I don’t have much to offer you this week, and what I do is noticeably lacking in the writing and publishing area (though there are links for research and one lone writing resource). I’m not exactly sure why. Either not much is happening on the writing front, I’m focused on other things right now so am not capable of identifying which in the number I’m reading will be of interest, or I have come to the point where the information I’m reading feels too repetitious to…umm…repeat, which happens a time or two. What I hope is that in branching out, I’ll offer you some things you might not have tripped over on your own.

What I’m Reading

I know I said I would be reading Her Vampire Husband by Michele Hauf next, I ran into some difficulty getting the e-Arc, which though now resolved, left me bookless for too long ;).

I am in the middle of Dark of Night by Suzanne Brockmann, which is a later novel in her Troubleshooters series. I’ve enjoyed her military thriller/romance style since I won a couple of her novels in a blog contest, and this is no different. I do find it interesting how far she’s deviated from traditional romance at this point. She’s just so darn good that no one is willing to quibble, certainly not me.

Science

Like most of us, I find the question of where we come from a fascinating one. I became enamored of Lucy when I was just a kid and to find her baby was actually much older is the fun kind of detail I collect. However, there have been a number of hominid discoveries in the last ten to twenty years or so that paint a very different picture of earth humanlike life, and the interpretations are still just that: interpretations. I’m including two links below not so much because the information is different but because how the information is presented is a study in scientific culture and the faith/belief behind theories:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18753-almost-human-closest-australopithicine-primate-found.html
http://www.livescience.com/history/new-hominid-human-ancestor-100408.html

Racial and genetic stereotypes found to have a different genetic basis:
http://www.livescience.com/culture/sexism-racism-social-stereotypes-100412.html

Research

Though I enjoy many series that contain angels, demons, vampires, etc., this post has a point about all the different creatures out there to be explored, along with some tools to do so:
http://asteampunkreverie.blogspot.com/2010/03/mythos-and-muse.html

This belongs in science except for I have a slightly different take on the concept. It looks at how ancient farming techniques actually increased biodiversity in the Amazon…after abandoned by humans. Post-apocalyptic research anyone?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18762-how-interfering-humans-helped-amazon-diversity.html

Life

Tips for managing taxes as a self-employed person:
http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2010/04/tax-man-cometh.html

Culture

Swearing and the restrictions on same has been something I’ve been aware of since I was a kid, and very much so since my kids started school. I find it interesting that the New York Times is now exploring this quirk:

My blog post from…wow…January 2004:
http://margaretfisk.mmfcf.com/blog/?p=365

The Times:
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/why-do-educated-people-use-bad-words/?src=tptw

Writing

I teach a class on non-verbal communication and so when this link on an emotional thesaurus came across my path, I snagged it for the next run of the class. However, when I saw it again this week, I realized I should share it here as well:
http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/2008/01/introducing-thesaurus-thursdays.html