Category Archives: North Carolina

Back to North Carolina Blogworld

Posted on August 9, 2007 by | Comments Off on Back to North Carolina Blogworld

Earlier today I had coffee with Anton Zuiker so we could catch up on everything, e.g., my new job, his new job, scifoo, etc.
So, the news to watch out for regarding local blogging events:
On August 31st, we will start the new blogging year with a party, of course, so come and eat and blog about it.
Then, on September 23-25th, the big three-day FoodBlogging series of yummy events (also see the write-up in the Independent) so come and eat and blog about it.
The blogger meet-ups will, next year, move away from its exlusive Carrboro location and start alternating between Chapel Hill/Carrboro and Durham. Now that Duke is getting into the blogging business and there are more and more bloggers there (in addition to some of the old superstars), it would be nice to spread the love a little and make it easier for everyone to attend.
Finally, the preparations for the Science Blogging Conference are in full swing. The wiki is already pretty useful, but it will be all up-to-date on September 1st, when registration opens.
So, keep an eye on the BlogTogether blog for news and try to join us whenever you can.

Comments Off on Back to North Carolina Blogworld

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

Science Blogging at Duke

Posted on July 22, 2007 by | Comments Off on Science Blogging at Duke

Duke University, after years of being behind the curve, is now striving mightily to establish itself as a leader in online science communication. As a recent news article shows, the school is activelly encouraging its students to keep blogs and make podcasts.
I have already mentioned Sarah Wallace and her blog about genomics research in Chernobyl.
Nicholas Experience is a blogging/podcasting group working on environmental science (OK, Sheril is their most famous blogger, but she did it herself, without being prompted by the Nicholas Institute).
At the Howard Hughes Precollege Program Summer 2007, 15 local high school students blog about doing research in the life sciences at Duke University.
Finally, 30 undergrads are writing fascinating stuff about their research experiences, each on a separate blog, with the central place (with a complete blogroll on the right sidebar that I urge you to explore) being the Student Research at Duke blog.
Much of that activity can be traced back to an old blogger meetup and, now that Anton Zuiker is starting to work on their health/science/medicine communications this week, Duke really has a chance to become cutting edge.

Comments Off on Science Blogging at Duke

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina, Open Science, Science Education, Science Reporting

BlogTogether

Posted on July 19, 2007 by | Comments Off on BlogTogether

BlogTogether, the central online spot for Triangle (NC) bloggers, just got a new look. More to come….

Comments Off on BlogTogether

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

Congratulations, Anton!

Posted on June 27, 2007 by | 1 comment

My friend (and the driving force behind all bloggy events in the Triangle area) Anton Zuiker has a new job! And not just any job – but a perfect job:

In August, I will take a new job at Duke University Health System as manager of internal communications. This will be a chance for me to mold a communications strategy that uses traditional tools (magazines, newsletters, posters) with new media tools (blogs, videocasts, wikis). I’m looking forward to the opportunities and challenges.

They really, really need Anton. Finding information online about anything that has to do with Duke University science and medicine has been, to put it very nicely and diplomatically now, frustrating and clunky. They have really tried over the past year to vigorously change that situation, but with very little visible results. Now, with Anton on board, I am confident that Duke Health System will soon become the example of good online communication that other schools will try to emulate in the future.

1 Comment

Posted in Blogging, Medicine, North Carolina, Personal

A nice day in Chapel Hill

Posted on June 13, 2007 by | 2 comments

The other day, Anton Zuiker and I met at Weaver Street Market in Southern Village to do some planning for the Science Blogging Conference and Anton took this picture of me holding the brand new promotional postcards (want one? e-mail me) that he has designed and printed:
Bora%20at%20Weaver%20Street%20Market.JPG

2 Comments

Posted in North Carolina, Personal, SBC-NC'08

Congratulations Ruby!

Posted on June 12, 2007 by | Comments Off on Congratulations Ruby!

About a month ago, Ruby Sinreich quit her job and posted about looking for a new one. And today, she reveals that she landed a perfect job, telecommuting from Carrboro, working for the Fellowship of Reconciliation. They were smart to hire her!

Comments Off on Congratulations Ruby!

Posted in North Carolina

Science grants for two local schools

Posted on May 24, 2007 by | Comments Off on Science grants for two local schools

Good news for two local schools:

Two Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools have received grants to fund school projects.
Carrboro High School received a $5,950 grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Science teacher Robin Bulleri applied for the grant to fund a biotechnology project at Carrboro High.
Smith Middle School received a $5,000 Lowe’s Toolbox for Education Grant from the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation. Teachers Kelly Sears and Melinda Fitzgerald received the grant to fund a proposal entitled, “Sediment Rangers: 8th Grade Stewardship and Outdoor Classroom Project.”

Carrboro High is the brand new high school, opening this Fall. Robin Bulleri is moving there from Chapel Hill High.

Comments Off on Science grants for two local schools

Posted in North Carolina, Science Education

Bill Clinton meets an untimely end after a week on the run

Posted on May 24, 2007 by | 3 comments

Fortunately, Janet Reno is still OK.

The police brought Bill Clinton to the Orange County Animal Shelter, where he later died.

With perfect quote-mining, I made you look, didn’t I?

3 Comments

Posted in Birds, Humor, North Carolina

The NCZoo Lion Cubs

Posted on May 16, 2007 by | Comments Off on The NCZoo Lion Cubs

The lion triplets now have names.

Comments Off on The NCZoo Lion Cubs

Posted in North Carolina

Digital data preservation, sharing, and discovery: Challenges for Small Science Communities in the Digital Era

Posted on May 14, 2007 by | Comments Off on Digital data preservation, sharing, and discovery: Challenges for Small Science Communities in the Digital Era

From Paul I learned about the DRIADE Workshop on Digital data preservation, sharing, and discovery: Challenges for Small Science Communities in the Digital Era, organized by NESCent (National Evolutionary Synthesis Center) and the UNC Metadata Research Center. I am not sure if the participation is by invitation only, or if it is free, but I’ll try to sneak in somehow. We’ll see if that works and will let you know if it does.

Comments Off on Digital data preservation, sharing, and discovery: Challenges for Small Science Communities in the Digital Era

Posted in North Carolina, Science Practice

Direct Spanish ancestry of the Shackleford wild horses

Posted on May 12, 2007 by | 3 comments

Shackleford ponies are often in the media around here. Some love them, some hate them, some want to preserve them, some to exterminate them, and it is not easy to get all the surplus horses adopted each year. Perhaps the new findings of their Spanish origin (DNA will tell the tale of wild horses) will tilt the scales towards their preservation, especially on the island of Corolla.
Thanks to Bill for the heads-up.

3 Comments

Posted in Genetics, Horses, North Carolina, Science News

This is someone you WANT to hire!

Posted on May 6, 2007 by | Comments Off on This is someone you WANT to hire!

Tatjana Jovanovic is a fellow escapee from Serbia and a fellow biologist. She got her MS in Biology at the University of Belgrade and has collected enough data before emigrating to be able to immediately get a PhD if someone would sponsor her here. She is currently in Arizona, but she is moving to North Carolina later this year. She will send you her impressive CV on demand – her publications range from immunology to pest control, but most of it is focused on small rodents, their avian predators and the dynamics of predator-prey relationships. She has combined lab and field work, from biochemistry through mathematical modelling to field experiements, in most of her papers and has made discoveries of small mammals not previously known to reside in that part of the world.
Tatjana particularly likes owls (a subject of several of her papers), she has performed the Serbian portion of the research for the Global Owl Project and is active on The Owl Pages.
She is also an artist and has acted as a mentor for several high-school and undergraduate theses in biology (yes, we do simple research and write theses on topics related to our majors in high school in Serbia). Science education is one of her strengths and passions. Environmental protection is another.
If you are in North Carolina and have a place for a hard-working, honest, smart, highly-educated and well-rounded person in your lab, school, organization or company, contact Tanja at: tanjasova AT gmail DOT com

Comments Off on This is someone you WANT to hire!

Posted in Balkans, Birds, Ecology, North Carolina

SBC-NC’08 – we have the venue!

Posted on May 4, 2007 by | Comments Off on SBC-NC’08 – we have the venue!

2008NCSBClogo200.pngMaking the second Science Blogging Conference even bigger and better, we are happy to announce that the January 19th, 2008 meeting will be hosted by Sigma Xi (publishers of American Scientist) in their gorgeous new building in the Research Triangle Park. Their conference facilities can house more people (225 as opposed to 170 we had last time) and provide more space for shmoozing between and after the sessions.
For those who arrive early, there will be Friday afternoon events, sessions and meals on or close to the UNC campus. We have tentatively secured two excellent session leaders so far and are negotiating with several others. Please check the program and help us build it by adding your ideas (edit the bottom portion of the wiki page or post a comment there). And we are still looking for sponsors – are you interested?

Comments Off on SBC-NC’08 – we have the venue!

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina, SBC-NC'08, Science Education, Science Practice, Science Reporting

Blogging Teach-in

Posted on April 28, 2007 by | Comments Off on Blogging Teach-in

Just came back from the first Durham blogging teach-in of the year. Pam, Brian and Anton were there and we introduced some new interesting people to the wonderful world of blogging (and they started their own new wordpress blogs).
If you are in the Triangle NC area, we are doing the same thing next week – same place and time: Durham public library 10am-12noon.

Comments Off on Blogging Teach-in

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

Another fox hiding from atheists in a hole?

Posted on April 24, 2007 by | 7 comments

Barry Saunders is a local columnist for Raleigh News & Observer who I never thought was very funny (there is a mysoginist streak in his writing) so I rarely read him these days. But the other day I could not help but notice that he started his column with the old “no atheists in foxholes” stupidity – in context of the VT massacre, of course.
I was far too busy these last couple of days to do anything about it myself, feeling confident that he was gonna hear about it from many others. And, sure he did. Just like Katie Couric, Tom Brokaw, Bob Schieffer and John Burnett (the latter two publically apologized), he got inundated by mail. But unlike the others, he refuses to see how insulting the phrase is and instead calls the atheists “anal” and thinks he’s funny. Just digging himself deeper.
You can read my old take on the phrase here. Perhaps Saunders needs another loadful of e-mails to set him straight….(barry.saunders@newsobserver.com)

7 Comments

Posted in Atheism, Media, North Carolina

A ferry ride to an Orwellian future?

Posted on April 21, 2007 by | 2 comments

A must-read by Peter Eichenberger:

How does it feel that North Carolina is becoming a center for profits amid the blatant and egregious blurring of law enforcement and corrections?
With the great sucking sound, that of the vacuuming of personal information of law-abiding Americans emanating from DeeCee, I would enjoin all of you out there to study more carefully what your legislators are turning this place into–just another arm of the entity, the U.S. government, which has gotten us into more huge messes than I have time or interest in recounting.
With regards to corporations like GEO and Blackwater, like with tow-truck drivers or bondsmen, private enforcement means you lose your constitutional rights. Not only are there almost no legal limits to what they can do, but their procedures and policies are often kept from oversight for “proprietary” reasons. Vis the Wackenhut juvenile facility in Louisiana that saved money by not providing the inmates with clothing–you know, costs and all.

2 Comments

Posted in North Carolina, Politics

We need to get this guy funded and elected!

Posted on April 21, 2007 by | Comments Off on We need to get this guy funded and elected!

Never again: Brad Miller on Darfur by Bob Geary:

……I decided one other thing. I could no more imagine Liddy Dole performing in public the way Brad Miller did at Pullen than I could see her admitting that the Bush administration has been a disaster in every conceivable way. Dole doesn’t see any mistakes, or at least she doesn’t admit them. She’s put her energies, since getting elected to the Senate, into Republican politics and nothing else, including fronting the National Republican Senatorial Committee. If she has ever gotten up in front of a small interfaith group and openly agonized about a world problem, as Brad Miller did Thursday, and literally begged the group for their ideas on how to move forward, well–but Republicans like to deal in certainties, not complexities. And Dole, the couple of times I’ve encountered her, can’t stand to be questioned, let alone question herself out in the open.
And Miller? He’s a soul-searcher who can’t help but show it.
A Miller-Dole campaign would offer about as sharp a contrast as you could hope for, not merely between Democrats’ policies and Republicans’, but between the real, awful issues we face as Americans and the cosmetic unreality of the way we’ve managed to avoid facing up to them for too many years.
Bring that on.

Related:
Who will challenge Elizabeth Dole?

Comments Off on We need to get this guy funded and elected!

Posted in North Carolina, Politics

Who will challenge Elizabeth Dole?

Posted on April 18, 2007 by | 4 comments

Its’ early in the process, and many are reluctant so far….but, one person said he’d consider it (you can still recommend that Diary if you wish) – Rep.Brad Miller (D – NC13). I hope he does. If he does, I’ll knock doors for him. Why?
He’s a blogger. And he chairs the new House Committee on Science and Technology, with subpoena power.
He came to the Science Blogging Conference in January and is the person that every Democrat, every North Carolinian, every blogger and every scientist should want to see move from the House to the Senate and, in the process, oust Sen.Dole from politics. Oh, and he is a really nice guy, too.

4 Comments

Posted in North Carolina, Politics

Blogger Meetup

Posted on April 16, 2007 by | Comments Off on Blogger Meetup

Chapel Hill/Carrboro blogger meetup will be on Wednesday, April 18 at 6:30pm at Milltown Restaurant and Bar in Carrboro.

Comments Off on Blogger Meetup

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

In Memoriam: Knut Schmidt-Nielsen (September 24, 1915-January 25, 2007)

Posted on April 11, 2007 by | 8 comments

How did I miss this!?
Knut Schmidt-Nielsen, one of my personal scientific idols, died on January 25th, 2007at the age of 92.
KSN%201.jpgHe has re-invented, or perhaps better to say invented, the field of comparative physiology (now often refered to as ‘evolutionary physiology’). He wrote the standard textbook in the field – Animal Physiology: Adaptation and Environment, that he updated through several editions, from which generations of biologists (including myself) learned to think of physiological mechanisms as adaptations.
He wrote a definitive book on Scaling, as well as a wonderful autobiography – The Camel’s Nose: Memoirs Of A Curious Scientist.
KSN%202.jpgI had a good fortune to meet him a couple of times. He was a Guest Speaker at an NCSU Physiology Graduate Student Research Symposium several years ago where he gave an unusual but fascinating talk. I was his host for the day so I got to spend a lot of time with him one-on-one and try to osmotically draw in some of his genius.
A couple of years later, when his memoir came out, I persuaded Nansy Olson to have a public reading at Quail Ridge Books, which was well attanded and quite fascinating. The very last question from the audience was “Did any of your findings find a practical application?” to which he proudly responded “No!”. The old-style scientist. In it for the curiosity and nothing else.
While Schmidt-Nielsen did research on myriads of different animal species, he will forever be remembered as the Camel Guy. When he arrived at Duke University as a young new professor, he persuaded the Department to let him build an isolation chamber where he could measure the metabolic rate of a camel. They let him do it. He brought in the camel. Fascinating research resulted. He also built an identical, but much smaller, chamber into the wall right next to the camel chamber for the equivalent research in desert mice.
KSN%203.jpgWhen he retired, his position was filled by Steve Nowicki, a birdsong researcher. Duke offered to demolish the camel chamber and turn it into a lab. Steve declined in horror. Instead, he made sure that a plaque was installed at the door (“…this is the camel chamber in which…”) as well as on the little wall-chamber next to it. He turned the inside of the chamber into a grad student office (now, who can beat that – having the office in the ‘camel chamber’?!).
A few years later, Duke University built a monument to Knut Schmidt-Nielsen – a lifesize sculpture of the man and his camel – right outside the Biology building.
For many years after his retirement, Knut Schmidt-Nielsen kept a small office in the Department and came “to work” almost every day. He read the literature, including popular science magazines, and clipped the interesting papers/articles out of them to place in his colleagues’ mailboxes according to their interests. If there was Internet 50 years ago, Knut Schmidt-Nielsen would have been a science blogger for sure!
Always curious, always humble, always learning, always reading, always teaching, always popularizing science, every day of his long life. And that is on top of being truly one of the giants of science of all times.

8 Comments

Posted in Basic Biology, History of Science, North Carolina, Personal, Physiology

Bodies

Posted on April 7, 2007 by | 5 comments

The Bodies Exhibition is coming to The Streets at Southpoint in Durham.
My wife saw it last year in NYC. My daughter will probably be too squeamish for it, but I’ll try to get my son to come with me.
Once I go….well, it is certainly a bloggable event.

5 Comments

Posted in Basic Biology, Medicine, North Carolina, Personal, Science Education

Wine

Posted on April 7, 2007 by | 1 comment

Earlier this afternoon, my wife and I went to the Weaver Street Market in Southern Village (which also has a blog) for some wine tasting. You can see the wine list here (pdf).
As the first rule of blogging is never to blog drunk, I had a to wait a couple of hours afterwards before I started to write this post. I wasn’t really drunk, but I was happy enough to seriously consider singing on our walk home. I guess I am quite a lightweight…
Our strategy was for Mrs.Coturnix to taste the whites (and occasional red I recommend) and for me to taste the reds (and occasional white she recommends). She is a connoiseur of whites, while I grew up in a household that only had red and rose. Thus, my taste for whites is very naive – I like them as sweet and fruity as can be, and I was very happy with the Hyatt Riesling which is best described as sweet fruit-juice with alcohol. But I like that!
The quality of red wines was mixed. And anyway, after tasting 20 or so of them in rapid succession, they all tend to blend and it is difficult to tell them apart any more. I am a big fan of Malbec and there were two there (Alcion and Cava Negra), both dirt cheap and quite decent. As the summer is coming and the grilling with it, I think I’ll get a few bottles – they go great with a blackened slab of cow or lamb. Shirazes were underwhelming. The Garnacha tasted just like a Malbec! Warre’s Port, Leverano Rosso and Ten Mile Red were fine. The rest I don’t remember.
So here are my Top Three of the day, in this order:
1. FontanaVecchia Aglianico Riserva ’00
The kind of rich, deep, full-bodied red that I grew up with, something my father would have liked.
2. Vale do Bomfim Douri Reserva ’04
Almost as good.
3. Hogue Cabernet Sauvignon “Genesis” ’03
This was recommended to me before, and it is excellent.

1 Comment

Posted in Food, North Carolina, Personal

Sharks down => Rays up => Scallops down

Posted on March 30, 2007 by | 4 comments

In today’s issue of Science, there is a study showing that hunting of sharks, by eliminating the main predator of rays, leads to a decline in the ray’s – and ours – food: the scallops:

A team of Canadian and American ecologists, led by world-renowned fisheries biologist Ransom Myers at Dalhousie University, has found that overfishing the largest predatory sharks, such as the bull, great white, dusky, and hammerhead sharks, along the Atlantic Coast of the United States has led to an explosion of their ray, skate, and small shark prey species.
“With fewer sharks around, the species they prey upon — like cownose rays — have increased in numbers, and in turn, hordes of cownose rays dining on bay scallops, have wiped the scallops out,” says co-author Julia Baum of Dalhousie.

sharks.jpg
Here is a local North Carolina angle:

Too many sharks have been killed, so they’re no longer devouring a voracious predator that feasts on bay scallops, marine researcher Charles “Pete” Peterson concludes. As a result, North Carolina’s bay scallops fishery, once worth $1 million a year, has been wiped out.
The finding, reported today in the journal Science, is evidence that harm to one creature in an ecosystem can unexpectedly injure another, Peterson said.
“The marine environment is so vast and three dimensional, there are many linkages,” he said. “There are cascading and domino effects.”
Sharks don’t eat scallops. But the top predators do feast on cownose rays — kite-shaped creatures that migrate through North Carolina waters. And the rays eat scallops, hordes of them, as they make their late-summer and early-fall travels south.
The timing of the cownose trip past North Carolina is particularly harmful to scallops, Peterson said. The rays arrive from from mid-August to mid-September. Scallops, which live about 18 months, don’t start spawning until September. So the rays eat them before they can reproduce.

Learn more about the Cownose Ray.
Craig has some more (and may write even more later so check his blog again).

4 Comments

Posted in Ecology, Environment, North Carolina, Science News

Triangle Blogging Teach-ins

Posted on March 26, 2007 by | Comments Off on Triangle Blogging Teach-ins

If you are in the Triangle area on these two dates (Saturday, April 28 from 10am to noon and Saturday, May 5 from 10am to noon) and want to get some help starting your own blog, or at least starting a WordPress blog, come to the Durham Library and we’ll help you.

Comments Off on Triangle Blogging Teach-ins

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

Greenbridge Developments

Posted on March 24, 2007 by | Comments Off on Greenbridge Developments

Treehugger interviews Tim Toben who is building the NC’s first LEED Gold Mixed Use Project in Chapel Hill, NC.

Comments Off on Greenbridge Developments

Posted in Environment, North Carolina

Local Paper

Posted on March 23, 2007 by | Comments Off on Local Paper

The first issue of Carrboro Citizen is now available both in hardcopy and online. [Background here]
Update: Brian is gushing over it….

Comments Off on Local Paper

Posted in Media, North Carolina

Announcing the 2008 Science Blogging Conference

Posted on March 21, 2007 by | 2 comments

Yes, we are on the ball, getting the second conference organized already! The date has been set – so mark your calendars now: January 19th, 2008. You all come to Chapel Hill that day, OK?
We’ll use the wiki again so help us make the event as good as possible by posting suggestions and editing the wiki.
We also need a new logo – so stir up your creative juices and send your suggestions (not to be confused with the logo contest for BlogTogether for which we offer a prize!).
To go with the conference, we’ll be assembling another Science Blogging Anthology, so send your nominations here.

2 Comments

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

New local independent paper – introducing Carrboro Citizen

Posted on March 18, 2007 by | Comments Off on New local independent paper – introducing Carrboro Citizen

There used to be two big independent papers in the Triangle: Spectator and Independent.
The former was full of information about local events, movies, restaurants. The latter had some of the best political and social writing anywhere.
Then, several years ago, the two papers fused into one and Independent Weekly was born, putting together the best of both worlds. It is an indispensable weekly read for the Triangle folks.
Chapel Hill has its own local indy paper – the Daily Tar Heel (which I should get into the habit of getting regularly).
Now, Carrboro is getting its own – the Carrboro Citizen. The first issue is due on March 21st. The founders are Robert Dickson and Kirk Ross who is the former editor of Independent Weekly as well as a busy blogger, running Exile on Jones Street, The Cape Fear Mercury and The Mill, on top of being a front-pager on Orange Politics and BlueNC.
As Kirk explains, The Mill will serve as the newspaper’s blog, and Exile on Jones Street and Cape Fear Mercury will serve as editor’s blogs, putting out ideas for citizens to dissect before the final version makes it into the paper, as well as getting article ideas from the local citizens.
Carrboro Commons is a student-oriented local paper, while Carrboro Citizen will be targeting the town more than gown. The two should work in synergy with each other.
You can learn more about the project in Raleigh News & Observer, Carrboro Commons, Chapel Hill News and Daily Tar Heel (again here), as well as on blogs like Orange Politics, Citizen Will, Yesh, The Mill and The Real Paul Jones.
I am looking forward to this very much, knowing the people behind it. I hope they put a newspaper rack here in Southern Village so I can get it promptly every week (I am in Carrboro every Tuesday night, and the CC will be coming out on Wednesdays).

Comments Off on New local independent paper – introducing Carrboro Citizen

Posted in Media, North Carolina

FoodBlogging 2007

Posted on March 14, 2007 by | Comments Off on FoodBlogging 2007

We are starting this summer’s Foodblogging series of events early – on April 21st & 22nd. We’ll start where it all begins – at the farm! We will rent a couple of vans and do a tour of local farms, most of them organic and/or sustainable. I am assuming we’ll get to sample some local fare at each farm. Bring your boots – it can still be quite muddy at the farms in April in NC.
Get more information about the FoodBlogging series and sign up for various events at the wiki.

Comments Off on FoodBlogging 2007

Posted in Blogging, Food, North Carolina

NC Blogging: No Blogger MeetUp today

Posted on March 7, 2007 by | Comments Off on NC Blogging: No Blogger MeetUp today

Apparently, neither Anton nor Brian nor me can make it to the Chapel Hill/Carrboro meetup tonight – watch BlogTogether for announcements for the replacement date.
Also, get your graphic design juices flowing and submit your suggestion for the BlogTogether logo – there is a cool prize to be won.
Finally, next edition of the Tar Heel Tavern will be hosted by Scrutiny Hooligans, so send your entries promptly:

The Tarheel Tavern’s 107th incarnation comes to life this weekend at Scrutiny Hooligans dressed in calculus, symbolism, and accounting.
In the year 107 c.e. that Titus died. Titus was a bigtime apostle of Paul. He traveled with all those early Christian bigwigs like Barnabas and Timothy and became a bishop in Crete.
“OLIVE RILEY HAS has been declared the world’s oldest blogger, having begun to bog at the ripe old age of 107.”
State Highway NC 107 splits Jackson County roughly in two and offers some of the most beautiful sightseeing in the state.
Numbers have power, and that’s the theme of this week’s Hooliganesque Tavern. What have numbers revealed to you? What’s your lucky?
Send your numerological treatises and other mathematical meanderings to scrutinyhooligans@yahoo.com by Saturday at 10pm. I’ll post it on Sunday. You can count on it.
Also, please push for more participation from other bloggers. The Tavern ought to be gaining strength, and it’s going to take our increased participation to make that happen.

Comments Off on NC Blogging: No Blogger MeetUp today

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

Triangle Bloggers Happy Hour

Posted on February 21, 2007 by | Comments Off on Triangle Bloggers Happy Hour

I’m back and ready to go to bed. After a couple of days of being sick as a dog (hence hit-and-run blogging) I managed to get myself up for tonight’s event which was great fun, but now I am drained, so instead of trying to write a long-winded account of the evening myself, I’ll ask you to go and get all the information – what it was all about, who was there, how good the food was (yummy!) on BlogTogether.

Comments Off on Triangle Bloggers Happy Hour

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

Hairless Grey Foxes in North Carolina

Posted on February 21, 2007 by | 28 comments

Professor identifies mystery creature:

The odd-looking animal spotted in several Piedmont counties last year evidently was a hairless gray fox.
That’s the conclusion of Jaap Hillenius. He examined the carcass of a similar animal that had been hit by a car in the Charleston, S.C., area.
So it wasn’t an exotic cross-species, though some central North Carolina residents who spotted the animals had reported it having the head of a cat and the body of a canine.
Just a fox sans hair because of a mutant gene, said Hillenius, associate professor in the biology department at College of Charleston.

hairless%20fox.jpg
Apparently, there are many around and they are all over the place. The hairy foxes do not discriminate against them either – they feed side by side.

28 Comments

Posted in North Carolina, Science News

Bloggers Tonight

Posted on February 21, 2007 by | Comments Off on Bloggers Tonight

Are you coming to the Triangle Bloggers Happy Hour tonight? Sponsored by DukeEngage. There will be free food, free drinks and free wifi, courtesy of Duke University.

Comments Off on Bloggers Tonight

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

Global Warming Symposium at NCSU

Posted on February 15, 2007 by | Comments Off on Global Warming Symposium at NCSU

Global warming change is the topic of a symposium, free and open to the public, in NC State’s Campus Cinema, located in Witherspoon Student Center, February 26-28, and featuring excellent speakers. Elizabeth Kolbert, author of FIELD NOTES FROM A CATASTROPHE, opens the meeting on Monday, Feb. 26, at 7:00 p.m.

For more information and to see who else is speaking during the three-day event, click here

Comments Off on Global Warming Symposium at NCSU

Posted in Earth, Environment, North Carolina

LED-only city

Posted on February 15, 2007 by | 6 comments

Raleigh Leaders Plan Test of LED Lighting:

Raleigh officials have teamed up with Cree, Inc. in Research Triangle Park to save money and help the environment. Raleigh public works employees will test and implement Cree’s Light Emitting Diode lighting components across the city.
In a pilot program late last year, LED lights were installed in a parking deck downtown. Progress Energy, the city’s primary energy provider, said that the floor equipped with LED lights used more than 40 percent less energy than the standard lighting system. Also, the quality of the lighting was greatly improved, according to Progress Energy’s research.
As part of the initiative, more Cree lighting components will be tested in other applications, such as street lights, architectural and accent lighting, and pedestrian and walkway lights, over the next 18 months. If significant energy savings are found, Raleigh will convert permanently to LED lighting.

While switching to LED in public spaces and governmental offices, as well as, hopefully, a bandwagon effect of this on businesses and private homes, will have a very positive effect on the lowering of energy consumtion an cost and the air pollution, I sure hope they use this opportunity to redesign the city lighting in such a way as to reduce Light Pollution as well.
I also hope that other cities will follow suit. How about a LED-only Triangle region? Or LED-only North Carolina? Set the example for the rest of the country.
[Hat-tip]
P.S. This does not mean banning incadesent lightbulbs. They have their uses. How can you keep a reptile in a terrarium without an incadescent light? Only by wasting even more energy and polluting more by installing a heater.

6 Comments

Posted in Environment, North Carolina

Busy bloggers for a week or more

Posted on February 14, 2007 by | Comments Off on Busy bloggers for a week or more

Tonight at 6pm, bloggers go bowling. Bring your lap-top – the bowling place has wifi.
Monday, some of us will go and get the NBC ascertainment.
Next week (2/21/2007) at 6pm free food and drinks for bloggers, courtesy of Duke University and its new DukeEngage initiative. Read more about it here and about the Wednesday happy hour here.

Comments Off on Busy bloggers for a week or more

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

The Third ConvergeSouth is in the Making

Posted on February 10, 2007 by | 2 comments

ConvergeSouth%20logo-on-white.png

Hold the dates: October 19-20, 2007 for ConvergeSouth ’07 at NC A&T State University. Things are brewing on two coasts to make sure that the 2007 ConvergeSouth is more special than ever.
The Web site and blog will be online by March 1 (crossing fingers).
We are seeking proposals for interactive discussions, DEMOs and how-to sessions in these areas:
1. New media and journalism
2. New creative online models and tools
3. Blogger how-to and blog improvement
4. Music performance (evenings)
5. Original video and film
This year’s ConvergeSouth features a new track: screening original video and and film. Guidelines can be found at the ConvergeSouth ’07 site after March 1, 2007

Simultaneous hat-tips to Sue, Ed and Anton.
You bet I’ll be there.

2 Comments

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

Tarheel Taverners

Posted on February 9, 2007 by | Comments Off on Tarheel Taverners

The call for submission has been issued:

This week’s Tarheel Tavern (#103 for those of you keeping score) comes on the Sunday before Valentines Day. In a declaration of vitality and ecstasy, the theme of the Tavern is Utter Transformative Joy. While all submissions will be received like family, take the opportunity to gush your gushiest goodness for our readers all over North Carolina.
This week’s Tavern will be a week to get your blogfriends and neighbors involved. Invite new voices and feel free to submit the work of other NC bloggers. I’m ready for a deluge.
This week’s Tavern will appear at Scrutiny Hooligans, with a front page link at BlueNC, BlogAsheville, and American Samizdat. Please use this opportunity to spread the word about our amazing NC blogging community.
Send your gear to scrutinyhooligans AT yahoo DOT com – Get it to me by Sunday morning at 7am.

Comments Off on Tarheel Taverners

Posted in North Carolina

NC Blogging plans for the year

Posted on February 8, 2007 by | Comments Off on NC Blogging plans for the year

Foodblogging, Storyblogging, Healthblogging, Bowlging…this is turning into one busy year in North Carolina online.
But Anton can’t do it alone. Please participate and make the local blogosphere matter!

Comments Off on NC Blogging plans for the year

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

Busy Blogging Day Yesterday

Posted on February 8, 2007 by | Comments Off on Busy Blogging Day Yesterday

Hwoosh! What a day! Hit-and-run blogging instead of a nice long post about amylase I was getting ready to write….
I went to Raleigh for lunch and to start planning for the next years’ edition of the Science Blogging Anthology – stay tuned, there will be more news soon.
Of course, I was following the whole Edwards/Marcotte/McEwen saga every time I had a minute to get on the computer (which was not that much today)
Then, in the evening, we had our first Blogger MeetUp of the month. Apparently there was a game (UNC vs. Duke) going on, so not many people showed up, but we had a great time and an interesting conversation anyway.
Of the veterans, Brian Russell and Steve Cory were there.
We were joined by Billy Sugarfix, who, I understand, is quite a legend of the local music scene. He gets most traffic when he posts ads “I’ll put your lyrics to music” than anything else.
Another new face is Anna Lena, poetry editor for the online Fringe Magazine which just had a new issue out with the topic of Feminism.
She is interested in adding a blog to the magazine website, as well as starting a personal blog of her own. She is wondering if she should have one blog or two, as she has two very different interests: biking and poetry. As she is interested in other local bloggers interested in the same stuff, I pointed out two local poets I could immediately think of – Billy and Erin and the local biking blogger Nicomachus.
So, we were talking about a bunch of stuff. We briefly touched on the success of the Science Blogging Conference. Of course, we had to discuss the whole campaign bloggers brouhaha as well. Then we talked about the recent effort by the local NBC affiliate to reach out to bloggers. On that topic, Brian has more and he finds another blogger’s take on a similar effort by the NBC affiliate in NYC. Quite a lot of food for thought.
Next Wednesday, we go bowling. Feb 14 at 6pm at Mardi Gras lanes. There’s wi-fi so bring your laptops so you can liveblog the meetup (livebowling or bowlging?).

Comments Off on Busy Blogging Day Yesterday

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

Yummy!

Posted on February 7, 2007 by | Comments Off on Yummy!

Liveblogging a chocolate tasting…

Comments Off on Yummy!

Posted in Food, North Carolina

Chapel Hill/Carrboro Bloggers MeetUp

Posted on February 6, 2007 by | Comments Off on Chapel Hill/Carrboro Bloggers MeetUp

Yes, there is a Blogger MeetUp tomorrow (Wednesday) night. New place and time: 6:30 p.m. @ Milltown Bar & Restaurant (map). No particular topic this week (still preparing for all the topical meetings later on this season). See you all there.

Comments Off on Chapel Hill/Carrboro Bloggers MeetUp

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

MSM: how to get on bloggers’ good side….or not

Posted on February 4, 2007 by | 2 comments

About two days ago, about 120 local bloggers (their e-mail addresses probably taken from the local – and now obsolete – Triangle Bloggers MeetUp.org page) got an e-Vite to this:

You are cordially invited to attend to the NBC 17 Triangle Blogger Community Ascertainment.
What: NBC 17 holds community ascertainments once a month in our viewing area. A community ascertainment is a casual meeting with representatives from the community and NBC 17. They are also referred to as Listening Tours.
We would like to invite you to our groundbreaking Blogger Ascertainment. We recognize the contributions bloggers are making to their readers and would like the opportunity to make a lasting connection with your important voice.
This meeting will be dedicated to finding out more about the important issues in your community, and suggestions on how we might be able to serve them better.
You talk…..we listen.
These meetings will not be taped. Notes will be taken by our staff. Tours of the station will be conducted.

It’s telling that only a handful people responded so far. Brian and Paul explain why that is so (and Brian also gives an example of the way WRAL does it better).
I finally decided to respond, though the response window allows for only 375 characters so I had to cut my response in half:

I’d like to ascertain you instead of being ascertained. I’d like to know more about what you want and what are you offering us. It is in the nature of bloggers to blog about these things. That staff takes notes suggests the obvious question: Are we going to post our own notes? How “closed door”, secretive and essentialy anti-all-that-blogs-are-about is this entire thing?

2 Comments

Posted in Blogging, Media, North Carolina

Good Blog, Bad Blog

Posted on February 2, 2007 by | Comments Off on Good Blog, Bad Blog

Some politicians fear blogs. They must have something to hide, dontcha think?
Other politicians love blogs and run their own. Unsurprisingly, they are beloved by their constituencies.

Comments Off on Good Blog, Bad Blog

Posted in Blogging, Media, North Carolina, Politics

Big Plans for NC (and Triangle) Blogging in the New Year

Posted on February 1, 2007 by | 3 comments

So, whats’ cookin’ in the local blogging world? Quite a lot, actually.
First, our little group, BlogTogether is growing, growing. Instead of being just a little <a href="Anton’s sideproject, we are thinking of turning it into a non-profit organization – so if you have experience with founding non-profits please let us know ASAP.
Also, apart from Anton, several others (including myself) are now able to post there. This will make the blog much more active and interactive this year than it was ever before. We are also looking for a nice-looking logo for it so we can slap it on side-bars of all of our blogs. If you have talent, give it a try!
Second, we are much more ambitious with meet-ups this year. We plan on having, each month, one virtual meet-up (here). We’ll continue with our regular two meet-ups (at Milltown at 6:30pm) where we sit down over coffee or beer and chat, usually starting with a particular topic (see here for some topics we are planning for February and March), before it becomes a free-for-all. Even if you are not a blogger – come by and within minutes you’ll have a blog of your own as we’ll help you set one up in minutes!
Once a month we’ll have a more active meet-up, actually doing something fun for a change (and get our butts off the comfortable chairs). This month, we’ll go bowling (hey, the place has wi-fi, so you can liveblog!). In the past, we’ve had between four and eight people normally showing up at meetups (unless a celebrity comes by – then everyone shows up). Let’s try to have a greater attendance this year. After all, now that both Pandagon (with both Pam and Amanda living here) and Panda’s Thumb are Triangle-based blogs (should our logo have a panda on it?!), the epicenter of power-blogging of the world is somewhere in the RTP area, I’d guess. So come by and meet the blogging stars!
We are already planning the second Science Blogging Conference (and the anthology to go with it) for early 2008!
In the meantime, think about joining us for the FoodBlogging series of events (if eating, drinking, eating, drinking and repeating it all over again can be called ‘events’) this summer. Sure, click on that link and salivate! What great places to eat and drink with fellow bloggers and blog about it!
Anton is hinting about some major activity on the StoryBlogging front this year as well.
And there are more ideas floating around (a design conference, perhaps an EduBlogging Conference, etc.)
Finally, and very importantly, the Tar Heel Tavern #102 will be hosted at Moomin Light this weekend. There is no theme, so send whatever you’d like to: songfinn AT yahoo DOT com by Saturday evening..
Once again, the Tavern was closed last weekend for the lack of a host. Let’s not let this carnival die – it was the first state-based carnival ever and it survived two years and more than 100 editions!
Do you want to host in the near future? Let us know. Do you want to get more involved in managing the carnival (as Laurie, Erin and I are both too busy with other stuff to do so full-time)? In any case, let us know at: coturnix AT gmail DOT com (me) or lponeill AT att DOT net (Laurie).

3 Comments

Posted in Blogging, Carnivals, North Carolina

Network-like Mode of Thinking

Posted on January 31, 2007 by | 3 comments

I am so glad to see that conversations started face-to-face at the Science Blogging Conference are now continuing online (see the bottom of the ever-growing linkfests here and here). While some are between science bloggers, as expected, others are between people who have never heard of each other before and who came from very different angles and with different interests. The cross-fertilization we hoped for is happening (and if you had such an experience, let us know)!
See, for instance, what a casual chat over lunch at the Conference did to David Warlick – made him think about education and about online technologies from a – new to David – perspective of someone who watches the way scientists think:

…He said that science used to be reductionist in nature. I asked what that meant, and he said that science was about drilling down to components, cutting out and examining bits of the world, reducing it to its barest fundamentals. He said that the younger scientists spend more time synthesizing, that they seem much more interested in systems and networks, not so much how things operate independently, but how they operate as part of a larger organism, ecosystem, or cosmos.
I suspect that all kinds of speculation might be made about why science seems, at least in the eyes of this science communicator, to be shifting, and one could probably make a case relating it to younger scientists’ digital experiences. The connection that occurred to me, however, was with schools, which seem to me to be in a reductionist mode still…..
——–snip————-
My own state, for one, has been teaching and testing computer skills for more than ten years. However, it is a reductionist response to the need for digital literacy (what I call contemporary literacy). We have reduced computer skills out into their own list of standards, separated again into objectives, and performance indicators. We’ve reduced it down to components that can be discretely measured.
I don’t think that this happens entirely because of the industrial mechanized environment that many of us come from. I think it’s just easier to separate things out and teach them in isolation, especially when we believe that our job is to simply teach.

Read the rest…then go and comment on his blog with your ideas. Cross-fertilize some more!
Technorati Tag:

3 Comments

Posted in Blogging, Education, North Carolina, Science Education, Science Practice

Teen Parenthood for the X-box generation

Posted on January 30, 2007 by | 1 comment

Teen Parenthood for the X-box generationParenting is hard. Are you ready (re-posted from October 20, 2005)

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Education, North Carolina, Personal, Sex, Society

Chapel Hill-Carrboro Blogger Meetups – new time and place!

Posted on January 29, 2007 by | Comments Off on Chapel Hill-Carrboro Blogger Meetups – new time and place!

All the new information is here – four meetings over the next month: one in cyberspace, two in the Real World (sitting and sipping coffee) and one in the Real World (moving about and doing fun stuff).

Comments Off on Chapel Hill-Carrboro Blogger Meetups – new time and place!

Posted in Blogging, North Carolina

‘Flock of Dodos’ screenings in Raleigh

Posted on January 16, 2007 by | Comments Off on ‘Flock of Dodos’ screenings in Raleigh

*N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences
/Downtown Raleigh/
**Thursday, January 18
“Flock of Dodos” screening with filmmaker, Randy Olson
7:00 p.m. Museum Auditorium
Free
*Filmmaker and Evolutionary Ecologist , Dr. Randy Olson, presents his
new film */Flock of Dodos/*: /*The Evolution / Intelligent Design Circus.*/
“Flock of Dodos” is the first feature-length documentary to present both
sides of the Intelligent Design / Evolution clash and tries to make
sense of the issue by visiting Olson’s home state of Kansas. The film
digs below the surface of the debate by examining the language being
used by both sides of this “circus” and the actual people presenting
each side. By doing so, Olson poses a serious question to the
scientific community as to who really is the “flock of dodos.”
After the screening, Dr. Olson will give a presentation followed by a
Question and Answer session.
The Museum will host additional free screenings of “Flock of Dodos” at
the following times:
Saturday, February 3, 3:00 p.m.
Saturday, February 10, 3:00 p.m.
Monday, February 12, Time is TBA — “Darwin Day”
We are hoping to have a panel of speakers in conjunction with the Darwin
Day screening. If you may be interested in participating on a panel to
further discuss this topic, please let us know.
The Museum is located at the corner of Jones and Salisbury Streets.
919.733.7450

Comments Off on ‘Flock of Dodos’ screenings in Raleigh

Posted in Creationism, Ideology, North Carolina, Politics, Religion, Science Education, Science Reporting, Society

Do You Want Me To Biggie-Size That Rectal Tube For You, Sir?

Posted on January 3, 2007 by | 1 comment

Do You Want Me To Biggie-Size That Rectal Tube For You, Sir?If you do not know who Roper is, read this, this and this. A total fundie wingnut in charge of a large teaching hospital! Oy vey! I did not know that fact when I originally wrote this post, but this explains it….(From July 15, 2005)

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Ideology, Medicine, North Carolina, Religion