worldsfair | October 25, 2006Yes, Ultraman or "Paul", our new intern could certainly stick it to Mr. Norris. Especially, if what PZ writes about Mr. Norris is true.
If you don't believe, then watch the movie below the fold, which has a friend of Paul, who goes by the name of Ultraman Taro doing some serious butt kicking. And get this - Taro is suppose to be the funny one!
Man, that Paul must be one bad dude!
Of course, this leads to the inevitable debate (possibly like before where the nuances of epistemology can be discussed) that queries - who exactly would win in a battle between Chuck Norris and Ultraman (er I…
worldsfair | October 25, 2006Yesterday I had an opportunity to listen to and to say hello to Ronald Wright. This is a fellow who has crossed a number of disciplinary boundaries in terms of his writing prowess, and winning lots of literary awards along the way.
He's trained in Archeology and Anthropology, and as far as last night was concerned, focused on two of his books: "The Scientific Romance", and "A Short History of Progress."
Both are examplary and worth picking up. His language is just the sort that is lovely to read. In fact, I made previous comments to his bok "A Short History" in a previous post, but I'll…
bcohen | October 24, 2006Adam Gopnik writes in the Oct. 23rd New Yorker about Darwin's writing period after the Beagle and before Origins (which is to say, roughly through the 1840s and into the later 1850s). His essay is more or less an appreciation for Darwin's literary skill, that skill being that he could present his points in Origins in just the right way. Such a task was not trivial. With Gopnik's appreciation - which, I don't know entirely why Adam Gopnik, who generally writes about other stuff (you know, like France and stuff) is writing this, but be that as it may - you get a nice feel for the importance…
worldsfair | October 24, 2006
So I see Ben has put up a post on the various reviews out there on Dawkins' book, and I noted one comment saying:
This is utterly ridiculous. The distilled argument here is that the discussion of religion and god(s) should include only believers. Perhaps you should think about that for 3 or 4 seconds.
I won't comment further on the post itself, since I happen to think Ben does a good job in raising a valid point, but I will say to the commenter to maybe lay off the coffee for a while (although I will note that he did weigh in again in a much calmer fashion).
Anyway, I bring this up more as…
bcohen | October 22, 2006I saw two more reviews of Dawkins' new and widely discussed The God Delusion recently. Both were critical about the book. Both had points that I thought were very well made. One review is by Terry Eagleton, in the London Review of Books. The other is by Marilynne Robinson, in the November 2006 Harper's (not on-line). (Interesting to the Scienceblogs community itself is my completely different interpretation of Eagleton's review than PZ's.) Eagleton starts by saying this:
Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have…
worldsfair | October 22, 2006The question humming around ScienceBlogs at this particular moment is about Science TV, so I thought I would pipe up for one of me and my kid's current favourite shows: Peep and the Big Wide World.
This is maybe a little different from other Sb responses since mine is very much directed towards your 6 and under set. But, you know, I like the show so much that I even made mention of it in the very first piece for the Science Creative Quarterly:
On most mornings, somewhere in the landscape of children's television, you can hear Taj Mahal singing and Joan Cusack narrating - not about sharing…
worldsfair | October 20, 2006
So a couple months ago, I sat down with some science educator types and we had a bit of a tete a tete over the Science Creative Quarterly, and how surreal it seems to have this sizable readership growing. We also discussed how lovely it is that sites like Boingboing or Digg will benefit that attempt to gain readership, with the odd link here and there.
From this, we also kind of went on to discuss how interesting and useful sites like Boingboing and Digg are in of themselves, and particularly great at finding material, graphics, media, anecdotes, (whatever the case may be) that fit nicely…
worldsfair | October 19, 2006With the "dressing up as a dinosaur makes for a challenging interview" post yesterday, I thought it would be kind of interesting to hear what other odd or creative interview techniques are out there.
I know for myself, when I hire undergrad or grad students for my various science education projects, I often need to hire a few at a time, as in hire a team. This generally is about 3 to 10 students hired to work together. Because of this, I think my interview technique is a little different, in that I intersperse pertinent questions, with less pertinent questions. I guess, just to see how…
bcohen | October 19, 2006"January 19, 2009: Monsanto announces scientific breakthrough: Genetically Modified Chicken Eggs that will save the world. Patent Pending..."
Speaking of animal biotechnology, I think the sub-text of this video is: which is more frightening? GM chickens run amock? Or a year 2009 with someone called President Cheney? (And, it's in keeping with this other breakthrough.)
Ole Monsanto, maybe the only thing left for them is a Halliburton connect.
worldsfair | October 19, 2006Ah, if only the science of the google search engine was a little less elusive. But check this out. I was google mining for info on our new intern, and noticed that if you're on google.ca (googling in Canada), and type in the word "Paul," this is what you'll currently get:
Note that the second ranked hit, is the official Government of Canada site for our Prime Minister Stephen Harper. This is pretty amusing, since our previous Prime Minister was the liberal Paul Martin.
What's even richer though, is if you google for "Stephen" and note him appearing further down and first only as the head…
worldsfair | October 18, 2006
So after an intensive search, Ben and I have agreed on who to hire as an intern, whose sole task is to look after the upcoming Puzzle Fantastica #2. So please say hello to Ultraman, or just "Paul" as he is called around these parts.
Because the criticism for our previous PF#1 was pretty clear, we wanted to make sure the person we hired was of an exemplary nature, in so far as puzzle design and as well as work ethic. Plus, Paul can very easily beat the crap out of anybody he wants.
For example, here is a clip from the interview:
Ben, of course, is dressed up as the dinosaur (in my view…
worldsfair | October 18, 2006
Although, of course, they were made from recycled cardboard boxes. Ben, you see, was a big fan of that "Cars" movie that came out a while ago, and so wanted to have his birthday (held on Saturday)centre around a car theme.
So here was where I was a little torn. Even though you're dealing with a young child's brithday party, you still kind of want to make sure you stick to certain principles, such as maybe be sensitive to the whole car emissions thing. I know I know, it's just a birthday party, but when you're heading a campus wide project where you're teaching sustainability principles…
worldsfair | October 17, 2006Well, didn't know about this, but quite interesting nevertheless. That's right folks - the Duckbill is getting the royal genomic treatment. Looks like the sequencing has been done (6X coverage), and now they're looking to piece those contigs together. (link)
I'd be curious to see what the creationist folks would say about this - the platypus being a favourite with them. Maybe some of the DNA sequences translates into scripture?
(Thanks to Joanne)
worldsfair | October 17, 2006
In so far, as one of the hats I wear, yesterday I had a meeting to discuss collaborations that would provide a visual art experience capable of focusing on a concept of sustainability. I was hanging out and chatting to some of the folks at our Fine Arts department to see if there are any cool ideas where an event or activity could be launched, that had the added of effect of folks talking about things of a sustainable nature.
Most important, of course, was the idea that this event could somehow reach out to the "non-converted." That is somehow appeal to a broader audience, and not the…
bcohen | October 17, 2006First, check out this Washington Post article explaining that the "FDA Is Set To Approve Milk, Meat From Clones."
Second, note that there's a symposium being held in DC tomorrow, "Animal Biotechnology: Considering Ethical Issues," sponsored by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology and Michigan State University. My office-mate, Michael Rodemeyer -- he a Senior Consultant for the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology -- is moderating the event. So, while the two sides of the debate about animal biotech are reduced into newpaper story format at the WP to say that its (a) farmers and…
worldsfair | October 16, 2006Published, no less, in Nature. Except that this is, of course, a shameless plug for the Science Creative Quarterly, which today has a convincing fake/joke paper on the subject.
And how can one be certain that it's fake? Easy - just look at the author of the paper.
worldsfair | October 16, 2006I see Ben has requested sciencebloggers to weigh in on another musical question. This time to see whether there is any consensus in choosing a house band for our consortium - you know, the sort that could maybe write a song for us, perform during Christmas parties and the like.
Which I think is going to be a formidable challenge - maybe not formidable like figuring out what to do about North Korea, etc - but man, do people ever get fiesty when it comes to musical preferences.
But I think I've got a good suggestion, not one that I'm proud of, and in truth, it's one that I am even a little…
bcohen | October 16, 2006We need a house band. Scienceblogs needs a house band. And I know what you're all thinking: Phish is the obvious choice. Now, while I admire the force of your collective appreciation for Phish - I'm astounded by it, in fact, by all the bloggers' recognition of greatness - I actually have to argue against them as the Sb House Band. A few reasons:
Whereas, it is true, they exemplify all that is good about music, the experience of music, the aura of performance, the construction of art, and so on. I can't argue against any of that. They are all that. The very notion of creativity and…
bcohen | October 14, 2006This graphic would suggest so. And on the heels of Friday the 13th, we wonder, we really wonder.
Being Friday the 13th and all - a short list of scientific papers on the subject of the day at hand.
worldsfair | October 13, 2006From the ever entertaining (and, of course, useful), PUBMED search:
Radun I, Summala H.Females do not have more injury road accidents on Friday the 13th.
BMC Public Health. 2004 Nov 16;4:54.
Exadaktylos AK, Sclabas G, Siegenthaler A, Eggli S, Kohler HP, Luterbacher J. Friday the 13th and full-moon: the "worst case scenario" or only superstition? Am J Emerg Med. 2001 Jul;19(4):319-20.
Veale D. Friday the 13th and obsessive compulsive disorder. BMJ. 1995 Oct 14;311(7011):963-4.
Scanlon TJ, Luben RN, Scanlon FL, Singleton N.Is Friday the 13th bad for your health? BMJ. 1993 Dec 18-25;307(6919):…