EPoD

Back in April, Bangkok had an exceptionally big storm, one that I missed by a day. The following week I suggested to a photographer on Flickr, Daniel Cuthbert, that he send to Earth Science Picture of the Day a particularly scary photo he'd taken of some ominously big clouds about to engulf the city. It's up today, even better when seen very large.

Life imitates SF

Robot Wars: "We are sleepwalking into a brave new world where robots decide who, where and when to kill."   (via Big Blog of Cheese)

Out-of-body experiences recreated scientifically. But it still involves donning a pair of VR goggles, so only 1/10 on the Star Maker scale.

The urban legend of Rudolph Fentz, Time Traveller: a popular mystery that was believed by many, but some meticulous research by Chris Aubeck has traced it back to a 1951 science fiction short story, 'I’m Scared' by Jack Finney.   (via mollybrown)

2007 books

77) Gabriel García Márquez, Memories of My Melancholy Whores, 2005
For his ninetieth birthday, a newspaper columnist gives himself a night with a fourteen year-old virgin, a night in which nothing happens. Instead as he continues to see her he comes to treasure her innocence, and with his newspaper column finding a fresh vigour he at last achieves some semblance of fame and success that he has gone without for too long. This is a kind of belated, nonagenarian coming-of-age story that's thankfully a long way from the 'memoirs of a dirty old man' that I was half expecting, because it focuses on the humour of old age rather than any melancholy yearnings for lost youth. Lively and natural, and it ends brilliantly.