Comments on: The Sound and the Fury http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/ Random samplings from a universe of ideas. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:26:25 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Lab Lemming http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/comment-page-1/#comment-25002 Lab Lemming Sun, 18 Feb 2007 10:09:01 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/#comment-25002 Julianne says: "Dulcanton." No offense, but it might clear things up a bit if you fixed the sidebar on this website. Under the "Contributors" heading. Julianne says:
“Dulcanton.”

No offense, but it might clear things up a bit if you fixed the sidebar on this website. Under the “Contributors” heading.

]]> By: adam http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/comment-page-1/#comment-25000 adam Fri, 16 Feb 2007 19:32:00 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/#comment-25000 Kevin #31, when Julianne Dilcantrone starts spouting racist filth, how can you expect it to be ignored? Kevin #31, when Julianne Dilcantrone starts spouting racist filth, how can you expect it to be ignored?

]]> By: Kevin Runnels http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/comment-page-1/#comment-24999 Kevin Runnels Fri, 16 Feb 2007 19:27:50 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/#comment-24999 I feel bad that only one picture from Julianne's post got all of the comment action and there were no comments about Michael Muno's picture. Maybe it's because the picture isn't very clear. He actually looks kind of like Morrissey of the now defunct 80's band "The Smiths". Muno is <a href="http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~mmuno/" rel="nofollow">here</a> while Morrissey is <a href="http://www.morrissey-solo.com/news/2004/images/delilahs20040924.jpg" rel="nofollow"> here.</a> Spooky. I feel bad that only one picture from Julianne’s post got all of the comment action and there were no comments about Michael Muno’s picture. Maybe it’s because the picture isn’t very clear. He actually looks kind of like Morrissey of the now defunct 80’s band “The Smiths”. Muno is here while Morrissey is here. Spooky.

]]> By: Julianne http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/comment-page-1/#comment-25001 Julianne Fri, 16 Feb 2007 15:47:47 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/#comment-25001 Dulcanton. My name was mispelled a different way in every single occurance in my high school yearbook. My name was mispelled in a personalized Speigel Ident bracelet in elementary school, a present from my best pen pal. My name has been mispelled in newspapers. I'm used to it. Dulcanton.

My name was mispelled a different way in every single occurance in my high school yearbook. My name was mispelled in a personalized Speigel Ident bracelet in elementary school, a present from my best pen pal. My name has been mispelled in newspapers. I’m used to it.

]]> By: Pretty pictures | Cosmic Variance http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/comment-page-1/#comment-25009 Pretty pictures | Cosmic Variance Fri, 16 Feb 2007 07:26:55 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/#comment-25009 [...] In a follow-up to Julianne’s previous post on scientific communication, I thought I’d describe a lecture I attended last week. I’ll try not to say anything overly controversial (though CV readers can be a tough crowd). The talk was by Felice Frankel, as part of the Santa Fe Institute public lecture series. The title was “More than Pretty Pictures: The Power of Images in Science”. Frankel is known for her scientific photographs. She creates beautiful images of a large range of physical systems (from water droplets to nanocrystals). She’s been responsible for quite a number of cover images for journals such as Science and Nature. [...] [...] In a follow-up to Julianne’s previous post on scientific communication, I thought I’d describe a lecture I attended last week. I’ll try not to say anything overly controversial (though CV readers can be a tough crowd). The talk was by Felice Frankel, as part of the Santa Fe Institute public lecture series. The title was “More than Pretty Pictures: The Power of Images in Science”. Frankel is known for her scientific photographs. She creates beautiful images of a large range of physical systems (from water droplets to nanocrystals). She’s been responsible for quite a number of cover images for journals such as Science and Nature. [...]

]]> By: Lab Lemming http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/comment-page-1/#comment-25010 Lab Lemming Fri, 16 Feb 2007 06:30:47 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/#comment-25010 Did they misspell Julianne, Dalcanton, or Sister? Did they misspell Julianne, Dalcanton, or Sister?

]]> By: Moshe http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/comment-page-1/#comment-25011 Moshe Fri, 16 Feb 2007 01:21:01 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/#comment-25011 For what it's worth, I actively dislike the synchronized view. Sometimes I'd like to look at previous slides while listening, or to see where this is leading etc. It is easy enough to synchronize yourself if you so choose, I see no advantage in forcing this on the listener. For what it’s worth, I actively dislike the synchronized view. Sometimes I’d like to look at previous slides while listening, or to see where this is leading etc. It is easy enough to synchronize yourself if you so choose, I see no advantage in forcing this on the listener.

]]> By: Maynard Handley http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/comment-page-1/#comment-25012 Maynard Handley Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:26:35 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/#comment-25012 But, Sean, the Fermilab scheme suffers from the HUGE problems of (1) not portable --- can't listen it on iPod while exercising, driving or whatever (2) forces real-time playback --- can't listen to it at 1.3x or whatever speed your brain can cope with. I frequently playback science content at 1.5x and history/politics content at 1.7x. (3) is highly likely to not work in five years. The web is littered with various supposedly fancy schemes that try to present multiple pieces of content using some proprietary software c 1997 and that now, in 2007, simply don't work. Believe me, I've hit enough of them in my time. Plenty of Real based systems seem to suffer from ever-weakening servers, thus delivering a really pleasant gap and jerk filled experience. Places like MIT or Princeton, which you'd figure could afford decent servers, still nonetheless have their older streams play back terribly, presumably the result of general infrastructure neglect. The Kavli style download of a standard format file avoids all these issues. There is a reason why hoi polloi mostly love podcasting, once they have learned about it, while you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who is not a whore who has anything good to say about streaming, whether via Real, Windows Media, QT or Flash. I mean, honestly, are we now so dim-witted that we are incapable of downloading a separate PDF and stepping through that as we listen to a talk, or incapable of hitting the Next button on a sequence of pages ala the way Kavli does it? But, Sean, the Fermilab scheme suffers from the HUGE problems of
(1) not portable — can’t listen it on iPod while exercising, driving or whatever
(2) forces real-time playback — can’t listen to it at 1.3x or whatever speed your brain can cope with. I frequently playback science content at 1.5x and history/politics content at 1.7x.
(3) is highly likely to not work in five years. The web is littered with various supposedly fancy schemes that try to present multiple pieces of content using some proprietary software c 1997 and that now, in 2007, simply don’t work. Believe me, I’ve hit enough of them in my time.

Plenty of Real based systems seem to suffer from ever-weakening servers, thus delivering a really pleasant gap and jerk filled experience. Places like MIT or Princeton, which you’d figure could afford decent servers, still nonetheless have their older streams play back terribly, presumably the result of general infrastructure neglect.

The Kavli style download of a standard format file avoids all these issues.
There is a reason why hoi polloi mostly love podcasting, once they have learned about it, while you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who is not a whore who has anything good to say about streaming, whether via Real, Windows Media, QT or Flash.

I mean, honestly, are we now so dim-witted that we are incapable of downloading a separate PDF and stepping through that as we listen to a talk, or incapable of hitting the Next button on a sequence of pages ala the way Kavli does it?

]]> By: Sean http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/comment-page-1/#comment-25008 Sean Thu, 15 Feb 2007 22:50:27 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/#comment-25008 Actually I prefer how <a href="http://vmsfmp2.fnal.gov/FMPro?-db=StreamSources.fp5&-Error=v2/search/video/streamingoffline.html&-lay=WWWBrowse&-format=v2/search/video/streamingvideoForm.html&-find" rel="nofollow">Fermilab</a> does it. It's true that they use RealPlayer, but they provide separate (synched) views of the speaker and the slides, which is really what you need. Actually I prefer how Fermilab does it. It’s true that they use RealPlayer, but they provide separate (synched) views of the speaker and the slides, which is really what you need.

]]> By: Julianne http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/comment-page-1/#comment-25013 Julianne Thu, 15 Feb 2007 20:36:39 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/#comment-25013 Maynard -- Thanks for the insight from someone who actually uses the format regularly. I'd known that Kavli did this, but had never tried it. Maybe the next big investment from Kavli would be for spreading the technology to more institutions and conferences. UW is starting to offer it to instructors when teaching large lecture classes, and so far the reaction is mixed. I think it's a potentially powerful study aid, but the temptation to skip class becomes immense. At the professional level, one of the things I love about the possibility of podcasting is that it offers a way to reduce the penalties on people who don't/can't travel. I've got small kids, and have cut way back on my conference attendance (i.e. don't expect any big CV travelogues from me). Seattle is also a bit out of the way, so other scientists are less likely to just drop in, like they are at Caltech, Harvard, etc. Podcasting is a good opportunity to stay in the loop. Lots of conferences are posting PDFs of the speakers slides, and these are tremendously helpful as well. In my ideal world, I could flip through the PDF while listening to the podcast (with little "beeps" like they had with filmstrips back in the day). Maynard — Thanks for the insight from someone who actually uses the format regularly. I’d known that Kavli did this, but had never tried it. Maybe the next big investment from Kavli would be for spreading the technology to more institutions and conferences. UW is starting to offer it to instructors when teaching large lecture classes, and so far the reaction is mixed. I think it’s a potentially powerful study aid, but the temptation to skip class becomes immense.

At the professional level, one of the things I love about the possibility of podcasting is that it offers a way to reduce the penalties on people who don’t/can’t travel. I’ve got small kids, and have cut way back on my conference attendance (i.e. don’t expect any big CV travelogues from me). Seattle is also a bit out of the way, so other scientists are less likely to just drop in, like they are at Caltech, Harvard, etc. Podcasting is a good opportunity to stay in the loop. Lots of conferences are posting PDFs of the speakers slides, and these are tremendously helpful as well. In my ideal world, I could flip through the PDF while listening to the podcast (with little “beeps” like they had with filmstrips back in the day).

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