north carolina
clock | October 5, 2006Brian Russell is organizing the 2007 Podcastercon. Let me show you how much fun the last year's Podacstercon was by reposting this January 16, 2006 post (also cross-posted on Science And Politics) about the exciting education session led by David Warlick of 2 Cents Worth blog:
Sorry for three days of absence from this blog. I needed some time to recuperate after the Podacstercon which I attended last Saturday. It was a marvelous experience. For more information check out the Podcastercon blog, the wiki, a nice article in News and Observer, the blog reports via Technorati tags, Technorati…
clock | October 4, 2006...registered for ConvergeSouth by last name initial or by first name initial? If you have a website or blog, you should be registered both ways.
clock | October 3, 2006Some musings from February 13, 2005...
At the Triangle Blogger Conference yesterday, somebody mentioned Vernon Vinge's Fire Upon The Deep, as an example of a sci-fi novel describing future consequences of Usenet (at the time) or blog communities. Someone else suggested another book, Bloom. Another blogger (sorry, can't find it again right now, so many people blogged their impressions of the conference afterwards) thought of Terry Pratchett's The Truth as a parable of the way journalism works. I have not yet read "Fire Upon The Deep" (surprisingly, as I own a copy and generally like Vinge a…
clock | October 2, 2006
A science (and medicine) blogging conference, the first of its kind, is now officially announced for January 20th 2007. What can you do?
1. First, go to the conference wiki and look around to see what it is all about.
2. Help to spread the word by blogging about it. If you do, you can use these cool logos as well as this Technorati tag.
3. Download this flyer (pdf), print a couple of copies and post them outside your office/lab door or down the hall on a bulletin board, or wherever else you think it is appropriate.
4. Use the word of mouth or e-mail to tell your friends about it. Tell…
clock | October 2, 2006Radio In Vivo is close enough to me that I can listen to it at home (but not when I am driving places around town ro to Raleigh):
Radio In Vivo: Your Link to the Triangle Science Community is a one-hour interview/call-in program, focusing on one scientific topic per week. Typically, but not exclusively, scientific activities and personalities local to the Research Triangle area of North Carolina are featured.
Ernie Hood, a freelance science writer based in Hillsborough, North Carolina, produces and hosts Radio In Vivo. Please click the "About Ernie" link to your left to learn more about Ernie…
clock | September 30, 2006
Wow, it's been a while since I last hosted the Tar Heel Tavern. This will be the first time since Erin took over the reins of this carnival and the first time since I moved my blog here to Seed's ScienceBlogs (please look around and check out my SciBlings while you are here). In the meantime, Erin has performed a nice makeover of the carnival's homepage and archives so go take a look.
I am happy to see a number of great entries this week. Still, I added a couple of "Editor's Choices" at the end. Let's start...
For the geeks out there, Melissa of Mel's Kitchen has discovered a cookbook…
clock | September 28, 2006Some weeks, I skim through The Raleigh Independent and nothing catches my interest. Other weeks, I find it chockful of interesting stuff - some of if quite bloggable. This week's issue is one of those.
This article about legal steps same-sex couples can take to get protections similar to heterosexual marriages is quite useful and informative. It is also cool it mentions Pam Spaulding and her blog.
In the same issue, an article, Family Values?, looks at another angle - the plight of straight people devastated by the coming-out-of-closet by their spouses who, due to religious upbringing, got…
clock | September 23, 2006The 83rd edition of the Tar Heel Tavern, the blog carnival of NC blogging, is up on Poetic Acceptance.
Shortly before I moved here to Seed, Erin took over the management of the carnival and did a great job updating and beautifying the homepage and the archives.
Although I have hosted Tar Heel Tavern five times before, I have not done so since I quit managing it. So, to make up for the lost time, I will be hosting next week, on October 1st, right here. Send your entries by midnight Eastern Time on Saturday at: Coturnix1 AT aol DOT com.
Then, on October 14th, I hope to see a lot of you in…
clock | September 19, 2006Unfortunately, not in my neighborhood any more, the First Year Teacher gets portrayed, quite positively, in USA Today in an article about teachers-bloggers.
clock | September 17, 2006The coooolest thing ever!
My son's science teacher broke his shoulder so he had to be out for two weeks (he's the one who was instrumental in the district adopting the science textbook I like, and he teaches evolution "straight-up").
During that time, they had a substitute teacher. She gave them their first assignment - to find something interesting science-related and write a short report.
Then, she started listing which sources are legit and which are not. Then, my son raised his hand and asked if they were allowed to find information on science blogs, for instance on one his Dad writes…
clock | September 17, 2006Tar HeelTavern #82 is up on Mel's Kitchen.
Don't forget to come to the first Chapel Hill - Carrboro blogger meetup tomorrow in the Library at 7pm. You don't have to be a blogger - being a reader and/or commenter or someone interested in blogging is enough - it is a very open group.
And don't forget to register (for free!) for the October 14th ConvergeSouth.
clock | September 15, 2006A Community Genetics Forum 2006: Finding the Genome is a 3-day conference here in the Triangle. I will try to go to the third day events on Saturday, 10am - 3pm.
It is a very medically oriented meeting, so I doubt they will mention the importance of comparative genomics in the study of evolution, but it will be fun anyway.
On the other hand, it is probably good for my emotional well-being that there is likely to be no mention of Francis' awful book...
clock | September 14, 2006We are about to start the new blogging season in the Triangle, beginning with the regular Chapel Hill-Carboro meetups. The first meetup will be next Monday in the downstairs conference room of the Chapel Hill Public Library at 7 p.m. There will be wifi, and two presentations (Jameson on Lyceum, Roy on wiki.com).
After that, the next Meetup will be on Thursday 5 October at Open Eye Cafe at 6 p.m. (moving to Tyler's Tap Room at 7).
We'll try this meetup schedule for the next couple of months:
* First Thursdays for social drinks and chatting.
* Third Mondays for presentations and…
clock | September 14, 2006I'm glad I am not the only one majorly pissed I was not invited to the secret meeting of Chapel Hill (and area) bloggers wih John Edwards (some of which were not even supporting him back in 2003 and 2004). So is Anton. He is doubly pissed and rightly so.
Ed and Pam were there, though.
clock | September 13, 2006A few days ago, my son told me that one of his teachers (he is in 8th grade), after decorating the whole school with American flags, announced that they will be reciting the Pledge of Allegiance every morning.
I was not aware at the time that this is a new State Law, snuck under the radar during the summer. But it is. It was enacted on July, 12th 2006, as a change in general powers and duties of the state concerning the educational system. You can see the history of how the statute was changed here and the final version of the bill here (PDF).
The press only noted this the other day.…
clock | September 10, 2006Starting today, the NCBlogs.com blog aggregator has a brand new look and much greater functionality. Go check it out.
clock | September 9, 2006Billy the Blogging Poet opened up the Tar Heel Tavern and we all had lots of beer and it was great fun! Go and read his account of the evening.
clock | August 31, 2006Michael Pollan, author of "Omnivore's Dilemma" and other good, thought-provoking books, will be on a speaking tour this Fall. Click on the link for details of your place. He will be in my neck of the woods in October:
October 11, 2006, 7 pm: Chapel Hill, NC; Morehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina
October 10, 2006, 6 pm: Durham, NC; SEEDS Harvest Dinner
You bet I'll be there.
clock | August 27, 2006The Tarheel Tavern #79 is up on Kivi Leroux Miller's blog on Freelance Writing.
clock | August 21, 2006If you are a blogger and you are in the Triangle area of North Carolina this Friday, I hope to see you at the Triangle Bloggers Barbecue. Sign up on the Wiki there if you know you can show up for sure.
Let's have fun kicking off the Fall '06 Triangle Blogger Season!