Hi-Tech returns to Low-Tech

Crafts

I like this, but it seems to be taking something currently prized for its low-tech simplicity, spinning, and automating it. Are there cycles of technology? People reject machined versions of things and do them by hand…only to create machines to help? Hmmmm…..

like mini sci fi audiobooks

Literature

Thanks to a mention on Boing Boing, I discovered an extraordinary podcast called “Escape Pod”:http://www.escapepod.info/ today. It’s a collection of short sci-fi stories read by podcasting veterans, and the result is awesome. There’s some fresh, funny, and thought-provoking stuff in there, and it’s open to everyone.

My favorite so far is “The Burning Bush”:http://www.escapepod.info/2005/09/22/ep020-the-burning-bush/, a sacrelicious must-listen for any feminist. This means you, K and Deb and Deana. Fire up whatever MP3 player you have and start listening now.

Oh, and they’re accepting new submissions, with a $10-20 reward (and an audience of 2,000) for getting published.

intelligent design and sloppy journalism

Science

Is it just me, or is this Washington Post “article on the intelligent design trial”:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/17/AR2005101701579.html completely lacking in journalistic rigor? It sounds more like a press release for Michael J. Behe, the pseudoscientist who testified yesterday. It’s not so much bias as an apathy toward really determining how the scientific community views intelligent design.