Kitties!
Because I’ll be gone most of the day doing medical things, and because throwing Cute at you is acceptable once a year,…
Read moreMonth: July 2012
Sharks vs. Christmas tree ornaments
This is for those friends of mine who love non-cuddly beasties. (I have a surprising number.) From the London Review of Books:…
Read moreE.L. James vs. King James
This caught my eye the other day (from the Westmorland Gazette):E.L. James vs. King James: A HOTEL boss has swapped Bibles in…
Read moreSly, surreal eccentricity: opening ceremonies
The Danny Boyle-directed Olympics Opening Ceremony was, well, Britain on acid. Or maybe ecstasy. A wild, weird and wonderful party. With great…
Read moreDOMA is going down: but when, and what then?
Yesterday I read this article from The Advocate New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn filed a…
Read moreA scientific breakthrough that will revolutionise archaeological epidemiology
My friend, Dr Angelique Corthals, has a new paper out. (Perhaps you recall her last one, which caused a stir by asserting…
Read moreMan Booker Prize 2012 longlist: zero novels by women about women
The 2012 Man Booker Prize longlist has been announced: Nicola Barker, The Yips (Fourth Estate) Ned Beauman, The Teleportation Accident (Sceptre) André…
Read moreSally Ride and Tam O’Shaughnessy
Sally Ride, the first woman from the west to go into space, died yesterday. And she came out in the obituary on…
Read moreYou can have it all if you love to read
The lyrics say it all, really: There’s a story waiting to be toldWaiting for all of us, whether we’re young or oldThe…
Read moreElla Fitzgerald captures Sunday perfectly
The first song is “Something to Live For,” written by Billy Strayhorn (who arranged the music, too, I think) and performed by…
Read morePenguin, self-publishing, and analytics
Yesterday news hit of Pearson (parent company of Penguin) acquiring the self-publishing vendor Author Solutions. From Publishers Weekly: In a move that…
Read moreLong, lazy, and leisurely
Today has dawned light and bright, so I’m going to take the day off. A massage, a long, leisurely lunch, with wine,…
Read moreBritain goes for gold
I enjoyed an article this morning in the Wall Street Journal, “The Return of the British Empire.” Great Britain came home from…
Read moreThe indefatigable weirdness of ’50s American science fiction
“These novels testify to the extraordinary range, profound intelligence, and indefatigable weirdness of ’50s American science fiction. A must-have for anyone interested…
Read moreRecreating the past, steering the future
When I was writing about the Polari prize the other day, I was reminded of a question that came up here both…
Read moreMe and my father
He’s 86. He used to be half an inch taller than me. Now I’m a couple of inches taller than him. He…
Read morePolari First Book prize longlist and what it means
Via Diva, the longlist of the UK’s Polari First Book prize: Rory’s Boys by Alan Clark (Bliss/Arcadia Books)Pennance by Claire Ashton (self published…
Read moreLesbian Super PAC
A couple of days ago I read this in the Huffington Post: WASHINGTON — Women including sports icon Billie Jean King and…
Read moreGo read some SF by women
Over at io9.com, Charlie Jane Anders has rounded up some opinions on the 10 SF novels people pretend to have read–and why…
Read moreUpdate on same-sex marriage in Washington State
As I’ve said previously, Referendum 74 made the ballot. But Initiative 1192–which could have proved confusing to those voting on same-sex marriage–has…
Read moreThe Hunger Games, the movie
On my way back from the UK last week I ate lunch and watched a film. The lunch, despite one’s palate being…
Read moreOur evening with GRRM and Connie Willis
Last night I was one of about ninety people who gathered for drinks and delicious food–lamb kebab, grilled salmon, a variety of…
Read moreAlzheimer’s disease linked to cholesterol metabolism
Just published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences*, “The link between altered cholesterol metabolism and Alzheimer’s disease,” by Paola…
Read moreSupreme justice
Fish is brain food. At least that’s my sincere hope. Jet lag shrinks my brain to a dot. Fish and fruit are…
Read moreBack in the US
So last week was mad–we got a last-minute flight to the UK to see my family. It was a special occasion, a…
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