Technology
clock | May 29, 2009I'll be going to IASP next week, one of several people reporting from it for Science In The Triangle. We have organized our coverage strategically - I will be there for a couple of events on Tuesday and all day Wednesday. I'll be posting here and on Twitter and Science In The Triangle will aggregate everyone's posts in one place.
What is IASP?:
The International Association of Science Parks (IASP) is a worldwide network of science and technology parks. IASP connects science park professionals from across the globe and provides services that drive growth and effectiveness for members.
IASP…
pontiff | May 27, 2009Katamari Damacy is a very cool game, if for no other reason than it is a game in which "scale" changes. The basic idea is that you roll a ball around which picks up objects that aren't too big for the ball and then the ball grows. Usually you are racing a clock to make your ball big enough. I know, I know, it sounds crazy, but it's highly addictive.
But this, this is way cool. A controller for the game which is....a big shiny metal ball:
gregladen | May 27, 2009Why would you want to install Ubuntu as a "server" rather than as a desktop? The simple answer is: If you need to ask, you don't want to do it. But, there is a more nuanced answer as well: By installing a server, you get to a) have loads of fun installing a server; b) learn things about the system you never thought were even there to learn; c) have your own server, so serve stuff in your very own home, so when The Internet goes down you can continue to pretend like there's an internet. Just a much, much smaller and less interesting one.
And, if you happen to have anything to serve up in…
clock | May 27, 2009There have been quite a few posts over the last few days about commenting, in particular about posting comments, notes and ratings on scientific papers. But this also related to commenting on blogs and social networks, commenting on newspaper online articles, the question of moderation vs. non-moderation, and the question of anonymity vs. pseudonymity vs. RL identity.
You may want to re-visit this old thread first, for introduction on commenting on blogs.
How a 1995 court case kept the newspaper industry from competing online by Robert Niles goes back into history to explain why the comments…
hrynyshyn | May 27, 2009Peter Behr at Scientific American has a wonderfully clear explanation of just how the cap and trade mechanism prescribed by the Waxman-Markey bill will work, should it make it through Congress. It's not rocket science, but my suspicion is that a lot of observers feel intimidated by the concept and don't make an effort to get their minds around it.
Which is a shame because it's largely a matter of simple math, and Behr turns to Harvard University economist Robert Stavins for help. Here are the essential facts:
In 2016, the U.S. economy would produce an estimated 7.3 billion tons of CO2, based…
clock | May 26, 2009Last year in May, when I visited Belgrade, I gave interviews with Radio Belgrade, talking about science publishing, Open Access, science communication and science blogging. The podcasts of these interviews - yes, they are in Serbian! - are now up:
Part 1
Part 2
I know that this blog has some ex-Yugoslavs in its regular audience, people who can understand the language. I hope you enjoy the interviews and spread the word if you like them.
edyong | May 26, 2009For many of us, the most memorable bits of school chemistry classes were lessons where we ignited metal salts over a Bunsen burner to produce brightly coloured flames, from the lilac of potassium to the distinctive red of lithium. Now a group of chemists from Harvard University have found a way of using these colourful flames to transmit coded information.
Working in the lab of legendary chemist George Whitesides, Samuel Thomas III has developed the 'infofuse', a strip of flammable paper patterned with metal salts. As the strip burns, the metals change the colour of the flames, creating…
gregladen | May 22, 2009 Pope Benedict XVI has entered the world of social networking sites and smartphones with a Vatican portal that includes Facebook and iPhone applications.
The Pope2You Web site was launched Thursday and allows Facebook users to send virtual postcards with photos of Benedict. An application for iPhone and iPod Touch gives surfers video and audio news on his travels and speeches, as well as on Catholic events worldwide.
The new portal is the latest update in the Vatican's efforts to broaden the pope's audience... bla bla bla
source
I understand that the first facebook picture the holy father…
thusspakezuska | May 21, 2009It can't be avoided. Once a year you make the trek to the gynecologist's office for the annual exam. For various reasons, the whole experience is extremely unpleasant for me, and yet I go, because I try to take care of my health. And hey, I have health insurance! And it pays for the annual exam. Lucky me, I don't even need a referral to see my gynecologist. Though I do get to pay the higher copay for "specialists". This is especially maddening as my primary care physician, a woman I respect and dearly love, could do the exam for me - and does, for many of her other patients - but my…
edyong | May 20, 2009
DNA is most famous as a store of genetic information, but Shawn Douglas from the Dana-Farber Cancer has found a way to turn this all-important molecule into the equivalent of sculptor's clay. Using a set of specially constructed DNA strands, his team has fashioned a series of miniscule sculptures, each just 20-40 nanometres in size. He has even sculpted works that assemble from smaller pieces, including a stunning icosahedron - a 20-sided three-dimensional cage, built from three merged parts.
Douglas's method has more in common with block-sculpting that a mere metaphor. Sculptors will often…
gregladen | May 19, 2009Both, I hear, are rather litigious at times (man, am I ever going to get sued). So, when Microsoft patents Harry Potter's Magic Wand, how will that go?
"Newly-disclosed USPTO documents show that Microsoft is seeking patent protection for a 'Magic Wand,' a device with various gizmos and sensors that can manipulate and interact with its environment, including video and holographic images, while using biometrics to connect with the user. 'Even the most pragmatic individual,' explains Microsoft, 'would have trouble arguing against the merits or utility of, say, a magic wand that actually…
evolvingthoughts | May 18, 2009Anyone who has had to order textbooks for students knows how expensive they are. Here's something that I hope may end up a trend amongst academics: Creative Commons licensed texts. P.D. Magnus wrote a logic textbook, forall x, which he made available under the CC license; and now David Morris of the University of Lethbridge has used it as the basis on which to write an abstract mathematics textbook, Proofs and Concepts. With luck, this is a new dynamic of the new media, that will benefit education even if it takes away some revenue from academic publishers. For work that is fully created (…
hrynyshyn | May 15, 2009While I attend (and cover for SEED) the North American Summit of the The Climate Project -- a reunion of members of Al Gore's army of climate change slide show presenters -- this weekend, I won't be posting much. Not that I ever post much on the weekends. Meanwhile, however, there's a new mini-collective blog at ScienceBlogs, to which I am contributing. The Energy Grid blog tackles issues "revolving around issues of energy security and environmental sustainability." Royal Dutch Shell is paying us to write weekly responses to questions posed by a moderator, one Jonas Meckling, a research…
gregladen | May 13, 2009First, the video, then the discussion:
Sean claims that 'cat' is short for 'concatenate' ... which is what I always thought (I'm sure 'cat' is 'concatinate' in at least one relatively common computer language other than bash).
If you man cat you do indeed get a statement that says "cat - concatenate files and print on the standard output."
It has become fashionable over the last few years for shell programmers to eschew cat. It is often the case that using cat is redundant with some other way of doing something which is seen as better for some reason, but that reason is often rather obscure…
clock | May 13, 2009You may have heard about a recent Wikipedia hoax:
A WIKIPEDIA hoax by a 22-year-old Dublin student resulted in a fake quote being published in newspaper obituaries around the world.
The quote was attributed to French composer Maurice Jarre who died at the end of March.
It was posted on the online encyclopedia shortly after his death and later appeared in obituaries published in the Guardian, the London Independent, on the BBC Music Magazine website and in Indian and Australian newspapers
Yup. Journalists check their sources carefully. Especially the despised untrustworthy Wikipedia, only a…
pontiff | May 13, 2009Over at TechFlash there is an article about some words Ed Lazowska, professor extraordinaire here in the computer science & engineering department at UW, had for the Seattle tech scene (see also xconomy):
"It seems to me that the issue with this state is that we are one big happy family in which everybody is doing extremely well. Everyone's college program is above average. And everyone's company is above average. And everyone's venture fund is above average. And if you go a little bit more above average than the next guy, then they get all Dirty Harry and whack you down. It is a state of…
drorzel | May 13, 2009I'm currently the president of the local chapter of Sigma Xi (an honor society, not a fraternity, thankyouverymuch), and as such have been collecting RSVP's and dues for this year's new inductees. As part of this process, I've been struck by how many students don't have checks-- I've had a couple of students give me cash, one cashier's check from a local bank, a couple of checks drawn on parental accounts, and one check from the roommate of a nominee.
The first couple, I wrote off as individual eccentricities, but after a few more, and a little thought, I realized that this pattern is…
gregladen | May 12, 2009Not all proprietary software is actually evil. However, very few people who prefer proprietary software over OpenSource software will admit how evil it can be. So this is like having two societies. In one, by convention and social norms we don't hit the kids. In the other, we spank the kids now and then, and this is acceptable. In both societies, there is violent abuse of children but it is never accepted.
Then, in the no-spanking society, violent attack on children that annoy us continues to be shunned and illegal, but in the spanking society, spankers defend all violence against children…
gregladen | May 12, 2009
Duncan Watts at Yahoo Research in New York City and a few pals studied the time of day at which around 3000 individuals at a European university sent emails over an 83-day period as well as the email habits of over 122,000 e-mailers at a US university over a 2-year period.
They found two distinct types of emailer. They termed the first "day labourers" because they tended to send emails throughout the normal working day between 0900 and 1800 but not at other times. The second group they called "emailaholics" because these people sent emails throughout the waking hours from 0900 to 0100.…