Take THAT English Majors!

By tom Gauld

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REMINDER: This blog is moving! The new location is http://www.aquantumofknowledge.com/ 

Remember to update your subscriptions! This site will no longer be supported after September 30, 2011. 

Thanks! 

Ryan

Star Trek: 45 Years of Awesome!

It was 45 years ago today that we were first introduced to Star Trek (not counting “The Cage”; superfans know what I’m talking about).

The cultural and even scientific implications of Star Trek are incalculable. The first interracial kiss on television was shown on an episode of The Original Series between Captain Kirk and Lt. Uhura. Current devices like the tablet computer and catchphrases like “Beam me up, Scotty” all permeate our lives today. (Although, Kirk never actually said “Beam me up, Scotty”, but I digress.)

The Original Series, as well as the later incarnations, have been sources of inspriation and wonder for scientists, engineers, inventors, writers and countless others.

The Space Shuttle “Enterprise” was named after the Starship “Enterprise”

I’m certain that my minor obsession with Star Trek led to my 6 (almost 7) years of studying physics at the University of Western Ontario. Science has always been a passion of mine, and my life is now better for it, and I owe part of that to Star Trek.

Personally, my favourite series was The Next Generation, and I think I am in good company. TNG benefited from seeing what worked for The Original Series, and giving it a good modernization.

I also quite enjoyed Deep Space Nine. Opinions are quite divided on this series, but I felt the main story arc was a fresh detraction from tradional Trek that it was well worth watching.

Recently, I had a rousing game of “Star Trek: Scene It?” with some fellow nerd friends. When my team did not answer the final questions correctly (did you know that Lt. Reginald Barclay was on an episode of The A-Team?) we moved on to a discussion of what each of our favourite episodes were.

For me, the episode that sticks out the most is The Next Generation episode “Cause and Effect”. The plot involves the crew of the Enterprise-D getting caught in a time loop and attempting to send messages to their “past selves” in order to break out of loop. The intensity of the episode is kept pretty high as the time loop always ended with the destruction of the Enterprise. (The episode also has a nice little cameo by Kelsey Grammar!)

So, what is YOUR favourite Trek episode? Any series, any season, lemme know!

Now, I think I will go celebrate the rest of this day by watching a few of my favourite episodes and enjoying a nice cup of tea.

Earl Grey.

Hot.

______________________________________________________________________

REMINDER: This blog is moving! The new location is http://www.aquantumofknowledge.com/ 

Remember to update your subscriptions! This site will go dead on September 30, 2011. 

Thanks! 

Ryan

So Close, Yet So Far Away…

Anyone else anxiously awaiting “A Memory of Light”, the final book of the “Wheel of Time” series?

Brandon Sanderson (who took over the series when Robert Jordan passed) has a progress bar on his website.

Which, while I very much appreciate seeing the progress, only builds my anticipation. It’s like online parcel tracking…

The book is supposed to be done in March 2012. I guess I’ll just have to tough it out :(

______________________________________________________________________

REMINDER: This blog is moving! The new location is http://www.aquantumofknowledge.com/ 

Remember to update your subscriptions! This site will go dead on September 30, 2011. 

Thanks! 

Ryan

Muppets as Doctor Who Characters

Seriously…the awesome. It’s just…too much…

Muppet Doctor Who

 

Talk To Your Kids…About Star Wars

Thanks to all my dedicated readers who have stuck with me through this dry-spell of posts.

I’m going to start ramping back up to roughly a post per day. Where better to start than a Star Wars-related YouTube video?

I know its a comedy, but it’s an important issue. Jar Jar Binks is NOT cool!

‘The Amazing Spiderman’ Trailer!

Omigod, omigod omigod!

Best “Star Trek: The Next Generation” Line Ever!

My Adventures at the Calgary Comic Expo

Despite being a lifetime nerd, I have never been to a sci-fi or comic book convention!

I know, I know. The lack of nerd cred on my part is somewhat disheartening.

But don’t worry, because my Comic expo virginity has now been taken by the Calgary Comic Expo.

I had a really great time. I got to meet some great people, saw some live StarCraft action, and even got a chance to hear William Shatner speak and take some questions from the audience.

What blew me away most though were the costumes. The amount of work that must go into some of them was astounding. Here are a few samples:

Wolverine and...someone I recognize but can't remember the name.

The contact lenses show a nice level of dedication to the costume.

X-Men. And woman. X-People I suppose.

Bob from ReBoot. I was impressed at the number of ReBoot fans.

Classic

Dude behind him is checking out his ass, I think.

The hands look a little big to me.

Thundercats! Awesome!

Elektra, some dude, and Poison Ivy.

The one on the right is a different shade of green. Maybe she was sick?

Creepy. Creepy/Awesome.

William Shatner also gave a talk to a crowd of about 4000. He was made an honorary Calgarian by the Mayor of Calgary, and took some audience questions.

One such question went like this:

Girl: This question is from my Dad. What was it like being on ‘Star Trek’?

Shatner: Tell your dad that I was cleaning green paint off myself every night!

Crowd: *Applause*

He was actually a very funny guy and very entertaining.

I also found out that DC comics is rebooting all of its stories, so maybe I can start reading comic books and actually know whats going on!

All in all, a great time and lots of great people. I’ll be back again next year!

Does TV Watching Make You Sick? Not Exactly…

Beware! It might kill you! Photo Credit: Istvan Takacs

I’m a little annoyed with some headlines hitting a few news websites today:

TV Watching Raises Risk of Health problems, dying young

Excess TV time linked to early death

TV time tied to death, diabetes risk

The stories are talking about a study getting published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. 

The study is a meta-analysis of 8 studies over the past 40 years which look at the correlation between watching television and risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The study found, unsurprisingly, that increased television watching was correlated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

The pooled relative risks per 2 hours of TV viewing per day were 1.20 (95% CI, 1.14-1.27) for type 2 diabetes, 1.15 (95% CI, 1.06-1.23) for fatal or nonfatal cardiovascular disease, and 1.13 (95% CI, 1.07-1.18) for all-cause mortality.

In layman’s terms, this means that for each 2 hours of television watched per day, risk of type 2 diabetes increased by about 20%, risk of developing fatal or non-fatal heart disease increased by about 15%, and risk of dying of any cause increased by about 13%.

So does watching TV make you sick? Not exactly.

I’m not doubting the results of the study, though they should be taken with the usual grain of salt that should be taken with all epidemiological studies.

They are observational studies, not controlled studies in a lab. There are many variables which can influence the results.

That being said, the results of the study are not surprising and I have every confidence that there is truth in there.

But the media takes these types of studies, gives them a sensationalized headline and doesn’t put them in the proper context.

Watching TV does not make you sick; being lazy makes you sick. What this study is really showing is that watching TV correlates to a lazy lifestyle.

There’s nothing wrong with kicking back and watching some Star Trek reruns or even *groan* Dancing with the Stars. Just make sure you go out for a jog now and then. Or play some basketball. Or just do anything that isn’t sitting around and being lazy!

I’m sure snacking is a big factor in the results of this study as well. No doubt increased time in front of the TV leads to eating more unhealthy foods.

But if you sit in front of the tube and eat baby carrots or oatmeal, then you are probably not at a huge risk of developing heart disease or diabetes.

So if you watch a lot of TV, you’re not necessarily going to die young because TV doesn’t make you sick.

But if you eat a lot of junk food and don’t exercise, then you might die young. But then again, THAT’S not exactly news, is it?

5 Things I’ve Learned From One Year of Blogging

Happy Anniversary! A Quantum of Knowledge went online one year ago today!

It seems like the older you get, the shorter the years get. Because it certainly doesn’t seem like a year since I started blogging.

But it has been. 312 posts. 63,000 hits. Not to shabby :)

From what I’ve read, the majority of blogs die out in the first few months after creation. So how do you keep it going?

There are a few tidbits I’ve picked up over the past year that have not only kept me blogging, but kept me loving blogging.

1. Write about what YOU find interesting.

Too often I find myself trolling the news trying to find stories that I think others might be interested in. But this inevitably causes problems.

First, if I don’t find the subject interesting, I’m not going to do a good job writing about it.

Second, you never know what people will find interesting. If you try to pick topics based on what you think people will like, you are just playing a guessing game.

Stick with what you know. Because if you write about things you like and you find fascinating, you will write great posts that people will want to read and share with their friends.

2. Post OFTEN!

It doesn’t have to be a long post. If you are busy, treat your blog like a Twitter feed. Or just post a video you thought was funny. Just post SOMETHING!

Regular posts not only keep your readers coming back, but they keep you in the habit. Just like an exercise routine, you need to keep it up regularly in order to make it a habit.

After you keep a regular schedule for a few weeks, it will be a cinch to continue posting all the time!

3. Talk about yourself

Even if you write your blog anonymously, you should still talk about yourself.

What are your personal feelings on an issue? Have you been happy or sad lately? Did you just go on vacation? If so, where to?

In my case, even though I blog about science, I’ve found that some of my most popular posts were actually about me and not science news.

Whether it be where I spent my weekend, or my Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies, people seem to like hearing about my life. And I’m happy to oblige them.

Not only that, but I’ve found that personal anecdotes do wonders when trying to explain a complicated subject. Inserting a funny personal story into a technical post makes it much more readable.

4. Don’t be afraid to take a break now and then

If you haven’t blogged in a while, it can feel like a weight on your shoulders. You start to think,

“I haven’t posted in a while. I really should…but Dancing with the Stars is on…”

And the more days you miss, you more you feel like you should blog. But when you start feeling like you should, you really don’t want to.

So my advice? It’s ok to miss a few days of blogging. It’s even ok to miss a week or two. In fact, you should probably put the blog aside on purpose every now and then so you don’t get burned out!

And if you’ve intentionally taken a break from blogging, you will soon find that you miss it. You will want to blog again.

5. Do it because you love it

“Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that’s not why we do it.”
— Richard P. Feynman

The same goes for blogging. In my case, spreading the word about good science or disparaging pseudoscience may be in the best interest of the public; but that’s not why I do it.

I do it because I love writing. I love writing about other things that I love. Science, video games and other geekery, it’s all good.

And if you enjoy the fact that you are blogging, it will show through in your posts. People will be drawn to come back and keep reading your stuff.

So that’s it. That’s what I’ve learned. I hope you all have enjoyed the blog so far, and I hope you continue to enjoy it!