Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
bcohen | February 9, 2007I mean the title in a different sense than most science bloggers or SciBlog readers will likely presume. I mean it as one who studies science, not one who practices it - given the complexity, esteem, importance, and promise of the scientific enterprise, such deeper understandings of what this science thing is would seem requisite. Thus, over the past thirty or forty years, a lot of people have worked to develop the area of study known as "science and technology studies" (or, with slightly differing emphases that I don't need to get into here, "science, technology, and society" - "STS" in…
bcohen | February 8, 2007This is a visualization of scientific productivity and population. It's from the online edition of the German "Spiegel."
The top map illustrates the number of scientific publications per year. Contrast this to the population map, shown underneath it. I've copied the map below. Read on to see...
Here's the caption, in German: "Wissenschaftliche Forschung gemessen an der Zahl der Publikationen im Jahr 2001 (oben) gegenuber dem Kartogramm der Bevolkerungszahl der Lander der Welt (unten)."
Make of it what you will. In fact, I wonder what you do make of it.
(And with apologies to our…
worldsfair | February 2, 2007Specifically: why in heaven's name did Felicity choose Ben over Noel?
I mean seriously folks: Noel was obviously the better choice. And I say this because he was of the geeky, computer literate set, and (I think, I think) was essentially representing all that is good and deserving of those who are single, smart, sensible and nice in the scienc-y community. And yet, and yet, Felicty chooses Ben! And fer chrissakes, this is even with the added variable that had Felicity chosen Noel, she would have also scored a free trip to Europe.
So people, what is up with that?
But wait, wait... Maybe…
bcohen | February 1, 2007Not only was I once awarded a baseball signed by the entire 1983 Orioles team -- when attending the Orioles Traveling Carnival and having my number selected from a bowl -- and yes, I'm counting that as an honorific, because, I mean, Rick Dempsey was there and everything -- but now this:
I have just been appointed (hold your breath, longer, keep holding...almost...almost...okay...okay, now breathe)...a biographical candidate into the Cambridge Who's Who of Executives and Professionals in Nursing and Healthcare!
I know! I know! Isn't it incredible!!
We World's Fair guys don't usually toot our…
worldsfair | January 26, 2007Carrying the torch lit by Ben in an earlier post. I just wanted to say a few words about this album cover:
You see, I am a big Police fan, and the rumour of a possible reunion, and the fact that they may even be practicing in Vancouver is a great thing to consider. But this album cover is intriguing to me, because of the way my opinion of it changed practically instantly one day.
It's like this - when I first saw it, I LOVED the cover. It had this mysterious, organic, yet calculated feel to it, and the interesting thing here, is that I got these aesthetics because I didn't actually see the…
bcohen | January 22, 2007So I'm leafing through my good old weekly Science, as ever, and looky here, what do I find...the fantastic duo Mukhopadhyay and Riezman at it again. In the 12 January 2007 issue -- yes, the issue with the "scanning electron micrograph of Trichomonas vaginalis parasites (gray-green) adhering to vaginal epithelial cells (pink)" that look like strawberries, on the cover -- and they've got a research review piece, "Proteasome-Independent Functions of Ubiquitin in Endocytosis and Signaling," and I admit there were some parts I simply didn't quite follow. They start with the obvious: "…
bcohen | January 20, 2007Why would Der Kommissar's presence in town ("oh, oh") require one not to turn around? This has puzzled me for nigh on two+ decades now. Even if we cared that he was in town -- fearful, I assume -- then what does not turning around do for anybody? They say "if he talks to you then you'll know why." But that's just stupid.
I find it hard to imagine a scenario where my turning around would in anyway be dictated by the presence of Der Kommissar. It wouldn't happen. There's no reason for the edict. Let's be done with already then?
We appreciate your attention to this.
bcohen | January 17, 2007A conference announcement, for all who are fond of this Darwin person, dear old Mister Darwin. "Darwinism after Darwin" (indeed the subject of many a Scienceblogs post) is being sponsored by the British Society for the History of Science (BSHS) and hosted by the University of Leeds, from September 3rd - 5th 2007. Should the drive to submit a paper proposal find its way to you, be a dear and click here for details on the official Call for Papers.
This gives us a chance to plaster a portrait of the young Chuck D:
(image credit)
One might even accuse us of writing this otherwise rudimentary…
bcohen | January 12, 2007What we have here is an escalation in the nature of the PF. Phase Two of PF#2 is now upon us. Because PF#2 has been solved.
But which solution is it?
(Ever looking for "D")
The first Puzzle was a game, a set of clues to see how people think through evidence, and to see which directions thoughts and inclinations lead people. It shouldn't be confused with science, we should note. We're not imitating "science." We're more interested in knowledge production and reasoning and argument and uses of evidence. Science, as I think most of us know it, provides the best way to deal with those…
worldsfair | January 11, 2007A couple weeks ago, the SCQ published a piece called "What's the Scoop? A Quantitative Analysis of Kellogg's Raisin Bran," which aimed to take a proper look at the nomenclature behind the descriptor of "two scoops."
Anyway, it was a great research orientated piece, fitting for the SCQ given its double nature as being both esoteric and intriguing. For instance, the authors were working on two hypotheses which were as follows:
(A) Scoop size is independent of box size. In other words, the same scoops are used to add raisins to each box, regardless of box size, so that the number of raisins…
worldsfair | January 9, 2007
Live blogging here. Presumably, the big showing off later on here.
(and with a formal collaboration with google and yahoo to boot - this puppy is going to a very big deal)
worldsfair | January 3, 2007"How will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?" (Plato's Meno, to Socrates)
(Click here for a larger version of the schematic clue)
Let us begin.
* * *
As for setting the Puzzle into its blog-historical context, this is the second in a series. The first began in Summer 2006, in this post. And it ended in early Fall 2006, with this answer. Now, as the New Year dawns, so does the new PF. Be well.
worldsfair | December 31, 2006Since we were on the topic of tenure: here is a list...
Proposed using bioinformatics (computational biology) as a tool to measure the potential performance of folks in American politics (link)
Read a lot of Haiku's (link)
Escorted dignitaries such as UN Envoys, National Geographic Explorers in Residence, etc in my '97 Honda Civic (link).
Enjoyed a movie starring Keanu Reeves (link).
Hung out a lot more with philosophers, historians, poets, and artists than usual, and even ate with them on occasion (link)
Was asked to give a welcoming talk for a new Dean, and elected to talk about said Dean's…
worldsfair | December 31, 2006
Normally, these are either songs that recieved a lot of airplay in our household, or sometimes are even songs with a certain amount of biographical significance. As well, each year end mix will usually be coupled with a few phrases denoting the coming and goings of each member of my family.
Besides, nothing really captures a moment in time like remember when your kids are doing a sing-a-long with John Prine in the car:
"She don't like her eggs all runny.
She thinks crossin' her legs is funny.
She looks down her nose at money.
She gets it on like the Easter Bunny.
She's my baby I'm her…
bcohen | December 29, 2006Year's end brings with it the inevitable "bests of" lists. The World's Fair is no exception in this pointless exercise, but for our lapsed calendar -- unfortunately leaving us in the High Middle Ages. Here then, forthwith, are the "Best Sciences of 1381," as ranked by our readers.
1. Celestial Mechanics
2. Terrestrial Mechanics
3. Alchemy
4. Whatever Nicolas Oresme was into, you know, Nico, Nico Oresme?
5. Intelligent Design
6. Post-plague analyses
7. Optics
8. Astrology
9. Logic
10. Yarn theory
11. Cathedral building stuff
12. New studies in decimal points
bcohen | December 19, 2006Another competitor for best job ad/title, to go along with the Technology Evangelist (which we found out was not such a new thing, but still funny). (With thanks again to astute observer Janey L. for sending this.)
"Natural History New Zealand - Host for TV Series on Chinese History"
This one's as good for its requirements as it is for the actual job. The whole ad says this:
NHNZ is a New Zealand based documentary production house that produces shows for Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and National Geographic and many others. We are currently looking for a presenter to host a major new…
bcohen | December 18, 2006Nobody has ever accused Mel Gibson of historical accuracy. There's one victory for him. Nobody has ever accused him of anthropological accuracy either. That's two victories to his credit. He's having a good day. Next thing we know nobody will accuse him of having chosen a timeless '80s hairstyle way back when, or of wisely choosing the Lethal Weapon sequels, or of his soothing way with words. Now it's time to not accuse him of appreciating Mesoamerican astronomical technology. Here's the image, and I'll explain what this has to do with anything below.
Master plan for Teotihuacan (Nat…
worldsfair | December 12, 2006Man, right now, I'm squelched under the chaos of the "end of the year," which includes the two fold attacks from academia (research, courses, marking, etc) and life in general (Hey, it's Xmas time folks). Anyway, the only readable writing I've done of late is my family's annual Christmas Card letter. Does it have science content? Not at all.
Although, I think there is definitely a fine art (or maybe even a science) to this exercise. i.e. How do you write something that encapsulates your year without boring people to death or worse, making it sound like, you and your family had the "best/…
bcohen | December 11, 2006This has a target audience of maybe zero. (And Luker, you can go on ahead and stop reading now.) You have to be fond of two things simultaneously: Good Phish songs and good Children's Books.
In particular, you have to indulge me with this book-to-song convergence: The last two pages of Donald Crew's Freight Train (1978) and last notes of Phish's "Reba," one of the epics, officially from their studio album Lawn Boy (1990/1992).
1. Start with Freight Train -- get to the last pages, where the train is..."Going going..."
"Gone."
(some extra spacing here to help you pace your reading)
(…
bcohen | December 7, 2006Katherine and Sarah have posted a conversation Janet and I had about Sir Karl Popper. It's "inside the Seed mothership" over at Page 3.14. Run, don't walk, to check it out. But then walk, and be careful, it's getting icy, back here and read all our posts again and again and again. You see that stuff Dave posted earlier? The Canuck's good.