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Using eBay to set up a molecular biology lab: costs less than $1000!

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 biology research is driven by the use of plastic ware, and various biological reagents. These are the sorts of things that need to bought fresh or brand new. Fortunately, most of it is also quite affordable from a layman point of view, and as previously demonstrated, you can easily purchase this…

Montpellier Beachs and Traveling to Brussels

Posting will be slow for a couple days, as I hop on the Eurail tomorrow and travel to Brussels. Yesterday I decided to go to the beach, which is a few miles to the south of Montpellier. It was a bit more of a hassle that I expected, as it involved getting on the subway, then getting on a bus. Futhermore this involved knowing exactly what stop I wanted to get off at, and I found this out while face-to-face with the bus driver. After a bit of confusion, the first stop name she said (ended up being Gau de le Roi) I just nodded emphatically and hoped it was correct. (Hopefully, it was!) The line…

She's Such a Geek Blog

Calling all geek girls: The She's Such a Geek blog is up and running. And is it ever good! Please do check out Kristin's post Show and Tell. You have not lived until you've seen a bra with a voltmeter-ammeter panel. I mean it. In theory I am also blogging over there but in practice I have been barely keeping up with blogging here so I have not yet posted to the SSAG blog. But I promise you will love what the other contributors to the book have put up there so far! And you can BUY THE BOOK now! Or buy it here. Here's the publisher's comments: Geeks may be outcasts in mainstream…

Repeat after me: I don't need an iPhone

For some reason I can't resist watching Steve Jobs' Apple keynote speeches. I watched six years ago when he introduced the iPod, and I watched again last night when he introduced his latest "revolutionary" product. People were amazed when the iPod was introduced -- but a little shocked by the price. I didn't buy an iPod then, but I finally did break down and buy a $99 shuffle when it was released a year or two back. So what about the iPhone? By all accounts, it's an amazing device, offering not only a telephone, but also email, messaging, a beautiful web browser, and of course, iPod…

AMA Healthcare Campaign

Health care is shaping up to be one of the big issues in the upcoming elections.  No big surprise there, it was a highly -ranked issue in the last election, too.  It's just that last time, voters failed to see how health care is more likely than terrorism to affect their health.   Perhaps this time around, people will have a more rational perspective.   In an effort to keep our perceptions in such a rational perspective, the American Medical Association is starting a massive advertising campaign.  The gist of the message is that they want health insurance for all. At first glance, that…

How To Buy a Computer

I get email... In this case, virus-like but funny email. Pass it on... COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you? COSTELLO: Thanks. I'm setting up an office in my den and I'm thinking about buying a computer. ABBOTT: Mac? COSTELLO: No, the name's Lou. ABBOTT: Your computer? COSTELLO: I don't own a computer. I want to buy one. ABBOTT: Mac? COSTELLO: I told you, my name's Lou. ABBOTT: What about Windows? COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here? ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows? COSTELLO: I don't know. What will I see when I…

SBC - online participation

Through blog posts, via e-mail, and via our feedback form (have you filled it yet?) we are already getting tons of feedback on the way Conference ran, what was good about it, what not so much, and what can be done differently next time. We are carefully reading all of it and will certainly address all of your feedback as we start organizing the 3rd meeting (give us a week or so to rest, will ya, please?!). One of the things that we get a lot is feedback from the people who were not able to attend in physical space and were very happy we made it possible to participate from the distance (see…

Online prayer benefits breast cancer patients?

Online prayer benefits breast cancer patients? At least that's what they were saying a couple of days ago on the Internets: NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Praying online in a support group may help women with breast cancer cope with the disease more effectively, a new study shows. Dr. Bret Shaw of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and colleagues found that breast cancer patients who used a higher percentage of religion-related words in their communications with an Internet support group had lower levels of negative emotions, better functional well-being, and more confidence in their ability to…

Birth Control Without Barriers (Or Hormones, Either)

Couples who find the pill problematic and condoms cumbersome may be interested in a study out today in the journal Human Reproduction. The report, lead authored by Petra Frank-Hermann, a professor in the Department of Gynecological Endocrinology at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, followed 900 women who practice a form of natural family planning called the symptothermal method (STM). Frank-Hermann's team concluded that perfect use of STM resulted in unintended pregnancy rates of 0.4 percent, making for a highly favorable comparison in rates of effectiveness between STM and the…

Eminent Domain and Just Compensation

The 5th amendment guarantees that property may not be taken for public use without just compensation. Radley Balko has a textbook example of how governments play games with compensation in eminent domain cases. A government agency in Tacoma, Washington is trying to buy up land for a parking lot. For one particular property, they initially offered $439,000, about $8 a square foot. That's what they paid for an adjacent piece of land from another owner. But the owner of this property balked and filed a suit to try and stop the takeover of the property. After losing that court case, the offer for…

Thursday at the Bell

Since somebody asked, I will confirm that I will be at the showing of Flock of Dodos tomorrow. That's going to be at 7:00pm in the Bell Museum auditorium ($7 admission). Randy Olson won't be there (rumor has it he's busy flitting from showing to showing, but Minneapolis just isn't good enough for him…too far from the ocean or something), but Steven Miller, the executive producer of the movie, will be—so really, you'll be able to ask in-depth questions about what went into making the movie. It's a great opportunity. Argue with him, too! A movie and a discussion about how to communicate science…

How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, Black Friday Edition

Today is "Black Friday," the semi-ironic name given to the day after Thanksgiving when major retailers roll out Incredible! Deals! to draw shoppers in at an ungodly early hour. Personally, I don't plan to come within a mile of a mall today, but if that's what floats your boat... Of course, if you're thinking of gifts for a person interested in science (and if you're reading this, you ought to be...), you could do a lot worse than to look at this list from GeekDad at Wired, which I'm sure you'll be shocked to notice includes How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. If your holiday shopping takes you…

'Tisn't the Season

I needed to buy a few things for the house and yard yesterday, so I packed the kids into the car and headed off to the store. What I saw when I got there didn't make me feel very jolly, and I'm afraid that I said a few things that were naughty, not nice. One of the things that I said seemed to be a common refrain - I heard minor variations on it from at least two other people who walked in behind me: "You've gotta be shi--ing me! It's not even Halloween yet!" I apologize for the poor quality on the pictures. The camera phone isn't great to start with, and I was still trying to figure out…

The Intersection in 2008

[The Intersection in LA, plotting world domination.] Well what better way for two cobloggers to ring in the new year than from the same coast and time zone? We're blogging together from L.A.--catching up on framing science, sea cucumbers, hurricanes--and plans for The Intersection. We've got some BIG ideas for 2008! This year we'll be writing about the upcoming election, the stormy world, conservation, the environment, and the intersection of science with art, literature, history, and more. Now and then Sparticus Maximus the Great will take over and provide his birdbrain perspective, too…

What does the insula do?

I'm sure you remember all the articles last week telling us how people with strokes causing damage to the insula have reported that they no longer feel the urge to smoke. In this weeks New York Times health section Sandra Blakeslee explores the insula in depth, examining both the possible treatment options as well as the many other functions it serves. Here's a good snipit from the article: If it does everything, what exactly is it that it does? For example, the insula "lights up" in brain scans when people crave drugs, feel pain, anticipate pain, empathize with others, listen to jokes, see…

More on the Falwell-Moon Connection

I've written before about the connection between Jerry Falwell and Reverend Moon, particularly that Moon gave $3.5 million to Falwell to bail out Liberty University from impending bankruptcy in 1995. Now comes an article by Robert Parry that shows that the connection goes even deeper than I knew. Contrary to the claims of some of Falwell's defenders, who have claimed that Falwell didn't know the money came from Moon because he had given it to foundation controlled by Dan Reber and Jimmy Thomas rather than to Falwell directly, Parry shows evidence that Falwell had actively solicited the money…

More on the Politics of Healthcare Mandates

Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks mandating the purchase of private health insurance is a political train wreck (not to mention overpriced and inefficient). Dave Johnson writes: But Hillary says her plan will have a mandate to buy health insurance. FORCING people to give money to greedy, corrupt corporations? This is political suicide. Readers know how I feel about insurance companies. I will never vote for someone with the brilliant idea of forcing me to give my money to greedy corporations so their CEOs can buy bigger jets. This shows that Hillary now (correctly) feels it is…

A review of Explore Evolution

The Discovery Institute has been gearing up to pollute classrooms across the country with a new 'textbook' called Explore Evolution, which is to replace their old propaganda of choice, Of Pandas and People (which had its sorry creationist origins exposed in a little trial in Dover, Pennsylvania). John Timmer of Ars Technica has now reviewed the DI's masterwork and…well, I hate to give the ending away, but he didn't like it. But the book doesn't only promote stupidity, it demands it. In every way except its use of the actual term, this is a creationist book, but its authors are expecting that…

Have You Done Your Zombie Day Shopping Yet?

In the spirit of helping my readers increase their preparedness, I thought I'd remind you that you have 0 more days before Zombie Day to shop and get ready for Zombie attacks. So just in case there are zombies coming down your pike, and you aren't ready, I offer a reprint of a piece I wrote about what to do if you haven't been preparing or storing food, water or medicines (as everyone from FEMA to the American Red Cross advises every citizen to do). Crisis shopping is really not the way to do this - you are better off making preparations in advance, but just in case you have been ignoring…

the dress code for scientists

the incoherent ponderer ponders the (male) scientist dress code he likes to dress up, but no bowties Hah! Like I should talk. I currently stay away from the default bland slacks and not-too-boldly striped shirt uniform (no tie, natch), in favour of extreme utilitarian mottled grey t-shirt and comfortably worn jeans. This is primarily currently driven by high odd of splatter from either of the munchkins, whether the Big Boy or his Big Girl sister. I might reconsider and conform, as they are actually older and less likely to randomly project splodges, but I deeply don't care enough to bother…

Eureka: Quantum Crosswords

My new book comes out one month from yesterday, or four weeks from tomorrow. Of course, yesterday was Sunday, and tomorrow's a federal holiday, both lousy times for promotional posts, so I'll drop this in today instead. Here's a promotional video I put together, about how the history of quantum mechanics can be compared to working a crossword puzzle: This is basically the talk I gave at TED@NYC last year, done in front of a green screen with slides edited in behind me for that An Inconvenient Truth vibe (Nobel committee, take note...). With some bonus cute kid photos and an explicit…

Guy Calling Tech Support Faces Very Long Wait

Most people expect a wait when they call tech support.  Knowledgeable users arrange to have something to do to kill some time: a book, magazine, something like that. This is the story of Timothy Scott Short, who is going to have to wait a very long time. Short stole a specialized printer, used to make driver's licenses.  When he got it home, he realized he'd need the printer drivers.  So he called tech support.   Two days after the theft, Digimarc's tech help line got a call from someone named "Scott" who wanted to buy software for the same model of printer that was stolen from the…

Berkeley Tree Sitters Shake Down UC for $6M!

The nerve! Carolyn Jones of the Chronicle reports: In their most recent demand, the tree-sitters said they would come down if the university gives $6 million to environmental and Native American groups, creates a public committee on campus land use and allows protesters to use the stump from the oldest tree in the grove, which protesters dubbed "Grandma," for a Native American drum. The university offered to give protesters the stump and allowed them three two-hour meetings with high-ranking campus officials to discuss mitigating the loss of the oak grove, long-term plans for the southeast…

Darwin Quotes

I am a strong advocate for free thought on all subjects, yet it appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against christianity & theism produce hardly any effect on the public; & freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds, which follow[s] from the advance of science. It has, therefore, been always my object to avoid writing on religion, & I have confined myself to science. I may, however, have been unduly biassed by the pain which it would give some members of my family, if I aided in any way direct attacks on religion. -…

Bad movie opens in Canada

That dreadful propaganda movie is opening in Canada next week, not that I expect it will be a box office smash there after flopping here. However, there's a weird comment on the blog of Canada's greatest quote-stringer and maker of delusional word hash (Forgive me for linking to Uncommon Descent in the last post and Denyse O'Leary in this one). She's babbling as if she expects picketers waving big signs and chanting on the sidewalk. Did anyone, anywhere picket this movie? I haven't heard anything about it — my regional atheist group even organized a field trip to go watch it. Oh, well. I…

Shashin o Sen-mai Torimashita

(I'm not sure what the right counter word for digital photos would be, but physical photographs would be flat things, so we'll go with "mai"...) The post title pretty much says it: I have taken 1,000 pictures thus far on this trip. We're now in Yokohama, staying in an absurd room on the 62nd floor of the Landmark Tower, and we spent most of the day poking around in Tokyo. But the important thing is those thousand pictures, and here's a cheap reader contest: How many picture will I have taken by the end of this trip? Leave your guesses in the comments. The person who comes closest to the…

Congratulations Mike!

The news has already broken at SV-POW! and Tetrapod Zoology, but in case you haven't heard Mike Taylor has successfully defended his Ph.D.! This is wonderful news. I am sure that the study of sauropods will benefit from his continued work in the field. My only regret is that I can't buy him a drink since I am not going to be able to make it to SVP in England this year. (I actually owe quite a few people a drink or two. At this rate I had better hope I win the lottery to cover the bar tab I will surely build up...) Earning a Ph.D. merits a few rounds alone, but Mike (among others) has provided…

Darwin Fish contest!

I'm sure you're familiar with the ubiquitous Darwin fish (which you can buy from Ring of Fire Enterprises, by the way). Here's your chance: now you can improve on that old design by intelligently designing your own version (or as I prefer to think of it, developing and evolving your own version by a trial-and-error process). Follow the link to find the requirements and email address for submissions — the deadline is soon, on 16 April. The winner's design will be manufactured and sold by Ring of Fire — wouldn't it be thrilling to see your heretical/scientific fish proudly displayed on random…

Local lunacy

Where do you think this peculiar practice is going down? OK, let me get this straight. A bunch of muttonheads are burying idols in their yards thinking it will magically get someone to buy their house, the Strib runs it as a straight story, yet the right wing somehow claims that the mainstream media is hostile to religion? Unbelievable. Yeah, nice middle-class neighborhoods in suburban Minnesota. Then there was the guy at the booth behind me at the coffeeshop bragging about how his "system" at the slots in his weekly trips to the casino was paying off, and he was investing all of his…

Michael Ashburner

Michael Ashburner has written a book. No, not that book. This one's a bit smaller, less expensive, and about the sequencing of the Drosophila melanogaster genome. You can read a review of the book here and buy it from here. It's not The Genome War; Matt Ridley describes it as Ashburner's "immediate reactions, mostly committed to paper at the time -- an idiosyncratic, gonzo romp through the crazy days of 1998-99." In his review, Ridley describes Ashburner's dislikes, joys, and vices: Being a scientist, Ashburner hates hotels (especially Marriotts), Microsoft, bad coffee and suits -- the…

Hydrino and good PR

This is amazing. I can't believe that power companies are paying Blacklight Power money, but they are. I guess Blacklight Power must have great advertising. Ok, so what is this whole Blacklight-hyrdino thing? Honestly, I am not fully familiar with it, but basically this guy says that you can get energy by getting the electron in hydrogen to go to a lower energy level than ground state. Here are a few good links regarding this hydrino stuff. Six Tiny Utilities Buy "Scientifically Impossible" Energy: CleanTechnica Blacklight Power claims nearly-free energy from water - is this for real…

TFN makes a serious tactical error

I'm a fan of the Texas Freedom Network — they are fighting the good fight in the heart of one of the craziest states in the country — but they just made a big mistake. They are celebrating their 15th anniversary by bringing in a big-name speaker…Arianna Huffington. Jebus. One of the worst purveyors of pseudo-science, quackery, and New Age clown-noise on the internet. It reminds me a bit of Bill Maher winning an award from AAI…except that in this case, Huffington hasn't made any contribution to the promotion of science. Don't buy a ticket. Don't endorse that loon. TFN does good work, though:…

Links 8/23/11

Links for you. Science: Warning: Killer fungi could run amok again Republicans and Democrats Differ on Evolution Sewage Treatment, Coral Disease, and Koch's Postulates Racial Disparity in NIH Grants: Priority Scores Other: The Purpose-Driven Lie Two bad polls for Obama (liberal blogs and the Cassandra complex) Krugman and the Firebaggers: Hippie Punching Department Print vs. Online: The ways in which old-fashioned newspapers still trump online newspapers. What the U.S. Can Learn from the Dutch About Teen Sex Rick Perry's 'Texas Miracle' consisted of 125,000 new government jobs Taxing Capital…

Never Say Goodbye: Alabama Beach Mouse

tags: Alabama Beach Mouse, Peromyscus polionotus ammobates, Joel Sartore, National Geographic, image of the day Alabama Beach Mouse (Peromyscus polionotus ammobates) Image: Joel Sartore/National Geographic [larger view]. The photographer writes; The Alabama beach mouse ekes out a living on a 14-mile stretch of the state's Fort Morgan Peninsula, where its dune habitat is fragmented by construction and lit up at night. Habitat saved under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) prevented these nocturnal mice from going the way of the dodo. Joel Sartore has shared some of his work on this blog…

Facebook on ConvergeSouth06

ConvergeSouth is not a blogging conference - it is about the stuff that goes beyond blogging, both in terms of technology (podcasting, vlogging) and in terms of use - building online communities, for instance. I am really happy to see that there will be a session on Facebook this year and I hope that students from NC A&T and UNC-G show up and tell us old geezers exactly what Facebook is to them, how they use it, how they think about it, and what else they need. So far, we keep guessing as to what the next generation needs and wants, but they grew up online while we learned later in…

ScienceOnline'09 - Wow!

Just two days after we opened registration for ScienceOnline'09 there are already 32 registrants! And some people are blogging about it: A Blog Around The Clock: Get your calendars... A Blog Around The Clock: Will there be a Third Science Blogging Conference? A Blog Around The Clock: ScienceOnline'09 A Blog Around The Clock: Submit your entries for the third Science Blogging Anthology A Blog Around The Clock: ScienceOnline'09 - Registration is Open! Confessions of a Science Librarian: ScienceOnline '09 Laelaps: I'm going, are you? The Beagle Project Blog: Registration open for ScienceOnline'…

Washington Post Chat on Political Advertising with Stanford Professor Shanto Iyengar

Shanto Iyengar is a professor of communication at Stanford University and director of Stanford's Political Communication Lab. He's one of the senior scholars in the field of political communication and is a leading researcher in the areas of framing and political advertising respectively. He joined the Washington Post today for an online conversation with readers about the McCain and Obama advertising strategies. In his answers you will find many of the same themes and conclusions raised at this blog, principles that as I have detailed before, not only apply to understanding the communication…

A dialogue on pseudonymity, personae, and interpersonal relations in the blogosphere.

Janet D. Stemwedel: Hey, can we talk about pseudonymous blogging? Dr. Free-Ride: Haven't you already written a bunch of posts about that? Janet D. Stemwedel: Yeah, but the blogosphere seems to be discussing it again. Dr. Free-Ride: You know I only work on Fridays, right? Janet D. Stemwedel: Get your pseudonymous butt in gear and help me have a proper dialogue! Dr. Free-Ride: Dude, how are we supposed to have a dialogue about this? I'm you. You have yourself a monologue. Janet D. Stemwedel: Hey, you were a pseudonymous blogger for a whole year! That's experience you can draw on. Dr. Free-…

ScienceOnline09 - Thursday and Friday

ScienceOnline09 is in full swing. I don't have much time and opportunity to go online, as you may have noticed - so many old friends to hug! Already a full day behind us - a lovely dinner at Town Hall Grill last night, Coffee Cupping this morning, Lab Tours in the afternoon (I went to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences), then a quick run home to see Mrs.Coturnix and walk the dog, then back to Sigma Xi, the Friday Fermentable, the Women's Networking Event and the amazing talk by Rebecca Skloot. An hour at the bar listening to ocean-bloggers singing shanties, then, exhausted, time…

Paperless Office? Bwahahahaha!

Today, I have everything I need on my computer, and so do most working scientists as well. Papers can be found online because journals are online (and more and more are Open Access). Protocols are online. Books are online. Writing and collaboration tools are online. Communication tools are online. Data collection and data analysis and data graphing and paper-writing tools are all on the computer. No need for having any paper in the office, right? Right. But remember how new that all is. The pictures (under the fold, the t-shirt is of Acrocanthosaurus at the NC Museum of Natural…

Links for 2011-04-26

Amazon's $23,698,655.93 book about flies "A few weeks ago a postdoc in my lab logged on to Amazon to buy the lab an extra copy of Peter Lawrence's The Making of a Fly - a classic work in developmental biology that we - and most other Drosophila developmental biologists - consult regularly. The book, published in 1992, is out of print. But Amazon listed 17 copies for sale: 15 used from $35.54, and 2 new from $1,730,045.91 (+$3.99 shipping)." (tags: amazon books economics business technology computing silly science) The Intern: Guest Post: The Tricky Territory of Publishing Blogs "On my…

To be a fly on that wall

From Eric Hovind's twitter feed, we get a photo and a caption: Hanging out with Dr Stephen Meyer from the Discovery Institute. Wow, smart guy! For those who can't keep track, Hovind is the son of Kent Hovind, currently serving time in a federal prison on charges related to tax evasion. Hovind created "Dinosaur Adventure Land," a young earth creationist theme park, and adopted the stage persona "Dr. Dino" for his speaking tours. Hovind claims a doctorate from a diploma mill: Patriot Bible University. He also claims that creationism is excluded from schools because of a secret conspiracy…

Why eliminate the peer-review of baseline grants?

About a week ago, my brother sent me a couple of interesting papers about funding in science, one in Canada, the other in the UK. I barely had time to skim the abstracts at the time, but thought I would put it up for discussion online and come back to it later. So I posted the link, abstract and brief commentary a few days ago to the article: Cost of the NSERC Science Grant Peer Review System Exceeds the Cost of Giving Every Qualified Researcher a Baseline Grant: Abstract: Using Natural Science and Engineering Research Council Canada (NSERC) statistics, we show that the $40,000 (Canadian)…

ConvergeSouth: creepies, domestic tranquility and amplification of serendipity

So, while I still have a few more minutes on this wonderful wifi (another Scifoo camper attending ASIS&T meeting just walked into the coffee-shop a few minutes ago - how the world is small!), let me summarize my thoughts on ConvergeSouth2007 before they are erased by the new memories generated by the ASIS&T conference. First of all, I'd like to congratulate Sue, Ed, jw, Ben, Sean and the rest of the Greensboro crew for a fantastic job - the third year in a row - of organizing this conference. It is my favourite: I get to meet all of my friends at least once a year there. And next…

ScienceOnline2010 - interview with Maria Droujkova

Continuing with the tradition from last two years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants of the ScienceOnline2010 conference that was held in the Research Triangle Park, NC back in January. You can check out previous years' interviews as well: 2008 and 2009. Today, I asked Maria Droujkova to answer a few questions. Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Where are you coming from (both geographically and philosophically)? What is your (scientific) background? At any given time, I typically work…

Beijing Olympics: Don't Breath the Air?

Some people erroneously, since the U.S. water supply system is actually cleaner than most bottled waters, buy bottled water to avoid contaminated water. Unfortunately, there's no way to buy bottled air. And in Beijing, air pollution is a real threat. Last time there was a major smog outbreak in Beijing, I wondered if the air would present a health hazard to the 2008 Olympians. I didn't blog about it because I felt that it was too deep into tin-foil helmet territory (even for me). Turns out I wasn't so crazy after all: To protect the athletes, Mr. Wilber is encouraging them to train…

Disappointed by Pop Music

I picked up three new albums from iTunes last weekend (yes, I know, you can buy DRM-free MP3's from Amazon now, but I have some iTunes credit to use up, and I haven't steeled myself to download and install the necessary application yet, which I just know is going to irritate me). The three were: Reunion Tour by the Weakerthans Under the Blacklight by Rilo Kiley Challengers by the New Pornographers I have to say, I was at least a little disappointed in all of these. Reunion Tour probably fared the best of the lot, as my reaction is basically "Well, it's no Reconstruction Site..." But…

The Art of Dictionaries

Every time I move to a new home, I try really hard to get rid of all my extra stuff - or at least to put it in storage. But when it comes to books, I have no willpower. Regarding my ten-pound, 6-inch-wide, half-unbound early-twentieth century Funk & Wagnall's dictionary, there wasn't even a question: it goes with me where I go! Do I use the thing to look up words? Rarely (although it's quite cool to see the early definitions of now-common scientific terms - they're often a little bit different than we might expect). Mostly, I love the pictures. Old dictionaries were works of art, with…

Technology Weekly Update 10/23/08

H3y sC13Nc3bl092 r34D3R2, 4Nd W3LC0m3 70 73h w33KLy 73CHN0l09Y cH4nn3l UPD473! That means, "Hey ScienceBlogs readers, and welcome to the weekly Technology Channel update!" in 1337. I'm Arikia Millikan, and I'll be your host. Technology channel photo. A dramatic shot of a keyboard. From Flickr, by Martin Kingsley This week, we've read some insightful commentary on issues ranging from blogger ethics to the space program. Remember, the bloggers self-submit their posts to the channels they choose. As a result, we experience a variety of posts every week that perhaps can serve as a reminder…

FETTS: Got Pics?

From Earth to the Universe was a brilliant outreach project for the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, displaying online, and in real life, some of the best astronomical images around. Now we have the Year of the Solar System coming up, who knew, and more and better images are needed! From Earth to the Solar System FETTSS will be an online collection of images that can be freely downloaded and exhibited by organizations worldwide in whatever manner they choose. In celebration of NASA's Year of the Solar System, the images will showcase the excitement and discoveries of planetary…