worldsfair
Posts by this author
April 20, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
O.K. I'm on a bit of a roll, and definitely in the mood to write another science-y song. This time with a little crunch. Like last week, I'm hoping for readers to suggest the general comment. Hint: things like hypoxia and cannabis probably won't fly in the fast tempo…
April 18, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
So how come I've never seen this before? The infamous Kirk Cameron Banana YouTube clip? From what I can figure out, this is actually meant to be a serious attempt at describing creationist perfection. It's just that the video is so full of unintended (intended?)…
April 17, 2009
So, I'm looking around at other blogs, and basically a lot of them have recurring features, often specific for a particular day. And I'm thinking the World's Fair could do this as well.
But instead of something always related to science, why not spin it a little and say that there is, in fact, a…
April 17, 2009
This is kind of cute. But also interesting since Kacie Kinzer, the artist responsible, asks:
Tweenbots are human-dependent robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination displayed on a flag…
April 17, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
Photo of a nice set of boobies we saw at the Natural History Museum from the SCQ
So the question, of course, is "what exactly is up with birds and breasts?" And I'm not talking about white meat versus dark meat preferences.
Instead, there is this uncomfortable…
April 16, 2009
That's right! This guy!
Often in the blogging world, we are advised that picking a good title goes a long way to securing an engaged reader. Likewise, the same principle also applies to the art of securing your audience when giving a talk. And I'm of the opinion that taking some extra effort…
April 15, 2009
Eddie Vedder on vox.
Sting on bass.Ringo on drums. Anybody on drums.
Thom Yorke doing backing vocals
A duet with Beyonce.
Lyrics by Margaret Atwood.
Samantha Fox's breasts.
A wardrobe malfunction.
Wilco in the studio.
A studio.
A studio with amps that go to eleven.A cameo in a Woody Allen movie. A…
April 14, 2009
Science scout twitter feed
Seriously pretty (from Semiconductor Films)...
As well, I'm of the opinion that a visualization like this really provides a great perspective on the awesomeness of magnets specifically and on physics generally.
I'm not sure why it's so effective. I don't think I…
April 14, 2009
As I was composing a few lyrics to a song about thermodynamics (mp3 is further down the page), it quickly occurred to me how the first three laws could easily describe various elements of love.
You've got the first law, a testament to bookkeeping, where explicit in equations like dU=dQ-dW is the…
April 9, 2009
Science scout twitter feed
I'm doing a bit of research for book chapter, and one of the things I was looking into, was how much exactly would it take for a layman to set up a functional molecular biology lab. With respect to this query, there are a few things to keep in mind:
1. Most molecular…
April 9, 2009
Just a quick note.
I would appreciate any efforts and good words you have to pass on to your colleagues about our upcoming molecular techniques workshop (see below). As well, I've included a pdf of the workshops poster, perfect for posting up on your friendly neighborhood bulletin board. Also…
April 8, 2009
This is nicely done.
Andre was one of our Terry talk speakers last November and he did a great job.
In essence, he described current practices in the classroom setting, and tried to make a case that education could be greatly enhanced when certain technologies are brought into the learning…
April 8, 2009
Science scout twitter feed
The reason why there were two ways of saying the element aluminum/aluminium has always been one of the those things that made me go "hmmm" But by the same token, it's also always been one of those things that never stuck around in my consciousness long enough for me to…
April 7, 2009
Check out this short film on Reuben Margolin's wave sculptures (hat tip to Boingboing). They are really quite remarkable, and I'm thankful I don't have one in my office (this is a complement, since I'd just be staring at it all day).
Best of all, this amazing work is created with salvaged wood…
April 6, 2009
So I'm getting ready for a talk on science literacy and careers, etc, and was looking for material for some new slides. Anyway, I've always been a fan of delicious sounding science jargon, and have been on the hunt for an appropriate word I can use, possibly, as a thematic device in my talk.
So of…
April 4, 2009
Sciencescout twitter feed
One of my past attempts at humour writing, entitled "An Intelligent Designer on the Cow" and reprinted here for your enjoyment.
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AN INTELLIGENT DESIGNER ON THE COW
Today, I feel like doing a plant - no, an animal. Yes, today, I am going to make an animal. And it…
April 4, 2009
So close! But not close enough.
Only 20 readers away from making the 1000 mark yesterday.
April 3, 2009
Attributed to iTop Edition
This post brought to you because of two reasons.
1. I've been thinking about potential banner ideas, and pixelated art came to mind.
2. I'm a little fearful of this blog blowing up (explanation here). Just need something to add a few more readers. Related to this, I…
April 3, 2009
With its Jack Kirby stylings, I thought this video was worth highlighting.
I've been seeing some of these aforementioned attributes a lot lately, when I've been to a number of public events on evolution and genetic manipulation in particular. Still, it's good to see something that tries to lay…
April 3, 2009
As the semester winds down, I'm getting that same urge to muck about with my guitars again and maybe record a song or two (it might sound impressive, but really, it's as amateur as it gets).
Last time I did this, I ended up writing a song on science jargon (Jargon Fueled Ways - mp3), which kind of…
April 3, 2009
Science scout twitter feed
Since we're in the thick of NCAA action, remember this?
Anyway, I'm reminded of one of favourite battles in the science showdown. That is the battle between "acids" and "d orbitals." Here's how it went...
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Welcome folks, to this here what we'll call the beautiful…
April 2, 2009
So it's not often that someone can "guarantee" anything, but when I was first informed of helping out with an invited speaker, I had two individuals take the effort to tell me that his talk may quite possibly "be the best talk you'll ever hear" or "will change your life."
Strong words indeed, if…
April 2, 2009
What you see here is a sample of artificially produced feces. More specifically, it's material produced from an artistic feat of engineering. The creation of a machine that can step for step mimic the digestive process.
In other words: you put food in one end... and well, you get sh*t coming out…
April 2, 2009
Sciencescout twitter feed
I put this Wilco vs Radiohead query up a while back on the blog, and essentially got a fair amount of commentary stating musical tastes, preferences, why the comparison is invalid, etc.
Anyway, imagine my surprise when I heard about a CD coming out this summer, which can…
April 1, 2009
Taking reduce, reuse, recycle to the pinnacle, a great piece from McSweeney's, reprinted below for your enjoyment:
THE STICK, RECENTLY INDUCTED INTO THE TOY HALL OF FAME, IS NOW AVAILABLE AT AMAZON.COM.
By Ralph Gamelli
**** Nice toy, but not for all children
By JJ (PA)
We gave our son The Stick…
April 1, 2009
Or something like that. This is a little unbelievable, but there you have it - politics is nothing if not diverse...
Choice quote:
"The earth will end only when God declares its time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth. This earth will not be destroyed by a flood."
Anyway, so here's…
April 1, 2009
At my school, I happen to be involved in a project with a writing contest that has a general public category. Basically, we don't have many entries in this category and there's, like, three bookstore giftcards at stake here ($50, $100, and $350 - all usable online)! This is Canadian dollars, I'…
April 1, 2009
A couple weeks ago, I thought it would be interesting to start up a twitter account for the Science Scout stuff. Anyway, initially I put up a pretty vague "Increasing the N" tweet, in the hopes that we would get a few followers, and lo and behold, we have about 120 right now.
Anyway, I've been…
March 31, 2009
You know the story: we can have Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock costarring and filmed in scenes where they are frantically blogging to make sure they reach a certain number of readers per day. Why? Because a crazy Dennis Hopper has rigged their computers to explode if they get less than 1000…
March 30, 2009
With the exception of my slip up during the introductions (I introduced Charles as "Sir Charles..."), here is a pretty great video of old Chuck talking to a class of high school students.
This was at a recent high school science conference we hosted, where we focused pretty much on all things…