so I’m desperately trying to teach myself Python, as well as Ruby on Rails. anyone have any really, really good resources for COMPLETE beginners? as I said to the husband, “What I need at this point is not so much Python as garter snake.”
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Unreal Singapore
On ‘real Singapore’ People don’t like the use of the phrase ‘real’ Singapore, ‘real America’ etc because it implies that there is a particular mode that is more authentic than others. And yes, this goes for ad campaigns that attempt to celebrate ‘real women’ too. I’m thoroughly ticked off by the latter sort of ad…
snapshots from the Metcalf workshop day 1
This week I’m on the Metcalf Institute’s annual workshop for journalists; it’s based at the University of Rhode Island’s graduate school of oceanography, and it gets journalists out into the field to better understand how science and scientists work. Today (Monday) is the second day and the first full day; we started off with a dinner…
snacks for thought
From Peter Kageyama’s For The Love of Cities: “We tend to think of “the city” or “the community” as an entity, a single identifiable construct to which we assign attributes and characteristics much like we would a corporation or an individual… …In asking ourselves how to change a community, we need to remember that any community…
Misty morning run at the Rail Corridor
Why hello there… it’s been a while. Things have been wacky at work. And only partly in a good way. More on that later. A couple of weeks ago I ran part of the Rail Corridor trail with some friends, just for fun. It’s been some time since the tracks were removed at the end of last…
Untouched primary forests are “irreplaceable”
The Straits Times, Saturday 1 October 2011 UNTOUCHED primary forests are ‘irreplaceable’ when it comes to saving tropical biodiversity, say researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS). Their work with scientists from Australia, Europe and the US analysed studies from around the world, comparing undisturbed forests with those that had been affected by farming,…
Pandas, Chinese environmental awareness and the Singapore conservation story
I took a trip recently to Chengdu and northern Sichuan (more on that some other time), but one highlight was, of course, the pandas. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, China, is a pretty odd place: part research centre, yes, but also in part a farm. Its panda-husbandry and artificial-insemination techniques are finely…
on the reading list
1. Scientific American, September 2011, special issue on cities. (Look out for the William Gibson essay!) 2. Ultima Thule, by Davis McCombs who is a tremendous poet. Tremendous. Also knows his Kentucky caves inside out. I have nothing but respect for that. 3. Jane Jacobs, The Death & Life of Great American Cities. 4. Jonathan Watts, the Guardian’s…
Conditioning help
Once operant conditioning is in place, and there is no hope of extinction, can it be got rid of? Can anyone point me to studies on this? Tangentially related, how do you stave off Internet procrastination? (That’s the learned behaviour which won’t go extinct, as the reward – interesting things on the Internet! – is…
Return of the Roadster
Tesla sports car returns to electrify roads Importer banks on after-sales service to sell electric speedster, sedan By Grace Chua, The Straits Times, Thursday 21 July MOTORISTS here who want to draw envious stares while feeling environmentally friendly will soon be able to get behind the wheel of the world’s first electric sports car. The…