Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive:
This cracks me up every time, and will be sure to somehow make an appearance in my talks on science literacy. I'm thinking this would make a great graphic to segue into discussions on the public perceptions of technologies,...
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Posted on June 30, 2008 3:28 PM • 5 Comments •
Posted on June 30, 2008 1:15 PM • 0 Comments •
Posted on June 24, 2008 5:10 PM • 0 Comments •
As in popperfont.com Last week, I opened up a free wordpress blog, with the hopes of collecting my writings in one place, as well, as trying to categorize the silly "true or false" questions I use in many of my...
Posted on June 24, 2008 1:01 PM • 6 Comments •
Buy Gas Now. And get Ethyl for only 4 cents more per gallon. Hurry while supplies last.
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Posted on June 23, 2008 8:00 AM • 0 Comments •
This is kind of neat. A web tool called www.mixwit.com that allows you to post high quality mixed tapes online. Here's a sample of a three song mix that took me 15 minutes to make. Thanks by the way for...
Posted on June 18, 2008 3:12 PM • 0 Comments •
Stunning news out of Washington. John Boehner, that congress guy, you know who I mean, laid down a devastating critique yesterday by claiming that politicians in congress are "playing politics." He reports that in the Senate "it's been about politics...
Posted on June 13, 2008 9:20 AM • 2 Comments •
I usually make a music mix about 4 times a year, with the culmination of those mixes becoming a more focused annual mix. This is something I've done since 2002, and it's always great to go back in time and...
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Posted on June 11, 2008 2:22 PM • 4 Comments •
Right now, I'm reading a gem of a book called Mortification, writers' stories of their public shame. It essentially has 70 or so mini-pieces from a wide variety of writers, at various stages of their careers. These pieces share humiliating...
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Posted on June 11, 2008 12:15 PM • 9 Comments •
Lately, my kids have really gotten into the whole Star Wars thing, which, of course, brings me great pleasure. It also brings to mind a silly question: that is whether affinity for all things Star Wars is at all related...
Posted on June 6, 2008 12:15 PM • 8 Comments •
Light streaks show how an efficient housewife makes a bed. Thank you, 1946.
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Posted on June 4, 2008 3:20 PM • 7 Comments •
Quoth neuropsychologist Katherine P. Rankin: "I bet Jon Stewart has a huge right frontal lobe." Sure. Why not....
Posted on June 4, 2008 1:30 PM • 0 Comments •
Well, maybe the post title is a little on the hyperbole side of things. Anyway, many apologies for being more or less absent from this blog for the last couple of weeks. As usual, the end of term chaos is...
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Posted on June 2, 2008 1:21 PM • 0 Comments •
Albert Einstein kept it real.
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Posted on May 23, 2008 1:30 PM • 1 Comments •
Should take a shade over 4 1/2 minutes to read.
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Posted on May 14, 2008 9:00 AM • 6 Comments •
Concerned they look "not so smart" without this new-fangled "Intelligent" modifier. (Or so this joke would have it.)
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Posted on May 9, 2008 11:00 AM • 1 Comments •
Some stunning research results. A lot to ponder. More to come.
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Posted on May 9, 2008 10:35 AM • 1 Comments •
Strangely, this is about India's Pressure on Dow Chemical to Cleanup Bhopal
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Posted on April 7, 2008 12:00 PM • 0 Comments •
"It's all about the pork products..." For a more detailed look at the first 4 clues, see below. If you've got one, leave an answer below. Good luck! - - -...
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Posted on April 1, 2008 5:49 PM • 42 Comments •
(see the show here - go to video 6) Just got back from some time off, where my wife (Kate) and I had a week to explore the city of New York. It was the first time for us,...
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Posted on March 27, 2008 11:56 AM • 0 Comments •
A competing version of the apt. of the future, this one from 1884.
Posted on March 3, 2008 8:00 AM • 0 Comments •
Image from the FILTER Another Valentine's Day passed, which for me was pretty low key (I had to teach a class until 9pm). Anyway, it kind of made me wonder what the average romantic inclinations of the scientifically minded...
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Posted on February 15, 2008 11:48 AM • 1 Comments •
yeah, so why are they?
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Posted on February 14, 2008 8:00 AM • 1 Comments •
A quiz: Can you best it? Will you ace it? Is your scientific knowledge sound? What about of 18th c. knowledge?
Posted on February 5, 2008 10:00 AM • 8 Comments •
A brief comment on the weather, and human inclinations, and eclipses.
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Posted on February 4, 2008 11:00 AM • 1 Comments •
... although not without reason. Time has been really tight this semester so far, and the last couple weeks have seen a myriad of different things going on. In no particular order, they are: 1. This new global issues course....
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Posted on February 1, 2008 11:35 AM • 2 Comments •
A dream for a new age of curiosity: we have the technical means for it; the desire is there; the things to be known are infinite...
Posted on January 17, 2008 7:58 PM • 0 Comments •
Today at the SCQ, we've put up a journal club entry (i.e. full citation details and you can also get the pdf of the first page of the article at that link). It's kind of an obvious one, which simply...
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Posted on January 17, 2008 10:52 AM • 3 Comments •
Flight of the Conchords = Mr. Show + Tenacious D + Extras
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Posted on January 10, 2008 8:38 AM • 0 Comments •
"And each generation, full of itself,/ continues to think/ that it lives at the summit of history" -- so ends Affonso Romano de Sant' Anna's poem "Letter to the Dead" (as posted here last year). In the same spirit of...
Posted on December 21, 2007 10:40 AM • 0 Comments •
Well judging by the slowing down of comments, it would appear that the holiday internet slowdown is upon us. Which also means that it's time to put out a post that is a little on the light side. For...
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Posted on December 20, 2007 12:37 PM • 2 Comments •
An important two-question study: John or Paul, and why?
Posted on December 19, 2007 3:30 PM • 7 Comments •
As brought to us from researcher's at the Children's Television Workshop: The letter Z (source: C.M.). The number 10 (source: T.C.)....
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Posted on December 13, 2007 7:38 AM • 17 Comments •
So the premise is that Santa is at least several hundred years old, and you've got to assume that somewhere along the line, he spent some time in academia and probably got a degree or two. Now, I'm going...
Posted on December 11, 2007 11:56 AM • 8 Comments •
"The artist has always had to contend with the hated critic. But whence comes...the science critic?"
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Posted on December 6, 2007 7:30 AM • 0 Comments •
link (via boingboing) Speaking of which- it's time to think about that year end music mix again......
Posted on December 4, 2007 2:31 PM • 0 Comments •
We can't leave Iraq because it's going (a) well or (b) badly
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Posted on November 26, 2007 3:04 PM • 3 Comments •
What do the other bloggers and readers here think of Gould, his work, his contributions, and his legacy? How does he fare in these parts?
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Posted on November 26, 2007 8:00 AM • 41 Comments •
The SCQ has rounded up most of the scientific eponyms created as a result of a meme call. Take a gander, and let me know if you want to play as well. This particular page can hopefully expand over...
Posted on November 23, 2007 12:18 PM • 0 Comments •
1 | 2 | 3...
Posted on November 22, 2007 11:19 AM • 23 Comments •
A basic candy taxonomy's derivation and dissemination...revisited.
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Posted on October 29, 2007 8:00 AM • 16 Comments •
Well how cool is that? Looks like one of the starting pitchers tonight is our very own Jeff Francis. What makes it especially interesting to me, is that Jeff was once a student at my home institution, the University...
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Posted on October 24, 2007 11:49 AM • 1 Comments •
Perhaps better titled, "Of these, I am frustrated":...
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Posted on October 24, 2007 7:59 AM • 1 Comments •
This morning, I was thinking about the truth experiment, and its iPod giveaway, and it occured to me that all this google ranking might be parlayed into a fun meme. Anyway, here goes: I'd like to suggest a meme, where...
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Posted on October 23, 2007 6:02 PM • 33 Comments •
Puzzle Fantastica #1 was too hard Puzzle Fantastica #2 was too easy Puzzle Fantastica #3 is ......
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Posted on October 15, 2007 1:30 PM • 40 Comments •
Posted on October 12, 2007 10:59 PM • 9 Comments •
Posted on October 11, 2007 3:19 PM • 1 Comments •
Posted on October 11, 2007 12:35 PM • 9 Comments •
Or maybe, I'm being too hard on myself. Anyway, my brother has moved to start an MBA program in York University, and so I am left with several pieces of his musical gear. Which means that yes, (Dum dum...
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Posted on October 10, 2007 2:45 PM • 11 Comments •
Epilogue: Hauntings -- to follow mystery, monsters, and ghosts of man-made meat
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Posted on September 14, 2007 8:59 AM • 2 Comments •
Study finds a mere 12.782% of Shouts and Murmurs writers have been women. There's blogger reporting for you.
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Posted on August 24, 2007 5:14 PM • 13 Comments •
Fear of the unknown; or, whence Adorno, Sartre, Christo, Rumsfeld, and Plato all fit in one post
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Posted on August 10, 2007 8:30 AM • 4 Comments •
Trials of Strength and the Colony Collapse Disorder of Honeybees
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Posted on August 8, 2007 8:24 AM • 3 Comments •
Among others, busy identifying mint, wood sorrel, and purslane growing in sidewalk cracks
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Posted on July 26, 2007 1:00 PM • 1 Comments •
Five lists of five things that may or may not interest you about me.
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Posted on July 26, 2007 11:00 AM • 0 Comments •
Is the scientific community is forgetting to educate the adult population?
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Posted on July 26, 2007 9:00 AM • 0 Comments •
Because twice-two-makes-five is sometimes a most charming little thing.
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Posted on July 23, 2007 12:00 PM • 9 Comments •
I'm heading out today - so just in case I won't be able to blog in my absence, this is just to say I'll be back in about two weeks. (Snapshot of my luggage)...
Posted on July 21, 2007 12:10 PM • 1 Comments •
A moratorium on ID or Creationist discussions? Dunno, but here's the IDBC again.
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Posted on July 20, 2007 9:00 AM • 4 Comments •
After a no-go with George Lucas, we've moved on. Blame it on Episodes I and II if you must.
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Posted on July 19, 2007 11:59 AM • 1 Comments •
In some ways, we can construe this as a classic "Technology" vs "Nature" battle. Where high tech takes on no tech. It's the ultimate philosophical slash pop-culture analogy for, well, I'm sure, something... So, basically, I'm just saying I'm curious...
Posted on July 16, 2007 5:52 PM • 4 Comments •
Posted on July 12, 2007 11:57 AM • 20 Comments •
Here's one from the vault. But not our vault. It's an all-time favorite of mine, from McSweeney's a few years ago, written by Joshua Tyree: "On the Implausibility of the Death Star's Trash Compactor." Lets file it under physics. For...
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Posted on July 8, 2007 9:00 AM • 21 Comments •
Deadly dingoes, climate modeling, biotech trials, gender and engineering, ecology of knowledge, and the lay-expert divide.
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Posted on July 5, 2007 1:47 PM • 0 Comments •
Some new designs on discussing science, technology, and society, from Vancouver to Virginia and beyond.
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Posted on July 3, 2007 9:53 AM • 0 Comments •
Holding a high-school teacher workshop today. Here's some music that I've been liking of late. The john Prine duet in particular is classic. - - - Don't Stop Now, Crowded House In Spite of Ourselves, John Prine (and Iris DeMent)...
Posted on June 19, 2007 11:38 AM • 0 Comments •
Just a quick note to let folks know I'll be giving a short talk tomorrow in Vancouver on the challenge of science literacy, and also hoping to generate some interesting and unconventional ideas for tackling this challenge. Details are as...
Posted on June 18, 2007 12:11 PM • 4 Comments •
My apologies for being more or less absent in the last three weeks or so, but I promise to get back to form on Monday. In particular, it's kind of cool that The World's Fair has been around for a...
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Posted on June 15, 2007 10:41 AM • 2 Comments •
Halfway down the flowchart "Bruce Willis Spontaneously Combusts."
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Posted on June 14, 2007 1:42 PM • 0 Comments •
Holy cow, what a fascinating site! It maps the availability of Sweet Tea at the McDonalds' of Virginia, and shades and bounds and draws the surely-soon-to-be-infamous "Sweet Tea Line." Yellow dots have Sweet Tea, black dots don't....
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Posted on June 14, 2007 1:27 PM • 4 Comments •
And to think, a lot of folks I doubt even know about his work.
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Posted on June 14, 2007 10:11 AM • 0 Comments •
Rorty, the American pragmatist philosopher, has died at the age of 75. I saw news of this via Arts and Letters Daily, which linked to a brief notice in Telos (a journal of political and social thought)....
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Posted on June 10, 2007 1:59 PM • 1 Comments •
Continuing on. I also have a lot of doodles which are more about metaphor. A lot of these are kind of cool - here's a couple as examples....
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Posted on June 7, 2007 2:39 PM • 0 Comments •
You know, it's the rat race, and you're going a million miles an hour, and with all that domestic strife and international strife and strife in the domestic-foreign middle, and you know, strife, you don't even have time to remember...
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Posted on June 6, 2007 5:23 PM • 0 Comments •
David Ng is Director of the Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory at the University of British Columbia - this is a just a fancier way of calling himself a science teacher. 
Benjamin Cohen is an Asst. Professor of Science, Tech., and Society at the University of Virginia. He studies the place of S & T in environmental history, policy, and ethics. He also writes other stuff. 
Trying to find your way around this place? Like most expositions, we offer a map: Map of The World's Fair
