A few weeks ago, I talked with the crew at Breaking Bio for Episode 42, including The Finch & Pea‘s own Heidi Smith. We covered a lot of ground, including rugby and the oddity of regularly doing science with a black eye. The facts that I’m not exactly sure when they hit “record” and that it apparently required weeks of editing makes me a bit nervous to watch. But you should watch, and mock me in the comments.
Category: Items of Interest
Get a Library Card
September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month. Even if you don’t think you will use your library card (you will), it is a great way to show support for your local public library (it needs it).
And like all causes that people are passionate about, the use of libraries has inspired some fantastic art. Ann Leonard, a librarian at the Pinal County Library District (AZ) created a series of promotional images celebrating the benefits of owning a library card in the style of classic Penguin paperback covers. This is my favorite:
There is also one featuring a DNA double-helix. I was happy to note that it is correctly pictured as a right-handed double-helix, but it is a bit too elongated to my pedantic eye to be my favorite as one might expect. Frankly, you are spoiled for choice.
*Hat tip to Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing.
Get your art on(line)
The Getty has made 1000s of images of artwork that is in the public domain available online. Like Philosophy Presenting the Seven Liberal Arts to Boethius (c. 1460-1470CE) by the “Coëtivy Master”*:
Like other museums that share portions of their collection online, this make an experience of the Getty’s collections available for people around the world, who cannot actually visit the Getty. While the works of art themselves are in the public domain, the Getty might claim copyright over the scans/photos of the art. Instead, they have taken the step of making clear that this images are available for the public to use and adapt as we see fit.
The Getty makes available, without charge, all available digital images to which the Getty holds the rights or that are in the public domain to be used for any purpose. No permission is required. – The Getty “Open Content Program”
I don’t know if letting me print 300dpi images of classic art will hurt The Getty’s bottom line due to reduced gift shop sales of postcards (not from me, the gift shops never have the pieces I want). Hopefully, The Getty’s program will inspire other museums to consider following suit.
*The results of a search for “science” were a bit disappointing, but I suspect that this is mainly due to the age of many of the works. Using a historically relevant term, like “philosophy” was much more productive.
**Hat tip to Hannah Williams.
The Finch and Pea is conceived
How did the sleek and polished Public House for Science known as the Finch and Pea come to be?
Well, I was digging around in my Gmail All Mail folder trawling the NSA mainframe (don’t ask) and ran across some early records. What follows is an abridged version of the genesis of the present establishment:
Chat with Josh Witten, 6/4/10
11:03 AM
me: In any case, if you’re up for it, I’m ready to start group blog – with a good name, and a decent spot (maybe wordpress?), and perhaps one other person we trust to write.
Josh: one or two more could be better, but not essential at the start
for both name and other writers i think we need to consider what we see as the blog concept
me: Just tossing out some ideas regarding the concept: explaining/applying good scientific thinking to current biology, to junk science, or to cool phenomena. Plus sophisticated references to culture… Continue reading “The Finch and Pea is conceived”
Ursus inanimus
This cutie creature has been aptly described as a cross between a house cat and a teddy bear in appearance.
This quote is pulled from our own Heidi Smith’s coverage of the olinguito discovery and/or reclassification1. It is based, like most of the coverage on The Smithsonian’s own description of the animal. In context, this is clearly a description of what it looks like, not an effort to ascribe the olinguito’s origins to an animate and fertile teddy bear humping a kitty.
The problem is that people don’t always remember the context; and some of those people get to talk on national morning news shows2: Continue reading “Ursus inanimus”
The Finch and Pea 