Avast, ye bloglubbers!
We be starin’ down the crow’s nest at another International Talk Like a Pirate Day, a holiday marked in these seas by the seizin’ o’ this bucket by the Dread Pirate Free-Ride. Aye, it happened last year, and by the beak o’ the squid guardin’ Davy Jones’ locker*, it’s happened again.
What’s that ye be sayin’? Pirates didn’t really be sayin’ “Arrrr”? Shove some hardtack in that mouth or I be usin’ it to scrape the barnacles off this bucket!
Category Archives: Ask a ScienceBlogger
Ask a Science Blogger: what should I pack for the collapse of civilization?
Civilization’s imminent collapse is upon us. What’s in your survival pack?
There are many ways that civilization could collapse, so let me put my assumptions on the table: I’m considering a world where the electrical grid, phone and internet communications, and running water and waste water treatment systems are no longer operative. For sure you can’t drive to the store for a loaf of bread because the stores will have been long since looted and the gas stations have no more gas.
I am not assuming sea levels rising dozens of feet all at once (since that will put me and mine well underwater), nor bands of ravening zombies.
There are some contingencies I’m just not ready to face.
Still, take away the infrastructure of modern civilization and I think we could do OK for a while. If I were the well-prepared type, here’s what I’d want to have on hand:
Let’s see your mug.
Dave at The World’s Fair is collecting field data on coffee mugs. Or maybe he’s trying to create a meme.
Anyway, he poses a bunch of questions which I seem to be unable to resist answering:
- Can you show us your coffee cup?
- Can you comment on it? Do you think it reflects on your personality?
- Do you have any interesting anecdotes resulting from coffee cup commentary?
- Can you try to get others to comment on it?
My answers will be restricted to the coffee delivery vessels (all three of them) I use at work, thus excluding the travel mug I use in the car on weekday mornings and the mugs I use at home on weekends. Also, since I have the necessary materials and apparatus in my office to make tea, but not coffee, these mugs might more properly be counted as “tea mugs” (or “coffee and tea mugs”).
Name my personality in 10 songs or less.
Chris at Mixing Memory points to research that suggests musical preferences provide a window to the personality. I haven’t seen the research yet but, at Chris’s prompting, I’ll throw myself into the ring as an experimental subject by listing 10 songs I like an awful lot*:
Getting down to basics.
Chad and Tara have spilled the beans on a highly classified backchannel discussion we ScienceBloggers have been having. Since the cat is already out of the bag (presumably a bag of beans), I suppose I’ll chime in.
What basic concepts would you like me to explain here?
Lab accidents are not funny.
The most recent Ask A ScienceBlogger question is:
What’s the funniest lab accident you’ve ever had?
Those who know me can tell you I like to laugh, but I’m having trouble coming up with a lab accident that I’d call funny.
ScienceBlogs house band: some nominations.
Ben thinks it’s time to start auditioning for a ScienceBlogs house band.
Under the guidance of the Adventures in Ethics and Science Musical Advisory Panel (i.e., the sprogs), I’ve come up with a few suggestions:
Why organic produce?
The latest “Ask a ScienceBlogger” question is:
What’s up with organic foods? What are the main arguments for buying organic? Is it supposed to be better for me, or better for the planet, or what? Are organics, in any sense, worth the higher price?
It’s true that I live in California (in the San Francisco Bay Area, no less), but even if I didn’t, I would still opt for organic produce wherever possible. And, my reasons for this preference have almost nothing to do with the nutritional profile of organically grown foods compared to conventionally grown foods.
For me, the main issues have to do with the inputs (and outputs) in the production of the food, as well as impacts of various sorts on the people growing the food.
Viral information outburst: cool things are more fun when you share them.
David at The World’s Fair has posed another, “Ask a ScienceBlogger, Sort Of” question:
Essentially, as scientific types who tend to analyse, over-analyse, supra-analyse things, and who like to categorize and follow empirical trends, I’m interesting in hearing what you think it is that sparks these viral outbursts of information outreach? This question (and apologies for its convolution) also relates directly to your role as a blogger, where the assumption is that you revel in increased traffic, and are kind of looking for these tricks anyway. I guess, I’m just interested in hearing a scientist’s opinion on this, as oppose to the usual IT expert/academic.
Shorter David: Why do some pieces of information take off and spread like head lice at a preschool? My guess: The pieces of knowledge (or culture or what have you) that really grab us are grabbing us as information it would be important or fun to share with others. Information rattling around in our own heads doesn’t seem as valuable to us as information that has also been transmitted to the heads of others.
Worrying about AIDS.
This month’s issue of Seed looks at HIV/AIDS 25 years in, and you may have noticed that ScienceBlogs has an AIDS at 25 blog dedicated to covering the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto. So, it should come as no surprise that the current round of “Ask a ScienceBlogger” features a question about AIDS:
To what extent do you worry about AIDS, either with respect to yourself, your children, or the world at large?