Sorry for the late post. My neck seized on Friday and I couldn’t stay at the computer any longer.
Science
People-like robots in need expose a surprising aspect of New York life:
http://www.tweenbots.com/
Forensic science elective – taking education back from the tests and into what makes it fascinating:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/12angi.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th
Dinosaur research has had my attention since I was tiny, an affliction I passed to both my kids for a while at least. Luckily, there’s always something new and interesting to find out. The last explanation for large pterosaur flight was that Earth’s gravity might not have been as strong, but here’s another theory:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-pterosaurs-first-took-flight
Writing
Reasoning and suggestions for a pre-release author website:
http://yodiwan.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/why-a-pre-publication-web-presence-is-important/
Plausibility is a big thing for me. When I critique something, that’s the first aspect I look at because everything else is window dressing. This article does a decent job of laying out the big aspects of plausibility, while also showing they are not hammers to slam down on everything:
http://writersdigest.com/article/put-your-fiction-to-the-plausibility-test/
Two solid examples of how to make your villain well rounded. I love the second one:
http://utahchildrenswriters.blogspot.com/2009/05/writing-good-villain.html
Social
Now if this weren’t my husband’s favorite cereal, I would have put this in science, but it has a social impact on me. I find it interesting that Cheerios is being targeted when many cereals make health claims and an odd choice when the impact on the economy and jobs to hit General Mills that hard could be significant:
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Popular_cereal_is_a_drug_US_food_wa_05122009.html
I happen to be a musical buff, but in this you get a two-fer-one. West Side Story redone as the current financial crisis. Good for a laugh or two, especially if you know West Side Story:
http://www.newsday.com/media/flash/2009-04/46217527.swf
And in case one isn’t enough, you can find a bunch of Walt Handelsman’s musical editorial cartoons here:
http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/opinion/walthandelsman/blog/2009/01/walt_handelsmans_animations_20_2.html
Sun Protective Clothing. I sent my parents off around the world with a couple boxes of Rit sun protectant. They never said how well it worked, but neither did they come home with peeling noses or complain about their sunburns that I remember in their travel blog (http://demcgaffey.com/sship/). Here’s an article about non-sunscreen options:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=sun-protective-clothing
Programming
I don’t often find articles on programming that click with my philosophy. (Go to Left Brain/Right Brain in the left sidebar and read my rules of thumb for a glimpse of how I approach programming.) This article does a good job of it while providing some useful tips.
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/programming-and-development/?p=1139&tag=nl.e055