All right, I've got another post up at What is X?, this week on dark matter. Hope y'all enjoy.

Also, I altered the comments option to allow anyone to comment. I figure I can switch it back to a login if I ever have problems with trolls.

All right, now that our roleplaying group's Mage game has ended, I have the mental space to start that science blog I mentioned a few weeks back. I'll be posting links here in case people want them, but the body will be over at my blogspot, What is X?It's pretty bare bones for now; I'm plan on prettying it up over the next few weeks as I can devote ( Read more... )

So I picked up a copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude at our local book bank a few months back and finally got around to reading it. I've heard it's a seminal work of Latin American literature, and amazingly popular, so I was very interested in reading it and seeing what it's all about ( Read more... )

Dear All,

So "irregular" doesn't begin to qualify what this newsletter has been like lately. Apparently my last newsletter was four months ago. All I can say is that I’ve been busy, even on my supposedly “day of rest” Sundays. (Actually, the prime reason I haven’t written is because I have been resting, thanks primarily to those lovely 6 AM ( Read more... )

(See the spiffy new icon! Image is from Mark Shallow's Adventurers! webcomic)

Okay, so I had decided to hold off on posting cool science stuff until I actually start the blog devoted to it. But this is too cool to pass up. This week's Science has a draft version of the Neanderthal genome.

The Neanderthal genome! How abso-freaking-cool is that? ( Read more... )

Fun Science Tidbit

I'm reading Tomorrow's Table right now, a book cowritten by an organic farmer and a genetic engineer (who happen to be husband and wife; I'm sure they have fascinating dinner conversations). It's chock full of interesting facts about both genetic engineering and organic farming, so much that I'll probably write a full article on ( Read more... )

In the spirit of gearing up for that blog I mentioned, I want to get in the habit of posting cool sciencey stuff. Here's one for today, from a seminar I attended this afternoon:

There's a species of fungus that feeds on plant roots by destroying them with a potent toxin. But it turns out the fungus itself is harmless; living inside the fungus is a ( Read more... )

Ever since high school I've been trying to write fiction. I think I have some talent, but developing that talent has proven extremely difficult. Part of this is just time constraints.I generally only have half an hour each day that I can work on writing, and there's only so much you can do when it takes 3-6 months to crank out a single short story ( Read more... )

Dear All,

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We watched The Wizard of Oz tonight as a family movie night (it was a Christmas gift). It was really weird seeing it again after seeing Wicked a few years ago. I was having some really mixed feelings about the Munchkins being so happy that the Witch of the East was dead, and I couldn't help laughing every time Glinda drops in. (If you haven't seen ( Read more... )