worldsfair
Posts by this author
October 23, 2007
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 the premise is that you will attempt to find 5 statements, which if you were to…
October 17, 2007
O.K. so our Canadian government (Conservatives, they be) gave their Throne speech yesterday, and basically didn't have an awful lot new to say about things of a climate change nature. This equates to, I guess, the continued stance of not even trying to abide by the Kyoto Protocol, but rather rely…
October 17, 2007
I currently teach an all day molecular laboratory course at UBC, where students go through various techniques in the confines of what is often a 4 to 6 hour session. Anyway, occasionally, there is some downtime, and last week, some students started to play around with the ice in their ice bucket.…
October 15, 2007
Puzzle Fantastica #1 was too hard
Puzzle Fantastica #2 was too easy
Puzzle Fantastica #3 is ...
As before, each of these three clues are held together by a common answer. Start the solution in the comments area, and good luck.
Clue 1
Clue 2
Clue 3
October 12, 2007
IPCC figures rock!
And there's a lot of discussion taking place around the blogosphere that concerns the merit behind this particular choice (here's a good overview at the NYT), ranging from the errors in his movie, as well as the debate over whether activism in the climate change arena constitutes…
October 10, 2007
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 dum!), I'm going to have a hand at recording some music.
Where does the science fit in?
Well,…
October 10, 2007
Had a coffee with a friend (Jon Nakane) who runs the UBC EngPhys Projects lab, and he told me about one of their most recent robot competitions held over the summer. Basically, this is bundled in a with an intense Robotics course that is a favourite of the engineering set (PHYS253 - Introduction…
October 9, 2007
So, my New Yorker subscription is about done, and I've decided not to renew it this time. This is a shame, because I've been getting it for almost three years now, and it's become a bit of comfortable habit now. Hard to beat some of the writing that is presented there, despite my disappointment…
October 9, 2007
Shop fronts on the streets of Harbin
Well, I've been home for a week now from my trip to Harbin, still with a cold, and my mind whirring trying to compartmentalize all that I was lucky enough to see in the latter parts of my stay. During those days, I was fortunate enough to take in a few sights,…
October 4, 2007
Well sort of. I'm proud to say that as the editor of the Science Creative Quarterly, we have published our third ever squirrel piece today. This one is a doozy - in fact the title sort of says it all.
WAVE-PARTICLE DUALITY: OBSERVED PHENOMENA IN SCIURUS CAROLINENESIS
If nothing else, it is hoped…
October 4, 2007
Here is one of two cranes outside the Michael Smith Laboratories right now.
Apparently, there is a lot of jumping in the "Bionic Woman" television show. Anyway, they're also shooting in my lab right now, but I promised not to show pictures until the episode airs (in apparently 2 to 3 weeks).…
October 2, 2007
The Science Creative Quarterly is seeking wondrous, thought provoking, and potentially slightly silly science questions. These we hope to present to our esteem Bill Hick, the Science Prick, who in turn will attempt his best to answer them in due course.
As well, know that a little meat with…
September 28, 2007
O.K. I have a few minutes to scribble some stuff here, so here goes.
I've had a chance to tour Harbin a little more the last little while, and the one thing I can state is that it is a seriously big city. I guess you get use to hearing about Shanghai and Beijing being the "big" cities, but Harbin…
September 26, 2007
(I didn't actually see this sign, which I got via Shelley, but I put it up because my talk later today will actually break rule number 3.)
Well, I've been in China for the better part of three days now, having spent a few hours in Shanghai, and the remainder of my time in Harbin (North China). It'…
September 22, 2007
I thought this blog post was pretty refreshing and kind of a nice way to look at things. It starts:
When people hear that I spend two hours each way commuting to UBC from Surrey every day, the most common question is: but why? When the train broke down today, and it took over three hours to get to…
September 21, 2007
Well, I'm off to north China next week, although unlike Nigeria, it sounds like I'll be wired in and still able to contribute to the blog. Specifically, I'm heading to the Northeast Forestry University in Harbin to give a few talks on molecular genomics, particularly in terms of how it can be used…
September 20, 2007
Specific details are here, but basically, my facility is hosting two workshops for the scientific community (around the latter half of February 2008). One is a 5 day session that focuses on a myriad of molecular techniques, and incorporates both a practical hands-on portion, as well as the all…
September 18, 2007
One of the first things that a newborn experiences is not necessarily the warmth and scent of the mother's embrace, but rather a series of pokes and pricks to ascertain health and mental alertness. It therefore seems to me that a natural progression of this trend is to incorporate the highest…
September 13, 2007
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about good old 0.7%. This is the hallmark figure suggested by Pearson as a target for foreign aid to developing nations. In other words, the main idea is that wealthy nations do something nice and set aside about 0.7% of the gross domestic product, so that the…
September 12, 2007
Specifically, this pretty one:
Very nicely done biography of Charles Darwin, presented in the children's book genre, that also happens to be pretty enough for the coffee table (more info about the book here).
Basically, the SCQ is hoping to give away a science themed hardcopy children's book each…
September 10, 2007
It is with great regret that I report on the demoralizing state of corn culture. Over the last decade, this once mighty cereal grass has succumbed to the stigma of repeated negative public perceptions. Arguably, this unfortunate downward spiral was instigated by the advent of agricultural genetic…
September 5, 2007
Isn't this pretty?
O.K. so lately, I've been immersed in revamping a website for a pretty high profile interdisciplinary project at my institution. It's essentially related to all of those lectures I was playing around with (here, here, and here). In any event, all of this tweaking has led to (lo…
September 5, 2007
The other night I had the privilege to check out Crowded House at a smallish venue. It was great - I highly recommend any serious music lover to check out Neil Finn and the boys. They are really one of the best live acts around, and for pure melodic prowess, Neil is definitely one of the best…
September 4, 2007
So... the SCQ is back from its summer hiatus, and needs to get rid of a 30G 5th generation video iPod. Sort of like this one:
And it actually couldn't be easier to win. Here are the details:
After a much need hiatus over the summer, the SCQ is back for it's third volume. We thought we would…
August 31, 2007
First up, an apology for the lack of posting of late. As the school term approaches, things have been more hectic than ever, and so... well... you how it is with prioritizing and all. Nevertheless, once next week rolls around, I should be back with some degree of regularity (i.e. still busy, but…
August 22, 2007
Just saw a piece I wrote got published in the Canadian magazine, The Walrus. What's especially cool about this one, is that it has been presented in comic form, which is first for me. This is another great example of just sticking to your guns when trying to publish a piece. I must have written…
August 20, 2007
It begins:
"It has been observed at least since the time of Aristotle that people cannot tickle themselves, but the reason remains elusive."
What we have here is a research paper (by CHRISTINE R. HARRIS and NICHOLAS CHRISTENFELD) that looks at a variety of hypotheses (namely two called the reflex…