E Coli Can Solve Sudoku

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have altered bacteria to perform RNA based computations. 

Speculative Fiction Poetry

FJ Bergman responds to an article about why speculative fiction poetry sucks. I enjoy Goblin Fruit and I've actually been working my way through the Strange Horizons back archive of poetry, and I'm interested in the field if not currently participating.

Dan, I know you do this sort of thing. Anything you'd like to add?

Paperman

I love animation, and this one is beautiful.

(It does live inside one of my less favorite trope spaces: "I will destroy my life to pursue the (beautiful) girl I haven't even spoken to" but at least in this one they interact a little and she's not just a picture in a magazine or someone he watches while she's unaware. Seriously, that's not romance, that's stalking.)

Anyway, this is gorgeous and sweet, and absolutely beautifully animated, and the black and white is such a fantastic choice for it. Up for an Oscar too, though I think Flying Lessons from Pixar is this year as well, and that's also really lovely. 

Art as Commodity

I wrote a big rant about Art as Commodity, but after giving it a day long cool down time I decided not to post it. This article hits some of the points I had made. 

Innsmouth Free Press

The stylish Lovecraftian horror zine Innsmouth Free Press is reprinting my story "I Fall to Pieces" which first appeared in the Magazine of Bizarro Fiction! Go check them out!

Beneath Ceaseless Skies Review

A very nice Swords and Sorcery blog did a review of issue 114 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies! The site itself seems like a good internet watering hole, so do go check it out. 

Faces of Addiction

Photo series by Chris Arnade. Some of these are very hard to read, but I think it's important to do so. 

Literary Tropes

A fondly remonstrating look at the tropes of literary fiction. 

Science Fiction, Comrades!

I suspect you all read io9 anyway, but if you don't here's a fun article about science fiction rearing its head in Tsarist Russia as both popular and serious literature. 

Experimental Hairdo Archaeology

No, seriously. This is one of those stories I love- where someone outside academia has a perfectly good notion, does an experiment, and gets the recognition they deserve for it. 

Barbie in Books

This is just cute and fluffy. Barbie literary crossovers. 

Third Hand Art

By which I mean a performance artist with a bionic third hand. Stelarc. Check it out. 

The Abandoned World

A selection of photos of abandoned places. I love this sort of thing. 

Smart Phone Cryptology

Silent Circle has released an app to encrypt your cell-phone texts and files.

I get into a lot of political talks with people, wherein it's very often framed entirely in a context of trusting the government implicitly, versus trusting the free market implicitly as a panacea to all the world's problems. (I also had one guy put forward trusting God implicitly to take care of all social ills, but I feel like all you can do with that argument point to plagues and starving children and then agree to disagree.)

I tend to come down on the side of not trusting an unregulated market, but I'd like for that not to be misunderstood as not believing that a lot of valuable innovation comes from individuals or small, minimally affiliated groups. I'd also like that not to be taken as blanket trust of the government. We need transparency as a check on government power, and it seems increasingly apparent that that means coming up with ways to protect the people who blow the whistles.

Good on you, Silent Circle. 

Phone Sex Confessional

This article was too fun not to pass along. 

Beneath Ceaseless Squees!

Beneath Ceaseless Skies issue #114! Woo!

Beneath Ceaseless Skies is another one of my dream markets. Second world fantasy has always been a thing I've loved, and this is a fantastic magazine for it. They also have one of my favorite podcasts, which doesn't hurt either. 

The kindle version of the issue with my story is already up, and it should be up on the website by Thursday. Go! Check it out! Become hooked.

The 1008 Names of Kali

What it says on the tin. An enlightening read through.