clock | August 23, 2006Looking at my two yesterday's posts, one on science fiction and the other on LabLit, together with Archy's excellent post on history of SF, something, like a hunch or an idea, started to develop at the back of my mind (continued under the fold).
If you look at the way scientists are portrayed in older SF and in recent LabLit, there is a distinct difference. There is not much old LabLit, and new SF does not have many scientists in it (what with the whole flood of cyberpunk and fantasy), so I'll ignore those for now.
In old SF, a scientist is likely to be portrayed as a loner, a refugee from…
clock | August 23, 2006One of the most gripping novels in the "Hot Zone" style I have ever read is "Rabies" (Besnilo) by Borislav Pekic.
The genetically engineered Rabies virus with a double protein envelope becomes extremely easy to transmit (biting is not neccessary any more) and spreads from one victim to another extremely fast. The virus gets turned loose at the London's Heathrow Airport.
Soon, the airport is closed and quarantined and the (thick long) novel tracks a number of characters stranded at the airport, from scientists trying to figure out what is happening, and physicians trying to help the victims,…
clock | August 23, 2006Not really a review of Greg Bear's "Darwin's Radio" and "Darwin's Children" but musing (practically SF itself) on the topic of these books (from April 20, 2005):
Did A Virus Make You Smart?
I've been reading science-fiction pretty much all my life. I usually go through "phases" when I hit on a particular author and read several books by the same person. Last year I was in my Greg Bear phase and I have read eight of his books. He is one of those writers who gets better with age: more recent his book, more I liked it.
His is also some of the hardest of hard sci-fi around. He must be a…
clock | August 23, 2006After hearing Lynn Ponton on the radio and subsequently writing this, I read her book and wrote a brief comment about it (originally on June 14, 2005):
I recently finished reading The Sex Lives of Teenagers by Lynn Ponton. This interview is probably the best introduction to the book.
As parent of soon-to-be teens, I found the book useful to some extent. It is a series of case-studies - the kind of chatty book so often written by psychologists - a format that makes it easy to read, but leaves one deeply unsatisfied.
My interest is in sexuality of American society and how it affects politics…
clock | August 23, 2006Carnival of Education #81 is up on Education Wonks.
Carnival of Homeschooling - It's a Swamp Thing - is up on Patricia Ann's Pollywog Creek Porch.
clock | August 23, 2006June 07, 2005 and another one of those....had to change all my answers so they differ from the previous one!
I got tagged by Revere to do the Book Meme. I did the Other Book Meme recently, which is similar, so this time around I have to make it different - all different titles to double your pleasure.
Number Of Books I Own: Last time I was able to estimate the number of books was almost four years ago. They were neatly arranged: fiction by alphabetic order of the author in one room, non-fiction by topic in another room, sci-fi in alphabetical order in our bedroom, kids books in their rooms,…
clock | August 22, 2006Facebook, always ahead of competition, just started a blog feature. While the Wall is a place to write notes to others, the Notes is the place to write on your own page.
You can edit or delete your posts and people can comment. I do not see any kind of e-mail notification for comments. Spam should not be a problem as the Facebook is a closed community. Interestingly, if you write about another person on Facebook, you can do a tag, so that person knows that you have mentioned them.
The best thing is I can use the RSS feed of this blog and use it as my Notes. It looks just like in any…
clock | August 22, 2006Apparently, there is more to this story than the first news articles revealed. Yes, Mrs. Lambert was fired and the Timothy from the Bible was cited, but only as a stupid cover-up.
clock | August 22, 2006Ezra Klein: BOOKS OF SAND (in keeping with my blog's book theme this week) and The Job Sen. Clinton Should Want
Amanda: Money and divorce go together like a horse and carriage
Dave Neiwert: Terror and Hate
clock | August 22, 2006It took only two months and 13 days for this blog to reach 1000 comments. The honors and a virtual prize, go to John McKay (aka Archy) who posted this comment just a few seconds ago. Thank you and keep 'em coming!
clock | August 22, 2006Biologist Trying To Crack Communication Code Of Proteins:
"Proteins interact; they 'talk' to each other," the associate professor says. "It's how they know what to do, and it's how most of the things that need to happen for living organisms get done."
---------snip--------------
"To begin understanding how proteins talk, we first made random mutations--we broke things and then asked what happened," Larsen says. "That strategy worked well and allowed us to identify the key 'words.' Now we want to know what the 'words' mean, and we are starting by asking what happens when we mix the 'dialects…
clock | August 22, 2006Mr.WD posted the second part of his essay on Postmodern Christianity, focusing this time on the Exodus sermon by Rob Bell.
clock | August 22, 2006Kevin, lacking all the necessary literature out in the middle of China, is having some doubts about proper identification of one of the frogs. He sent an e-mail asking for help.
I know that many scientists read this blog, but are any of my readers Herpetologists? If so, check out the photos and post your ID opinion in the comments. Kevin will come by later to see what you have to say. Here is his message:
Hey everyone, got another mass ID question. I realized some pics of my mystery frog were lacking, so I gathered all the pics of Frog B and put them in the folder "confounding amphibian…
clock | August 22, 2006Archy has a great summary of the history of planetary discovery, which puts the current question of Pluto and plutons in perspective. Did you know how Pluto got its name? Hint: it was not after Mickey Mouse's dog.
clock | August 22, 2006From January 30, 2006, a look at the "new" genre and the hype around it...
Lab Lit is all the buzz these days. Nature magazine had a recent article on it. Blogosphere is abuzz - see Hedwig's take on it.
SEED magazine has a contest. This is what they are looking for - it explains what they think Lab Lit is:
We are not looking for traditional Sci-Fi--we are looking for fiction that reflects the significant role science plays in our culture; fiction that uncovers the rich narratives in science; and fiction wherein scientists are fallible and human. We are looking for Science-In-Fiction,…
clock | August 22, 2006What is your list of essential science-fiction books? I composed mine back on December 27, 2005 and I still agree with myself on it. Click on the spider-clock icon to see the comments on the original post.
A couple of months ago, Brandon (of Siris) wrote a post in which he listed twenty must-read science fiction novels. Please read the comments where many people add their own suggestions. I am not exactly sure what the criterion was - the best ever, Brandon's personal favourites, or something else - but ever since, I wanted to write a similar post. Not that I disagree much with his…
clock | August 22, 2006A broken taxi, a mouthy snake, and a question about snake embryology.
Jiuchong, revisited
16 August
Day of rest. Day before I was at Banqiao, tomorrow I'm heading for Jiuchong. I discovered to my absolute horror that Independence Day has been taken off the air. My savior, my light at the end of the tunnel, my safety blanket has vanished. No one except for Vanessa and Emma will be able to empathize with me. The line up is no longer Shaolin Soccer, followed by Independence Day, followed by the bank robbery movie, followed by the Russian movie, now the line up is completely different. The line-…
clock | August 22, 2006This review of Howard Gardner's "Changing Minds" I wrote on July 4, 2004 on www.jregrassroots.org and re-posted it on Science And Politics on August 25, 2004, so the political implications are quite outdated....
Book Review:
Howard Gardner Changing Minds
Yesterday I finished Howard Gardner's "Changing Minds". Gardner is a cognitive psychologist, famous for his theory of multiple intelligencies ("eight and a half" kinds, so far). In this book he applies his theory to the question of changing minds, including changing one's own mind, minds of one or two closest friends/family/lovers, as well…
clock | August 22, 2006This review was first written on April 14, 2005...
The final verdict has come from the shop: my computer is definitively dead, fried, kaputt. I will be scrambling for a replacament over the next week or so, but until then I cannot read 90% of the blogs (including my own), and while the car is in the shop (blew a gasket!!!) I cannot go to a decent computer either. That's a shame, as I cannot post links to good blog posts, read carnivals, or continue my series of Friday Good Blog Recommendations. I recommended Lance Mannion, Apophenia and David Brin's Blog so far, and intend to continue as…
clock | August 22, 2006This was the first of several book-related memes I did, back on April 05, 2005. Follow the responses of people I tagged as well. And if you have not done this version yet, and you like the questions, then feel tagged and post your answers on your blog...
I was afraid this was going to happen. I tried to hide. But, of course, there is no hiding on the blogs, and it was bound to happen sooner or later. The dreaded "That Book Meme" has been passed on to me, by Eric Gordy of
East Ethnia. So, here are my answers:
You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
When I first saw…