Call for Contributors: New Freaky Trigger Sci-Blog!

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So with the blessing of Tom and the 12 ft lizards, my nefarious plans for a new FT blog will become reality as of Oct 1st -- the punXoR science blog! Contributors wanted for pieces on weird science, scary new techno-gadgets, fuckoff-hardcore mathematics, zombies, the technology of pop music, sci-fi freakouts, robots, brain chemistry, etc. Science background is of course encouraged but not required. The trick is to make science writing as fun to read as good writing about pop. If you're psyched, post here or send me an email!

― geeta (geeta), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Expect pieces about golems and Bedazzlers, geeta!

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Geeta, you are the Queen if you can make Science snore-less! (That said, sign me up)

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:23 (twenty-two years ago)

"The trick is to make science writing as fun to read as good writing about pop."

That is a laudable goal.

― Maria (Maria), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:24 (twenty-two years ago)

damn, if only they'd done that when I was 12...oh wait, I'm glad they didn't. I'd probably be in grad school right now. GAH!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:26 (twenty-two years ago)

anthony you could do something on the science of limp bizkit

they are robots surely?

― geeta (geeta), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I could definitely do a piece on Gary Numan vs. Phil Oakey being human who wishes he was robot vs. robot who wishes he was human.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:02 (twenty-two years ago)

sonuva gun! From Launch.com:
In a scene reminiscent of the mothership landing at the '70s P-Funk concerts, Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish, a huge, two-and-a-half story, robot opened its stomach and out walked singer Fred Durst, guitarist Wes Borland and the rest of the band. The robot was flanked with other robots, which were at least 12 feet tall.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:09 (twenty-two years ago)

geeta i want to write about the psychology of only undies club

― gabbo giftington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:12 (twenty-two years ago)

cool!! the undies club ppl are all robots right?

― geeta (geeta), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:16 (twenty-two years ago)

as is my understanding

― gabbo giftington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:18 (twenty-two years ago)

only what you want to believe, just kidding :)))

― youn, Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:21 (twenty-two years ago)

actually, I may try to write something about the fun of being a music lover with only one ear, if that's cool. They actually did some tests on me so I can even include a modicum of scientific mumbo jumbo.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I wanna write something for this, god knows what, but I do

― s1utsky (slutsky), Thursday, 11 September 2003 01:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Contributors wanted for pieces on weird science, scary new techno-gadgets, fuckoff-hardcore mathematics, zombies, the technology of pop music, sci-fi freakouts, robots, brain chemistry, etc.

I like this idea :-)
I'll try to write something to contribute.
Like nowadays I'm thinking of smart mob tech (Mobile communication, pervasive computing, wireless networks) meets anarchist economics, wich fits in my ongoing quest for an aesthetic of networking, today I thought about writing somehting to explain the difference between hard science-fiction and vaporware (A sarcastic term used to designate software and hardware products that have been announced and advertised but are not yet available) business plans using narratology and Bayesian Analysis. I also like cog sci, A.I. gerontology etc!

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Thursday, 11 September 2003 01:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I love math. I love math so much. But how to translate what I love about math into something essay-ey and creative? I don't know. What would you be looking for here? Something about why the math rules work the way they do or something akin to a math textbook with the rules just laid out for you?

Hmmm. I know -- I love some of the lab writeups I did when I was in Cal Physics II, because I actually got good at writing up a summary of things and whatnot. Maybe if I could send you one of the .doc files I created, that would be a good contribution... ? I'll just have to look for the floppy disk that contains all the writeups and see which one I like most.

― Just Deanna (Dee the Lurker), Thursday, 11 September 2003 01:33 (twenty-two years ago)

geeta wants contributors more than contributions, no?

i.e. ppl willing to write about science on an ongoing basis?

(not that i'm volunteering quite yet -- i barely have enough time to keep up on music, which gets me occasional income even)

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 11 September 2003 02:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm in on this. *waves hand in the air*

― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 11 September 2003 02:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Ooo... my boyfriend to thread, I should think.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 11 September 2003 02:45 (twenty-two years ago)

And I'd rather like to write essays on sci/math geeky films, like Pi, that sort of thing.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 11 September 2003 02:54 (twenty-two years ago)

word!! i'm looking for people who can commit to writing one post every two weeks (or once a week if possible!) some one-off things can probably be accomodated as well, if you've got a really great idea and can only make one post -- but ideally i want people who can write at least 2-3 posts a month! (more than that is grebt)

― geeta (geeta), Thursday, 11 September 2003 03:01 (twenty-two years ago)

me please, for fuckoff-hardcore mathematics at least. and maybe zombies.

― toby (tsg20), Thursday, 11 September 2003 06:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Also included in the science umbrella is interweb culture (as in 'here is an intriguing interweb development' rather than 'here is a kewl link') and gadgetry fetishism num num.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 11 September 2003 06:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm very interested in this. Chatting with mark s on tuesday produced some great ideas.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 11 September 2003 06:52 (twenty-two years ago)

ed is stealing my great ideas!!

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 11 September 2003 06:57 (twenty-two years ago)

oh in exchange for working for hours on my computer to make it better, i remember now

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 11 September 2003 06:57 (twenty-two years ago)

back in your cave, you have a book to write.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 11 September 2003 07:04 (twenty-two years ago)

*waves* Hello, I'm interested in contributing. Not sure what yet but I, like, know about computers and stuff.

― robster (robster), Thursday, 11 September 2003 07:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Apparently I get paid to know about them. Not quite sure about the wisdom of this.

― robster (robster), Thursday, 11 September 2003 07:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Ed Teller dies

I guess this means that the monthly articles can have science (etc) content too? So if you aren't up to regularly blogging stuff, then there's always that.

― Alan (Alan), Thursday, 11 September 2003 07:50 (twenty-two years ago)

The monthly articles can have almost any content - but I should think the long pieces = articles guideline will apply, it's up to Geeta how she wants to define 'long' obviously (it's 500 words for the other blogs, roughly).

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 11 September 2003 08:02 (twenty-two years ago)

geeta, this is a brilliant idea. i won't be a contributor (lacking science skills) but will be an avid reader.

― angela (angela), Thursday, 11 September 2003 08:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Something I am v.keen to see as a reader (my involvement in this is as publisher and occasional contributor, Geeta is doing the editing and recruiting etc.) is blog entries in the form of EXPERIMENT WRITE-UPS like at school!

(No doubt KIDS TODAY are allowed to write up their experiments in haiku form or some such GCSE empathic nonsense, cf That'll Learn 'Em)

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 11 September 2003 08:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm up for this.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Thursday, 11 September 2003 08:19 (twenty-two years ago)

If this isn't called PROVEN BY SCIENCE, I will be very disappointed.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 11 September 2003 08:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I would like to. But if there are already lots of people don't bother cos I am lacking in brane and can only donate capital letters anyway.

― Starry, Thursday, 11 September 2003 08:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Conclusion: my experiment was differently successful*

(*Translation: lab caught fire, entire schoolblock burnt down)

IT'S PC GONE MAD PPL!!

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 11 September 2003 09:03 (twenty-two years ago)

If I recall correctly from my GCSE physics: we did formal experiment write-ups with an emphasis on detailed accounts of the method. Actual experiment results were 'modified' until they fitted the conclusion I had already written. I got a B.

― robster (robster), Thursday, 11 September 2003 09:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I haf got a CRYSTAL RADIO KIT!!! It is ideal!!! Although I am not sure if it is science but MAJICK as it needs no batteries! Imagine! Sound! But no batteries! I hope crystal radio kits need to be tuned with "whiskers".

― Starry, Thursday, 11 September 2003 09:06 (twenty-two years ago)

We absolutely MUST grow a Freaky Trigger crystal and report on its progress.

In fact I think consumer tests of Junior Science products are going to feature heavily in my contributions.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 11 September 2003 09:09 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.cats.or.ro/masterfood/whiskas-milch.jpg

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 11 September 2003 09:09 (twenty-two years ago)

That cat looks so stunned cos it's one of its whiskers has just been nicked by a budding young radio ham.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Thursday, 11 September 2003 09:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Tom do not spoil my PLAN to improve my BRANE with science by regular visits to the Hamleys junior science aisle!!

Can I also do Sarah's Adventures in Perl and Sarah's Adventures in Linux? Linux geeks can no doubt say they are interesting. What is INIT 6?!?!

― Starry, Thursday, 11 September 2003 09:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd love to be part of this but I think you might have to have auditions at this rate.

― Sam (chirombo), Thursday, 11 September 2003 09:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Great you've got this running geeta. Don't know if I'll have the time to be able to contribute tho'.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 11 September 2003 09:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I love science, but I don't really have the backround for it. And I doubt I'm thought much of as a writer anyway.

― Nicolars (Nicole), Thursday, 11 September 2003 11:48 (twenty-two years ago)

The current FT blog deal, as I understand it, is that we sign up to a home blog which constitutes a commitment to contribute regularly to it, but can then chip in occasionally on other blogs. So I'm mostly writing for the Brown Wedge, but have contributed to Do You See? and NYLPM. On that basis, I'm sure I would write something occasionally for the science section too, but I can't see myself as a regular, and my knowledge is far less than that of, say, Rick, so I might not want to write full articles. So I would like to be signed up as a minor contributor, please. I'm very interested in new theories of complexity so might write something about that, maybe around its relationship to evolution.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 11 September 2003 11:55 (twenty-two years ago)

This sounds awesome. If I can write anything interesting and punXoR about science or computers I will make it available.

― Dale the Titled (cprek), Thursday, 11 September 2003 12:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Hang on - this isn't going to be about PROPER science, is it? Surely it's going to be all genetically-engineered glow-in-the-dark rabbits and inst-homosexual flies and cool new gadgets you can buy and stuff like that?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 11 September 2003 12:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I for one want to write about the human interaction with sci/tech and the affect on humanity of sci/tech. I hope there's room for serious stuff too.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 11 September 2003 12:11 (twenty-two years ago)

The serious sci stuff would be difficult to pull off, w/o a serious background in said. I'd be more about gonzo engineering.

― Dale the Titled (cprek), Thursday, 11 September 2003 12:22 (twenty-two years ago)

One of the things I like about Freaky Trigger (but then I would) is the way it will occasionally combine knockabout pop(ul)ist stuff with posts or articles which will be of interest to, or even make sense to, about 10 people top. My web publishing philosophy is that every worthwhile piece will eventually find its audience. So from that POV, anything should go.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 11 September 2003 12:34 (twenty-two years ago)

The science experiment idea is totally brilliant, Tom.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Thursday, 11 September 2003 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I want to do rose-tinted TOMORROW'S WORLD style reports on how [brand new thing] will change our lives for the better. I'm qualified for this as I currently have 70s William Woolard style hair.

"By 1984, the channel tunnel link will carry passengers to Paris in just under two hours. Mile-long trains, carrying 1000 passengers each, will depart Waterloo every ten minutes."

― robster (robster), Thursday, 11 September 2003 15:04 (twenty-two years ago)

The current FT blog deal, as I understand it, is that we sign up to a home blog which constitutes a commitment to contribute regularly to it, but can then chip in occasionally on other blogs.

I thought there's a test period first to make sure you're up to having a thought per week, before signing on to have more than one.

I'd be up for this, but may be kicked out after a while. I'm not convinced there's enough science around, to be honest.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 12 September 2003 11:19 (twenty-two years ago)

*zaps farrell with interweb raygun*

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 12 September 2003 11:21 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.jeffbots.com/raygun.jpg

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 12 September 2003 11:24 (twenty-two years ago)

*scoffs at notion that interweb has anything to do with science*

'tis witchcraft that prevents me having a successful career!

― robster (robster), Friday, 12 September 2003 11:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Writing about http://www.improb.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html is urgent and KEY! Someone in Boston wanna cover it?

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:36 (twenty-two years ago)

A lot of those ig-nobel things are fun and silly, but http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/index.html is fantastic, nothing Ig about it? I think they must seriously hate fun.

― Alan (Alan), Friday, 12 September 2003 13:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I want a periodic table.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Friday, 12 September 2003 14:02 (twenty-two years ago)

There's still time for all you laser-pointer wielding nuts out there for LASER POINTER BAITING OF BLAINE tonight at 9.

― Alan (Alan), Friday, 12 September 2003 14:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Rick and I had a very good conversation about some ideas for this blog tonight. I think I have at least one good one - the fact that a scientist of Rick's calibre seemed stimulated by it is a very good sign I think, though it's certainly not aimed at him.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 12 September 2003 23:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I had an idea for this (though I wouldn't want to contribute). Experiment: what would happen if I put Euthymol (extra strong, pink toothpaste) through my hair as gel?

― David. (Cozen), Friday, 12 September 2003 23:22 (twenty-two years ago)

This scientist of calibre business is disturbing.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Friday, 12 September 2003 23:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I think my experiment is definitely calibre. I'm not sure RickyT ~~has enough hair~~ ~~is old enough~~ is experienced enough to perform it satisfactorily. I might try it tomorrow.

― David. (Cozen), Friday, 12 September 2003 23:32 (twenty-two years ago)

revive!!!

only a week until the sci-blog is ALIVE! it's aliiiiiive!! it's taking over...i can feel it...the robots...they're trying to get me...

come up with nutty ideas! start experimenting in your basement laboratories! more info coming soon! hurrah!

― geeta, Tuesday, 23 September 2003 04:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Geeta I will email you this morning about set-up, design etc etc. Cheers!

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 07:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm quite interested in this. If I come up with anything I'll let you know.

― Andrew (enneff), Wednesday, 1 October 2003 09:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm in by the way. Popular sicence book trashing a go go (are we allowed to do social science).

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 1 October 2003 10:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I made my first contribution last night, and at that point it comprised the majority of the blog.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 1 October 2003 11:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Seriously, how do you feel about dinosaurs, Geeta?

― Mark C (Mark C), Wednesday, 1 October 2003 12:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Grand unveiling on Friday!

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 1 October 2003 12:10 (twenty-two years ago)

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