popplers

Friday quickies

• Thought-provoking op-ed piece from The Morning News on supporting an author through buying books, staying in print, and libraries. I'm going to pass this one on to a friend of mine who is an author, just to see what she thinks. As a huge fan of the library, I'm torn. I read lots of books that I don't ever buy (too expensive, no longer in print, only available in hardcover) but I also buy books, receive them as gifts, add them to my Wish List, etc.
• Amusing page with lots of screenshots from the original Batman TV series fight scenes: the Batsigns.
• Jonathan Schwarz on Schrödinger's War: "It's easy to understand why the Bush administration wants it both ways: we're at war because that gives them more power… but we're also not at war because they would then have treaty obligations, such as under the Geneva Conventions."
• Cat and Girl root for the patriarchy.
• Environmental science student offers interesting observations on the coming plague. "Certainly not all conclusions drawn from data are correct, nor is all data necessarily valid; however, you must address these issues on their own terms, on scientific terms: you must show why different conclusions would be more appropriate or why the presented data is invalid. What you cannot do is shut your eyes and dismiss science as an ideology."
• Follow-up article on Tyler Hinman and other American Crossword Puzzle Tournament competitors. "The consensus from the hard-core faithful was 'As long as I can finish ahead of Ken Jennings, all will not be in vain,'" said first-time competitor Janet Siefert.