Just FYI.
(via BoingBoing)
The Year In Cryptozoology
Posted by Ben on January 4, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/the-year-in-cryptozoology/
On a related note
Fake bands and science songs: two databases you pretty much can’t do without. Let’s face it, they’re essential.
The former’s a comprehensive list of fake bands, musical groups which do not exist. The latter’s a list of actual songs about—you guessed it—science. And math, too. Though there probably aren’t as many songs about math. (If you’re feeling particularly, what’s the word, industrious? you can check out an internet radio station devoted to these math and science songs.)
(both via Research Buzz)
Posted by Ben on January 4, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/on-a-related-note/
Science Fair
Touching on a topic near and dear to my heart1, the Waterboro Public Library weblog has a few links of interest to those faced with the prospect of doing a science fair project.
Note:
1 Or at least brain. And if I never say “near and dear to my heart” again, it will have been said one time too many. But: water over the bridge, I always say.
Posted by Ben on January 4, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/science-fair/
Squelch goes the permafrost
Via BBC:
…Alaska is not the only region in a slump. The permafrost melt is accelerating throughout the world’s cold regions, scientists reported at the recent Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco.
In addition to northern Alaska, the permafrost zone includes most other Arctic land, such as northern Canada and much of Siberia, as well as the higher reaches of mountainous regions such as the Alps and Tibet. All report permafrost thaw.
In related news—sadly—Michael Crichton takes on the greatest threat the world’s ever seen; not dinosaurs, or microbes, or anything like that: this time it’s the environmentalists!
The environmentalists and their wicked agenda (apparently).
Michiko Kakutani (at the NYT) and Dr. Jeffrey M. Masters (at the weather site wunderground.com) both present good critical reviews of Crichton’s new State of Fear. Kakutani takes Crichton to task for the book as a whole, while Masters takes a closer look at the climate- and science-related aspects of the book.
(BBC News: “Earth’s permafrost starts to squelch,” by Molly Bentley [December 29, 2004]; NYT: “Beware! Tree-Huggers Plot Evil to Save World” by Michiko Kakutani [December 13, 2004]; Wunderground: “Review of Michael Crichton’s State of Fear,” by Dr. Jeffrey M. Masters)
Posted by Ben on January 2, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/squelch-goes-the-permafrost/
The Beastles
Posted by Ben on January 2, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/the-beastles/
It’s the idea that counts
My initial last-day-of-the-year post idea was to do something clever, but not too clever—like, for instance, 365 links, or things, etc. Something amusing, but not too thorough (no diatribes, essays, etc.—not that they tend to show up here anyway). Something light.
Then I realized that 365 of anything is a lot.
And that’s when I realized that 2004 was a leap year, and gave up on the whole thing.
Happy new year, everybody.
(P.S. – if you haven’t had time to make up resolutions of your own–and who has?–you can check out the 10 Most Common New Year Resolutions and adopt them as your own.)
Posted by Ben on December 31, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/its-the-idea-that-counts/
Top Science News of 2004
Science News has a list of the “most compelling” stories as selected by its writers; some of the articles are available free (look for the asterisks), though most aren’t.
(via BoingBoing)
Posted by Ben on December 29, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/top-science-news-of-2004/
Absurd
Even hand-selected lists of headlines are going to occasionally tread into the absurdity zone, but this is particularly galling:
Note the major headline and then compare it to the second item in the bulleted list.
In what world are the deaths of “dozens” of tourists in any way comparable to 22,000 deaths? No one expects headlines to set the standard for commensurability, but dozens and 22,000?
Update:
(Note: the screenshots are from Yahoo’s front page)
Posted by Ben on December 27, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/absurd/
The Year In Weird
Via AFP, Yahoo! has a summary of offbeat stories from 2004. Go; read and be merry.
Posted by Ben on December 23, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/the-year-in-weird/
The 52 Hertz Whale
Such, apparently, is the situation faced by a solitary whale, species unknown, that has been tracked since 1992 in the North Pacific by a classified array of hydrophones used by the Navy to monitor enemy submarines.
…
Its sonic signature is clearly that of a whale, but nothing like the normal voice of the giant blue or the next biggest species, the fin, or any other whale for that matter, said Mary Ann Daher, a marine biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod.
(NYT: “Song of the Sea, a Cappella and Unanswered,” by Andrew Revkin [December 21, 2004])
Posted by Ben on December 21, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/the-52-hertz-whale/