Announcements
oracknows | March 9, 2007I'm told that today is P. Z. Myer's 50th birthday and that apparently he's requested poetry, now that he's hanging out with bigshots like Richard Dawkins, who actually did write him a poem. Cranky and contrary box of blinking lights that Orac is, you probably already know that Orac won't go along with the crowd on this one. Oh, he'll wish P.Z. a happy birthday, but poetry isn't his thing. (Remember, this is the same computer that spend endless amounts of time analyzing jokes and limericks because he couldn't understand why humans liked them. Do you really want to see him attempt actual poetry…
sporte | March 9, 2007Registration has opened a bit late this year, but it's always tricky when large programs change hands. The Chautauqua Short Course program for College Teachers is no different. In fact, as far as I know, we may still be waiting for the National Science Foundation to make a final decision on funding.
Still, summer is rapidly approaching and I know many of you are making plans for attending summer workshops and squeezing in a bit of vacation time.
That's why I think you might like to consider learning bioinformatics in Alaska.
Yes. I did write "Alaska."
Anchorage, Alaska.
Dr. Linnea…
oracknows | March 8, 2007The latest Change of Shift, the blog carnival for nursing, has been posted at Emergiblog. Enjoy!
sporte | March 8, 2007
Maybe a little squid told him that tomorrow is PZ's birthday.
Happy birthday PZ!
The fish and I wish you 50 more!
oracknows | March 6, 2007The latest Grand Rounds has been posted at the abode of everyone's favorite blogging emergency medicine doc, GruntDoc. It's the fourth time that he's hosted; so he's an old pro at it now.
Enjoy!
oracknows | March 3, 2007It's history time, both good and bad!
First, there's the latest History Carnival.
Next, there's the Carnival of Bad History.
Enjoy!
oracknows | March 1, 2007The 55th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle has been posted at The Second Sight, and EoR has
bowed to the higher energies of the universe in organising this edition based on the numerological vibrations of the submitters. Numerology is, of course, a science that has been proven by thousands of years of traditional use, dating back to at least Babylonian times. And they probably got it directly from the Atlanteans. Who got it from the interdimensional Martians.
Glad to hear it.
I think. (It sounds as though EoR is going to see the new Jim Carrey movie.)
Of course, as always, EoR has done a bang-…
oracknows | February 27, 2007Kristjan Wager points out to me that Respectiful Insolence was listed as the Blog of the Day by the L.A. Times on Monday.
Oddly enough, I hadn't noticed any traffic coming my way from the link...
oracknows | February 23, 2007Listen up, everyone! It's fast approaching.
Yes, The Skeptics' Circle will be appearing next Thursday over at The Second Sight. EoR did a bang-up job the last time the Circle was held at The Second Sight; so I expect as great or even better this time around. But your best skeptical blogging is needed.
Instructions to submit your work to EoR are here. Guidelines for what we're looking for can be found here.
As EoR says, don't be a complete idiot; do it for Deepak. (Yikes! That last one is rather scary. I might have to save it for the next time I take on some Choprawoo.)
And, of course, I'm…
oracknows | February 20, 2007The latest Grand Rounds has been posted at the abode of fellow ScienceBlogger Pure Pedantry. This time, it's with an Oscar theme! Go and sample the best medical blogging of the last week.
sporte | February 17, 2007 Yes, yes, I know Darwin Day was Februrary 12th. Nevertheless, the Alliance for Science is sponsoring an essay contest in Darwin's honor and, if you're a high school student you can still celebrate by writing an essay.
And if you're a high school teacher, and your student wins, you win $$ for buying lab supplies.
Okay, I suppose it's only us geeky bloggers who consider writing an essay to be a kind of celebration.
If the sheer joy of celebrating Darwin Day by writing an essay, doesn't pique your interest, there are prizes.
Write an essay on the topic: "Why would you want your…
sporte | February 16, 2007It's not too late. You can do research on cool topics, get paid, and even live in Las Vegas for the summer. If I were a student, I'd go.
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is still taking applications for students to come do research in the desert.
The microbiology faculty at UNLV and the Desert Research Institute have received NSF funding for a summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program in Environmental Microbiology. This grant will provide students with the opportunity to work on a research project for a 10 week period with a faculty mentor.
Students will receive a $…
oracknows | February 15, 2007It's that time again, when the part of the blogosphere that celebrates critical thinking over the usual credulousness that allows dubious stories to spread far and wide meets to examine those stories and claims with a hard-nosed skepticism. And few skeptics, it would seem, are as tough as the narrator of this edition of the Skeptics' Circle, who's now telling his tale over at Action Skeptics (where, I guess, they're trying to take the name of the blog literally):
I've been on my own since the Department cut me loose over the Pendelton incident, when I decked that con-artist "psychic" the…
oracknows | February 13, 2007One year ago today, Orac was assimilated--I mean welcomed--into the ScienceBlogs collective. it's been a wild ride, a fantastic opportunity to reach more readers than I ever did on my old Blogspot blog. (My traffic has roughly doubled since I joined up.) I didn't show up with the first crop of ScienceBloggers mainly because of my hesitation due to my concern about getting permission for "outside employment" from my University. Fortunately, I overcame that, and the rest is history.
I want to take this opportunity to thank my readers for reading and the Seed Media Group for liking what I was…
oracknows | February 12, 2007Just a quick reminder: The Skeptics' Circle is fast approaching. If you're a blogger who likes to apply critical thinking and science to dubious claims, get your best skeptical entries over to Akusai at Action Skeptics by Wednesday evening.
Then join us all at Action Skeptics on Thursday to partake of the best skeptical blogging of the last fortnight!
retrospectacle | February 12, 2007The guys over at the World's Fair are at it again (blasted creativity!), this time they've developed a new club: the Order Of The Science Scouts Of Exemplary Repute And Above Average Physique. I encourage you all to join post-haste and wallow in scientific silliness and irreverent badges for dubious accomplishments (I contributed a few badges myself to the pot). I'll have to dig through and list my badges on my sidebar soon, when this conference is over, that is. Got an idea for a badge? Well, suggest one!
The "I Blog About Science" badge.
Also, the 8th edition of the International Carnival…
oracknows | February 10, 2007...that Kristjan Wager started a blog.
Kristjan, as some may know, is a frequent commenter here, and has even guest-blogged for me about the Danish studies on two occasions.
Head on over and check out Kristjan's blog, Pro-Science. I'll be adding it to my sidebar the next time I get a chance to revamp my blogroll.
retrospectacle | February 8, 2007The Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) is about to commence its annual Mid-Winter Meeting, which is the largest scientific meeting in my field. Otolaryngology is an unwieldy word, but simply stands for "oto" --ear-- "laryng"--throat--"ology"---study of. Most of the research deals with the ear (specifically, the inner ear) rather than the throat these days, although vestibular system research is also presented. I'll be presenting my most recent research in poster form this coming up Tuesday. This year ARO is in Denver, CO and its my first time to that city or state. Any…
oracknows | February 6, 2007I know, I know. I've been a bad boy. I've been meaning to join in everyone else and produce a couple of "basic concepts" posts. Somehow, I've just been distracted. The problem is, blogging is my hobby. It's what I do for enjoyment. Writing a "basic concepts" post seems too much like work and grant writing (of which I've had way more than my fill lately).
Still, I feel obligated to do at least one or two of these posts in my area of expertise. I wouldn't want to be a ScienceBlogs slacker, after all.
retrospectacle | February 4, 2007So this blog, along with a large cohort of others, has signed up for the first ever Week of Science Challenge (TM). What is said challenge? Simple: We have to post about science, and naught else. So, this week I'll try to stay on-topic and explore a bit into my areas of study (neuroscience, hearing impairment) and leave the fun/weird/parrot-related stuff out.
Any suggestions of stuff people want to see?
Go Colts!