worldsfair
Posts by this author
October 3, 2008
You know the scoop. Every little donation counts (and I just noticed we got our first one!), and it's all in the name of education. In this case, environmental sciences. And just like the title says, we're not asking for much. In fact, the three little projects we've chosen to start with add…
September 25, 2008
ELIZABETH MAY: Ooh oh - I know this one: Something to do with the colour green. That's right. Wasn't she in Anne of Green Gables? "Oh Elizabeth May, I do believe that your frock is on backwards, which is not the impression of civility one wants to make in Cape Breton." (or something like that…
September 24, 2008
My daughter recently bought a copy of Archie's Pals'n'Gals Double Digest (#124), and lo and behold the first story is about the kids from Riverdale thinking up things to reduce carbon emissions for a school contest. Anyway, the gradient from how Betty carries herself and how Veronica looks at…
September 22, 2008
Last week, my daughter had her seventh birthday party, and it makes my heart swell to tell you that she wanted to have it at my lab this year.
So what to do? What to do? With 15 or so six/seven year olds in a full on laboratory settng. Well, thankfully, this is where ScienceBlogs rocks, since I…
September 18, 2008
Speaking of Sting Rays. I just remembered that a while back, I wrote a humour piece specifically on rays. Here it is reprinted below.
ASSORTED RAYS: RANKED ACCORDING TO COOLNESS
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…
September 18, 2008
Just a reminder that Jennifer and I will be hosting drinks at Koerner's pub this evening. We'll be there from about 6pm on. Come on out on Seed's dime - should be fun.
And just in case, you don't know what we look like, Jennifer has her picture on her blog, and I look like this in the hands of a…
September 16, 2008
Again with the Canadian politics...
STEPHANE DION: Well, this is a treat - somebody really famous is in the race. Let me be the first to say that having that awesome soprano voice and being able to hit 4 to 5 octave range is just amazing. I mean that song in Titanic was certainly popular - couldn…
September 16, 2008
As outlined here.
The SCQ is pleased to announce that the winner of the last book contest was Alex Roger's "Astro I Reference Notes." To keep things rolling a little bit, we would like to present the next book up for grabs. This one is called "Follow the Line Around the World" by Laura…
September 12, 2008
That's Canadian candidates folks. Anyway, it would go something like this:
STEPHEN HARPER: Voting for a harpist would be cool. I mean, I'm no classical musician, but that Stephen Harper seems downright magical on the harp - a real virtuoso. His fingers just seem to glide over the strings. His…
September 10, 2008
Now that the world is safe, Jennifer (from Shifting Baselines) and I are going to be buzzing around one of local watering holes (Koerner's pub) on Thursday, September 18th, from 6pm. As well, we have a little pocket money from Seed which should be good for one or two rounds (depending I guess on…
September 5, 2008
Humour piece by Patrick Francis. Good stuff, and a list that includes "Global Warming", as well as the "Swiss" Here's an excerpt:
Disease
Bacteria are catching on to the whole antibiotic thing and they are doing something about it: evolving! Antibiotics are pretty much the cornerstone of our…
September 4, 2008
Actually, the clues are probably too obvious but how cool is this...
(Answer below the fold)
Here - this should pretty much give it away.
Yes, the answer is the Pacific Ocean, about 4km deep.
What we have here is a wonderful example of science culture, specifically from science types who study…
September 4, 2008
Just a quick delurking call. This site doesn't get a whole lot of traffic, but myself and Jennifer over at Shifting Baselines were thinking of seeing if there are any readers in Vancouver who want to say hello. More on this later, but I am curious to see if there are any Vancouver folks who check…
September 3, 2008
The Science Creative Quarterly is back in action today after a few months of only publishing students' works from our symposia program, as well as a few months where essentially the site was not showing off any new material. More or less to say that we haven't had our normal variety of pieces for…
September 2, 2008
I definitely think it's a contender.
This is a slide I quickly made for the "Things to avoid when speaking publicly" video (see below), where I tried my best to make it as jarring as possible.
Crazy thing is, is that this is actually a powerpoint template you can download! I'm at a lost to…
September 2, 2008
So I'm pleased to show off a goofy little video I prepared using the great suggestions made at a previous post (Hopefully, the start of a definitive list of things to avoid at all cost when speaking publicly.).
It's being used to promote a student conference I'm helping with - the one that…
September 1, 2008
(And again with the back to school theme, and again with a piece from the SCQ - this one written by me)
A UNIVERSITY JOB POSTING (OR BECOMING A PROFESSOR IS HARD THESE DAYS)
This is a call for outstanding candidates to apply for a tenure track assistant professor position within the context of the…
September 1, 2008
(As I gear up for back to school, here's a little gem reprinted from the SCQ)
- - -
MY NEW GRADUATE COURSE OFFERINGBy Vince LiCata
Title: Introduction to My Research Area
Course Instructor: Me
T Th 10:30 -12:00, Willams 205
Office Hours: by appointment
Course Syllabus: The course will consist of me…
August 19, 2008
I just saw this video at McSweeney's (which in turn got it from Today's Big Thing). It's quite the stunner, watching the lightning seek out ground and then BOOM.
August 19, 2008
Recently used this graphic at a student conference opening, and it was met with a surprisingly good reaction. Weird how no matter how hard you look at this, you can't get past the Disney influence.
August 18, 2008
Let's start this off with a mini-meme. Do you, or anyone you know, have apparent "superpowers"?
This request is not as weird as it seems - let me explain.
You see my wife has a superpower. And it's awesome in its own mind bending way. Best of all (and the reason why it's coming to mind recently…
August 14, 2008
CELEBRITY: Who are you?
GENETICIST: I am a geneticist.
CELEBRITY: Like, is that a big word for someone who is not as cool as me?
GENETICIST: It is a word that describes my role as a scientist who can answer any questions you might have about genetics.
CELEBRITY: And why would I care about genetics…
August 13, 2008
OLD MACDONALD: Do you want to buy some beef?
GENETICIST: If the beef is not tainted with mad cow, then I would be very much interested in purchasing your beef. However, as there have been a few recent outbreaks of this disease in North America, I think I will abstain for now.
OLD MACDONALD: What is…
August 12, 2008
BONO: Why am I so weary?
GENETICIST: From a genetic point of view, I would say that your weariness is a reflection of your metabolism. That is, your ability to pull energy from the food you eat, and the ability to utilize that energy effectively. Both of which should not be a problem for a person…
August 12, 2008
GRIMACE: What am I?
GENETICIST: That is a very interesting question indeed. And we should begin by briefly discussing your known history. According to your records, you were born as "Evil Grimace," with four deft arms, and a penchant for amusing yourself by stealing milkshakes from small children.…
August 11, 2008
ELMO: Elmo is not very happy today. Elmo is sad. That is why Elmo is here to see you Mr. Geneticist.
GENETICIST: Tell me, little one. Why are you so sad?
ELMO: Elmo thinks he has a hand up his ass. Elmo wanders if Mr. Geneticist can make it go away.
GENETICIST. I am sorry little one. What…
August 11, 2008
(Since I'll be away for the next week or so, I figured this is as good a time as any to reprint a few "speaks to a geneticist" pieces. Hope you enjoy them).
LIESL: Why is it that we can all sing very well?
GENETICIST: Liesl, that is an excellent question! And essentially one that boils down to the…
August 8, 2008
A couple things converging here. Namely, the exterior painting of my home (a nice rustic red colour), and the Beijing Olympic games. As well, you find that household paints these days have the most luxurious names ever, so I figure why not use pollution as an inspiration (the smog in Beijing…
August 8, 2008
(From chrisharrison.net)
One of the realities of science academics (well, any academics for that matter), is the likely need to switch locales during your career path. And because of this reality, one often gets into debates about "good" versus "bad" places to go. I find nowhere is this…
August 7, 2008
See this:
This glorious piece of work is doing amazing things, amazing things!
What we have here is our small attempt at growing vegetables - actually, I should correct that and say that what we have here is my wife's, Kate, small attempt at growing vegetables - she should get all the credit,…