attn

Annals of Absurdies in Plaigiarism

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 18:09:41 -0400

Hans Werner Gottinger has been exposed by science policy expert Ben Martin as having copied verbatim whole paragraphs from other authors, apparently bamboozling his peer-reviewers with the (apparently uncommon) use of mathematical equations in his social science articles. In his publications, he also has been lying outright about his credentials, saying that he is affiliated with a university to which has has no ties at all.

Then, the icing on the cake:

“In a final twist, Martin has found that one of Gottinger’s papers (in 1992) may itself have been plagiarized — in 2005, by an academic from Zimbabwe. “

From http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v448/n7154/full/448632b.html

Horray Jebediah Springfield!

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 17:59:25 -0400

News

Nature 448, 632 (9 August 2007) | doi:10.1038/448632a; Published online 8 August 2007

Sidelines

Wordwatch

Embiggen

In a case of theoretical physics imitating art, ‘embiggen’, first coined by The Simpsons character Jebediah Springfield, has now been used in a paper on string theory by Stanford University’s Shamit Kachru. In case you need a definition, it means ‘to grow or expand’. Obviously.

Chimpanzees are vengeful but not spiteful -PNAS

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 17:04:13 -0400

Chimpanzees are vengeful but not spiteful -PNAS

More Jerry-Rigging: home-made flow cell.

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 13:20:08 -0400

More Jerry-Rigging: home-made flow cell.

Jerry-Rigging At Work

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 13:15:01 -0400

Jerry-Rigging At Work

Pseudomamma!!!

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 17:14:49 -0400

Pseudomamma!!!

A glimpse into my sleepytime universe

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:31:11 -0400

Time: 3:15 AM

A: my brother doesn't have enough room for the DC walnut, so he's petitioning me to store it over the weekend

K: (between giggles) Are you going to?

A: I dunno ... I think I'll have a cruiser by then.

I laughed but then I felt bad.

Thu, 31 May 2007 01:30:58 -0400

There is about a half cm of rubber sole between my foot and the...

Wed, 09 May 2007 04:18:00 -0400

There is about a half cm of rubber sole between my foot and the pavement, yet I continue to wear these shoes every day.

In fact, some weekends I’ll walk up to eight miles wearing these flipflops.

Decode my cryptic new language.

Wed, 09 May 2007 00:51:09 -0400

5y8w oqht7qt3 294iw g6 wy8r58ht 6974 r8ht34w h945y 9r 5y3 y9j3 492l

Hint: It’s a lot easier to produce than to decode.

Skype’s “always front” feature gone horribly...

Tue, 08 May 2007 06:17:10 -0400

Skype’s “always front” feature gone horribly awry.

Kati and I have been keeping daily contact over Skype. It’s nice because the sound quality is better than a phone, and since it’s hands free we can talk as if we’re in the same room together. However, at least on the Macintosh, the Skype team hasn’t yet worked out all the bugs.

First Post

Tue, 08 May 2007 06:16:08 -0400

Hello World!

I’ll be posting stuff that catches my attention.