worldsfair
Posts by this author
July 3, 2009
Science Scout Twitter Feed
Somebody recently tweeted the term "transmon qubit" to the Science Scout twitter account, and (for the life of me) I cannot wrap my head around what it is exactly (other than a piece of delicious sounding science jargon).
As far as I can make out, it has something to…
June 12, 2009
Just a quick heads up to let you know that the Science Scout website has been completely revamped. It's now capable of accepting comments (anecdotes) of why you feel particularly inclined to deserve certain badges.
As well, there are a few these new badges for you to peruse through:
And the start…
June 12, 2009
Sorry this has been a bit delayed (for those following anyway).
Song 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
1. Waterfall - James
2. Wake Up - Arcade Fire
3. Never Had Nobody Like You - M Ward
4. No one is to blame - Emile Millar
5. Tournament of Hearts - The Weakerthans
O.K. this song by the Weakerthans is personal…
June 10, 2009
Science Scout Twitter feed
(Originally from here)
Dear Mr. Superman, Mr. Batman, Ms. Wonder Woman, and other esteemed do-gooders,
Although I have been waiting patiently for a few years in the hope that an advertisement would appear, I feel for the sake of my career that now is a good time to…
June 9, 2009
So, I'll soon be in London to attend the British Science Association's Science Communication Conference, as well as check in with some folks on possible sabbatical stints, and I'm wondering if there's anyone around who would be into having a beer.
This could even be in the guise of a Science Scout…
June 3, 2009
Science Scout Twitter feed
Crustaceans are a very large group of arthropods, comprising almost 52,000 described species, and are usually treated as a subphylum. They include various familiar animals, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles (from wiki).- - -
This collage art…
June 1, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
In botany, a pome (after the Latin name for fruit: pomum) is a type of fruit produced by flowering plants in the subfamily Maloideae of the family Rosaceae.(from wiki)- - -
Today at the Science Creative Quarterly we have this great story written by Matt McKenna.
For…
May 27, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
(From MonkeyBicycle)
6.
Ray Romano
Is it just me or is this guy too funny? I mean, that thing he does with his TV mom and wife just cracks me up. Plus, he once made $50 million bucks in one season, which is totally cool, and is in no way the reason for putting him on…
May 22, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
Thanks so much for all the great feedback with the Mitochondria song, and as promised, I picked a request from the comments for my next attempt at song writing. Specifically, this one:
That's right - we're talking about the Buckminsterfullerene!
Here is the demo mp3…
May 20, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
Recently, I heard of a new documentary called "Act of God" by Jennifer Baichwal, that involved looking at individuals struck by lightning.
I haven't had a chance to check out this new film, but it did remind me of a previous movie that she had done called "Manufactured…
May 15, 2009
Song 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
1. Waterfall - James
2. Wake Up - Arcade Fire
3. Never Had Nobody Like You - M Ward
4. No one is to blame - Emile Millar
Finding a great cover tune is tantamount to a glimpse of the promised land for a mixed tape afficionado. And if the cover happens to do justice to a classic…
May 15, 2009
Very cool.
Called, the "Mother of All Funk Chords," this song and video is made only from various YouTube clips. Must of taken forever, but boy did it ever pay off. More at thru-you.com/.
It's stuff like this that really dictates the passage of copyright laws, since it's obviously a creation of…
May 15, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
Yes, those forlorn looking children are my kids, Hannah and Ben. This post is another oldie but goodie, but with the summer looming ahead, this picture still cracks me up. Mainly because it's an example of total misrepresentation of the product.
Specifically, here is…
May 13, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
I'm thinking of highlighting a few of the silly things I write every Wednesday on this blog. And so this particular piece, which was written about 2 years ago, seems as good a place as any to start. At the time I was thinking "environment" and "Chewbacca" - how can I…
May 12, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
Tonight, I'll be heading out to the Vancouver Cafe Scientifique, where noted bee biologist, Dr. Mark Winston, will be giving a talk about science and dance (May 12th, 7:30pm at the Railway Club).
Now, although the linkage between dancing, science, and bees would be…
May 11, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
Chris Jordan has done it again. And if you're not sure who this fellow is, then let me be the first to introduce you to this digital artist extraordinaire, who creates these magnificent images of consumption in our world.
The latest is a little mindboggling to say the…
May 8, 2009
Song 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
1. Waterfall - James
2. Wake Up - Arcade Fire
3. Never Had Nobody Like You - M Ward
Very nice - and a free download since this was the promo track released for his CD (which is very good by the way). Stereogum says it nicely:
If you're curious about why Matt Ward would pick this…
May 8, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
Continuing on with my promise to play around with this science songwriting thing (1, 2), here is the third song in my World's Fair repertoire. This one on the awesome mitochondrion!
Here is the demo mp3 for your listening pleasure (might be best with headphones), and…
May 7, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
The other day I was looking for an interesting periodic table graphic for the background image of the science scout twitter account, and whilst doing so I came across many many different versions of the famous layout. However, I also noticed that a lot of them didn't…
May 6, 2009
There a nice piece over that the New Scientist (hat tip to Rebecca), that gathers a number of comments from academics in philosophy, sociology, education, law, and literature into how relevant C.P. Snow's seminal essay is today. Here's a sampling from A.C. Grayling:
One of the major problems…
May 5, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
This is reprinted posting, but a few friends have ben asking me about traveling to Disneyland in light of the swine flu happenings. In any event, these discussions have reminded me of my own ponderings when my family visited the magic kingdom last year. Specifically,…
May 4, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
Just came back from a trip to Louisiana, and had a great time meeting the Faculty at LSU, eating cajun, and soaking up the Southern hospitality. Was also introduced to a great piece of music by Chris Smither, a New Orleans native (although now based in Boston) singer…
May 1, 2009
Song 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
1. Waterfall - James
2. Wake up - Arcade Fire
Continuing on from last week's exercise in mixed tape science, the second song I've chosen is one that represents a number of different objectives in my playlist. First, however, take a listen if you haven't heard this one before.…
May 1, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
With Ben providing a nice substance abuse prelude, it seems like a good enough time to also explore other things related to death. Such as lethal doses - i.e. for things we scientists particularly indulge in (like coffee and alcohol and, yes - the free cookies at…
April 27, 2009
Just a quick note to say that I'm currently in Louisiana, and therefore probably won't be blogging until I'm back in Vancouver on Wednesday. If you're in the area, I'll be giving a talk later today on Science Literacy - 3:30pm at the Life Sciences Annex Auditorium (A101Life Sciences). Should be…
April 24, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
ABSTRACT:
This post will take the effort to present some points of consideration when making a "perfect mixed tape." Data will be collected on a weekly basis, where the author, as well as the community at large, will have an opportunity to present their music choice in…
April 23, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
Yesterday at the SCQ, a short paper was published describing a "Kingdom Cake," whereby the various layers represented the different kingdom designations. The cake itself was pretty cool, but made all the more impressive by its competition at a full on bake off for…
April 22, 2009
Worth the five minutes of your time, and especially if you're the sort who thinks music is not a worthy (educational or otherwise) endeavour. For more info go here.
Oh, and by the way - Happy Earth Day...
(Hat tip to Boingboing and the other 9 million folks who saw this already)
April 21, 2009
Sad and scary in a pretty sort of way. Just a few images pulled courtesy of the Flickr community.
(lyza)
If you just sit back and absorb the sentiment of these pictures, it's a little overwhelming just how removed we can be from our food.
(colodio)
(metroblossom)
This last picture I find…
April 21, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
Unicorns are great. Seriously. And here I'm going to sort of think out loud and think of them in a conventional biology sort of way. You know - have a little fun evolution wise.
In many respects (except for the magical powers bit) I don't think this is necessarily…