Accidentally left Raymond Chandler‘s anthology, The Simple Art of Murder, at home, so I was not able to read further into the short story “Pickup On Noon Street.”  Where has J been reading Chandler?  On the DC Metro, to and from work.

So, hey! Remember yesterday when I pointed you to Juliette Wade‘s discussion of gender in fiction?  She specifically talks about Ursula Le Guin‘s The Left Hand Of Darkness.  What do you know, a rejection letter for The Left Hand Of Darkness is featured in Flavorwire‘s “Famous Authors’ Harshest Rejection Letters.”  If you’ve ever gotten a rejection letter, it’s a fun read! 

For sci-fi writers seeking ideas:  Scientists have invented the lightest known material by latticing nickel tubes with a wall thickness thinner than a human hair.

Also, remember that experiment that showed neutrinos moving faster than light, which prompted the heads of physicists around the world to explode in desperate skepticism?  Well, they repeated the experiment, tightening up the specs to address specific criticisms of the first test, and came up with the same result.

Speaking of which, do you remember the joke circulating after the first experiment?

A bartender says, “We don’t serve neutrinos in here!” A neutrino walks into a bar.

I hate that joke, because it gets the scientist totally wrong: the bartender detects the neutrino before it arrives, meaning that the neutrino was not the fastest moving carrier of information.  A more accurate joke?

A neutrino-detecting bartender says, “We don’t serve yore kind here!”  A neutrino-emitting knight walks into a bar.

Okay, it’s corny … but it better captures the phenomenon.