THIS IMPORTANT MESSAGE IS ABOUT HOUSEKEEPING AND ALSO AN EXCUSE TO SAY “PUNCH IT CHEWIE!”
Dear reader,
It goes without saying that we assume that not one of our readers read all 80 or so of the textbook pieces that graced the SCQ’s pages over the summer months. That would be too much – even for us stalwart editor types who know a thing or two about science.
Because of this, we are absolutely sure that people will be tickled pink to hear that year two officially begins on September 5th. That’s right – in less than a week, the SCQ will go back to the eccentric mixture of material that made it so loved in the first place.
But before that happens, there are a few things from our year one that need tidying up. So entertain us for a bit, and listen up:
1. Who gets the Ramen?
Many of you have been waiting to hear from Bobby with regards to the FSM contest. In truth, we have been too, but repeated emails to him have been unsuccessful. The one time we did received a reply (on May 19th, 2006), it simply said, “help selma pee.” This, of course, has all the signs of a conspiracy, especially if you consider a number of consequential observations.
- We believe a number of the SCQ submissions made it to his “Gospel,” and assume Bobby has been imprisoned by his publishers over copyright concerns. This information, by the way, was gained from a very fit looking albino monk.
- Turns out, the email message is an anagram of Help me please. As well, the email message was sent on the same day as the opening of the Da Vinci Code movie.
- Finally, rumour has it that Bobby is pregnant, and that this may be a result of an immaculate conception.
Anyway, we do hope to resolve this soon, so if you hear anything (even if you’re a non-albinos), please let us know at tscq@interchange.ubc.ca
2. The print edition
On this issue, and to be frank, we’re still in a bit of limbo over this as well. Feedback was garnered, and essentially most prefered the idea of a publication proper, and not to subject the SCQ to the whims (or as some called it, “the kiss of death“) of self publishing. What most don’t know is that the 3 or so invitations we received for publication were explicitly interested in only the humour material. Which is flattering and all, but we felt not true to the spirit of the Science Creative Quarterly.
Since we’re not technically in this for the glory, and above all else, simply want to respect the project and the authors who have so graciously contributed, we have decided to be patient and rather pursue publication proper where all the bits and pieces including humour, but not excluding others, is intact.
Presently, we have constructed a nice pdf version suitable for queries and the like, which we will hopefully get to sending out one of these days.
Anyway, we believe that for now, this suffices for those who are interested in such things, and also hope that ‘sticking to our guns’ is the best way to go.
3. The Haiku Phylogeny Project – is it real? And why haven’t I heard back from you regarding my submission
Yes, yes! The HPP is real. To date, we have amassed a lowly 30 or so haiku’s but fully expect to recieve more, especially once the year two gets in gear (not surprisingly, our readership took a bit of a hit whilst the textbook pieces were running). And apologies for generally not responding to submissions in a timely manner. In truth, the editorial team purchased the first 8 seasons of “Frasier” on DVD, and had been most enthralled with the whole Daphne and Niles thing. Thereafter, we watched all 11 or so seasons of “Friends,” and because another school year is about to start, we are frantically trying to complete all 4 seasons of “Felicity” as well.
Some of us have kids too. Kids not proficient with email that is.
Anyway, we are back on track, and should be responding (if we haven’t already) relatively soon.
4. And Finally: Want to join the editorial team?
Speaking of which, anybody out there (especially if you hail from UBC) interested in participating? We’re always on the look out for interested and eccentric/slightly off centred science writers.
Alright, punch it Chewie…