Recent Posts
7 Years Ago, The City Fell
It’s hard to believe that seven years have passed since my home city of Christchurch, New Zealand changed forever. On February 22, 2011, at precisely 12:51pm, an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale leveled the city. I kid you not.
For many other earthquake-ridden cities around the world, it took an earthquake of much greater magnitude to cause anywhere near the same level of devastation, but even then, it’s not nearly every building in the CBD that needs to be demolished. Over 70% of the buildings suffered irreparable damage during that quake, continuing to stand only just long enough so people could get out. Some buildings didn’t even do that. Whole suburbs, most of East Christchurch, needed to be abandoned and bulldozed to the ground — and because if it, we have a severe housing shortage, even seven years later. But what really makes Christchurch so unique is that we were already a broken city.
ConvoScience: Dating Turkey Dinosaurs
I know, it’s an odd title to an episode of Conversation in Science, but it was an honest one. Jessie Sanders, my producer, was doing some research for one of her other shows, looking up some of the latest news about Turkey — not the gobble, gobble type, but the country. Well, in her research, she encountered an article about dinosaurs the size of turkeys discovered in Australia. Of course, she fired the article my way, but it sparked a whole new topic for Conversations in Science.
How does one actually date a turkey dinosaur?
Is driving a thing of the past?
For many of us, getting the driver’s license was a rite of passage. We were counting the days, possibly even minutes, until we were old enough to put in the application and sit that first test. The first time behind the wheel, we bunny hopped down the road, tires squealed, and we flew forward as we put the brake on a little hard. (And in my case, I gave my mother a heart attack and her first gray hair.) When we passed our practicals, it was party time and driving down to our favorite haunts to show off the piece of paper.
However, something has changed. While we were biting on the bit to get our driver’s license, the current generation of youth don’t seem to care.
Who are these children? What am I missing that is the secret to this apathy from the next generation?
Friendship: A Poem from 1997
In digging through some old notebooks, I came across a stack of free-form poetry that I wrote when I was in college. For an engineering student, they possess emotion that is so unusual for an engineer. (What is wrong with the world? An engineer revealing emotion?) I thought I would share just one of those poems now. I hope you like it.
Book Doctor: Definitions that make the blood boil.
I’ve been looking at my editorial website and trying to work out ways to get better SEO attraction. Website design, social media, and SEO. It’s become my thing. The real trick seems to be to find the right buzz word. Well…
I’ve had to succumb to peer pressure. I’ve had to start using the latest buzz word for developmental editing — and I HATE it.
I’m a BOOK DOCTOR. Now I will go sit in the corner and sulk. Here’s why.
There are two things that I hate about being called a book doctor.
- Everyone seems to be using it now. Which is why I need to start using it myself — just so I can be found on the Google searches.
- The stigma and definitions associated make my blood boil.
Let me explain.
Conversations in Science went Loony over all things Lunar
Supermoon. Blue moon. Blood moon. Wolf moon. Lunar Eclipse.
The full moons of January 2018 are sending all of us a little loony, howling at the moon. Those of us at Conversations in Science were no different. Jessie and I went a little crazy as we spoke about all things LUNAR.
Do you want to know why the next full moon, due to occur on January 31st, is a Red Blue Moon? Take a listen to this month’s episode of Conversations in Science to get the lowdown on all the crazy terms that people have for the moon, and what they really mean.