I've discovered podcasts. I don't know why it's taken me this long, but it made for a good day. I have free Spanish lessons (with the English bit in a Scottish accent, which makes me giggle), and three difference science podcasts, all for free.
2 of the science podcasts come from PRI. I have "PRI's the world: Science" and "PRI: Science and Creativity from Studio 360". Both very interesting, with lots of different topics about all aspects of biology, physics, etc.
The third one I got is "COSEE NOW: Ocean Gazing", produced by Ari Daniel Shapiro, who is himself a cetacean biologist. The show covers lots of aspects of oceanography, including cetacean acoustics. His website is well worth a visit.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Science can be tedious
Don't really have a whole lot to say today... mostly just trying to keep up with my homework and research deadlines. Made a bit easier and a bit harder by the fact that my advisor was out of town tagging humpies all last week. I can't make up my mind about whether or not I wanted to go... it certainly would have been more fun than my week, but I have so much to do that I don't think it would have been a good idea. Oh well.
Labmate K. is still away. This makes 2+ weeks. I can't imagine that our advisor will be incredibly pleased, but I can't really talk, either, because I've been known to take work with me and leave for a month at a time. Hmmm.
New labmate should be arriving soon, which will be good. Then I move apartments and get ready for a month of fieldwork with the advisor. I can't wait to get out of here, but I'm kind of nervous at the same time. I guess that's the price of doing new things...
Labmate K. is still away. This makes 2+ weeks. I can't imagine that our advisor will be incredibly pleased, but I can't really talk, either, because I've been known to take work with me and leave for a month at a time. Hmmm.
New labmate should be arriving soon, which will be good. Then I move apartments and get ready for a month of fieldwork with the advisor. I can't wait to get out of here, but I'm kind of nervous at the same time. I guess that's the price of doing new things...
Sunday, July 19, 2009
New mantra: statistics is more fun than field work.
After fighting with my incredibly frustrating statistics assignment for several hours, I checked email.
Sitting there, taunting me, was a link to the blog my advisor is keeping about her tagging cruise this week. I was supposed to go next week, but that isn't going to happen. (link is at right)
I'm not upset, because going would have meant more work and stress and missed class for me, but.... argh. Hence the title of this post.
Statistics is more fun than fieldwork. Statistics is more fun than fieldwork. Statistics is more fun than fieldwork. Now if I could only convince myself of that...
Sitting there, taunting me, was a link to the blog my advisor is keeping about her tagging cruise this week. I was supposed to go next week, but that isn't going to happen. (link is at right)
I'm not upset, because going would have meant more work and stress and missed class for me, but.... argh. Hence the title of this post.
Statistics is more fun than fieldwork. Statistics is more fun than fieldwork. Statistics is more fun than fieldwork. Now if I could only convince myself of that...
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Silence
When I get bored, I'm likely to go to a bookstore. Tonight, having left work at 5pm (which seems obscenely early for me, as I'm used to being on campus for much longer than 9 hours at a go), I ended up at Barnes and Noble, cruising around not really interested in any of sections I usually go to for reading material.
I ended up in the nature section, and by sheer chance stumbled on Gordon Hempton and John Grossmann's book One Square Inch of Silence. I'm less than two chapters in, at the moment and thoroughly enjoying it. Essentially, it's the story of an acoustic ecologist trying to preserve one square inch of area in the continental US that has no human sound intrusions. He traveled from Washington state to Washington DC making recordings along the way and meeting with politicians at the end. If you have the time, go read this book. Please. The more people that know about the value of silence in a noisy world, the better.
I ended up in the nature section, and by sheer chance stumbled on Gordon Hempton and John Grossmann's book One Square Inch of Silence. I'm less than two chapters in, at the moment and thoroughly enjoying it. Essentially, it's the story of an acoustic ecologist trying to preserve one square inch of area in the continental US that has no human sound intrusions. He traveled from Washington state to Washington DC making recordings along the way and meeting with politicians at the end. If you have the time, go read this book. Please. The more people that know about the value of silence in a noisy world, the better.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Sciencey stuff
First: a NYT article about whale watching and the "friendly" gray whales of Baja. Nothing really revolutionary, and more whale-huggy than absolutely necessary, but interesting nonetheless.
Second: this poll about Americans' attitude towards and knowledge of science in general is somewhat disturbing. While the public apparently thinks science is a good thing, American science and scientists are considered less effective (I suppose that's the appropriate word) than they used to be. Also, according to the poll, scientists' views of the American public are NOT good (and I admit to holding some of those same views myself). And while the poll didn't examine why these differences exist it's good to realize they exist and try to work around them. Better science education is desperately needed across most of the country. Damned if I know how to fix it, though.
In other news, we had an absolutely fantastic thunderstorm here today, followed by my building's highly obnoxious fire alarm going off for an hour. Joy.
Also: my abstract was accepted for a conference in Canada later this year! I had planned on going whether or not they accepted it, but this way I'll have better chances of making contacts and I can stick another publication on my CV and get practice presenting. I am pleased. :)
The next month and a half are going to be horrifically busy -- Advisor has a paper that she wants submitted by the end of August, which I'm supposedly in charge of, and I want my data analysis for the abstract to be done by that same time. Add my statistics class, thesis revisions, and literature review to those projects, and I'm pretty much doomed. I'm anticipating that this weekend includes the last of my "free" time for the rest of the summer. Except for one or two softball games a week... I signed up for a department grad student team, which I'm almost regretting.... but not quite. I have a guaranteed committment at this point in case I desperately need an evening or two off in the coming weeks. Updates as I have time to make them. :)
Second: this poll about Americans' attitude towards and knowledge of science in general is somewhat disturbing. While the public apparently thinks science is a good thing, American science and scientists are considered less effective (I suppose that's the appropriate word) than they used to be. Also, according to the poll, scientists' views of the American public are NOT good (and I admit to holding some of those same views myself). And while the poll didn't examine why these differences exist it's good to realize they exist and try to work around them. Better science education is desperately needed across most of the country. Damned if I know how to fix it, though.
In other news, we had an absolutely fantastic thunderstorm here today, followed by my building's highly obnoxious fire alarm going off for an hour. Joy.
Also: my abstract was accepted for a conference in Canada later this year! I had planned on going whether or not they accepted it, but this way I'll have better chances of making contacts and I can stick another publication on my CV and get practice presenting. I am pleased. :)
The next month and a half are going to be horrifically busy -- Advisor has a paper that she wants submitted by the end of August, which I'm supposedly in charge of, and I want my data analysis for the abstract to be done by that same time. Add my statistics class, thesis revisions, and literature review to those projects, and I'm pretty much doomed. I'm anticipating that this weekend includes the last of my "free" time for the rest of the summer. Except for one or two softball games a week... I signed up for a department grad student team, which I'm almost regretting.... but not quite. I have a guaranteed committment at this point in case I desperately need an evening or two off in the coming weeks. Updates as I have time to make them. :)
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Remember that orthogonality thing? Yeah, that. From my last post. Guess what came up in my stats class this morning? You got it: orthogonal polynomials. Great.
Been busy the last week or so - stats class starting, spanish class ending, research, 4th of July, etc. Will have sciencey update in the next couple of days, when I get time to think.
:)
Been busy the last week or so - stats class starting, spanish class ending, research, 4th of July, etc. Will have sciencey update in the next couple of days, when I get time to think.
:)
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