retrospectacle | April 29, 2007Got this from UM's publishing license negotiation team. I asked for permission to publish the email, and they said sure. I removed names just in case anybody decided to be over-zealous again. :)
----------------
Hi Shelley,
I'm the Electronic Resources Officer at the University of Michigan
Library, i.e. one of the people responsible for negotiating licenses
with publishers. I just found out about the recent unpleasantness with
the Society of Chemical Industry over your use of the graphs from one of
their journals in Wiley InterScience. I'm just checking in to make sure
everything is ok and…
retrospectacle | April 27, 2007Looks like the big dogs are coming out to play: Science Journal (Almost) Polices the Blogosphere
retrospectacle | April 27, 2007 Last week I came across an interesting press release on a strange phenomenon: vocal 'naming' of parrot chicks by their mothers. At the time of that posting I hadn't come across the primary journal article, but a few commenters were kind enough to point me in the direction of this paper by Wanker et al, which described similar studies from the same lab in depth.
[Reference: Wanker et al. 2005. Vocal labeling of family members in spectacled parrotlets, Forpus conspicillatus. Animal Behavior. vol. 70 (1), pp. 111-118]
Parrots are highly social and intelligent animals who, although possessing…
retrospectacle | April 27, 2007 I have another post coming out later today for Friday Grey Matters, but I just had to put up a link to this amazing parrot-post at the Lounge of the Lab Lemming. In America, the nuts of the sweet gum tree are prickly, indestructible annoyances:
It was a family joke that they were so indestructible that after the sun burned out and blasted the Earth's atmosphere and biota to a crisp, the sweetgum balls would remain, the only biological object refactory enough to survive the inferno and bear testament to the former presence of life on the planet.
However, Australians have a bit different view…
retrospectacle | April 27, 2007
Picture from Grant Robertson.
In an interesting turn of events, it was announced on Page 3.14 (the editorial blog of ScienceBlogs) that there will be an ongoing, online discussion of fair use issues here.
How do copyright and fair use laws, framed before the internet was a twinkle in the eye, apply in the world of blogging? The answer, as a case that unfolded on ScienceBlogs this week demonstrates, may be "not so clearly."
Ergo, we've asked a few experts and stakeholders to weigh in on the issue of copyright and open access. How ought fair use to be interpreted today--as the blogosphere…
retrospectacle | April 26, 2007Earlier today I noticed this blog post on a Nature Blog, (cross posted here) specifically on FnL - Euan Adie's blog, who was overly critical of the science blogosphere's response to the 'Fair Use' kerfuffle (WileyGate?). He opined that it was quite unlikely that there was any big conspiracy going on.
I agree. I think it really was a big misunderstanding, but whether or not it would have been viewed that way by Wiley perhaps has quite a lot to do with the response that the scientific blogosphere returned. Euan Adie is perhaps mistaken in that he assumes that the 'braying mob' can never…
retrospectacle | April 26, 2007Thats what some bloggers have suggested.
Well, am I?
Some may call it cowardly, but here was my response:
Sorry, guess I'm not as brave as you.
Perhaps its is all well and good for people to try to take a confrontation stance on these issues however my first line of defense will always be trying to come to a rational agreement.
I prefer to work things out and avoid lawsuits. Not sure of your financial situation or how much time you have on your hands, but I have better things to do (like my thesis) than engage in lawsuits over blogposts. I am also a grad student (read: POOR) and in the…
retrospectacle | April 26, 2007Looks like our efforts paid off. :D
Dear Dr Batts
I'd like to introduce myself as the Director of Publications at the SCI.
There has been a general misunderstanding with this issue. Our official response is below, which we are happy for you to publish:
"We apologise for any misunderstanding. In this situation the publisher would typically grant permission on request in order to ensure that figures and extracts are properly credited. We do not think there is any need to pursue this matter further."
As this is a misunderstanding inadvertently caused by a junior member of staff, I would be…
retrospectacle | April 26, 2007.....discussion. I'm not out for blood, and I'm really kinda hoping that I'll get an email in my inbox today that says "Yes, feel free to use and discuss the mentioned graphs." So far I haven't, and I think that's sad. In piling on here, and around the internet, I just want people to think about what the purpose of doing federally funded research is. Its not so it can molder away on a shelf, far from the eyes of those who paid for it and can benefit from it.
I'd like to think this knowledge is for everyone, and that the free, unfettered exchange of ideas is sometimes facilitated by visual…
retrospectacle | April 25, 2007Tomorrow the hammer's coming down hard over the 'Fair Use' issue, at ScienceBlogs and hopefully around the blogosphere. Quite a few of my fellow SciBlings have pledged to post about this issue, as it affects us all (not only all of us, but all of you too.)
If you were thinking about writing a post or an email or a naughty-word on a Post-It-Note, please do it tonight or tomorrow.
If you do put up a post, leave a link in the comments and good karma be thine.
UPDATE: I was contacted by the head of the journal, resolution here.
retrospectacle | April 25, 2007Mark Chu-Carroll of Good Math, Bad Math has a very supportive article up summarizing my tangle with lawyers yesterday over the 'fair use' of a figure from the fruit antioxidant paper.
In short, I was threatened with legal action if I didn't take it down immediately. I used a panel a figure, and a chart, from over 10+ figures in the paper. I cited and reported everything straight forwardly. I would think they'd be happy to get the press. But alas, no.
I got around them by complying, but reproducing the figures myself in Excel. They didn't bother me anymore, as apparently thats 100% legal and…
retrospectacle | April 24, 2007
Yes, someone tested out the caffeine soap and blogged the results!
Seems like he felt a bit of a buzz, however whether its caffeine or a bit of the placebo effect, well who can say.
I jumped into the shower and lathered up with the Shower Shock. Now, in addition to containing roughly 2400mg of caffeine, each bar is also heavily loaded with peppermint oil. Not long after lathering up, I got the feeling that not only had I just gone for a brisk stroll in the peppermint rain through the peppermint forest of the children's board game "Candyland," but while walking through the forest I had…
retrospectacle | April 24, 2007 From the BBC on down, in the past few days the headline "Alchohol Makes Fruit Healthier" has been highlighted in nearly every news venue.
The fruit contains compounds [antioxidants] that can protect against cancer, heart disease and arthritis.
But having them with alcohol, such as in a daiquiri, boosts these antioxidant properties, the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture says.
Nutritionists said the "detrimental effects" of such drinks could cancel out such benefits.
As a college student, no one takes this sort of study more seriously than I. Alcohol as health food? Surely you…
retrospectacle | April 23, 2007A few months back I wrote a post on the topic of the psychology video game addiction, and today was contacted by a student who trying to study video game addiction in efforts of finding an effective treatment.
A survey-based study being conducted by a Southern California university is now seeking anonymous participants to take the 4 minute online survey.
This study is sponsored by The Center for Survey Research at an anonymous private university in Southern California. The results will be used to help understand how video game addiction affects the lives and family members of those who are…
retrospectacle | April 23, 2007
In the vein of weird stimulants added to weird products, I have a new one to throw out: caffienated soap! Lots of people don't like coffee (not me, I love love love it), but still want that delectably artificial pick-me-up in the morning. What are they to do??
Caffeine soap to the rescue!
The soap, called Shower Shock, supplies the caffeine equivalent of two cups of coffee per wash, with the stimulant absorbed naturally through the skin, manufacturers say.
"Tired of waking up and having to wait for your morning java to brew? Are you one of those groggy early morning types that just needs…
retrospectacle | April 20, 2007According to nutty gun-lover Ted Nugent, school shootings like Virginia Tech could be avoided if we all toted guns, and has the anecdotes to prove it! There are so many gems in this piece. For example:
Already spineless gun control advocates are squawking like chickens with their tiny-brained heads chopped off, making political hay over this most recent, devastating Virginia Tech massacre, when in fact it is their own forced gun-free zone policy that enabled the unchallenged methodical murder of 32 people.
No one was foolish enough to debate Ryder truck regulations or ammonia nitrate…
retrospectacle | April 20, 2007 German researchers at the University of Hamburg claim to have documented that some parrots seem to give their offspring (but not their mates) individual "names," in the form of a distinctive call which is different for each of their chicks.
The studies were inspired by observations in the spectacled parrotlet's natural habitat in Colombia. There, researchers from Hamburg noted that individual parrots seemed to respond to specific calls that other parrots in the same flock ignored.
'A mother bird had the uncanny ability to utter a cry that would result in her chick returning to the nest…
retrospectacle | April 20, 2007One reason that treatments for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are particularly difficult to develop is that HIV is quite good at adapting resistance to drugs. Many of the virus' surface proteins--natural targets for inhibitory drugs--have a high turnover rate and are easily changed. There are a few exceptions; a few well-conserved surface proteins that are integral to HIV's function. One of these is the protein gp41 (below), which is required for HIV to attach onto a host cell, and infect it.
However, a recent paper in Cell describes a naturally-occurring blood molecule called VIRIP…
retrospectacle | April 19, 2007Sorry, I accidentally published a post-in-progress which wasn't finished yet (on HIV, for those that were mystified about where the rest of it was). Got a couple confused comments, so sorry bout that.
Oops! You'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see the real thing. :)
But if you really want something to read tonight which might set your wheels a-turnin', check this out. Can't say I agree with it, but does make food-for-thought in light of recent events.
retrospectacle | April 19, 2007(Homer Simpson voice) Mmmmmmm, GABA.........aghahgahgharrrrrhhhhhhh ::drool::
GABA is your friend. Increased GABA in the brain can result in decreased feelings of anxiety and increased relaxation and happiness. So, nobody tell those wacky Japanese candy makers that GABA doesn't cross the blood brain barrier, and its highly doubtful any would make it into the bloodstream from the stomach. Shhhhhhh. Don't tell them that. Cause next time I go to Asia, I wanna make sure I can still pick up some GABA chocolate (The Mental Balance Chocolate, 280mg GABA) or GABA hard candy. Dee-lish!
The company…