Blogs

A Blog Around the Clock

ScienceOnline2010 - interview with Russ William...
4:51pm | Mar 11, 2010
Continuing with the tradition from last two years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants of the ScienceOnline2010 conference that was held in the Research Triangle Park, NC back in January. See all the interviews in this series here. You can check out previous years' interviews as well: 2008 and 2009.

Today, I asked Russ Williams from North Carolina Zoological Society and the Russlings blog to answer a few questions.

Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Where are you coming from (both geographically and philosophically)? What is your (scientific) background?

I'm an English major from Northeastern Pennsylvania who works at the North Carolina Zoo (24 years executive director, N.C. Zoological Society). I try to stay somewhat current, despite my age (north of 60). For example, I am listening these days to music by Death Cab for Cutie, Arcade Fire, Flaming Lips, Radiohead and Pole Cat Creek, along with the oldies (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Hank [and Lucinda] Williams, Coltrane and Bach).

Started personally blogging about zoo animals and issues about five years ago. (Took an intro course in blogging at UNC-Greensboro by G'boro blogfather Ed Cone (Word Up). Found I was learning much from Google searches, and then by following the blogs and tweets of certain science journalists and bloggers, conservation researchers, etc. (The blogs and tweets of Wild Muse/@tdelene and you, BoraZ, are favorite sources.) Flickr and YouTube have provided much for my blogs and tweets too.

Tell us a little more about your career trajectory so far: interesting projects past and present?

Had no idea I'd work for a Zoo. (Even named a son Noah; would never do that to someone by plan!) Growing up, I knew I would have a career in advertising, like my father. Did do some retail advertising (broadcast and newspaper) after graduation - early 1970's. Didn't like it. Backpacked in Europe for two months. Returned to work with weekly newspapers. This led to public relations/communications for non-profits. This led to fund raising. This led to North Carolina (United Way in Winston-Salem, 1980-85). This led to the NC Zoo Society - 1985-now.

Result: accidental zoology tinkerer.

What does it mean to be the Director of the NC Zoological Society? What does the job entail?

Always remember that I have about 100,000 bosses, in about 27,000 NC Zoo Society member households. Our staff tries to provide excellent customer service to our members and to be their "champions" when it comes to getting a good return on their investments in the Zoo in general or a very specific program, like Field Trip Earth (recognized as a Landmark website by the American Association of School Librarians - one of 21, including Google Earth, Library of Congress, NASA and Smithsonian Education).

What is taking up the most of your time and passion these days? What are your goals?

Proud of my small role in how the NC Zoo and Zoo Society have grown and the creation of both Field Trip Earth (our educational website featuring journals and other media offered by conservation researchers around the world) and Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park (the largest such gathering, offering and breeding of rare and endangered ducks, geese and swans in the world).

Really enjoy helping folks accomplish what they want to accomplish for the future of the NC Zoo through "The Lions Pride", a grouping of people who have made planned arrangements for their Zoo, mainly through wills.

Capital campaigns, like Project: Pachyderms (African elephants and southern white rhinos) and Project: Polar Bears also meet my need to attain goals requiring some considerable preparation and effort. (I've also plodded through a few full, running marathons and to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, at 55).

NC Zoo has something else unique about it - the Zoo School! Can you tell us more about it?

A "magnet" Asheboro City high school, the Zoo School is right on site here. It uses the Zoo as a teaching tool not just to study biology and geography, but for all learning, making use of the Zoo for English composition and communications, mathematics, business and many other studies.

What was the best aspect of ScienceOnline2010 for you?

Appreciate your prodding, Bora, to demonstrate Field Trip Earth at ScienceOnline2010. The Charlotte Observer science editor attended our demonstration and the result was an 85-column-inch article in both the Observer and Raleigh News & Observer by T. DeLene Beeland, whose Wild Muse blog and tweets were already favorites of mine, introduced by your RTs, Bora. I want to take in more of the sessions the next time. Only got to one session (other than our own series of demos) and it was exceptional.

It was so nice to see you again and thank you for the interview. I'll see you at the Zoo soon....and at ScienceOnline2011, of course!

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ScienceOnline2010 - Trust and Critical Thinking...
2:14pm | Mar 11, 2010

Saturday, January 16 at 4:40 - 5:45pm
C. Trust and Critical Thinking - Stephanie Zvan, PZ Myers, Desiree Schell, Greg Laden, Kirsten Sanford

Description: Lay audiences often lack the resources (access to studies, background knowledge of fields and methods) to evaluate the trustworthiness of scientific information as another scientist or a journalist might. Are there ways to usefully promote critical thinking about sources and presentation as we provide information? Can we teach them to navigate competing claims? And can we do it without promoting a distrust of science itself?
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New and Exciting in PLoS ONE
12:59pm | Mar 11, 2010
There are 15 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Mendeley, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one click. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:

Extreme Female Promiscuity in a Non-Social Invertebrate Species:

While males usually benefit from as many matings as possible, females often evolve various methods of resistance to matings. The prevalent explanation for this is that the cost of additional matings exceeds the benefits of receiving sperm from a large number of males. Here we demonstrate, however, a strongly deviating pattern of polyandry. We analysed paternity in the marine snail Littorina saxatilis by genotyping large clutches (53-79) of offspring from four females sampled in their natural habitats. We found evidence of extreme promiscuity with 15-23 males having sired the offspring of each female within the same mating period. Such a high level of promiscuity has previously only been observed in a few species of social insects. We argue that genetic bet-hedging (as has been suggested earlier) is unlikely to explain such extreme polyandry. Instead we propose that these high levels are examples of convenience polyandry: females accept high numbers of matings if costs of refusing males are higher than costs of accepting superfluous matings.

Record Dynamics in Ants:

The success of social animals (including ourselves) can be attributed to efficiencies that arise from a division of labour. Many animal societies have a communal nest which certain individuals must leave to perform external tasks, for example foraging or patrolling. Staying at home to care for young or leaving to find food is one of the most fundamental divisions of labour. It is also often a choice between safety and danger. Here we explore the regulation of departures from ant nests. We consider the extreme situation in which no one returns and show experimentally that exiting decisions seem to be governed by fluctuating record signals and ant-ant interactions. A record signal is a new 'high water mark' in the history of a system. An ant exiting the nest only when the record signal reaches a level it has never perceived before could be a very effective mechanism to postpone, until the last possible moment, a potentially fatal decision. We also show that record dynamics may be involved in first exits by individually tagged ants even when their nest mates are allowed to re-enter the nest. So record dynamics may play a role in allocating individuals to tasks, both in emergencies and in everyday life. The dynamics of several complex but purely physical systems are also based on record signals but this is the first time they have been experimentally shown in a biological system.

Are Maternal Antibodies Really That Important? Patterns in the Immunologic Development of Altricial Passerine House Sparrows (Passer domesticus):

Maternal antibodies are believed to play an integral role in protecting immunologically immature wild-passerines from environmental antigens. This study comprehensively examines the early development of the adaptive immune system in an altricial-developing wild passerine species, the house sparrow (Passer domestics), by characterizing the half-life of maternal antibodies in nestling plasma, the onset of de novo synthesis of endogenous antibodies by nestlings, and the timing of immunological independence, where nestlings rely entirely on their own antibodies for immunologic protection. In an aviary study we vaccinated females against a novel antigen that these birds would not otherwise encounter in their natural environment, and measured both antigen-specific and total antibody concentration in the plasma of females, yolks, and nestlings. We traced the transfer of maternal antibodies from females to nestlings through the yolk and measured catabolisation of maternal antigen-specific antibodies in nestlings during early development. By utilizing measurements of non-specific and specific antibody levels in nestling plasma we were able to calculate the half-life of maternal antibodies in nestling plasma and the time point at which nestling were capable of synthesizing antibodies themselves. Based on the short half-life of maternal antibodies, the rapid production of endogenous antibodies by nestlings and the relatively low transfer of maternal antibodies to nestlings, our findings suggest that altricial-developing sparrows achieve immunologic independence much earlier than precocial birds. To our knowledge, this is the first in depth analyses performed on the adaptive immune system of a wild-passerine species. Our results suggest that maternal antibodies may not confer the immunologic protection or immune priming previously proposed in other passerine studies. Further research needs to be conducted on other altricial passerines to determine if the results of our study are a species-specific phenomenon or if they apply to all altricial-developing birds.
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Clock Quotes
8:25am | Mar 11, 2010
"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him."

- Forrest Tucker
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ScienceOnline2010 - interview with DeLene Beela...
4:59pm | Mar 10, 2010
Continuing with the tradition from last two years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants of the ScienceOnline2010 conference that was held in the Research Triangle Park, NC back in January. See all the interviews in this series here. You can check out previous years' interviews as well: 2008 and 2009.

Today, I asked T. DeLene Beeland to answer a few questions.

Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Where are you coming from (both geographically and philosophically)? What is your (scientific) background?

Geography: I live in North Carolina, but my heart is still in Florida, where I spent my whole life prior to 2009. Perspective: I love nature and learning about the natural world. I am a freelance writer with graduate training in ecology, natural resources management and journalism.

Tell us a little more about your career trajectory so far: interesting projects past and present?

It's been more of a higgledy-piggledy switch-back path than a trajectory. Let's see...I'm 33 and have been freelancing for a little more than one year. This is actually my second career - my first was as a commercial interior designer (not a decorator, an interior architectural space planner - very different). While working in design, I was bored down to my bones. I'd also had a health crisis that forced the soul-searching question: if I can do anything in the world, what would it be? My inner voice kept answering, "Be a writer, study ecology." So I did.

While in grad school (Univ. of Florida) I worked for two years as a staff science writer at the Florida Museum of Natural History. The science divisions in this museum are vast, there are 20-plus scientific departments. I wrote about goings-on in ichthyology, herpetology, four different archaeology departments, a Lepidoptera center and of course, vertebrate and invertebrate paleontology - oh, and ornithology, palynology and paleobotany too! It was a cool gig, except for the money. Shortly after graduating I took a similar position with the Emerging Pathogens Institute at UF, except they were a start-up so I built their science communications from scratch.

Today, I'm building a freelance writing business and working on a natural history book. I feel like I'm at a point where I've struggled to the bottom-rung of the freelancing career and I've got a toehold but still have a marathon climbing trek ahead of me.

What is taking up the most of your time and passion these days?

Trying to afford health insurance. (Kidding! Sort of.) Seriously, trying to carve time to research and write my book; stay afloat with freelance work and expanding my professional network. Yep, that pretty much consumes most of my time. And watching the birds at my seed feeder - that soaks up a lot of time too. I like watching them over time and learning their seasonal behaviors.

What aspect of science communication interests you the most?

Finding an interesting story, pitching, finding the lede to a story... Figuring out how to break complex things down into interesting reads; making science relatable to everyday people who may not be into it - these are communication elements I'm interested in. I see my science writing as in its infancy. I'm still really focused on explanatory approaches (here is what they found, this is what the results mean, etc.) Which is fine for being a science evangelist and getting people interested, but in the future I hope to be doing more critical pieces and analysis; especially concerning conservation biology and species conservation and extinction, topics that I always feel drawn to. I am interested in learning to do profile pieces better too - getting at the personalities who do science. I've also been sinking time into reading about narrative writing craft and how to bring story-telling elements into science writing: using dialogue (well), orchestrating plot and conflict, stuff like that.

How does (if it does) blogging figure in your work? How about social networks, e.g., Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook? Do you find all this online activity to be a net positive (or even a necessity) in what you do?

It is a small part of my professional life. I write blogs for one client (Science in the Triangle), and I write a personal blog, Wild Muse. But blogging is not my primary writing outlet and is a small fraction of my income; and because of that, the majority of my time and effort goes into other types of print communication work. I started blogging as an experiment, mostly because all the freelance business articles I was reading said "You Must Blog. Period."

I use my personal blog to explore things I'm interested in: wolf studies, birds, ecology the environment... It's really more of an online journaling exercise. I'm a highly kinetic reader. I have to underline and scrawl copious notes in the margins in order to process ideas... and blogging, for me, is kind of the online analog to that learning process. The happy accidental side effect of it is that I've met many people through the process of blogging - like you - and now have a wider and richer online social network because of it.

Facebook I reserve for my personal life. Twitter, I treat a little more professionally. I've made a point to use it more tied to my online presence as a science and nature writer.

When and how did you first discover science blogs? What are some of your favourites?

Ah, British spelling?

Shortly after moving to N.C., and hooking up with the SCONC group. As for favorite blogs... I graze a lot. Since I'm new to the blogosphere - Wild Muse is only seven or eight months old - I flit around a lot and skim many people's blogs just to see what is out there. Some faves in my Google Reader are: CreatureCast, Round Robin, Wolves of the High Arctic and Ralph Maughan's Wildlife News... but if you notice, these are not blogs you go to for interesting writing or science news, my preferences are more clustered around content I find intriguing. Deep Sea News is great too because it has a unique tone. Scads of people have great blogs, but I can't say I'm a very loyal daily reader of any single person's blog. I get impatient, bored and turned off by blogs that are self-promotional or bloggers who take themselves too seriously, and usually won't go back if I get that vibe from someone's site. But if they have good content and package it well, I'll flit back to it.

Is there anything that happened at ScienceOnline2010 - a session, something someone said or did or wrote - that will change the way you think about science communication, or something that you will take with you to your job?

Hands-down, the fact-checking session won my interest. There are cases where you can't just take your source's word for it. Just because someone says something, does not make it true. Writers are not transcriptionists. You have to check with a second or third source to verify what the first said if something does not feel right or sounds off or contradicts what you know. This happened to me recently on an assignment... a project manager told me they had discovered one species trend, then a person collecting data on the project told me the exact opposite. So I had to run it by others to find out the reality. Sometimes people think they are telling you the "truth" but really they are only telling you their perspective of what they experienced - and it's your job as the writer to sift through and drill down to the un-colored reality. So yeah, I'd say that was the best lesson and what I took home with me. You really get into the danger zone when you think you know something, but don't check it to verify that what you think you know is in fact true.

It was so nice to see you again and thank you for the interview. I'll see you around.
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ChemSpider

How Much New Chemistry Is There In New RSC Arti...
7:36pm | Mar 11, 2010
From the early days of the acquisition of ChemSpider by the RSC we have been focused on accessing the rich content that the RSC has contained in its databases and in its rich archive. We have been working hard for a number of months now to integrate systems, projects and processes into ChemSpider so that [...]
First deposited compounds from RSC Prospect in ...
6:16pm | Mar 11, 2010
We’ve taken the first step towards user being able to seamlessly bounce back and forth between finding compounds of interest using the ChemSpider search and selection tools and finding more information about them in RSC journals… I’m pleased to announce that we’ve just switched on a deposition system which will take compounds from the prospected version of RSC articles as they [...]
ChemSpider talk at the Lawrence Berkeley Labora...
1:37am | Mar 11, 2010
OVERVIEW The LBNL Library is hosting a seminar for researchers interested in online collaboration, data storage and curation, data exchange, crowdsourcing, and open access. This seminar will explore ChemSpider (http://www.chemspider.com/) – a free access service providing a structure centric community for chemists and the richest single source of structure-based chemistry information. EVENT DETAILS March 24, 2010 [...]
Online Movie of the ChemSpider Science Commons ...
2:44pm | Mar 10, 2010
I had the pleasure of giving a presentation at the Science Commons Symposium a couple of weeks ago. The meeting was held at Microsoft Research and, as is to be expected, Microsoft had all of the necessary technologies in place to capture the video and provide access to the presentations online. My presentation is available [...]
ChemSpider Training at ACS Spring in San Franci...
4:29am | Feb 26, 2010
We are presently receiving sign ups for our training session on ChemSpider. The session will be on Monday afternoon between 4-6pm (details below) It is free to attend and we’d love to see you there if you are in San Francisco at that time. Sign up here… Royal Society of Chemistry How to get started with ChemSpider [...]

Coastwatch

Conifer Reproductive Biology

De Rerum Natura

Bama Wins 2009 Calix Cari
10:02pm | Jan 20, 2010
The announcement is a bit late, but after beating Texas, Bama has won the 2009 Calix Cari. RankTeamRecordQuality 5.3147: 40-14 Florida Int'l5.1754: 53-7 North Texas8.8153: 35-7 Arkansas7.4998: 38-20 Kentucky8.6283: 22-3 Mississippi7.9232: 20-6 South Carolina7.3722: 12-10 Tennessee8.4587: 24-15 LSU7.9865: 31-3 Mississippi...
Network Issues
11:53pm | Jan 1, 2010
We’ve been having network issues for the last week. (The network setup in general is not reliable.) Nothing is wrong with what I have control over, but I’m kind of stuck with the connection that I’ve been given. My apologies...
Calix Cari 2009 Week 14
10:09pm | Dec 9, 2009
With the conference championship games complete my Calix Cari rankings once again agree with the pollsters: its Texas versus Alabama for the title. Surprisingly, despite Tebow crying after visiting the wood-shed in Atlanta Florida still ranks #3, ahead of undefeated...
Snow
3:51pm | Dec 4, 2009
It’s snowing right now in Houston. I’m not sure if it will stick....
Calix Cari 2009 Week 11
11:07pm | Nov 19, 2009
It’s be a few weeks since I’ve calculated my rankings for collage football, but with Uga VII passing away, I figure I’d post something in honor of him. RankTeamRecordQuality 5.3724: 40-14 Florida Int'l5.3628: 53-7 North Texas8.6244: 35-7 Arkansas7.5907: 38-20 Kentucky8.4715:...

Duke Lemur Center

Duke Research

a little dip
12:02am | Mar 1, 2010
Temperatures at Lola can hit 90oF with 100% humidity. Here is Manono, our Olympic swimmer having a little dip

photo: David Reid
Bigfoot has hair
11:54pm | Feb 25, 2010

Not sure if you remember the furore of the bigfoot photo
where someone actually took my photos and entered it into a bigfoot competition! but now the original bigfoot, Bandundu, has finally grown some hair. Which is lucky b/c now her baby has something to hold onto!
photo: David Reid
smelling the lilies?
11:48pm | Feb 23, 2010

I always love photos of the photos with the lilies - they look so romantic - liek htey're just inhaling their faint heady scent. But actually it's the scene before they chomp them up - which doesn't look so romantic - petals shredded everywhere. I've heard of bonobos foraging for pith (the bit inside the lily stem)- that ties into Richard Wrangham's theory of the aquatic ape. And bonobos do hae a bit of webbing between their 2nd and 3rd toe.

But I haven't heard of them eating flowers before...

photo: David Reid
Bisengo the little prince
11:39pm | Feb 21, 2010

This is little Bisengo, who I have known since he was born. He is the perfect example of an alpha bonobo. So we usually say that the females are in charge of bonobo groups, but actually it the babies - especially a little prince like Bisengo who can get anything he wants! If there is a grape within even 10 feet of Bisengo, it's his, no matter who else is around!

Bisengo is quite a little climber - maybe a prime candidate for the release project?
David Reid
11:32pm | Feb 18, 2010

I have some photos I've been meaning to post from David Reid who went to Lola a few months ago. I've post them all over the next few weeks!

This is Makali, a bonobo rescued from a biomedical centre. He has somethign to say!

Duke Research (blog)

New Look
12:46am | Mar 12, 2010
We've just redesigned Duke Research and relaunched it on March 11, 2010. It's the same broad coverage of Duke's research enterprise you've come to expect with great photos, videos and slideshows. But now it's built on a Drupal platform that allows us to update the content frequently with minimal hassle. We hope you enjoy it, but if you ever have concerns or questions, please drop us a line:
Narrative Control in the Digital Age
2:50am | Mar 7, 2010
“Can’t the Internet control us just as easily as it can liberate us?” asked Jonathan Zittrain Wednesday night as part of the Provost’s 2010 lecture series. Zittrain is a law professor and co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University,Zittrain explained that technology is changing the way we access and add to human knowledge. Our ever-increasing reliance on
What Are Scientists Made Of?
4:49am | Mar 1, 2010
Last Thursday, the Duke Career Center, the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & and Policy (IGSP) and Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) sponsored a screening of the documentary “Naturally Obsessed: The Making of a Scientist,” the story of three PHD candidates working to establish their careers in a Columbia University lab. The students are working to isolate proteins and determine their
Video Game Technology Attacks Cancer
9:11pm | Feb 24, 2010
Guest post from Cara Bonnett, Office of Information Technology Kouros Owzar analyzes huge datasets to identify key genetic markers associated with cancer survival. For him, time is of the essence.A new Duke computing resource that taps the power of graphics processors commonly used to render pixels in video games is going to enable Owzar and other researchers to complete complex statistical
Clean Technology- The future of energy
12:34am | Feb 20, 2010
"Environmental innovation is a good business strategy in the current scenario," said Kirk Hourdajian,Project Manager at the Environment Defense Fund, at the Duke Conference on Sustainable Business and Social Impact held at the Fuqua School of Business on the 17th of February. This conference aimed at promoting social and environmental sustainability in all industry sectors, and explored the most

Erin Wissink

Forth Go

Science Online 2010
10:20pm | Jan 18, 2010
The fourth Science Online conference just wrapped up, and it was as lively as ever. Unfortunately, my attendance was limited since I was coming down with a cold. I attended only a couple of sessions and tried to keep interactions to a minimum, which was hard to do at such an interactive conference with many [...]
Stella at One
2:21am | Dec 2, 2009
Our new puppy, Stella, turned one year old this week-end. She’s a very light coated golden retriever, a cross between the American and British types in hopes of reducing inbred genetic faults. So far she’s been quite healthy and full of puppy energy. I’m sure any day now she’ll realize she’s grown up and settle [...]
Chapel Hill Election Clustering Revised
1:28am | Nov 18, 2009
I’ve updated the cluster analysis based on comments received. Thanks to Ed Harrison, I have included data from the Durham County precincts. And since other commenters explained away the apparent under-voting in some precincts, I recalculated the percentages to be based on the number of people voting in that race instead of the total ballots [...]
Chapel Hill Election Clustering
2:22am | Nov 17, 2009
Damon Seils provided some great maps of the precinct results from this month’s local elections. I played around with the data, and found the results of a two-cluster analysis to be interesting. The ballots don’t include party affiliation, but candidates fell into two clusters, anyway, and the precincts fit several different profiles in support of [...]
Unsophisticated Art Review: Ravi Shankar
1:37am | Oct 9, 2009
Ravi Shankar, his daugher Anoushka Shankar and a few supporting musicians performed at Memorial Hall on Tuesday night. There’s a decent review at IndyWeek for anyone wanting more sophistication. A local professor made introductions and explained the music as being romantic and added, “India is a very romantic country, as you can tell by the [...]

Hard science

Julian Lombardi's Blog

Julian Lombardi's Blog Has Moved
2:20am | May 20, 2009
I've moved my blog to another address and will no longer post here. Please go to julianlombardi.blogspot.com to see all my posts, both old and new.

-Julian
Collaborative CAD in Cobalt!
11:50am | Dec 11, 2008

Thanks again to the work of Aik-Siong Koh and his team, Cobalt now makes it possible for users to work in a deeply collaborative CAD environment. This video shows how two Cobalt users on separate computers can work with relatively sophisticated CAD capabilities over a LAN. This newly-implemented collaborative CAD capability in Cobalt opens up a wide range of possibilities for engineers and others at a distance to develop sophisticated simulations and architectures in Cobalt worlds. The ability to develop animated content within a full-featured virtual world CAD environment sets Cobalt apart from other virtual world technologies in a very significant way.
VNC in Cobalt!
1:16pm | Nov 22, 2008

Rajeev Lochan has just been successful in getting VNC to work within a shared Cobalt space! VNC is a graphical desktop sharing system which uses the RFB protocol to remotely control another computer. This is a big breakthrough for our open project. It means that a Cobalt-based VNC client can connect to a VNC server on any other operating system. Cobalt users will soon be able to view and interact with remote applications (including full featured web browsers) or even collaboratively access remote desktops within the Cobalt application. Because the VNC protocol can use a lot of bandwidth, we still have some optimization to deal with - but this progress is great to see. Thank you Rajeev!
Immersive Workspaces
10:37pm | Oct 21, 2008

Linden Lab has announced that its now going to be moving into the enterprise 3D collaboration space. It recently announced a new product called "Immersive Workspaces" which is basically an area in Second Life set aside for corporate meetings. That more secure area represents "a completely exclusive and secure experience, with no connectivity to the Second Life mainland." Their intent is to develop a complete collaboration experience for the enterprise. I guess that is Linden Lab's attempt to try and ensure that business meetings are not disrupted by griefers or by unwelcome barrages of flying penises. Looks like the enterprise virtual worlds space is getting a bit more crowded. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Another KMZ Import
11:23pm | Oct 19, 2008

Another test of the new KMZ importer from Aik-Siong Koh. Note that the textures are mapping nicely onto the relatively complex model! Soon we will be able to import lots of content from Google's 3D Warehouse into Cobalt. That will be nice...

Mister Sugar

Sit, eat, talk
5:51pm | Mar 6, 2010

Ilina Ewen, blogger at Dirt and Noise talks about food, recalling being in Paris quite pregnant but savoring the fresh bread and ripe tomatoes. Such food nostalgia was the topic of State of Things yesterday, with Frank Stasio and Kelly Alexander talking hometown appetites and writing about local food memories.

Ilina challenging us to shop with the people we love, talk about what we’re eating, and sit around the dinner table together. (See The Long Table.)

tag: #TEDxRTP
My relationship to homelessness
4:57pm | Mar 6, 2010

On the way to TEDxRTP this morning, NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday featured a great story about http://invisiblepeople.tv/blog/ (Former Homeless Man’s Videos Profile Life On Street). And now, Hugh Hollowell giving a heartfelt talk about how to end chronic homelessness — build relationships.
Bright day, bright minds, bright ideas
3:59pm | Mar 6, 2010

It’s a beautiful and sunny day in the Triangle, and the RTP headquarters is the setting for some of the area’s bright minds sharing ideas as part of TEDxRTP.

First up is Duke’s Christopher Gergen talking about social entrepreneurship (he works with students in the Hart Leadership Program and a new project called Bull City Forward). He talks about how people go from living a life to leading a life by articulating a clear vision of what the future looks like, how they pull people around them to fulfill those dreams, and how they build in daily habits of renewal. passions, strengths. (All this speaks to me and my recent personal reflection and goal setting.)

The leaders that Gergen talked to for his book, Life Entrepreneurs, when asked about biggest fear, didn’t answer ‘fear of failure’ but rather ‘fear of regret’. “What’s holding you back?” Gergen asks us.

Gergen was a great choice to kick off the day. Who doesn’t like being inspired and encouraged to have dreams?

Next, a talk about creativity by Andy Hunt, suggesting that doodling and capturing the next great idea with pen and paper is how to go. My shoulder bag is at my feet, filled with my own notebooks and pens — lots of idea generating to go into those later today.

Watch the TEDxRTP talks live at http://www.tedxtrianglenc.com/##.
Earthquake relief
8:59pm | Feb 11, 2010

A call from my mother yesterday alerted me to the news that my hometown of DeKalb, Illinois experienced a minor but rare earthquake. Read about it in the DeKalb Daily Chronicle.

When I was growing up in DeKalb, I learned about the New Madrid fault in southern Missouri, predicted by some to have a Big One of its own stored up.

Around the same time, I was reading Aztec, an historical novel by Gary Jennings that included some very juicy sex scenes (I was a high school boy, keep in mind). I remember one scene in the book in which an earthquake causes a man to have an erection. Fascinating, if true … but I digress.

When I was a student at John Carroll University, I often stopped by the seismograph in the foyer of the science building (read about Jesuits and seismology) to watch the squiggling record of seismic activity, though I never felt a quake during my time at Carroll.

Then, as Erin and I arrived in Vanuatu for our Peace Corps service, I knew we’d be experiencing earthquakes and other natural events — before our two years would end, we’d be drenched by cyclones, witness volcanic rumblings and lava flows, and suffer through tropical diseases. In those early days, I thought it might be cool to come through an earthquake and be able to add that to my list of things experienced in my travels around the world.

One day, while I was lounging in the Eman Emalo Guest House in the capital, Port Vila, I heard a rumbling coming my way. A moment later, a single violent jolt flowed through the cinder-block guest house. That’s all, one very short and very minor temblor that left me with the feeling of Mother Earth having a very nasty streak. It caused no physical damage, but it demolished my romantic notions of earth’s movement as cause for enjoyment.

So now, when I hear news of movement in Vanuatu — where a major one hit last year — or DeKalb or anywhere else, I thank my lucky stars and wish for steady ground.

P.S. Duke University and Health System (my employer) has stepped up to assist the people of Haiti after the devastating quake there. See this page to learn how the university community is helping, and see videos (search for Haiti) from a team of Duke Medicine caregivers who are helping at the Partners in Health clinic in Cange.
Thinking places, or I am before I am
2:58am | Feb 8, 2010
Like each February of the past few years, I’m floating on a high from the success of the ScienceOnline2010 conference, but also reaching for a return to balance in my life. Planning the conference takes a lot out of me.

“Go away,” Erin suggested. “Take a weekend to yourself and reconnect with who you are and where you’re going.” Sage advice from the person who knows me best and has seen firsthand my struggles this last year with the too-many-activities stress I’ve layered on myself.

I immediately thought of Portland, Maine, a place of raw and grey beauty in the winter (I visited a friend there once, and loved it) and how it could provide me the solitude to reflect. Too far, though. Charleston, South Carolina? A walkable city with plenty of coffeeshops and sunshine, and I’ve wanted to get to Hominy Grill for years. Still too far. Southport, North Carolina? A perfect distance, on the water, with a historic town empty during the off season.

So Friday evening, amid heavy rains, I kissed Erin and the girls goodbye and drove slowly south, arriving at the Riverside Motel near midnight. A good night’s sleep (already known that I need more sleep) and I woke in a cold, damp, overcast seaside town, wondering if I actually had woken in Portland. My computer off, my Blackberry away, I bundled up and went walking past the historic cottages of Southport, thinking, pondering and just being, wearing this solitude like an electric blanket, luxurious and warm in the freedom to peer inward and to think about myself.

Off and on throughout the day I walked the streets. In the afternoon I had Oak Island beach all to myself, too.

In between fresh-air strolls, I returned to my room to write. I filled pages and pages with the most free-flowing words I’ve put to paper in many years. That stream of consciousness manifesting in ink on paper helped me to understand the emotional wellspring I’d been neglecting.

I’ve long known, though, that I’m a reader before I’m a writer. Other writers’ words entertain me, educate me, challenge me and console me.

Over lunch, and then dinner, I devoured Writing Places, the latest book by William Zinsser, whose On Writing Well is perhaps the best tutorial on writing nonfiction you can read. Writing Places had me choking back tears often. His stories about places he’s written, and writers he’s taught, spoke directly to me, counseling me to “enjoy the day and its friendships and its unscheduled pleasures” and that “the hardest part of writing isn’t the writing, it’s the thinking.”

Bingo.

My walking, my reflecting, my writing and my reading through the day made clear that I’d neglected a very important priority over the last decade — time to reflect and to write. And that loss of time to contemplate and think through my hands had helped to bottle up expression of my emotions. What I realized this weekend is that I think through writing. I get in touch with my emotions through putting words to paper. (I’m happy, don’t get me wrong: I have so very much that gives me joy. It’s the stress of juggling too many obligations, with no outlet for the pressure, that’s caused this sharing.)

This was a decade in the making.

Ten years ago, I was newly returned from my Peace Corps service in the Republic of Vanuatu. During my two years on Paama Island, I’d written daily in a journal, and letters home to family and friends nightly at the table beneath the dim flourescent light powered by the solar panel. But when I was back in the States, I turned full face to the Internet and started a blog to share my observations with my far-flung family — and anyone else who wanted to read my thoughts.

But those weren’t my full thoughts, because my blogging is not the same as the journaling I’d done on Paama. What I write on my blog shares only part of who I am and what I’m feeling. One time I did open up more fully, sharing a feeling of hurt at what I thought was a snub, and some of my friends quickly commented on how open I was with that post. (Read that post and you’ll see my overdoing it is nothing new. Hmmm.)

In 2000, for my 30th birthday, Erin and I gathered my friends in our Shaker Square apartment to usher in my decade of writing. My friend and mentor, John Ettorre (himself mentored by William Zinsser), had told me years before that I should “live in my 20s, and write in my 30s”. I didn’t write the book I promised — though I did edit and publish books by my grandfather and father — and I managed to write here on The Coconut Wireless (my blog’s name, which most don’t realize) for 10 years running.

For a few months now, I’ve been thinking about my coming 40th birthday, and how I will commit this decade of my life. I’ve long been drawn to narrative and storytelling, exemplified by my narrative journalism attempts, the idea for StoryBlogging and our partnering ScienceOnline2010 with the wonderful The Monti. But, I haven’t felt that I have the skills to be a storyteller, because I also think of myself as a listener before I’m a talker.

My self-examination this weekend, though, has shown me a window and a way. The more I write, the more I think. The more I think, the more I understand. The more I understand, the more I express.

So, the formula I’ll try is this:
- personal journal writing — words for me;
- letter writing — words to friends and family, sharing my inner life as appropriate;
- blogging — observations and stories for the world, with more of who I am.
I know of other changes to make, and my personal insights have given me renewed energy to venture into 2010 and journey into my 40s. This will be a story, perhaps, of places to think.

Nicholas Insider

Save Our Slopes
12:00am | Jan 1, 1970
It's spring break, which means skiing in Colorado for me. However, no vacation is complete without a reflection on the little things that can be done to preserve the landscape that I love the most.
My Last Basketball Game
12:00am | Jan 1, 1970
Love it or hate it, Duke basketball is part of student life, but only if you decide to let it in. Because the closer-than-it-should-have-been game against Virginia Tech (67-55) was the final game I will be able to go to, I decided to weigh my first, basketball-less year against this hoop-crazy year. Not a close game.
The Year of the Tiger
12:00am | Jan 1, 1970
Starting February 14, 2010 and lasting until February 2, 2011 brings the Year of a Golden Tiger according to the Chinese Zodiac. Let's take a look how these magically majestic animals are doing out in the wild.
Semester Lineup
12:00am | Jan 1, 1970
When I was growing up, 'bored' was a banned word in my household. I attribute my tendency to over-involve myself on my parents, who juggle the family business, firefighting, church activities, and community involvement with raising four kids. The addiction to busyness is definitely genetic.
Be my Green Valentine!
12:00am | Jan 1, 1970
The second most important Hallmark holiday is here, so as good environmentalists let's strive to express love in an Earth-friendly way.

Primate Diaries

The Primate Diaries Has Moved to Science Blogs
1:37am | Jul 2, 2009
My new home is at http://scienceblogs.com/primatediaries.

Update your RSS feed by clicking here and I look forward to hearing from you on the comments page!
Nature is calling . . .
3:05pm | Apr 10, 2009

The Primate Diaries has now been picked up by the journal Nature's online network. Click on the RSS button below to update your feed and click the image above to see the new site.
Superorganisms and Group Selection
11:58pm | Apr 3, 2009
Unicolonial ants pose challenge to "selfish gene" theory.

Unicolonial ants, such as these Argentine ants (Linepithema humile), are genetically unrelated but will cooperate to defeat a much larger adversary.
Source: Alex Wild / Live Science
It has been a mainstay of evolutionary theory since the 1970s. Natural selection acts purely on the level of the individual and any cooperation observed between organisms merely hides a selfish genetic motive. There have been two pioneering theories to explain cooperation in the natural world given this framework: the first was William Hamilton's (1964) theory of kin selection and the second was Robert Trivers' (1971) theory of reciprocal altruism.

However, both of these scenarios break down where it comes to unicolonial ants. In a new paper in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution (subscription required) Heikki Helantera, of the University of Sussex, and colleagues at Rice University have investigated how previous theories to explain cooperation don't apply for these unique supercolonies.
Unicolonial ants carry polydomy [multiple nests in a supercolony that all individuals rotate through] and polygyny [multiple queens in one nest] to extremes. Colonies are huge, each being a network of hundreds or thousands of nests, each with multiple queens. There is no worker aggression, and there is free movement among nests on a vast scale. The energy that might have been put into fighting and territoriality flows into the common good, more ants.
Such a concept, a form of genuine anarchism in the animal world, was thought to be impossible given existing theory. These ants live in colonies where relatives exist but, with so much migration throughout a network stretching thousands of kilometers, each ant worker is mostly surrounded by total strangers that share none of their genes. Only one other species has ever been known to organize themselves in such a fashion (and if you're reading these words right now you know who you are).

To understand how unicolonial ants have come to be the way they are, we must first understand what they're not. Kin selection has proposed that cooperation will emerge in groups that are made up of close relatives. Hamilton's rule, beautiful in its simplicity, proposed that cooperation occurs when the cost to the actor (C) is less than then the benefit to the recipient (B) multiplied by the genetic relatedness between the two (r). This equation is written out simply as rB > C.

Lion siblings often cooperate as teams and benefit through kin selection.
Source: Scotch Macaskill / Wildlife Pictures.com
To put this into context: an alpha male lion and his brother share half of their genes, so have a genetic relatedness of 0.5. Suppose this brother recognizes that the alpha male is getting old and could easily be taken down. If so, the brother could potentially have eight additional cubs (just to pull out an arbitrary number). But, instead, that brother decides to help the alpha male to maintain his position in the pride and, as a result, the alpha ends up having the eight additional cubs himself while the brother only has five. The brother has lost out on 3 potential cubs. But, even so, because he assisted his brother he has still maximized his overall reproductive success from a genetic point of view: (0.5) x 8 = 4 > 3. He could have attempted to usurp his brother and, perhaps, had the eight cubs himself but he wouldn't have been in any better of a position as far as his genes were concerned.

Reciprocal altruism follows this same basic idea, but proposes a mechanism that could work for individuals that are unrelated. In this scenario, cooperation occurs when the cost to the actor (C) is less than the benefit to the recipient (B) multiplied by the likelihood that the cooperation will be returned (w) or wB > C. This has been demonstrated among vampire bats who regurgitate blood into a stranger's mouth if they weren't able to feed that night. Previous experience has shown the actor that they're likely to get repaid if they ever go hungry one night themselves. This theory requires that individuals be part of a single group, with low levels of immigration and emigration, so that group members will be likely to encounter each other on a regular basis.

Previously, it was argued that all ants followed an extreme form of kin selection. Because of their unique process of reproduction females develop from fertilized eggs and have paired chromosomes (that is, one from each parent). However, males develop from unfertilized eggs and only have a single chromosome from their mother. As a result, female workers share up to 75 percent of their genes with sisters but only 50 percent with their mother (or their own offspring, if they were to reproduce). Worker ants therefore have greater genetic success by not reproducing but, instead, helping to raise and protect their legion of closely related sisters.

Ant reproduction gives rise to genetic sisterhood.
Source: Unattributed
This explanation has been somewhat clouded given more recent evidence that queens engage in polyandry (mating with multiple males). A queen will frequently mate with up to five different males and store their combined sperm, around 100 million of them, in a special compartment called the spermatheca. By releasing a single sperm at a time the queen can control the number of eggs she lays. However, because there are multiple fathers, the genetic relationship between the female worker ants is reduced. Female workers may therefore only be related by 25 percent with the females they're helping to raise. Why would female workers continue to be non-reproductive and help rear distant relatives when they could have twice the reproductive success by having their own offspring? While there are strategies female workers employ to maximize their own reproductive success (like preferrentially rearing eggs that they are more closely related to or, in some rare cases, reproducing themselves) it still remains puzzling why ants have been so successful given this seeming contradiction.

If you add to this the realities of multiple queens in a single nest (polygyny) and supercolonies that are composed of thousands of such nests (polydomy), the problem becomes insurmountable. If worker ants share zero percent of their genes with those they're cooperating with, as is the case in these unicolonies, then why cooperate? What do they have to gain?

This is the problem that Helantera and colleagues are seeking to understand in their latest paper. While the authors emphasize a range of possible explanations, I want to focus on just one that has been generating a great deal of interest in the last few years: group selection.
The extreme cooperation of unicolonial ants has been suggested to be an example of selection occurring on levels higher than the individual, such as the superorganism, group or even population.
Group selection is the idea that, under certain circumstances, genes will be selected for because they benefit the overall success of the group rather then simply the individual. While it is usually assumed that these populations will have a high level of relatedness (making the promotion of the group an extended form of kin selection) the authors suggest a scenario in which group selection could apply even among unrelated group members.

Giant ants terrorize humanity in Them!.
Source: Warner Bros.
This is a possibility I like to call Ronald Reagan's Alien Invasion Hypothesis. In a speech before the United Nations on Sept. 21, 1987 Reagan stated that:
In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world.
So under this possibility a common threat to all colony members would outweigh the low level of genetic similarity because, unless everyone pulls together, the entire group is in jeopardy. If one colony was competing with a rival colony then selection for individual selfishness could drive the population to extinction while selection for cooperation would allow the colony to thrive.
Under this view, extant unicolonial populations are the ones that have not yet succumbed to selfishness. Relatedness and mutual policing select against selfishness in non-unicolonial populations, but stop applying when relatedness decreases to zero. . . [However], constraints arising from the natural history of the species or pleiotropic effects of selfish genes, might prevent selfish genotypes from arising even under zero relatedness.
This cooperation could then continue long after the initial threat was gone under the force of phylogenetic inertia. Perhaps, in the future, selection would cause the unicolony to break into smaller, more genetically similar colonies once the impetus for group selection no longer exists? Or perhaps the benefits of cooperating with strangers simply outweighs the costs of competition and natural selection has produced a genuinely altruistic society?

Unicolonial cooperation has inspired activist art such as this print from the Beehive Collective.
Source: Beehive Collective
At the current time there are 31 known unicolonial ant populations around the globe. This is a small minority given the more than 12,000 described species. However, given that research on unicolonial ants is so new, there is still a great deal of research that needs to take place concerning this unique experiment of the natural world. At the very least, unicolonies provide us with a source of inspiration and the ability to marvel at the amazing beauty and diversity of the natural world. With the knowledge that stable supercolonies composed of strangers continue to thrive in nature, perhaps there's something we could learn from those creatures that first invented this approach.

References:

Hamilton, W.D. (1964). The genetical evolution of social behaviour I and II. — Journal of Theoretical Biology 7: 1-16 and 17-52

Trivers, R.L. (1971). The evolution of reciprocal altruism. Quarterly Review of Biology. 46: 35-57.

Helantera, H., Strassman, J.E., Carrillo, J., Queller, D.C. (2009). Unicolonial ants: where do they come from, what are they and where are they going? Trends in Ecology and Evolution. doi:10.1016/j.tree.s009.01.013
Loss of Biodiversity and Extinctions
5:15pm | Mar 31, 2009
Anup Shaw over at Global Issues has collected an exhaustive collection of recent analysis on the loss of biodiversity in the last few years.

As I wrote in my recent post Rivalry Among the Reefs, the loss of up to 1/3 of coral reefs in recent years could result in unprecedented extinctions of ocean biodiversity.

While occupying only 0.2 percent of the world’s oceans, coral reefs sustain 25 percent of species diversity; an oceanographic public works project that has been in existence for 3.5 billion years. . . Current estimates are that one-third of the world’s coral reefs are in imminent danger of extinction. In an international survey of these most diverse ecosystems in our oceans, researchers determined that global climate change is increasing the average temperature of the Earth’s oceans. This is killing the photosynthetic algae that has adapted into a pristine symbiotic relationship with their hosts. Coral bleaching on a global scale is the result and mass extinction will be the inevitable conclusion unless this trend is reversed.
But loss of biodiversity in the oceans is only one region currently experiencing crisis. The collection of studies and warnings from experts around the world that Anup has gathered are truly staggering. See below for a sample of some of what he posts:

Already resources are depleting, with the report showing that vertebrate species populations have declined by about one-third in the 33 years from 1970 to 2003. At the same time, humanity’s Ecological Footprint—the demand people place upon the natural world—has increased to the point where the Earth is unable to keep up in the struggle to regenerate.
- World Wide Fund for Nature, October 24, 2006

The world environmental situation is likely to be further aggravated by the increasingly rapid, large scale global extinction of species. It occurred in the 20th century at a rate that was a thousand times higher than the average rate during the preceding 65 million years. This is likely to destabilize various ecosystems including agricultural systems.
- Jaan Suurkula, Physicians and Scientists for Responsible Application of Science and Technology, February 6, 2004

If current estimates of amphibian species in imminent danger of extinction are included in these calculations, then the current amphibian extinction rate may range from 25,039–45,474 times the background extinction rate for amphibians. It is difficult to explain this unprecedented and accelerating rate of extinction as a natural phenomenon.
- Malcom MacCallum, Journal of Herpetology, July 17, 2007

Junk-food chains, including KFC and Pizza Hut, are under attack from major environmental groups in the United States and other developed countries because of their environmental impact. Intensive breeding of livestock and poultry for such restaurants leads to deforestation, land degradation, and contamination of water sources and other natural resources. For every pound of red meat, poultry, eggs, and milk produced, farm fields lose about five pounds of irreplaceable top soil. The water necessary for meat breeding comes to about 190 gallons per animal per day, or ten times what a normal Indian family is supposed to use in one day, if it gets water at all.
- Vandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest, (South End Press, 2000), pp. 70-71
Darwin's Controversy of the Corals
4:08pm | Mar 29, 2009
The Reef Tank is currently hosting my new post that tells the story of one of the largest controversies in the history of science. It involves Charles Darwin, a son defending his father's honor and the threat of nuclear annihilation. Intrigued? Go over and check it out, as well as some great posts by other fellow science bloggers. Here is a quick taste:

It took the threat of nuclear annihilation between the two greatest powers of the 20th century to solve one of the most profound scientific controversies of the 1800s. In 1952 Dr. Harry Ladd, a researcher for the US Geological Survey, convinced the US War Department to drill holes deep into the Bikini and Eniwetok Atolls just prior to their obliteration by hydrogen bombs. The reason for the drilling had little to do with the nuclear tests as part of Operation Crossroads, but was simply to conduct an experiment based on the hypothesis of coral reef formation first proposed by Charles Darwin in 1837.

Read the rest here.

Rob Zelt - Lighting Up the Web

Windows Azure – Say it Right!
11:33pm | Jan 11, 2010
On Wednesday January 13, 2010 our local Microsoft Developer Evangelist will be presenting a sneak peak at some of the upcoming Windows Azure content. As we gather to talk about Azure, I thought it was only proper that we take a moment and say it together. Now, as much as I know all of my southern friends down here like speaking French, I hate to the one to tell you that the proper pronunciation can be done with use of a French accent. As a reference I give you this link to the Merriam-Webster dictionary site for an audio clip. Wednesday night lets all say it together!

As a choice of a name for a Cloud Computing platform, I must admit I find it a little strange. According to the wikipedia entry it a blue color, specifically “The clear blue color of the sky”. No, it may just be my view of the world, but if you were wanting to promote cloud solutions, would want to not draw attention to the beauty of a clear blue cloudless sky? Anyways, enough about words, come check out the code!

More information about the event is available on the Trinug website.

Technorati Tags: Azure,Cloud Computing,Raleigh
Microsoft PDC (2009)
7:31pm | Nov 15, 2009
Next week I’m going to be attending the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference or PDC. I’m very fortunate to have been able to attend three PDC’s previously in 2003, 2005, and 2008. These events included the first looks at Windows Longhorn, Avalon, Aero, Indigo, IE7, Office 12 and “the ribbon”, first looks at Windows 7, Azure, and the Surface SDK.

PDC 2003 was the first time I was able to hear Bill Gates speak live (And never would have guess I’d have lunch with him less than 5 years later). PDC is also first met some of the developers that have helped shape my career, becoming highly valued mentors and friends.

For anybody attending PDC for the first time this year, I encourage you to take full advantage of the opportunity, but don’t feel the you need to attend every single session. While the sessions are great, this event brings together that absolute best minds and talent related to Microsoft technologies. Make some time to interact and ask some questions. Take a few moments and sit back and listen to what others are asking. I still tell people the story about listening to Don Demsak, Kirk Evans, Peter Provost , and more debating over some minor aspect of the SOAP web service protocol, and during the course of that conversation having my eyes opened to more knowledge and viewpoints on a wide array of topics than any single session that week.

An excellent way to get out and meet some people is the INETA Birds Of A Feather sessions that are taking place during PDC. The list of sessions is on the conference schedule, so take a look at find a session that’s of interest to you. The BoF room is also a great place to stop in to see what’s going at PDC and meet some people actively involved in user group communities across the nation and around the world. For more information on the sessions, visit http://www.pdcbof.com/.

I’m looking forward to the technology surprises that lay ahead next week, but more importantly I look forward to the people I will share the week with, the things I will learn, and the opportunities that will be created by interacting with them. If you’re attending, I hope I get the chance to chat with you!

For anybody not attending, Channel 9 will be streaming the keynote sessions live and broadcasting live from the PDC with a variety guests. Many members of the developer community not attending are participating in www.notatpdc.com presenting a variety of sessions during the week via Live Meeting.

Technorati Tags: pdc09
Atlanta Silverlight Firestarter Day of Silverli...
9:31pm | Sep 3, 2009
Last weekend I attended and spoke at the Atlanta Silverlight Firestarter. This free, day long event featured a wide range of content presented by a number of presenters. The organizers did an awesome job and deserver a big pat on their back for their efforts.

During the afternoon I presented a Design Tools talk, focusing on Blend 3’s new SkechFlow prototyping tools and sample data. Here is the SketchFlow sample that I used during my session.

Robby T-Shirt Sketchflow Demo and Code
Atlanta Silverlight Firestarter Day of Silverli...
2:06am | Aug 27, 2009
Last weekend I attended and spoke at the Atlanta Silverlight Firestarter. This free, day long event featured a wide range of content presented by a number of presenters. The organizers did an awesome job and deserver a big pat on their back for their efforts.

During the afternoon I presented a Design Tools talk, focusing on Blend 3’s new SkechFlow prototyping tools and sample data. I’ll be posting my slides and samples here shortly, along with further details.
Silverlight 3 DataForm Part 1
4:22am | Aug 14, 2009
Along with the launch of Silverlight 3, a number of new controls were introduced in the Silverlight Toolkit. One control worth taking a look at if you deal with any sort of data entry forms in your applications is the DataForm.

The quick and dirty demo is to take an object, in this case Photo.cs
```
    public class Photo
{ public int PhotoId { get; set;
} public string Title { get; set;
} public string Url { get; set;
} public string Description {
get; set; } public int Rating
{ get; set; }

public DateTime DateTaken { get; set; } public bool Printed
{ get; set; } }
```
```
Add a DataForm control, set it’s CurrentItem property to a person obect
```
```
 <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot"> <Grid.Resources> <local:Photo x:Key="MyPhoto"/> </Grid.Resources> <dataFormToolkit:DataForm CurrentItem="{StaticResource
MyPhoto}" Width="300"> </dataFormToolkit:DataForm> </Grid>
```
And there we go, a DataForm!

Just like that, the control auto-generated the fields for us and wired them up to the object. In the case of the bool it selected a checkbox and uses a calendar control for the date taken field. Labels are also created based on the property names.

This is all well and good, but what if that’s not exactly what I want. For example, what if I don’t want to see the PhotoID and should not be able to change the url?

What if there was a way that we could somehow tell the system how we want it to handle the display of our photo class? System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations to the rescue! Data Annotations give us the ability to add attributes in our class that the data form looks at when generating these fields. Below is the photo class updated to hide the PhotoId field, make the URL read only, and update the label text for the DateTaken property.
```
 public class Photo
{ [Display(AutoGenerateField = false)] public int
PhotoId { get; set; } public string Title
{ get; set; } [Editable(false)] public string Url
{ get; set; } public string Description
{ get; set; } public int
Rating { get; set; } [Display(Name="Date
photo was taken")] public DateTime DateTaken { get; set;
} public bool Printed { get; set;
} }
```
And the result is

One of the additional things that can be done with DataAnnotations is data validation. By adding an attribute of [Required()] to the title, the Dataorm will pickup the validation requirement and automatically display an error message.

You will notice the OK button at the bottom of the form. I added AutoCommit=”False” to the DataForm XAML to allow me to notify the dataform that I was committing changes. In addition to required there are Range, StringLength, RegularExpression validators available.

In Part 2 I’ll go over how you can take even more control over the form by specifying content.

Technorati Tags: Silverlight 3,DataForm,Validation

ScienceBlogs

A Weight Loss Plan That Works. (or: How I learn...
12:02am | Mar 12, 2010
As you might have noticed, ScienceBlogs picked up a couple of new bloggers recently. Peter Janiszewski and Travis Saunders moved their blog, Obesity Panacea, over to these parts last week. Their move gives me an opportunity that's way too good to pass up - an excuse to present my latest excuse for a prolonged gap in blogging.
I've been too busy getting thin to post much.
OK, maybe "getting thin" isn't the most accurate description. But it sounds so much nicer than reality - which is more like "becoming merely overweight instead of downright obese". (For starters, it's a much pithier phrase.) The combination of the time I've been putting into weight loss combined with the 45 or so hours I spend without internet access during the course of the work week combined to drastically reduce my available free time. But I'll whine more about that another time.
Anyway...
Two months ago, I said that I'd be joining the ScienceBlogs fitness challenge. In my typical fashion, I then proceeded to do absolutely nothing about it for a week. It's quite possible that things would have stayed as they were for longer, but then an in-house version of The Biggest Loser kicked off at work. That was the little nudge I needed to get up and actually try to make the lifestyle changes needed to drop the weight.
It took some effort, and some substantial research, but I seem to have found a weight loss plan that really works for me. The evidence certainly seems to be pointing in that direction, anyway. Since late January, I've lost slightly over 32 pounds (or 14.5 kg or about two-and-a-quarter stone depending on your measurement system of choice). My BMI has gone from an atrocious 33.4 to a more reasonable (if not actually good) 28.9. My body fat, resting heart rate, abdominal circumference, chin count, and clothing sizes have all also seen corresponding drops.
My energy level is up, I feel better than I have in years, and I owe it all to this extremely simple, amazingly effective weight loss program I discovered:
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The PHYLO project (aka the artist formerly know...
10:03pm | Mar 11, 2010
This is straight from the main page:

Things are humming along! We have over 100 images submitted, 30 or so queued up for card production, and over 40 folks signed up on the forum (in fact, one set of rules is arguably close to beta testing). The response has been simply wonderful, and these numbers don't even the include the numerous comments and chats culled from coffee meetings to blog posts to tweets. To us, this outpouring is something else, especially in light of the fact that we've technically only seeded an "idea" out there! Read the rest of this post... |
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#scio10 aftermath: Continuing thoughts on what...
7:26pm | Mar 11, 2010
Back in January, at ScienceOnline2010, Sheril Kirshenbaum, Dr. Isis, and I led a session called "Online Civility and Its (Muppethugging) Discontents". Shortly after the session, I posted my first thoughts on how it went and on the lessons I was trying to take away from it.

Almost two months later, I'm ready to say some more about the session and the issues I think it raised.
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Two Tree Shrews, One Cup. [Zooillogix]
5:30pm | Mar 11, 2010
New research is ROCKING the notoriously arrogant carnivorous plant scientific community: It appears that the largest carnivorous plant, the giant pitcher plant of Borneo (or the Nepenthes rajah for those in the know), has not evolved into its immense size in order to capture and eat small rodents, but to be a large toilet for furry tree shrews to deposit their nutrient rich feces in.

Don't nobody go in there for thirty-five...forty-five minutes!

Since their discovery in the early Eighteen...ahem...hmmm...(sorry, we're animal guys), the giant pitcher plants have been rumored to ingest not just bugs and worms as most carnivorous plants, but also small vertebrates. In the previously linked to article from bbc.com, however, Dr. Charles Clarke of Monash University in Selangor, Malaysia explains, "This species has always been famous for its ability to trap rodents, but I've been looking at the pitchers of this species on and off since 1987, and I've never seen a trapped rat inside." Yeah, what's up with that?

Dr. Clarke did notice all sorts of tree shrew feces in the bottom of the plants, leading him to reconsider the plant's evolution. As it turns out, the plants have large openings, but they also have concave lids which are covered with nectar-producing glands. The distance between the front lip of the pitcher and the glands happens to correspond directly with the average size of the local tree shrews. In other words, when the shrews come to eat the nectar, the plants reap the sweet rewards of being pooped into. You can follow his research more closely by googling "eating animal feces." Good luck with that!

Right now, my head is spinning with so many off color jokes on this subject that I may possibly have a nervous breakdown, but I'll just leave it at this. Somewhere, right now, an obsessive carnivorous plant geek is seriously questioning his entire existence.

Can I please tell you all what a wonderful resource NVDH is? He is like an entire research department for Zooillogix. My man!

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What Should I Go to at the March Meeting? [Unce...
3:52pm | Mar 11, 2010
Lots of good suggestions as to Portland activities for my trip to the March Meeting next week. There's a second, related problem that I also need help with: What should I do at the meeting itself?

My usual conference is DAMOP, which I'll be going to in May, so while DAMOP is a participating division, and offers some cool-sounding sessions, it seems a little silly to go to the March Meeting and go to DAMOP talks. The whole point of being at the gigantic meeting is to see different stuff than usual.

The problem is, the scientific program includes forty-odd parallel sessions in each time slot, most of those featuring a dozen or so 12-minute talks, which are generally incomprehensible if you're outside the field. The invited talks are longer, and often better, but still variable. And there are so many of them...

So, here's my question for readers who know stuff about non-AMO physics: What sessions should I be attending at the March Meeting? I'm interested in invited talks, ideally by people who are good speakers, that will be reasonably comprehensible to someone outside the field. There are a couple of things I've already identified, but the only block that is definitely out of the question is the Tuesday 11:15 block (J sessions), when I'm speaking.

If there's something at the March Meeting that you think of as an absolute must-see, leave a comment and let me know.

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The Real Paul Jones

Serious Journalism, FLOSS Licensing,
7:41pm | Mar 8, 2010
Our family joke: “He knows so little, yet he says so much” is meant to be a kind of zen koan, an insult at one reading and praise at the next. I get that kind of reaction when I come home and describe the talks and classes I’ve done. This past week was one example [...]
Geek Quotes of the Daze
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For the past two days, I’ve had the Geek Quote of the Day on The Great Geek Manual site. Both came from the new Pew Internet and American Life Report called “Imagining the Internet IV.” While I’ve imagined the Internet for Pew three other times, I don’t think that my imaginings have gotten such nice [...]
Visualization of ibiblio access traffic
4:47pm | Mar 1, 2010
I got one of the best speaker’s gifts ever given by a conference thanks to Bess Sadler Of UCSD Stanford. She got RENCI’s Jeff Heard to do this very cool & beautiful visualization of ibiblio virtual host traffic. The X, Y and Z axises of these globes are the top 3 octets of the IP [...]
Code4Lib Keynote slides: catfish, cthulhu, code...
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CHill Cheerwine Culture Crisis
2:32pm | Feb 2, 2010
In December, Cheerwine was widely available in Chapel Hill. In February, there is not a drop of the dark cheery NC iconic beverage to be found in Orange County stores — and worse –; there are not even empty slots on the shelves; the shelves have been remarked as if Cheerwine never existed! Until February (or [...]

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Drug for advanced kidney cancer shrinks tumors ...
12:00am | Jan 1, 1970
Physicians who conducted a pilot study at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center found that therapy before surgery with the drug sorafenib can reduce the size of large tumors and could be safely undertaken administered without adding significantly to the risks of surgery.
UNC allergist elected to national board
12:00am | Jan 1, 1970
David B. Peden, M.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, has been elected to a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI).
Abused children more likely to suffer unexplain...
12:00am | Jan 1, 1970
Children who have been abused psychologically, physically or sexually are more likely to suffer unexplained abdominal pain and nausea or vomiting than children who have not been abused, a study led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers concludes.
UNC helps establish the first National Public H...
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Leigh Callahan, Ph.D., a member of UNC’s Thurston Arthritis Research Center, has been working as part of the 12-member steering committee for the past two years to develop this new initiative. The agenda makes 10 recommendations designed to dramatically reduce the impact of osteoarthritis on Americans.
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The study, published online by the journal Biological Psychiatry, is the first study done with monkeys that examines the effects of flu during pregnancy.

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