MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'geek'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:51:14 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096578&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2Ffs7L6GI2OQM%2F8441714668 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096578 Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:14:46 +0100 5096578 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4976007&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FNlTbuSzkrMg%2F7020926107 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4976007 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:41:55 +0100 4976007 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893641&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FZlsBRy0wJ6I%2F6117061244 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4893641 Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:45:42 +0100 4893641 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893642&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2F6hBwmDrpmCs%2F6080544457 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4893642 Wed, 01 Jun 2011 20:10:51 +0100 4893642 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862691&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FvVhN5nUhQkk%2F5839156774 : Though, Google Arbitrary Associations just doesn’t have the same ring to it. (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862691 Wed, 25 May 2011 19:06:16 +0100 4862691 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862692&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FzWbmtcBun2Y%2F5839095622 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862692 Wed, 25 May 2011 19:03:50 +0100 4862692 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4734111&cid=t_101461_88_f&fid=38129&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Flifeinthefastlane%2FWZHV%2F%7E3%2F0PUl5FELmM4%2F Juggling work commitments, family life and writing can be tricky. However, new vigour and inspiration has been instilled with the arrival of some geeky new toys from Samson and Sanuk Australia. (Source: Life in the Fast Lane) Life in the Fast Lane blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4734111 Tue, 19 Apr 2011 03:37:17 +0100 4734111 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4696728&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FPjDrgghTPtg%2F4465213816 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4696728 Sat, 09 Apr 2011 13:00:12 +0100 4696728 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4693369&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2F7Rigbzzt4bA%2F4447656119 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4693369 Fri, 08 Apr 2011 20:39:57 +0100 4693369 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4693370&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FYqmjC-Cudyk%2F4421202662 Recently, the Department of Health released a leaflet entitled “Working together for a stronger NHS” that emphasised the fact that 95% of people want more choice over their healthcare. Interesting, I thought. The data is from the British Social Attitudes 25th Report published January 2009. Looking at the data from the survey, I found that it contained multiple questions about choice: How much choice do you think NHS patients should have about which hospital to go to if they need treatment? And in your area, how much choice do you think NHS patients actually have about which hospital to go to if they need treatment? How much choice do you think NHS patients should have about the kinds of treatment they receive? And in your area, how much choice do you think they actua... Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4693370 Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:41:00 +0100 4693370 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4684507&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FDrcOMfkyl3A%2F4419461624 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4684507 Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:09:07 +0100 4684507 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4676917&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FZV3mWgBD0v4%2F4319862144 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4676917 Sun, 03 Apr 2011 20:31:18 +0100 4676917 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4600643&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FgYeTesoZI80%2F3907420210 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4600643 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 22:55:24 +0100 4600643 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4566193&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FOWWlkJZwSyo%2F3741971204 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4566193 Wed, 09 Mar 2011 13:19:44 +0100 4566193 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4482861&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FJyvJmBxeqZQ%2F3312996546 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4482861 Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:05:31 +0100 4482861 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4382964&cid=t_101461_180_f&fid=38609&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FDavidSeah-BetterLivingThroughNewMedia%2F%7E3%2Fv2ntpZA6S_Q%2F Had a big sweet potato leftover from Thanksgiving. Still seemed firm, so peeled it and sliced it into pieces about 4cm square and 3-6mm thick. Heated vegetable oil in 10″ heavy skillet (about 2mm deep) between “medium” and “medium high” on electric burner. Monitored temperature of oil and pan with RayTech MT4 as the slices cooked. I was looking for the point where browning started to occur, indicating caramelization. This started around 310-325 degrees. Noted that number of pieces in pan determined equilibrium of pan temperature (reinforcing the rule of thumb about “crowding the pan” when browning). About 6-minutes per side, at 325 degrees or so, produced reasonably browned and cooked sweet potato slices, which I blotted and then sprinkled kosher ... David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4382964 Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:47:43 +0100 4382964 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4382965&cid=t_101461_180_f&fid=38609&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FDavidSeah-BetterLivingThroughNewMedia%2F%7E3%2FmlO6MbIhQGY%2F I’ve been interested in the thermal energy transfer characteristics of cooking lately. Took 9″ stock pot, 3.5″ of water, brought to rolling boil. Ginger slices, some salt, some cooking wine added, heat shut off. 1lb 4oz split chicken breast (2 pieces) added, covered with burner off, but remaining on it. 35 minutes elapsed. Standing temperature of water, measured with RayTech MT4, was 160 degrees. Chicken interior temperature 140ish degrees, which means it isn’t cooked to death though not high enough temperature to kill salmonella. Ya take your chances for the sake of taste. Ate with a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil. Delicious. Will derive energy estimates later. (Source: David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment) David Seah - Design, Development, Inspiration, Empowerment blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4382965 Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:36:30 +0100 4382965 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4338076&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FoG2MyoH1OKg%2F2713058542 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4338076 Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:10:12 +0100 4338076 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4259011&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2Fm3joVVOQz38%2F2312995756 LinkedIn releases there “Top 10” profile buzzwords for 2010. Nice to see that in the UK we are “motivated”! (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4259011 Tue, 14 Dec 2010 15:29:46 +0100 4259011 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4251179&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2Fuqu6_qt5An0%2F2175505886 Microsoft’s new tagline: “Be What’s Next”. Like it. (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4251179 Sat, 11 Dec 2010 16:44:07 +0100 4251179 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4251180&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FRCu1PbK3vFA%2F2174454271 Google now filters search results by reading levels via advanced search. (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4251180 Sat, 11 Dec 2010 14:18:38 +0100 4251180 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4214279&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2F0vGVI8p69as%2F1985641770 “You have two types of social graphs [in there]: people you know and also people like you.” - Thoughts from Charlene Li on social search and algorithmic search. The future of social search is around similarity, or the “like” rather than the “know”. Smart. (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4214279 Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:02:00 +0100 4214279 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4207371&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FxjB9VeC5ZY0%2F1706171115 Last week, Mischa Tuffield (who works at “online identity experts” Garlik), posted on his blog about the NHS Choices website allowing Google, Facebook, and others to track our browsing habits. This was later picked up by Tom Watson MP (who’s on first name terms with Sergei [sic] Brin and Larry Page of Google) who wrote to Andrew Lansley, Secretary of State for Health, about the potential “individual embarrassment if the information was leaked”. So, what’s all this about? NHS Choices uses four third-party services to collect usage statistics and provide “social” features such as sharing to their website. The fact is that all of these services collect some form of identifier about you. Be that a pseudo-random identifier in the case of AddThis, Webtrends, and Google Analyt... Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4207371 Sat, 27 Nov 2010 22:01:00 +0100 4207371 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4203213&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2Fm-Flspbm4JQ%2F1691394230 : Digital U is an eight-part series that looks at transparency, crowdsourcing, privacy and security – with powerful examples that demonstrate how the internet is changing the way we live, work, play, consume and communicate. (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4203213 Fri, 26 Nov 2010 15:11:46 +0100 4203213 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4190286&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2Flncbe5Yy8eI%2F1636397822 20 Things I Learned About Browsers And The Web. A book by Google. (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4190286 Sun, 21 Nov 2010 12:24:58 +0100 4190286 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4172166&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FeDnCQxP5Sks%2F1594342043 Google Refine is a power tool for working with messy data, cleaning it up, transforming it from one format into another, extending it with web services, and linking it to databases like Freebase. (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4172166 Tue, 16 Nov 2010 22:25:27 +0100 4172166 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4164575&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2F3xufsCrXBiY%2F1565238732 Is GMail buzz much bigger than its bite? If so, why are all these technology blogs (here, here, here, here, and here) saying that Facebook Mail, if that is what is to be revealed on Monday, is set to be a GMail killer? GMail is tiny in terms of market share in comparison to other platforms. Though, are they implying that Facebook Mail will encroach on the market share of other popular platforms? Could be, and if that’s the case they could well be right. Edit: Yes, this is US traffic. And yes, this probably doesn’t take into account mobile or desktop clients. (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4164575 Sat, 13 Nov 2010 22:05:00 +0100 4164575 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4159323&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FnynJRHlNE8Y%2F1545906167 “We know that in times of crisis, it’s especially important for you to find the crucial information you’re looking for — and find it fast. Today, in 13 countries, we’ll begin displaying some combination of special search results for searches around poison control, suicide and common emergency numbers that point to emergency information.” - Some awesome work by Google to help users find emergency information. (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4159323 Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:18:38 +0100 4159323 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4159324&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FbieOgLuf4is%2F1545838842 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4159324 Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:10:00 +0100 4159324 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4119220&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FXHR5YM01Pbw%2F1433782325 Impure: A New Visualisation Programming Language For Non-Programmers. (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4119220 Fri, 29 Oct 2010 20:35:46 +0100 4119220 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4119221&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FkyH7-xSEcgs%2F1408086704 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4119221 Tue, 26 Oct 2010 18:24:03 +0100 4119221 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4060933&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FpeUZ4n3Z9zU%2F1300864471 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4060933 Tue, 12 Oct 2010 21:06:05 +0100 4060933 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4045196&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FQzOkc0RGnQg%2F1256992724 I’ve been asked to do a short presentation (30-40 minutes) at an ASSIST event at the University of Liverpool in December. The event is entitled “Web 2.0 in Health” and the audience is primarily people who work with computers, not health professionals. I thought it’d be a good experience to talk about my perspectives, but also extract some thoughts from others around the world on what the subject means to them. I’ve therefore created a collaborative presentation on Google Docs that I’d be more than happy for you to edit. Please bear in mind that this is a work in progress, and that my perspective is one of a software engineer who has been exposed to health over the past few years. Hopefully you’ll pick up the format from the other slides that I’ve created. Yes, I’d like... Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4045196 Wed, 06 Oct 2010 19:06:00 +0100 4045196 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4045197&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FJNAUqbdu7_I%2F1244191217 System Dynamics. Very cool. That’s all I can say, because that’s all I know. If your mind works in that way, you’ll find this a very interesting way to conceptualise the behaviour of complex systems over time. Animated version available via the Wikipedia article. (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4045197 Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:30:00 +0100 4045197 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4025660&cid=t_101461_109_f&fid=38950&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shockmd.com%2F2010%2F10%2F03%2Fgeek-living%2F Constantly measure your activity, sleep, mood, exercise, food…. It can be done and calculated to the detail and monitored. …..intriguing new pastime: using mobile apps and always-on gadgets to track and analyze your body, mood, diet, spending — just about everything in daily life you can measure — in gloriously geeky detail. Want to have all those sensors. Related posts:Living Life to the Full Healthy Living Blog Tips Carnival The Diet Plate, food and depression (Source: Dr Shock MD PhD) Dr Shock MD PhD blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4025660 Sun, 03 Oct 2010 06:46:34 +0100 4025660 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4045203&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FiUE98pWucs8%2F1138278810 (Source: Mark My Words 2.1) Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4045203 Fri, 17 Sep 2010 17:29:31 +0100 4045203 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4045204&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FrelrIR8_gC8%2F1133564384 So, you’ve signed in to an application using Twitter OAuth. Now what? With read and write access, an application can: Unfollow all of the people you are following Follow any number of Twitter users Block any number of Twitter users Favourite any number of tweets Send a Direct Message to everyone you are following, multiple times Send a tweet, multiple times Change your Twitter background, profile data, colours, etc. Follow, and unfollow, any number of lists Create, delete, and edit your lists etc. Basically, allowing access via OAuth can enable application developers to do a lot of things. However, because they don’t have your password, you can revoke your connection to the application via the appropriate settings to stop any further mis-use of your account. Unlike giving an applicat... Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4045204 Thu, 16 Sep 2010 20:56:57 +0100 4045204 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4045208&cid=t_101461_113_f&fid=39280&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMarkHawker%2F%7E3%2FR6S0OWuiY-8%2F964210415 At the weekend I upgraded to a HTC Desire. It was a tough choice between that, and the Samsung Galaxy S. But, I’d read a review comparing the two alongside an iPhone 4 and the Desire came out on top. It’s not without its little niggles, well, the main one was ensuring I had a 3G-enabled SIM card as the phone was only utilising a GPRS connection which took Google about 30 seconds to load. With that fixed, the only other things that have bugged me are that the alarm clock does not work when the phone is switched off, and that applications like Google Gesture Search were very resource intensive so had to be removed. Another issue I found was synchronising my calendar and contacts between my MacBook Pro and Google was unavailable as HTC don’t currently provide an Apple application. For ... Mark My Words 2.1 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4045208 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:24:03 +0100 4045208 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3254486&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fpasswords-for-chemists.html Coming up with a secure password that cannot be bruteforce or dictionary attacked but that is easy to remember is quite troubling. So, here’s the nerdiest approach yet. Think of a compound, any compound, but preferably one with which you are familiar. If you’re in science, then you could pick a compound associated with your research thesis or perhaps the medication you needed to get through the viva. Now, work out, or look up, its chemical formula. So if it were ethanol, it would be C2H5OH. Next, think of a simple algorithm to obfuscate the formula (reverse it and chop off each end perhaps, or if it is a long formula extract all the numbers and put them at one end instead of after each element symbol, you get the idea). Of course, if you pick a compound that happens to share th... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3254486 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:45:04 +0100 3254486 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3071205&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fthinking-about-electric-vehicles.html Electric vehicles reduce noise and local air pollution, such as nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and ground-level ozone, but do they simply relocate the carbon tire-tracks to fossil-fired power stations or are there benefits on the global scale? Fundamentally, an electric engine can achieve 85 to 90% energy conversion efficiency, which contrasts starkly with the internal combustion engine, which can achieve at most 20%, requiring the conversion of oil-derived fuel (diesel or petroleum) into mechanical motion. So, there it might just be possible that electric vehicles could be greener, but only if the carbon tire-tracks are smaller when all energies and emissions are added into the equation. Åsgeir Helland of Think Global AS (manufacturer of the Think City electric car), based in Snaroy... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3071205 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:00:45 +0100 3071205 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3067088&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fsciencebase-blogging-schedule.html This is the Sciencebase blogging schedule for the remainder of 2009: Sciencebase.com Dec 8 – Science news round-up with a spectral twist Sciencebase.com Dec 9 Electric vehicles better than hybrids? ImagingStorm.co.uk – Dec 10 Science of sepia-toned photography Sciencetext.com Dec 15 Cathartic emails for overworked journalists Sciencetext.com Dec 16 Tips for Twitter brutes Sciencebase.com Dec 17 Pre-Xmas science book reviews SciScoop.com Dec 22 Large Hadron Collider (LHC) diatribe (anon guest post) Sciencebase.com Dec 23 Green by design Sciencebase.com Dec 24 Happy Solstice Event Nothing’s fixed and I will undoubtedly slot a few extra posts in here and there depending on what science and technology news catches my attention. Headlines will all appear in my @sciencebase Tw... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3067088 Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:00:08 +0100 3067088 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2989427&cid=t_101461_165_f&fid=37959&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhealthskills.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F11%2F13%2Ffriday-funnies-16%2F Husband 1.0 Tech Support ——————————————————————————– Subject: Service guide for husbands Dear Tech Support: Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed that the new program began making unexpected changes to the accounting modules, limiting access to flower and jewelry applications that had operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0. In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.9 but installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0 and NBA 3.0. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs and House Cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I’ve tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these... HealthSkills Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2989427 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:47:00 +0100 2989427 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2944119&cid=t_101461_165_f&fid=37959&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhealthskills.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F10%2F30%2Ffriday-funnies-and-a-trip-around-the-web%2F Another week has flown by, and yet it doesn’t seem any closer to summer although Christmas is most definitely on its way, if the shops have anything to do with it!! The weekend is nigh, and it’s freezing cold outside, and I have a ton of work to do, but firstly, Friday funnies to lift the mood a little. I am a geek, and proud of it. It was actually my son who first said that about himself, then I realised it was me too! So sue me, I do love satire, computer stuff, philosophy, Star Trek (not sure how that got in), and gadgets. This caught my eye: and so did this… For a wealth of not-so-heavy-but-intelligent-reading, Mind Hacks is always worth a visit. Go there now. Tired of reading rubbish science? So is the Neuroskeptic. Intelligent-but-heavier-than-Mind-Hacks-reading. ... HealthSkills Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2944119 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:12:44 +0100 2944119 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2916157&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fa-month-with-an-electricity-monitor.html Right, the kettle is on for a morning brew and apparently our household is using 3.07 kilowatts. That will include the chest freezer in the garage, the refrigerator in the kitchen, the electric kettle, my laptop and wireless network, oh and a little device sitting on my desk right now that’s monitoring all those electrons as they speed through the mains supply cable. The monitor consists of two parts, a battery-powered broadcast unit that has a magnetic clamp that you wrap around the main electricity cable (no wiring necessarily) and a display that picks up the signal and tells you how many kW you’re using at any given time. It can also convert that into an equivalent of carbon tonnage, although that’s a more dubious metric given that the monitor doesn’t know how t... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2916157 Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:00:42 +0100 2916157 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2842838&cid=t_101461_180_f&fid=38604&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmakeitgreat%2F%7E3%2FY1VqXEUn4Aw%2F Be A Relationship Geek View more documents from Phil Gerbyshak. One of the best ways I’ve found to share presentations is via Slideshare.net. I always recommend you turn them into PDFs and then upload them to Slideshare, then embed them on your site so folks can comment on your presentation. This is an older presentation that I’ve updated a few times. I’m curious if you’ve used Slideshare or found better ways to share documents. (Source: Phil Gerbyshak) Phil Gerbyshak blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2842838 Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:26:56 +0100 2842838 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2796485&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Ffile-sharing-for-scientists.html google_ad_client = "pub-3573213190048175"; /* 120x240, created 28/07/09 */ google_ad_slot = "8350206443"; google_ad_width = 120; google_ad_height = 240; In the olden days, scientists used to send out paper reprints of their research papers to colleagues…maybe they still do. I get the occasional request for such an archaic entity for the items I have had published in Science, PNAS, and other journals.These days, you’re more likely to simply ask for an eprint of a scientific paper, probably a PDF, possibly a doc file, or some other electronic format. But, even that’s really only a front to making contact with the author as it ever was. However, these days journal copyright clauses usually allow individual researchers to republish their individual papers on their personal we... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2796485 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:30:33 +0100 2796485 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2793202&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Forganic-nano-pharma.html Challenging natural products succumb to radical synthetic prowess, the Alchemist hears this week, while US researchers find a way to construct macroscopic crystals from tiny DNA triangles. The growing problem of obesity drug abuse in the UK is highlighted in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Bayer Cropscience is going underground with storage for safety reasons. Also this week, Korean chemists have developed a scrubber for cleaning up the greenhouse. Finally, this week’s award is represented by big NSF grants to Rutgers University for sustainable energy developed using nanotechnology and biotechnology. Get the details and the links in the current issue of The Alchemist on ChemWeb.com Related Posts:Alchemy and InfamyPolymer, Nanotech, VitaminsChemweb Chemistry NewsAlche... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2793202 Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:00:49 +0100 2793202 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2772554&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2F50-million-chemicals.html Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) will announce the 50 millionth registered chemical substance in its Registry, tomorrow (8th September). According to the email I received from a CAS spokesman, “The number itself represents an important milestone both for researchers and CAS, but even more significant is the pace of scientific discovery around the world.” Roger Schenck, Manager of the Content Planning Department at CAS, adds that, “More scientific literature is being published and we have noticed an explosive growth of patent literature since 1998 that accounts for the rapid growth of substance information available.” By contrast, it took 33 years for CAS to register 10 million compounds, a milestone reached in 1990. It’s intriguing to think that two decades af... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2772554 Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:00:48 +0100 2772554 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2751947&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Falchemist-checks-oxy-cholesterol-levels.html The Alchemist this week learns how fluorine chemistry is blooming, how to melt proteins, and how cholesterol is all about the good, the bad, and the oxy. Also this week, a technique borrowed from organic LED fabrication could lead to a new way to manufacture tiny inorganic LEDs for next generation displays, while a conductive flip has been observed with clusters of atoms close to absolute zero. Finally, the American Chemical Society announces this years previously unsung chemical heroes from across the industry. Previously on ChemWeb, we heard rumors of silicon neurons and the coming cyborg age, he discovers that a compound that leads to ovine Cyclops has now been synthesized for cancer drug research, and how chicken poop down on the shooting range could help solve the problem of lead in t... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2751947 Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:00:43 +0100 2751947 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2725178&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2FnqTQ9kfFrOc%2F Artificial DNA nanostructures1, 2 show promise for the organization of functional materials3, 4 to create nanoelectronic5 or nano-optical devices. DNA origami, in which a long single strand of DNA is folded into a shape using shorter 'staple strands'6, can display 6-nm-resolution patterns of binding sites, in principle allowing complex arrangements of carbon nanotubes, silicon nanowires, or quantum dots. However, DNA origami are synthesized in solution and uncontrolled deposition results in random arrangements; this makes it difficult to measure the properties of attached nanodevices or to integrate them with conventionally fabricated microcircuitry. Here we describe the use of electron-beam lithography and dry oxidative etching to create DNA origami-shaped binding sites on technol... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2725178 Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:17:37 +0100 2725178 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2712144&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fdigital-privacy-concerns.html I’ve discussed the risk of losing your job because of blogging previously. Recently though there was a case of summary dismissal by Facebook of a young British woman who debased her employer’s good character via her Wall has gained several column inches in the popular press. And, of course, we have all heard about the accommodation agent in the US is suing a twitter user for 140 characters of allegedly valid venom about the quality of their rental accommodation, despite the account having just 20 followers. She’ll be down $50,000 if she loses the case. Regardless of how you feel about bosses, corporations and realtors, the point to remember is that posting on the web is not like gossiping in a pub. What you say on the web is cached, scraped, preserved essentially for all ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2712144 Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:00:08 +0100 2712144 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2705158&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fmetabolic-fingerprint-of-your-urine.html For decades, the word “fingerprint” has been used to denote a set of unique characteristics, whether literally the complex patterns of arches, loops, and whorls on one’s fingertips or entirely figuratively and more recently, the notion of a genetic fingerprint based on an analysis of an individual’s DNA sequence. Most recently though, scientists have turned to another “omic” metabonomic fingerprinting using the analytical technique of NMR spectroscopy to obtain a unique view of an individual based on the complete range of metabolites produced by their body. In the press release that discussed the research and in my follow-up news story on Spectroscopynow.com, there was an allusion to the idea that each one of the 6.7 billion people on earth would have a ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2705158 Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:00:39 +0100 2705158 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2699639&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fspinning-facebook-and-student-grades.html We report on research emerging from most of the more than 100 academic departments on campus comprising more than 4,000 investigators and we’re highly selective about which projects we cover. First and foremost, they have to have undergone some peer review – in this case, publication in a reputable journal or selection for presentation at a major national meeting. Secondly, the research has to be both translateable and be interesting to a general reader/viewer/listener. Both criteria have to be met for us to do a story.” That’s a fair and solid response and dispels the concerns I raised in my draft post written on a whim. It seems that the initial spin by the Sunday Times story which did not report the actual preliminary results in the original research poster got t... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2699639 Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:00:31 +0100 2699639 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2645665&cid=t_101461_180_f&fid=38604&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmakeitgreat%2F%7E3%2F-yUPZZIOLsk%2F One of the best ways to connect with people is by being in front of them. Live interactions are better than online interactions. The more folks I can see, the more folks I can get deep with, become friends with, and learn from. Same with you and your business. If you can get in front of your customers and potential customers, or employers and potential employers, you can close the deal and make the magic happen. As it’s impossible to be everywhere with everyone, get social with your pictures instead! If you’re connected to me on Facebook, you’d know my favorite way to connect to folks is through my ever changing profile pictures. I post pictures of me with my favorite people, and I post pictures of me speaking or just me goofing off. It really connects with folks, as I frequently get... Phil Gerbyshak blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2645665 Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:26:00 +0100 2645665 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2584183&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fthe-three-as-of-food-security.html Famine, drought, disease, crop failure, they might afflict any one of us, but in the developing world and on the margins of urbanised regions, the issue of food security is paramount for survival. There are three main factors to consider when one thinks of food security each of which must be addressed to offer a fourth factor, in which people have adequate nutritious food to eat despite shocks caused by natural, economic, social and policy stresses: Availability Access Action Availability is achieved when sufficient quantities of food are consistently available for the whole community, whether on a local, regional, or national level. Access to food involves individuals, families and communities have adequate resources to grow their own food, money to buy food, or fitness to work for food... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2584183 Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:00:22 +0100 2584183 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2571320&cid=t_101461_180_f&fid=38604&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmakeitgreat%2F%7E3%2Fg4L02aQrvYI%2F When people call you, what do they hear if they don’t reach you? OK, so it’s probably a voicemail or other messaging system so they can leave you a message and you can call them back. So let’s assume that’s true, and let’s focus on the message you have that people hear when they call your number. Many people have a plain vanilla greeting, and often you’re not even sure if you reached a human being or just a machine. “Hi, you’ve reached 555-1212. Leave a message.” BARF! Who am I calling, and why should I care enough to leave a message with you? “Hi, this is Phil. Leave a message. I’ll call you back. Thanks.” That’s a little bit better. At least I know I called Phil. Does he check his voicemail often? What if this is an emergency? Is there another way to reach Phi... Phil Gerbyshak blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2571320 Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:57:40 +0100 2571320 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2513628&cid=t_101461_180_f&fid=38604&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmakeitgreat%2F%7E3%2F9RRKKh1idKo%2F Jim Fannin’s 90 second rule makes a lot of sense. Watch the video. It’s 7 minutes and 15 seconds. Here’s the gist: If you’ve been away from someone you care about at least 2 hours, the next 90 seconds have a bigger impact on them than spending hours and hours on them later. Walk in the door and be fully engaged in the moment. Regardless of your day prepare to focus your energy toward the people that matter most. See their every facial and hand gesture. Hear every voice tone or inflection. And if the person you meet is sad, then use a technique inside the 90 second rule called mirroring. Act sad so you can show empathy. Now you can raise them to a higher level of positivity. If the person you meet is happy, be just as happy to keep their level of positivity the same... Phil Gerbyshak blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2513628 Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:27:08 +0100 2513628 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2452621&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fsummer-science-books.html None of the new science books on my desk this morning are more than an inch thick, so they should make great lighweight packing for a summer holiday read. First up, It Takes a Genome by Greg Gibson, Professor of Genetics at North Carolina State University at Raleigh, explains why a clash between our genes and modern life is making us sick. Gibson provides new insights into why we are facing new epidemics that were never a widespread problem for our ancestors, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, Crohn’s disease, asthma, arthritis. He also probes exactly what we mean by physical and emotional “normality” and suggests that the human genome might teach us one of the deepest lessons about the human condition yet. Galileo’s New Unive... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2452621 Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:00:27 +0100 2452621 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2442407&cid=t_101461_134_f&fid=35219&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.candiddiabetes.com%2Fcandid_diabetes%2F2009%2F05%2Ftechnology-whore.html If I liked Christmas, I’d say that it was better than December 25. But I’m a dyed in the wool grinch, so I’ll say that it was better than getting a DQ ice cream cake for my birthday. And almost... (Source: Candid Diabetes) Candid Diabetes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2442407 Thu, 28 May 2009 04:26:33 +0100 2442407 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2463542&cid=t_101461_180_f&fid=38604&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmakeitgreat%2F%7E3%2FF6ueXPh6svo%2F Guest post by Sean Stephenson, Author of Get Off Your “But”: How to End Self-Sabotage and Stand Up for Yourself Note from Phil: I’m always curious how the best do what they do. Bill Clinton is the BEST connection artist I’ve ever seen, and though I don’t agree with all of his personal foibles, I have to admire the way he made everyone around him be connected to him quickly and effectively. I always wondered what tips he would share. Of course, I wasn’t able to get to him to ask him, but I was able to get one of his former intern’s insight, and now I can share that with you. Enjoy! Love him or loathe him, you can’t deny that Bill Clinton is a masterful connection artist. I’ve seen him in action many times, and he’s a wonder to beh... Phil Gerbyshak blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2463542 Fri, 22 May 2009 12:16:32 +0100 2463542 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2415644&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F_bEqei_2yUk%2F So Wolfram|Alpha is finally live. People have had mixed luck with it, as have I. Some items, especially related to mathematics and the physical sciences are really well represented. Others, not so much. When it works, it works brilliantly. Take a search for something like “ice” Not only do you get some great information, all on one page, you also get some other interesting options like the Mathematica form and chemical identifiers As I was playing around with it all day, and applying for API access, a few thoughts kept returning to my head. Obviously, this is still very early days, and while Alpha has a gorgeous interface, there are also a lot of holes. I would encourage everyone who cares for systematic knowledge to become a participant. A project of this magnitude needs i... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2415644 Sun, 17 May 2009 04:38:36 +0100 2415644 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2405300&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fmercury-climate-change-cosmos.html Mercury seals, ancient climate change, and even older microwaves, all feature in my Spotlight column over on Intute, this month. Mercury seals - The Polar Bear has often been given the role of proverbial environmental canary, coming to prominence in the movie An Inconvenient Truth by former US Vice President Al Gore. But, researchers in Canada have now reported for the first time how high levels of the toxic metal mercury present in certain Arctic seals could also be an indicator of the effects of climate change, hinting at how vanishing sea ice caused by rising temperatures may be to blame. The study provides new insights into the impact of climate change on Arctic marine life. Global thermostat - Could increased chemical weathering of rocks by rivers increase the absorption of carbon dio... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2405300 Thu, 14 May 2009 09:00:23 +0100 2405300 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2376542&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F6Tl4dmkhru4%2F This is an exciting time to be a data geek. Today, there was a webcast (which I missed) for Wolfram|Alpha, which I am super excited about and hope that it is as good as it could be. Google just launched a new feature that makes it easy to find and compare public data (some feel this was meant to upstage the Wolfram preview). The cool part about the Google announcement is that this is the first time they have made good use of Trendalyzer, the technology they acquired from Hans Rosling and company at Gapminder. I have already blogged about Talis Connected Commons and in recent days, Amazon Public Data Sets have added a number of new data sets, including all the NCBI Flu data and, a particular favorite, the University of Florida Sparse Matrix Collection. Update: We have Wolfram|Alpha video D... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2376542 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:36:24 +0100 2376542 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2365077&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Ftalking-computers.html Most of you will be familiar with the concept of tools from primitive hand axes, clubs, and even prehistoric smoothie makers, we humans have used them for millennia (and if you’ve noticed several animals use them too). Of course, our tools have grown exponentially more and more sophisticated, so much so that we now have tools we call machines that transport us from place to place, allow us to chat to people on the other side of the world, and of course allow us to sit hunched over a glowing panel like a lonely saddo writing inanely about whatever subject comes into our heads and hoping that someone will actually read our words… Now, these tools, machines, they are now rather sophisticated and often take quite some mastering. My Dad, for instance, used to be a civil engineer, but is... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2365077 Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:11:59 +0100 2365077 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2348294&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fthe-developing-digital-divide.html Are digital inclusion projects in the developing world booming or are they doomed to failure? That’s the question asked by legal expert Dinusha Mendis of the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK. Mendis has investigated the digital divide in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nigeria, and how laws such as those governing intellectual property rights and copyright might be acting as a barrier to narrowing the digital divide between the developing world and technologically mature nations. “It is important to bridge the digital divide so that everyone can have equal rights to development, education, and freedom of expression,” Mendis explains. However, she asks whether developing nations can cope with stringent international laws and so embrace digital technology. Key to su... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2348294 Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:00:31 +0100 2348294 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2274548&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2FJ5oT0UCjBJA%2F One of the best parts about having a traveling job is being able to meet people I consider friends, even though I might never have met them in person. Today I got to meet two people I’ve wanted to meet, one an old timer in the bioinformatics blogosphere and a long time favorite, the other my favorite blogger these days. Yep, I can now remove Pedro and Shirley from my “people I’d love to meet” list. We’ve built a great community online and being able to spend some time with some of the smartest people out there is always a great experience. Thanks folks for taking some time off (and waiting while my plane was delayed). (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2274548 Tue, 17 Mar 2009 05:40:38 +0100 2274548 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2144559&cid=t_101461_135_f&fid=35250&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.poz.com%2Fshawn%2Farchives%2F2009%2F01%2Fgeek_crafts_and.html Check out a very cool web site called Geek Crafts, which features links and comments on totally geektastic homemade items, like this little guy, Brad the Crochet Vampire. I was honored to be interviewed by Renee for Geek Crafts, answering questions about what it's like to speak about my personal/medical life at colleges, be a thinblood and why I decided a vampire book would be a good idea for a follow-up to My Pet Virus. Could it be... the blood? Also, a local magazine called Urge did a cover story on me and Gwenn. No, that's not us there, I was too lazy to scan it. But click over if you want to read the story and check out a great new publication that focuses on all things artistic as they pertain to the Commonwealth of Virginia. (Find out where to get a copy of Urge here.) Oh, and I'... Shawn's HIV Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2144559 Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:06:48 +0100 2144559 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1947274&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2FugJtSUgvJsQ%2F I’ve always liked , especially the interface and the distributed service driven model. But this is nothing to do with that. They have an iPhone app I already use the Molecules app on the iPhone and recently saw someone launch a sequence alignment job on EC2 from an iphone. I think the day of using mobile devices as part of regular scientific workflows is not that far away. (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1947274 Sat, 08 Nov 2008 21:03:26 +0100 1947274 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1856480&cid=t_101461_129_f&fid=35796&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rathnait.net%2Fblog%2F2008%2F10%2Fvideo_game_adventures.html Fall is finally here in the Pac Northwest and with it, day after day of rain, rain, rain. Last fall I didn't have a video game system, mostly because I was too busy to pay much attention to the gaming world, but since purchasing my Nintendo Wii in May I not only have an exer-gaming console to distract me from the weather (and doing a bit of exercise this afternoon did help refocus my thoughts from work frustrations), I also have a plethora of gaming opportunities I can access by downloading old games (including several of my favorite games from the Nintendo 64) and purchasing a wide variety of games originally created for the Nintendo Gamecube. What I've found, though, is that the brilliance of the Wii is also its biggest downfall: you have to get up off your heiney and actually move. Mo... Behind Blue Eyes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1856480 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 05:34:45 +0100 1856480 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1809826&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F3n_aBbsvj8k%2F Zooming interfaces are cool. This week I have had a chance to see Zoomii in action, a Microsoft Surface, and of course, I use the multitouch zooming of the iphone quite regularly. In an interview with Jon Udell, Kristin Tolle, who works on biomedical computing at Microsoft Research had this to say Yeah, and we have these cool technologies. I think the WorldWide Telescope could be redeployed in many environments, and I think healthcare is one of those killer applications. We were talking with the National Cancer Institute, and one of the things they’d like to do is take a slice out of the liver while the patient is still on the table and be able to zoom in and zoom out — it’s the same technology. This was in response to a question on our abilities to make sense of complex ... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1809826 Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:19:46 +0100 1809826 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1768956&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2FFn56L0H1-is%2F Just futzing around with Dipity. Here is an alternative to your normal list based RSS feed and fits in with the mood of the visualization theme earlier on Friendfeed Dipity first caught my attention due to its utilization of Freebase Related articles by Zemanta Dipity Do Da - An Interactive Collaborative Timeline To Track Wiki Contributions (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1768956 Sat, 06 Sep 2008 06:41:34 +0100 1768956 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1750234&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2FzXOTlT2fFBY%2F What are the things that evolution has at its disposal to define a creature, to mix and match the parts, and eventually come up with a unique organism that’s going to live its life and try to reproduce? – Will Wright, gaming innovator Every time I take a “how big a geek are you” test, I fail, since I am not a gamer. That’s by choice. If I ever start, I am doomed. There is not enough time for all the things I care about as it stands, especially music, so gaming has always been kept at arms length. That said, cool games, and ideas in games are always of interest. Spore, which gets released on Sunday, has to be among the most highly anticipated, most hyped games since, well I suppose, GTA IV. Well, when you bring a cool game and genetics together, you get my attenti... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1750234 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 06:20:50 +0100 1750234 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1742800&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2FfahDh4mi8Lo%2F bioinformatics: acquiring, collating and rearranging information already available elsewhere? That is from a Tweet by Neil. My reaction was somthing along the lines of “boy that sounds like the definition of a mashup”. Bioinformatics is a broad field, but part of it, a good part of what a bioinformatician does is exactly what Neil describes. The work of a bioinformatician is built on data collected by many people around the world and deposited in a variety of data bases. A lot of what we do is take information from one and try and match it up to information from a second source, presumably with the goal of getting additional insights. It might sound crude to call it that, but I think if we start thinking of bioinformatics as a mashup, we could start thinking about making those... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1742800 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:54:07 +0100 1742800 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1739240&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2FqqXyebg4uy4%2F Image via Wikipedia All of you know about it already, but I shall happily add to the noise. Last evening I had one of those “Holy S**t” moments. Was sitting in a coffee shop, catching up with the days news, when I saw a flurry of activity on Friendfeed around Ubiquity. Turns out Ubiquity is a new project by Mozilla Labs, which for want of a better description is like Quicksilver for the browser, a mini command line available with an Alt-space. Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo. Ubiquity is still young, and may never catch on although I have a feeling it will, at least among the geek crowd, and being a Firefox plugin = low friction. But you can see the promise right away. You can, very quickly, using simple commands access search, Wikipedia, maps, insert material int... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1739240 Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:13:52 +0100 1739240 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1720764&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fcompare-and-compare-alike.html Back in June 2001, I reviewed an intriguing site that allows you to compare “stuff”. At the time, the review focused on how the site could be used to find out in how many research papers archived by PubMed two words or phrases coincided. I spent hours entering various terms hoping to turn up some revelationary insights about the nature of biomedical research, but to no avail. I assumed the site would have become a WWW cobweb by now, but no! compare-stuff is alive and kicking and has just been relaunched with a much funkier interface and a whole new attitude. And as of fairly recently, the site now has a great blog associated with it in which site creator Bob compares some bizarre stuff such as pollution levels versus torture and human rights abuses in various capital cities. Ch... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1720764 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:30:25 +0100 1720764 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1689056&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F359062060%2F I am not at BioBarCamp. Couldn’t make it for various reasons, so I missed out on meeting a whole bunch of cool folks. Luckily we do live in the world of new media and instant community. While, I haven’t been able to follow every discussion, between Twitter, Cameron’s Mogulus feed and Friendfeed, I was almost there. Lots of people who should take a bow, but none more so that Attila Csordás. I owe you one my friend. Given the success of this event and SciBarCamp, there are now four events on the science geek calendar that are going to be firmly circled in my calendar for next year, the others being the Scienceblogging Conference, now renamed ScienceOnline (a good change) and Scifoo. I hope to make at least three of them. ShareThis (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1689056 Fri, 08 Aug 2008 03:45:40 +0100 1689056 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1686309&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F357045979%2F The O’Reilly Radar is tracking some themes of interest to them, and all relevant to our bio geek community Synthetic Biology Personal Genomics Neuro everything I’ve had some disagreements with the tech geek community’s understanding of the life sciences, so will be interesting to see what tack the Radar takes. I also suspect they will all be covered at this years Scifoo Related articles by Zemanta ETech CFP calls out personalized medicine, synbio ETech 2009 CFP: Living, Reinvented ShareThis (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1686309 Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:26:54 +0100 1686309 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1671575&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F352275287%2F Had a conversation earlier today, all about RDF and linked data. I am a big believer, which is why posts like this one by Cameron Neylon on A new way of looking at science? bring a smile. Andrew Milsted, a PhD student, enabled an RDF dump of the content in the lab notebook used by Cameron’s group (and others I suspect). The result, a graph that shows each post in the notebook as a node and links between posts as edges. It is a universe of the work going on in the lab, and how that work interacts. It would be interesting to see the dynamics of this graph evolve, and various other ways of visualizing the underlying data and relationships. It would also be cool to put this up on the web as linked data and link it to data outside Cameron’s lab. Might even lead to some very interest... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1671575 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:07:34 +0100 1671575 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1618092&cid=t_101461_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2F334557630%2F Charlie and I found ourselves in the pool every day last week and he got in two rounds of bowling. In today’s USNews and World Report, Nancy Shute reviews a number of recent studies on genetics, including the study published this week in Science. She also discusses why a clinical trial of chelation could provide parents with the “good information they desperately need in making choices about treatments.” More Unfriendly Skies 4 children, 2 disabled, Southwest Airlines. What’s Medically Necessary? Parents, insurers, schools, who pays? Chelation Study Put on Hold Citing safety concern, the NIMH puts the study on hold. Hans Reiser and the Asperger’s Defense: Troubling The “geek defense” and a troubling case Asymmetry in Infants and the Crab Crawl A new... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1618092 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:12:48 +0100 1618092 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1508519&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F308552976%2F Those of you who have not done so better install FriendFeed Comments. The plugin pulls in comments and likes from a blog post on FriendFeed. Here is an example of the plugin in action Further reading Why does FriendFeed work? Technorati Tags: FriendFeed, Wordpress ShareThis (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1508519 Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:34:43 +0100 1508519 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1508520&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F308514757%2F I missed out on most of the fun about the iPhone 3G today. While I did get a chance to hang around the Venturebeat room on FriendFeed a little, work kept me away from ball-by-ball commentary. However, one thing did catch my eye. During the part where a variety of new iPhone apps were being introduced, two medical-related apps were highlighted. Netter’s Anatomy is an app from Modality Learning. Here is a description of the product Using outstanding anatomical illustrations from Netter’s hugely popular Atlas of Human Anatomy (4th Edition), Netter’s Anatomy allows you to carry the bestselling reference for human anatomy on your iPhone or iPod touch. Navigate through images with the flick of a finger, pinch to zoom, and tap to test your knowledge of muscles, bones, vessels, v... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1508520 Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:31:13 +0100 1508520 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1475237&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F299610899%2F Uber-geek alert!!! I believe the following was a tweet by Trevor Smith, whom I met at Startup Weekend last year this year and recall as one sharp cookie (that he has spent time at PARC does not come as a surprise once you spend some time with him) Imagine a city the size and detail of Liberty City, but dedicated to professional collaboration and culture. Out of curiousity, I had to ask what this was all about. The answer; Ogoglio. At one level Ogoglio is a virtual world, not unlike Second Life, but if you take a deeper look, there is much more there. Just take a look at the goal: Creat an online city for work. The goal is to build a world, Ogoglio City, which mirrors the network effects and structures of the real world. While obviously there is technology involved, the end goal is to make ... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1475237 Wed, 28 May 2008 05:56:33 +0100 1475237 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1463854&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F296196980%2F FriendFeed is one of my favorite places on the web. Not only does it aggregate the various content I produce on the web, it is beautifully designed and has spawned one of the best little biogeek communities on the web (case in point this wonderful discussion on code repositories for science). Today, FriendFeed added a new feature; rooms. Will rooms be useful? The jury is still out, since they’ve been around for all but a couple of hours, but that didn’t stop me from creating a room for our community there. My hope for The Life Scientists is that it will become the kind of resource for me that Digg or Reddit have never become; place for us to share our miscellaneous links and items of interest. At a more fundamental level, I’ve often talked about trust (channeling Jon Ude... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1463854 Fri, 23 May 2008 13:45:38 +0100 1463854 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1432559&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F287066761%2F Technology Review was the first place I saw it, then someone put it up on Friendfeed and now Andrew Perry has a great post on Foldit. Foldit comes out of the lab of a bbgm favorite, David Baker, right here at the University of Washington. Foldit combines gaming with protein structure prediction. It’s an interesting approach to spreading scientific problems. Folding@home built upon the success of Seti@home and the geek cred of running on gaming consoles and has built quite a following. Will Foldit, which presents a simple, fun interface to get people interested in protein structure (and the existence of Folding@home makes this somewhat familiar to geeks everywhere) be an example of how we can leverage crowdsourcing? Andrew makes some interesting points (which I agree with) on weightin... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1432559 Fri, 09 May 2008 20:17:11 +0100 1432559 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1419673&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F283579876%2F The announcement The protagonist. What is it? Golem is a set of tools, and ontology language, for processing data written in the CML, the Chemical Markup Language. The Golem language is XML, and the tools and libraries are written in Python. A shout out to the MaterialsGrid, which my former employer, Accelrys, is involved with. I’ve talked about some of the cool stuff he does before. That’s only the tip of the iceberg. He writes and records cool electronica and does creates mashups like the one below (using RDF) Crystallography, 2000-2007 from Andrew Walkingshaw on Vimeo. Video via Andrew under a Creative Commons license Technorati Tags: Andrew Walkingshaw, Golem, CML, Ontologies ShareThis (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1419673 Sun, 04 May 2008 17:12:25 +0100 1419673 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1393769&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F276144098%2F Andrew Perry joins the rank of biogeeks leveraging the various platforms in the cloud. He has announced the release of ResolveRef, which is essentially a RESTful way of querying PubMed. ResolveRef has been built on top of Google’s AppEngine It’s good to see these kinds of projects, and I suspect this is hardly the last of what we’ll see. Technorati Tags: ResolveRef, AppEngine ShareThis (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1393769 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:00:00 +0100 1393769 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1378006&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F271811959%2F Lots of talk on data lately. Paul Kedrosky, for example, wants to bring on the data blogs. So in that spirit I wanted to mention some cool data-related sites and APIs and put up some data of my own. Google has its charts API. Swivel and Many Eyes are also familiar to many people who read this blog. To that list I would like to Trendrr, which I first read about on ReadWriteWeb. Haven’t quite tried it out yet, but it definitely looks very interesting. There are a lot of public datasets available, and while accessing them or finding them isn’t as easy as one would like, and the fact that more data should be openly available is always there, it is becoming increasingly available to do things with those data via APIs or services like Freebase (I think that’s where Freebase re... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1378006 Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:25:52 +0100 1378006 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1371969&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F270255074%2F When I started using Twitter, it was a bit lonely. There just weren’t too many life science types there. Well things are changing (and I have a feeling FriendFeed has something to do with that). Earlier today, Attila took things one step further by setting up a twitter account called biotecher, which aggregates various “bio” Twitterers. Follow “biotechers” on Twitter and always feel free to follow me (mndoci). Just thinking a little ahead, you have Friendfeed, newsgang, twitlinks, etc. These collect links posted by various people, as opposed to clustering around stories like techmeme and postgenomic do. This river of information approach is an interesting one and is a source of a lot of information, since one can easily skim. It’ll be interesting how the... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1371969 Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:13:30 +0100 1371969 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1352913&cid=t_101461_105_f&fid=34923&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.antifaust.net%2Farchives%2F2008%2F04%2Fchanges-2%2F to antifaust since last month: Change #1: I started a new blog: geekydoc. I’m going to keep my medicine-related posts there from now on. Personal posts — like movie reviews, non-medicine-related links, et cetera — will be appearing here in antifaust. Change #2: I have a new Twitter account. Follow me! Change #3: I have upgraded to Wordpress 2.5. Sweet. Planned changes that I’ve been mulling over: Planned change #1: I’m planning to get a new url soon. Most likely, I will have to let go of antifaust.net, but I will move both blogs to that new url. Planned change #2: Will probably delete my Tumblr account. Planned change #3: Go on a diet and chronicle it in both blogs. We’ll see how this goes. (Source: antifaust) antifaust blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1352913 Sun, 06 Apr 2008 07:38:19 +0100 1352913 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1344932&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fonline-science.html For my sins, I asked another question on LinkedIn recently with the aim of canvassing opinion on how science can benefit from online social media. I posted the question in the biotech section, which seemed to be the most appropriate, they don’t have a general science category, unfortunately. So, how can science benefit from online social media? My good friend, Jean-Claude Bradley of Drexel University, a chemist and host of the UsefulChem Blogspot blog, who is very keen on the use of information technology and the notion of the open notebook was first to respond: “For me the answer is clear: it is a great way to find new collaborators whom I would otherwise not have met.” I’d have to agree, I’ve known JCB for quite some time now, although we’ve never even... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1344932 Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:00:46 +0100 1344932 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1314633&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fsciencebase-seedier-side.html Anyone would think Sciencebase resided in one of the seedier corners of the internet. Because of all the recent fuss about the new seven deadly sins, I was just checking out the visitor traffic using Google Webmaster Tools and found some quite worrying search queries that bring you, dear readers, to this cybershore. Apparently, 4% of the searches on Google Images this week brought you looking for the periodic table of sex! Well, I have to admit, there is a thumbnail graphic of said item on the site, mentioned in a post Periodic Post, from August 2006. And, Sciencebase ranks #7 in Google for that phrase, so it’s perhaps not surprising. Slightly more worrying is what people were searching for who reached my post Giving Good Headline, which was about the subject of press releases and th... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1314633 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:17:06 +0100 1314633 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1312378&cid=t_101461_105_f&fid=34923&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.antifaust.net%2Farchives%2F2008%2F03%2Frip-arthur-c-clarke%2F Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey and inventor of the communications satellite, has passed away. I remember reading his books in high school, along with the works of Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury. I didn’t like his later output, but his early sci-fi was very influential. Time to log on to Audible and download me some sci-fi. “My God, it’s full of stars…” (Source: antifaust) antifaust blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1312378 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:17:15 +0100 1312378 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1289307&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F248457779%2F I don’t know who here has used Friendfeed, but it provides an interesting opportunity, which I am trying to re-position in a more interesting use-case and have failed thus far. Essentially, Friendfeed allows people to aggregate their content. It’s what I call my lifestream, where I aggregate blog posts, shared bookmarks, youtube video’s last.fm etc. One thing it enables is annotation, either by the author or by someone else (Jeremy Zawodny does this very effectively) e.g. here’s how I annotate google reader shared items Perhaps the most interesting use that I have seen is what might be called meta-conversations. I follow a bunch of people (not too many yet), either those whose entries across various networks are always high quality (e.g. Jeremy), or people I don&#8... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1289307 Sun, 09 Mar 2008 19:07:31 +0100 1289307 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1269616&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F243694306%2F Recently, I got a chance to get my hands on Wikipedia: The Missing Manual. I had never read one of the O’Reilly Missing Manuals series before, and this is not likely to be the last one, especially if the rest of the series is anything like the Wikipedia book. By the end of the first chapter, I knew a lot more about Wikipedia then I did earlier, and best of all, it made me want to go in and start doing research so I could contribute to one of the most important developments. Over the past few years, I have become mostly uninterested in books that teach you how to use a web resource or a software app. For good reason; most do a really lousy job. Not so in this case. Even someone like Nicholson Baker recommends using the missing manual to learn how to be more effective using Wikipedia, ... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1269616 Sat, 01 Mar 2008 04:29:44 +0100 1269616 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1256285&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F241276467%2F A bunch of semi-related newsitems, shoehorned into a single post. PLoS Biology has a new Academic Editor-in-Chief, and in fellow scifoo Jonathan Eisen, they couldn’t have found a better candidate. Jonathan, who’s been an academic editor for a while, is an OA champion, a wonderful scientist, and best of all, one of the most fun people to read or meet in person. Meanwhile, this is TED week. As anyone remotely connected to bbgm knows, TED is a favorite around these parts. Since I have already watched every video they have ever released on their wonderful website, it’s time for a new batch and voila, TED 2008 is just round the corner. Check out the list of speakers. Talking of TED, former TED prize winner, E. O. Wilson’s Encyclopedia of Life is supposed to finally go li... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1256285 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:28:08 +0100 1256285 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1245122&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F238220793%2F My favorite gathering of geeks and the like not named Scifoo has always been Ignite Seattle. So when it made its return last night after a break due Brady’s hectic schedule, many geeks rejoiced, and it was worth the wait. One could argue that last nights Ignite was the best in terms of consistency. No, there were no discourses on Transhuman Morality or creating floods, but whether it was using Jedi tricks to ace an interview, or managing to maintain sanity with (or is it despite) the entrepreneur in your life, the talks were great and the CHAC was packed (They had to turn people away). Met the Ignite regulars and newbies and some people I’d never met before, always an added benefit of these things. Anyway, good to have Ignite back. Can’t wait for the next one. I even have... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1245122 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:19:16 +0100 1245122 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1233275&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F235369592%2F Pierre is always doing cool stuff. His latest project uses Freebase to fetch biographies of scientists. His blog post goes into the details of how he arrived at this app, and also showcases some of the strengths of Freebase. He was unable to use DBpedia to achieve his needs, but by defining a custom type in Freebase and then using MQL (the query language used by Freebase) to pull the information required. The basic idea, adding structure to existing unstructured information is one of the original reasons I was so attracted to Freebase and continue to to interested. And for added benefit, there is a Google Earth mashup as well. Technorati Tags: Freebase, Mashup, Pierre Lindenbaum (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1233275 Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:29:25 +0100 1233275 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1225948&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fsearch-and-cite-for-science-bloggers.html A couple of weeks ago I was reading a post by Will Griffiths on the ChemSpider Open Chemistry Web blog about how the DOI citation system of journal article lookups might be improved. The DOI system basically assigns each research paper a unique number depending, with an embedded publisher tag. Enter a DOI into a look up box (e.g. the DOI lookup on Sciencebase, foot of that page) and it almost instantaneously takes you to the paper in question. I use the DOI system for references in Sciencebase posts all the time. There are a few cons that counteract its various pros, for instance, not all publishers use it and among those that do there are some who do not implement the DOI for their papers until they are in print, as opposed to online. Despite that it is very useful and commonly used. Havi... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1225948 Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:18:02 +0100 1225948 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1222555&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fsciencebase-upgraded.html I finally upgraded the Sciencebase site to the very latest version of Wordpress, it had been languishing at version 2.1.3 (can you believe it?) for far too long. There had not only been dozens of security upgrades since that version and the current version 2.3.3 but various new features that the site was not making full use of. It was a post by Wayne Liew WayneLiewDot.com that persuaded me to do the necessary and his recommendation for using a plugin that automates that whole process was the tipping point I needed. Having carried out the upgrade (more on the actual Wordpress upgrade process here) and found only a few minor problems, like a disordered sidebar, a couple of out-of-date plugins and just one irrelevant dead plugin, and fixed those as best as I could, I figured it was time for a... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1222555 Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:04:53 +0100 1222555 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1216519&cid=t_101461_145_f&fid=35710&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstoryofhealing.com%2F2008%2F02%2F06%2Fmeeting-the-xo-aptly-at-a-geek-gathering-and-other-yowzahs%2F Never have I imagined that Houston would be the place to affirm my geek. Except at my brother’s old place from where he built me my first PC. And then after that when I met my husband, who is a proud one himself. But out in the wild? It is with a happy note then that I share with you a Houston that has such a dynamic within. Having lived here for not very long, it is wonderful to have these venues to meet with one’s ‘kin’. Meeting folks who will match my very own, “@timeless” with their “@outofbalance” or “@superman” unleashes a smiling butterfly that says, “yowzah!”. The gatherings come in many wonderful names and behind them smiling headshots coming to life as you meet them. “@imelda’s” Twitter Houston and “@laanba’s” Housto... the story of healing blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1216519 Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:00:57 +0100 1216519 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1196111&cid=t_101461_155_f&fid=36520&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdrzeusforensicfiles.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F02%2Fwhat-military-aircraft-are-you.html Gotta love the BUFF, baby!What military aircraft are you?B-52 StratofortressYou're a B-52. You are old and wise, and you absolutely love destruction. You believe in the principle of "peace through deterrence" and aren`t afraid to throw your weight around.Click Here to Take This QuizBrought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests. (Source: Dr. Zeus's Forensic Files) Dr. Zeus's Forensic Files blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1196111 Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:24:00 +0100 1196111 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1182850&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fv%2FMhW3_BYn8lE%26amp%3Brel%3D1%26amp%3Bborder%3D1 My favorite geek event of all time not named Scifoo is BACK!!! Brady Forrest has announced that the next Ignite Seattle will be held on the 19th of February at its usual venue (The CHAC). I have spoken twice at Ignite in the past (since I spoke last time, can’t do so this time). On Nanomedicine … and on open science Technorati Tags: Ignite Seattle (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1182850 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:33:36 +0100 1182850 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1182851&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F224679106%2F Not quite bioinformatics, but of all the topics that came up on the rather chaotic first night of Seattle Startup Weekend, a “match.com for enterprises” was the one that appealed to me most of all. At the time, it was not the first option, but after our original idea crashed and burned, the team got to work on what ended up becoming skillbit (current version can be found at beta.skillbit.com), a service for small organizations to connect people with capabilities. I came back last night exhausted, satisfied, with lots of new friends and discussions around topics ranging from social experiments to running simulations on GPUs to the best place to have coffee. As a stockholder and co-founder of skillbit, I am definitely interested in watching the effort succeed, but regardless, for... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1182851 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:54:30 +0100 1182851 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1183237&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fno-spies-under-my-bed.html Currently, the only truly effective way consumers can stop the collection of their personal data when shopping is not to use the internet, to be paid and to pay for everything in cash, and to hide their money in their mattress. More seriously, most of us will continue to use web services despite privacy concerns. You can try to opt-out of marketing schemes or reconfigure your web browser to reject advances from sites that offer cookies or install spying applications. However, most such rejections will prevent you from trading on most e-commerce sites altogether. So, cookies will crumble, there’s no two ways about it if you want to shop online or use web 2.0 interactive sites. You can, of course, use software to delete those cookies as soon as you’re finished your interaction wi... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1183237 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:22:25 +0100 1183237 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1173664&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fspammatical-errors.html I usually ignore the comment spam folders on this website as per my own advice. Occasionally, however, I will scan them quickly. I do so if a regular reader has commented and has emailed to say that their comment is yet to appear. Legitimate words do sometimes get caught in the Akismet netting. I can then add the individual to the filter whitelist and approve the comment. Spam comments usually come in one of a few limited types. The first is the straightforward nonsense list of random lewd keywords, Rx ingredients, and messages pertaining to the impossible enhancement of various organs, and it is not to Messrs Hammnond nor Henry Willis and his Sons to which I am referring here. The second type is the bizarre one-word message saying: “Cool!”, “Nice,” “Sorry,&#8... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1173664 Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:00:52 +0100 1173664 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1146451&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F215246371%2F In two weeks, I will be one of 120 or so people gathering at the Adobe digs in Fremont to start a company over an action packed weekend. I heard about Startup Weekend for the first time via the blogs of Stan James and Adam Rubenstein and have been waiting for the event to show up in Seattle. I remember talking to Hans Omli and Ryan Stewart about it some months ago, and I am pretty sure both were involved in bringing Startup Weekend to Seattle. Can’t wait. It’s going to be a boatload of fun with a number of friends and colleagues in attendance. Technorati Tags: Startup Weekend (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1146451 Fri, 11 Jan 2008 23:00:56 +0100 1146451 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1140346&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2F40320-such-a-significant-figure.html I am currently writing a post about pico and femto satellites for Sciencebase, these devices are tiny compared to the enormous one tonne behemoths many of us would picture if asked to visualise an artificial satellite (more on that later). Anyway, the earth’s escape velocity at sea level from a standing start was a figure I needed to hand while writing the piece. I found a value in metres per second, converted to kmh and did a quick search with Google Toolbar just to get some references and to confirm my calculation. The kmh value, as you may have guessed, comes out at about 40320. However, Google’s auto-suggest offered me a search for the phrase “40320 plain bob major”, which was odd, to say the least, but would have been the obvious figure to a bell-ringing friend... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1140346 Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:16:26 +0100 1140346 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1139837&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F213823806%2F I am fortunate to know some of the best and the brightest. One of them is Andrew Walkingshaw, whom I met in person at Scifoo. Turns out Andrew has developed an absolutely killer concept UI called Sentinel that allows you to use physical markers with different shapes, each representing an atom, and create molecules. The UI, based on Reactivision, consists of a glass table and the aforementioned markers. Custom software tracks marker shapes and locations with a webcam and sends off queries to PubChem to perform substructure searches, etc. The best part was the cost. One could do this with Microsoft Surface or Thinsight as well, but I seriously doubt if you could do it for that kind of cost. Way cool!!! (Source: Euan Adie) Update:Thanks to Attila, Andrew’s now featured on the Make blo... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1139837 Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:47:03 +0100 1139837 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1134170&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fan-amply-adequate-sufficiency-of-tautology.html As Russ Swan of Laboratory Talk pointed out in reference to my previous post on the redundancy of the phrase “male semen”, there are numerous other examples around. For instance, the phrase HIV virus is equally redundant as it literally says, “human immunodeficiency virus virus”, likewise ATM machine (automated teller machine machine), PIN number (personal identification number number) and the Sierra Nevada mountain range (Snowy mountain range mountain range). There are lots more everyday examples of interlanguage tautologies of the latter kind on Wikipedia But there are plenty of examples in science and technology. For instance, this patent title - RAID array configuration synchronization at power on is just one of many examples that cite the acronym RAID followed ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1134170 Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:06:50 +0100 1134170 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1129594&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Flearn-to-let-go-of-your-spam-folders.html In the spirit of recent posts about conversational spam and other such topics, I thought I’d let you into a little secret. My blog comment spam folder fills up every day but thanks to Akismet you never get to see the spam on the blog itself. Same goes for my GMail account spam folder (I route all email through it for that very reason). You probably find the same. Several hundred spam comments every day and the same again in email spam. It can get out of control during the holiday season when you’re not there to check every day. So, what do with it all? You have two options: you could quickly scan page after page of spam, which can add up to a lot of time each week looking for false positives (and that’s even if you are greasing the spam) or you could simply learn to let g... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1129594 Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:00:35 +0100 1129594 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1118309&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fbest-science-blogs.html In an effort to keep Sciencebase bubbling along during the holiday season, I figured a quickie post listing some of my favourite science blogs from this year might be interesting. Blogs come and go, of course, and my newsreader account is in constant flux with new blogs that catch my attention briefly getting pole position and then dropping off. However, I remembered that there is a quicker way for you to grab a recent snapshot of my feed favourites and that is with my newsfeed OPML file (right-click and save the link with an “.opml” extension. You can then import it into any compatible news aggregator, offline (Snarfer) or online (Google Reader) with minimal fuss. Or use an OPML editor to edit it, it’s entirely up to you. My science OPML file is up to dateMy science OPML... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1118309 Thu, 27 Dec 2007 13:00:11 +0100 1118309 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1107216&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Ftop-ten-computing-tips.html Seeing as the holiday season is fast approaching, I thought I’d offer an extra post covering some of the browsing and blogging tips and tricks I run on the Significant Figures site at Sciencetext.com. On that site I used to mainly discuss inappropriate unit conversions, sloppy statistical use, and dodgy typos in the media and still do occasionally. For instance, there was a lot of press on the comet bigger than the sun issue recently, which interconverted miles and kilometres with astoundingly high improvements in significant figures. Then there was the discussion of how much does Santa Claus weigh… But, like I say, mostly it’s tips on how to get the most from your web browser, improve security, and boost your blog’s performance. It acts as my personal lab book for ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1107216 Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:00:02 +0100 1107216 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1103755&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fmale-semen-is-redundant.html You’ve seen the kind of thing: “Warehouse Razed to the Ground in Fire”, as if razing didn’t already mean the building was levelled. Worse, “Balloon Ascends Up into the Air”, ascending down is very difficult, simultaneously, at the same time, if not impossible; so too is descending up. However, the award for the most redundantly tautological headline of the year has to go to Scientific American for Male Semen Makes HIV More Potent, that’s male semen as opposed to the female variety, is it? It’s an important discovery, nevertheless that a chemical constituent of semen affects the immune system facilitating viral infection. Scientific American is probably not the first and original nor the ultimate and last publication to use this phrase though.... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1103755 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:08:08 +0100 1103755 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1082113&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F197686255%2F xkcd The following is an example of what you can find there Technorati Tags: xkcd (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1082113 Sun, 09 Dec 2007 20:11:06 +0100 1082113 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1075341&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2F8-ways-to-get-more-juice-from-your-iphone-battery.html If you’ve just bought an iPhone, you’re probably expecting many happy years of battery power. Well, not so fast. Laptop batteries are very similar to rechargeable batteries in other devices, they wear out. I’ve had my current laptop for about 18 months and in the last few weeks I’ve noticed that I’m not getting quite the battery life from it that I was when I first bought it. I used to be able to run for about 3 hours doing wordprocessing, email, and web browsing even on a wireless connection. Lately, however, the lithium battery seems to run down within an hour or so, which is a real pain when I’m offsite. I checked out Battery University to see if there is anything I can do to get my battery life back to normal. Apparently, there isn’t, and as a ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1075341 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:03:34 +0100 1075341 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1072563&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2F8-ways-to-get-more-juice-from-your-iphone-battery.html If you’ve just bought an iPhone, you’re probably expecting many happy years of battery power. Well, not so fast. Laptop batteries are very similar to rechargeable batteries in other devices, they wear out. I’ve had my current laptop for about 18 months and in the last few weeks I’ve noticed that I’m not getting quite the battery life from it that I was when I first bought it. I used to be able to run for about 3 hours doing wordprocessing, email, and web browsing even on a wireless connection. Lately, however, the lithium battery seems to run down within an hour or so, which is a real pain when I’m offsite. I checked out Battery University to see if there is anything I can do to get my battery life back to normal. Apparently, there isn’t, and as a ... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1072563 Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:00:14 +0100 1072563 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1047557&cid=t_101461_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2007%2F11%2Fmake-your-own-id%2F Ben Goldacre The Guardian Saturday November 24 2007 Sometimes just throwing a few long words around can make people think you know what you’re talking about. Words like “biometric”. When Alistair Darling was asked if the government will ditch ID cards in the light of this week’s data cock-up, he replied: “The key thing about identity cards is, [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1047557 Sat, 24 Nov 2007 01:11:53 +0100 1047557 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1037950&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Finvisible-science.html The notion of the Invisible Web created quite a buzz, long before Google even had just one “oo” let alone half a dozen. The phrase alluded to the putatively millions of additional web pages, essentially hidden from view behind database scripts - fascinating product catalogues, riveting company backend data, and, scientific databases. Scientific databases, you say, invisible? Of course! You probably think of the databases with which you are personally familiar as being directly accessible and that there is nothing hidden about their contents at all. Much of the search functionality of countless scientific databases will work perfectly well regardless of your IP address, irrespective of whether you have logged in, and from almost anywhere in the world. Some are closed off to non-... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1037950 Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:01:58 +0100 1037950 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1032971&cid=t_101461_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2F185927318%2F Today’s Chicago Tribune sings the praises of the “geek girl” and offers an overview of undiagnosed geek girlness in movies ranging from literary characters like Mary Bennett and Hermione (from Pride and Prejudice and the Harry Potter books) to The Truth About Cats and Dogs (”geek girl cult classic“), to Heather, who has Asperger Syndrome and who was recently on America’s Next Top Model. Time was when a girl with food stains on her shirt, spectacles on her nose and a passion for, say, theoretical physics or existentialist philosophy could, at best, be a big screen punch line or a sitcom sidekick. Well, that was then, this is now. With “Beauty and the Geek” for the first time featuring a female brainiac, and Heather the art nerd eating the beau... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1032971 Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:30:48 +0100 1032971 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1037201&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Ffacing-up-to-facebook.html Sciencebase readers who scroll all the way down to the footer of any page on the site will most likely have spotted a clutch of new icons in a section I call Geeky Fun Stuff. I never thought of myself as an ubergeek until recently, but I guess it all adds up: big science fan, science degree, science writing as a career, fan of the more technical kinds of music, Rush, Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, that kind of stuff, oh and the The Dickies (I jest), and running a blog with literally thousands, well not thousands, dozens of plugins, that you spend far too much time tweaking. And, part of being an ubergeek is stepping out of denial and facing up to one’s Facebook presence, the installation of Scrabulous, South Park character creator, and of course, the creation of one’s own niche gro... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1037201 Fri, 09 Nov 2007 15:00:22 +0100 1037201 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1037205&cid=t_101461_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fnever-divide-by-zero.html There is nothing like a Lego movie to cheer up an overcast day, and it has been a long time since I posted the Newton’s Laws Explained with Lego movie. So let’s get metaphysical and find out what happens when you square infinity or when a bug in the totalityofexistence leads to a universal divide by zero. I assume everyone spotted that the time - 10:21 - at 1′13″ into the movie doesn’t change, it’s still 10:21 at 2′20″ in…nice touch or continuity error…or just a lack of another 2 sticker for the Lego clock. ShareThis (Source: Sciencebase Science Blog) Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1037205 Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:00:49 +0100 1037205 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=995028&cid=t_101461_136_f&fid=35302&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FWhitePebble%2F%7E3%2F177826209%2F I gotta find out where to sign up for this… Privacy groups pitch “don’t track me” ad server blacklist Privacy groups pitch “don’t track me” ad server blacklist By Nate Anderson | Published: October 31, 2007 - 12:37PM CT The Do Not Call list has proved a huge hit with consumers. Now, a collection of privacy advocates wants the Federal Trade Commission to launch a similar Do Not Track List that will prevent behavioral advertisers from tracking online activities over time. Technorati Tags: don’t track me Powered by ScribeFire. (Source: white pebble) white pebble blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=995028 Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:12:54 +0100 995028 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=970115&cid=t_101461_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2F173530771%2F William Bunn in the October 22nd Globe and Mail coins the phrase or rather creates a new diagnostic subcategory, “technological autism,” for those individuals who, due to obsessive, repetitive, and near-constant use of such devices as iPods, cell phones, Blackberrys, and the like, display (according to Bunn) certain symptoms of autism as defined in the DSM-IV. Due to the excessive overuse of all gizmos techological, people are suffering “qualitative impairments of communication” as text-messaging comes to substitute for talking, so actually looking another human being in the face and emitting words and language (which comes from the Latin word for “tongue,” lingua—perhaps communicating solely by text might rather be called digitage, after the Latin... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=970115 Mon, 22 Oct 2007 22:58:26 +0100 970115 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=848351&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F153257494%2F Looks like the Ignite Video’s are moving from Blip.tv to YouTube. Which means you have to suffer through my talk on Nanotechnology and medicine. Technorati Tags: Ignite Seattle, Nanomedicine (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=848351 Fri, 07 Sep 2007 02:42:58 +0100 848351 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=817541&cid=t_101461_145_f&fid=35714&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdoctor82.wordpress.com%2F2007%2F08%2F23%2Fyoutube-broadcast-yourself%2F View molecular biology in action at YouTube : I was amazed to see such a fantastic collection of videos elaborating the intricate mechanisms in molecular biology. I always wanted to see them happening than just imagine it myself after going through the text descriptions. It was an eye opener to the educative aspect of this famous video sharing site. I just had to enter the right key words to search to get into a goldmine of these fantastic science videos. (Source: Raman's Blog) Raman's Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=817541 Thu, 23 Aug 2007 01:58:22 +0100 817541 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=792976&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F142807053%2F The video will be up in a few days, but for now, here are the slides. Technorati Tags: Ignite Seattle, Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine, Geek (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=792976 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:05:45 +0100 792976 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=790596&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F142372677%2F Last night, I had the chance to speak at yet another Ignite Seattle event. As always it was absolutely fabulous. Brady does an incredible job organizing the whole thing. The first set of photos is already up. The videos will follow in a few days. I talked about nanotechnology and medicine. Went quite well I think, although given the amount of time I had to get the slides together and prepare I am rather surprised. I loved many of the talks, which ranged from talks on Microfinance to probably the highlight of the night, a talk on how not to get bored. Remember that talk when you find someone throwing toast at you. A last minute addition, Deborah Schultz, gave a great talk on relationships. In asides, I finally got to meet Robert Scoble and Ryan Stewart Picture via Randy Stewart Technorati T... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=790596 Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:04:30 +0100 790596 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=788228&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F142121323%2F My favorite local geek event returns tonight at the CHAC. I’ll be talking about nanotechnology and medicine. All the previous Ignite talks have been captured on video. Since this Ignite is a day before Gnomedex, there is a good chance that many out of town folk will also be there. Technorati Tags: Ignite Seattle, Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=788228 Wed, 08 Aug 2007 23:49:05 +0100 788228 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=786748&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F141847990%2F There is a lot of chatter about Scifoo, both on Technorati and Flickr. Time I joined in the fun. Going to start with some quick hits. The one that never materialized was walking up to Martha Stewart and saying, “I’ve never met anyone who’s gone to prison before”. Just kidding of course. The meeting with Sergey and Larry never materialized either. Felt just too odd to walk up to them and ask them “So what are you plans on healthcare, and why isn’t Adam Bosworth here?”. This was simply one of the most exhilarating and wonderful experiences of my life. I walked away inspired. Inspired by the collection of smart people; people who know science and are not shy to pursue their goals. In a separate post, I will talk about the result of one of those inspi... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=786748 Wed, 08 Aug 2007 04:09:40 +0100 786748 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=785907&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35001&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nodalpoint.org%2F2007%2F08%2F07%2Fscifoo_geek_out_le_geek_cest_chic As well as big famous superstars at scifoo, theres a chance to meet and "geek out" with younger scientists like Vince Smith, Aaron Schwartz and Vaughan Bell. read more (Source: nodalpoint.org - A bioinformatics weblog) nodalpoint.org - A bioinformatics weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=785907 Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:19:58 +0100 785907 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=783944&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F141474375%2F Andrew sum’s it up best … but the thing happening was itself staggering; from half-formed idea to a really deep round-table discussion in less than forty-eight hours. Creating a space where that can happen is priceless … Technorati Tags: scifoo (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=783944 Tue, 07 Aug 2007 05:36:21 +0100 783944 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=781368&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F141051908%2F Wow!!! What a blast. I am completely exhausted after close to 2 days of talks, discussions, geekery, fun, etc etc. Blogging has been light, but there is a good reason for that. There was just too much interesting stuff going on which I had to participate in. … and when everyone around you is in a stratospheric IQ range, attention is a good thing to have. I hope everyone was following my stream on Twitter and watching some crummy, bleary-eyed video on Kyte. Over the next few days, I will blog a lot about my experiences at scifoo and the things I learnt there. I hope I get invited back some day and if someone from O’Reilly is reading, I would love to attend foo camp as well. Technorati Tags: Scifoo (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=781368 Mon, 06 Aug 2007 02:07:38 +0100 781368 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=780006&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F140645240%2F In about 30 minutes, I will head out to a full day of talk and discussion on science. Already, I have had a chance to see killer 3D camera technology, discuss the role of trackbacks, the future of scientific platforms, the flaws in the current peer review/publication system, and met people from organizations like JoVE and Science Commons. On the agenda today, subjects ranging from Science 2.0 to new media in science and a demo from Freebase As a blogger, I am excited. The policy at this years Scifoo is more liberal than last year. So you will get to hear most of the discussion, unless someone explicitly requests otherwise. Technorati Tags: Scifoo, JoVE, Science Commons (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=780006 Sat, 04 Aug 2007 14:48:26 +0100 780006 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=778658&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F140580996%2F Well, I am sure some of you were following my Twitter stream. Great first evening with talks on everything ranging from archeology to space travel to synthetic biology; bar talk about 3d cameras; discussions about trackbacks and the chance to meet several people I have come to admire. The number of smart people in the room is just amazing. Oh … and Sergey Brin is a lot shorter than I thought. Too sleepy for more right now, but keep watching on Twitter and Kyte as well as this blog Technorati Tags: Scifoo (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=778658 Sat, 04 Aug 2007 09:25:32 +0100 778658 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=778659&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F140542092%2F Not going to liveblog too much. Way too much to listen to and participate in. Watch this space Oh, I am live Twittering, as is Nat Torkington Technorati Tags: Scifoo (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=778659 Sat, 04 Aug 2007 05:22:14 +0100 778659 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=775421&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F139952501%2F Scifoo is upon us. You can follow campers progress on Technorati, Flickr, Connotea and over here. I will probably be posting up on Twitter and Kyte Technorati Tags: Scifoo, foo camp (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=775421 Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:03:00 +0100 775421 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=764301&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F138305544%2F As a frequent traveler, Scifoo does not terrify me the way it does Andrew Walkingshaw, but the mere thought of being in the same room as some of the other attendees is reason to have the occasional panic attack. Too bad I can’t draw cartoons like Pierre. I can record bad video though Technorati Tags: Scifoo, Ignite Seattle, Gnomedex (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=764301 Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:16:49 +0100 764301 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=745541&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F135540092%2F Pierre can not only write code, but also draw some killer and very funny cartoons. Hopefully he won’t mind if I hot link to one of them. Technorati Tags: Comics, Scifoo (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=745541 Fri, 20 Jul 2007 06:18:26 +0100 745541 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=612384&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F117343539%2F Seattle Mindcamp is back with edition number 4.0. After the experience I had last time, it took me all of 30 seconds to register. What is Seattle Mindcamp? Seattle Mind Camp is a self-organizing, digitally minded, entrepreneur-driven, overnight Seattle confab. What happens when you put 300 of the smartest Seattlites in a creative environment for 24 hours? We are not sure either, but we would like to find out. Time to meet and connect with those involved in the interesting projects going on in Seattle. If you are in the neighborhood, and want to have a creative, geeky time, go for it. You just might get to see robots, werewolves, pre-release looks at revolutionary game consoles and discussion on every topic under the sun. Technorati Tags: Seattle Mindcamp, Unconference (Source: business|by... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=612384 Thu, 17 May 2007 05:02:21 +0100 612384 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=612385&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F117253220%2F Via Paul Kedrosky I was pointed to Google Experimental Labs, (apparently announced earlier today at Searchology) where one of the nifty little apps is Timeline and Map Views. One of the sample queries for viewing on a map just happens to be “bioinformatics conferences”, and the answer is … well you’ll have to click on the link. The timeline views for “Craig Venter”, “Celera”, and “Supercomputing” are interesting too. Technorati Tags: Google, Skunkworks, Search, Searchology (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=612385 Wed, 16 May 2007 20:59:48 +0100 612385 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=591477&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F114427752%2F If you’re anything like me, you are tied to a 3G or Wi-fi enabled mobile device. So for those who view web pages on phones, bbgm is now mobile ready, thanks to a Wordpress plugin, which I found via MobileCrunch. (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=591477 Sat, 05 May 2007 20:04:54 +0100 591477 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=580137&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F113180186%2F Work and travel over the past month have kept me from recording a new podcast. However, I used some time this weekend to play with SplashCast, a rather interesting embeddable media player. SplashCast is quite cool, allowing users to create mixed media channels (video, audio, pictures) and embed them on their websites. They also released a new feature while I was playing around called MyPodcastNetwork. It allows you to collect audio/video podcasts and create channels of your favorite content (by autodetecting embedded media in a stream). Anyway, I used this feature to create a channel for the bbgm podcast, which is now embedded in the sidebar of this blog Next step. Use this feature to generate a channel or two which I can them embed on my start page or other websites Technorati Tags: Sp... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=580137 Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:00:07 +0100 580137 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=550001&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F109962035%2F Hari and I have been friends for a long time, and I knew that he would get blogging the second I mentioned it to him. We have spent quite a few phone calls talking about science, the web, etc etc. Earlier this week, he started a new blog where he will “codify , algorithmize and systematize everything” he does. One aspect that will be a little different from most other scientific blogs, screencasts, an example of which can be found in this post on Python Technorati Tags: Blogging, Codeitch, Programming, Screencast (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=550001 Wed, 18 Apr 2007 06:25:32 +0100 550001 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=524633&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F107039718%2F Missed the Make event, but got to see all the Ask Later talks at the third edition of Ignite Seattle. As usual a ton of fun.  In addition to the talks themselves, I am getting to know some people in the local geek community which is always nice, and have a colleague attend made it even more smashing. There were some sound and light related issues today but as usual there were some fabulous talks. My favorite was the talk by Mark Novak, if for no other reason that he spoke faster than I did. But I enjoyed a bunch of them. The talk by Keith Schorsch of Peerwisdom was rather interesting and I had a chance to talk with him later. I’ve blogged a bit about Healthcare and search lately, and this was right along those lines. The GTD talk by Coe Roberts, the bee talk by Jordan Schwarz, t... business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=524633 Fri, 06 Apr 2007 07:57:22 +0100 524633 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=522087&cid=t_101461_132_f&fid=35011&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fmndoci%2F%7E3%2F106766093%2F … or today depending on your timezone. The list of Ask Later talks is now up. Speaking at Ignite 2 was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. Once again Ignite Seattle will be held at the CHAC, and will be preceded by a MAKE event Now the sad part. Due to deadlines, and an impending trip to Japan, I might not be able to make it. I really wanted to check out the talks by Carl Coryell-Martin, Shelly Farnham and Christopher Johnson (the list is really eclectic which is really cool). Technorati Tags: Geek Event, Ignite Seattle (Source: business|bytes|genes|molecules) business|bytes|genes|molecules blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=522087 Thu, 05 Apr 2007 05:14:29 +0100 522087 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=497828&cid=t_101461_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2F104032548%2F This 12-panel cartoon from LinuxKungFun.org of what happens when a customer first explains what he or she wants, what the customer actually gets, and what the customer really wanted, is analogous with more than a few moments of life with an autistic child. How often have I concluded that Charlie is asking me for one thing (the three-level swing on a tree in the first panel of the cartoon) and ended up with something quite different (a rope tied to a tree in the seventh panel of the cartoon)? Only after all that effort is what the customer (i.e. Charlie) actually wanted revealed: A simple tire swing. A lot can get lost in translation, especially, as in the cartoon, when Project Leaders, Programmers, Business Consultants, and others get involved. Go here to view the LinuxKungFun.org cartoon... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=497828 Sat, 24 Mar 2007 06:15:49 +0100 497828 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=478196&cid=t_101461_140_f&fid=34846&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpuddlejumper.wordpress.com%2F2007%2F03%2F04%2Fcheck-it-out%2F Okay after much tweaking and mucking about with themes and software I don’t fully understand yet I am proud to announce the new site is working. Please please please my favourite people…have a look around and tell me what you think. I’ve still to update my blogroll and add badges (and the obligatory google adsense…suggestions as to where maybe?) but this is pretty much it. Puddlejumper’s (new) Bipolar World After I get some feedback I’ll no doubt tweak it a bit more so no changing your blogrolls just yet. I’ll put up a post once its the final version. (Source: Puddlejumper's Bipolar World) Puddlejumper's Bipolar World blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=478196 Sun, 04 Mar 2007 12:12:36 +0100 478196 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=478199&cid=t_101461_140_f&fid=34846&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpuddlejumper.wordpress.com%2F2007%2F02%2F28%2Fblogging-for-money%2F Does anyone have any experience of switching to their own website? Mr P and I finally sat down last night to deal with all the household paperwork and stuff that has gone to pot since I’ve been unwell. It was actually rather fun. Instead of being all serious and doom-mongering about it we bought a couple of beers (and I mean a couple) put some good tunes on the stereo and sat down to tackle it. The paperwork was piled high on the dining table and we went through everything sorting into piles “to do” and “to file.” We had a last pile “to bin”. This we decided would be the floor so that every time we had a piece of paper for this pile we could tear it up and throw it over our shoulder! Made for a much more enjoyable experience. The upshot of it is, w... Puddlejumper's Bipolar World blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=478199 Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:15:40 +0100 478199