Do you have a bad novel in you?

If you think you can write the opening sentence to the world's worst novel, here's a challenge for you:

The competition is inspired by the immortal prose of Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton whose novel Paul Clifford begins with the classic cliche: "It was a dark and stormy night..."

Here are some examples of previous entries:

Historical fiction:

Samson looked in the mirror and, when he saw what a fantastic haircut Delilah had given him, he went weak at the knees."

Dishonourable mention:

"Miles Otterman thought he could get away with carving his initials on the old oak tree in the town square - and he just might have, if Sheriff Mitchell hadn't recognised his MO".

www.bulwer-lytton.com

What's out there?

The Drake Equation is used to attempt to calculate the number of detectable civilisations in the galaxy - N

This is the equation: N = Rs x Fp x Ne x Fl x Fi x Fc x L

Only the first two figures in the equation are known -

Rs = the rate of star formation

Fp = the fraction of stars with planetary systems

The rest are unknown, so this is hardly an exact science - merely a best guess.

Further details on how to make an estimate can be found on the BBC's Horizon pages.

www.bbc.co.uk/horizon

Quote of the week

My favourite quote of the week:

"Politics is showbusiness for ugly people".

(It's not a new quote, it's been attributed to Jay Leno and others, it's not clear where it originated, but it's the first time I've heard and I thought it seemed quite apt)

Can Patrick Swayze survive his hex diagnosis?

When someone is told that they have a terminal illness, and only a few weeks or months left to live, this can be a "hex" diagnosis, bad news sending them into a downward spiral of despair, rather than boosting them with positive support or advice giving hope of a possible recovery.

Some media reports have given Patrick Swayze has only five weeks to live - although officially his doctors have denied they had provided this time scale as part of his diagnosis.

So where did this information come from? Was it the work of a journalist who had done some research on pancreatic cancer and made a guesstimate of the likely outcome? Whatever the source, it was hardly helpful.

Patrick has now been pictured looking gaunt, with a cigarette in his mouth - which doesn't bode well. Regardless of whether his smoking is connected with his cancer, it is not a healthy habit.

So here's a plea to Patrick: quit smoking if you can, eat a healthy diet and stay positive, don't give up on life while there is still hope.

Goodbye Gary Gygax

Farewell to Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons
He failed his final saving throw... but his legacy lives on.

Freakangels

Weekly online comic set in London in the near future.
Written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Paul Duffield.
(Billed as "adult content" since it contains strong language)
www.freakangels.com

World Book Day

Celebrate World Book Day on March 6

www.worldbookday.com