience’ fappery — All this talk of “civil disobedience” from anti-gay folks like Buchanan and the Manhattan Declarers is just posturing. It’s part of the fantasy role-playing game in which they stroke their egos by pretending that they’re heroic champions of morality. Bigotry is bigotry, no matter how much you abuse the language of civil rights and victimhood to self-valorize. Gay marriage compels absolutely nothing upon people who disagree with it, and takes absolutely nothing away from them. The basic Christianist argument is “My right to take away your rights trumps your right to exercise rights that have nothing to do with me.” That’s about as un-American as you can get.

QotD?: Ever been to San Diego? Why not?

5/2/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.5 hours (WRPA editing work on METAtropolis: Green Space, plus lots of time prepping for San Diego trip)
Hours slept: 8.5 hours (interrupted)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 248.0
Number of FEMA troops on my block helping welfare recipients buy cell phones and big screen tvs: 0
Currently reading: The Truth by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Art, Cancer, Christianists, climate, Cool, Culture, economy, Funny, gay, guns, health, history, Language, Links, Mars, Personal, Politics, Religion, Science, space, Videos, weird

Posted: 6:13 am Thu May 02 2013 | Comments(3) |

[links] Link salad has been telling you it’s a genius since it was seventeen

Omega Coaxial Ad — Which very much puts me (and others) in mind of my novel Mainspring. (Via OldMiser.)

Amazing potato salad minus the WOW factor — Jersey Girl in Portland on her potato salad and mine.

20 of the world’s most beautiful World Heritage Sites — Bucket list stuff, if I had time and money for a bucket list before I die.

Army Airship: 1922 — A cool photo from Shorpy.

Crystal Puzzle Solved with Sea Squirt — The story’s interesting in its own right if you’re into biology or materials science, but you have to love the headline regardless.

Memory Implants — A maverick neuroscientist believes he has deciphered the code by which the brain forms long-term memories.

Privately Financed Spaceship Roars Closer to Space — SpaceShip Two breaks the sound barrier.

ESA: Herschel space telescope blinded by heat, retires for good

The World’s First Website Gets Its Original Web Address Back — It’s not often you can follow something back right to the beginning.

Your Mac, iPhone or iPad may have left the Apple store with a serious security risk — This is mildly boggling. (Via goulo.)

Seattle Police And Phoenix Jones – A New Chapter — Because, um, reasons. Nope. Come to think of it, I got nothing. (Thanks to my brother.)

About History — Shortpacked is making fun of a specific subset of geekdom, but this pretty much captures the conservative mind in general.

Report: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s repeated requests for a lawyer were ignored — There is zero legal or ethical justification for denying a suspect in custody this fundamental right Because reasons! After all, we treat white conservative terrorists exactly the same. Or we would, if there were any white conservative terrorists. “Patriots” like McVeigh and Rudolph certainly had a right to counsel. (Via David Goldman.)

Congress tries to reset science grants, wants every one to be “groundbreaking” — If lawmakers get their way, research like recent Higgs findings could disappear. That’s what happens when you put anti-science willful idiots in charge of national science policy.

Justice O’Connor: Maybe Bush V. Gore Was A Mistake — Gee. Ya think? Note: If you don’t know who John Ellis is and when and why George W. Bush called him on election night, you really don’t understand what happened in Florida and why people like me are still pissed about it. And believe you me, if the situation had been reversed, and a cousin of Al Gore’s was involving in the media calling the election results prematurely in Gore’s favor, this would still be a daily topic on conservative media over a decade later. Meanwhile, back in the reality-based community, Your Liberal Media never covered Ellis much, even at the time.

House Republicans Eyeing New Hostage Opportunity — The House Republicans are contemplating a new budget-hostage strategy, the the Washington Post reports in a story that is both highly useful and inadvertently Onion-esque. The hallmark of Onion news reporting is conveying insanity as if it were sane in a completely deadpan way. The Republican party isn’t even pretending to govern any more, and no one cares. At least no one conservative. And they call themselves patriotic?

Maker of Useless Dowsing Rod for Bombs Convicted for Fraud — There are an infinite number of flavors of this sort of nonsense, from astrology to homeopathy, from the antivaccination movement to global warming denial. While you might think some of these are harmless, they all have very serious ramifications: they lead to magical thinking. They tell people it’s OK to stop putting their trust in reality and science, and instead abandon it for nonsense. And that’s my fundamental objection to the Republican party. Not to the theoretical foundation of conservatism, which in many ways is an admirable philosophy, but to the conservatism that requires the magical thinking of evolution denial and climate change denial and supply side economics to function politically, while proudly and explicitly rejecting the evidence-based world. How can you possibly make useful policy decisions when your entire intellectual infrastructure is a fraudulent house of cards? Yes, magical thinking is everywhere (the anti-vax movement is not a conservative fixation), but only in the Republican party and its annexes such as FOX News and Tea Party has such magical thinking been institutionalized and glorified.

QotD?: Are you quite sure what it means?

4/30/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.25 hours (WRPA editing work on METAtropolis: Green Space)
Hours slept: 7.5 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 247.8
Number of FEMA troops on my block helping welfare recipients buy cell phones and big screen tvs: 0
Currently reading: The Truth by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Apple, Books, Boston, climate, Cool, Culture, Food, healthcare, Links, Mainspring, nature, Personal, Photos, Politics, Sattle, Science, space, Tech, Travel, Videos, weird

Posted: 5:23 am Tue April 30 2013 | Comments(4) |