society
clock | December 26, 2007This is the third post in the series. I mentioned before that my Mom taped her story for the Shoah project. You can access the tapes through the RENCI site.
Also, regulars here know that my Mom reads this blog and sometimes comments. I assume that she would not object to answering a couple of polite questions from readers.
Do the hidden Children Differ from the Others?
Saturday, November 10th
I liked the lecture of Robert Krell he gave this morning. He told us his "story". He comes from Holland, was hidden from 1942-1945 and after the war he reunited with his parents, who were…
clock | December 22, 2007Then read this and the comment thread below it. That's all you need to know.
clock | December 21, 2007And the next generation cannot think in any other way. Because it is a natural way to think. We need to re-think our own outdated notions of intellectual property:
The Generational Divide in Copyright Morality
Recently, however, I spoke at a college. It was the first time I'd ever addressed an audience of 100 percent young people. And the demonstration bombed.
In an auditorium of 500, no matter how far my questions went down that garden path, maybe two hands went up. I just could not find a spot on the spectrum that would trigger these kids' morality alarm. They listened to each example,…
clock | December 9, 2007This weekend, with 70 degrees F in Chapel Hill, it would have bin a sin to remain indoors. So I didn't. But in the end, at twilight today, my daughter and I went to see Golden Compass, the movie whose first-weekend box-office earnings I wanted to boost.
I made sure not to read any reviews of the movie beforehand. I am, unlike most people who already wrote about it, one of those people who has never read the Pullman books on which the movie is based. Thus, like the majority of the target audience, I was a Pullman "virgin" and I wanted to watch it just like anyone else going out to see a…
clock | December 7, 2007Subscription-supported journals are like the qwerty keyboard:
Are there solutions? One reason for optimism is that changing how we pay the costs of disseminating research is not an all-or-nothing change like switching from qwerty to Dvorak keyboards. Some new open-access journals are very prestigious. Granting agencies are giving strong 'in-principle' support to open access publishing, and my last grant proposal's budget included a hefty amount for open-access publication charges. And libraries are looking for ways to escape the burden of subscription charges.
This is an interesting idea: an…
clock | November 26, 2007..that is adolescence. And the research on what adolescents find attractive. For a few years. Until they gain the gift of speech and hearing, look up, and find beauty in the mind. Unfortunately, some never do.
clock | November 22, 2007Group eating - how to carve a turkey.
Group eating - pros and cons of pack-hunting.
Group eating: not just vertebrates.
Group eating: calculate your inclusive fitness.
clock | November 12, 2007This is such a cool and novel idea - to let the public have a say in what gets patented and what not!
Check out the Peer-To-Patent homepage, download and read this paper by Beth Noveck (another SciFoo camper) which explains the process and sign up to participate.
clock | October 27, 2007Since I was gone to two meetings and nobody else can walk the dog as regularly as I can, the dog spent the week at Grandma's in Raleigh. Today I went to pick her up (the dog, that is) which placed me in the car at precisely the time of NPR's Talk of the Nation Science Friday (OK, I intentionally timed it that way). And lo and behold, there was Gavin Yamey on the radio! Hey, I thought, I know this guy! We had lunch together and we exchange at least a dozen e-mails every week.
Gavin is editor at PLoS Medicine and, as part of the Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human Development, he…
clock | October 24, 2007Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human Development (which I mentioned a few days ago here) was a great success. You can see all the articles associated with it here.
PLoS has collected all the poverty-related articles from its Journals on this nifty collections page.
A PLoS Medicine article - Food Insufficiency Is Associated with High-Risk Sexual Behavior among Women in Botswana and Swaziland - was one of the few that were highlighted at the event at NIH. Gavin has the details. Nick Anthis gives his angle.
clock | September 20, 2007I thought the LiveJournal debacle taught them a lesson. I guess not. Melissa posted about this a couple of weeks ago, and Tara did it today again because the issue has not been resolved yet. So did PZ Myers (Janet Stemwedel and Dr. Joan Bushwell also chime in). Facebook is deleting pictures of breastfeeding and banning users who post them. Now that Facebook is not just for college crowd, there are more and more moms and dads on the network, proudly showing off their offspring to the world. Including offspring in the moments of feeding bliss.
But, you know that in this country there are…
clock | September 14, 2007Unfortunately, due to the Murphy's Law of conference dates, I will have to miss this fantastic meeting, because I will at the time be at another fantastic meeting, but if you can come, please do - registration will be open online in a few days.
Autonomy, Singularity, Creativity
The conference theme is about bringing scientists and humanities scholars to talk about ways that science is changing human life.
November 8th, 9th, and 10th, the National Humanities Center will host the second ASC conference.
And the program features a Who's Who list:
Thursday, November 8th
Frans de Waal
Martha…
clock | July 26, 2007Tara of Aetiology, after reviewing Danica McKellar's book "Math Doesn't Suck", posted an exclusive blog interview with Danica, which you can (and should) read here.
clock | July 21, 2007Let's start with some Essential Facebook Readings of the day:
The Facebook Juggernaut...bitch!
Where are Facebook's Early Adopters Going?
Hmmm, Facebook: a new kind of press release
All your widgets are belong to Facebook
Why We're Like a Million Monkeys on Treadmills
Facebook: the new data black hole
What would get me (and others) to shut up about Facebook?
Why I Dropped Scoble and Seceded from the Hunt for Newer Shinier Things
My predictions for the near future, and I'll explain them below:
1) In a Clash Of Titans, Google turns iGoogle into something better than Facebook. Facebook is…
clock | July 9, 2007I had a great pleasure recently to be able to interview Senator - and now Democratic Presidential candidate - John Edwards for my blog. The interview was conducted by e-mail last week.
As I am at work and unable to moderate comments, the comment section is closed on this post, but will be open on the previous post (here) where I hope you will remain civil and stay on topic. You are also welcome to comment on this interview at several other places (e.g,. DailyKos, MyDD, TPMCafe, Science And Politics, Liberal Coalition, the Edwards campaign blog as well as, hopefully, your own blogs).
I…
clock | July 8, 2007TR Gregory of Genomicron blog is trying to help his parents as they sell their house and move to Zambia to do good work there, working with the Livingstone Performing Arts Foundation to try to rebuild the old Livingstone Theater.:
The Livingstone Performing Arts Foundation (LiPAF) mission is to create and perform traditional and original works of music, song and dance which reflect the history, culture, languages and ethnic background of Zambia. Operating as a not for profit organization, LiPAF will enrich the community by providing opportunities for employment, sponsorship of a variety of…
clock | July 2, 2007Books: "Rainbows End" by Vernor Vinge.
It's 2025 - What happened to science, politics and journalism? Well, you know I'd be intrigued. After all, a person whose taste in science fiction I trust (my brother) told me to read this and particularly to read it just before my interview with PLoS. So, of course I did (I know, it's been two months, I am slow, but I get there in the end).
'Rainbows End' is a novel-length expansion of the short story "Fast Times at Fairmont High" which he finished in August 2001 and first published in "The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge". The novel was written…
clock | June 30, 2007Early reviews of the movie are coming out. Definitely read Ezra Klein's take on it. And Amanda Marcotte's. Also Mark Hoofnagle. And why Rob does not want to see it.
Perhaps it is my upbringing, but the fact that one has to pay for medical treatment (and/or pay health insurance) was the second most appallingly surprising thing to me when I arrived in the USA (the sincere religiosity of so many natives was the first). After 16 years here, I still cannot really wrap my mind around it. The notion that anyone but doctors, nurses and patients can have a say in medical treatment, or that…