Links for 01-03-2007
Martian bungalows and simulation prisons, falling off the end of the Long Tail, Hal Duncan interviewed…
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1 – Mars Bungalow and the Prison of Simulation
‘Meant to house “visitors,” we read, at the Martian north pole, “ANY Design Studios has designed a robot on legs built of Martian ice.” It comes complete with padded walls and a nice little bed.’ The ever-interesting BLDGBLOG.
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2 – Canada rejects anti-terror laws
“The Canadian parliament has voted against renewing two controversial anti-terror measures that had been adopted after the 11 September attacks.” Good on them, too. I have little hope of Tony’s cronies acting in a similar way.
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3 – David Louis Edelman’s Global Warming Skepticism
“Here’s something else that’s going to sound incredibly caustic but I need to get off my chest anyway: I don’t really give a shit about the Earth. I only care about whether we can continue to live on it.” Blimey, Dave!
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4 – A Particle Accelerator at Galactic Center?
“With all the press being given to the Large Hadron Collider under construction at CERN, it’s interesting to see that the black hole believed to exist at the Milky Way’s center — the object called Sagittarius A* — seems to be going it one better.”
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5 – Falling off the end of the Long Tail
“…like all hobbies, it’s a rabbit hole. You can not only go as deep as you want, but once you scratch the surface it’s all deep. Most of these interests are not only poorly served by traditional media, they’re not even well served by web media.”
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6 – DIY RFID
“RFID sure seems like it would be a cool thing to play with, right? Now you can, without being a technical genius.” Arphids to play with in the comfort of your own home.
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7 – Wednesday Author Interview: Hal Duncan
“I don’t write for myself or for readers; I write the book I think wants to be written, if that makes sense.” Scalzi brings the questions.
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8 – Yesterday’s Tomorrows: Philip K. Dick
“No author in SF, not even James Tiptree, Jr, is as impossible to “just read” as Philip K. Dick.” the inestimable Graham Sleight looks at the classics of PKD.
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Conservapedia: “He started the site in late November 2006 in conjunction with 58 high-school-level, home-schooled students from the New Jersey area.” Ah, *there* it is.
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10 – Biodiesel from liposuctioned human ass-fat powers race boat
This month’s lead candidate for Best. Blog-post headline. Evar.
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11 – Publishers allow book browsing on the Web
“The dusty world of book publishing has taken a step into cyberspace as Random House and HarperCollins letting customers browse books online.” It’s starting. Slowly, but surely.
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12 – Icarus by Roger Levy, reviewed by Pete Young
A great review at Strange Horizons. If you love proper science fiction, you should read this book.
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13 – TimesOnline celebrates PKD
“The fame of the science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick [...] has grown in the years since his death, thanks largely to films based on his work, but also to changes in the world, or at least to our perception of it, that were prefigured in his writing.”
