Blogging community
terrasig | October 20, 2008To those not following our discussion, PalMD and I (and a couple of pseudonymous women bloggers) will be leading a discussion session on the needs and justification for anonymity or pseudonymity in blogging at the upcoming ScienceOnline'09 conference (16-18 Jan 2009 in RTP, NC, USA). I've also been toying with the pros and cons of personally uncloaking and have been surprised that most readers and commenters don't really care whether I am Abel or [RealName].
The past posts in this series have focused on whether readers trust pseudonymous bloggers - "trust" is a powerful word that I now…
terrasig | October 19, 2008I've been a bit too quiet on my end during this third year of ScienceBlogs.com participation in the October Blogger Challenges for DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose.org was launched by Charles Best, a Bronx schoolteacher who recognized that public schools around the US were underfunded, particularly in districts with a high abundance of poverty:
Charles Best leads DonorsChoose.org, a simple way to fulfill needs and foster innovation in public schools. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit proposals for materials or experiences that their students need to learn. Any individual can…
terrasig | October 17, 2008Here.
PalMD, why don't we just put this up and say, "Discuss."
btw, I sort of like my new pseudonym.
terrasig | October 16, 2008Wow. Thank you, dear Terra Sig readers, for your thoughtful responses to our first query about the concept of blogger pseudonymity.
For background, I have threatened to reveal myself (in text, not photographically) and wished to use this opportunity to provide grist for a session led by me, PalMD, and several women bloggers on the sci/med blogging under a pseudonym at ScienceOnline'09 on 17 Jan 2009 at Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA.
Just as many people might be frightened by me uncloaking in meatspace, readers have responded that…
terrasig | October 14, 2008At the upcoming ScienceOnline'09 conference (16-18 Jan 2009 in RTP, NC, USA), PalMD and I will be leading a discussion session on the needs and justification for anonymity or pseudonymity in blogging. Women bloggers have additional needs for blogging under a pseudonym and PalMD and I are currently enlisting such unadvertised participants so as not to, you know, compromise their identity (yes, those present will learn who he and I are but we can assure all that it will be anti-climactic).
Even prior to developing discussion points for the session, I had been considering the possibility of…
terrasig | October 8, 2008I am about to lead a discussion of science and medical blogs with a group of journalism students in a course entitled, Medical Journalism. While many of the students are specifically majoring in medical and science journalism in a master's program, some are undergraduates in general journalism and mass communications looking to get a flavor for medical writing for print and broadcast.
My question to the valued readers of this humble blog is:
What would you tell these young, knowledge-seeking minds about how science and medical blogs and bloggers might contribute to their future careers as "…
terrasig | September 23, 2008As you may have heard elsewhere, the third annual major (and free) US science blogging conference, ScienceOnline'09, began accepting registrations last Monday. The meeting will be held 16-18 January 2009 in Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
As of 10 am EDT today, there are already 78 registrants on the way to a cap of 225-ish. However, I have noted that only one registrant is listed on the wiki under a pseudonym.
This is a special message to my kindred spirits who write under a pseudonym and are wondering how in the heck they can go to such a great communications extravaganza and bloggy…
terrasig | September 18, 2008Tom Levenson at The Inverse Square blog recently lost his uncle and godfather, Daniel D Levenson.
I've been lucky enough to meet Tom once and yet he still answers my e-mails. Beyond his current position as a prof in the MIT Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, Tom is a prolific author and award-winning producer of several science documentaries.
This is what you get when a professional writer lovingly remembers a wonderful and influential man whose suffering has finally ended.
Tom asks that Uncle Dan be remembered by a memorial donation to Mazon.
terrasig | September 12, 2008I can't believe that it's only been a year.
Back in March I wrote about the importance of local wine shops, community resources just as important as your library or local farmer. Therein I sang the praises of my local heros, Seth Gross and Craig Heffley, proprietors of Wine Authorities in Durham, NC, and their then-recent ink in Food & Wine magazine.
My latest Wine Authorities favorite is an unusual German Pinot Noir Spätlese from Weingut Schäfer in Mettelheim (US$18.99).
Yes. Red. German. A German Rhinehessen red. An overripe red. No kidding.
Their notes, accessible on their…
terrasig | September 10, 2008Despite having to employ biophysical methods in my day job, I must admit my woeful understanding of physics as a discipline. I wasn't like my high school grease monkey friends using torque wrenches on their cars with Springsteenonian dedication and my lowest grade in undergrad came in physics. For that reason, I rarely have the opportunity to link to fellow ScienceBlogger, Chad Orzel of Uncertain Principles. Prof Orzel was one of the earliest science bloggers, coming online in June, 2002.
Chad posted about being on the programme of a meeting in Waterloo, Ontario, entitled, "Science in the…
terrasig | September 5, 2008It wasn't triskaidekaphobia that kept me from submitting to the Cancer Research Blog Carnival - I just thought I hadn't written a useful cancer post in quite some time.
But thanks to Walter at Highlight Health, our discussion on the relevance of an article on in vitro antileukaemic activity of methadone was included in the proceedings.
Walter also has a very timely message to kick off the carnival:
Everyone knows that cancer is a devastating disease. What many people don't know is that cancer kills more than 1,500 people a day; that's one person every minute. Tonight, Stand Up To Cancer, a…
terrasig | August 28, 2008To coincide with the Nature Science Blogging 2008 conference this weekend in London, we present this guest post from Coracle, the away-from-the-bench scientist who writes the Science and Progress blog. I've long been a fan of Science and Progress and Coracle shares my love of natural products pharmacology and skeptical eye for alternative medicine.
If you're in London and see Coracle at the conference, please buy him a pint and send me the bill.
"Last Friday, April 16th, 1943, I was forced to interrupt my work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon, being affected with a…
terrasig | August 28, 2008All of us at Terra Sig world headquarters are sending out hearty congratulations to the boys over at Deep Sea News - Peter Etnoyer, Craig McClain, and Kevin Zelnio - on the announcement of their September move to the Discovery Channel online.
I've had the good fortune of meeting all three gentlemen in person, even breaking bread with Craig. I can tell you that they are individually and collectively superb stewards of the deep sea and tireless promoters of conservation and habitat preservation. Best wishes to you fellas - we'll miss you but we'll keep reading (plus the Zelnio family is…
terrasig | August 6, 2008It appears that a number of bloggers who write under the ScienceBlogs.com masthead will be converging on New York City this coming weekend. For those of you who know my background, I simply call this "The City."
I mentioned earlier that it was unlikely that I would be there due to family and job commitments (and the fact that my sister and her family were elsewhere that weekend when we could've otherwise had a lovely family gathering).
But with the generous blessings of PharmGirl and PharmKid, I will indeed venture to New Amsterdam for about 32 hours that will include the highly-touted 'meet…
terrasig | August 2, 2008
Yes, I owned this album when it first came out in 1978.
A recent post by Prof Matt Nisbet raised some Saturday night reflections for me as to how one measures one's impact as a blogger if one is so inclined to do so. But does this apparent impact or "influence" actually mean anything?
I've got to admit: I'm a numbers guy. When I first started this blog on Blogger, I was so stoked to see when more than 10 people per day were dialing up. I was delighted when I started getting international visitors and, moreover, those international folks would actually come back.
That is the intoxication…
terrasig | July 22, 2008As you may have read elsewhere on ScienceBlogs, a bunch o' bloggers will be converging on New York City ("The City" as I knew it growing up) on Saturday, 9 August.
Seed Media Group, the host of this blog network, is proposing a meet the bloggers session sometime around 3 pm EDT somewhere in the city - certainly air-conditioned - and will offer some swag, a few vittles, and other such items of pleasure beyond the opportunity to meet the faces behind these words. I've been told that I have a great face for radio.
I was not originally not scheduled to attend as my sort-of-local sister will be…
terrasig | July 21, 2008Go on over and offer your best wishes to Dr. Ventii.
She was just awarded her Ph.D. in cancer biochemistry from Emory University in Atlanta.
Karen writes the blog, Science to Life.
Congratulations, Karen!
terrasig | July 16, 2008While I threaten to come back to real blogging, let me direct you to Orac's recent post on the loss of their family dog, Echo - the dog who ate corn off the cob (YouTube evidence therein).
Orac is a great writer but a lot of you know him mostly from his expertise in cancer medicine and in decrying all kids of pseudoscience. He may also seem on the surface to be a tough, unflappable medical professional, as one might expect from any high-powered academic surgeon.
However, I've had the pleasure of getting to know Orac personally and will divulge that he is really a sweetheart of a guy. And as…
terrasig | July 14, 2008A convergence of personal and professional issues have left me little or no time for blogging the last week or so. But many thanks to you for checking in here and even e-mailing to say hi. I actually have a couple of good science topics in the hopper but haven't been able to execute them fully. But as Arnold once said, I'll be back.
Let me also express my gratitude to my research and wine mentor, and stealth co-blogger, Erleichda, for his great Friday Fermentable column about wines of the Northern Italy Lake Country.
In the meantime, check out the DrugMonkey-recommended post from…
terrasig | June 14, 2008As promised awhile back, my blogging frequency has dropped off a bit as I tend to some more time-consuming details in my meatspace existence.
I've also missed some fabulous posts around the blogosphere. I wanted to direct Terra Sig readers to a moving yet data-driven essay by Professor PZ Myers at the University of Minnesota at Morris, better known as the blogger who writes Pharyngula. PZ is a terrific writer but this post is particularly excellent.
I'll be back shortly with something meaningful.