Blogging
sciencewoman | October 26, 2007Finally, I've been tagged by Pharyngula's mutating genres meme. I haven't done a meme since moving to scienceblogs, and now I've been tagged with a sciencey one (sort of). I don't know why I am so excited, but I am! Thanks Addy N.
If you want to read the latest mutation, go below the fold.
First, the rules:
There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is...".Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations:
* You can leave them exactly as is…
laelaps | October 26, 2007Just a quick reminder that the next exhibition of The Boneyard will be going up tomorrow at the Hairy Museum of Natural History, so be sure to get all your paleo (or palaeo, if you prefer) oriented links to me or Matt soon! If you need some inspiration check out Matt's fantastic artwork and discussion on phytosaurs, a group that often doesn't get the attention it deserves.
There's some good opportunities for some cross-over posts coming up as well, as the next edition of The Accretionary Wedge is fast approaching, and it's host (Kevin Z of The Other 95%) has asked for submissions about "…
clock | October 25, 2007Jim Buie asks:
I received a query from CBS News technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg about "the older generation" on Facebook. Do you have a story to share about your experiences on Facebook, particularly in relation to teens, many of whom call us over-40s "the creepies"? Or do you know teens or twenty-somethings willing to say how they feel about parents and geezers coming online and inspecting their Facebook profiles? CBS News will sort through the responses and may seek to interview some of the respondents. Post your responses at the link below:
http://www.togetherwhileapart.com
I have…
clock | October 25, 2007Apparently some computer geeks at Carnegie Mellon came up with a complicated mathematical formula to decide which blogs should one read to be most up to date, i.e., to quickly know about important stories that propagate over the blogosphere?
Bloggersblog comments.
OK, the fact that Don Surber is #2 is not too way off mark (surely in the top 100, if not exactly #2). Scienceblogs.com is in the 98th spot and should be way higher, I think.
But what is Instapudding doing in the Top Spot? If you want disinformation, sure. Likewise for Michelle Malkin, Captains Quarters and Powerline. And…
clock | October 24, 2007If you go here:
http://getyourwebsitehere.com/jswb/text_to_ascii.html
and type in your email address, it will convert it to ASCII, thus making it harder for bots to pick up the address, while making it easier for readers to copy and paste without having to remove 'AT' and "DOT'. Hat-tip: Soni Pitts, my new Converger friend.
clock | October 24, 2007I know I've done it before, about a year ago, but meeting Roch at ConvergeSouth the other day reminded me that I should do this again - ask you to put up your blog for aggregation on We101.
The only piece of information you need to give is your blog URL and the city you are in (so if your anonymity requires that you do not want people to know where you live, this is not for you). The site aggregates blogs by location. It is all explained here.
For instance, there are, for now, only a few Chapel Hill bloggers on there and I would love to see more. The largest number so far is on the…
clock | October 24, 2007My brain is fried. My flight home was horrifying - the pilot warned us before we even left the gate that the weather is nasty and that he ordered the stewardess to remain seated at least the first 30 minutes of the flight. Did the warning make the experience more or less frightening? I think it made it more so. Yes, the wind played with our airplane as if it was a toy, but knowing that the pilot thought it was nasty made it less comforting that he is confident himself in his abilities to keep us afloat. The scariest was the landing - we were kicked around throughout the descent until the…
sciencewoman | October 24, 2007At some point. I AM working on my Scientiae submission (they're due Monday, and the theme is awesome.) I'll also try to schedule some re-posts for while I am gone.
But at the moment, I am a bit busy getting ready for the trip, writing exams, etc. Plus, the media have discovered that there is a local -ology crisis going on and the PR people on campus have discovered that there's a new assistant professor who's supposedly an expert on the subject.
aardvarchaeology | October 24, 2007Junior and I have gone to China to join wife & sis in Beijing. We're attending the wedding of two old workmates of my wife, a Swedish lady and a Chinese gentleman who met while working as guides in Stockholm city hall. After the festivities we're taking the train to the groom's home town of Luoyang in Henan. I'm really looking forward to the trip: I've never seen Beijing, I've never been to Henan and I've never attended a Chinese wedding. Though my quite non-revolutionary mom did hoist the red banner when my wife and I got hitched...
I don't know what kind of internet access I'll have…
clock | October 22, 2007So, while I still have a few more minutes on this wonderful wifi (another Scifoo camper attending ASIS&T meeting just walked into the coffee-shop a few minutes ago - how the world is small!), let me summarize my thoughts on ConvergeSouth2007 before they are erased by the new memories generated by the ASIS&T conference.
First of all, I'd like to congratulate Sue, Ed, jw, Ben, Sean and the rest of the Greensboro crew for a fantastic job - the third year in a row - of organizing this conference. It is my favourite: I get to meet all of my friends at least once a year there. And next…
aardvarchaeology | October 20, 2007Yesterday I received a large package by mail from Dear Reader Twoflower in New York. He'd asked me for my address, and I was expecting a book or an off-print, but the minute I saw the box I realised I had been wrong. Guess what he sent me.
Apparently, I have pained Twoflower by publishing ugly pics of nice finds and fieldwork here. I believe that specifically, this pic and this pic hurt his sense of archaeological aesthetics: a lovely new find, shot first with a spade for scale and then with an ugly folding rule. Well, Twoflower, you kind and generous man, thanks to you I will no longer have…
clock | October 20, 2007I am at ConvergeSouth right now. I did my session on Science 2.0 yesterday - it went smoothly. The meeting is fun as always. I am taking pictures and talking to all sorts of interesting people. I will have a more detailed report when I come back home late tonight or tomorrow morning.
neurophilosophy | October 18, 2007If you haven't noticed already, the ScienceBlogs homepage has changed somewhat. The list of channels has changed, and the homepage for each channel has been redesigned.
This means that you'll have to resubscribe to the new channels to get the content you want in your feed reader. For example, posts that would previously have gone into the Brain and Behaviour channel (including most of the content of this blog) will now be in the new Life Science channel.
If you take a look at the landing page for each channel, you'll notice that there's an image at the top. If you'd like your own science…
laelaps | October 17, 2007Normally I try to write something substantial for this blog every day, even if it can't be a thoroughly-researched mega post like some of my more notorious writings. Yesterday was no exception, especially in light of the fact that a Rutgers philosophy professor, Jerry Fodor, has recently published a rather incoherent piece that's critical of the role of natural selection in evolution (you can read "Why Pigs Don't Have Wings" at the LRB website, although it may induce migraines). In fact, I actually wrote up a lengthy response to Fodor's piece, but when I was finished I didn't feel quite right…
neurophilosophy | October 16, 2007The editors of PC Magazine have compiled a list of their favourite 100 blogs of the year. Only one of them is a science blog.
sporte | October 15, 2007This morning Bora and I both gave talks in Second Life. Since this was a pretty new experience for me, I thought I'd share my thoughts on it.
Ever since the days when I watched cartoons on Saturday mornings, I thought it might be fun to be in one. But when I tried it this morning, truthfully, it was a bit scary. I haven't experienced stage fright like that for quite awhile. Perhaps it was the setting. I was really nervous and I hadn't practiced with Second Life enough to know what to do.
Watching a talk in Second Life
Moving around in my avatar felt awkward. It was strange not to be…
clock | October 15, 2007Yes, I'll try to be there in about an hour, if the system stops freezing on me, or if I do not get delayed by copulating with a furry kangaroo or something...
Bertalan is live-blogging the event!
sciencewoman | October 14, 2007Profgrrrrl owes me a gift. I know it'll be cool. I wonder if it will be pink.
By the end of the calendar year, I will send a tangible, physical gift to each of the first five people to comment here. The catch? Each person must make the same offer on her/his blog.
I'd love to send you a little thank you for reading. So comment!
clock | October 14, 2007The last time we met at the Tar Heel Tavern was on April 2nd. After that, the inspiration dried out and no Tarheel-brewed amber-colored liquid was flowing for months. With the grass wilting everywhere around us, it was easy to just give up and stop watering one's blogging flowers with creative juices which were in such short supply. Even slippery slopes are not slippery when not wet. And thirst for knowledge is hard to sustain in the presence of real thirst. But, a long series of bad, bad puns aside, it is time to re-start the carnival, open up the taps and let it all flow! In two weeks…
clock | October 14, 2007Tomorrow, Monday, October 15th, many blogs (14,081 at this moment) will participate in the Environment-themed Blog Action Day.
On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone's mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.
Blog Action Day is about MASS participation. That means we need you! Here are 3 ways to participate:
* Post on your blog relating to the environment on Blog Action Day
* Donate your…