I think we've all had days like this

Frog Fail from KMLBYK on Vimeo.

A personal statement from Iain Banks

I am officially Very Poorly.
After a couple of surgical procedures, I am gradually recovering from jaundice caused by a blocked bile duct, but that – it turns out – is the least of my problems.

It occurred to me

I could post the test of Thomas M. Disch's Reagan-era essay on awards with a few details removed and let people guess when it was written but the essay does not seem to be online.

George R.R. Martin's reply to it is, though.

On the one hand, Disch was a smart guy. On the other, his ... let's call them convictions and apparent allergy to fact-checking could lead to stuff from asserting firmly that nobody reads Frankenstein for pleasure to xenophobic rants about Muslims and immigrants.

Titan's atmosphere more active than previously thought.

A laboratory experiment at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., simulating the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan suggests complex organic chemistry that could eventually lead to the building blocks of life extends lower in the atmosphere than previously thought. The results now point out another region on the moon that could brew up prebiotic materials. The paper was published in Nature Communications this week.

On listening to the BBC adaptation of Rendezvous With Rama

Wow, they changed a lot while adapting it. The solar system isn't the bland technocracy of the novel but one where humans, having settled three planets and seven moons, feel constrained by the limits of the Solar System and are teetering on the brink of open conflict.

Someone in the production seems to think Rama's rapid spin should make it attract passing objects more strongly. Huh.

What roleplaying system would you use

For something I will describe as Eight Worlds meets The Makeshift Rocket/Seetee Shock meets Tom Corbett?

What we learned again tonight

There is no one session adventure that will not stretch into five sessions given Waterloo gamers....