Homely Scientist

The recent earthquakes this week probably inspired this post on the Composed Gentleman about dogs and cats as predictors of earthquakes.
This is one of those old science things that has some basis of truth and some basis of skepticism.  This article is rather good at laying out the plus and minus here.  My take away is that if Fido or Frisky start acting stranger than normal (I say this because our cat Ben-Ben is always loopy), it might be a good time to look for cover.  Pets might not be able to predict earthquakes far into the future, but it …read more

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This has been going around the blogosphere this mornnig, but I followed the link from John Battelle’s blog (who I will finally get to meet next week at BBS06). BoingBoing is reporting that Google will use space on roofs and parking lots to put up a ton of solar panels to generate electricity.

The solar firm will build an installation at the Googleplex with a total capacity of 1.6 megawatts ("enough to supply 1,000 average California homes," according to EI’s press release). Equipment will include 9,212 solar panels by Sharp Electronics, to be placed on rooftops and parking lot tops …read more

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OMG this is amazing!  That little bugger on the left isn’t a pollen bit or something that is the fossilized embryo of a 550 million year of a sponge-like organism.  550 million years old!  This is an amazing find.  The embryo is caught at the moment of dividing and shows everything you’d expect of an embryo.  Not a 550 million year old embryo, but any embryo.  That is one of the coolest things about this.
Sources: BBC, Matt Dowling
Tags: fossils, fossil discoveries

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I had this idea a while ago, before this site was live, and I was just reminded of is while writing a post for my new, soon-to-be-launched blog.  So, you’re doing a little field trip with the kids (teachers, this post is really targeted at you, but others can see the value too), now science field trip universally mean one thing–taking notes. Usually kids bring their note books from school, yeah and sometimes they get wrecked, lost, etc.  Then what about that inevitable report after the trip.  What if the kids are supposed to write something up as a group.  …read more

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I had to drop my daughter A off on Vancouver Island for a b-day party, which then left my son T and I with some time on our hands.  Knowing that a parent can only spend so much time at McDonald’s and remain sane (though the Hot Wheels toy right now is very cool), I wanted to find something T and I could do together.  So we decided to see some raptors.
Between Duncan and Crofton over here on Van Isle is the Pacific Northwest Raptor Centre.  I’ve wanted to go for years but never seemed to have the chance.  Despite …read more

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My process to quit smoking took a major leap forward yesterday, I bought a nicotine inhaler!  I had tried one at Lorraine’s brother’s house and thought it was pretty good.  But since I couldn’t find one right off the bat I continued with the cold turkey routine.
No, it hasn’t been easy.  No, I haven’t slipped.  But the nicotine cravings were still pretty intense and I really missed the whole smoking habit thing.  The nicotine inhaler handles that all really well for me.
Here’s how it works (and it’s really cool).  The nicotine (with a little touch of menthol) is in …read more

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Remember my homemade barometer?  Come on I just wrote about it on Monday !  Seriously here’s a little update for you.  First, as you can see, I’ve coloured the water to make it easier to see.  The water level in the tube isn’t accurate.  I quickly opened and closed the top to fill the tube a bit for the picture.
Next … I’ve made two more!  These two are for my daughter’s Grade 4 class (studying meteorology remember) and my son’s daycare.  I have enough tube and bottles to make another one or two if need me (I think Lorraine’s …read more

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Crunchgear thought this was a slow news day , but I think the Mars orbiter taking shots of the Mars rover is pretty cool.  Think about coordination of exploration … "Orbiter to Rover, investigate the formation on your left … no your other left …" … is a great opportunity.
Mars is kinda waning from the news.  Sure no life forms have been found, no Martian Welcome Wagon came out to meet the rover with a gift basket, but hey at least it didn’t find graffiti on rocks saying "Q was here" or "Resistance is futile, you will be assimulated.".
Will we …read more

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Yeah, those who know me know that chocolate is, more than just a treat for me, it’s a yummy drug.  It’s been a week now, and while I still am resisting now that there is no easily consumable chocolate in the house … watch out.  Yep I took a spoon to the last of the Smucker’s chocolate sauce this evening.  Okay I still have cocoa powder and if need be a little margarine, sugar, and whatever will give me something.
So, this made me think, am I using that as a crutch?  Yeah, I’m craving sugar all the time. Oh well.
Tags: …read more

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This news is actually a month old, but I just saw it on CNN and man did it make my blood boil.  So a researcher at the University of Western Ontario (usually just called Western) did a study using data from the SATs (those evil tests foisted on kids who want to go to college in the States) and says his results show that men are smarter than women (coverage LiveScience, Daily Mirror).
What makes me angry about this?  Come on I’m a man, shouldn’t I be happy to get this news?  It’s the use of a known flawed dataset.  Look …read more

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