How to Make a Jeffersonian Bookstand

The video below is a bit of a departure from my usual science fare. It shows the construction of a bookstand modeled on one found in Thomas Jefferson’s office at Monticello, and it was a lot of fun to make.

Add comment January 3rd, 2010

My “Secret” Summer Project in Open Source Crowdsourcing

In addition to serving as Professor Farnsworth’s research assistant, interning with Navy JAG’s Appellate Defense Division, and a few paying development jobs, I’ve been working on something else in my “spare time.” I’ve been playing this one pretty close to the vest because experience has taught me that this type of project doesn’t always reach maturity. That being said, time to share. It’s a rather heady collaboration between the non-profit eCitizen Foundation, the Berkman Center, and some folks over at the Media Lab. We’re attempt to do one thing well, open-source-distributed-human-evaluation of web content. Here’s a rough scope I put together that we’re discussing with a developer later today. I’d love your feedback, esp. if you think you might be a user.

Add comment August 4th, 2009

Wicked Awesome!

Okay, this is just getting wicked awesome! Twittervotereport.com is soooo winning the Golden Dot this year. My hats off to the entire team. It’s just the coolest thing I’ve seen in so long. Be sure to make a twitter vote report today, and while you’re at it, why not Video You Vote too? Also, if you see any problems at your polling place in need of immediate assistance, call 1-866-Our-Vote.

Add comment November 4th, 2008

Will this have a “net” effect? (Election ‘08)

So if you’re curious what’s been taking up my free time, here’s the answer–communityCOUNTS, both dot com and dot us. Dot com is my turnkey solution for small media outlets, and dot US is my attempt to change the way we interact with the presidential candidates. You’ll remember dot US from this great NPR interview. Now I’m trying to build up interest with the video below. Please, share it with your friends.

Add comment August 28th, 2008

On Education is now Tilts at Windmills

This September I will be attending Boston University full-time as a law student, and I expect this will effect the focus of my blogging. So I’ve decide to go with a more general name, settling on “Tilts at Windmills.” It seems to me this could have been the blog’s title all along. Of course, this means a URL change too. No longer am I blogging at “/edblog” from here out, it’s just “/blog”.

“Why law school?” you may ask. The short answer, “I think I can do more with the law.” Only time will tell if I’m right about that.

So be on the lookout for some wicked-cool legal postings, but don’t worry, I won’t forget my roots. I have a mile-long list of would-be Tabletop Explainer episodes, one of which should be produced this week. Unfortunately, it’s not the next in the relativity series. It’s a how to I plan on entering in a video competition. Heck, I have to pay for law school somehow.

Add comment August 11th, 2008

Rome if You Want To

So I guess we have an answer to the question posed in my last entry. The summer seems to have resulted in fewer postings. This has been mostly a consequence of some mad traveling and some major distractions. Before leaving Edinburgh to return home, I took a week in Rome. That was super cool. Then it was back to Edinburgh for some housekeeping, and major Community Counts action. I even did a national radio interview on NPR’s Day to Day. Then it was back to the States and DC, where I served as a resource at the Fulbright Orientation for this year’s participants. Then I flew out to Ann Arbor for a wedding, followed by a return trip to DC to visit family. Eventually, I drove up to Massachusetts to move into my new apartment and start preparing for the new year. As I write this, I still have most of my stuff in boxes, and school starts tomorrow. I’ve actually already been in for meetings, but everyone will be in on Monday.

With any luck, I’ll be getting back into the blogging groove, and there will be some more Tabletop Explainer episodes coming. A lot of people want to see the remaining relativity videos.

1 comment August 26th, 2007

Big Bang! Abstract Painting for the 21st Century

The DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park (51 Sandy Pond Rd, Lincoln, MA 01773) is putting on a show of abstract paintings, January 20th through April 22nd. The “imagery is informed by contemporary issues such as computer technology, cosmology, quantum physics, information theory, genetics, complexity theory, remote sensing, and other sets of current scientific visual languages.” (more…)

1 comment January 17th, 2007

A Causal Link? Autism and Television, a Tale of Scientific Matchmaking

Last October, a team headed by Cornell economics professor Michael Waldman published a paper showing an indirect positive correlation between increased instances of autism and television viewing (Does Television Cause Autism?). These findings caused quite a stir in the popular media as people speculated on whether or not television might cause autism. It’s important not to confuse correlation with causation, and in the media frenzy, I didn’t hear a single theory proposing a mechanism by which television might “cause” autism. Admittedly, the existence of a correlation is even a bit convoluted. My general inclination is to suggest the need for more research. However, I can’t help but share a possible causative thread in the hope that it might speed things along.
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Add comment January 14th, 2007