jdupuis | November 9, 2009As graphic novels go, Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth is every bit as good as Maus or Watchmen, if not quite as game-changing. The only other things out there that I can think of that are similar are Chester Brown's Louis Riel or Ho Che Anderson's King: A Comics Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
That's high praise and it's well deserved.
So what's Logicomix all about? The core is the story of Bertrand Russell's and his work -- the search for the foundations of mathematics, the most basic kind of truth: logic. His search takes us through the history of mathematics and philosophy in…
jdupuis | November 6, 2009Amazon has come out with their Editor's Picks for 2009. There are three categories that have books that are relevant to us here.
Science
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes
Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species by Sean B. Carroll
Complexity: A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell
Fixing My Gaze: A Scientist's Journey Into Seeing in Three Dimensions by Susan R. Barry
The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom by Graham Farmelo
Every Patient Tells a Story by…
jdupuis | November 6, 2009Bookgasm has a very fun guest post by Ben H. Winters, author of the recently published Jane Austen pastiche/adaptation/expansion Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.
Since writing SENSE AND SENSIBILITY AND SEA MONSTERS, I've gotten a ton of feedback about how nice it is that I've made Jane Austen appealing to certain readers -- meaning readers who previously suffered a persistent allergy to The Classics. I am complimented for taking the prim and decorous Jane Austen and making her a) really violent, and b) really funny.
The first compliment I will gladly accept. Over the decades since…
jdupuis | November 4, 2009Every year for the past 3 or 4 years I've been linking to and posting about all the "year's best books" lists that appear in various media outlets and highlighting the science books that are mentioned. From the beginning it's been a pretty popular service so I'm happy to continue it.
For my purposes, I define science books pretty broadly to include science, engineering, computing, history & philosophy of science & technology, environment, social aspects of science and even business books about technology trends or technology innovation.
This year, the first list is from Publisher's…
jdupuis | November 2, 2009Just so you all know, the last couple of comments I've received are stuck in limbo. I can see them on the admin side but they're not showing.
Unfortunately, my work computer just died and I can't seem to access my email, even via the web interface.
Hopefully, all will return to normal soon.
jdupuis | October 30, 2009Actually, it's not really about misconceptions that we learn only in school, it's more about urban legend/zeitgeist stuff that eveyone knows.
Anyways, The 10 Biggest Misconceptions We Learn In School is from Manolith, a site I've never heard of before. It's rude and crude and definitely not for the faint of heart. Some of the points hit their mark and some miss pretty badly. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Nevertheless, some of them are also pretty amusing:
1. Einstein got bad grades in school
Um... have you heard about this guy Einstein? Famous physicist? Relativity and all that? A genius,…
jdupuis | October 27, 2009The September Communications of the ACM has a provocative article by Peter J. Denning and Paul S. Rosenbloom, Computing: the fourth great domain of science (OA version). It's well written and persuasive, certainly worth reading the whole thing.
Science has a long-standing tradition of grouping fields into three categories: the physical, life, and social sciences. The physical sciences focus on physical phenomena, especially materials, energy, electromagnetism, gravity, motion, and quantum effects. The life sciences focus on living things, especially species, metabolism, reproduction, and…
jdupuis | October 25, 2009Registration for Science Online 2010 is open. The conference web site is here and program info is here.
Time is running out. There are currently about 175 registered and the organizers are going to cap it at 250.
I've attended the conference for the past two years and it's a blast. I really enjoyed the sessions as well as the informal times between sessions, at the meals and in the bar.
I've registered already, as has my son, Sam, who's in grade 11. He attended last year and also had a great time. Bora even interviewed him!
There's been a good tradition of librarians attending the…
jdupuis | October 23, 2009TVOntario has produced a very fine documentary based on the life of geometer Donald Coxeter, who lived in Toronto and worked at the University of Toronto for many years. It's called The Man Who Saved Geometry and is based on the book by Siobhan Roberts, King of Infinite Space: Donald Coxeter, the Man Who Saved Geometry.
Two York profs are interviewed in the documentary, Asia Ivic Weiss and Walter Whiteley.
I reviewed Roberts' book a few years ago, here, where you can read about my own minor role in the Coxeter story.
jdupuis | October 23, 2009Ah, but maybe he would if they were Cthulhu plushies!
Check this out from Sci Fi Wire: 14 great Cthulhu toys that make devouring souls fun!
H.P. Lovecraft's elder god Cthulhu is supposed to be terrifying, hideous and awe-inspiring--but whoever knew he could be this darn cute? Check out 14 toys that take a slimy monster and turn it cuddly.
It's sick, twisted fun. My favourite is the Cthulhu Santa, but the wall trophy, suction cup, plush slippers and "My Little Pony Cthulhu" are all great too.
jdupuis | October 20, 2009A few weeks ago Bill Gasarch published his Journal Manifesto 2.0 on the Computational Complexity blog.
Basically, his idea was to start a scholarly publishing revolution from the inside:
Keep in mind: I am NOT talking to the NSF or to Journal publishes or to Conference organizers. I am NOT going to say what any of these people should do. I am talking to US, the authors of papers. If WE all follow this manifesto then the problems of high priced journals and limited access may partially go away on their own. To be briefer: To the extend that WE are the problem, WE can be the solution.
It's a…
jdupuis | October 19, 2009As I mentioned in my previous post, I did a little Q&A about the new outsourcing arrangement that CISTI has negotiated with Infotrieve.
Q1. What's the effect on jobs at CISTI from this move?
As you may know, NRC-CISTI is transforming itself to be well positioned to serve the needs of Canadian knowledge workers now and in the future. This transformation is a major undertaking for the organization and will require a significant transition for NRC-CISTI's workforce.
NRC is working to mitigate the effect on employees by seeking to place as many of the affected employees as possible within…
jdupuis | October 19, 2009Such is the subject line of an email I got from the NRC-CISTI people last week. NRC-CISTI is Canada's National Research Council -- Canada Institute of Scientific and Technical Informamtion. In other words, Canada's national science library. Many of you probably know them for their document delivery service.
The basic message is that the document delivery service has been outsourced to a US company:
NRC-CISTI, Canada's national science library is changing and we are energized by the possibilities as we move forward in the transformation process announced in February 2009.
Today, we are…
jdupuis | October 16, 2009And I'm not talking about students the morning after a pub night!
It seems that the University of Florida has actually added zombie invasions to their campus emergency plans.
You should watch, for example, for "increasing numbers of gruesome unexplained deaths and disappearances, especially at night" and listen for "lots of strange moaning." The guide includes an "Infected Co-Worker Dispatch Form" for Florida employees to let superiors know when a colleague exhibits signs of zombie behavior, with a checklist of such behaviors, including "references to wanting to eat brains," "recently dead…
jdupuis | October 15, 2009As has been buzzing around the scitech library mailing lists lately (thanks, Joe!), the great news is that the STELLA! Science, Technology & Engineering Library Leaders in Action unconference is coming up in Denver in January 2010.
What is the STELLA Unconference?
This meeting is for any librarian interested in scientific, technical and engineering resources. The acronym stands for Science, Technology & Engineering Library Leaders in Action!
What is the STELLA Unconference?
This meeting is for any librarian interested in scientific, technical and engineering resources. The acronym…
jdupuis | October 13, 2009A silly title to reflect some overhyped posturing found, guess where, on the Internet.
First up, Joe Murphy on librarians and their proper relationship to Twitter: "it's reprehensible for information professionals not to be on Twitter."
A loaded and diva-dramatic statement like that is a sure sign that Twitter has jumped the shark. Time to pull a Miley Cyrus, if you ask me. (Friendfeed discussion here, here and here)
On the other end of the spectrum, from Steven Bell over at ACRLog, on the use of social networks by librarians:
A passionate academic librarian would be so immersed in their…
jdupuis | October 13, 2009I rarely mention here when Walt Crawford publishes a new issue of his very fine ejournal Cites & Insights, mostly because I sort of assume you all read it already.
Of course, that's probably not true so I'll remedy the situation partially with this post.
The most recent issue is completely (html) devoted to giving a selective overview of the last year or so's (mostly) blogospheric writing on open access -- think of it as a detailed review article from a volume of an annual review series. The emphasis is on covering important developments and interesting controversies. I was familiar…
jdupuis | October 9, 2009Yes, The Onion again. It's only been two weeks since the last one. I just couldn't help myself.
There's just something about global warming humour that appeals to my sense of the absurd.
ZACKENBERG RESEARCH STATION, GREENLAND--Claiming it to be one of the most dramatic and visible signs of climate change to date, researchers said Monday that receding polar ice caps have revealed nearly 200 clandestine lairs once buried deep beneath hundreds of feet of Arctic ice.
"We always assumed there would be some secret lairs here and there, but the sheer number now being exposed is indeed troubling,"…
jdupuis | October 8, 2009On October 1, 2009 librarians and archivists at York University Libraries voted unanimously to adopt the following policy:York University Open Access Policy for Librarians and Archivists
Librarians and archivists at York University recognize the importance of open access to content creators and researchers in fostering new ideas, creating knowledge and ensuring that it is available as widely as possible. In keeping with our long-standing support of the Open Access movement, York librarians and archivists move to adopt a policy which would ensure our research is disseminated as widely as…
jdupuis | October 8, 2009The IEEE Computer Society's magazine IT Professional has a special issue on Ontologies, OWL, and the Semantic Web (v11i5). There's lots of very cool-looking stuff, mostly pretty basic.
Guest Editor's Introduction: Ontologies, OWL, and the Semantic Web by Jepsen, Thomas C.
Semantic Web Technologies: Ready for Adoption? by Janev, Valentina; Vranes, Sanja
Equal Format Databases and Semantic-Relational Encoding by Keith, Dean
Just What Is an Ontology, Anyway? by Jepsen, Thomas C.A couple of other non-semantic web articles that look worth checking out:
Joining the Conversation about IT Ethics by…