Monday, March 30, 2009

Writing tips for scientists

Most scientists and science institutes have a general lacking of literature and communication skills. Personally I group all this into design. I well done experiment needs to be designed in a way that not only is information about nature observed and described, but that this knowledge is successfully coupled into the culture in general.


If a scientist discovers something in the woods, but no one hears about it, was it really found? From the point of view of the society and culture, no. Science is by definition a culture phenomenon. What one person can discover is almost irrelevant, but when the work of a group is combined, then science becomes powerful. In my thesis there are a great number of equations, most of which I would take a lifetime to derive and test myself, but because the work was performed and successfully shared, I could use that work to support my own.


Here is a list of 10 writing tips for scientists. There are many more words of wisdom on the inter-web. But this list covers some of the most important aspects.


Powered by Qumana


Go debaptise yourself!

Really.. I really don't care enough to bother. But, if you feel the need to make a statement, then place into public record your lack of belief. I'm of the state of mind that ignoring something is the true way to make it go away. But if religion tries to reestablish itself in government, then that is a different story.





Friday, March 27, 2009

Sciencebase; collection of science tweets

This is a list of scientist, science minded people who are on twitter. I think the idea of maintaining a list like this is great. I like the idea of hearing what other scientists around the world are talking about. I think this is a great idea!


Maybe we should do something similar for Ensenada? renewable energy? Canadian living in Mexico?.. ScienceBase; collection of science tweets.


Powered by Qumana


Thursday, March 26, 2009

Cyclovia en Ensenada

There has been much talk over the past 10 years about creating a bike route system in Ensenada (ciclovia.) This is really overdue! It is hard to come up with a good city that has not invested in some form of trails for walking/biking/skating.


A bike lane on to Sauzal, combined with the lack of parking in many of the schools (CICESE, UABC, UNAM ) at the entrance to Ensenada could give a recreation lane and allow student to commute by bicycle.



The newest group that is actively pursuing the government to build the bike lane, Groupo pro ciclovia, has several people giving radio interviews:



Viernes 27 marzo - 8:00am - radio 1010AM



Martes 1 abril - 9:20am - radio 1590AM


The group has also started a yahoo group. If you know people who would be interested, pass the web page around. You can send the organizeres a email if you want to be on the mailing list.


Next week is bike week on this blog, I'll be posting the interesting projects that I've found on line, and some new ideas to try.


   Powered by Qumana


Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Gapminder; stats display







I remember seeing this TED talk a few years back, and I even tried to use an amimation in a talk on sustainable water production that I gave in CICESE a few weeks back. I recommend stopping by gapminder and checking it out.


**I'm going to try and start publishing in english and spanish. I'm looking for a good dictionary (free ideally) to help my grammer.. So today is baddly written.. sorry about this.**


Recuerdo que vi este platica de TED algunos años passado. Entente a usar una animacion en una platica que hago en CICESE hasta dos semanas sobre el producion sustenible de agua potable. Te recomienden a passar gapminder y ver la.



Powered by Qumana


Monday, March 23, 2009

DIY solar thermal with fridge radiator

a simple DIY solar thermal project.



Here is an idea that I was thinking of as well, using the drip-irrigation tubing in thier pond heater.





Powered by Qumana


New scientist attacks Darwin, again..

I've been getting New Scientist emails for a few years now, but something has always bothered me. While any given article has its ups and downs, there seems to be a very opinionated editorial slant. I've noticed this with a slew of anti-marijuana reporting where studies a chemical imbalance caused by smoking pot led to schizophrenia. But the results, when the original text is read, is not even close to conclusive even thought the article proclaims a strong relation.



The attack on Darwin's theories seem to be more of the same slanted editorial content.


What science rag is good to read? Leave in the comments.. (Dawkins suggests Discover and SEED.)


Powered by Qumana


Friday, March 20, 2009

Chinese acrobat show

The lines outside the CEARTE open-air theatre shows how the city has and activly supports a diverse culture. Images can be found on flickr.


The night was made better yet with a thermus full of gormet hot chocolate (a Hogaza work in progress, more to come.)



Powered by Qumana


Thursday, March 19, 2009

Chinese art in CEARTE

Last night the CEARTE in Ensenada presented an exibition of Chinese art. all photos on flickr



Powered by Qumana


Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Nomadness; reencountering Steve Roberts and the BEHEMOTH

For one year when I was in gradeschool I had a subscription to Bicycle Magazine. One story that cought my attention was of the human/solar powered BEHEMOTH bicycle. Almost a nomadic office on wheels, the bike had heads-up display, touch-typing through keys in the hand grips, wireless connection, and electric asist for the bike. This idea was given a sci-fi twist in the short story near-futur world in Metatrapolis.


While surfing a form for arduino projects, I ran across a post by Steve Roberts who continues in his quest for "playing NASA" which can be followed on  his blog where he has moved to a salling ship for his nomadic funness.


I was there looking for an opensource datalogger. Something that can be placed outside and take temperature, RH, dew point for several weeks and be easily plotted on computer. I'm considering combining with a small stepper motor controlled heliostat with potovotalic to both measure solar intensity and keep the system charged.


Powered by Qumana


Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Condensation traps in India

a youtube video of condensation traps in India. The troughs linned with plastic seems like a good idea; make it facing the wind for greater exposure and cleaning of sand?







Powered by Qumana




UABC gastronomia (culinary arts)

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Science is back

Obama reinstates stemcell reasearch.. good to hear!!


see video here


Powered by Qumana


Thursday, March 12, 2009

Bakeries list

I've been working on the Hogaza Hogaza web page and collected a list of good bakeries that have been inspiration to us.




In Quebec there are La Patisserie Belge, Premier Moisson, LA FOURNÉE BIO, and Piallard. In Quebec city there is also a great chocolate shop called Choco Musee.

Other places; in San Francisco there is Boudin. In San Diego there is Bread and Cie (but with a web page that is 2 years under construction.)


here is a well known french bakery. The site is pretty, but clunky.. Poilane







Powered by Qumana