worldsfair
Posts by this author
March 5, 2008
The opener for my lecture last week. Note that I got the biggest laughs with Grimace (Grimace is always good for a laugh), and with the Olympic mascots (a Vancouver thing). Know any others? (click on the movie).
(Click on the movie to move through slides)
February 29, 2008
Worst Science Job 2007 - Hazmat Diver
Dave Semeniuk over at the Terry blog has posed an interesting question. Namely, what are the worst jobs in the humanities? (Another pandering to the two culture debate?)
The question is framed around the report that Popular Science annually releases on the "…
February 29, 2008
(Speaking of the arts and science divide) a couple weeks ago, I ran a few lab exercises that revolve around the use of software to city planning, especially as it pertains to issues of sustainability (there's even an online version available here).
Anyway, since time was limiting and large part…
February 28, 2008
I'm sort of putting the finishing touches to today's GMO lecture in my ART+SCIENCE class, but before I move on from the land of sustainability, here is a TEDtalks lecture I quite enjoyed about the problem with space and why Americans in particular suck at working with it (note: some gratuitous…
February 15, 2008
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 was like. I bring this up, from the point of view, that a career in…
February 15, 2008
A few days ago, I wrote about a neat little book ("Not what I was planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure") coming out which revolves around the concept of trying to encapsulate your life in 6 words:
It stems from a great anecdote about Ernest Hemingway once writing a story with…
February 13, 2008
A new book just (or just about to be) released called "Not what I was planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure" has been on the media blitz lately. It stems from a great anecdote about Ernest Hemingway once writing a story with only six words, and coming up with an eloquent: "For…
February 11, 2008
Just noticed an article in our local newspaper today that highlighted the irony of sustainability researchers inadvertently having a larger than average eco-footprint. This makes logical sense though, since folks doing research tend to need to publish their findings and this tends always to be a…
February 6, 2008
Just wanted to pass on two pieces, the SCQ has been lucky enough to present. They are:
THE WIKI HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE IN 200 WORDS OR LESS
and
TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS EXPLAINED WITH SMURFS
The history piece in particular was done by none other than Eric Schulman, who was responsible for "A…
February 1, 2008
... 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. Talk about a new experience! Here, I was charged with talking about…
January 23, 2008
Well, maybe not. It's just that... is it me, or is this Oscar (will it happen will it not?) thing everywhere in the news these days? There's such media saturation that it brought to mind the following thought I had the other day.
Say I was an alien coming down to Earth, and I wanted to help,…
January 17, 2008
In my hunt for things to incorporate in a lecture later today, I came across this great video (Ma and Pa Kettle) on the mathematics divide.
In the end, I won't actually be using it, but hey, I wonder if it also feels about right to those continually addressing the skeptics.
January 17, 2008
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 shows data whereby you're more likely to exert energy when playing Nintendo Wii vs the XBOX (which…
January 15, 2008
Going from a previous comment in my brainspace post earlier this week...
This is kind of sad really. Here is what it looks like. The axes imply relative number of searches since it doesn't seem like you get hard numbers on this (from Google Trends).
What's kind of interesting is that you can…
January 11, 2008
Last night, we rolled in the new course (Arts Science Integrated Course - ASIC 200) and it was a lot of fun (a little odd for me doing what was essentially a history speel, but there you have it). Anyway, one of the first things I got to do was play a little game with the class. It's actually…
January 10, 2008
What better way to keeping it real than showcasing a talk that discusses ways the Earth could end? This one is aptly titled, "10 ways the world could end"
First class starts tonight (woo hoo!)
January 7, 2008
This is too cool. Dave S. over at terry.ubc.ca launched a sustainable gingerbread house contest in mid December and in the span of a less than three weeks, was able to cull a total of 19 entries (plus one latecomer).
Anyway, here's one by Anne from Inkling, but see all of them at this easy to…
December 22, 2007
A good one too, by Spike Milligan.
CHRISTMAS 1970.
A little girl called Sile Javotte
Said 'Look at the lovely presents I've got'
While a little girl in Biafra said
'Oh what a lovely slice of bread'.
December 20, 2007
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 me, one of the things I'm curious about is musical preferences - especially since I was once (way…
December 20, 2007
Well it's been 9 months going and 64 teams from the beginning, but it's come down to this folks - a battle between two giants in the scientific world.
DARWIN vs HIV
So how does it look?
Well, Darwin has never been a quiet one, and some say he's just gearing up for his 200th birthday. Conversely…
December 19, 2007
PRESS CENTER | PRINTABLE BRACKETS
In a stunning development, HIV advances to the final by default. Neither HIV nor Fossil Fuels could be reached for comment.
Looks like the final is Darwin versus HIV.
- - -
December 19, 2007
It has come to our attention here at Pole Headquarters that something disastrous is occurring in regards to the Earth. It seems that there have been too many bad little boys and girls polluting the atmosphere with the byproducts of carbon fuels, causing world temperatures to rise.
And so it…
December 18, 2007
Let's do some pre-game chatter.
Because the winner of this semi final in the SCIENCE SHOWDOWN 2007 (can you tell, we're trying to finish up before the end of the new year) will earn a spot in the final - and against Darwin no less. What do you think? When push comes to shove, which is the badder…
December 18, 2007
PRESS CENTER | PRINTABLE BRACKETS
What a game! What a game! Unbelievable from the start to the finish! I mean who could've imagined such drama in a match that pitted tentacles against viral particles. But this baby was action packed all the way. HIV was cocky from the get go...
"I am sooo gonna…
December 17, 2007
PRESS CENTER | PRINTABLE BRACKETS"We're not quite done yet" said a smug Minister John Baird, Environment Minister for Canada, as he celebrated a close win for the Fossil Fuel team.
Fossil fuels vs d-orbitals - it really doesn't sound like a fair matchup from the get go, especially when you look at…
December 13, 2007
(image source)
O.K. So the deal is that it's the holidays - and soon the whole merriment parade will be kicking into high gear. This includes a number of things that I bet many households end up going through. Things such as:
1. the strategic maneuvering of the mistletoe locale.
2. watching the…
December 11, 2007
From the Science Creative Quarterly. Two days left to enter, so I'm just moving this post back up.
"O.K. so we're waaay behind on sorting out the Bill Hick, Science Prick contest, but figure that the best way to deal with that is to simply host another writing contest. This time, the book on the…
December 11, 2007
Patrick comes through with another great piece - this time on his hospital experience after inadvertently stabbing himself with a needle full of tissue culture cells (Hamster CHO cells specifically).
He informs me that he has yet to develop the relative strength and speed of a hamster.
(link)
December 11, 2007
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 to go out on a limb here and suggest that he is a man of science, but I guess the question to…