worldsfair | August 15, 2006A list that first appeared here. I'm interested in hearing out other contributions.
Banjo On My Knee
Bleeding Heart
Foot In Mouth
Dick Head
Shit for Brains
Get this Monkey off my Back
He's a Leg Man
Space Between The Ears
Baby Snacks
White Meat Only
Biggest Asshole
bcohen | August 14, 2006Of course you haven't. What a silly question. I'm the only one who knows about this unearthed gem.
Now what of Science and The Simpsons? We've already blogged here at The World's Fair about classroom Simpsons and science utility, but of course that can only be a start. Let's do this slow and let the audience drive it, after I put in the first: Duffless.
Duffless is 4th Season, which is to say, at the pinnacle of the run, where every episode is super upper echelon. It's a split-plot one, where the one half is Homer-centric, with Homer quitting drinking for a month; the other theme is…
worldsfair | August 14, 2006Timing is everything. That (I'm pretty sure) was the case of my first piece getting into Maisonneuve. And again, it is something that comes up with consistent frequency in my quest to publish. For instance, my gnome piece (shouldn't everyone have a gnome piece?), is another example of this notion, except that in this case, timing worked against me. Here, McSweeney's gave it the pass due to their having another "sentient gnome piece" published already. Which makes perfect sense because if there are too many, well, then a literary endeavour is bound to develop a reputation, a tradition even,…
worldsfair | August 11, 2006In lieu of the conference coming up, here are some choice readings that I've had the pleasure of presenting at either terry.ubc.ca or the SCQ:
HIV/AIDS F.A.Q. (RIVERS-BOWERMAN REMIX) by Mike Rivers-Bowerman
AN ANNOTATED TERRY ENTRY ABOUT THE OSCARS by Jessica Klug, Jessica Olsen, Shagufta Pasta, Anupam Singhal, Hilary Smith, and Joscelyne Yu
AIDS/HIV: TREATMENT VERSUS PREVENTION by Anne Nguyen
(As noted earlier today) A GAME OF TWENTY QUESTIONS BETWEEN A HUNGRY HIV-INFECTED, EXPECTANT ETHIOPIAN MOTHER, AND AN AFFLUENT NORTH AMERICAN, WHERE IT'S CLEAR THAT THE NORTH AMERICAN ISN'T VERY GOOD…
worldsfair | August 11, 2006This has to be one of my favourites, written pretty much the day after I listened to Stephen Lewis talk. Anyway, it also ties in with the start of the International AIDS Conference this Sunday. I'm hoping our Canadian government has some choice announcements to make at the beginning, but I guess we'll just see.
AMERICAN: Is it an animal, mineral or vegetable?
ETHIOPIAN: Yes sir, I believe it is all three, sir.
AMERICAN: Hmm... Can I get it online?
ETHIOPIAN: I'm sorry, sir. I do not understand your meaning, sir. On where, sir?
AMERICAN: Online... You know, like at eBay or Amazon?
ETHIOPIAN…
bcohen | August 10, 2006Scienceblogs, as is widely known, is devoted mostly to fashion and men's neckwear. This makes sense: the most pressing concerns in the scientific and technological landscape have, for many years, been dominated by practitioner questions about what to wear, how to wear it, when to wear it, and why. I can't even tell you how many proposals I've had to referee for NSF on this very theme. (Yes, Coturnix, that was me, Anon Referee #4, on NSF #38872GT4-2003; Sorry Tara, I just didn't buy the Intellectual Merit of your #9927K654-2005 -- don't shoot the messenger!). This link should be tops for…
worldsfair | August 10, 2006Mr. Vonnegut has quite the extensive collection of silkcreens you can purchase at his website, and even includes a genetically flavoured piece, called "One-Liner #3 Genome"
As well, here's an interesting one called "Intelligent Design," which I don't get - although maybe that is the whole point?
bcohen | August 10, 2006
(Click here for the large version)
What's all this then?
P.F. #1 has become born and grown and lived and shown its charity and, to quote Whitman, it will forever "be curious, not judgmental." It has not been solved. Near 200 contributions have been made, and near 10,000 people have gandered.
Where do we go from here? We weren't being coy earlier when we said the puzzle was bigger than us. We'd like to say it was now bigger than Sudoku but, as Kerouac would have it (certainly quoting someone else anyhow), comparisons are odious. We've not offered a clue in these sentences, please…
bcohen | August 9, 2006Let's consider this a post-script to Dave's recent and well-received Children's Book forum, though one that stretches the boundary of a "science" posting (and calls into question my placement of it under "culture wars"). But I did post a comment at Tara's contribution to the Children's book post at Aetiology (here), though never got around to doing so here.
So Encyclopedia Brown is back and more political than you might remember, with Encyclopedia Brown And the Mysterious Presidency of George W. Bush. This is sort of an advertisement I've gotten myself into, but the material's worth it.…
worldsfair | August 9, 2006(previous Stuff I've Been Reading)
Books Read:
"The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup" by Various (finished)
"The Educated Imagination" by Northrop Frye (finished)
"A Man Without a Country" by Kurt Vonnegut (finished)
"Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris (finished)
"thinking with type" by Ellen Lupton (lovingly looked through)
"Now One Foot, Now the Other" by Tomie dePaola (finished, children's book)
Books Bought:
"Making Things Public - Atmospheres of Democracy" by Bruno Latour, et al.
"Stolen Harvest" by Vandana Shiva (started)
"Vermeer in Bosnia" by Lawrence Weschler
So here I am…
bcohen | August 9, 2006Ode to "Report on the Barnhouse Effect" (1950).
The "Report on the Barnhouse Effect" was Vonnegut's first published story, appearing in Collier's. That was while he was working at GE in public relations, and after he was a chemistry major, an anthropology grad, a Dresden fire-bombing survivor, and a Cat's Cradle writer (though not publisher, yet).
Now, about the Barnhouse story. I first read it in the very best short story collection I've ever had, First Fiction, which is an "anthology of the first published stories by famous writers." (Apparently you can get it for a dollar at ABE.…
worldsfair | August 9, 2006Since we were on the topic of replication yesterday, here is a gem of a personal ad I found several years back.
For the record, it should be pretty clear that the ad was not composed by me. Anyway, this often gets used as a slide before discussion related to either replication or PCR (polymerase chain reaction). If you see any others of similar intent, please pass them on. These are great visual aids.
worldsfair | August 8, 2006So I'm in the midst of trying to write a book, with a genetics theme and all. And so far, things look pretty good. I'm having fun anyway. But this is not what this post is about. This post is actually about a previous attempt to write a book, which was tentatively entitled "Towards Hannah: an Unusual Primer on Genetics and Biotechnology." Anyway the main pitch behind that book project was to focus on about a two year period of my life and use it as a backdrop to talk genetics.
It even got representation which was neat at the time (and includes the Dr. Phil episode), but ultimately, the…
bcohen | August 8, 2006This is from chapter 15 (The Value of Philosophy) of B. Russell's (1912) The Problems of Philosophy . A friend sent it to me a while back, asking if I thought the sentiment was relevant for any President in particular. I just came across it again while looking for something else. As it always happens.
The private world of instinctive interests is a small one, set in the midst of a great and powerful world which must, sooner or later, lay our private world in ruins. Unless we can so enlarge our interests as to include the whole outer world, we remain like a garrison in a beleagured fortress…
worldsfair | August 8, 2006Natural disasters figure prominently for both.
Neither necessarily follows international conventions.
In their own ways - doing their part to increase carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
When they speak, it's kind of surreal.
I gather, both on the same page with this stem cell business.
Essentially kind of hard to explain rationally.
bcohen | August 8, 2006There is a triple theme here, circling around cabinets of curiosity, which I'll get around to eventually. How about a picture first.
Frontispiece from Museum Wormianum depicting Ole Worm's cabinet of curiosities
But first. A few days ago we linked to a site on the "Longest Running Scientific Experiment," at the Athananius Kircher Society. I'm still not sure what the site is, or the Society I should say, but it's, let's say, curious. Someone--Wamba--commented that it reminded them of the Museum of Jurassic Technology, which was just right. What a perfect connection. The MJT was the…
bcohen | August 7, 2006How great is this book? It's that great, that's how much.
But beyond superficial (and meaningless) qualifiers like "great," this book does a remarkable job of fascinating me, interesting students, and standing alone as entertaining fiction. I use it in my class on Science, Technology, and Progress, and since I just re-ordered it for the new semester it reminded to make a point of asking how to characterize a book that you can read a dozen times and still enjoy.
I was looking up some quotes and old reviews, and realized that The Vonnegut Web is an extraordinary site, collecting, collating…
worldsfair | August 7, 2006Example 1: It was difficult to get motivated knowing that both Season 9 of Friends and Season 4 of Felicity came out on DVD at the same time.
This particular excuse would be completely ineffective. The review panel would need to be told that Season 9 of Friends is where Joey and Rachel almost get together and that Season 4 of Felicity is where Felicity finally graduates and decides on whether she loves Noel or Ben.
Example 2: I've been mentally drained - thinking about the Avian Flu Virus has given me a serious case of the heebie-jeebies.
Scientific grant reviewers are generally very…
worldsfair | August 7, 2006I gave a talk to some folks at UBC's School of Music this past weekend, on biology, genetics and the odd reference to music. One of things I mentioned (with an auditary theme) was the interesting case of the use of Nude mice as vectors for the production of human ears (image below).
I usually talk about this, because it's a good example of how media can often coerse the reader/viewer to come to premature conclusions. You see, I find most of the audience will make one of two responses: either an "EEWWW" response, or a "THAT'S COOL" response. In any event, you would of gotten the sense from…
bcohen | August 4, 2006Dave and I have been talking about Mountain Top Coal Removal, in two parts so far (one, two) of an on-going discussion, and I had yet to mention this article from early July, in The Roanoke Times. (That's southwestern Virginia.)
Since Dave just got back from the Canadian Rockies, I wanted to get back on topic. But it's Friday and I don't wanna type. So, here are some great pictures from that Roanoke Times piece instead of long, rambling discourse on mountains and energy and ecology and culture. Gene Dalton is the photographer.
Incidentally, Dink Shackleford, the guy below in the…