Posts under ‘News’

And a cheap one it is. The Camping rapture people, they’re just too easy. Now Harold Camping says that the Rapture did happen, we just didn’t notice. And the world will be ending on October 21, thank you very much. But one of the associated websites still says May 21, with a cute little count-down [...]

So yeah, I’ve spent some time the past week making fun of Camping and his rapture predictions, and linking to people who did likewise. And I’ll even continue that by linking some possible explanations for the lack of mystical occurrences. I’d especially like to make you all aware that Eric won one internet yesterday, with [...]

This is a clever marketing ploy: CDC disaster preparedness has gotten more discussion today that in the past few months, I’d guess. And you know, it is rather important to be prepared for the zombie apocalypse. Also flood, tornado, earthquake and fire. And the rapture, since it is happening Saturday. The rest of us may [...]

So many of my friends are science fiction fans, and so many of us grew up on Doctor Who. It’s no surprise that so many of us were surprised and saddened to hear that Lis Sladen died yesterday. Sarah Jane, that is. Today the reminiscences and memorials to a beloved actress appear. Tom Baker writes [...]

There was the one where you not only removed the e-book of 1984 from the store, but sucked it off of people’s Kindles without telling them. There was the one where you classified gay- and lesbian-themed books, including YA and health books, as “Adult”, thus removing them from lists and rankings. (This was later claimed [...]

Last month a new group, The Outer Alliance, formed to support gender diversity in science fiction and fantasy. The final straw was some idiotic and blatantly prejudiced writing, but there is a lot of more subtle prejudice out there too. For decades, SF particularly has been the province of straight white men, and not necessarily [...]

Science, politics… all the fun all at once. Among the 30 OEDC countries, the United States is number one in health expenditures, but 28 in infant mortality, and 24 in overall life expectancies. We also work the most hours per week, and are the third richest country. But then, we are obese, and don’t get [...]

Catch-up on a few things I’ve collected: The business of writing essays for other people. For them to learn from, of course: no one would actually turn these in under a false name. Right? Right. Citizen science: how interested amateurs can contribute to scientific understanding. Think of it as distributed science – a whole bunch [...]

Poorly-thought out legislation could lead to unforeseen consequences. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is intended to protect children by mandating the testing of toys and other children’s products for lead. Good idea, right? But the law is vaguely-worded, and as written requires the testing of books for lead as well. This expensive and destructive [...]