Link: Why computer voices are mostly female

Here's another interesting story. Why are computer voices mostly female? The reasons are cultural and various, and the article includes very interesting examples. Check it out!

Link: Land bridge theory of American settlement "speared"

I thought this was a very interesting article. A mastodon bone with a weapon point embedded in it has been dated to a time long before the Clovis hunters came across the Bering strait into north America. So how did people first get here? It's a mystery...

Lovely post about me at Deborah Ross's blog

My dear friend and awesome writer Deborah J. Ross wrote a thoughtful post about me following my article here called "It's good to be wrong - Or, why my characters use the scientific method." She adds some really interesting thoughts that I hadn't even consciously had when I was writing the article. I encourage you to go check it out, here.

Link: Looks like glass is a liquid after all...

I've been part of arguments about whether glass is a liquid, so I'm mentioning this here. Apparently there's compelling evidence to suggest that it is a liquid after all! Here's the article.

Link: The Language of Interfaces.

I really enjoyed this article. The first piece of it is an article and the second is a slide show, so if you want to see the whole thing, click on the double forward triangle when you get to the slides. It's a funny combination of marketing advice and linguistic anthropology, referencing both the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and products like Google Wave. I enjoyed seeing the whole thing. It will really attune you to the language you see here on the internet and may get you thinking about the language you use in stories as well.

Link: Cave people made paint 100,000 years ago

This is a really cool article, handed to me by my friend Dario Ciriello, an expert in paint himself. In a cave in South Africa they have found evidence of a paint-making workshop from 100,000 years ago! It appears that pretty advanced humanlike cognition was happening far earlier than science has previously hypothesized. Very cool stuff.

Link: Aboriginal Stonehenge: Stargazing in ancient Australia

I came across this wonderful article this morning and knew I had to pass it on to you guys. It's about a formation of standing stones (boulders) in Australia - likely older than Stonehenge - showing that the ancient Aboriginal peoples were stargazers and understood the movements of the celestial bodies. Furthermore, it discusses other evidence of scientific knowledge in the form of storytelling.

The way that so much of these people's knowledge and culture was lost or obliterated during European settlement is horrible and a tragedy. I'm pleased that we can at least make progress in understanding things like these stones in order to recapture some of that, and realize that these people have always been worthy of respect.

Link: A Town Without Poverty?

I found this interesting article this morning through my friend Samala Ray. Canada did a one-town experiment with guaranteed income back in the 1970s, but it was brought to an abrupt close due to an economic downturn - and here's the interesting part for me - the data were never analyzed, but they are being analyzed now. The researchers are finding some effects they didn't expect, and you might not either. It's a good link on the topic of economics, which will be the Google+ Hangout topic tomorrow at 11am PDT. So check it out!

Link: Secrets of the first page

This link was handed to me by my friend Deborah Ross. It's a great blog article by author Kay Kenyon about what to do, and what not to do, with the first page of your story (in this case I believe all the examples were novels). It's concisely written, incisive and insightful.

Secrets of the first page


Check it out!

Link: Ladies Who Critique

I recently learned about Ladies Who Critique... it's basically an online service where woman writers can find critique partners. I'm not in need of their services at the moment, but it sounded like an interesting project, so I thought I'd pass it on. Here's what organizer Laura Pepper Wu has to say:

Ladies Who Critique is a place where any writer looking to find a supportive critique partner/ beta reader can find a compatible match (or several). We are here for writers of all levels – published, unpublished, agented, unagented, aspiring, hobbyists, even closet writers or complete newbies! There are no requirements or criteria for Ladies Who Critique membership (except that you should be 16 +) and it is completely free – and always will be.

We currently have 15 genre groups as well as a Coffee House (for chit-chat) a Publishing Help and Advice group, and a Book Marketing group. Ladies Who Critique aspires to be:

- A place where women writers of all levels can search & find a match based on genre, experience & interests.
- A completely free service.
- Fun and without obligation.
- Safe and trustworthy.
- Fills the current need for such a space online.
- Be up to date with current trends in publication.
- Support the women who wish to pursue the traditional path and those who choose to go down the self publication route.
- Build confidence in those who aren’t even confident to call themselves writers quite yet.
- Offer a variety of articles, resources and blogposts on how to successfully critique, the benefits of critique, and how to maintain a good critiquing relationship.
- Enable our members to be fully savvy on the ins and outs of the new rules of publishing by keeping up to date with the newest and current technology, and developments in the publishing industry.

If you're curious, hop over and check it out...

Article: why some languges sound faster than others

You guys are going to love this article, which was passed on to me by Samala Ray. Scientists at the Université de Lyon did a study of information density per syllable and speed of syllables to see whether some languages really are spoken faster than others. Answer? They are, and they aren't. I'll let you read and see, but the answer is really fun.

Link: Mysterious Paper Sculptures in Edinburgh

I just had to share this article, which talks about some amazingly beautiful sculptures - carved out of books - which have been showing up in Edinburgh libraries and at public book events. I'm sure you'll love them, so go take a look!

Link: Orange Carrots, at the intersection of genetics, politics and culture

I thought this was a pretty interesting article! Carrots weren't always orange... in fact, the swing toward orange carrots came about in the Netherlands. Fascinating, and reminds me of how Coca-Cola made Santa Claus dress in red.

Link: Tokyo's top 10 Mythical Beasts

Here's a lovely - and illustrated! - list of some great mythical creatures from Japan. Some you know will be missing from the list, but they're all very interesting. And the pictures are terrific.

I have been having internet connection problems, but will try to be up with a post in the next day or so.

Link: A Matrilineal Muslim Culture in Indonesia

I thought you guys might really enjoy this article discussing the Minangkabau of Indonesia. This society has merged Muslim beliefs with their underlying matrilineal culture in a really interesting way. Food for thought.

Link: Ceremony and Fantastika: Watching the Hugo Awards

I highly recommend this insightful and thought-provoking article by John H. Stevens over at SFSignal. It will certainly get you looking at awards ceremonies in a different way... and may even give you ideas for your own writing!

Link: Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor

I thought you might enjoy the beautiful art on this site. Check it out if you like science fiction and fantasy art and self-respecting women!

Cool link about ancient Pictish

There's now some evidence that ancient Pictish was a written language. Check out the methods scientists used to determine this here.

Lovely and thoughtful article at the TOF Spot

Mike Flynn posted this interesting post called "Talk to the Animals" and I thought I'd pass it on. It discusses the difference between signs and symbols, and the distinction between animal understanding of language and human understanding of language. The parts that I found especially wonderful were quotes from the experience of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan, concerning her first understanding of language. It's nearly enough to bring me to tears, and I hope you'll go take a look.

What is not arbitrary about language?

Yesterday I ran across this fascinating link about synesthesia, onomatopoeia, and new hints about the origins of language. For those who don't know, synesthesia is when the senses intermix, and in this case, scientists have been looking at places where words and other sensations cross. It turns out that if you show experimental subjects the words "kiki" and "bouba" and ask them to assign one of two meanings to them - pointy or round - the distribution is not at all random. Most people will assign kiki to pointy, and bouba to round. The article draws some fascinating conclusions about language, and whether or not it can be considered entirely arbitrary.

I think these conclusions are very interesting for writers who make up words. Think about it - your gut feeling about whether the sounds of the words "feel" right for the meaning is not only legitimate, but likely to be shared across much of the world. There's something satisfying to me about the idea that on some basic level, the way I might assign random words to meanings by feel will be accepted and found natural by readers of other cultures. I suspect there are also some story idea opportunities available there - either about the historical origins of language or about synesthesia in unexpected contexts!