Archive for November, 2008

Online science stuff

I’m always looking for material for star party presentations. Two sites that I need to explore more:
http://www.freesciencelectures.com/
and
http://www.imagineeringezine.com/index.htm (also has a lot of EE stuff)

Thursday, November 20th, 2008 Astronomy, Engineering No Comments

DNA articles

NYTimes one: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/science/11gene.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

and some feedback:
http://scienceblogs.com/transcript/2008/11/100_years_of_genetic_research.php

Need to scan them for anything useful for the Project Astro Astrobiology stuff…

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Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 Project Astro No Comments

City of Marlborough should be ashamed of itself

I remember reading the original newspaper post a fee months back when the town confiscated this persons legal property on a very flimsy excuse. Looks like the politicians are all covering their asses now, afraid to admit they made a huge mistake.

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/86/8645sci1.html

Victor Deeb should be congratulated and encouraged for promoting science at a grass-roots level (well OK, he had some commercial interest too – but since when is being a garage entrepreneur against the law?), and the Marlborough town know-nothings are trying to stop him! What type of message does this send to parents that might have bought a chemistry set for their kids? Heck, I made all sorts of “nasty” stuff as a kid and it was a great learning experience. Would I be in jail these days?

Particularly here in Mass where we have lots of biotech, science, etc., companies and just a few world class universities…

My verdict (of course based only on what I read): Return all of Mr. Deeb’s stuff, and the town managers buy a chemistry kit for EVERY 6th grader in town for Christmas this year to encourage people to play with chemicals!

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Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 Frustration, Uncategorized No Comments

Whither EETIMES?

Out of all of the industry trade-rags, the weekly EETIMES was the one to read cover to cover to see what was going on. Last week and this week it’s down to 48 pages, and this is in its new smaller magazine format vs. the old tabloid one.

The arguments about reading on-line are full of it…dead trees are still the best way to convey the “printed” word.

Monday, November 10th, 2008 Engineering No Comments

Engineering kits for kids

Article by Jon Titus over at ECN. Links to various manufacturers.
http://www.ecnmag.com/Embedded-Systems-Kits-for-Kids.aspx?menuid=548

Monday, November 10th, 2008 Engineering No Comments