02 SEP 2016 by ideonexus

 Neil DeGrasse Tyson's Rationalia

In Rationalia, the Constitution stipulates that a body of convincing evidence needs to exist in support of an idea before any Policy can established based on it. In such a country, data gathering, careful observations, and experimentation would be happening all the time, influencing practically every aspect of our modern lives. As a result, Rationalia would lead the world in discovery, because discovery would be built into the DNA of how the government operates, and how its citizens think....
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28 MAY 2013 by ideonexus

 Shorter People Live Longer

The study was conducted to evaluate one aspect of the entropy theory of aging, which hypothesizes that aging is the result of increasing disorder within the body, and which predicts that increasing mass lowers life span. The first evaluation of the impact of human size on longevity or life span in 1978, which was based on data for decreased groups of athletes and famous people in the USA, suggested that shorter, lighter men live longer than their taller, heavier counterparts. In 1990, a study...
Folksonomies: lifespan size longevity
Folksonomies: lifespan size longevity
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5 years on average. Suggesting the medical community's focus on encouraging parents to grow big children is misguided as it may be shortening their lifespans.

07 JUN 2012 by ideonexus

 The USA Should Adopt the Metric System

You, in this country [the USA], are subjected to the British insularity in weights and measures; you use the foot, inch and yard. I am obliged to use that system, but must apologize to you for doing so, because it is so inconvenient, and I hope Americans will do everything in their power to introduce the French metrical system. ... I look upon our English system as a wickedly, brain-destroying system of bondage under which we suffer. The reason why we continue to use it, is the imaginary diff...
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Kelvin predicts Britain is stuck with it, but America will adopt.

31 DEC 2011 by ideonexus

 Mandarin for "USA" is "Beautiful" plus "Kingdom"

美(beautiful) plus 国(kingdom) = 美国
Folksonomies: language mandarin chinese
Folksonomies: language mandarin chinese
   notes

Perhaps they were referring to our expansive open spaces and national parks.

Various notes taken from the conference session on science education with Stacy Baker's biology students:

  • Jack – into games, not many learning games out there. – homeVSschool technology use: what’s allowed in the different contexts, home is about socialization, school is about productivity, need to intersect the two. (Media needs to relate to him, technology, chemistry “New Social Network of Atoms Creates New Compounds”)
  • Michael – into vlogs, recording things on a research boat – students want hands-on activities, looking for internships, homeVschool: school tumbler account and home personal tumbler account to distinguish uses of productivity and socialization. PLoS was a great resource.
  • Carl – into Classroom blogs, likes tumbler sciokid.tumblr.com. Baker sends opportunities all the time and preparing for scio11. Was inspired by Baker showing him how people around the world were seeing her website
  • Paul – into wikis, allow students to express themselves, science online wiki, Proj: you have to put yourself out there, read newspapers and follow links to find things, NYT and Wired, (Interest: be interesting enough and esoteric as well, be terse without complicated jargon)
  • Naseem– into science literacy, how media , nature blog (Adult readers) rely on word of mouth for students to find the blog
  • Samantha – encourage more student blogs, students communicate at  a level appropriate to other students, Green Science, global warming, (What about Adult readers) adults can still read her blog, but she is targeting her
  • Alexandra – believer in personalizing education, more into humanities, used podcasts and youtube, youtube.com/vlogbrothers, - teenagers want to feel like they are doing something, they want to participate and contribute. homeVSschool: the more competitive college search gets, the more she uses her laptop at home for educational purposes, looking for opportunities to improve chances of getting into colleges, MSNBC, Google News for facts, This Week in Tech Podcast, Relatability (how something relates to me) is important for having something catch her eye, Carl Zimmer cut to the chase about Duck Mating by calling it Duck Sex
  • Justin – blogging, using blogs in a variety of ways in science learning, frogs with the citric fungal disease and blogged it
  • Rachel Ward – chemistry teacher, using online tools to make the classroom a more exciting place
  • I’m A Scientist, Get Me Out of Here: imascientist.org.uk, website where students chat with scientsts and vote for their favorites, least votes get evicted, connected students in remote areas to scientists around the world, allows quieter students to participate more in class discussions, what about when scientists give wrong answers (they should say “I don’t know”), why isn’t there a USA version of this? (Kiome Jarrets: People need to complain. State by state engagement)
  • Shanahan – research online science communication, science education professor, works to get students interested in science, reduce their fear, arsenic life story, had students choose a blog and follow it for a month and write a book report on what the blog was about and a lesson sequence for future classes on the blog, students found science blogs were interesting, easy to understand, students used blog the same way they used books and magazine-no engagement no using comments, need bloggers who will give students an interactive experience,
  • Audience Comment: everone is trying to find balance between professional and personal technology use, separating and integrating.