- Mother Jones on the death of literary magazines. To which my short answer is: same as it ever was, same as it ever was. I think there’s an argument to made that readership is down, but I don’t think that’s reflected in the number of different venues for writers. Some literary magazines will die off, or will be forced to adopt new business models — pay even less, change what they publish — but it seems like not a day goes by when another new magazine or journal doesn’t open up. [via]
- How to make a Michael Cera movie [via]
- Are there oceans of liquid diamond on Uranus and Neptune? [via]
- I’m amused that somebody thinks “man listens to loud music and neighbors complain” is somehow more newsworthy because the loud music was John Denver.
- And finally, I like this mashup of 2009’s top songs a whole lot more than the individual songs it’s made up of.
science
Tuesday various
- These landscapes made with small materials — steel-wool tornado, paprika Mars, etc. — are really impressive. But, as with earlier tilt-shift photographs, I am left in the very weird position of thinking, if these were real, I think they would be less impressive. It’s the work that goes into these, into tricking the eye, that I find much more intriguing than the shots themselves. [via]
- Lost characters explain how to make a sandwich. Funny and only somewhat spoilerish. [via]
- Some people might say a monkey could do this job. I don’t need scientists proving them right. [via]
- Christa Faust on how crime fiction treats women:
Female characters in classic noir fiction tend to fall into one of three categories: the murderous femme fatale; the long-suffering wife who keeps asking the hero, “Why can’t you just let this case go?â€; and, of course, the beautiful victim. [via]
- And finally, now I kind of wish I’d been watching Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show. Frankly, I believe him about the hair.
Tuesday various
- Scientists develop ‘golden fleece’ lozenge to fight off all cold and flu bugs [via]:
The pill, which would cost 20 pence a day and would be taken once before breakfast, could be sold over the counter in as little as two years.
- “Most expensive” foods like this often seem like a cheat to me — of course it’s expensive if it’s served in a solid gold dish! — but this one seems like it might actually earn its hefty price tag, if only because the most expensive ingredients are also edible. That said, there’s not a chance I’m paying $750 for a single cupcake. [via]
- Arachne Jericho on embracing the inconsistencies in the Sherlock Holmes universe and why a gay Holmes/Watson relationship really isn’t such a stretch.
- I once tried getting a book endorsement from Desmond Tutu. When his assistant turned me down, I didn’t turn around and fake one. This is one of several reasons why I am not an African dictator. (Nelson Mandela Foundation accuses Congo president over fake foreword) [via]
- And finally, a fascinating story about a Wired writer who tried to disappear. I was particularly amused by the idea that his trackers created real Twitter accounts to look like automated spambots to draw away suspicion. Seems like the inverse of how these things usually work. [via]
Monday various
- Exploding Chewing Gum Kills Student. I have to admit, this sounded like a hoax or urban legend when I first read about it, but it seems distrubingly legit. At least, I didn’t find anything discounting the story at Snopes. [via]
- Well this is disappointing and surprising: the Internet Review of Science Fiction is closing after its February issue.
- Grant Morrison on what appeals to him about comics as a storytelling medium:
The essentially magical qualities of inert words and ink pictures working together with reader consciousness to create a holographic Sensurround emotional experience. What else?
- I’ve seen some talk about how 2010 is the real end of the past decade — that the decade is still going on, that is — since there was never a Year Zero. I think this is maybe true on a very pedantic, technical level, but I also think it’s a battle that was lost two thousand years ago, in Year Ten. When people talk about the last decade, they’re including 2000-2001, not miscounting. As Bad Astronomy points out [via], the argument that 2010 isn’t the start of a new decade suggests that “people [are] confused on how we delineate time.”
- And finally, Daniel’s Daily Monster:
Every week day (starting from 7th May 2009) I draw a little monster card to go in my son’s lunchbox.
These are just really delightful. [via]
Monday various
- “US pop star Britney Spears, seen here in August 2009, took aim at some of the tabloid stories that have dogged her through 2009, publishing a list of the top 75 articles deemed to be the most ridiculous.” Number one on the list? That she used to be an internationally famous and successful recording artist.
- “Everywhere I turned, I found pain and loss, a procession of wasted lives, people who never fought Ali and, thus, won’t ever have someone come looking for them.” Muhammad Ali fought 50 men. Only one disappeared.” [via]
- “The gases which formed the Earth’s atmosphere — and probably its oceans — did not come from inside the Earth but from outer space, according to a new study.” [via]
- MC Frontalot uses Dungeons & Dragons to quit smoking. [via]
- And finally, “Are the Stars?” [via]