Links for 2010-07-14

"In this week's Ask a Physicist, we answer a question that's on everyone's mind: Can we use quantum entanglement to make a mockery of the speed of light, and create intergalactic communications devices like Le Guin's "ansible"?"

"In most industries, new technology is adopted because it's expected to lower costs and/or improve productivity (which lowers costs over time). It doesn't always succeed, of course, and the usual vagaries of faddism are certainly there. But by and large, the point of adopting a new technology is to make the underlying business stronger.

But that doesn't apply in either higher education or health care. In both of those, institutions adopt technology to meet rising expectations, whether it helps with cost or not. Much of the time, it actually leads to increased costs. "

"I owe a lot to fandom. From Don Wollheim, John Michel, Doc Lowndes -- and later from Cyril Kornbluth, Dick Wilson, Isaac Asimov and others -- I learned something about what they were learning about writing; we all showed each other our stories, when we weren't actually collaborating on them. In the fan mags, I acquired the skills necessary to prepare something for public viewing -- and the courage to permit it.

What I am not as sure of is whether all the things we learned then were worth learning."

Because a comic book about Islamic librarian superheros is too cool not to link.