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Hey! Who knows where this gift shop is?

I need to buy a few dozen of these shirts to prop up my self-esteem. Probably a better question, but one that does my self-esteem no good at all, is to ask what they heck they're for? I know they're not actually for me — is there a place called PZ?

Dan Savage + Tim Minchin

O Delight! Savage interviews Minchin. It's beautiful. I'm also very sad. Minchin is coming to Minneapolis…on the same weekend I have to be in Las Vegas for TAM. Or I'd be there. You other Minnesotans better buy out every ticket to his performance so he'll feel like coming back.

Skull by Tim Biskup

I'm rather taken by Tim Biskup's work, especially his skulls. I think this design appeared on a limited edition Poketo wallet (the only type I buy) some years back, but I missed out on getting one. For shame. Artist:: Tim Biskup For more of his latest work, see the Design Collector blog.

Days of Squash and Cocoa: Eating Locally in February

The jars are emptying out here. Despite the fact that it was an unbelievably awful gardening year, somehow the canning jars filled up all the same, to the point that we actually ran out of pint and smaller jars. Now, boxes and cabinets are filling up with emptied jars, put away until I begin putting things up again. I still dig out the canning kettle once in a while in the winter - some apples going slightly soft inspire some applesauce now and again, but the season of preservation has not yet begun, and the time of emptying is upon us. Every day, our stocks decline. Every year there is a…

Kids with 'Dr' in front of their names: Interview with Ryan Somma

Ryan Somma is a software developer from coastal North Carolina who blogs on Ideonexus. It's all a blur now, but I think the Science Blogging Conference last month was his second. Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Who are you? What is your scientific background? What is your Real Life job? Scientific Background? (Looking around nervously.) Why do you wanna know? Ummm... My father was head of the Microbiology Department at ODU, and my mother teaches Nursing there. I rebelled against them by majoring in English and…

Toyota Builds a Faulty Accelerator System, and...

...Japanese industry decides that it needs to move away from making things people usually like to buy. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: Many economists and business executives say they hope that Toyota's trauma will be the unsettling blow that Japan needs to understand that its reliance on manufacturing and industrial exports, which served the country so well after World War II, is no longer wise. Yukio Noguchi, a professor of finance at Waseda University in Tokyo, said Japan must finally evolve into a postindustrial, service-based economy -- a painful transition that the United States and Great…

Well, sometimes you just have to Google it [Christina's LIS Rant]

So there I was, try all kinds of librarian ninja tricks on the fanciest, most expensive research databases money can buy (SciFinder, Reaxys, Inspec...) and no joy. Couldn't find what I needed. I'm perfectly willing to admit that I don't know all that much chemistry, but usually I do ok since I work with one chemist quite a bit. Finally I gave up and googled it. After a few tries, I found way down in the results an article about something else (like I needed a chemical in an aqueous solution and it had the chemical in alcohol), but the snippet drew my eye. Sure enough - had a table with my…

'Cause Kale and "Chikin" are the Same, Right?

Here's a charming example of corporate bullying - a major chain throwing its weight around so that we can't wear "Eat More Kale" t-shirts.: Chick-fil-A sent Mr. Muller-Moore a warning once before, in 2006, but did not pursue that matter. Now, Mr. Muller-Moore and Mr. Richardson are awaiting a response from the company, and they plan to continue with their trademark application. In a statement, Chick-fil-A said, "We must legally protect and defend our 'Eat mor chikin' trademarks in order to maintain rights to the slogan." But Mr. Richardson does not think the company's argument would hold up…

Congratulations, Rafe Furst

Rafe Furst of the legendary Tiltboys won his first bracelet at the World Series of Poker in the $1500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold Em event. He joins Phil Gordon (formerly the host of Celebrity Poker Showdown) and Perry Friedman as Tiltboys with bracelets. Making it even more impressive is the field he beat. The final 20 players included John Juanda, Dewey Tomko, Randy Jensen, Can Kim Hua and several other top players. And he came to the final table with only about half the stack of the chip leader. The Tiltboys, for those who don't know, are a group of poker players who met at Stanford and have…

Coal-to-liquids / Oil price

On the list of things to read-n-blog since before the summer hols has been John Flecks oil-to-liquids post. John says, quite perceptively, At some price (the usual number I hear is somewhere at or above $60 or $70 a barrel) it becomes economical to make liquid fuels out of coal... The question has been why they aren't pushing it now, with oil north of $120 a barrel? One possible answer is that the people who have skin in the game are not confident that oil will stay there. Oil is now well south of $120, indeed its about $90 as I speak, though of course the exchange rate has also shifted in…

Sandefur on a New Chief Justice

Timothy Sandefur has a brief post up about who might be named the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He pointed out a problem with a possible Thomas nomination that I hadn't thought of - why would he accept it? While there might be some lure to being the first black Chief Justice, it would also mean going through another nasty confirmation fight, and why on earth would he want to do that after what happened the first time? I can't imagine it would be worth it to him for what, as Sandefur points out, is little more than a lot of additional responsibilities. He does point out a very…

Picture Contest Winner

Some time back, I proposed a contest: The person who comes closest to the actual number [of pictures taken in Japan] without going over will win something cheap and tacky from Japan that I will buy before I leave. I haven't fogotten about this, I've just been too busy to do all that much with the pictures. But we do have a winner, of this priceless artifact: The total number of pictures I took on the trip was 1,508 (or, at least, that's the total number I ended up with-- I distinctly remember taking some pictures at one temple in northwest Kyoto, but they're not on either of the memory…

How to Teach Physics to Your Brazilian Dog

As I was heading out with SteelyKid to do some shopping, I noticed that the mail had arrived, including a large book mailer from my agent. I was a little puzzled as to what that could be, but left it for my return. Where I was pleased to open the envelope and find: That's a copy of Como Ensinar FÃsica ao Seu Cachorro, that is, the Portuguese translation of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. I can't directly read a word of it, of course, but having written the original, I can identify some key amusing phrases, such as "Coelhos feitos de queijo" and "Cuidado com os esquilos perversos," which is…

Little Brother for Free

Speaking of YA literature (as I was, briefly, in the previous post), I would be remiss if I didn't note that Cory Doctorow has put up a Little Brother section on his web site, promoting his new book. As with all of his books, it's available for free download, so if you'd like to read it but don't want to pay for it sight unseen, you can check it out. You may or may not remember, but I enthusiastically reviewed it back in March (I got an ARC at Boskone): Little Brother is Cory Doctorow's bid for a place on this year's list of banned books. It's a book that not only encourages kids to hack…

links for 2008-05-04

Closing the achievement gap in math and science "The latest results from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program show not only improved proficiency among all elementary and middle school students, but also a closing of the achievement gaps between both African (tags: science education academia race) Computational modeling « Confused at a higher level "That I am 'modeling' nature in my studies was not entirely obvious to me until I spent some time collaborating with Randy Hulet as well as with Barry Dunning when I was at Rice." (tags: physics…

Reason interviews Jackson Publick, co-creator of The Venture Brothers

Reason magazine has a great interview with Jackson Publick, the co-creator of one of my favorite shows The Venture Brothers. For those of you who haven't seen it, it is sort of a parody of all the cartoons from the 60s like Jonny Quest where supergenius kids fought crime and had archnemeses. (The word "archnemesis" has a plural, right?) Money quote: Reason: The cliches of this material, though, like the mystery-solving whiz kids and the Dr. Evil character, aren't ever treated seriously anymore. Not even in the stuff on the Disney Channel that's meant for kids. JP: All of that is so…

Well, sometimes you just have to Google it

So there I was, try all kinds of librarian ninja tricks on the fanciest, most expensive research databases money can buy (SciFinder, Reaxys, Inspec...) and no joy. Couldn't find what I needed. I'm perfectly willing to admit that I don't know all that much chemistry, but usually I do ok since I work with one chemist quite a bit. Finally I gave up and googled it. After a few tries, I found way down in the results an article about something else (like I needed a chemical in an aqueous solution and it had the chemical in alcohol), but the snippet drew my eye. Sure enough - had a table with my…

Groupon is too declasse! Get your ostrich sleeves here

One of my fave April Fools' spoofs this week: Groupöupon, the high-end version of Groupon for the aesthetically pompous: Make sure that your arms telegraph style and success with this indulgent line of Premium Sleeves designed by Fourth World, the designer brand renowned for combining the uncanny fashion sense of the first world's most impressive designers with the laser-like focus of third-world craftsmanship. Choose any of the extravagant materials from Fourth World's list, including ostrich neck, baleen, pressed toucan beak, snakeskin (heated), and mane. With each purchase, Fourth World…

Prepare to squee: baby 3D-printed strandbeests!

Thanks to Coilhouse, I just learned that artist Theo Jansen is producing 3D printed baby versions of his amazing strandbeests - wind-powered kinetic sculptures that "walk" on their own. If you don't remember Jansen, here he is with his eerie, lifelike beests, which he calls "new forms of life:" Of course you want one, right? Well, now you can get one! A small 3D printed version, at least, without all the wings and propellers. Here's a video of a little strandbeest running around on a string. Give it five seconds, and you won't believe this little guy isn't actually alive: Squee! (Yes, I'…

Gerald Ford: Some Thoughts

I have a confession to make.  I once voted for a Republican Presidential candidate.  That candidate was Gerald Ford.   Why?  Several reasons.  For one, it was my first time voting, so I was not very good at it yet.  Two, even though I was upset about the pardon of Nixon, and unimpressed by his handling of the economy, I thought he was sincere and honest.  Three, I thought he had been chosen deliberately to be a noncontroversial "placeholder" president; not someone who was interested in a power grab.   One of the areas where some liberals and some conservatives agree is this: concentration…

Help a charity, get a ScienceBlogs blogger to shave his head.

Over at Starts with a Bang, Ethan Siegel lays it on the line: I have a challenge for everyone who reads this. Donate at least ten dollars (or ten euros, or ten pounds, or whatever's the closest equivalent in your currency) or volunteer at least four hours at whatever charitable organization you choose. When you do it, leave a comment at the bottom of this post, telling us: what you donated/volunteered to do, what organization you donated to/volunteered for, and why you chose that organization. When I get 100 unique comments from people who have done this, I will shave my head. If you take…

Richard Lindzen claims global warming stopped in 1998

Richard Lindzen has jumped on Bob Carter's global warming stopped in 1998 bandwagon. Here's one slide from a presentation he gave at right-wing Swedish think tank. In the text he claims that that there has been almost no rise since 1986, but in his talk (at 38:00) he told the audience to ignore the red line (which shows the ten year mean) and pointed to the graph on the bottom right of just the last eight years. Presumably he meant to write that there had been no rise since 1998. I must give him points for brazenness by doing a blatant cherry pick right in front of his audience. They…

Everyone Loves a Shill!

Phenomenally late to the game, I've added a Donors Choose link to the blog. The idea here is that you pick a small microgrant to fund/help fund for a public K-12 classroom somewhere in the States. Requested funding ranges from hundreds to thousands of dollars. I love microfunding efforts like this, since many of them are in the low range, so you have a shot at contributing a significant chunk of something that will make a demonstrable difference in a classroom. I've set a (arbitrary, any spare change helps, etc.) goal of $10,000 (total, no one grant I have listed is nearly this much) for my "…

BPA update: Bisphenol A alternatives available now. Why not use them?

The evidence BPA (bisphenol A) is having toxic effects on humans is becoming more and more solid. Just recently a paper in JAMA found BPA may be associated heart disease and other probelms in humans. Other research has shown possible association with metabolic disorders (one thing I didn't note in the second post is that the two studies reinforce each other with the metabolic findings like diabetes). Furthermore, the FDA's own panel called FDA's okey-dokie/industry-studies-only assessment of BPA flawed and it was announced yesterday that the FDA has called a do-over. Therefore, it may…

Gear for the Scientific Activist

If you love science and don't know how to show it, there are a few sites out there that'll be more than willing to help you out. Here are a couple of examples: At Support Our Scientists, you can buy a magnetic ribbon to show your support wherever you drive. It looks a bit like one of those "Support Our Troops" magnetic ribbons, but it's a little more attractive--sporting the shape of a DNA double helix--and a lot less Orwellian. Hey, if I were back in car-happy America, I'd probably rock one of those. On the other hand, if you're looking for something to decorate yourself with, I Believe…

My Gene Profile: the lamest genetic testing scam on the internet?

Pharyngula, via a reader, points me to the most aggressively bad attempt at a genetic testing product I have ever encountered, coupled with a truly horrific attitude to parenting. The tag line alone is hilariously inept: "Our Technology Spawned from Human Genome Project led by US Scientists. The Industry is Featured by CNN, CBS News" The idea that is being spruiked here is that genetic testing can help you determine your child's "inborn talents", which you can then use to ruthlessly jam them into whatever career the test results suggest. The presenter notes that he "wasted a lot of time…

Meanwhile, back in Lawrence

Break from heat not expected soon: Lawrence’s high temperature reached 100 degrees Thursday for the second day in a row, and triple digits are expected to stick around. Wednesday’s rainfall accumulation, .77 of an inch, wasn’t enough to ward off a heat advisory that is in effect in Douglas County until 7 tonight. It is currently 65º and sunny in Oakland, and they expect a high around 78º. That is slightly warm for the area; the average temperature for early August is 73º. I'm wearing long pants, and no one seems to have air conditioning in their homes. Yesterday was about the same, and as I…

The Kibble Bubble

A Colbert Report re-run about the financial crisis has just ended, so I turn the tv off, grab my jacket and the leash, and head out for a walk with the dog. She's oddly pensive as we head up the street. After a little while, she stops and asks, "What was that all about?" "All what?" "All that 'crisis' and 'bailout' stuff. It sounds scary." "Well, a bunch of banks made a bunch of really bad loans, and people have lost a lot of money." "I got that," she says. "I may be a dog, but I'm not stupid. I'm asking how they lost a lot of money." "Well, it's complicated, but I'll try to explain. Let's…

Science and the Importance of Cheese

tags: I'm a Scientist, Get me out of Here!, internet chatrooms, online program, technology, public outreach, scientists, employment, what do scientists do?, Science and the Importance of Cheese, streaming video This video is a trailer for a movie proposal by protein crystallographer, Stephen Curry. If he is lucky, he will continue on to the June 2010 rounds of the online program, "I'm a scientist, get me out of here!" targeted at teens. He proposes to make this film if he is voted to win the â¤500 award. "I'm a Scientist, Get me out of Here!" is a new online program targeted to UK…

I'm more potent than I thought

Wow. I was in Lewiston, Maine, just a few weeks ago, and look what kind of effect my brief visit had: several of the Catholic churches in the area have simply expired. I was there, then this happened, therefore I must have caused it. Anyone want to buy me a plane ticket to Vatican City?

If you happen to be falling from the sky into the water right now this brain is for you

yes you. Or perhaps you've fallen off of your midlife crisis testosterone penis boat? This here inflatable brain could save your life. Order only if you are experiencing an actual emergency drowning situation. Alternatively you could buy this for me for XMas... if only you knew where to send it.

It's Piñatas all the way down

Remember, the piñata is only deployed when Blair produces another nugget of stupid after being beaten with a clue stick. So let's look at the nuggets we got from Blair this time: Chinatown seems not to have been burned down recently. racists generally comment behind people's backs Lambert is citing an American conservative who's never been to Sydney -- and who can't spell a simple three-letter surname. Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald printed five letters from Sydneysiders who found Ker's story credible. I agree with them -- Sydney is a tolerant place, but that doesn't mean…

In Boston. Are you?

I'll be in Boston in about 10 days from now. On March 8th, I'll go to the Science Cafe - the website is not updated yet so I don't know what the topic is yet, but it's going to be fun for sure: science+pizza+beer, who can ask for more? So, if you come to that, try to spot me in the crowd and say Hello. The next day, on Monday, March 9, 2009 at 6:00pm, we'll meet at Casablanca Restaurant which is at 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA. If you are a scientist, blogger, reader, come and let's eat and drink together. If you are on Facebook, I have made an Event page so you can get all the…

An encyclopedia of life?

I wish I could be more enthusiastic about the Encyclopedia of Life project. It's to be an online encyclopedia with a substantive page dedicated each species on the planet, and it's endorsed by E.O. Wilson, with sponsorship from some of the most prestigious museums around. It's a fantastic idea that would be incredibly useful. But then … The demonstration pages are beautiful, maybe too beautiful. There's the promise of a colossal amount of information in each one, although at this point all they've got are very pretty but nonfunctional images of what the page will look like — but you can see…

The Minnesota Science Standards are due for review

This is the time — you can give feedback on the Minnesota science standards, and you can also apply to be on the standards writing committee. Here's where you have a chance to make a difference. The Minnesota Department of Education is now soliciting feedback from the public on the current Science Standards via an online survey. The survey will be open until February 21, 2008. First, review the current Science Standards on the Science Standards Web page. Then take the Science Standards online survey. Applications are also being accepted for individuals interested in serving on the Science…

President Obama's State of the Union Speech Unlike Any Other

Tonight, President Obama will give his State of the Union address at 9 pm with a new twist: using the latest online technologies, including streaming visual aids, with charts and statistics relevant to his comments. What a wonderful way to engage and educate the public! See you online. From Senior Advisor to the President David Plouffe: Good morning, Tonight at 9 p.m. EST, President Obama will deliver the State of the Union Address and outline his vision for putting aside the politics that divide us and moving forward to create jobs, up our game to out-compete in the global economy, and…

Science Online 2010: Scientists and librarians

I had the following exchange several times during the opening day of Science Online 2010: Interlocutor: "So what do you do?" Me: "I'm a librarian." Interlocutor: *lengthy pause* So… what are you doing here exactly? Er, what? A conference about science communication? How on earth can that not be imagined to intrigue a librarian? This, ladies and gentlemen. THIS. Right here. This disconnect is the number-one threat to science librarianship today—perhaps to all academic librarianship. How can science libraries persist when scientists haven't the least notion that libraries or librarians are…

Tuscan Photographs

I've put some pix from my recent trip to Tuscany in Italy on-line. In other news, my wife has suggested a brilliant and radical re-interpretation of the Swedish 70s dansband pop hit "Margareta", by Sten & Stanley. Comprehensible only to speakers of Scandy, I'm afraid.

Over My Dead Body

$4375.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth. From Mingle2 - Free Online Dating Mingle2 - Dating Site Maybe I should have done comparisons of before and after this weekend, and seen how my body depreciated in value. :) I tag Kevin, Steve, Karmen, and RPM.

More Wiki Woes

Felon Became COO of Wikipedia Foundation from PhysOrg.com (AP) -- The foundation that runs and accepts donations for - the online encyclopedia Wikipedia neglected to do a basic background check before hiring a chief operating officer who had been convicted of theft, drunken driving and fleeing a car accident. [...]

The Anyway Project: Down to Brass Tacks

First of all, in response to reader suggestion, I've changed the names of the categories. People rightly felt "domestic economy" and "household economy" were too confusing, and reader Apple Jack Creek suggested we change "domestic economy" to "domestic infrastructure." Claire also suggested that "Farm and Subsistence" was too specific to my case, and that we should just go to "Subsistence" there. I don't think I quite agree, although I am taking the word "farm" out since not everyone has one, and replacing it with "cottage industry." Not everyone will have a cottage economy emerge from…

Facts in Context

It's been an exciting week for me. On Monday I successfully defended my thesis! Now that I have established my scientific credibility to you all, here is a picture of me at my defense party wearing my "Trust me I'm a Dr" Dr. Pepper t-shirt and hitting my SpongeBob SquarePants piñata. And on Tuesday I went to two really interesting events/talks/discussions about science and scientists. First up was Debbie Chachra's awesome seminar "Unpacking Gender: Men and Women in Science, Technology, and More," sponsored by the Harvard Graduate Women in Science and Engineering. She described her seminar…

Current/Future State of Higher Education: Week 2 reading list!

I'm at the Access Conference in Montreal this week starting today, so I'm a bit behind on the readings for the Current/Future State of Higher Education MOOC I'm participating in. I'm hoping a nice long relaxing train ride will give me the opportunity to catch up. Anyways, Week 1 was a great introduction to the issues facing higher ed and here in Week 2 Week 2: Net Pedagogies: New models for teaching and learning Readings and Resources Blended Learning Models The Blended Learning Toolkit: Improving Student Performance and Retention, Educause Quarterly, Volume 34, Number 4, December 15, 2011.…

ScienceOnline2010 - interview with Sonia Stephens

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. See all the interviews in this series here. You can check out previous years' interviews as well: 2008 and 2009. Today, I asked Sonia Stephens 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)? Sure. I'm originally from Minnesota…

Can women generate oocytes late into life?

You remember what you learned in biology right -- or maybe health. A woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have. Well some researchers in Australia are disputing that point. By doing stereology on mice aged 1 to 200 days they claim to show that the overall number of eggs does not decline. Stereology is the science of accurately counting cells in a tissue. The trouble is that I don't buy it. Here is the abstract (the article requires a subscription): Proliferation and partial meiotic maturation of germ cells in fetal ovaries is believed to establish a finite, non-renewable pool…

I support blasphemy

A columnist in the Cincinnati Post, Kevin Eigelbach, has a few words for Answers in Genesis. He got a letter from them asking for money to protect the Bible from the wicked secularists who want people to think critically about its contents. Ham fears that one day we'll find stickers inside our Bibles that tell us the Bible is fictional. A friend of his found one in a Gideon Bible in Salt Lake City. The sticker says the Bible contains religious stories regarding the origin of living things. They are theories, not facts, it says. "This material should be approached with an open mind, and a…

Plan B Prevents Abortion!

First, go to Well-timed Period and Pharyngula to get all the neccessary information about Plan B, what it is, what it isn't, and how it works. Then go to Bitch PhD and buy a T-shirt (for which you need to know what you are talking about because you WILL be asked).

Darwin Quotes

Doing what little one can to increase the general stock of knowledge is as respectable an object of life, as one can in any likelihood pursue. - Charles R. Darwin Support The Beagle Project Read the Beagle Project Blog Buy the Beagle Project swag Prepare ahead for the Darwin Bicentennial Read Darwin for yourself.

Darwin Quotes

...doing what little one can to increase the general stock of knowledge is as respectable an object of life, as one can in any likelihood pursue. - Charles R. Darwin Support The Beagle Project Read the Beagle Project Blog Buy the Beagle Project swag Prepare ahead for the Darwin Bicentennial Read Darwin for yourself.

Godless advertising

Hello, Seattle! Look what just went up on Denny, near the Stewart Street intersection: Everyone might want to donate to this cause, too: a group is trying to buy ad space on London buses, saying "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and get on with your life." Whew. We're getting uppity.