Using an Arduino, a bunch of code and a little machine learning, Benn Hamm created a cat door to keep his cat from bringing dead--and sometimes live--rats and birds into his home in the middle of the night. It's not often that I'm down with bringing surveillance technology into homes but, as a former cat owner who's had to clean bird shit off a flat-screen TV, I have nothing but love for this project.
Image via Wikipedia Commons
Behold the Brain Coat, which is not a tinfoil hat but rather a silver-coated nylon skull cap with ear flaps. It's lightweight, breathable, and claims to be effective at shielding the brain from radio waves while remaining comfortable even if worn with other headgear.
Microwave Shielding Effect: >35 dB at 1-10 GHz
Surface resistivity: <0.5 Ohm/sq
I put mine on whenever I go on Twitter and it works perfectly.
Brain Coat | RF Shielding for your Mind [Amazon link]
"Juicy Ghost" is a new tale from Rudy Rucker (previously), an explicitly politican sf story told from the point of view of a suicide-assassin who is getting ready to take out an illegitimate president during his inauguration; as Rucker describes, he really struggled with the story, and couldn't figure out where or if to publish (he even contemplated rebooting his late, great, much-lamented webzine Flurb with an "all-politics" issue as a means of giving the story a home).
Ultimately, Rucker decided to publish the tale on his own site, in both text and audio formats.
I listened to Rucker's reading of the story yesterday and it's quite an experience: all the whimsy and playfulness that is Rucker's signature, blended with a dark, almost frantic view of the moment we're living through today. Strong tonic for a Sunday.
“A mob of Freals,” says Leeta. “I feel safe. For once.”
She makes a knowing mm-hmm sound, with her gawky mouth pressed shut. She’s not one to think about looks. Lank-haired and fit. A fanatic. I’m a fanatic too. We’re feral freaks, free for real.
Is Leeta is my girlfriend? No. I’ve never had a girlfriend or a boyfriend. I don’t get that close to people. My parents and brother and sister died when I was eight. A shoot-out at our house. I don’t talk about it.
It’s nine in the morning on January 20, a cold, blue-sky day in Washington D.C. Inauguration Day for Ross Treadle, that lying sack of shit who’s acting as if he’s been legitimately re-elected. Treadle and his goons have stolen the Presidency for the third time in a row, is what it is.
“Juicy Ghost.” A Political SF Story [Rudy Rucker]
Podcast #109. “Juicy Ghost" [Rudy Rucker]
Locus Magazine announced the winners of its annual reader-voted awards last night, with top honors for Mary Robinette Kowal, who won Best SF Novel for The Calculating Stars (which also won a Nebula Award this year), as well as Brooke Bolander, who won Best Novelette for The Only Harmless Great Thing (also a Nebula winner); and Phenderson Djèlí Clark whose Nebula-winning short story The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington also won a Locus.
Congrats to all the winners!
Best SF Novel: The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Best Fantasy Novel: Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Best Horror Novel: The Cabin at the End of the World, Paul Tremblay (Morrow; Titan UK)
Best YA Novel: Dread Nation, Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray)
Best First Novel: Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)
Best Novella: Artificial Condition, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)
Best Novelette: The Only Harmless Great Thing, Brooke Bolander (Tor.com Publishing)
“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington," Phenderson Djèlí Clark (Fireside 2/18)
Best Anthology: The Book of Magic, Gardner Dozois, ed. (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)
Best Collection: How Long ’til Black Future Month?, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Best Magazine: Tor.com
Best Publisher: Tor
Best Editor: Gardner Dozois
Best Artist: Charles Vess
Best Nonfiction Book: Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing, Ursula K. Le Guin & David Naimon (Tin House)
Best Art Book: Charles Vess, The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, Ursula K. Le Guin (Saga)
Community Outreach and Development: Mary Anne Mohanraj
