Where I try to win an Ipod

Byoliveridley September 4, 2007

And participate in an experiment to see if they can make the truth page the number one result for the google search for “truth“.

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Twitter Updates for 2011-06-15
Byoliveridley June 15, 2011June 16, 2011
- .@andrew_leach The WHO classifies chrysotile as carcinogenic http://ow.ly/5h2dt Regardless, I have seen its India use, zero protection… in reply to andrew_leach #
- To wit, #bruins can't score in Vancouver, #canucks can't defend in Boston, so Game 7 better keep that trend… #
- RT @propublica: Over 70% of the firearms submitted for tracing by the Mexican govt originated in the US http://j.mp/j6H8zO via @CNN #
- MT @evidencenetwork: The business of #healthcare reform http://ow.ly/5hsuN Interview with expert advisor Colleen Flood #cdnpoli #cdnhealth #
- RT @alexboulerice: Harper must put lives before politics on asbestos: NDP #ndp #hoc #cdnpoli via @politicsrespun #
- The bridge fuel compromise? RT @ghoberg: @BCNDP jumps on natural gas bandwagon – what about GHG targets? #bcpoli #
- Interesting… RT @alferraby: David Cubberly told me live on C-FAX 1070 he will be running for mayor of Saanich #yyj #
- Very interesting that the Canadian government emphasizes harm reduction in #asbestos use, but not for drug use? #cdnpoli #
- RT @lacouvee: Dear #yyj Darth the busker was assaulted, his violin broken. @vicpdcanada thinks there may be video. Help? #
- RT @grist: Bill Gates plans to get gas from your butt. (No, really.) http://ow.ly/5hrJh Gotta love bait bomb headline! h/t @tqmurdock #
- RT @DanPollock: The CRD's 1st vote on the Juan de Fuca Resort development is Wed @ 1:30: http://j.mp/kTw8MK #yyj #saveJDF #bcpoli #
- The Wild West and dysfunctional B.C. politics – Ben Parfitt @ccpa unloads on #fracking and #bcpoli Note http://ow.ly/5hEsz #
- BC First Nations aren’t dupes of US green movement: Chiefs @thetyee http://ow.ly/5hLWe #cdnpoli #climate #indigenous #bcpoli #
- Hey Greater Victoria #yyj With the municipal elections l, what is the preferred hashtag. #yyjvote #
- .@DanPollock @lacouvee @matvic Excellent, I like #yyjvote + muni. let the social media overlords know 🙂 in reply to DanPollock #
- Wow, how about that!! RT @lacouvee: Well it looks like "fiddler" is trending nationally. http://ow.ly/5hP4H #helpyyjvader #
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The Open Access "Debate"
Byoliveridley January 28, 2007
Open access is a phrase used to describe the publishing of peer reviewed research in journals/websites which do not charge subscription fees. Since a bulk of published scientific literature in the US arises directly from government, i.e. taxpayer funding, the public has already paid for this research. So, this is a debate in the sense that global warming is a debate, and yet another depressing indication of the plutocracy-protectionary principle!

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Open Access to Science Under Attack — Advocates of open access to scientific research may find themselves under fire from high-profile public relations flaks and high-powered lobbying groups.

The Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers hired Eric Dezenhall, head of Dezenhall Resources, a PR firm that specializes in “high stakes communications and marketplace defense,” to address some of its members this past summer and potentially craft a media strategy.

Yes, go ahead, use the same publicist types that brought you the “CO2 is life” campaign. If you read the article fully, you’ll see that these publicists suggest a simple message:

“it’s hard to fight an adversary that manages to be both elusive and in possession of a better message: Free information.” Finally, Dezenhall suggests joining forces with think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute and National Consumers League in an attempt to persuade key players of the potential risks of unfiltered access. “Paint a picture of what the world would look like without peer-reviewed articles,” he adds.

Yes, of course, open access journals are not peer reviewed, cigarettes are not addictive, CO2 is life, 1+1=3 (just checking!)

I am ashamed to call myself a member of the egregious American Chemical Society, which is part of this lobbying effort along with Elsevier and Wiley.

Let’s review who’s getting paid for publishing their work with one of these wonderful journals
1. ~~The authors:~~
2. ~~The peer reviewers~~
3. The editors of the Journal
4. The people who own the journal
5. The shareholders of Wiley and Elsevier
The divisions could not be more clearly drawn. The people who produce the work, and the people who check the work for scientific accuracy, readability, appropriateness and suitability don’t get paid, the man does!

For an alternative, check out the workings of PLOS.

I hope the whole current system dies a swift and painless death.
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A 2014 Reading List
Byoliveridley January 5, 2014January 5, 2014
We circulated a flash card around friends gathered to celebrate the start of 2014 and each one contributed the name of a book that you should add to your reading list soon. Here they are, in no particular order.

Zami

The Lacuna

Spirits of our Whaling Ancestors

Lamb

Floodlines

Callings

Beloved

Sub Rosa

Angelmaker

Jane and the Whales

The Moth

Prodigal Summer

Obernewtyn

The City & the CIty

Xenogenesis (Lilith’s Brood)

Are You My Mother?
- Zami – Audre Lorde
- The Lacuna – Barbara Kingsolver
- Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff – Christopher Moore
- The Spirit of our Whaling Ancestors – Charlotte Coté
- Floodlines: Resistance in New Orleans – Jordan Flaherty
- Callings – Gregory Levoy
- Xenogenesis (Lilith’s Brood trilogy) – Octavia Butler
- The City & the City – China Miéville
- Obernewtyn – Isobelle Carmody
- Prodigal Summer – Barbara Kingsolver
- The Moth – Catherine Burns
- Jane and the Whales – Andrea Routley
- Angelmaker – Nick Harkaway (my pick – no special reason, good fiction that made me very happy at the end)
- Sub Rosa – Amber Dawn
- Beloved – Toni Morrison
- Are you my Mother? – Alison Bechdel
I’ve read six of these, and liked them all, which bodes well for the rest of them.
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Twitter Updates for 2011-06-16
Byoliveridley June 16, 2011June 16, 2011
- South Asian hall of shame. RT @husainhaqqani: Afghanistan worst place in the world for women, Pakistan 4th & India 5th #
- On closer reading, it's Afghanistan 1, DRC 2, Pakistan 3 and India 4. #
- Tory budget plans set askew by slow growth projections http://ow.ly/5idjl #cdnpoli These projections were no surprise. #
- I wonder how many people RT without clicking the link just based on the headline, that's a lot of trust 🙂 #
- BC avg oil, mining and gas salary = $58K (2008), http://ow.ly/5ioTh. #cleantech industry $72K (2010) http://ow.ly/5ioX1 #greenjobs #
- Oil, mining and gas employs 26K people. #cleantech 7200 people, and growing. #
- Gotta love science 🙂 RT @bradplumer: Science reveals homophobic men are more likely to be aroused by gay porn: #
- Nebraska Water Scientists Warn of #keystoneXL Oil Pipeline's Risk to Ogalla aquifer http://ow.ly/5ipyB #tarsands #oilsands #
- Burnaby Passes Gay Safe Policy http://ow.ly/5iuUB #bcpoli via @thetyee Note that this is the 13th school district to do so! #
- Community Health Centres: The best kept secret in health care – thestar.com http://ow.ly/5ivBx #cdnpoli #cdnhealth #
- RT @rabbleca: The Harper Conservatives and the gutting of Canadian sciences http://t.co/UPX1w5w #cdnpoli #p2ca #
- Good! @thetyee Wins Its Second Edward R. Murrow Award http://ow.ly/5iyuT #jour #
- The Canadian filibuster! Why @Elizabethmay refuses to be a rubber stamp in the Commons – TGAM http://ow.ly/5izIE #cdnpoli #
- .@immanuelg @Elizabethmay Simplistic argument much 🙂 She wants debate, we all should, hastily passed bills have hidden consequences. in reply to immanuelg #
- .@immanuelg @ElizabethMay Debate on mega trials? Not really, just introduced and first reading http://ow.ly/5iAMc #cdnpoli in reply to jcmatos #
- Death Rays??? RT @victorianews: Wi-Fi to stay in schools… Wi-Fi death rays school students kids children health #yyj #
- RT @CANRACCanada: Minister Kent seems not to know what's happening w/ #tarsands emissions #cdnpoli #oilsands #climate #
- Antipsychotic drugs risky to newborns – @CBC http://ow.ly/5iP8j Why are they giving antipsychotics to newborns? #sillyheadlines #
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Twitter Updates for 2011-06-14
Byoliveridley June 14, 2011June 16, 2011
- Other simple molecules made out of just C, H and O include carbon monoxide, CO, methane, CH4, methanol, CH3OH, I could go on. #
- Shocker! Petroleum based "biodegradable plastics" not actually, you know, biodegradable! http://ow.ly/5gv6d #
- RT @wicary: With 6,000 jobs on chopping block, budget watchdog warns of deeper cuts. http://tgam.ca/C8uL #cdnpoli #
- #BClibs trashed BC shipbuilding to buy German ferries, now praise it for military contract http://ow.ly/5gy6Z #bcpoli #
- .@sherwinarnott @TED talk on use of apps for medical diagnosis 🙂 #
- Kaplan profits mostly from US taxpayer subsidized student loans w/ high default RT @janniaragon: For Profit Education #
- RT @drgrist: US Gov't spending on #cleantech generates 3 times as many jobs as gov't spending on oil & gas http://is.gd/tN8tbi #
- RT @ICAVictoria: Wow, great article! Non-profit sector seeks diversity: new generation leads push for change http://t.co/OPJGKLO #
- Canadian Medical Association Journal slams #pharma industry for hiding information of drug safety, efficacy in children http://ow.ly/5gELP #
- RT @climatekeith: RT @ghoberg: First nations speak for themselves on pipelines http://t.co/0WikBwY #northerngateway #indigenous #
- RT @JoshVanBC: Yinka Dene answers @financialpost & @vancouversun: "We speak 4 ourselves" on #Enbridge #Indigenous #
- what is the point of a newspaper site paywall that can be bypassed by hitting stop before the page loads fully, anyway? #
- .@drgrist @johnffarrell Not to worry, Ontario looks set to replace premier with a man who has promised to gut feed in tariffs. #cleanenergy in reply to jackaryy14 #
- RT @starleigh_grass: BC premier stumbles in first speech to First Nations leaders #fnmi #aboriginal #bcpoli #
- Bruce Bartlett, one of the early supporters declares: Supply-Side Economics, R.I.P. http://ow.ly/5gToQ #cdnpoli #
- Dear @bctransit in #yyj Do not leave major stops 3 minutes early and make me sprint to catch the bus. kthxbai #
- Off goes Luongo, and I get to go to yoga again tonight, I think 🙁 #canucks #
- Boston on pace to score 20 goals? #canucks #
- Taking advantage of one sided #cancucks game to install and play with twitter tools on the blog… #
- Ha Ha, twitter says @nsoumya is similar to me, gee, I wonder why ♥♥♥ #
- Income disparity makes people unhappy http://ow.ly/5gZ6d New US Study covering 1972-2008, rich people remained happy! #
- RT @benpolitico: A bankruptcy court (!) in California just ruled DoMA unconstitutional http://is.gd/JzSo90 #gaymarriage #
- Speechless…RT @cbccanada: Health Canada's asbestos advice rejected by government #cdnpoli #
- Canada's intransigence on asbestos predates Harper. Bipartisan failure. Sign the petition at http://t.co/L7K7Fjj #cdnpoli h/t @Ban_Asbestos #
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Lunar Eclipse Saturday
Byoliveridley March 2, 2007

Watch!

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