- A few years back, while I was reading Eifelheim, I read up on the Black Death. There was a theory floating around at the time that, based on symptoms and virulence, the black death might have been caused by a viral hemorrhagic fever like Marburg, not by the bubonic plague that’s still endemic in some parts of the world. Since then, researchers have managed to extract bacterial DNA from the bones of Londoners who died when the plague reached the city in 1348, confirming that they were infected with a relative of the modern plague…and have reconstructed its genome. Wow. (via Slashdot)
- “Transformers” Hostess Cupcakes And Sno Balls Roll Out – OK, I have to admit that "Chocwave" cupcakes are inspired.
- Writer’s block: Seth Godin considers the issue by comparison to “talker’s block”, while IO9 has a more detailed look at 10 types of writer’s block and how to overcome them, illustrated with classic pulp sci-fi covers.
- Compare average climate of any 2 US ZIP codes by plugging in your own ZIP code
- Emergency Preparedness: Cell & Home Phone Guidelines. In particular: wireless home phones require power. Keep one landline phone with a cord on hand. And for non-emergency communications (“I’m OK, hope everyone else is”), stick to texting, email, or social networks so that emergency workers and people in immediate danger (“Help, I’m trapped under a fallen wall”) can use the voice channels.
- Whenever I hear someone complain about “hipsters,” I always think of this comic.
