Links for 2010-01-04

"The magazine was a lushly airbrushed, sans-serif, and silver-paged vision dreamed up by Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione and his wife, Kathy Keeton. It split the difference between the consumerist Popular Science--which always seemed to cover hypersonic travel and AMC carburetors in the same page--and the lofty Scientific American, whose rigor was alluring but still impenetrable to me. But with equal parts sci-fi, feature reporting, and meaty interviews with Freeman Dyson and Edward O. Wilson, Omni's arrival every month was a sort of peak nerd experience. "

"[T]here's definitely a science to the art of mixology, and right now that science is hot. Heck, even that venerated science museum, San Francisco's Exploratorium, is holding an evening event later this month on the science of cocktails, where it will explore the pressing issue of shaken vs. stirred, among other topics. (The event is already sold out, but we look forward to the planned online exhibit to come.) As with food, a good cocktail is about achieving the perfect balance between different tastes and flavors: not too sweet, not too bitter, not too dry, etc."

"Brushing aside objections from his Lawrence Berkeley lab colleagues, who argued it would not portray the world's premiere research lab in the right light, he decided to appear in September on the Fox TV game show, "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?"

He appeared earlier in the year on the CBS sitcom, "The Big Bang Theory," playing himself as the keynote speaker at a conference attended by the main characters, ultra nerdy scientists. He said he agreed to go on the show because he likes that the scientists are portrayed as heroes.

But "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" was different.

"It was kind of like rebelling," Smoot said. "It was risky because there was a big chance you wouldn't answer everything correctly. You are supposed to be this example to new generations, and to have to say you are not smarter than a fifth-grader would be embarrassing.""

"Says [AAA spokeswoman Marie] Dodds: "If you are following your GPS and all of a sudden you find yourself in the middle of nowhere with snow all around, don't go there. Turn around.""

A very good Shepherd.

"Quick question: What do the New Mexican desert and the Soviet steppe have in common?

If you answered, "They're reasonably safe places to test nuclear devices," then bingo. If you inexplicably added "but a quaint prewar loft in the middle of Manhattan would also do nicely," then you're either Doctor Octopus or the world's evilest interior designer."

"8. Publishers tend to prefer particular kinds of stories but hate ripoffs. The authors that get published build on what the publishers already have. If Scholastic wanted another Harry Potter or Marvel wanted another Spiderman series, they already have JK Rowling and DeFalco on speed-dial. To get published, you need at least one editor to look at your submission and think it's similar to the rest of their work, but better. In contrast, "this is a second-rate knockoff of our biggest work" is a sure-fire rejection."