from the desk of Herb Masters
Hi Science Aficionados,
It has been quite a week, month, or even year! I find it stunning that there can be so many actions taken by our government that are directly in contradiction with the evidence and experience that have been acquired recently and in history. That combined with the protests and opposition from some sections of the public just adds to my stunned outlook. Just consider in the last few weeks… 3 Essential Questions For Good Public Health Policy, Do Homeopathic Cows Exist?,
Go to a Museum with the SciSchmooze
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from the desk of Herb Masters
Hello and Happy 53rd Anniversary!
Yes, 53 years ago on September 8, Star Trek premiered… and the rest is history!
As always there is so much to write about since I haven't done the Schmooze in 2 weeks. I'll never catch up! As we enter the fall season there are many more opportunities to learn cool things about our blue marble, the ocean of stars we float in and the amazing things that go on in and around us that make up what we call life. One tip I can give you is that if you have weekdays free this is a great time to go to a museum, be it science or art. The kids are back in school but haven't started heading out on field trips. (Which are much harder to do than they were when I was a kid.) Many tourists have taken their kids home to go back to school. This means that the museums are not nearly as crowded or chaotic. Take a
Hello and Happy 53rd Anniversary!
Yes, 53 years ago on September 8, Star Trek premiered… and the rest is history!
As always there is so much to write about since I haven't done the Schmooze in 2 weeks. I'll never catch up! As we enter the fall season there are many more opportunities to learn cool things about our blue marble, the ocean of stars we float in and the amazing things that go on in and around us that make up what we call life. One tip I can give you is that if you have weekdays free this is a great time to go to a museum, be it science or art. The kids are back in school but haven't started heading out on field trips. (Which are much harder to do than they were when I was a kid.) Many tourists have taken their kids home to go back to school. This means that the museums are not nearly as crowded or chaotic. Take a
Bingeing with the SciSchmooze
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from the desk of David Almandsmith
I've never binge-watched 14 episodes of anything until i found this: playing with stuff on the International Space Station and calling it "science." Each episode is just a few minutes and well worth it. Come back here when you finish.
¿Did you want to interrupt Dr. Pettit during the "Spring Theory" episode to supply an answer? At 3 minutes into the episode, he doubles the mass of a pendulum. On Earth, this would not affect its period, the time it takes to swing back and forth. He remarks, "Something interesting is going on… Perhaps the spring does not exactly replace gravitational force." Reply to bayareascicalendar@gmail.com with your answer to this "interesting" observation and, if correct, you will be entered into a drawing to win an ISS model kit.
Want to win a bigger contest? Name the 2020 Mars Ro
I've never binge-watched 14 episodes of anything until i found this: playing with stuff on the International Space Station and calling it "science." Each episode is just a few minutes and well worth it. Come back here when you finish.
¿Did you want to interrupt Dr. Pettit during the "Spring Theory" episode to supply an answer? At 3 minutes into the episode, he doubles the mass of a pendulum. On Earth, this would not affect its period, the time it takes to swing back and forth. He remarks, "Something interesting is going on… Perhaps the spring does not exactly replace gravitational force." Reply to bayareascicalendar@gmail.com with your answer to this "interesting" observation and, if correct, you will be entered into a drawing to win an ISS model kit.
Want to win a bigger contest? Name the 2020 Mars Ro
Science Musings with the Schmooze
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from the desk of Bob Siederer
Hello again Science Fans!
Much as we might not want to admit it, summer is nearing its end, although September is often the warmest month in the Bay Area. Various departments at the local Universities are releasing their schedules for Fall term seminars which we, of course, list. And if you, like me, sleep better when the sun comes up later, you have probably noticed that you are sleeping a bit longer in the morning now than you were a couple of weeks ago. School is back in session for many Bay Area children, with the rest starting soon. Want to get your kids more interested in science? Here's a list of 20 Science websites with content that might interest them, and all are free. They might interest you too!
Hello again Science Fans!
Much as we might not want to admit it, summer is nearing its end, although September is often the warmest month in the Bay Area. Various departments at the local Universities are releasing their schedules for Fall term seminars which we, of course, list. And if you, like me, sleep better when the sun comes up later, you have probably noticed that you are sleeping a bit longer in the morning now than you were a couple of weeks ago. School is back in session for many Bay Area children, with the rest starting soon. Want to get your kids more interested in science? Here's a list of 20 Science websites with content that might interest them, and all are free. They might interest you too!
Any quokkas have any questions for the SciSchmooze
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from the desk of Herb Masters
Greetings Science Lovers and Supporters,
Have you ever been to CuriOdyssey? If you haven't, you should. Like the explOratorium it is much more than a kid's museum. I'm happy to report that CuriOdyssey was just ranked one of the top 20 zoos in the country by USAToday. Zoos present an interesting conundrum. In one sense they seem like horrible places to keep animals locked up and many zoos around the world are and even here in the past were. Fortunately respect and concern for the animals has increased dramatically. Now, I think, most zoos here and in many countries do a great job of caring for the animals they have. They give us all a chance to appreciate the diversity and beauty of nature without having to burn up tons of carbon and money, to go see them in their habitat.
Greetings Science Lovers and Supporters,
Have you ever been to CuriOdyssey? If you haven't, you should. Like the explOratorium it is much more than a kid's museum. I'm happy to report that CuriOdyssey was just ranked one of the top 20 zoos in the country by USAToday. Zoos present an interesting conundrum. In one sense they seem like horrible places to keep animals locked up and many zoos around the world are and even here in the past were. Fortunately respect and concern for the animals has increased dramatically. Now, I think, most zoos here and in many countries do a great job of caring for the animals they have. They give us all a chance to appreciate the diversity and beauty of nature without having to burn up tons of carbon and money, to go see them in their habitat.
Science: Real and Imagined with the SciSchmooze
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from the desk of Herb Masters
Hello Science Fans,
I have to say that these truly are amazing times. The denial of science and reason is truly astounding. We have made so many amazing discoveries and transformed them in to amazing technologies and raw understanding of what is reasonably possible I am awed every time I open a new email from one of the many email lists and blogs that I get. Sometimes I wonder if there are limits! I can't really go through all of them. I'm sure that you get more than you can read as well. There is more out there that some people are trying to get us access to as well.
Hello Science Fans,
I have to say that these truly are amazing times. The denial of science and reason is truly astounding. We have made so many amazing discoveries and transformed them in to amazing technologies and raw understanding of what is reasonably possible I am awed every time I open a new email from one of the many email lists and blogs that I get. Sometimes I wonder if there are limits! I can't really go through all of them. I'm sure that you get more than you can read as well. There is more out there that some people are trying to get us access to as well.
SciSchmoozing Hither and Thither
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from the desk of David Almandsmith
Hello science fans,
I realize the current situation is unsettling so let me recommend Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now to put things in an historic and less grim perspective. Please continue supporting science and extending your circle of compassion.
On Saturday July 27th, 27 wonderful volunteers presented an all-day science event, the Billion Year Walk around Oakland’s Lake Merritt. With enough support, it will become an annual event. Check out some of the photos.
There was a live demonstration of photosynthesis at the Billion Year Walk and coincidentally, photosynthesis is in the news: cyanobacteria may have achieved oxygen-generating photosynthesis earlier than thought,
Hello science fans,
I realize the current situation is unsettling so let me recommend Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now to put things in an historic and less grim perspective. Please continue supporting science and extending your circle of compassion.
On Saturday July 27th, 27 wonderful volunteers presented an all-day science event, the Billion Year Walk around Oakland’s Lake Merritt. With enough support, it will become an annual event. Check out some of the photos.
There was a live demonstration of photosynthesis at the Billion Year Walk and coincidentally, photosynthesis is in the news: cyanobacteria may have achieved oxygen-generating photosynthesis earlier than thought,
Summer with the Schmooze
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from the desk of Bob Siederer
Hello again Science fans!
Weather is something we all like to talk about. Be it nice or bad outside, it always generates comments. We're lucky here in the Bay Area in that we don't have extremes like much of the rest of the country. Our summers are primarily dry and sunny, our winters mild. A recent visit to the midwest reminded me, once again, of the heat and humidity that is there for much of the summer, along with severe storms.
Our old friend Phil Plait (@BadAstronomy) just posted an item about this that includes some time-lapse photography taken by Mike Olbinski of supercells and the resulting weather they create that's worth a look.
There are several things of note in Astronomy this week. The Perseid Meteor shower is usually the most reliable show of the summer, but this year it will coincide with a full moon, making it far more difficult to see. Instead, look for the
Hello again Science fans!
Weather is something we all like to talk about. Be it nice or bad outside, it always generates comments. We're lucky here in the Bay Area in that we don't have extremes like much of the rest of the country. Our summers are primarily dry and sunny, our winters mild. A recent visit to the midwest reminded me, once again, of the heat and humidity that is there for much of the summer, along with severe storms.
Our old friend Phil Plait (@BadAstronomy) just posted an item about this that includes some time-lapse photography taken by Mike Olbinski of supercells and the resulting weather they create that's worth a look.
There are several things of note in Astronomy this week. The Perseid Meteor shower is usually the most reliable show of the summer, but this year it will coincide with a full moon, making it far more difficult to see. Instead, look for the
50 years, then and now, with the SciSchmooze
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from the desk of Herb Masters
Hello Moon Lovers and not,
I hope that the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing triggered some thoughts and reflection for you. It certainly did for me. I have had a lot of conversations about it and watched many programs on the history and technology of how and why "we" did it. In no particular order… It was one of those events that almost everyone who was around remembers where they were when it happened. Most events in history that people remember where they were generally were horrible things. I don't need to list them here. But if you remember where you were and what you were doing, ask yourself a question. What time of day was it where you were when it happened? Now see if you remember the time correctly! (You may not. But that's how human memory works sometimes!)
July 20th was the anniversary of the landing. The adventure continued for several more days. You can drop in and listen to what was going on
Hello Moon Lovers and not,
I hope that the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing triggered some thoughts and reflection for you. It certainly did for me. I have had a lot of conversations about it and watched many programs on the history and technology of how and why "we" did it. In no particular order… It was one of those events that almost everyone who was around remembers where they were when it happened. Most events in history that people remember where they were generally were horrible things. I don't need to list them here. But if you remember where you were and what you were doing, ask yourself a question. What time of day was it where you were when it happened? Now see if you remember the time correctly! (You may not. But that's how human memory works sometimes!)
July 20th was the anniversary of the landing. The adventure continued for several more days. You can drop in and listen to what was going on
One Small Leap for the SciSchmooze
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from the desk of Herb Masters
50 Years? Really?
Looking up at the sky has been something that I think everyone does many times in their lives, probably several times a week at a minimum. 50 years ago people were doing it a lot more than today. Of course there was a bit of extra interest then. In case you haven't heard, this coming Saturday, July 20 is the 50th anniversary of humans landing on the moon. I have been a fan of space exploration since I started growing up in the 50's. There is so much going on for this celebration I can't begin to tell you about all of it. Fortunately Bob has loaded the calendar with everything space we could find in the extended SF Bay Area. In fact there are only 3 days in the next two weeks that don't have a program linked to space and its' exploration.
Aside from the normal 3 to see that we list each week I really want to highlight three more. The USS Hornet now in Alameda was the aircraft carrier that plucked the Apollo 11 crew from the ocean when they returned.
50 Years? Really?
Looking up at the sky has been something that I think everyone does many times in their lives, probably several times a week at a minimum. 50 years ago people were doing it a lot more than today. Of course there was a bit of extra interest then. In case you haven't heard, this coming Saturday, July 20 is the 50th anniversary of humans landing on the moon. I have been a fan of space exploration since I started growing up in the 50's. There is so much going on for this celebration I can't begin to tell you about all of it. Fortunately Bob has loaded the calendar with everything space we could find in the extended SF Bay Area. In fact there are only 3 days in the next two weeks that don't have a program linked to space and its' exploration.
Aside from the normal 3 to see that we list each week I really want to highlight three more. The USS Hornet now in Alameda was the aircraft carrier that plucked the Apollo 11 crew from the ocean when they returned.
