worldsfair
Posts by this author
February 12, 2007
The SCQ is pleased to announce the launching of the Order Of The Science Scouts Of Exemplary Repute And Above Average Physique - being an initiative aimed squarely at promoting informal networking amongst science communicators, and the sharing of merit badges.
More specifically:
"For the…
February 9, 2007
So I recently bought the new Shin's CD (it's good by the way), and it kind of got me thinking a little of the parallels between the discovery of new music and discovery in the general scientific sense.
It's like there's this aristocracy element to it all, where being the best and (maybe more…
February 7, 2007
This is really just to direct folks to a marvelous post over at bldgblog.blogspot.com. You know, speaking as a teacher who is always on the hunt for striking imagery, this one is really quite beautiful (and thanks to McSweeney's by the way, for the direction)
Anyway, take a look at this:
This…
February 6, 2007
Or maybe we can call this... "ALIVE IS THE THING"
From the Journal of Applied Physiology. 30: p420 (1971)Often in the life sciences, the act of observation must occur as an exercise of the dynamic whole. Not through the focused eyes of a molecular lens, or the turbulence of cells in petri plates…
February 3, 2007
It's interesting to me that in this little truth game we have going, it seems that most of the activity generated happened around the single statement concerning Wilco. Now that we've come up with a statement that seems to reflect the "general" sentiment about this band, things have gotten quiet…
February 2, 2007
So did anyone else see that Grey's Anatomy episode last night? You know, the one with the patient on chemotherapy, that had some sort of herbal supplement earlier in the day, and whammo, that strange mixture somehow led to (as they said in the show) a form of "neurotoxic" blood?
And by neurotoxic…
February 2, 2007
No doubt, a lot of talk is buzzing about the IPCC and its statements. But how exactly do these documents come to be? I have an excellent article on this at Terry, written by Sarah Burch. Check it out. It's called:
"IPCC FAQ PART I (BURCH REMIX) (OR TAMING THE LEVIATHAN: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP…
February 2, 2007
Specifically: why in heaven's name did Felicity choose Ben over Noel?
I mean seriously folks: Noel was obviously the better choice. And I say this because he was of the geeky, computer literate set, and (I think, I think) was essentially representing all that is good and deserving of those who are…
January 31, 2007
The other day, I read Shelley's great account of the Challenger explosion, called "The Blight Upon the Sky," and it just got me thinking that I wish there were more outlets for that kind of science writing. By outlets, I do mean those in the print arena, like a magazine here or there that is…
January 31, 2007
So, looks like the truth experiment is holding it's own at #19 (we were at #18 yesterday). This despite a whole series of strange happenings that seem to converge around what we're trying to do here.
For starters, a few days ago, Google finally demonstrated that it had tweaked its search…
January 29, 2007
Seriously now, everyone should take this course. Although I hear it's restricted to folks who have their own fellowships. Competition is tough these days.
January 29, 2007
So I went to a site today called Cool Drive Pass, which is a carbon offsetting project spearheaded by some colleagues of mine at UBC and their friends in Vancouver. Essentially, it's a calculator designed to figure out carbon dioxide emissions of your car, and then to equate an "offsetting fee,"…
January 26, 2007
Carrying the torch lit by Ben in an earlier post. I just wanted to say a few words about this album cover:
You see, I am a big Police fan, and the rumour of a possible reunion, and the fact that they may even be practicing in Vancouver is a great thing to consider. But this album cover is…
January 26, 2007
In the scientific literature, the use of characters from the Pokemon franchise has been suggested as a possible way to broach biodiversity and conservation challenges.
True.
Specifically, this is in reference to a short letter that was published in Science in 2002 (29 March 2002. Vol 295: 2367) and…
January 25, 2007
O.K. people - it's got legs, this thing called the truth.
Look at the trend so far: The day after this thing was started, we were at a rank of #310. Then 307 the next day, and then the site actually dissappeared for a day or so from Google itself. Two days ago, we returned and had jumped to #…
January 24, 2007
Do I detect a tone of bitterness here? But, please, please - wouldn't it be great if textbooks were written like this?
January 24, 2007
Chris Van Allsburg, "Just a Dream" (over consumption)
So as the truth experiment continues to do its thing, I'm getting ready to give two talks on sustainability and climate science concepts to an audience of visual arts students here at UBC. Specifically, these university students are exploring…
January 23, 2007
So, it's come to this, in the latest version of the truth:
Wilco is good, sometimes exceptional, but often inconsequential.
You can see the editing process here.
Also, does google censor things like attempts at google bombing, or is there some algorhymicy reason why the piece dissappeared from…
January 22, 2007
And the object in question is this Lego ad, which to me almost represents the exact opposite sentiment to the "talking science" avenue raised in Ben's previous post.
Why do I think this is a thing of beauty. Maybe, it's because I'm in the know. Maybe, because the tag-line ("Make Anything") is…
January 20, 2007
Well, this is curious. Looks like the truth has had has had been shut down.
This is odd, since I don't think we're there yet for traffic, and besides, the SCQ can handle enormous amounts of traffic. I wonder if the truth has was has, literally, been attacked? (again) I'll have to check in with…
January 19, 2007
Who says, society can't influence the definition of the truth? (Well, in the Web2.0 context anyway). Apparently, it already has. (Origin of this experiment here)
January 19, 2007
<a href="http://scq.ubc.ca/?p=677">truth</a>Use this code as often as you can.
A while back, I wrote a post asking ScienceBloggers what they thought were successful tactics in the game of initiating forms of viral marketing. The question was primarily posed to ask whether such tricks…
January 18, 2007
Just wanted to let folks know that the "Gap Ad Celebrity Speaks to a Geneticist" piece is getting some good discussion going on. Specifically related to issues of gender sterotyping - here's part of the dialogue I wrote:
Still, I think the "lightening up" aspect merits more discussion. Whilst you…
January 17, 2007
This is a GTPase Activating Protein... "GAP" - get it? Nevermind...CELEBRITY: Who are you?
SCIENTIST: I am a geneticist.
CELEBRITY: Like, is that a big word for someone who is not as cool as me?
...and so on
Another one of my geneticist pieces. Read it all here at the always marvelous Inkling.
January 16, 2007
Not counting Shouts and Murmurs email queries, I've sent pieces to the New Yorker proper on three occasions, the last of which just a few months ago. What I've noticed is that there is a clear trend is how these rejection letters have been developing over the years.
Here's the first one I got,…
January 16, 2007
Last week, I proposed the writing of a piece that aimed to look at the music video for Radiohead's "Just" in a scientific way. Here, I just wanted to note that Bill Benzon over at The Valve picked up on it and generated some interesting reader feedback - feedback that was distinctly different from…
January 13, 2007
Here, succinctly anyway, is why a School Board place a moratorium on showing Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth":
"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher ... The information that's being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. ... The Bible…
January 12, 2007
Including:
And at the early dawn of the seventh day, just before He rested, God did a lot of pretty complicated things at super duper God speed. This was so that people would think the whole Creation thing probably took a lot longer than seven days.
(more here)
This piece was fun to write and is…