So I’m cruising the blogosphere, and I see a lot of blogs have chicklets, those little rectangles at the bottom of their sidebars that link to other bloggy things. I have a few; they go to Technorati, or Blog Hot or Not, or Feedburner.
A lot of blogs link to award sites; “best of”, “top blogs”, things like that. So I go there to see how well some of my favorite blogs are rated. There are lots of categories: sex (duh), humor, politics. But only very rarely is there a science category. Most have a “technology” category instead, which just ain’t the same thing (BlogTopSites, for example).
A little while back, the Weblog Awards 2005 got a lot of attention, and — you guessed it– no science category. I emailed the proprietor, but never received an answer. I’ll note that The Bloggies didn’t have a science category either.
I read quite a few blogs, including those dealing with politics, tech, humor. But my favorites are the science blogs. I have several blogrolled in my sidebar. Give them a look. If you like them, add them to your feedreader, or bookmark them. Visit them! Scientists are quite capable of excellent writing, and you just might learn something (hmmm, come to think of it, blogroll me too if you have a blog!).
And if you see some blog award site without a science category, let ‘em know how you feel. Now more than ever in our history, we need to be aware of science and what scientists are thinking. Blogs are a great way to find out.
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Given that the vast majority of my readers are in the US, I waited until the last minute to post about the eclipse tonight, seeing as how it’s happening over Africa and Asia. Also, I’m lazy.
The eclipse starts around 08:30 Universal Time and runs through about noon UT (in 03:30 – 07:00 Eastern US time). Granted that’s a wee bit late at night for us here in the States (stupid Earth, turning its back on the eclipse!), but you can still watch it live on the web.
First, if you’re not sure about what an eclipse is and how they work, then head over to Sky and Telescope webpage which has loads of info.
If you want to watch it over the web, there are lots of resources. Here are a few good ones:
By the way, there is a lot of misinformation about eclipses. For example, there has never been a single reported case, ever, or total, permanent blindness from looking at the Sun. You can be partially blinded, but you’d have to work pretty hard to go totally blond. Still, looking at the Sun without correct protection is not too bright (hahahaha) because you can do some damage. Again, Sky and Tel has a list of ways to view an eclipse safely.
Also, if you’re pregnant, it’s still OK to watch, despite some really weird rumors (bottom of that page).’
‘I have to admit, this is brilliant. It’s clearly designed as a web meme. I have seen no commercials on TV for it, nothing on the radio; just ads on various high-profile websites. I never poke around flash-driven websites, yet I found myself enthralled. The commercial vignettes are damn funny, too. There’s a "Galaxy Quest" feel to them, and that’s not a bad idea at all.
Not that I believe aliens are abducting cows: like I’ve been saying for years, why keep repeatedly traveling thousands of light years to excoriate a few cow anuses at a time, when you can do it just once and clone all the cow anuses you need at home?’
I heard today that North Carolina Congressman Brad Miller is looking into the claims of widespread scientific suppression by the White House. I wrote about all the details earlier today on the Huffington Post.
Basically, he is looking for other scientists (like James Hansen) who have had their views politically suppressed. I know a lot of scientists read my blog, and I know of a few who have talked to me privately on this issue. So this is a call to all of you: if you are a government-supported scientist, and you know of anything like this, contact Rep. Miller’s legislative assistant Heather Parsons at heather.parsons "at" mail.house.gov, or Dan Pearson of the Democratic staff of the Science Committee at dan.pearson "at" mail.house.gov.
At 18:26 Universal (Greenwich) time today, March 20, the center of the Sun will be at Right Ascension 0h0m0s and a declination of 0o0m0s, which means it will pass directly over the Earth’s equator as it moves north in its annual path around the ecliptic.
You and I call that the vernal equinox. OK, I call it that. You’d probably call it the first day of Spring. I wouldn’t call it that, but hey, semantics.
Around the United States today, kids in their classrooms will be standing eggs on end, or at least newsrooms will be talking about it. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then read this, and then this, and if you’re really enjoying yourself, this.
And if you are really a glutton for punishment, see when the equinoxes, solstices, perihelia, and aphelia will be for the next 14 years.
You know, I have a whole book about stuff like this, too.
The NASA global warming scientist James Hansen (who is the reason George Deutsch got outed) will be on 60 Minutes Sunday night. I doubt anything new will be revealed (he has actually been quoted as being happy with NASA’s new communication policy, and will get back to science instead of soapboxing– and NASA did just issue a press release on the ice caps melting as I mentioned in the last entry), but even if not it should be interesting.
I have been running around a lot the past few days, and I haven’t been keeping up with the news from NASA as much as I’d like. However, here are a few things to keep you busy over the weekend:
