Still need to blog

One day Facebook will be gone. But your blog can live on…

Recently I’ve been writing stuff on Facebook, because the engagement level there is so high. But I’ve found that if I want people who don’t use Facebook, and there are still important people who don’t, you have to put it somewhere else, and for me that’s here on my blog.

via A note about blogging.

Realizing Our Place in the Universe

“This image, captured with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, is the largest and sharpest image ever taken of the Andromeda galaxy — otherwise known as M31.This is a cropped version of the full image and has 1.5 billion pixels. You would need more than 600 HD television screens to display the whole image.”

via Sharpest ever view of the Andromeda Galaxy | ESA/Hubble.

I had to download the 4.3 GB file. For science.

Brian Greene on the State of String Theory 2015

Much as the sonorous tones of a cello arise from the vibrations of the instrument’s strings, the collection of nature’s particles would arise from the vibrations of the tiny filaments described by string theory. The long list of disparate particles that had been revealed over a century of experiments would be recast as harmonious “notes” comprising nature’s score.

via Why String Theory Still Offers Hope We Can Unify Physics | Smithsonian.

Accepting Change And Being an Expert

It’s hard enough already not to become the prisoner of your own expertise, but it will only get harder, because change is accelerating. That’s not a recent trend; change has been accelerating since the paleolithic era. Ideas beget ideas. I don’t expect that to change. But I could be wrong.

via How to Be an Expert in a Changing World.

School Lunches

Soylent Green is people (but seriously, this looks terrible)!

Students have posted their photos of mystery slop and scant portions after Mrs Obama spearheaded the United State Department of Agriculture’s "Let’s Move!" initiative to crackdown on obesity by reducing fat, simple sugars and salt in school food.

via Hungry students send messages to Michelle Obama over sloppy school dinners – Americas – World – The Independent.

Books Aren’t Just Commodities

Worth your time (and I love the dig at Amazon and the cartel of book publishers):

Books aren’t just commodities; the profit motive is often in conflict with the aims of art. We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable – but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.

via Ursula K Le Guin's speech at National Book Awards: 'Books aren't just commodities' | Books | The Guardian.

Short-form blogging thoughts

Great thoughts on blogging in 2014 from Gina Trapani…

This is still a work-in-progress, notes-to-self kind of thing, but it’s been sitting in Draft for months now, so it’s time to get it out. With the obvious caveat that rules are made to be broken (with reason), my new rules for blogging are…

via Scribbling.net | Short-form blogging.

What if businesses and schools looking for big ideas followed Asimov’s advice?

The great ideas of the ages have come from people who weren’t paid to have great ideas, but were paid to be teachers or patent clerks or petty officials, or were not paid at all. The great ideas came as side issues.

via Published for the First Time: a 1959 Essay by Isaac Asimov on Creativity | MIT Technology Review.

The Next Printing Revolution

Having access to a 3D printer at Hammond has definitely changed the way I think about design, production, and consumption (in a school environment at least).

I greatly look forward to the concept of printing to continue to extend from hand written manuscripts to the printing press to 3D printing to this type of molecular crystal printing…

But the most interesting application has to be the potential for 3D-printed pills and medications. The technique could be adapted into a consumer-friendly machine allowing patients to simply print their own medicines in the exact dosages they need.

via Scientists Produce Rounded Crystals That Could Lead To 3D-Printed Pills.

Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday