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grrlscientist | August 19, 2007tags: SciBlings, photography
After assisting Mo as he purchased a huge camera in NYC during the get-together with my fellow SciBlings (I suffered intense camera envy because my own camera was lost when I moved from Seattle to NYC), I also acted as Mo's photographic model. I know; it is obvious that, in the modeling department at least, you get what you pay for! (But please do remember that I also walked through a downpour to the party where that pic was taken -- I clean up very nicely, or I'd like to believe that I do.)
Needless to say (I hope), my knees were closer to the camera than the…
cmcclain | August 19, 2007Some new waves, pun intended, are being generated this week concerning the meridional overturning circulation (MOC). You are already familiar with the MOC as the ocean conveyor belt. To refresh your memory, the MOC is a thermohaline current, so named because currents are forced by differences in temperature and salinity both influencing the density of water, i.e. a density-driven current. So to explain the MOC, we will follow a single water mass and we'll call him Timmy.
We'll start with Timmy in the equatorial Atlantic. Here, Timmy is warm and salty, like a pirate. The Gulf Stream is a…
grrlscientist | August 19, 2007tags: SciBlings, Romeo and Juliet
Romeo.
And I'll still stay, to have thee still forget,
Forgetting any other home but this.
Juliet.
'Tis almost morning; I would have thee gone:
And yet no farther than a wanton's bird;
That lets it hop a little from her hand,
Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
And with a silk thread plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty.
Romeo.
I would I were thy bird.
Juliet.
Sweet, so would I:
Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
My fellow…
cmcclain | August 19, 2007Imagine yourself laying on a sandy beach. As you take in the supple views and iconic air, you reach for your multi-fruit, multi-liquor, multi-umbrella, tropical drink. But wait! Wouldn't you rather have a beverage "bottled and certified at the source in Hawaii...the result of this ancient water being shepherded with special care through a proprietary process that takes out almost all of the salt, but retains important natural electrolytes that are essential for the body and are easily absorbed..."with a "clean, rich taste that quenches your thirst and replenishes body, mind and spirit"? Of…
nisbetmc | August 19, 2007As I wrote in response to the NY Times' review of Storm World, the success of The Republican War on Science provides a powerful frame of reference for Chris Mooney's latest book. In some cases, reviewers can't read Storm World without evaluating it via the lens of Mooney's previous work. Given such a strong association, reviewers are assigned what is really a well-researched and lively popular science narrative, but expect the Republican War on Hurricanes.
At Nature Reports Climate Change, in a review that opens by discussing the Nisbet & Mooney article at Science, Alexandra Witze notes…
grrlscientist | August 18, 2007tags: SciBlings
So here we are, a much smaller and more exhausted group than we were at this same time yesterday. We are sitting at the outdoor dining area in the B Bar and Grill, ordering dinner and drinks, and waiting for some of the public to show up. Besides me, I have been joined by PZ, Bora and Mrs. Bora, Mo, Mike and Professor Steve Steve, and we also expect that Majikthise will join us soon, too.
So Bora, Mrs. Bora and Mo are looking for a place to smoke out here and they noticed an ashtray located next to a blue bench, so they asked if they had to sit on the blue bench in order to…
grrlscientist | August 18, 2007tags: SciBlings
I am sitting here at the main filming table at the SB get-together at this very monent, getting ready to expose myself on camera, watching Mr. "Thoughts from Kalifornia" (Traveling from Kansas) strip his clothing in preparation to moderate our table's discussion. The cameras are not yet running, but the antics associated with getting ready for the filming are more interesting than the actual filming .. maybe.
I will try to write about this on my blog, live from my table, as the events unfold, or until my battery dies.
RPM: Framing is full of shit.
PZ: laughter.
Later;
RPM: I…
nisbetmc | August 18, 2007
When I was about 7 years old, my Dad brought home a collection of audio tapes that contained the 6.5 hour 1981 NPR broadcast of the radio version of Star Wars. Adapted by novelist Brian Daley, this series provides a rich back story to the original movie. Its' sound effects, musical score, and craftsmanship have been called the most ambitious radio project in history. As a boy, I listened to these tapes every night before falling asleep.
And now the entire series is available on 6 CDs via the NPR store. This one is well worth having.
grrlscientist | August 18, 2007tags: SciBlings
Damn, I am having so much fun! Each person that I've met has been like a Christmas present to myself, a delightful surprise, warm, funny, and kind, intelligent and talented .. how much joy can one person experience, walking into a room full of their best friends, only to discover that everyone there truly likes and admires each other and were likewise looking forward to meeting everyone else?
Writing my blog has been one of the best things I've ever done in my life, it was a fabulous accident, really. Writing has always kept me sane when I was going through the rough times,…
grrlscientist | August 17, 2007tags: communication style, online quiz
You Communicate Like a Man
When you communicate, you like to get to the point.
You're not afraid to say what's on your mind - and leave it at that.
Talking about your emotions drains you. You rather keep them to yourself.
You prefer solving problems to wallowing in your sorrows.
Do You Communicate Like a Man or a Woman?
Ho hum. I've often been told that I am too direct. What about you?
angrytoxicologist | August 17, 2007Meatheads of the week: The passport office. A must read about One Man's Journey Into the Greatest Bureaucracy Ever Assembled over at Slate.
It's been a busy week here on AngryToxicologist with sunscreens and STATS and all. I appreciate the hearty discussions. Please e-mail me other topics that you're wondering about. Speaking of busy weeks, I'm über busy today so I'm going to cut to the...
Weekly aural pleasure.
Check out this Indian video from the 90s. I'd describe it as the keystone cops and N'SYNC go to Bollywood. The dance moves are well...just watch it. Some notes:
4:12 left - this…
tqa | August 17, 2007
They've got a while to go before they catch up to Southwest in my personal pantheon of airline demons, but ATA seems to be getting set to give it a real good try. When we woke up - already at the airport - at 5, our 6 am departure was listed as being on time. That lasted for a whole 20 minutes - the pilot went out to preflight the airplane, and discovered that there were multiple tires that were unacceptable. We're currently sitting in chairs at the gate waiting for new tires to be flown in for the airplane, and our estimated departure has been pushed back by at least 3 hours.
Hey, ATA,…
tqa | August 17, 2007
Every now and then, the placement of stories on Google News can be slightly amusing. Here's two stories that turned up, one on top of the other, this morning. It's always nice to know that we're getting the important news first.
tqa | August 16, 2007
If getting there is half the fun, I don't want the other half, thanks.
The family and I are on our way to New York at the moment. It's been too long since I've had a good slice of pizza and a good bagel, and visiting family and friends is a great excuse to fix that problem. We're in transit instead of there right now for a variety of reasons, mostly related to the weather. But not entirely. A large chunk of the problem can be chalked up to Southwest Airlines. An even larger chunk of my current state of anger comes from what they term "customer service" here at Chicago Midway.
If you've…
grrlscientist | August 16, 2007tags: SciBlings
Many of my SciBlings are traveling this weekend -- to NYC! They all are coming to visit me, as a matter of fact! This is why I have not been writing much recently, although I peek in here often because I miss all of you and wish you could all be here for the festivities. Oh, wait, you can be here because we plan to reveal our precise location this Saturday afternoon on a few of our blogs so those of you who are in the NYC area can come by to meet us, and to worship some of us while no doubt, smirking at others of us. I do want to remind you that several of us SciBlings are…
cmcclain | August 16, 2007Hat tip goes to Kiki, who pointed out a recent article in Wired, U.S. Readies for Polar Warfare (Updated). There you have it...Canada is amping up its military presence in the Arctic and so is the U.S. In an recent announcement titled Technologies for Persistent Operations in High LAtitude Regions (POLAR), Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking for new technology and operation concepts that would give our forces the advantage.
The article also points to the 2001 symposium report Naval Operations in an Ice Free Arctic that you can download as handy pdf. The obvious…
cmcclain | August 16, 2007To nice to save till tomorrow, Kevin sent along a "old" submersible chapter from Hill's The Sea from 1963. The chapter itself is authored by Dietz and covers bathyscaphs and other deep submerisbles for oceanographic research. You can read and see more of the Trieste here.
tqa | August 16, 2007
Here are a couple of pictures I took of a Great Frigate Bird (Fregata minor) that was cruising around near Flat Island, just off Kailua, Oahu back in March.
tqa | August 16, 2007
Paul has a post up with a really great political cartoon. I just printed it and stuck it on my refrigerator. You should, too.
