August 2, 2008
People sleep, and when they die, they awake.
- Mohammed
August 2, 2008
McCain: The original political celebrity:
It's a striking line of attack for McCain, who's accepted without complaint the "celebrity" epithet from journalists for four decades.
"John's been a celebrity ever since he was shot down," former McCain strategist John Weaver told The Atlantic earlier this…
August 2, 2008
But new research shows they lose spine gradually over the years. [via]
August 2, 2008
CNN creates blogging policy, encourages employees to engage in sockpuppetry:
Chez Pazienza, a former CNN producer who was fired six months ago for having a personal blog, obtained a copy of the new blogging policy that his former employer sent out to all staff (I've also copy and pasted it below).…
August 2, 2008
The Power Of Peter Piper: How Alliteration Enhances Poetry, Prose, And Memory:
From nursery rhymes to Shakespearian sonnets, alliterations have always been an important aspect of poetry whether as an interesting aesthetic touch or just as something fun to read. But a recent study suggests that this…
August 2, 2008
This may take a couple of years, but I'll be patient. And as soon as the okapi arrives, I'll be off to the Zoo! I've only seen okapi once in my life, in the early 80s in London.
August 2, 2008
I got a million and a half invitations to the Big Blogger Bash in Raleigh the other day, but unfortunately I could not make it.
At the bash, Ginny Skalski and Wayne Sutton unveiled their brand new project - a website called 30Threads, which will cover all sorts of locally interesting stories and…
August 2, 2008
Melissa nails it, as always: McCain blows the dog whistle. Obligatory reading of the day.
August 2, 2008
White denial: Obama, race and America's selective memory by Hal Crowther:
A lot of Americans are like German tourists, who never harmed or perhaps even met a Jew, and are amazed to find a chilly reception in Tel Aviv. Though Jim Crow was considerably more recent than Adolf Hitler, lapel-pin…
August 2, 2008
Bob read this and sent me some even better stuff:
Completely in verse:
Joseph F. Bunnett and Francis J. Kearley (1971). Comparative mobility of halogens in reactions of dihalobenzenes with potassium amide in ammonia (pdf). Journal of Organic Chemistry 36(1): 184 - 186; DOI: 10.1021/jo00800a036
In…
August 2, 2008
Festival of the Trees #26 is up on Fox Haven Journal
August 2, 2008
Apparently, there is a Sitemeter upgrade that makes many sites displaying Sitemeter invisible for users using Internet Explorer. I have now swapped the old Sitemeter for the new, and you should be able to see my blog just fine, at least in more recent versions of Internet Explorer.
Now, the big…
August 2, 2008
Dan drew this (click here to see big):
Explains why Siegel is utterly wrong.
Related...
August 1, 2008
Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
August 1, 2008
How do I try to beat jet-lag:
- book an overnight flight that lands at the destination in the morning, if possible. This really helps.
- start gradually shifting my daily schedule of meals, activities, sleep, a few days in advance.
- once I pass security and have about an hour before take-off, I…
August 1, 2008
Just like last year, this year again, the Union of Concerned Scientists is running a contest - go and pick the best cartoon that depicts the way US government is interfering with science. You can place your vote here.
August 1, 2008
Brain Tweak Lets Sleep-deprived Flies Stay Sharp:
Staying awake slows down our brains, scientists have long recognized. Mental performance is at its peak after sleep but inevitably trends downward throughout the day, and sleep deprivation only worsens these effects.
Aging Impairs The 'Replay' Of…
August 1, 2008
....who likes limericks.
His article - Writing Science: The Abstract is Poetry, the Paper is Prose - makes me wish to have something to submit to FASEB just so I could submit the Abstract in the actual form of a limerick. And see what the Editor says.
I actually like it when a paper starts with a…
August 1, 2008
At TED talks:
At the 2007 EG conference, Kevin Kelly shares a fun stat: The World Wide Web, as we know it, is only 5,000 days old. Now, Kelly asks, how can we predict what's coming in the next 5,000 days?
August 1, 2008
The new blog carnival, covering the way science is changing (or not changing enough) in the 21st century - Praxis, is about to start. The call for submissions is now open - send them to me at Coturnix AT gmail dot com by August 14th at midnight Eastern.
The business of science - from getting into…
August 1, 2008
Actually, no news is not exactly good news, but it makes one think about the way media shapes our thoughts and worldviews [Thanks, Bex]
August 1, 2008
...as I was reading this! But it's science! Thus, not NSFW by definition....
August 1, 2008
Go say Hello to Matt Springer at Built on Facts, the latest addition to The Borg!
August 1, 2008
Ruby reports:
Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools just released a statement saying that the School Board selected a new principal for Carrboro High list night. Parents at the brand new school have been feeling shafted as their students have less advanced courses available, and their last principal was let…
August 1, 2008
August Scientiae is up on Faraday's Cage is where you put Schroedinger's Cat
Cancer Research Blog Carnival #12 is up on nosugrefneb
Friday Ark #202 is up on Modulator
July 31, 2008
I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked, and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.
- Oscar Wilde
July 31, 2008
Counter Minds
The Rough Guide to Evolution
Professor in Training
Stimulating Aliquot
July 31, 2008
What Do Squid Hear? Scientists Learn How Sensitive The Translucent Animals Are To Noise:
The ocean is a noisy place. Although we don't hear much when we stick our heads underwater, the right instruments can reveal a symphony of sound. The noisemakers range from the low-frequency bass tones of a…
