Fan fiction is in a different universe to Kindle Worlds | Mathilda Gregory
It’s been a tumultuous week for internet fandom. First, Tumblr was bought by Yahoo (fandom lives on Tumblr, nestled down amongst the cat Gifs), then, the real game changer, kaboom!, Amazon’s Kindle Worlds.
Amazon selling fan fiction? That hasn’t happened since 2006, when an over-eager fan listed their self-published Star Wars novel without a care for how George Lucas might feel about it.
But that was then. Star Wars is now owned by Disney and fan fiction (fanfic) or money is going legit. Kindle Worlds is “the first [...]
Iceland expands volcano monitoring
23 May 2013
Last updated at 03:39 ET
By Neil Bowdler and Simon Hancock
BBC News, Iceland
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Scientists explain how they are using more sensors and real-time monitoring to help give earlier warnings of an imminent eruption
Work is under way to improve monitoring of Iceland’s volcanoes and give earlier warning of possible eruptions.
Th [...]
Lost in bloom of youth, Oklahoma tornado’s youngest victims remembered by family ...
MOORE, Okla. – The young victims of this week’s tornado in Oklahoma are each being remembered in a special way — for their soccer skills, their enthusiasm and their ability to light up a room.
Ten children were among the 24 victims of Monday’s twister at Moore. Seven died while huddling within one of the city’s elementary schools.
Sydney Angle had finally been named the MVP of a softball tournament this month and her teammates collected money for her family Wednesday. Sydney’s sister made it out of the school, b [...]
IRS hearing: Best moments
Two weeks in and the IRS scandal isn’t turning into any less of a spectacle on Capitol Hill.
Check out the highlight reel from a House hearing Wednesday: bizarre plot twists, witness missteps and new revelations from IRS officials.
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The hearing was so action-packed that the scandal itself is feeling no less interesting — or even strange — than it did on the first day.
(PHOTOS: IRS hearing on Capitol Hill)
Here are the moments from Wednesday’s hearing that made it worth watching:
Did the IRS just [...]
Scientists announce Top 10 New Species
Related images(click to enlarge)
An amazing glow-in-the-dark cockroach, a harp-shaped carnivorous sponge and the smallest vertebrate on Earth are just three of the newly discovered top 10 species selected by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University. A global committee of taxonomists — scientists responsible for species exploration and classification — announced its list of top 10 species from 2012 today, May 23. The announcement, now in its sixth year, coincides with the anniversary [...]
Google’s Eric Schmidt believes one company is an island
A week or so ago, Google’s chief executive, Larry Page, caused ripples when he suggested at a public event that laws older than 50 years or so shouldn’t apply to internet companies, and that it might be fun to have an island where Google could dabble in new ideas without all the silly meddling of governments. (That’s only a slight paraphrase.) The only way he could have seemed more like a Bond villain would be if he had been stroking a cat while speaking.
While not an island, Google created its own patch of turf in Hertf [...]
Iceland expands volcano network
23 May 2013
Last updated at 03:39 ET
By Neil Bowdler and Simon Hancock
BBC News, Iceland
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Scientists explain how they are using more sensors and real-time monitoring to help give earlier warnings of an imminent eruption
Work is under way to improve monitoring of Iceland’s volcanoes and give earlier warning of possible eruptions.
Th [...]
Japan stocks plunge on weak China data
Japanese stocks have been surging on the country’s aggressive attempts to stimulate the economy.
A seven-month rally in Japanese stocks came to an abrupt halt Thursday as the benchmark Nikkei index plunged by 7.3%, with investors rattled by weak economic data from China.
The latest numbers from China showed the country’s manufacturing sector contracted in May, contrary to expectations for narrow growth.
Japanese investors were also spooked after the U.S. Federal Reserve released minutes from its latest policy meeting re [...]
20 great Ashes moments No8: Allan Border, no more Mr Nice Guy, 1989
Throughout much of the 1980s Australian cricket was a mess, the national team cast about on the winds of rebellion, hamstrung by retirements and peppered by regular defeat. Yet in the 1990s the Baggy Green side was one of the greatest the sport has seen. A generation of England fans grew up knowing the Australian side only as an all-conquering force, one who would habitually humiliate whichever side England sacrificially put out to take them on. The pivot between the old, shambolic and (crucially) Ashes-losing Australia of the 1980s and t [...]
Trans-US solar plane sets new record
23 May 2013
Last updated at 04:12 ET
The plane took off from Phoenix, arriving in Dallas after a flight of 18 hours and 21 minutes
The Solar Impulse plane has set a new distance record for solar-powered flight on the second leg of its trans-American journey on Wednesday evening.
The craft landed in Dallas, Texas after an 18-hour flight from Phoenix, Arizona – a journey of 1,541km (958mi).
In the coming weeks, it will also stop over in St Louis, Missouri, and Washington DC before heading to New York in early July.
Th [...]
Boy Scouts vote on gay members: What’s at stake
Win Mcnamee / Getty Images
With the Boy Scouts of America set to vote on a policy that would allow openly gay youths to participate, activists ramp up the volume on their protests.
After years of emotional debate, the Boy Scouts of America are considering a proposal at their annual meeting to allow gay youths to participate openly in the popular organization for the first time.
The exclusion of gay Scouts has been the subject of much wrangling and soul searching in the century-old organization — from local troops and councils to o [...]
Bombers hit Niger mine and barracks
23 May 2013
Last updated at 04:24 ET
Two bombs have exploded at a military camp and a French-run uranium mine in two towns in northwestern Niger, officials say.
The bombers killed themselves and wounded a number of others in the attacks in the towns of Agadez and Arlit, Reuters reported.
French group Areva said 13 people at the uranium plant in Arlit were hurt.
Niger’s government blamed Mujao, a jihadist group from neighbouring Mali, French radio said.