Links

My western sojourn is complete. The thing that impressed me most about Livermore, and its neighbor Pleasanton, CA, is that both towns’ main streets have shops with life-sized fiberglass horses out front. Something you don’t find here in Manhattan.

I also rediscovered that I am a terrible and impatient driver. However, I managed not to kill or even seriously wound any human, and I caused almost no property damage, so my time behind the wheel must be judged a success.

Since I have been gone, the links have piled up. Here are a few of them.

Alarm Crock “Simon Briscoe, morbid Brit, statistician and co-author of the new book ‘Panicology,’ which uses hard data to separate actual threats from perceived ones.” Sent in by XYLKT.

Thiner is better to combat global warming This report, emailed from Ari, concludes the exact opposite of what Dr Harrister, PhD proved in a scientific study, and says fat people burn more CO₂ than do thin people. But the report clearly fails to consider that thin people “exercise” too much and burn way more O₂ (and thus convert that O₂ into CO₂).

London Book Review has reviewed Breaking the Law of Averages. Money quote: “If there’s a criticism of the book it’s that it really could have done with a better proof-read – sometimes the typos really do get in the way. Hopefully future editions will clear this up.” Amen, brother; I hope so, too.

The Tree Museum I get about three to four press releases a day, all inviting me to post. Most of them are asinine, and I’m not saying this one isn’t, but it is, at least, bizarre. Tree Museum is a novel which “is a social thriller that follows a world completely transformed by an enigmatic and powerful totalitarian force known only as the Signmakers. In effort to transform humanity into a self-sufficient and environmentally stable civilization, the Signmakers ruthlessly and systematically eliminate anything and any person that they deem wasteful. The story follows a torn couple on their odyssey throughout the American southwest while the Signmakers transform the world around them.” If anybody reads this, please send me a review. Might compete with this book for worst all time sci fi novel.

Why two? This was the question we asked of gay marriage supporters. It has been answered. “First came traditional marriage. Then, gay marriage. Now, there’s a movement combining both—simultaneously. Abby Ellin visits the next frontier of nuptials: the ‘triad.’..’I want to walk down the street hand in hand in hand in hand and live together openly and proclaim our relationship,’ says Sasha Lessin [1 of 3]. ‘But also to have all those survivor and visitation rights and tax breaks and everything like that.'” Sent in by Anonymous.

Peddlar joins PhD program without a degree! “Despite failing his college entrance exam years ago, the 38-year-old street peddler and part-time bicycle taxi driver from Jinzhou, Liaoning province, followed his love and continued to study classic Chinese literature on his own.” His work was eventually recognized by a university and he was allowed entrance. Gives you hope that there is still some sense left in the world. Sent in by my Number One Son.

Could deadly swine flu be caused by climate change? “Has climate change and poor water sanitation played a role in the emergence of a previously unknown deadly swine super virus? It is too soon to tell and a lot more investigation will need to be conducted…but it might be a very frightening and conceivable reality. ” (ellipsis and emphasis in original). It might also mean that we are dealing with a dull-witted columnist. Sent in by Bob Thompson.