My father’s a huge fan of the Weather Channel, something I’ve never really gotten into. I did watch a bunch of its hurricane coverage on Sunday, though, trying to figure out how my travel was going to be affected. Thus, I got to see a really fabulous exchange as the studio anchor tossed to a… Continue reading Live News Makes Everyone Dumber
Category: Pop Culture
2011 Hugo Awards: Predictably Meh
As noted a while back, the Hugo Award nominations for this year were pretty uninspiring. The actual awards were handed out last night and, well, yeah. I wasn’t all that wild about The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, but it at least would’ve been an interesting choice. But giving it to Blackout/ All Clear, a pair of… Continue reading 2011 Hugo Awards: Predictably Meh
Dan Wells, John Cleaver Series [Library of Babel]
I’ve heard a bunch of good things about Dan Wells’s John Cleaver series (a trilogy at the moment, consisting of I Am Not a Serial Killer, Mr. Monster, and I Don’t Want to Kill You, but the ending of the last leaves an opening for more, should he want to write more), but I somehow… Continue reading Dan Wells, John Cleaver Series [Library of Babel]
Fermi Baseball: How Many Hitters Have There Ever Been?
I’m not much of a baseball fan, but we’re edging our way toward football season, so I flipped to ESPN radio a couple of days ago, in time to hear Mike and Mike discussing Jim Thome’s 600th home run. They were questioning how much meaning we should attach to home run records any more, given… Continue reading Fermi Baseball: How Many Hitters Have There Ever Been?
Imminent Death of the Book, Continued
A little more tab clearance: these are stories about the transformation of publishing that I’ve been meaning to say something about but haven’t got around to. First, some actual news: rumors of the imminent death of publishing may be somewhat exaggerated, as more books were sold for more money in 2010 than in a while.… Continue reading Imminent Death of the Book, Continued
Lev Grossman, The Magician King [Library of Babel]
Lev Grossman’s The Magicians never got a full entry to itself, but as I said when I mentioned it in this round-up post, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It’s a magical school novel about recognizable American teenagers attending Brakebills, a sort of liberal arts college for the wizarding set, somewhere in the lower Hudson… Continue reading Lev Grossman, The Magician King [Library of Babel]
Attention, Hollywood
Fred Clark has an idea for you: Start with the housekeeping staff at a Manhattan hotel. They’ve just learned that their next contract includes no raise, but doubles the employee share of the cost of health benefits. The Norma Rae of this bunch — let’s say Jennifer Lopez* — convinces them to strike, but they… Continue reading Attention, Hollywood
Scientists and Science Fiction
Yesterday was apparently Gender in Science day here, while the theme for today is Tab Clearance– a couple of shortish posts about things that deserve more than just a Links Dump mention, but don’t really cohere into any kind of grand synthesis of deep thoughts, or whatever. This particular link was prompted by an item… Continue reading Scientists and Science Fiction
MythBusters to the Rescue (We Hope)
SteelyKid has used a pacifier from very shortly after she was born. We’ve been slowly working her off it– she’s stopped taking it to day care, or using it other than at bedtime or in the car– but she’s resisted giving it up entirely. since she’s now a great big three-year old, we decided it… Continue reading MythBusters to the Rescue (We Hope)
Dog Physics Around the World, and Beyond
When we got home from visiting Kate’s family yesterday, there was a large shipping envelope from my agent waiting for us. This can mean only one thing: author copies of foreign editions! That’s the Czech edition, Jak nauÄit svého psa fyziku, which seems to have used the same glasses-wearing golden retriever as the Brazilian edition.… Continue reading Dog Physics Around the World, and Beyond