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drorzel | January 24, 2011They say that, in writing, you should steal from the best. Or, failing that, whoever's convenient. Like, say, John Scalzi.
I made a little headway on the book-in-progress over the weekend, which is nice. The problem is, the words I wrote on Saturday were the first new text generated since Tuesday the previous week. Not the one four days earlier, the one the week before that.
This is obviously unsustainable if I'm going to finish the book-in-progress in finite time, so I am, effective immediately, copying John's writing quota system: No Internet for me on any given day(*) until I write…
heathero | January 24, 2011A new paper in Science describes the discovery of a fundamentally new carbon cycling pathway in an extreme salt-loving archaea. Check out this summary of the paper for a quick morning microbe fix. I have to read the paper carefully myself before I can really talk about it, but I did want to share this right away.
cwilcox | January 23, 2011If you believe the maxim "the more the merrier," then you would have LOVED the session which I am proud to say was my first as a moderator. I wasn't alone - nine other fantastic people worked with me. Our collective goal was to do the impossible: to give a complete 101 on how to explain science in blog posts. Everything from style and tone to content even website design and marketing. All of it. In one hour. And, might I say so myself, we totally rocked it.
This session took unconference to the extreme. Instead of having us stand up and talk at the audience, we split into five groups each led…
esiegel | January 23, 2011"There was an old man with a beard,
Who said: 'It is just as I feared!
Two owls and a hen,
Four larks and a wren
Have all built their nests in my beard!" -Edward Lear
No better song for this week than an early, live version of Jeff Tweedy's
Bob Dylan's 49th Beard.Some of you have weighed in on my face after reading my interview in the Portland Tribune and seeing a recent picture.
The beard -- inspired by my 2009 astronomy class -- has been growing ever since, and it's time to head on out and show it off.
What's the occasion?
The 2011 West Coast Beard and Mustache Championships, happening…
gregladen | January 23, 2011The vikings are out of it, but it is still very important that the Packers lose. Because. Because they are cheese-heads, OK?
If you want more reasons than that, check this out:
Of course, when I lived in Milwaukee and had not yet even heard of Minnesota, it was like this (warning, gratuitous homophobia and stupidity):
Conclusion: People who make snarky sports videos SUCK!
drorzel | January 23, 2011offers a suggestion that I heartily endorse. He quotes James Joyner on the problem of feeling obliged to comment:
I frequently see a headline or story somewhere, decide it's not worth my time, and then get drawn into it hours later when I see conversations about it on Twitter or my blog feed reader. Sometimes, it's just a function of "well, this must be important so let me say something."
and counters with the obvious solution:
I have a solution: don't do it! If it's not something that you personally care much about, just skip it. I, for one, would actually enjoy the blogosphere more if…
gregladen | January 22, 2011I just love when Citizen Science results in a new finding. J. Goodbody reports on an Amateur Astrologer who found a new constellation! Click Here.
carr2d2 reviews Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World without God by Greg Graffin and Steve Olson, which she seems to like. Click here.
Glen Beck has figured out how to get some crazy person to put a bullet in the head of another liberal. No one's been shot yet but the death treats are coming along nicely. Click here.
gregladen | January 22, 2011It was so abrupt that MSNBC ads and promotions still include his show. It is being said by MSNBC officials that this has nothing to do with the Comcast takeover.
"There were many occasions, particularly in the last 2 1/2 years, where all that surrounded the show -- but never the show itself -- was just too much for me," Olbermann said in his exit statement. "But your support and loyalty and, if I may use the word, insistence, ultimately required that I keep going. My gratitude to you is boundless."
source
Check this out:
gregladen | January 22, 2011Days before this talk, journalist Naomi Klein was on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico, looking at the catastrophic results of BP's risky pursuit of oil. Our societies have become addicted to extreme risk in finding new energy, new financial instruments and more ... and too often, we're left to clean up a mess afterward. Klein's question: What's the backup plan?
cwilcox | January 21, 2011The ToBo Lab fish crew learning how to ID parrotfish from fish expert Rich Pyle aboard the Hi'ialakai
"Visual storytelling through science/nature photography" was the fourth session I attended at Science Online 2011. Run by ace photographer and journalist Allie Wilkinson and photography enthusiast and science writer Melody Dye, the session focused on how to enrich the public understanding of science through imagery. We often don't realize how important visual presentation is in communication. Whether in the form of a pic next to a headline or a photo essay, images are powerful means of…
gregladen | January 20, 2011Surprise!
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 11:30 a.m. EST, engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., confirmed that the NanoSail-D nanosatellite ejected from Fast Affordable Scientific and Technology Satellite, FASTSAT. The ejection event occurred spontaneously and was identified this morning when engineers at the center analyzed onboard FASTSAT telemetry. The ejection of NanoSail-D also has been confirmed by ground-based satellite tracking assets
Now, NASA is asking HAMs to help:
Amateur ham operators are asked to listen for the signal to verify NanoSail-D is…
gregladen | January 20, 2011
Fountain Lady, Imma let you be upset and all in a minute, but right now I've got to say that there is not a single one of the 37 million people who watched you fall in the water 'cuz you were texting and not watching where you were going who has not at some time or another in their life ran into a light pole or stepped off a curb they didn't see or something similar. The only difference between you and the rest of us is that your misstep matched a modern meme ... misadventure due to texting ... and it got totally YouTubed. Rather than being upset, you should do what that homeless guy did…
gregladen | January 20, 2011Van Jones lays out a case against plastic pollution from the perspective of social justice. Because plastic trash, he shows us, hits poor people and poor countries "first and worst," with consequences we all share no matter where we live and what we earn. At TEDxGPGP, he offers a few powerful ideas to help us reclaim our throwaway planet.
cwilcox | January 20, 2011When I was a child, I picked up a book called Last Chance to See. You've probably heard of the author - he's world renowned for his humorous science fiction which has secured his place in the hearts of geeks everywhere. But this book wasn't about travelling the universe with a trusted towel; it wasn't even fiction. It was the true story of what happens when you drag a witty, intelligent writer around with a nerdy biologist to encounter species on the brink of extinction.
Douglas Adams did more than just recount his travels around the world with Mark Carwardine. He brought conservation to…
gregladen | January 20, 2011I don't know about this ...
There's an angry divisive tension in the air that threatens to make modern politics impossible. Elizabeth Lesser explores the two sides of human nature within us (call them "the mystic" and "the warrior") that can be harnessed to elevate the way we treat each other. She shares a simple way to begin real dialogue -- by going to lunch with someone who doesn't agree with you, and asking them three questions to find out what's really in their hearts.
gregladen | January 20, 2011Just because, I mean, wouldn't you want to know who she'd appoint to the supreme court?
cwilcox | January 20, 2011As an avid lover of the outdoors, I was super excited to see that there was an entire session at Science Online 2011 dedicated to discussing technology's place in the wilderness.
All of the panelists are well versed in taking tech out of the city. Miriam Goldstein has used technology on multiple expeditions to study the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, taking the internet audience with her across the Pacific in search of trash. Danielle Lee is a passionate outdoor enthusiast, encouraging people in urban areas to experience the wilderness. Karen James is perhaps best known for her work with the…
cwilcox | January 19, 2011This might sound narcissistic, but ever since some time early in high school, I've believed that someday, somehow, I will write a book. What kind of book keeps shifting as I grow up and my outlook on life changes, but the overall theory that I will eventually be an author has persisted. So of course, when I saw that there was a session about how to create "a popular science book: using the Web from the initial idea to pitching to writing to selling," I simply had to attend.
The session was moderated by blogging, book-writing superstars Brian Switek (Written in Stone), Sheril Kirshenbaum (The…
gregladen | January 19, 2011Of these three items, two will be of interest to you. Can't tell which two, though:
"My roomate lives like a horseradish" ... check out this web site that accumulates funny auto-correct mishaps.
Bill Gates beats Pope, Dali Lama in Popularity Contest (see this) just as Windows stops being THE operating system (see this).
Did you know that Joan Rivers got tossed off of Fox for criticizing Sarah Palin? See this.
dgmacarthur | January 18, 2011
After a semi-hiatus due to various distractions, I'm about to restart blogging in earnest again over at the new home of Genetic Future on Wired Science.
Please update your RSS feed: my new one is here. And a reminder: you can always keep track of new posts here as well as other nuggets of genomics goodness by following me on Twitter.
Finally, farewell to my ScienceBlogs colleagues, and especially to Erin Johnson for her hard work in holding the place together.
See you over at Wired!