More genre ranting, liquid body armour, obesity vaccine…

• 1 – Genre Don’t Get No Respect
  Lois Tilton weighs in on the ‘respect and the genres’ issue.
  (tags: respect culture mainstream literature writing genre fantasy scifi sf fiction science)
• 2 – GCALSYNC – synchronize your phone with Google Calendar
  Does what it says on the tin, I hope…should work with my nice new Nokia N80! Mwah hah hah!
  (tags: web2.0 freeware application tool synchronise phone mobile calendar Google)
• 3 – Rape in Science Fiction
  Scott Kaufmann discusses Adam Robrts’ treatment of that most sensitive of subjects, so often mishandled ny SF.
  (tags: Salt Roberts Adam discussion literature writing rape scifi sf fiction science)
• 4 – Body Armor Fit For A Superhero
  New armour design consists of liquid painted onto kevlar – stays flexible until struck hard, then solidifies into hard shielding when struck, before reverting to soft again after impact dissipated. More toys for the boys.
  (tags: protection dissipation impact fibre kevlar polymers liquid technology military armour body)
• 5 – ‘The Clan Corporate’ by Charles Stross
  SFSite reviews a Charlie Stross novel…so many have come out in the last few years that I’ve quite fallen behind. It may be time to splurge.
  (tags: Corporate Clan writing literature scifi sf fiction science Stross Charles review books)
• 6 – Lunar urbanism 7: Being post-terrestrial
  BLDGBLOG talks about the ‘Alliance to Rescue Civilisation’, a bunch of folks who want to secure us against the future by stashing genetic material in a constantly-manned lunar base. Nice theory, but with overtones of serious madness.
  (tags: project doomsday futurism cult Civilisation rescue Alliance race human depository material genetic base Lunar)
• 7 – Multi-Nation Moon Collaboration Backed
  No manned missions yet, but at least everyone’s talking – and lobbing robots into the sky, of course.
  (tags: coalition collaboration international mission robotic probes research exploration Lunar space Moon)
• 8 – A new look at biometric security
  Iris scanning is the new rock-and-roll for the security/identity tech crowd.
  (tags: futurism hacking ID surveillance identity scanning eye iris technology security biometric)
• 9 – A Vaccine for Obesity?
  That’s right, folks – because what we need is a wonder-pill to treat the symptoms, rather than detailed research into the causes – it’s working just fine for mental illnesses, so why not for the ‘disease’ of obesity?
  (tags: hype health appetite suppression gain weight study rat lab obesity drug vaccine medicine)
• 10 – Corn Price Rise Coming Due To Use For Ethanol
  Buit not for long, says the Futurepundit, and there’ll be plenty of improvement in the long run. Plus, if the price of meat goes up, we’ll have no need for that obesity pill, right?
  (tags: ecology futurism increase cost short-term generation energy biofuel fuel ethanol rise price corn)
• 11 – Three from MIT envision grow-your-own home
  Looks like someone really dug the wood-elf bits in LOTR recently…
  (tags: futurism ecosystem ecology green pleaching tree grow home buildings sustainability architecture)
• 12 – Studies Find the Toxic Side of Martian Dust Storms
  Hydrogen peroxide, to be precise – and if that stuff is blowing around over there, the chances of finding life as we know it are significantly lowered…untill next month’s academic paper on Mars, of course.
  (tags: life molecules organic peroxide hydrogen chemicals toxic storms dust Martian Mars space)
• 13 – Interstellar space dust hunted from home
  The Stardust@home project kicks off…got a few spare weeks?
  (tags: science cosmology distributed collaboration online project stardust@home particles dust interstellar samples probe stardust)
• 14 – Skywalker Jetpacks
  Yet again, some guy claims he’s cracked the jetpack invention. We’ll see what happens, but I remain skeptical. Annoying flash site with very cheesy music, via Engadget.
  (tags: development prototype technology invention personal jetpack rocket jets skywalker)
• 15 – Japanese railway generates electricity from passengers
  Well, you might as well claw something back from the customers, eh? Seriously, this is a good plan, we need more ideas like this.
  (tags: technology energy ecology gates ticket turnstiles passengers electricity generate Company East Railway Japan)
• 16 – Nuclear panel suggests contest for waste burial
  “The burial site for Britain’s stockpile of nuclear waste should be decided by a country-wide contest in which regions bid to become home to the hole, a government advisory panel said yesterday.” Form an orderly queue, folks.
  (tags: idiocy bidding contest location facility storage disposal stockpile waste nuclear UK)
• 17 – Chemicals In Curry And Onions May Help Prevent Colon Cancer
  Wahey! A medical justification for the traditional Friday night curry!
  (tags: health prevention chemicals turmeric onions curry cancer colon medicine)
• 18 – XP’s No-Reformat, Nondestructive Total-Rebuild Option
  B*gger. I wish I’d known about this earlier this year. I hope never to need it again, either.
  (tags: computer repair rebuild reinstall non-destructive system operating OS XP Windows software)
• 19 – How to make a geodesic dome
  Big-up Buckminster Fuller with this home-made geodesic dome project. Ideal for the festival season!
  (tags: structure construction frame Fuller Buckminster dome geodesic make howto)
• 20 – Stealth Electric Monster Chopper
  “Fully electric powered monster chopper bike with whopping four-foot forks.” Groovy…so why not build your own?
  (tags: cruiser howto make hacks electric bicycle bike chopper stealth)
• 21 – Richard Feynman Video
  YouTube video of uberscientist and loon-boffin Richard Feynman.
  (tags: video interview science physics Feynman Richard)
• 22 – Emerald City’s gates to close
  Cheryl Morgan announces the forthcoming cessation of the Emerald City website. This really sucks.
  (tags: news closedown reviews website SF scifi fiction science City Emerald Morgan Cheryl)