education
gregladen | July 6, 2009Nothing is typical. As I'm sitting here in the lobby of the hotel noticing that far fewer than half of the people waking back and forth in this busy hotel are wearing unusual science fiction or fantasy costuming (that will change as the day develops) this ("nothing is typical") is the phrase that sticks in my mind from this morning's session on Skeptical Blogging.
The five people on the panel seemed to all agree that the way we treat our commenters, the way we treat people with whom we disagree (or that are disagreeing vehemently amongst themselves) is impossible to plan in advance or to…
gregladen | July 6, 2009Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture (DIY Science) is a new book by Robert Thompson. The premise is simple. The coolest thing in the world is a home chemistry set like this one from Gilbert, which combined both chemistry and microscopy:
Chemistry Set Combine the sciences of Chemistry and Microscopy in one big laboratory set! Microscope has a magnification of 60 power, plus unique Polaroid device that shows the brilliant colors of specimens under the lens. Set includes "Fun With Gilbert Chemistry", "Gilbert Microscope", "Glass Blowing" manuals and dissecting…
grrlscientist | July 6, 2009tags: Upland Sandpiper, Bartramia longicauda, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Upland Sandpiper, Bartramia longicauda, photographed in Kingsbury County, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 5 July 2009 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 5, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Black-capped Chickadee, Poecile atricapilla, photographed near a small Olympic Peninsula lake in Shelton, Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Lee Rentz, 19 February 2009.
As an added bonus, can you name the close relatives to today's mystery bird that are found in Finland?
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
The closest relatives to the pictured bird that live in Finland are [English name, Finnish name, Scientific name];
Willow…
grrlscientist | July 4, 2009tags: European Greenfinch, Carduelis chloris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] European Greenfinch, Carduelis chloris, photographed on the University of Helsinki (Helsingin Yliopisto) campus in Kumpula, Helsinki, Finland. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 July 2009 [larger view].
Canon Powershot SX100
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
gregladen | July 4, 2009They don't exactly equal each other. But from the perspective of a skeptic, I would like you to consider that belief and blame are very similar. Yesterday at the Skeptics 101 panel at Connie, I heard the fact that not everyone today is already a questioning, thoughtful, intelligent skeptic blamed on the usual things. Kids these days. The school system. Standardized tests. Dumb-ass political leaders. And so on.
Buried in this is a thread to a second thought I wanted to get on the table quickly: In the US, we need academic standards for K-12 that are uniform across the country. Anything…
grrlscientist | July 3, 2009tags: Juvenile Gambel's White-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelli, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Juvenile Gambel's White-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelli, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 25 November 2006 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2006:11:25 08:07:50
Exposure Time: 1/200
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 320
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 2, 2009tags: Pied Wagtail fledgling, Motacilla alba, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pied Wagtail fledgling, Motacilla alba, photographed at Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, UK. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Richard Carter, FCD, 13 June 2009 (he also writes here) [larger view].
Canon EOS 350D (Digital Rebel) at 1/400th second using a Canon EF 75-300mm zoom at the 300mm setting.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 2, 2009tags: Arthur Benjamin, Mathematics, calculus, statistics, education, , TEDTalks, streaming video
Someone always asks the math teacher, "Am I going to use calculus in real life?" And for most of us, says Arthur Benjamin, the answer is no. He offers a bold proposal on how to make math education relevant in the digital age. [2:59]
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on…
grrlscientist | July 1, 2009tags: White-rumped Sandpiper, Calidris fuscicollis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] White-rumped Sandpiper, Calidris fuscicollis, photographed at Galveston, East Beach, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 19 May 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 ,Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/800s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
bioephemera | June 30, 2009Last Friday, in my post on Nature's comprehensive coverage of science journalism, I mentioned the recent Nature Biotechnology conference paper on science communications co-authored by scibling Matt Nisbet. I also said I'd come back to one of the points in it that bothers me.
As I said yesterday, most of the material in this paper (the issues of media fragmentation, framing problems, incidental exposure, etc.) has been expressed elsewhere. I agree with the majority of it, and it's nice to see it all in one place. But I have to take exception to a small piece of the paper - an example that I've…
drorzel | June 30, 2009Over at Confused on a Higher Level, Melissa has been thinking about undergraduate research:
As a member of the Physics and Astronomy Division of the Council of Undergraduate Research (CUR), over the past few months I've gotten several e-mails about the effort by CUR, the Society of Physics Students, the American Astronomical Society, and the American Physical Society Committee on Education to adopt a statement on undergraduate research. The CUR statement reads as follows, "We call upon this nation's physics and astronomy departments to provide, as an element of best practice, all…
grrlscientist | June 30, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Wattled Starlings, Creatophora cinerea, perched on Plains (Grant's) Zebra, Equus quagga boehmi, Amboseli National Park, Kenya, Africa. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 3 August 2006 [larger view].
Nikon D2H, 200-400 VR lens at 400, ISO 200, 1/320, f/8.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
drorzel | June 30, 2009Firday's quick and sarcastic post came about because I thought the Dean Dad and his commenters had some interesting points in regard to high school math requirements, but we were spending the afternoon driving to Whitney Point so I could give a graduation speech. I didn't have time for a more detailed response.
Now that we're back in town... well, I still don't have time, because SteelyKid has picked up a bit of coxsackie virus, meaning that nobody in Chateau Steelypips is happy. But I did want to offer at least a partial response to some of the comments both here and elsewhere.
To start off…
grrlscientist | June 29, 2009tags: Pelagic Cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pelagic Cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus, photographed at Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon. It is taking nesting materials back to the rock, where many of these birds were busy nesting. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 8 June 2009 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L lens.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 28, 2009tags: book review, Sleeping Naked is Green, green living, environment, Vanessa Farquharson
Carbon footprints, global warming, green living -- are these phrases an inconvenient truth that keep you awake at night, wondering how you can live in a more environmentally friendly way? For many people, merely contemplating these things is enough to make them give up trying to help the earth before they even start! But before you allow yourself to become discouraged, there is a book out there that will inspire you to make changes in your life that are beneficial to the earth; Sleeping Naked Is Green:…
grrlscientist | June 28, 2009tags: Lesser Flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lesser Flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor, photographed in Swakopmund, Namibia, Africa [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dennis Paulson, April 2007 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 27, 2009tags: Eastern Meadowlark, Sturnella magna, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Eastern Meadowlark, Sturnella magna, photographed in Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 19 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
drorzel | June 27, 2009The following is the (approximate) text of the speech I gave Friday night at the Whitney Point High School graduation. Or, at least, this is what I typed out for myself Thursday night-- what actually comes out of my mouth on Friday might be completely different. That's why they do these things live, after all...
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When I agreed to speak here, one of the first things I thought of as I tried to decide what to say was my own college graduation, where the speaker began by noting that nobody ever remembers anything said by a graduation speaker. We all thought that was pretty…
grrlscientist | June 27, 2009tags: Weekend Project, Potato Gatling Gun, DeRose family, trailer, entertainment, engineering, physics, streaming video
Do you wish you could do something fun with your family? This video shows how one family designed and built a potato gatling gun, which was shown at this year's Maker Faire. This looks like so much fun that it almost makes me want to have kids! [4:29]