--A great NYT article on science museums and cabinets of curiosities:
This antic miscellany is dizzying. But there are lineaments of sustained conflict in the apparent chaos. Over the last two generations, the science museum has become a place where politics, history and sociology often crowd out physics and the hard sciences. There are museums that believe their mission is to inspire political action, and others that seek to inspire nascent scientists; there are even fundamental disagreements on how humanity itself is to be regarded. The experimentation may be a sign of the science museum's struggle to define itself.
They even give a shout-out to one of my favorite books, Stephen Asma's Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads: The Culture and Evolution of Natural History Museums
--How well do you think you can estimate? More to the point, how well do you know your Nintendo? Match wits against Aaron Santos, author of How Many Licks, in this contest at his blog, A Diary of Numbers.
--Check out Carl Zimmer's post summarizing the results of his reader survey on current science reading practices.
--Finally, because you really wanted to watch the Iran-contra hearings again: CSPN archives online. Come on - you're watching something more important this weekend? Really?
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