Blogging community
terrasig | November 21, 2007I was looking through more links tonight after posting earlier on the Polk County school board's intention to introduce intelligent design into the science curriculum.
I saw this post, An Open Letter to the Polk County, Florida School Board from The Austringer, Dr Wesley Elsberry. Turns out that Elsberry is a product of [a] public schools [and two parochial schools] in Lakeland, the largest city in Polk Country.
From his compelling open letter:
I was born in Lakeland, Florida, and lived for eighteen years there. My parents still live there. I still care about what happens in my home town.
To…
terrasig | November 16, 2007Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé!
Yes, the 15th of November has arrived as have thousands of cases of a fresh, fruity wine, the Beaujolais Nouveaux. Grapes that were on the vine just a few short months ago have been heroically converted into a wine that has traditionally been rushed to Paris, and around the world, from the Beaujolais appellation of France, part of Burgundy. Made from a variety of grape known as Gamay (or 'Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc' to purists), this tradition has spread far and wide with some California wineries getting into the act.
The most famous, and largest producer/…
terrasig | November 13, 2007I got sidetracked today with activities in that thing called the meat world. So, I can only refer you to a very nice roundup of expert medical blogging over at RevolutionHealth and Dr Val and The Voice of Reason blog.
Dr Val (Val Jones, M.D.) has been a frequent and thoughtful commenter around these parts and I find her monthly (or so) roundups to be as good as any other medical blog carnival, except that she picks all the entries.
Enjoy....back to writing for me.
terrasig | November 10, 2007As a pharmacy professor, I've been surprised at how few blogs out there are written by pharmacists or pharmacy students. In my subjective observations, there are tons of blogs written by physicians and nurses. There are about 200,000 registered pharmacists in the US, about one-fourth the number of physicians so it's not as though pharmacists are terribly outnumbered by other healthcare professionals.
So, it was with great pleasure that I stumbled onto Secundum Artem via a comment by the author, N.B., in a thread on Respectful Insolence.
Secundum artem is a Latin phrase meaning "according…
terrasig | November 9, 2007We were asked recently by our ScienceBlogs hosts:
Is there a 'typical ScienceBlogs reader'? Who are these people? Why do they read Sb? What do they get out of it?
From my comments, e-mails, and traffic patterns, most of you have advanced degrees and are reading from universities, drug companies, US federal agencies (including the military), and some newspapers and scientific publishers. While mostly American, a good many of you are from Canada, Great Britain, and Australia. Your age ranges from the early 20s to the early 60s. Many of you are practicing scientists, physicians, or other…
terrasig | October 30, 2007I chose not to plague you with incessant reminders to contribute to our drive to raise funds for projects at DonorsChoose.org - where public school teachers propose class projects and you decide which ones to fund. Just one post at kickoff and another halfway through. We just completed the drive for our local NPR station so I know that badgering can grow on you no matter how worthy the cause.
But you readers have been incredibly responsive and generous in donating to the Terra Sig "Save the Science" projects. With a total of $2,806.47 donated thus far, we are 70% of the way towards our goal…
terrasig | October 29, 2007The always-insightful blog commenter, PhysioProf, had a terrific post yesterday on DrugMonkey about managing the various types of trainees in a research laboratory.
Some are focused on just doing interesting science. Some are working towards the goal of eventually achieving scientific independence and becoming independent PIs themselves. Some don't know why they are doing what they are doing, and may not even have ever asked themselves. Some are preparing themselves for working as scientists in industry. Some may be preparing themselves for non-scientific careers in which they make use of…
terrasig | October 7, 2007Via Clinical Cases and Images, I just learned that Mark Rabnett at the University of Manitoba has just compiled a comprehensive list of medical student bloggers.
No one source is complete, so I hope this list will be of help to the fevered mind that cannot rest until every blogging student in the health sciences has been tracked down. I see a permanent job for a few people who are willing to work for no salary while exposing themselves to resident evil, anger, fear, and cadaver fumes. As for me, if I don't wake up screaming I just may have to go back to renegotiating Nietzsche in the…
terrasig | October 6, 2007I've got to admit that I've really enjoyed reading Health Blog from the Wall Street Journal. Short, pithy, and great bites about health/pharma stories that make it into one of the best sources for news in the US (its op-ed page notwithstanding).
So, I was tickled on Friday to see Health Blog interview AggravatedDocSurg. Little did I know that the Aggravated One was a general surgeon in APB's former stomping grounds of The Centennial State.
Here was the quote that made the interview from one of his public service announcements.
We've got advertisements on TV continuously for Plavix. It's not…
terrasig | October 2, 2007As you've probably seen elsewhere on ScienceBlogs, a number of us are teaming up to raise funds for teacher projects at DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose is a clever fundraising model for K-12 education projects where public funds don't quite meet the needs of teachers and kids.
The idea is that teachers propose projects and "donors choose" which ones they would like to support. You can choose to donate to a number of projects or fund a single one, depending on what moves you the most. Many DonorsChoose projects are at school with a high level of poverty or in areas of the country where…
terrasig | September 24, 2007Earlier last week, we appeared as one of the featured bloggers asked to recommend their three, must-read life science blogs in The Scientist. All seven of the bloggers appearing were male; in fact, my avatar is an old German-American man who has been dead for 70 years.
The lack of female bloggers obviously generated some ire among female scibloggers and even I commented on how unusual that seemed.
Well, an editorial explanation has now been posted as an addendum to the article:
Editor note (September 24): A few life science bloggers have correctly pointed out that no female bloggers are…
terrasig | September 22, 2007Great local coverage of Anton Zuiker, organizer with Bora Zivkovic of the NC Science Blogging Conference (SBC '08) (together with Brian Russell and the real Paul Jones).
The reporter, Dan Barkin of the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer, totally nailed Anton with this quote:
The Web has evolved into a tribal Internet of passionate bloggers like Zuiker, and he has become a sort-of local brand. He's a quiet visionary. He's a low-key doer. He's a let's-get-together-and-see-where-this-goes guy. It's the Zuikers of this new, interwoven world who may play a significant role in determining how far Web…
terrasig | September 18, 2007Folks from The Scientist recently asked a group of science bloggers to recommend their three, must-read blogs to provide a guide to those who might not have been following the scientific blogosphere. Somehow I got selected to post my votes, a very challenging task to whittle down to three. However, it gave me a chance to recognize three bloggers who served among my inspiration for getting started myself and who continue to provide excellent, unique, and timely content.
The article went up today and readers are encouraged to add to the comments their favorite sciblogs. I was disappointed…
terrasig | September 10, 2007Today's New York Times notes this weekend's launch of Elsevier's OncologySTAT website:
But now Reed Elsevier, which publishes more than 400 medical and scientific journals, is trying an experiment that stands this model on its head. Over the weekend it introduced a Web portal, www.OncologySTAT.com, that gives doctors free access to the latest articles from 100 of its own pricey medical journals and that plans to sell advertisements against the content.
The new site asks oncologists to register their personal information. In exchange, it gives them immediate access to the latest cancer-related…
terrasig | September 5, 2007Just got a nice note from Daniel Kovach of CollegeScholarships.org announcing their blogging scholarship competition.
As is well-known to ScienceBlogs.com readers, our own Shelley Batts of Retrospectacle! won the $1,000 runner-up prize last year.
All the details and eligibility requirements are here, including the nomination form. Unfortunately, the contest is only open to US college bloggers. The deadline for nominations is midnight (PST) on 6 October. You can nominate yourself or a fellow blogger. The top 10 finalists will be announced and public voting will commence on 8 October.…
terrasig | August 23, 2007By now you have probably heard of the excellent primer published in PLoS Medicine entitled, HIV Denial in the Internet Era. Written by my fellow ScienceBlogger, Tara Smith, and academic neurologist, Steven Novella, this concise but forceful article tells you everything you need to know about the faulty arguments made by organizations and individuals who deny that HIV is the cause of AIDS (HIV denialists, if you will). The article is free and it is simply awesome.
Many bloggers have noted what to them is most important point of this article. For me, it is the first three sentences of the…
terrasig | June 27, 2007I just learned from Orac and Bora that the father of blogger Lindsay Beyerstein (Majikthise) has passed away. Dr Barry L Beyerstein was a member of the executive council of the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and a biopsychologist at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. He was only 60 years old.
Unaware of the connection to Lindsay, I have been using an essay by Dr Beyerstein in my alternative medicine lectures for almost 10 years. Why Bogus Therapies Often Seem To Work was posted at Quackwatch.com a couple of years ago…
terrasig | April 13, 2007Despite living in a state with a heavy military economy, the closest I've come to knowing the sacrifices of Iraq War service personnel is through my ScienceBlogs colleague, Mike Dunford, of The Questionable Authority. While his wife is delpoyed in Iraq, Mike is in grad school looking after their two kids. The latest slap in the face to my friend was his learning about the three-month extension of his wife's deployment...not through the unit Family Readiness Group...but on CNN streaming in his campus center.
Mike has posted a letter to his congressional representatives thanking them for…
terrasig | April 8, 2007The relatively recent addition to ScienceBlogs, first-year medical resident, Signout, very generously tagged me with recognition as a "Thinking Blogger" on her list of "Five Blogs that Make Me Think." This meme was started in early February by Ilker Yoldas for peers to recognize content-rich blogs. Signout was all too kind:
A neighbor here at SB, Abel Pharmboy is a pharmacologist who writes critically and eloquently about all manner of issues in drug research and development. He's consistently both interesting and educational, and handles even conceptually dense issues with a light touch.
I…
terrasig | March 31, 2007Leave it to the British to suggest bringing civility to blogging, specifically in blog comment threads, with a call for a suggested code of conduct. This follows blogger Kathy Sierra receiving vulgar and graphic death threats on her and others' blogs. (Kathy writes the techie blog, Creating Passionate Users.). As a result, Sierra canceled her appearances this week at a San Diego tech conference.
Citing a post from Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media, Inc. about this disturbing episode, Jack Schofield of the UK Guardian's Technology Blog notes that The Guardian has adopted a new comments policy…