I’ve talked about a number of these issues before, but since Abel and PalMD are having some conversations (here, here, here, here, here, and here) in preparation for their session at ScienceOnline09, and since I’ve experienced the blogosphere on both sides of the pseudonymous line, I thought I’d pipe up.
Some good reasons (from the top of my head) to blog under a pseudonym:
Maybe you heard about the melamine contamination issue when tainted pet food started killing pets. But, if you don’t have a pet, maybe you didn’t worry so much.
Or maybe you noticed when tainted infant formula started sending infants to the hospital. Stuff that harms babies (even way far away in China) is really sad. But if you’re not currently caring for a baby that ingests infant formula, eventually your attention wandered.
Then the news came that melamine levels were testing high in treats like White Rabbit candies and Panda’s March cookies — treats that may have been on your shelves (as they were on ours). Sure, it’s annoying to toss out that bag of candy, but it’s a relief that someone is testing all of these products to keep us safe, right? (Because the products meant for human ingestion are all being tested, aren’t they?)
On the East Coast, the sun is rising on day 21 of Blogger Challenge 2008. With only 10 days left in the drive, it seems like a good time to check how the ScienceBloggers with challenges are making out. Thus, I present the “Top Six” standings to date:
Another generous donor (who prefers to remain anonymous) made a contribution to my challenge and requested some artwork from the sprogs.
The requested subject matter, cats, is one about which the Free-Ride offspring are pretty enthusiastic (perhaps because I’m allergic to cats and can’t live with them). So, send in the cats:
Drawing on the Guardian article on the sorts of interview questions being deployed by Oxford and Cambridge to “identify intellectual potential” in prospective undergraduates:
How do you organise a successful revolution? And, given the present political climate, why don’t we let the managers of Ikea run the country instead of the politicians?
As a university professor (and one paid by the people of the State of California), I’m pretty sure if I answer the first question my name will go on some list that will make me an unattractive prospect for palling around, at least for those who aspire to elected office.
My better half was clearing plates from the kitchen table as I was cooking something.
Dr. Free-Ride’s better half: Hey, I thought our kids like zucchini bread.
Dr. Free-Ride: They do. That piece was [the kid across the street’s] — always gladly accepts a snack, never has more than a few bites.
Dr. Free-Ride’s better half: Huh.
Dr. Free-Ride: I think that’s why when our kids are over there, there are so many snacks. If you have a kid who only eats a little at a time, you have to feed continuously.
Dr. Free-Ride’s better half: Why don’t our kids eat like birds?
Dr. Free-Ride: I’m going to guess that genetics have something to do with it. But their metabolic reserves will carry them through when zombies have disrupted Trader Joe’s supply chain.
Nearly three months after we sowed the seeds in our raised garden beds, it feels like we’re on the edge of a change of seasons. The days are still quite warm (with temperatures in the mid-eighties for most of the past week), but the days are definitely cooler, and the hours or sunlight grow shorter every day.
In the garden, this means that we’re starting to look pensively at the slow-growing root vegetables (notably the carrots and the onions).
“Are you gonna be done soon?”
At long last, we review a book to which we have alluded in at least two previous posts.
The book: The Periodic Table: Elements with Style, written by Adrian Dingle, illustrated by Simon Basher. (Boston: Kingfisher, 2007)
Over at Effect Measure, Revere takes issue with a science educator’s hand-wringing over what science students (and scientists) don’t know. In a piece at The Scientist, James Williams (the science educator in question) writes:
Graduates, from a range of science disciplines and from a variety of universities in Britain and around the world, have a poor grasp of the meaning of simple terms and are unable to provide appropriate definitions of key scientific terminology. So how can these hopeful young trainees possibly teach science to children so that they become scientifically literate? How will school-kids learn to distinguish the questions and problems that science can answer from those that science cannot and, more importantly, the difference between science and pseudoscience?
Revere responds:
