worldsfair
Posts by this author
July 9, 2006
This time around, we have a poem, something about lego, a great piece by the ever interesting Kurt Vonnegut, and a conversation with an academic that sort of defies categorization . Not ranked in that order, in any particular order really. Just good for a few minutes of your life of science.
The…
July 8, 2006
Looks like the movie Hollow Man 2, a movie which used my lab for a scene or two is finally out.
And straight to DVD too. Check it out here. You can see it as the first locale in the "Guess Who" Watch the Trailer option (ooh, a flask breaks).
July 7, 2006
A few days ago, being the start of summer and all, I brought home one of my dissecting microscopes for my kids to play with. This is because they're outside a lot, picking up things, and on a bit of a bug kick right now. Anyway, this is a shot of them checking out a spider (Pholcus phalangioides…
July 7, 2006
Seeing how we're all about puzzles lately, and having made a token (quick) review of the book. Here's a list. Please add if you find any other good ones.
A CRUDDY WHERE'S ME. (DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR?)
A FED MAN TAKETH JAN. (JAKE AND THE FATMAN)
INBORN GIT (BRING IT ON)
OK ELF, DRESS FAT (FROSTED…
July 7, 2006
(RE: The new "Ask a Scienceblogger") If asked whether I think cloning has developed the way I thought it would, I think I'd have have a couple comments on that.
First, I would say that yes I am surprised in the sense that with molecular biology essentially taking such enormous leaps and bounds, I…
July 6, 2006
One of the monthly columns in The Believer, is written by none other than Nick Hornby, and is called "Stuff I've Been Reading: A Monthly Column." In it, he presents a list of books bought and a list of books read, and although I am nowhere near as voracious a reader, I thought it might be nice to…
July 6, 2006
Usually, when I write a humour piece, it all begins with me in the car listening to the radio, waiting for those moments when a song comes on that I hate - loath even. For instance, something like "Truth" by Spandau Ballet is just the sort of thing that will (seriously) make my ears bleed and force…
July 5, 2006
After Mr. Gore visited our campus a month or so ago, one of the students who is working with me on the terry.ubc.ca project wrote an interesting piece comparing his talk (of which his movie An Inconvenient Truth is based on) to a Boyz II Men concert she went to the same week. As the editor…
July 5, 2006
...but I can't talk about it (yet). Bonus points if you can figure out what it is.
July 5, 2006
So, Ben and I were discussing yesterday the depressing reality of our readership numbers, in that we think our unpaid interns are clearly not performing up to par with this blogging thing. In truth, we are so very very close to firing them all. And perhaps we would, if only we had gotten more…
July 5, 2006
O.K. so this letter basically bites. Type written, and as "form letter" as a "form letter" can get. I mean, it's not even technically addressed to me, which I take is not a good sign at all. Furthermore, if I read the signature right, I'm pretty sure it says "Me Cute." Which I interpret as just…
July 4, 2006
A big thank you for the folks who contributed to our little portion of that wonder of a wonder, the scienceblogs.com DonorsChoose challenge. The SCQ also recieved a number of stellar Haiku's which will be used in the Haiku Phylogeny project. Here is a small sampling of them (feel free to submit…
July 3, 2006
Last week I got this year's Believer Music Issue in the mail. For those not quite in the know, The Believer is not anything alluding to the religious right - rather, it is a marvelous magazine that succinctly describes itself in the following manner:
The Believer is a monthly magazine where…
July 3, 2006
1. p21RAS
2. C-3PO
3. CD45
4. p53
5. C-SRC
6. RIC-920
7. FOS-JUN
8. R2-D2
9. 8D8
10. C-MYC
1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 are oncogenes: 2, 6, 8, 9 are droids from Star Wars.
July 1, 2006
In honour of Canada Day, here are a couple things of canadian note on my iTunes list:
FireworksTragically Hip
Drink To Me, Babe, ThenA.C. Newman
house of the rising sun Begood tanyas
Crooked TeethDeath Cab for Cutie
lemon meringue pieJeremy fisher
tell me again Ron sexsmith
Both Sides NowJoni…
June 30, 2006
O.K. it looks like I'm going to use this site as a repository of my various science writings. In truth, I still consider myself a bit of a neophyte in this matter, but nevertheless, I've been lucky enough to publish the odd thing here and there.
In this vein, below is a copy of my first successful…
June 29, 2006
Since thursday is no longer must see TV, here is a round up of some interesting pieces that relate (although sometimes weakly) to the sciences.
Let's first begin with this great open letter at the venerable McSweeney's. The title says it all really: "Open Letter to Keith Richard's Immune System…
June 29, 2006
A few days ago, Ben put up an interesting article about Natalie Jeremijenko, regarding artistry as it relates to various scientific nuances - an essay that showed one of many many cracks in the "Two Culture" ideals that sprang from C.P. Snow's head. It got me thinking a bit, in that it occurred…
June 28, 2006
Yesterday, Ghana, the last remaining African team in contention, was eliminated from the World Cup. This was after a entertaining match against the heavy favourites Brazil, that ended predictably where Brazil powered over with a 3-0 victory. This followed the earlier elimination of Togo and Cote…
June 27, 2006
(Actually posted this a little earlier, but we're learning the ins and outs of blogging, choosing categories etc).
This is in regards to the Nude Mouse piece, shown earlier today...
This wierd little conversation piece initially began as a query to the Believer for a fiction interview piece. My…
June 26, 2006
Our unpaid interns have alerted us of our less than enthusiastic showing at the Scienceblogger's DonorsChoose challenge. For those, who missed the first announcement, we had offer guaranteed publication of a Haiku of your writing at the Science Creative Quarterly, which culminates in the…
June 26, 2006
Previously...
(Image via Jay Pinkerton)
"My question to the audience: what kind of scientist is Batman?" (Ben Cohen)
Scienceblogger responses below:
Afarensis
Obviously, he is a forensic scientist...
The World's Fair (Dave Ng)
I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and suggest that Batman is (amongst…
June 24, 2006
Maybe this will also help with this week's "Ask a Sciencebloggers question." Most institutions will likely ask for a teaching philosophy, especially when an academic is up for tenure promotion. Although mine was written in 2003, and my interests have expanded significantly, here it is below:
To…
June 24, 2006
People often ask me what it is exactly I do, and in technical terms, I have a somewhat unque Faculty position at the University of British Columbia, with no clear Department that I can call my home. This means that whilst I am often out of the proverbial UBC loop, I am also happily privy to an…
June 23, 2006
Sir Francis Bacon, British philosopher, essayist, and scientific revolution advocate (1561 - 1626):
Quite a few of them are dead.
B.L.T., sandwich:
A lot depends on whether the lettuce and tomato count as one degree.
Bacon County, Georgia:
Geographically speaking, could get you as far as Florida or…
June 22, 2006
Last Friday, I had a photo shoot in my lab, where a firm called Corbis spent the day taking a variety of stock "sciency" photos. It was quite the machine in place, with a crew of about half a dozen, a group of well over 25 extras lounging around, lights angled at beakers full of coloured water (…
June 20, 2006
In one of my talks, I sometimes put up an ad which suggests that one day, there will be the astrological-type divination of fate via genetics - instead of a horoscope, a geneticscope if you will. The ad reads:
But the truth is, is that in some respects, we're really not that far off. So for fun…
June 19, 2006
Re: Blogging is for Chumps, first off.
This is a call for outstanding candidates to apply for two intern positions within the context of producing relevant material for The World's Fair. The successful applicant is expected to work in areas of interest to current faculty members (Dr. David Ng and…
June 16, 2006
As a Director of a science teaching facility, who sees maybe close to 2000 high schoolers in my lab each year, I'm hoping we can have a good showing in this great DonorsChoose challenge that Janet set up. There's certainly a lot of incentive, ranging from the simple act of promoting science within…
June 16, 2006
(This is an old slide I used for one of my genetics classes - the general idea about what Grimace is exactly was pilfered from a graphic design school advertisement I saw where several presumably student's works were showcased. if you happen to know who the student was that originally designed it,…