South Korea returned largely to normal Wednesday as workers went back to offices, and museums and libraries reopened under eased social distancing rules after new coronavirus cases dropped to a trickle.

Eleven people were killed and hundreds hospitalised after a pre-dawn gas leak at a chemical plant in eastern India on Thursday that left unconscious victims lying in the streets, authorities said.

India will within days roll out a version of its coronavirus contact-tracing application that can run on mobile carrier Reliance Jio's cheap phones, as it looks to increase the reach of the system, a senior government official said on Thursday.

Indian police have filed a complaint against an LG Chem subsidiary over a toxic gas leak at its chemical plant in the south of the country that killed 11 people and sickened almost a thousand more.

"A schedule defends from chaos and whim."

"The highest proof of virtue is to possess boundless power without abusing it."

"That's what I consider true generosity. You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing."

"[The body is] a marvelous machine...a chemical laboratory, a power-house. Every movement, voluntary or involuntary, full of secrets and marvels!"

"Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about."

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"Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it."

"My toughest fight was with my first wife."

"Some people like my advice so much that they frame it upon the wall instead of using it."

Book 5 of the MegaTokyo: Endgames series is live for all platforms! Amazon Kindle and Paperback can be purchased here. Nook readers can follow this link. Of note, if you are completely unwilling to order through Amazon, you can also order the paperback through Barnes & Noble. And for the first time, Kobo users can go here and be a part of the launch day as well! Thank you again for all your support, and with luck it won’t be long...

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It's been a long road, but the final book of the MegaTokyo: Endgames series is finally here. So let's get the actually important stuff out of the way. The following links should lead you to your format of choice: Paperback Kindle Kobo Nook With this, we are now at the point where Fred's omake/extras segments kick off, with Largo ready to launch his attack on the Domina of Kuith, and where my contribution to the works of Fred Gallagher end. I ...

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Chapter 12: "Broken" comic 1572
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Chapter 12: "Broken" comic 1575
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Chapter 12: "Broken" comic 1576
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We’ve been through pandemic viruses before.  Most recently it was in 2014 when Fox News relentlessly beat the drums declaring that we were all going to die of the much more lethal Ebola virus.  And Fox & Friends regular guest Donald Trump was one of the loudest leaders of the opposition.  He declared without evidence that Barack Obama

Continue Reading "Freak Out Friday – February 28, 2020" →

FREAK OUT FRIDAY – March 5, 2020 So now it’s Obama’s fault. That is the latest claim from Trump and his team of sycophants, toadies and bootlickers.  The reason that the United States has fallen behind in the race to be able to test for the Coronavirus (or, as Trump refers to it, the Caronavirus) is

Continue Reading "Freak Out Friday – March 5, 2020" →

WHAT’S IN A NICKNAME? By Peter David What’s in a nickname? Presidential eras are oftentimes defined by their nicknames. Probably the most memorable one, off the top of my head, is that of John F. Kennedy.  After JFK was assassinated, his widow, Jackie Kennedy, commented in a Life magazine interview that he was particularly enamored of

Continue Reading "Freak Out Friday – March 13, 2020" →

You know, it occurs to me that I need to spell out something to the right wing blowhards who are still howling about Obama and Hillary rather than face the facts of the President’s incessant failures when it comes to managing the Coronavirus. When Trump was—well, not elected, but rather chosen by the Electoral college

Continue Reading "Freak Out Friday – March 27, 2020" →

The GOP has traditionally stood for Grand Old Party.   I think in the age of Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell, the initials should be changed.  The alteration should be made to reflect what the party has become.  Because the modern state of the Republicans would not be recognized by Ronald Reagan, although Richard Nixon would doubtless be

Continue Reading "Freak Out Friday – April 10, 2020" →

There are arguments that have been made contending Donald Trump is the anti-Christ.  I must admit, that’s a little outside of my realm of expertise.  But based upon this past week…indeed, this past year…I can certainly see the reasons for the contention. He’s certainly opposed to life.  That’s a given.  His constant ignoring of the early warnings which, had

Continue Reading "Freak Out Friday – April 23, 2020" →

FREAK OUT FRIDAY – May 1, 2020 I am so freaking sick of the hypocrisy on the right that it’s making me ill.  My stomach turns as these blathering blowhards put forth their idiotic, self-contradicting opinions as if they have any worth.  I am tired of these inconsistent blowhards rallying behind Trump in order to march this

Continue Reading "Freak Out Friday – May 1, 2020" →

A few weeks ago, I received an email from MamaSezz, a plant-based meal delivery service, offering me an opportunity to help promote their business in exchange for a commission.  As a blogger, I get a lot of offers like this, from companies selling everything from supplements to olive oil to keto meals (yikes!) I delete 99.9%...

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The post MamaSezz Plant-Based Meals: A Review appeared first on FatFree Vegan Kitchen.

Sautéed asparagus, mushrooms, and garlic combine with pasta and a light fat-free sauce in this delicious plant-based meal. Optional soy curls or chickpeas add heartiness, making this Asparagus Mushroom Pasta a very filling vegan main dish.(...)Read the rest of Vegan Asparagus and Mushroom Pasta (889 words) © svoisin for FatFree Vegan Kitchen, 2020. | Permalink...

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The post Vegan Asparagus and Mushroom Pasta appeared first on FatFree Vegan Kitchen.

In the aftermath of writing his latest novel Spiked, author Jon McGoran found the reality of the moment catching up with the future of his fiction in ways he didn’t expect… and in ways that gave him food for thought. JON McGORAN: One of the things that has drawn me to science fiction since I was […]

Start with cinematic dreams and stellar ambitions, and what do you get from there? For Laura Lam, you get Goldilocks, her new novel. She’s here to tell you how it all came together. LAURA LAM: I love astronaut films. Gravity. Interstellar. The Martian. Armageddon. Ad Astra. The Mars TV show on Netflix that’s OK, not […]

This upcoming week I have almost nothing scheduled, either in the real world or online, which honestly is a first for me in a real long time. I could just take a break, but where’s the fun in that? So: It’s time for the annual Reader Request Week, in which you pick the topics I write about for […]

I’m going to use this intro part of this Big Idea piece to say that the cover of The Down Days, by Ilze Hugo, is probably my favorite book cover of the year. To date! There might be a better one down the line! But I suspect not. And now here’s the author to tell […]

The contrast sensitivity function shows how our sensitivity to contrasts is affected by spatial frequency. You can test it using gratings of alternating light and darker shade. Ian Goodfellow has this neat observation: By looking at this image, you can see how sensitive your own eyes are to contrast at different frequencies (taller apparent peaks=more … Continue reading "A graph that is made by perceiving it"

Spaced repetition is a memory hack. We know that spacing out your study is more effective than cramming, but using an app you can tailor your own spaced repetition schedule, allowing you to efficiently create reliable memories for any material you like. Michael Nielsen, has a nice thread on his use of spaced repetition on … Continue reading "spaced repetition & Darwin’s golden rule"

Psychologists have been measuring reaction times since before psychology existed, and they are still a staple of cognitive psychology experiments today. Typically psychologists look for a difference in the time it takes participants to respond to stimuli under different conditions as evidence of differences in how cognitive processing occurs in those conditions. Galton, the famous … Continue reading "Did the Victorians have faster reactions?"

I have a guest post for the Research Digest, snappily titled ‘People who think their opinions are superior to others are most prone to overestimating their relevant knowledge and ignoring chances to learn more‘. The paper I review is about the so-called “belief superiority” effect, which is defined by thinking that your views are better … Continue reading "Believing everyone else is wrong is a danger sign"

This thread started by Ekaterina Damer has prompted many recommendations from psychologists on twitter. Can anyone recommend an (ideally brief) introductory paper or post or book explaining what makes for a good theory? For example, how to construct a good psychological theory, what are key things to consider?@psforscher @lakens @talyarkoni @chrisdc77 @tomstafford @kurtjgray — Ekaterina … Continue reading "After the methods crisis, the theory crisis"

The Guardian recently published an article saying “People won’t get ‘tired’ of social distancing – and it’s unscientific to suggest otherwise”. “Behavioural fatigue” the piece said, “has no basis in science”. ‘Behavioural fatigue’ became a hot topic because it was part of the UK Government’s justification for delaying the introduction of stricter public health measures. … Continue reading "Do we suffer ‘behavioural fatigue’ for pandemic prevention measures?"

Here in the US, “tax season” is extended into the summer. No one likes dealing with taxes, obviously, but we agree that the social benefits outweigh the costs. I can’t speak to how folks feel in...

Julien’s employer has switched their payroll operations to a hosted solution. The hosted solution has some… interesting features. The fact that it has a “share” button, implying you can share your...

"I've always ordered my burritos in Times New Roman. I'll have to make sure to try the Helvetica option next time I go in," Winston M. writes.   "Giving its all and another...

Jim J's co-worker showed him this little snippet in the codebase. foreach (ToolStripMenuItem item in documentMenuItem.DropDownItems) { item.Enabled = item.Enabled ? Document.Status ==...