Teleporting cats, Anders and McDonald on quality vs. popularity, a monument to QWERTY…

• 1 – These fictions that sustain us
  “We’re aiming higher than that. I want it all; and by Christ, I may seldom, if ever attain it, but that’s not going to stop me trying to be much more than just entertaining.” Ian McDonald responds in support of the Lou Anders rant.
  (tags: art entertainment purpose books writing literature sf scifi fiction science McDonald Ian)
• 2 – CBGB closing for good
  CBGB, RIFP. Selah.
  (tags: closure York New history bar club music punk CBGB)
• 3 – The Teleporting Cat Trick
  “This is a truly astounding illusion which you can use to bewilder your friends. To be honest, you can use any small animal or object for the trick, but I think a cat gives it an air of mystique.”
  (tags: video science humour illusion mirror magic trick cat teleport)
• 4 – Guardian Unlimited Books – J C Grimwood reviews
  “This is Roger Levy’s best book yet, a dark and bitter tale that hides its politics behind tight plotting and believable characters.” Review of ‘Icarus’ and three more.
  (tags: writing literature novel sf scifi fiction science review Icarus Levy Roger)
• 5 – Bursting the Spherical Bubble: Universe Might Be Pill-Shaped
  “The newly proposed shape could be caused by a magnetic field that pervades the entire cosmos or defects in the fabric of space and time, researchers said.” I though it was supposed to be like a donut, but there you go.
  (tags: distorted stretched sphere universe shape physics cosmology science space)
• 6 – SPOOK COUNTRY: THE TITLE
  “Jack Womack, one of the people who’s been privy to the material and process throughout, offers the following take on [William Gibson's new novel's title]…”
  (tags: explanation title novel new sf scifi fiction science writer author cyberpunk Gibson William)
• 7 – Aussie journo plagiarises Wikipedia
  “That’s cut and paste journalism, taken in large part from Wikipedia – the online encyclopedia to which any member of the public can contribute.” Not just the college and school kids, then.
  (tags: paste and cut resource online Wikipedia plagiarism journalism Australia)
• 8 – QWERTY Keyboard Monument
  “It looks like white stones scattered across the lawn if to look from some distance. But when you come closer you can clearly see that thouse boulders are keys and the lawn is the board.” More funny weirdness from deepest Russia.
  (tags: computer geek humour images pictures Russia art sculpture monument keyboard QWERTY)
• 9 – RFID Zapper
  Worried about the little extra in your new passport? Get a disposable camera, follow these instructions, and avoid having to answer awkward questions about the tinfoil linings of your pockets.
  (tags: howto deactivate destroy hacking zapper prevention fraud theft identity surveillance security tags arphid RFID)
• 10 – Getting Medieveal on Reality’s Ass
  “Now, again, I’m not talking about War and Peace here [...] I’m talking about commercial entertainment and the attitude that says because a thing is popular it can’t or shouldn’t be good.” Lou Anders speaks the truth.
  (tags: literature sf scifi genre fiction science music movies books popularity quality dichotomy entertainment art)
• 11 – Reconsidering SETI and the Drake Equation
  “If evolution is the correct theory for the emergence of life on Earth, then SETI will be one of the weakest and most dangerous enterprises of mankind.” Sober thoughts on SETI at Centauri Dreams.
  (tags: space communication extraterrestrial contact civilisation life alien equation Drake SETI)
• 12 – Galaxy gardening more than hobby for future moon, Mars residents
  “The research, part of [NASA's] “Salad Bowl” project, is unique in that university-based scientists are tasked with finding a way to produce food in spatial conditions unparalleled on Earth.”
  (tags: project NASA environment hostile low-pressure husbandry farming plants salad lettuce colony Lunar Moon space)
• 13 – Tower Records to be liquidated
  “After a lengthy auction stretching over two days, a federal bankruptcy judge on Friday approved the sale of Sacramento-based Tower Records to Great American Group, which plans to liquidate the music retailer.”
  (tags: model business industry content retail music liquidation Records Tower)
• 14 – Indie Bookstores Tackle Internet
  “…even as 200 to 300 independent bookstores close a year, the number of independent book stores opening is creeping up.”
  (tags: model business specialisation focus customer bookstores independent industry content retail)
• 15 – Internet crime eclipses burglary in survey of perceived risks
  “Fear of internet crime is now more prevalent than concerns about more conventional crimes such as burglary, mugging and car theft, according to a report published today.” Not in this household, it isn’t.
  (tags: sense common protection survey fraud pharming phishing scams crime cybercrime spoof internet UK)
• 16 – NORK Nuclear Test: It’s A Dud
  “A plutonium device should produce a yield in the range of the 20 kilotons … No one has ever dudded their first test of a simple fission device. North Korean nuclear scientists are now officially the worst ever.” Jury still out.
  (tags: politics analysis gathering data evidence failure test nuclear Korea North)