How the Internet can get the benefits of scientific research out to the public faster
Here is a video of how technology that many people have in their home can be used in ways not intended by the manufacturer. This is interesting, but even more interesting is the wider trend this represents, as Johnny Lee describes – how the Internet and new media formats such as YouTube for video distribution can quickly spread ideas to thousands of people. Not just for persuasive purposes, but to do real good, allowing any teacher or parent to create their own interactive whiteboard using a Wii remote and some cheap hardware. Scientists are already starting to talk about how they can rethink the way research is done for this information-rich, hyper-connected age we live in. It’s really exciting that scientists might finally have a way to directly explain their work to the public without having to go through journalists who don’t always understand the science, or who are encouraged to take the most sensational angle.
Exciting times are ahead, I’m sure …
Bubbleologist Samsam Bubbleman blows the worlds largest free-floating soap bubble – Telegraph
A great visualization of media hype
A great visualization of global media scare stories over time – Swine Flu is measurably bigger than previous hyped stories.
Alex Bowyer: Swine flu – From the horses mouth
http://alexbowyer.blogspot.com/2009/08/swine-flu-from-horses-mouth.html
my personal write up of swine flu
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Dispelling the myths about H1N1
Swine flu has been all over the news for the last few months, especially in the UK; You could hardly miss it. But as with many things which are analyzed and deconstructed ad nauseum in the media over several months, the reality is somewhat different from the hype.
Having experienced swine flu first hand, and recovered, I feel compelled to set the record straight:
1) Swine flu is just another form of flu
New flu viruses appear every year, and despite its sinister sounding name, swine flu is just another variant. Most variants don’t get to have their own name outside of scientific circles – this one did for two reasons: Firstly, it originated in pigs not in humans; Secondly, it is extremely virulent. That does *not* mean that it is extremely serious – just that it is easily spread from human to human, more so than is normal for flu.
What seems to have happened is that a great deal of stigma has been attached to the name. “It’s not just flu, it’s SWINE flu, it must be AWFUL!”.
Read MoreTARDIS is alive! :-)
Back before we left the UK, Mrs Alex and I (ok she did most of the work) digitized all our CDs and DVDs not to mention paperwork, recipes and all sorts of other documents to reduce the amount we had to take with us to Canada. Given we’ve also been living here in Canada without a TV for the last six months, we have accumulated plenty more downloaded movies & TV shows. We brought about 8 hard drives with us to Canada and our FreeNAS install media, and after 2 case upgrades, 2 additional green 1 Terabyte hard drives, 2 new 4 port PCI SATA cards and a beefier PSU, not to mention much consolidation of data from smaller, older IDE drives, I am pleased to announce our behemoth of a fileserver is alive.. Just short of 6 Terabytes of storage for our viewing and data storage pleasure! Hurrah! Now to get my Popcorn Hour media player which Alex bought me for my birthday working.. and then it’s HD projector time (which is handy as we have just painted the walls in the lounge of our new apartment white which is just the right colour for projecting onto)…
Posted via email from Bowyer’s Bite-size Blogettes
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