Emission to Mars

Stiff is very, very good. I have no idea about the rest of her stuff, but I highly recommend Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. It’s full of a ton of interesting information from the invention of the guillotine, to green burials and most stuff in between. Heavy on science in the sense that she talks to a lot of scientists about experiments and the history of what we do with our dead (mostly from a Western point of view), but the science is accessible to the layman. I really enjoyed this book, even though it was kinda disturbing at times — and it should be.

ADD: You can read it in a day or two, and you won’t want to put it down.

Speaking of people who should be sent to Mars:

There actually *is* a vast right-wing conspiracy, at least on Digg

LOL moment from the article:

There’s no ‘algorithm’ at digg. The ‘algorithm’ most likely consists of a bunch of liberal, bi-sexual, emo-types, who drink mimosas all day, and engage in a circle-jerk by night. When they’re not doing that, they pull a few levers to get a banana payoff from a machine, which they call the digg ‘algorithm’.
-rjwusa (currently emersonbiggins)

Project much, hoss? Although a conservative circle-jerk would probably end up like lemonparty, and that’s a serious DO NOT WANT.

As a science nerd and science fiction nerd, I eat this stuff up. It always made me laugh when I saw the ultra luxurious (even on Earf) cabins that the crew of ST:TNG had–thrust to mass ratio will still be critical (especially in combat) so mass would still have to be conserved. Space travel is probably going to be a lot like being on a submarine.

“Real” Space sex would be awkward.

What would bother me the most is that you have to wear the bio sensors 24/7.

They know when you’re sleeping
They know when you’re awake
They know when you’ve been banging the hot female and call you “Mr Speedy” so you might as well not for goodness sake.

Of course, this is a reason why there (supposedly) has been no infinite mile club… yet.

She’s a great writer–accessible, informative, and hilarious. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I highly recommend Bonk.

@JNOV: @flippin eck: Well, this is interesting…

I chose her because there’s no fresh wingnut meat in the Top 100 this week, she and Jon appear to go back a ways, and I liked the Found Dada of the reviewer. Didn’t expect anyone to actually be familiar with her.

@nojo: Bonk is an informative (at least I learned a few things) and funny look at the history of sex research…what’s not to love?

@nojo: Yeah. Stiff is pretty wicked.

@flippin eck: Well, now I have to check out Bonk, you know, as research…