I was searching around the ‘net this morning looking for some pictures of corn fields for the re-theming of my website (you can check the progress by selecting “damuhan” in the theme switcher on the bottom right), when I came upon an interesting page. A company called Peeled Snacks was celebrating that its fruit and nut products that would soon be available in Whole Foods stores, but were lamenting the fact that Whole Foods was forcing them to use non-biodegradable packaging? How the hell? Read More…

Episode 67 of the Mindcast is up!

Download it here. Read More…

Get this. Say you’re a musician, and you record your own music and post it on the web to download. No problem. But should you decide to stream it, you’ll have to pay royalties. Even if you release it for free use. Now say you’re a college radio station or some other independent outfit, and you stream your music over the internet - soon you may have to pay huge royalty fees thanks to the RIAA, retroactive back to 1998. This could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars for some stations. So in protest, internet radio stations are planning a Day of Silence tomorrow the 26th of June.

Many internet radio broadcasters are shutting down their broadcast or instead broadcasting static to show exactly what this will do for media democracy. Podcasts, of course, will still be available, because they’re not live, but recorded. And as a matter of fact, if you’ve been a listener of my show and you can’t listen to internet radio tomorrow, I’ll have something ready tonight for folks to download. Oh yes!

For more information, see the Radio And Internet Newsletter.

The science blogosphere is abuzz with a lively discussion about the interaction of scientists and science journalists. It all started when Tara Smith at Aetology put up her first post, Question for the academic types - Interview Requests. In it, she asks,

On a listserv I subscribe to, there recently was a discussion amongst writers regarding how to get academics (and business-types; don’t feel the question is limited *only* to academics) to respond to interview requests. However, given the wording of the question and some of the responses, I think the question itself highlighted a bit of the gulf between journalists and academics, so I’m putting some of my own thoughts on why academics don’t respond first (and particularly when they are at conferences or on business travel, which was the topic of one comment), and I welcome any suggestions you have on how you prefer to be contacted–and what might improve response rates for writers. It would be great if any writers out there added their additional comments as well–imagine, a dialogue!… Read More…

REPOST: Previously, I posted a quiz as a fun way of presenting interesting facts about my move across the country, but apparently the “free quiz” site makes you jump through tons of hoops just to take the quiz. So here’s my quiz post reposted, with the quiz here, and the answers below the fold!

As you know, I just moved across the country from Davis to Madison. I’m writing up a short description of that trip with a few choice pictures (some have to do with science…. YESSS!!), but I there were a few details that I didn’t think would fit into the story very well, but I thought it would be fun to mention. So to find out what they were, take the Big Move Quiz!

1. Who came with me to Madison?

A. Ariela
B. Simba
C. Both A and B
D. My evil clone

2. How did I get our stuff to Madison?

A. Our stuff went with ABF, towed the other car with my truck.
B. Hired a professional moving services, took a plane.
C. Dad drove the other car car, we towed our stuff behind the truck in a U-Haul.
D. Towed it all behind my in a U-Haul.

3. How Many full mason jars of honey did I extract from my bee hives before I left Davis?

A. 11 (I kept 10)
B. 8 (I kept 7)
C. 4 (I kept 3)
D. 0 - it was too early to extract honey from the bees.

4. Which of the following were NOT a part of our Davis going-away party theme?

A. Wisconsin Cheeses
B. Catering from Pluto’s in Davis
C. Hawaiian luau theme with kabobs, and a Pinata
D. Local truffles from Vevey’s Confections in Davis

5. A couple of days before I left Davis, I stopped by the house of one of my shows’ guests. Who was it?

A. Douglas Cook - He got his degree at Madison, too.
B. Philip Johnson - To have a beer with him.
C. Kim Stanley Robinson - Honey dropoff and autograph.
D. PZ Myers - not before I left but after - I visited him during the Minnesota leg of my trip.

6. How many parties did we end up having before we left?

A. 1: Just the one party - we had too much else to do.
B. 2: (A) + L.A. - Ariela’s Mom had to throw us one!
C. 3: (B) + Petaluma - Thai dinner with my folks counts too!
D. 4: (C) + Davis again - KDRT party at Jeff’s place.

7. What will we miss the least about Davis?

A. Not being able to recycle plastics #3-7 curbside.
B. The overall ethnic and cultural diversity of Davis.
C. Our friends.
D. Shit not being open past 9 pm.

8. A intelligent creationist has 5 minutes left in a debate - what argument will he or she make last-minute to claim victory?

A. Ad hominem - attack the consequences of evolution.
B. Ad populum - appeal to those already in agreement.
C. Gish Gallop - make too many false claims to refute.
D. There is no such thing as an intelligent creationist.

How did you do? Answers are below the fold. Read More…

Ariela and I are off to the Hoofers Sailing Club’s big event, Pirate’s Day. We’re all assembling at 1300 hrs to sail around Lake Mendota, hunt fer treasure, and feast when we’re through.

I’ve long known that cuttin’ a sailer o’ the Royal Navy with me cutlass is more personally profitable than sneaking around in the dark chucking shurikens at shoguns. Ariela’s not much of a sailor, yet, but I’l wager a bottle o’ good rum that she’ll be the saltiest new sailor in these here saltless inland waters.

Arrrrrr!

Matt at the Behavioral Ecology Blog asks the question, who hath the worst sicko reader? Picking through the search terms people have used to find his site, he challenges everyone to find the nuttiest, sickest, craziest search terms people have used to find their site. PZ recuses himself from the contest, (for good reason) merely pointing out how many people search for his site with his name spelled wrong. (I’m surprised that he didn’t complain about people spelling “Pharyngua” wrong!)(Ariela later points out the irony that I spelled “Pharyngula” wrong..!) Coturnix has posted a couple funnies worth reading.I’ve done this before, and sometimes it is awfully fun to see what people search for when they find your site. My web host provides me a way to search it month by month, so here’s my best from the past few months. Read More…

A few blogging changes are coming your way. Now that I’ve been using this blog for over a year, I’m used to its function, and I have a pretty good idea what to expect. You may have noticed an upturn in blogging - naturally because I’m not recording new epsides of the Mindcast right now, when there’s something I want to say I’d better say it in the mindlog.

Keeping with the increase in blogging, I would like to make it easier for people to contribute. Waiting for me to approve a comment ends up slowing down or preventing discussion, and I’ve gotten a few emails from folks who were worried about their comments not appearing right away - it depends on when I check my email, even though it it several times a day. Now your comments will appear right away.

I set it up the other way, initially, because I was worried about comment spam and malicious commenters. Those don’t happen often enough to warrent screening comments, so I’ve turned that feature off. Besides, the Akismet Spamkiller really really really does a good job.

So feel free to comment away, unhindered!

(Next, to do something about my wacky formatting - apparently it looks normal only on my computer screen/browser.)

I just read this marvelous article about Al Gore:

The Last Temptation of Al Gore

And I think I have decided what I think about Al Gore running for President.

It has come up a few times on my show, mentioned in passing. The idea that Al Gore, reinvigorated by the urgency of the cause of dealing with global warming, resurging in popularity, and delving into our country’s political and environmental mistakes, should run for President. People everywhere are telling him “please run,” and many more people agree that he could probably win as a stealth candidate added to the roster right before the deadline. He himself has left the possibility open, but clearly stating that he has no plans to do so.

If you could talk to Al Gore and tell him what you think about him running, what would you suggest? Use his popularity and momentum to be lifted to the top and change it from within, but risk the slime of politics and losing another bid for President? Or instead focus on the environmental problem that he has been worried about for longer than anything else, already reshaping the public discourse, but risk missing out on a golden opportunity to enact change directly? What would it be? My answer is below the fold. Read More…

In the 1960s and 70s, half of the students applying to Rockefeller University credited one person when it came to their interest in science. It was Don Herbert, known everywhere as Mr. Wizard. At the age of 89, he died yesterday.

He was one of my influences when I was young, but I didn’t get to see as much of him as I would have liked. I would credit James Burke and Connections more than Mr. Wizard. (Newton’s Apple was also cool) However, this man did a fantastic job teaching and popularizing science to the general public. To get people genuinely interested in science for science’s sake, and to amaze children with even the simplest of phenomena - that is a real feat. The world doesn’t need slight-of-hand magicians, the world needs more magicians of reality like Mr. Wizard. The first of his kind.
Should he rest in peace? Hell no! If you’ve got some time today, let Mr. Wizard show you something cool!

OR if you’re so inclined, check out the discussion at Slashdot and relate your favorite Mr. Wizard memories!