Author Archives: sbrandt

Astrology Proven True by Science

Posted on May 6, 2011 by sbrandt

Well, sort of. Astrology predicts that you have traits or characteristics that are determined by the time of your birth within the year.

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I Must Have this T-Shirt!

Posted on May 6, 2011 by sbrandt
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Questions from a 5-Year-Old

Posted on May 1, 2011 by sbrandt

I found this partial list of questions my son asked me when he was five. Thought I’d share 🙂 What is a ‘7-day outlook?’ What is a ‘local doppler?’ What does ‘tarnation’ mean? Is it something you say if you … Continue reading →

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Congregation for the Extirpation of Paranormal Menaces (CEPM)

Posted on May 1, 2011 by sbrandt

The best sort of April Fool’s story is one that starts out plausible but weird, then gets progressively stranger until you realize it’s funny and laugh. If the reader passes the story on, believing it to be real, then the … Continue reading →

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Tweed Jacket disciplines a student

Posted on April 29, 2011 by sbrandt

I recently had a student submit an assignment (a computer program, Tweed Jacket is how I refer to myself in my role as Professor of Computer Science) that was not his original work. It was so clearly beyond the student’s … Continue reading →

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On Becoming a vampire without being bitten

Posted on April 24, 2011 by sbrandt

A recent psychological study titled “Becoming a vampire without being bitten: A new study shows that reading expands our self-concepts” says that reading about becoming a vampire, or Harry Potter’s school of wizarding, helps us to psychologically feel we are … Continue reading →

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Atkins Diet for the Impatient

Posted on April 18, 2011 by sbrandt

I’ve had a number of people tell me that they’re “following the Atkins diet” who weren’t. What they were doing instead was just eating meat, cheese, eggs, and fish and avoiding most everything else. Having read the Atkins diet book, … Continue reading →

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Expensive and Inexpensive wines taste the same

Posted on April 17, 2011 by sbrandt

(PhysOrg.com) — Psychologist Prof Richard Wiseman (University of Hertfordshire) today revealed the results of The Taste Test – a large-scale experiment to discover whether expensive wines are good value for money. The experiment was carried out as part of the … Continue reading →

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Time Travel and China

Posted on April 14, 2011 by sbrandt

The Chinese don’t want stories with time travel that are disrespectful of China’s past. Depending on your definition of disrespectful and of time travel, this could be bad for a book I’m working on. You tell me, is making Lao … Continue reading →

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The Jambalaya Writer’s Conference

Posted on March 27, 2011 by sbrandt

The Jambala Writer’s conference was 3/26/2011. This conference is unique in that it offers agent pitch sessions and it only cost $30. They were supposed to have an editor as well, but unfortunately the editor canceled. Fiction contest: Yours truly … Continue reading →

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