Friday, November 28, 2008

Preview of Upcoming Shows

With the Turkey Day break, Only Science is delighted to spend the time recharging and getting excited about the upcoming shows.  What you have to look forward to:

Monday, Dec. 1st at Noon:  In view of World AIDS Day, a representative from MECCA will be talking about HIV testing that is available on campus.  In fact, I'll probably mention this about 10 times over the hour, but HIV testing will be offered at the Iowa City Library from Noon to 4PM on this today.  So, listen to show, hear why it's a good idea to get tested, and go get tested.

Monday, Dec. 8th at Noon:  Dr. Patricia Zebrowski and Dr. Ruth Bentler, both researchers in the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Clinic, will be on the show to discuss what is being done at the UI with regards to audiological research and advances, and how students can be tested at the hospital.  

Wow, Only Science is really starting to become the Public Service show at KRUI, you say.  Hold your cattle, though, it gets better:

Monday, Dec. 15th at Noon:  Only Science will be airing its 2nd Fiction Special!  Properly entitled The Country Western Science Fiction Holiday Extravaganza, this is simply one show you will not want to miss.  And if you do miss it, hopefully I'll be able to record it.

Don't forget to tune in!

Erik

Monday, November 24, 2008

Web Gnomes

I'm convinced.  Things so easy and seemingly stringless can go awry without your direct doing, though such an act can only be attributed to a fateful misguided strike of the keyboard, improper capitalization, maybe a tossed up TAB in there, perhaps a misplaced punctuation mark, you name it, things tactically go wrong at the exact time you need them to go right.  For me, I was simply trying to login to a new blog that a friend of mine started (so I could post more randomly-oriented entries and avoid having to put [rather] pointless rambles such as thing on a SCIENCE blog, for cryin' out loud), and the exact user name and password that I was sent simply denied me access.  No, it said, promptly, boldy, get out of my blog.

Clearly, there is an underlying issue.  Within the mass amount of 1's and 0's floating about in cyberspace, some of these numbers must sometimes achieve the status of "return to sender."  Or even worse, these numbers are sucked into a vacuous nullity of digital binary death, relegated from a single bit to a nonentity.  Whap.  Not even toast, toast eaten by a stealthy passerby.  Then again, my engineering training would lead me to believe that you can't make something out of nothing, and thus can't make something into nothing.  The something, in cases of, say, fires or food, becomes ashes and human waste.  While many computer scientists out there are joyously hooting to themselves, "Ho ho, silly engineer doesn't know pancakes about computer information."  I say, "Ha ha, world, you don't know muffins about Web Gnomes."

That's right.  They're there, beneath the surface.  Entering went you look away and quick to escape when your gander returns.  You send an email with High Importance, and the Web Gnomes get you fired for not sending your boss that highly importance report.   I'm sure they've got little stocking caps and pudgy hands, too.   Along with there speedy wit and fiendish trickery, they snatch up the highest of importance digital information and stuff it into their little gnome satchels.  They compile up huge amounts of these data, and take them to the gnome reservoir, located somewhere in Paris.  Then, they have an annual feast (date unknown, for fear of people emailing the utmostly important documents during this period) in which they bring out the well-cured and aged binary figures collected over the years and gobble them down, all washed down with [high proof] ale.  They have songs they sing at this annual gathering, here is one:

We sweep up all the noise,
and for this now rejoice,
in times of harrowing,
we can but only sing!

The gnomes clash their mugs together after "sing" has been held at a boisterous and exhaustive length so that at least half of the, well, weaker gnomes pass out from asphyxiation.  Those left standing are the ones who cheer, those on the ground eventually wake up and rejoin the festivities, only to hope that next year they'll be much more prepared as to not one of the gnomes who passed out in the popular song.  Gnomes can grow very old, so it can be many decades before one can make it through the aforementioned tune.

Sure can be tough, sometimes.   

Monday, November 17, 2008

SuperCell AAA

Today's show was great. You should be able to access the link here to hear the story:


Just scroll down to the title, and download away!

And apologies for the loud music in the beginning, especially during the "juicing." I'll try to clean it up a bit, but for now, you get the picture.
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. Song Credits: Olafur Arnalds, George Gershwin, The Mattoid
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Also, a friendly caller corrected me on my bowl game projections:

The Rose Bowl is reserved for the Big Ten champion, no ifs ands or buts.... which means....

Iowa is bowl-bound baby! Let's just beat Minnesota now so we don't wind up in Motor City.

-Erik

Fiction Special Today

Today, I'll be performing a Only Science Fiction Special, telling the saddest story of a battery ever told on the show.  Complete with sound effects and full score, it should be a good one.  I even managed to finally figure out how to record shows, so the link should be up later if you can't tune in live.  If you're available though, turn on the dial to 89.7FM at Noon!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Christmas on Mars

Last night, I attended a free screening of the new Flaming Lips-directed movie, Christmas on Mars, thanks to the folks at the Bijou Theater. If you happen to know anything about the Flaming Lips, then most assumptions you could make about an avant-garde science fiction movie of theirs, based on Mars, over Christmas, would probably be accurate. Full of "cosmic realizations," morbid infant scenes, and genital-headed marching bands, they started off this flick with a low budget and an idea, producing perhaps the most telling story of a group of earthlings stuck on Mars who attempt to boost the morale of impending oxygen deprivation with a joyous Christmas celebration. Part grueling, part heart warming, this is the kind of holiday tale you would expect to receive as a bonus with your annual special edition pulp. Raucous comes to mind. The slight disappointment was the lack of Lips' tunes; one might expect a movie of their to exhibit a new array of songs. Apparently the production of the movie started in 2001, though, and like most of their projects, just take a while to finish, if at all. I'm just happy it made it to the big screen. One gets over its unmusicness rather quickly once Coyne finally makes it on screen. Wayne Coyne, the Lips' frontman, plays a great Martian whose presence is equated with that of Santa, and a space-station-farmed baby poses as a great analog to Jesus. I would recommend this movie to anyone who seeks an unPC, alt-rock take on how Christmas might really be on Mars, and strictly advise anyone without an adept knack for the absurd to stick with the more traditional holiday stories.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Back in the IMU / Obama

Hey folks,

Yesterday's show was fun for 2 reasons: 1) We were back in the IMU, so the sound board / CD arrangement / mics / environment was much more like a radio studio than a closet (though we very much appreciate the Quad for their hospitality during the flood refractory period), and 2) I was able to chat about the implications of an Obama presidency on science and research. I had mentioned that some 60+ Nobel laureates had publicly endorsed Obama, McCain receiving few (if any?) of this caliber support. What does this really say? After all, even Nobel toters only have one vote each. And even the Nobellers will acknowledge that the Prize doesn't recognize the smartest people in the field. The Prize is awarded to people who make discoveries that have a profound impact on the scientific community (not so for the Peace/Literature prizes, read here for interest). These people are then usually granted tenure (if they didn't already achieve it), and thought of as genuinely bright people. And for the most part, it takes a genuinely bright, slightly crazy person to discover something such as the the structure of DNA. Granted, these people may know squat about anything other than their specific micro-field of interest, but these people represent all for which the scientific community strives: Truth. Truth is pretty hard to achieve if you don't know the answers to the questions you are asking. Fortunately, if you find a pretty good answer to a pretty good question, you can come with the University-brand Academy Award. Nobel winners know what is takes for discovery: time and money. And people. And infrastructure. These are things that Obama has pledged to support (don't ask me about the economy either, I'm a science guy), and these are things that lend themselves to the truths of nature as we know it. Those who make big discoveries know the long road required to arrive one small nudge closer to truth. The majority of this crowd supported Obama, and that might just be saying something.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Professor Mark Blumberg to be Interviewed

Mark Blumberg, University of Iowa Professor of Psychology, will appear on Only Science today to talk about his upcoming book Freaks of Nature, due in stores on November 11th.

Tune in at noon to hear about what anomalies in nature can tell us about evolution, and where he sees scientific discoveries going in the future.

The Live Stream is back up too, so you can stream from your computer!