clock | September 26, 2006When you go to bloggercons, you bump into famous bloggers...
Continuing ConvergeSouth coverage....
After getting lost on campus, Atrios made his entrance on Saturday morning. It was a great continuation of the previous day's session on journalistic ethics (see my previous ConvergeSouth post).
The discussion centered on the perils of he-said-she-said journalism, even in cases in which there is only one side backed by empirical facts, the other side being a wrong-headed opinion manufactured for the express reason of having another side - the best example being evolution vs. intelligent design…
clock | September 26, 2006This was one of the best sessions from last year. As always, you can click on the spider-clock icon to check the comments on the original post....
Coverage continues...
Friday afternoon:
Jay Rosen and Lex Alexander session was amazing (and a number of bloggers have already commented on it). Daniel's doodle of the two guys is right on the money:
Compare it to the photo:
The session was actually quite tense and contentious, struggling over the ageless question of who has, or deserves, more trust: professional journalists or bloggers...until someone really smart suggested to stop thinking "Who…
clock | September 26, 2006This post has actually been linked and cited quite a bit by people starting new blog carnivals, as it explains what those things are...
ConvergeSouth is on Friday and Saturday. I am part of the session on "community building" and I am invited to explain the concept of the blog carnival. It is going to be fluid and conversational, i.e., I will not be standing up and lecturing for 20 minutes, but I need to have my thoughts clear and talking points ready. This post is a mental preparation for me. Writing this post may help me make my points more concise than the usual marathon posts I write on…
clock | September 26, 2006Sure, this year they are not paying for my trip, but last year was fun for many other reasons...
Continuing reporting from Greensboro...
Friday noonish:
Dave Hoggart, Ruby Sienrich and I had a great time in our session:
Dave was talking about the vibrant local Greensboro blogging community - the one that gave its city the nickname Blogsboro (by an LATimes writer). Dave's personal story is a great example of the way a blogging community can work. About a year ago, Dave's wife Jinny got diagnosed with breast cancer. Dave blogged about it. Suddenly, local bloggers decided to do something about…
clock | September 26, 2006I understand that this year's ConvergeSouth will be different in theme and format from last year's, but that does not mean it is not going to be full of interesting people and conversations...
Here's a little bit more about ConvergeSouth, session by session:
Friday morning:
Michael Moran started off the Friday morning with a session on the effect bloggers have around the world, particularly in countries where freedom of speech and freedom of press do not exist even on paper. The prime example, of course, was Hoder, a blogger who started the Iranian blogging revolution, keeping the Iranian…
clock | September 26, 2006Hey, it was fun last year, I bet it will be fun this year, on October 14th...
You can see some pictures from ConvergeSouth here, here, here and here. For now, here's a few that prove that I was there:
This is just before our sessions started: L-to-R (but not politically) me, Ruby and Dave.
Chatting after Tiffany's session.
Waiting for Atrios (who got lost on campus) on Saturday morning.
Adrian and I used to be next door neighbors and saw each other walking our dogs. It never occured to us to mention blogging. What a surprise when we bumped into each other at ConvergeSouth: "What are you…
clock | September 26, 2006ConvergeSouth06 is on October 14th. So, in anticipation of the event, I will repost, in rapid succession, my coverage of the last year's ConvergeSouth (October 7-8, 2005). Perhaps this will whet your appetite and you'll decide to register (for free) and show up this year. Here is the first of eleven posts...
Taking a little break between the end of the ConvergeSouth conference and dinner, enjoying Dave's hospitality, here's just a quick post on the conference - apparently there is something wrong with my online access back at home, so I may not be able to blog tonight once I get there.
My…
clock | September 25, 2006You are going to love the latest Circus of the Spineless, now up on Deep Sea News!
clock | September 25, 2006
A very cool study that I could not help but comment on (January 18, 2006)...
A brand new paper is making a splash in the field these days - so much that you can find the press release in three places: here, here and here, this last one being the coolest as it contains a movie and three podcasts!
One of the biggest problems in circadian biology is to account for such a long time - 24 hours - it takes for the whole transcription-translation feedback loop to run its course through a single cycle. Biochemical reactions tend to happen at much shorter time scales. Some mathematical models tried…
clock | September 25, 2006Fruit Fly Aggression Studies Have Relevance To Humans, Animals:
Researchers in the North Carolina Sate University genetics department have identified a suite of genes that affect aggression in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, pointing to new mechanisms that could contribute to abnormal aggression in humans and other animals.
The study, led by doctoral student Alexis Edwards in the laboratory of Dr. Trudy Mackay, William Neal Reynolds Professor of Genetics, appears online in PloS Genetics.
Feisty flies themselves may not be very scary, but their genes and biochemistry have more in common…
clock | September 25, 2006Pam found the link to this article from LA Times in which Rev.Jerry Falwell compares Hillary Clinton with the Devil:
"I certainly hope that Hillary is the candidate," Falwell said, according to the recording. "She has $300 million so far. But I hope she's the candidate. Because nothing will energize my [constituency] like Hillary Clinton."
Cheers and laughter filled the room as Falwell continued: "If Lucifer ran, he wouldn't."
At that moment in the recording, Falwell's voice is drowned out by hoots of approval. But two in attendance, including a Falwell staff member, confirmed that Falwell…
clock | September 25, 2006This is an old pet-peeve of mine. Some things are not sad and saying they are just makes one curl in fetal position and cry instead of taking action.
clock | September 24, 2006When you are hungry for news about mammoths, you go and visit Archy, of course. But this time, he moves sideways to take a look at mastodons, hippos and Ken Hamm. And the tail, or whatever that is....
clock | September 24, 2006Here is a nice article about Elizabeth Edwards and her new book and here is a nice interview with her. She is such a wonderful person. She should run for President herself!
As for her husband, a new poll from Iowa does not look good for Democrats, but of all Dem potential presidential candidates, Edwards still does the best of all of them. It looks really bad for Hillary, though, with negatives far higher than the positives.
There were a number of polls over the past couple of months, some polled everyone, some polled potential Democratic voters, some polled the Dem grassroots, and some…
clock | September 24, 2006My sister in law is an artist and is writing a proposal for funding a project. She intends to use red clay to make some figurines. She has heard an old story that the composition of red clay is similar to the composition of the human body and is wondering how much off the mark is that statement. I am pretty sure that at the level of molecules/compounds the difference is huge, but I am not sure how big is the difference if one breaks down the chemical composition down to elements/atoms. I suspect that carbon and hydrogen may be close, but how about nitrogen, oxygen or, even more difficult…
clock | September 24, 2006Revere and Lindsay now report that the Tripoli Six story has spread from science blogosphere to both Left and Right political blogs, ranging from DailyKos to Instapundit (gosh, even Free Republic!). This is certainly not just a science/medicine issue, and is certainly not a partisan issue - it is a matter of saving innocent lives!
Declan Butler, who has been on top of this, has already collected 82 blog links on Connotea and is working on the next step - getting the MSM to place this story on front pages. Can you help? Blogswarm this story by blogging about this, or blogging about this…
clock | September 24, 2006I really need to start using one of those online calendars, like Google calendar or something....I have, again, signed up to host two carnivals on the same day! This probably means that both will have to be done the "regular" way without too much creativity. Ah, well!
So, next Sunday, October 1st, I will be hosting the 13th edition of the Teaching Carnival, the blog carnival devoted to Higher Ed, teaching at the college level, and the life in Academia. So, if you are either giving or receiving instruction of any kind in college or beyond, and have a story to tell, let me know by Saturday,…
clock | September 24, 2006Rare Woodpecker Sends Town Running for Chain Saws:
BOILING SPRING LAKES, N.C., (Sept. 24) -- Over the past six months, landowners here have been clear-cutting thousands of trees to keep them from becoming homes for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.
The chain saws started in February, when the federal Fish and Wildlife Service put Boiling Spring Lakes on notice that rapid development threatened to squeeze out the woodpecker.
The agency issued a map marking 15 active woodpecker "clusters," and announced it was working on a new one that could potentially designate whole neighborhoods of…