dietsch ::

Seed Mag follow-up

Christopher Mims of the Seed staff was kind enough to post here, to reassure all three of my readers that the Seed Magazine site will be relaunched soon, and that it will be "fully the equal of the magazine." Good news. I see from various blogs [links below] that the print edition of Seed has indeed relaunched, with advance copies going out to prominent science bloggers. The Seed Media Group site says the mag will be available worldwide on October 1, but I'm going to sneak down to the big Hudson News in GC after work to see whether it has arrived yet. I'm pleased to see that its cover story, a Chris Mooney piece on the evolution/intelligent design "controversy," is already sparking debate on Luboš Motl's blog, even before the magazine hits newsstands. That's both the point and the value of Seed, in my opinion: to highlight the role of science in our governance and culture. To see such a vibrant discussion appear so soon is, to my eyes, delightful. [Links: Luboš Motl; Clifford Johnson; Peter Woit; Chris Mooney and his The Republican War on Science.] I'm eager to get the new Seed, but this is a busy period for me, and I don't know how quickly I'll actually read the thing. Here's a list of things I'm working on right now, usually at lunch and on the train:

• the book Evolution : The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory
• daily reads of the Wall Street Journal
• a self-taught review of algebra, trigonometry, and calculus
• the book The Joy of Mixology : The Consummate Guide to the Bartender's Craft
• a reread of Tender Is the Night, which I've sort of stalled on, because I pretty much hate Dick and Nicole Diver and their social circle
• Planning a wedding
• Revamping my website (look, Todd, color!)

All this in addition to watching cool TV shows (My Name Is Earl, Everybody Hates Chris), cooking yummy dinners, and sleeping. I don't know where I'm going to slot Seed in, but I'll have to find some place for it.

Kriegers shoot the vaca

Go see!        

Kate's backyard

Back from vacation!

How soon is now?

The triathletic* Kelly Sue asks, "Where is here?" Here is Kate's Lazy Meadow, owned by Kate Pierson of the B-52s. Kate's is in Mt. Tremper, New York, not far from Woodstock. [Link: lazymeadow.com] "When" is Thursday through Sunday. "Who" is me, the missus, and the Miami Kriegers. *Triathlon: That's not the one where you ski around and shoot things, is it?

On Thursday, you'll find me here:

Pound peeling

From Kelly Sue's place, a Mayo Clinic evaluation of five popular diet plans. More interesting for me, though, was the related article providing six strategies for weight-loss success. I've been doing the Hacker's Diet (no, that's not a joke) for about five weeks now. I'm doing well so far but since I have a habit of dropping exercise and weight-loss plans after a few weeks, I'd rather stick it out a while longer before really talking about it. [Links: Weight-loss options: 5 popular diet approaches - MayoClinic.com  |  Weight loss: 6 strategies for success - MayoClinic.com]

Science journalism

Ever since reading my grandfather's Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines as a kid, and later subscribing to the kids' science magazine Odyssey, I've had a thing for sci-tech publications, so two news items this week pricked up my interest. Seed Magazine returns this month, after almost a year off. I've been looking for a new issue for months, with no luck, so this is happy news. I started reading with the second issue and loved its emphasis on science and culture. Its publisher, Seed Media Group, secured a new round of capitalization and is poised to launch ventures online, on television, and in other media. The website, which just yesterday featured content from the magazine's last issue, a year ago, is now vacant pending a relaunch. I love Seed's mission: to increase public awareness of science to equip citizens to understand the fast-changing world around them. To that end, it features a mix of short fiction, interviews, conversations between scientists and writers, profiles of artists whose works incorporate science themes, and voters' guides to science issues in political campaigns. But it was often plagued by lateness. Its worthwhile series about science issues and the 2004 presidential campaign published its final voters' guide after the November election, and its calendar of upcoming events often featured stuff that had already come and gone. I'm hoping the new financing will help Seed address these problems. I was also frustrated that after an initial round of blogger and web interest (Boing Boing called it Maxim for science writing, which was a bit facile), it seemed to drop off the radar, and I could never find anything online, whether from official sources or connected bloggers, to explain its absence from newsstands. However, I'm glad it's back, because I think the magazine plugs a big hole in the media. [Links: WWD Memo Pad: Seed Money ... Art Of Style; Seed Media Group; Seed Magazine Online] Also, there's word today that Bob Guccione Jr. is buying Discover magazine from Disney. Old-timers might recall that isn't the Guccione family's first attempt at science publishing. Omni began in the late 1970s and featured articles and fiction, usually wrapped up in lovely cover paintings. I remember reading it as a kid, and although I don't really recall much about the contents, I do remember really enjoying the hell out of it. The Wikipedia page did remind me, though, that I first read portions of Stephen King's Firestarter in its pages. I've never really cared for Discover. (I'd rather see a resurrected Omni.) If Seed is Maxim for science writing, Discover is probably TV Guide. But its good to see the Gucciones back in popular-science. [Links: New York Times: Disney's Discover Magazine Soon to Have a New Owner; Omni (magazine)] Be smart, by the way, and do not try out omnimag.com on a whim, for it now leads to penthouse.com.

Confidential

Please don't strap an empty saddlebag to my back and then chastise me for failing to carry two hundred pounds of provisions up the mountain.

Yo!

It just isn't fair. Fuck gets all the attention. Sure, it's a versatile word, applicable to just about any human situation. But all sorts of people have written about fuck, and I want to discuss something different today. On the corner of Broadway and Myrtle, in Bushwick, are three corner stores. As far as I can tell, their most important contribution to the local economy is in the supply of Colt and Corona to neighborhood gentlemen. As is usually the case, each of the three stores had a group of men out front, when I passed at 6:55 am. As I approached the stairs to the train, a fellow across the street yelled, "Yo!" A guy standing with one group then replied, "Yo!," and darted in front of me, across the street, and through oncoming traffic to the other group. This set off a call-and-response, one group to the other, across the busy intersection: "Yo!," said one man. "Yo!," replied another. As I climbed the stairs and crossed the street on the overpass, I heard yo knocked about like a volleyball. Fuck, I can get behind. When I hear it, no matter the context, I usually know what the fucking fuckety duckfucker means who says it. But yo? Other than "Hey," I don't know what the hell it means. I still don't know what it was in that first yo that specifically said, "Luis! I need you over here immediately! Dodge that bus and get your ass over here!"

Walk the Line

I'm skeptical about the film, but boy howdy, do I love this poster: