There's also Richard Kadrey's Stark/Sandman Slim series and the standalone novel "Blind Shrike", which - while having some elements of urban fantasy - can certainly make some claims to be Badass. Still, I think Badass fantasy really calls for rippling thews and loincloths (optional), black armor, maces and…

Badass Fantasy presumably involves lots of smiting. And a good-sized helping of entrails.

Meanwhile, sitting down is also bad for you: [www.msnbc.msn.com]

Older SLRs that don't have automatic sensor cleaning usually have the option to expose the sensor so that you can clean it manually. Check your camera's manual for this.

In high school biology class, I had to euthanize my fruit flies with ether. Most of them turned up their little fruit-fly toes in short order, but a few just wobbled around for a while and then came back for more.

Given the genetic similarities between humans and chimps, I'm surprised to learn that this comes as a surprise.

Personally, I welcome our tasty stuffed chicken alien overlords.

One day, I'd like to see Conan done "straight", i.e. as Howard wrote it. In particular, while the screen Conan swans around in leather boxer shorts, showing off his oiled pecs, Howard's Conan tended to dress in clothing that was actually appropriate to his trade. In most of the "Conan" stories, he's described as being…

It's going to be another reboot: "Alf Legacy"

Yes, the Calormenes are Arabs ... And not just Arabs, but probably Muslims (I guess that strictly they're devil-worshippers, but I'm sure the Quran-burners among us wouldn't make the distinction). Still, I remember being struck by the scene when they're all packed off to Hell at the end of the cycle, and one virtuous…

There's reason to believe that medieval Basque fishermen visited North America regularly, fished for cod on the Grand Banks, then dried the cod on-shore before returning to sell it in Europe. Because the location of their fishing grounds were a closely-guarded secret, they never told anyone about the existence of a…

The invention of teleportation has pretty much killed the "locked room" mystery as a genre.

Oliver Sacks' essay "Witty Ticcy Ray" described a man with Tourette's who was an accomplished jazz drummer. The haloperidol that Sacks prescribed him reduced the symptoms of his Tourette's, but also affected his drumming, to the point that he stopped taking it on days when he had a gig.

"You are probably surprised at hearing from us. We got your planetary address from the Interstellar Chamber of Commerce. Our name is Humanity, and we have acquired control over the Galactibank account belonging to the Zarablaxians of Rigel VII. We need the help of a trusted organism/mechanical sapience/intelligent…

I think Powerful Goodness was his cat. Although it could have been his wife: "Powerful Goodness Franklin" wouldn't have been a particularly unusual name in those days. In that case, he presumably meant 'address' in the Biblical sense. If you know what I mean.

Personally, I welcome our new burlap-backed solidified-linseed-oil flooring-material overlords.

I'm not really up to speed on superheroes, but am I to understand that Wonder Woman came to Earth from Planet Realdoll? Because there's something about that shiny plastic that just screams "blow-up doll".

In Iain Banks' novel "The Algebraist", a gentleman rejoicing in the name of Archimandrite Luseferous of the Starveling Cult has precisely this capability. His repertoire (for want of a better word) includes: "irritants, hallucinogens, cannabinoids, capsainoids, sleeping draughts and truth serums'.

"Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure."

Then there's always the cheerful scenario in which one flank of the Cumbre Vieja volcano in the Canaries will slide into the sea, creating a super-tsunami that would devastate the Eastern seaboard, lay waste to Boston and New York, and possibly even reduce Manhattan real-estate prices by up to a third. There's some…