I had an interesting e-mail yesterday, an offer from a software company: tap tap tap is back with the top photography app for iPhone, Camera+. And to celebrate the launch of the all-new Camera+ 2, with over 50 awesome new features, we’re giving away a custom engraved “TSA Grope-free Edition” iPad, every day for the …
While I was living in Maryland, maybe sixteen years ago, we had a couple really nasty ice storms one year. As in, a long overnight session of freezing rain that coated anything it landed on with a two-inch layer of ice, followed by several inches of snow, the another half-inch ice crust on top. I …
The mystery of what happened to the famous and charismatic 1930s pilot Amelia Earhart has intrigued people for more than seventy years. It has been the subject of urban legends, and even worked into fiction — I found eight references to fictional works that mentioned her, four of which included her as a main character, …
Continue reading ‘“Finger may point to solution in Amelia Earhart disappearance riddle”’ »
Comedogenic. Obviously from the same root as comedian and comedy. Presuming you don’t already know what it means, you’d think that it has something to do with generating comedy. Well, I suppose it kind of does. Humans can be pretty cruel at times.
This sounds like wonderful news at first, but when you think about it a little more, it seems like a disaster waiting to happen — one that only a few SF novelists have even attempted to write about. And of those few, the only one that I’ve read (which, unfortunately, I do not recall the …
Continue reading ‘“Harvard scientists reverse the ageing process in mice – now for humans”’ »
Food for thought, especially for certain of my readers who have a little one on the way: “The triclosan findings in the younger age groups may support the ‘hygiene hypothesis,’ which maintains living in very clean and hygienic environments may impact our exposure to micro-organisms that are beneficial for development of the immune system,” said …
Continue reading ‘“Study suggests that being too clean can make people sick”’ »
I always wondered at the assertion that Earth’s oceans had to be from comets and asteroids, because I couldn’t see how there could be a heavy enough bombardment of them to make that much of a difference. (Even if the Earth is just a slightly damp ball of rock. 🙂 ) Apparently I’m not the …
First, read this, and maybe watch the video there. Then read the following passage from the book Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, published eighteen years ago (1992) and one of my favorite near-future SF novels. One of the main characters is a teenage girl who goes by the handle “YT” and couriers messages by skateboard …
Continue reading ‘“Stylish cyclist collar hides airbag inside”’ »
Not enough blood donors? That may not be a problem in the near future.
Sit up and pay attention, there will be random pop quizzes later — and if you fail one, your “teacher” will probably steal a good portion of your wealth, with no guarantee that you’ll ever get it back. (I’ve been on the receiving end of credit card fraud three times myself, and I’m ridiculously careful …