Blogging
clock | September 3, 2007Telecommuting is a great concept, providing flexibility of work-hours, availability when there is a family crisis, etc. But it is difficult to be self-disciplined at home. So many other things vie for attention, including that most excellent invention of all times - the bed.
That is why I spend many hours every day in my 'office' in La Vita Dolce. I love the place - it is quiet most of the time (though I do find myself softly singing along the oldies, including the inevitable "If you're going to San Francisco" and infamous "Only You"), coffee, bagels, cakes and gelato are the best in…
neurophilosophy | September 2, 2007 On Saturday I mentioned that submissions are being accepted for Open Lab 2007.
Bora has now posted links to the 100+ posts that have been submitted so far. The book, which is to be edited by Reed Cartwright, will contain 50 of the best science blog posts from 2007, so Bora's list contains plenty of good reading.
If there's a post that you think should be added to the list, written either by you or someone else, don't hesitate to submit it.
clock | September 2, 2007Remember? Today is the Rock Flipping day!
It's so dry and hot here, it is even dry and hot under the rocks in the woods. It took my daughter and me a long time flipping rocks to detect any sign of life and then it would be just a couple of ants quickly scurrying away, too fast to take a picture. Then we went down to the pond - and nothing there either, it's THAT dry! Finally, we gave up and said, OK, just one more rock. And that's where we found this frog. My camera cannot really do the close-up photography needed for this. I hope that someone here can still be able to recognize the…
clock | September 2, 2007The August blogger BBQ traditionally kicks-off the new blogging season (see the pictures from the BBQ on Flickr). So, we now have a new schedule for the 07/08 meetups. Instead of having all the meetups in Carrboro, we will rotate between two venues each month: the second Wednesday of the month in Durham, the fourth Wednesday of the month in Chapel Hill/Carrboro.
Anton has all the details on places, dates and times.
So, if you live in the area, or are just visiting, please come by. It is informal and fun. You don't have to write a blog of your own - you can just be a reader or a fan. If…
neurophilosophy | September 1, 2007
Registration for the 2nd Science Blogging Conference is now open. The conference, which is the brainchild of the tireless Bora Zivkovic, will be held at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina on Saturday, January 19th, 2008. Here's the conference program. If you'd like to attend, fill out the details on this registration form.
Bora is planning to have Open Lab 2007, the second Science Blogging Anthology, ready in time for the conference. You can submit your favourite science blog posts for inclusion in the book using this form. The first anthology, which includes a post from this blog (…
clock | August 31, 2007If you were amazed the other night to find I was not online for a long time, not blogging, not commenting, not responding to e-mail, not on Facebook, now you know where I was - spreading Brotherhood and Unity in the Triangle area blogging community. And if the same phenomenon happens tonight, here's a hint where I can be found.
clock | August 31, 2007
Today is the third annual BlogDay. Pick five blogs and tell your readers why they should check them out. It is nicely undefined, i.e., what constitutes "new", but I guess DailyKos is out of the running. Also, instead of pointing you to any of my Sciblings, just go to the scienceblogs.com front page, and check every single one of them on the blogroll there as every one of them is worth your time and energy. Anyway, I have been far too busy lately to go around exploring new blogs, so here are five of my more recent favourites that I manage to check on every day anyway:
Pondering Pikaia is…
neurophilosophy | August 27, 2007For some inexplicable reason, Bertalan Mesko wanted to interview me about blogging.
clock | August 27, 2007Brian Russell, the tireless fighter for public wireless in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area, recently wrote two blog posts on the widely read local blog Orange Politics: Chapel Hill WiFi Pilot needs different Hotspots and Where is the WiFi?
This received quite a lot of attention both before and during the Chapel Hill Town Council meeting where public wi-fi was discussed. Some pilot locations may get altered due to Brian's advice. Today, Brian has a front-page article in Chapel Hill News on the topic. He has been building a Google Map of local wireless (on which I made sure to include a good…
clock | August 25, 2007This morning bright and early, I went to Weaver Street Market (the one in Carrboro, not the one a block away from me), where I met Paul Jones for coffee and a session of people-watching - a Saturday morning tradition.
Carrboro is like a miniature version of San Francisco in a sense. While Chapel Hill is populated by Birckenstock liberals (hey, I am one, so I feel comfortable), in Carrboro you can wear, figuratevily, anything you want: Birckenstocks, sure, but also sneakers, clogs, slippers, high-heels, army boots, cowboy boots, loafers, sandals, Tevas, or go barefoot and, no matter what,…
clock | August 24, 2007New on Seed Scienceblogs:
The ScienceBlogs 500,000th Comment Contest
PZ Myers explains
Now, where are the comments on this blog? Just type! It's easy!
New on PLoS - new articles have been published today on:
PLoS Genetics
PLoS Computational Biology
PLoS Pathogens
New on Hirschsprung's Disease:
Short Bowel Syndrome - And the Potential Benefits of Omega-3's
Save the babies!
You can help, perhaps.
New on the blog carnival front:
Should there be a new geology carnival?
Friday Ark #153 is up on The Modulator
New on the Skube debacle:
Nick Anthis: Jay Rosen: Blogs Do Quality Reporting Too
Jay…
neurophilosophy | August 24, 2007 Zooillogix is the latest addition to ScienceBlogs.com. It's chock full of weird and wonderful stuff from the animal kingdom, like the Peter's elephant nose fish, which detects prey using electrical fields emitted from its chin.
clock | August 24, 2007Dave announced that the contest for the icon for denoting posts covering peer-reviewed research is now open. Use your creative skills and/or spread the word.
clock | August 23, 2007So, this is a perfect time to take another look at her Notes From Ukraine and check out the last several posts from there. I hope the blog will continue as Notes From Durham including the coverage of her science at Duke and all the local blogger events...
clock | August 23, 2007On September 2nd this year go out somewhere: into your backyard, or the woods, or the bottom of the sea, and turn a rock or two or three. Take pictures of what you find underneath. Perhaps you'll find earthworms, or pillbugs, or beetles. Or a starfish. Maybe even a snake. Perhaps even a snake guarding the entrance to Dick Cheney's Undisclosed Location. If you turn a rock in Iraq and find WMDs please let us all know as that would be the biggest scoop in the history of the blogosphere (good luck with that one, though).
The idea was hatched by Dave Bonta, Fred Garber and Bev Wigney. Dave…
neurophilosophy | August 22, 2007Somatopsychic is a relatively new blog, by Mitch Harden, a graduate student in the Behavioral Neuroscience program at the University of Missouri, St. Louis.
clock | August 22, 2007On Sunday, LATimes published a viciously uninformed piece about blogging by some Skube guy (who appears to be here in NC though I have never heard of him before). The blogosphere, as expected, responded with laughter and dismay.
Today, LATimes published a response by NYU J-school professor (who I have most definitely heard of, and even met in person once) Jay Rosen - The journalism that bloggers actually do:
Blowback! That's what you're in for when a great American newspaper runs a Sunday opinion piece as irretrievably lame as "Blogs: All the noise that fits" by Michael Skube...
The…
clock | August 22, 2007Everybody go say Hello to the Bleiman Brothers at the most recent addition to the Scienceblogs Empire - Zooillogix. Andrew Bleiman appears to be a Crustacean of some sort, while brother Benny has distinctly mammalian characteristics, but you have to be an expert (is Darren Naish in the house?) to figure out which Order to put him in....
clock | August 21, 2007I have discovered that I sometimes suffer from paralysis by analysis on the blog. I write the best stuff when I concoct a post in my head during a dog walk and then immediately pour it into the computer while it is still hot. Whenever I set out to do some real lit research on the topic I realize that other, smarter people have already written all that, and did a better job than I could ever dream of doing, so I abandon the post.
So, I am getting really nervous now, as I am thinking of writing a post about the history of the scientific paper and how the Web and the Open Access will change…