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More OA at ScienceBlogs January 31, 2007

Posted by ocmpoma in : open access , 5comments

If you aren’t tired of all the OA stuff I’ve been posting about here, there is even more to read on it at the ScienceBlogs:

A Blog Around the Clock,

The Questionable Authority (responding to a comment left at ABATC),

and again at TQA.

One thing that I would like to point out in reference to the “open access isn’t free” spiel:

Publishing online (as evidenced by… say… this blog) is a whole hell of a lot cheaper, easier to distribute, easier to access, easier to search through, easier to weave interconnections into (imagine scientific papers where the references were all equipped with links to the papers and passages referenced), easier to archive, easier to store, easier to maintain, and more effective than paper publishing. So, whenever you see “OA isn’t free”, remember that, when it’s combined with a paperless journal, OA is better.

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SciAm on OA January 30, 2007

Posted by ocmpoma in : open access , add a comment

Scientific American has an article on open access, specifically, on the same issue addressed over at Afarensis, which I referenced here.

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Weekly Photo #16: Up January 30, 2007

Posted by ocmpoma in : other , add a comment

Up
This week’s photo is “Up” — and yes, those are my kids: Brian on the left, and Sidney on the right. I’m not usually into taking pictures of people. Not sure why, exactly, but portraits don’t really appeal to me. However, firstly because I needed some way to get a sense of scale, and secondly, because they’re so photogenic, I think this shot needed the kids.Those are California Redwoods, easily standing 30m tall, in the… um… aboveground?.. behind the kids. I was kneeling down pretty close to the ground, and what with the flash and all, I’m glad this one turned out so nice.

I took it on 29 May of last year at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, which is yet another amazing part of the Big Sur coast.

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Thoughts From Kansas on Open Access January 27, 2007

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From the post I mentioned yesterday at Afarensis, one can now be directed to a post at Thoughts From Kansas on open access. Worth a look.

(Hmmm…. I think I need a category for ‘recommended reading’ or somesuch.)

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Open Access, ID, and Black Helicopters January 26, 2007

Posted by ocmpoma in : open access, supernaturalism , 1 comment so far

I saw this post over at ScienceBlogs on Afarensis. It involves an article in the journal Nature, the open access movement, and William Dembski. Highly recommended, and, if it gets your gall up, I refer you to this post of my own.

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How Predictable January 24, 2007

Posted by ocmpoma in : supernaturalism , add a comment

I mentioned earlier that, in addition to order, predictability was brought up at one point* as support of a creator’s existence. As promised, here’s my take on that.

Of course, the predictability-as-evidence argument has the same shortcoming as the order-based argument has, namely, predictability compared to what? But it suffers from additional flaws, as well.

(more…)

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Weekly Photo #15: Backlit January 23, 2007

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Backlit
Beam me up! Yeah, I know, I know. I took this one, which I’ve named “Backlit”, back in early October. Since I live on what used to be a military base and is now mostly privatized housing , abandoned buildings, and CSUMB, there’s plenty of open space back where the old ranges were. This particular scene was taken (obviously) at sunset, about a twenty minute stroll from my house.

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Homo economicus? January 22, 2007

Posted by ocmpoma in : economics , add a comment

I know that quite a few of my posts are just recommendations and pointers to other stuff, but hey, when I see something that I think is worth looking at, I like to put it up here.

At any rate, I just polished off Economics For Humans, by Julie A. Nelson. It’s a very interesting read, and not too hefty for those who are less inclined to peruse a book now and again.

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How Much Does a Student Weigh? January 19, 2007

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Via EconBlog, I found this piece by Lisa Snell on public schools and choice. I think it’s worth a read. I’m leery of moving basic edcuation entirely over to the market, mainly for the same reasons I wouldn’t want police and military services entirely privatized.

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