Month: March 2007

  • Hugo Review: Temeraire

    The [Hugo Award](http://www.worldcon.org/hugos.html) [nominations for 2007](http://www.nippon2007.us/hugo_nominees.php) were just announced this week. I’m going to be reading all of them over the next few weeks, starting with *Temeraire* by Naomi Novik. The novel is set in 1795, and Captain William Laurence has just captured a French frigate carrying precious cargo – a dragons egg, about to…

  • Nine months

    [Well, thank goodness that we went to all that trouble for David Hicks…](http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/hicks-to-serve-nine-months-jail/2007/03/31/1174761797302.html?s_cid=rss_smh)

  • Today’s silly trailer

    Trailer for [When Harry Met Sally remixed as a horror film](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMWpxTK7q2s&eurl=). ([Via](http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/85452284/horror_remix_of_when.html), which has a few more good links)

  • Another present suggestion

    [Watch movement cuffliinks](http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/peripherals/watch-cog-cufflinks-233722.php).

  • Weekend project

    [Make your own Trebuchet](http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/02/make_a_trebuche_1.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890). Fun!

  • Hide your TV

    I’ve always thought those beds with the TV built into the foot were not very well thought out (imagine the neck strain you’d get watching them…). [Here’s a better way to do the same thing](http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/tag/uberbed-lift-stashes-your-tv-and-shame-233749.php).

  • Must. Resist. New Zealand. Joke!

    [Scientists have created a sheep that is 15% human](http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=444436&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=). ([Via](http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/26/2013236&threshold=4))

  • The Book Nobody Read

    I’ve just finished Owen Gingerich’s *The Book Nobody Read*, a history of [Copernicus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus)’ *[De revolutionibus orbium coelestium](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_revolutionibus_orbium_coelestium)*. *De revolutionibus* is a very important book, but it was once labeled “The Book Nobody Read”, due to its extremely technical fashion. The book gives the Copernican heliocentric theory, but also included a lot of technical details. Gingerich’s…

  • Great moments in journalism

    From a San Francisco Chronicle [story about a local political scandal](http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/01/BAGNCNT86S12.DTL): >That seemed to be the buzz on the streets of San Francisco, too. Tarri Chandler, who said she was homeless and was carrying a cardboard cup that read “Cold, very hungry, please help,” said she didn’t think it was much of a story. Bizarre!…

  • Open source geology

    Great story about the benefits of “crowd-sourcing” [in places where you wouldn’t expect](http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/feb2007/id20070201_774736.htm). ([Via](http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/02/go_for_the_gold.html))