There’s almost no on answering the Collective Imagination Question today, so this is your chance! Click here.
And while you are over there, have a look at my latest post on Japanese Ring Tone Therapy.
There’s almost no on answering the Collective Imagination Question today, so this is your chance! Click here.
And while you are over there, have a look at my latest post on Japanese Ring Tone Therapy.
The following is from a classified US intelligence document regarding Wikileaks:
Continue reading Wikileaks is a major security threat
I knew a guy who who was a highly placed person at Harvard College, and had gone to the College for his undergraduate education. I’ll call him “Dean.” Prior to his attending Harvard, he had already become a major fan of Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau, of course, went to Harvard. So when Dean was accepted to Harvard, being a major Thoreau fan, he endeavored to find out what room in the Freshmen Halls (at Harvard, “Hall” = “Dorm” for Freshmen, “House” = “Dorm” for Sophomores and beyond), was Thoreau’s. I am not sure what records or resources he used to try to figure this out, but he managed to do so. And it turned out this was to be the easy part.
I am avoiding commenting on the recent paper “Science blogs and public engagement with science: practices, challenges, and opportunities” by Inna Kouper (here). Bora has made extensive comments on the paper that I recommend (here) and as usual, Bora has done an excellent job linking to all the other stuff on the blogosphere about it.
The reason I avoided commenting on the paper is that I didn’t like it a whole lot, but did not want to get into a huge blog fight about it. I have mixed feelings about the communications field as it is, and I’m not sure sometimes if what I’m looking at is intellectually or academically unsatisfying or if I’m just not tuning in correctly to the material.
Anyway, the paper has been discussed widely enough that I thought you should know about it. The link above will get you to the original. My main two reactions to the paper are: 1) The sampling (which blogs are looked at) is not what I would have done; and 2) I find it fascinating that a communications paper about the blogosphere would not site the relevant blogging about the topic, and stick entirely to academic journal articles.
I’ve lost track of who, but someone out there suggested that this paper would be more valuable as a commentary than as a peer reviewed paper. Maybe. But if you read Bora’s post on it, you’ll see that the problem here was not the peer review process or the peer review context, but rather, the apparent failure of the journal editor(s) to apply the reviews that were carried out.
On an unrelated note, check out this one at Almost Diamonds, where Stephanie Zvan looks at genre.
I just heard from Richard Greenberg (NASA) that National Geographic’s Naked Science show will be talking about Alien Life on April 1st. (There is room for a joke or two about the date, I suppose!) Part of the show will involve Richard talking about Europa.
You may remember the Europa-Richard Green connection (and all the politics and controversy, and interesting science connected with that) from this review of Richard’s excellent book.
… and other matters related to dust ups on the blogosphere. At Quiche Moraine.
Or at least that is what we may infer from the recent legislative activity in one of America’s most socially backwards states, Oklahoma.
Continue reading Hate Crimes are OK in OK
The most unpatriotic woman in America, Michele Bachmann, is starting to get all loud and obnoxious again (she goes in cycles, like red tide and bad influenza years). Now she is saying that if a health care bill is passed under certain procedures that she happens to not like, it should be ignored, and American Citizens should not pay their taxes.
In the following video, skip forward to about 19 minutes and listen for about two minutes or so to get the gist. Also, see this writeup.
Continue reading Michele Bachmann Tells her Supporters to Break the Law, Again.
I am annoyed with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Continue reading The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
I have several dark things to report. Two really bad things happened to me this evening; Some news about how bad Microsoft is; And an underwater robot meets Davey Jones’ locker.
Continue reading What I had for dinner
It was already known that we were totally doomed, but now there is a new and exciting scenario. In this one, comets rain down on us from the Ooort Cloud, said comets loosened by contact and interaction with a star called Gliese 710.
Continue reading We are totally doomed
“But they are sinners,” I can hear the preachers and politicians say. “They are choosing a life of sin for which they must be punished.” My scientist and medical friends have shared with me a reality that so many gay people have confirmed, I now know it in my heart to be true. No one chooses to be gay. Sexual orientation, like skin color, is another feature of our diversity as a human family.
Robin Carnahan, a Democrat, has a fighting chance of beating the incumbant Republican, Roy Blunt, in the upcoming Senate race in Missouri.
According to Rasmussen:
Continue reading Robin Carnahan for Senate in Missouri
A few days back, the phone rang and I stupidly answered it. I usually don’t unless I know who it is, but lately I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls from health insurance adjusters and therapists and whatever-whatever, so I’ve taken to actually answering the damn thing sometimes.