Comments on: The Guardian Science Podcasts http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/ Random samplings from a universe of ideas. Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:01:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: Moshe http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16583 Moshe Sun, 28 May 2006 03:07:35 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16583 Nevermind, somehow managed to find it, for people not yet ready for commitment the relevant information is http://www.guardian.co.uk/podcast/0,,329442289,00.xml Nevermind, somehow managed to find it, for people not yet ready for commitment the relevant information is

http://www.guardian.co.uk/podcast/0,,329442289,00.xml

]]> By: Moshe http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16584 Moshe Sun, 28 May 2006 00:36:02 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16584 Hey Mark (or anyone else), do you know what is their RSS feed URL? should be somewhere in itunes if you registered through them. (see, I never purchased that first Apple product, the one that makes all the others inevitable, and itunes only works with ipods...) Hey Mark (or anyone else), do you know what is their RSS feed URL? should be somewhere in itunes if you registered through them.

(see, I never purchased that first Apple product, the one that makes all the others inevitable, and itunes only works with ipods…)

]]> By: Cynthia http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16594 Cynthia Sat, 27 May 2006 01:08:00 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16594 Thanks, Mark, for this tidbit on popular science works. Making the longlist for the Aventis Prize, I noticed yet another book dedicated to the subject of Riemann's zeta function: Dan Rockmore's "Stalking The Riemann Hypothesis." Admittedly, I am one of those Riemann junkies who is hopelessly addicted to large does of non-trivial zeros as they unruly ascend the high altitudes of the critical line. I simply hope quantum computerist/theorist can make sense of this mathematical madness! Thanks, Mark, for this tidbit on popular science works. Making the longlist for the Aventis Prize, I noticed yet another book dedicated to the subject of Riemann’s zeta function: Dan Rockmore’s “Stalking The Riemann Hypothesis.” Admittedly, I am one of those Riemann junkies who is hopelessly addicted to large does of non-trivial zeros as they unruly ascend the high altitudes of the critical line. I simply hope quantum computerist/theorist can make sense of this mathematical madness!

]]> By: Moshe http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16593 Moshe Fri, 26 May 2006 14:31:28 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16593 Guys, your signal to noise ratio is just excellent, no reason to be discouraged by the occasional anti-social behavior. Guys, your signal to noise ratio is just excellent, no reason to be discouraged by the occasional anti-social behavior.

]]> By: Clifford http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16592 Clifford Fri, 26 May 2006 14:21:55 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16592 damtp_dweller:- I was going to do a post on that one! -cvj damtp_dweller:- I was going to do a post on that one!

-cvj

]]> By: Clifford http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16591 Clifford Fri, 26 May 2006 14:21:01 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16591 It never fails to amaze me to see how rude some people can actually be. And then still give a plug for their blog?! Unbelievable. Great post, Mark. I did not know about these. They'll be great to listen to, I'm sure. I would not even bother wasting your time replying to the jerk... Everybody can see he's a jerk from what he wrote. (Why oh why do they insist on coming here though?...sigh...) Best, -cvj It never fails to amaze me to see how rude some people can actually be. And then still give a plug for their blog?! Unbelievable.

Great post, Mark. I did not know about these. They’ll be great to listen to, I’m sure. I would not even bother wasting your time replying to the jerk… Everybody can see he’s a jerk from what he wrote.

(Why oh why do they insist on coming here though?…sigh…)

Best,

-cvj

]]> By: erc http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16590 erc Fri, 26 May 2006 14:05:28 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16590 I believe there are a number of laymen reading this blog - nowhere does it say it is for the uber-educated only. In addition, there have been numerous posts here regarding public outreach, the importance of good science journalism and altering the public perception of physicists as arrogant weirdos who have nothing in common with the general public. Hence, it is perfectly understandable that our gracious hosts might like to highlight articles, webcasts etc. which further these aims. If you do not find these of interest, just ignore them! This is infinitely preferable to writing comments which not only do not support, but in fact undermine, these efforts. Statements such as '<i>"the intelligent layman" which means, in other words, someone about as educated as an intelligent fourteen year old. </i>' are down-right insulting and almost guaranteed to put off those some of us would like to encourage to take a more active interest in science, not to mention unnecessary. I believe there are a number of laymen reading this blog - nowhere does it say it is for the uber-educated only. In addition, there have been numerous posts here regarding public outreach, the importance of good science journalism and altering the public perception of physicists as arrogant weirdos who have nothing in common with the general public.

Hence, it is perfectly understandable that our gracious hosts might like to highlight articles, webcasts etc. which further these aims. If you do not find these of interest, just ignore them! This is infinitely preferable to writing comments which not only do not support, but in fact undermine, these efforts.

Statements such as ‘“the intelligent layman” which means, in other words, someone about as educated as an intelligent fourteen year old. ‘ are down-right insulting and almost guaranteed to put off those some of us would like to encourage to take a more active interest in science, not to mention unnecessary.

]]> By: Mark http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16589 Mark Fri, 26 May 2006 13:10:25 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16589 Want ... to ... reply ... to ...snotty ... comment, ... but ... am ... out ... of ... breath ... Want … to … reply … to …snotty … comment, … but … am … out … of … breath …

]]> By: Maynard Handley http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16588 Maynard Handley Fri, 26 May 2006 05:37:10 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16588 The world is full of podcasts, webcasts, and other audio material. No-one has time to listen to all of it. Given this, might I suggest that when people breathlessly offer up a suggested podcast, they at least give us some hint as to who the expected audience is. For example, I am guessing that these podcasts take the standard radio format of an interviewer (who is trained as a journalist, probably has no expert knowledge in the subject, and may or may not be mostly interested in telling the world about him/herself, his/her children and his/her jokes). The level of the material is, I am guessing, aimed at "the intelligent layman" which means, in other words, someone about as educated as an intelligent fourteen year old. Am I correct or not? My point is not to slight this sort of material which may, I don't know, do some good in the world. but to question whether it is relevant to me, or indeed to most Cosmic Variance readers. When we can listen to real experts, lecturing to university students or their colleagues, eg http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/lectures/past.htm http://www.tufts.edu/as/wright_center/work_con_lec/boston.html http://online.kitp.ucsb.edu/online/ http://www.princeton.edu/WebMedia/lectures/ http://today.caltech.edu/theater/list?subset=science http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Google+techtalks&page=1&lv=0&so=1 http://www.apscenttalks.org/choose_sess.cfm why would this material be of any interest to us? I'll end with a plug for my blog, http://name99.org/blog99 which is basically devoted to helping one sort through this stuff by recommending various extraordinarily good (and *only* extraordinarily good) audio material on the internet. The world is full of podcasts, webcasts, and other audio material. No-one has time to listen to all of it.
Given this, might I suggest that when people breathlessly offer up a suggested podcast, they at least give us some hint as to who the expected audience is.

For example, I am guessing that these podcasts take the standard radio format of an interviewer (who is trained as a journalist, probably has no expert knowledge in the subject, and may or may not be mostly interested in telling the world about him/herself, his/her children and his/her jokes). The level of the material is, I am guessing, aimed at “the intelligent layman” which means, in other words, someone about as educated as an intelligent fourteen year old. Am I correct or not?

My point is not to slight this sort of material which may, I don’t know, do some good in the world. but to question whether it is relevant to me, or indeed to most Cosmic Variance readers. When we can listen to real experts, lecturing to university students or their colleagues, eg

http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/lectures/past.htm
http://www.tufts.edu/as/wright_center/work_con_lec/boston.html
http://online.kitp.ucsb.edu/online/
http://www.princeton.edu/WebMedia/lectures/
http://today.caltech.edu/theater/list?subset=science
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Google+techtalks&page=1&lv=0&so=1
http://www.apscenttalks.org/choose_sess.cfm

why would this material be of any interest to us?

I’ll end with a plug for my blog,
http://name99.org/blog99
which is basically devoted to helping one sort through this stuff by recommending various extraordinarily good (and *only* extraordinarily good) audio material on the internet.

]]> By: Supernova http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16587 Supernova Fri, 26 May 2006 04:59:21 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/25/the-guardian-science-podcasts/#comment-16587 There's also <a href="http://www.slackerastronomy.org/wordpress/index.php" rel="nofollow">Slacker Astronomy</a>. Nice to see science podcasts are a growing trend! There’s also Slacker Astronomy. Nice to see science podcasts are a growing trend!

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