- Could a 3-D printer be used to build moon bases? I don’t know, but it’s pretty cool in action. [via]
- They really love football in Texas: one of the state’s high schools is getting a $60M stadium. [via]
- The science of Pokemon [via]
- I can’t believe I haven’t shared the Most Badass Alphabet Ever yet. [via]
- And finally, you know how last week I was saying it was only a matter of time before the DMCA takedowns of those Downfall meme videos got the Downfall meme treatment? Well, here you go.
Month: April 2010
That’s one way of putting it
Zach Handlen on Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Tasha Yar:
I have no idea how Tasha Yar could’ve risen this high in Starfleet. She has no impulse control: one minute she’s antagonizing a being of near limitless power, the next she’s hitting on Captain Picard. She’s less a human being than a YouTube comments thread.
Fall down, go boom
Sometimes, you’re just walking along, minding your own business, when the universe decides to make your day a little more interesting in a slightly unpleasant manner. That’s what happened to me today, on my lunch break, when, across the street from Grand Central, I slipped on a wet patch of asphalt and fell to the ground, skinning my knee and ripping a small hole in my trouser leg in the process.
I considered walking on — my pride was hurt a lot more than my knee, and the hole was neither so big nor in an embarrassing location — but I was right across the street from a couple of clothing stores, so I decided to look for a pair of replacement pants. It took me a while, and a trip over to Fifth Avenue’s Lord & Taylor — where, because of construction inside the store, it took me longer just to find the men’s department — but I eventually bought a new pair of pants, went back to the office with them, and changed in the bathroom.
And then I finally got to eat lunch.
Beyond that, though, my day wasn’t especially exciting.
Tuesday various
- It goes without saying that “Arizona’s draconian new immigration law is an abomination,” right? [via]
- In semi-related news: Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black. [via]
- The Canadian Science Fiction Review is an interesting idea, though I’m not sure I like their chances for getting fully funded by May 15, I’m sad to say. I was also surprised to discover that On Spec, “the Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic,” isn’t an SFWA qualifying market. [via]
- I’m an editor, and even I don’t think we should get book royalties. [via]
- And finally, Neil Gaiman on the path not taken:
The nearest to a real job I ever came actually, is when I was starting out as a young journalist, my father informed me—he knew that I’d starve as a journalist—he had this great idea, I could show off show homes and I could write while I wasn’t showing people around, and I sort of really didn’t want to say no because it was such a kind thing to do, and I was starving.
So I got on a bus and I went all the way across London by bus and went to this place where I was going to meet this guy for an interview and I sat in the reception for an hour, then they said “we’re really sorry, he’s had to go home, it’s too late” and I said oh okay, and I went back across London by bus. And then I thought, well that was that. I didn’t plan on going back across London by bus, it was a ridiculous bus journey, so I never went back, and that was the nearest I ever got to having a real job.
Imagine if that guy had shown up!
April showers
Today wasn’t a particularly exciting day. I spent a good part of it reading up on art therapy, editing a manuscript we currently have in development, and doing my best to stay out of the rain. The keyboard dock for my iPad was delivered today, but still no sign of the iPad itself. Apple sent me an e-mail last week, to confirm that it would be shipping in late April as originally planned, but we’re fast approaching the last few days of late April. I’m not hugely worried, but I am eager to start playing with it, no doubt ushering in Cory Doctorow’s worst fears of a nightmarish apocalypse in the bargain.