Memecree

George Winston created must listen for every Peanut Fan

Gesine — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:43:00 +0000

One of my all-time favorite composers George Winston has made his latest record “Love Will Come” an homage to Vince Guaraldi, known to most people for his contributions to the Peanutses musical score on episodes such as “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965). During a brief first listen to pieces such as “Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown” and “Woodstock” warm memories instantly came alive and made me wallow in nostalgia. George Winston cleverly synthesizes ideas of memorable musical themes from the Peanuts episodes with his own interpretation of this timeless classic and out comes, well a new classic! Not only an aural pleasure for die-hard Peanuts Fans but also a joy for those who yet have to meet Charlie Brown on the screen, children and adults alike. An absolute must listen!

(image of Charlie and Snoopy taken from Jenbee @ tumblr )

Special Collection of the OSU Library provides a one of a kind insight

Gesine — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:20:00 +0000

The special collection of the Oregon State University Library holds a rare gem of science history. In 1922 young scientist Linus Pauling decided to do what any fledgling science scholar is advised to and what we are thankful for today: He wrote his ideas and experiments down in notebooks. Spanning over 72 years the notebooks tell a tale of a diverse career in science leading to a Nobel Prize in chemistry and many collaborations with other influential minds of the century, such as Francis Crick. The 46 notebooks have been nicely chronicled and their contents is displayed online at the University Library’s commemorative webpage.

(image of Linus Pauling: EnCognitive)

Board Game Round-Up

Gesine — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:32:00 +0000

Board Games offer the opportunity to engage ones mind in recreational problem solving. Apart from time well spent away from the desk board games can invite the player to be social and evoke versatile playing behavior and strategies, depending on the theme of the game. I decided to do a round-up of ten games which seem intriguing each for their individual reasons:
(click on the name to get a description)

1. Scrabble

The classic nutbuster for the letter lover!

2. Mr. Jack

2 player deduction game calling upon your logic skills!

3. Mechaton – Giant fighty robots

Get your Lego, print the game and get your own robot war started…what more need I say?

4. Tribes

A Steve Jackson classic, tribe is a simple role playing game taking you back to the important things in life!

5. Go

An ancient hit, sleek and simple yet a pleasure to play over and over again!

6. Ricochet Robots

A puzzle for anywhere from 1 up to 10 people, where planning ahead comes in handy!

7. Pandemic

Catch them if you can! Co-operative game play makes for the strategy to save the world.

8. Ticket to ride – Europe

Convinces with quick to learn rules and diverse game play elements in simple yet delicate design.

9. Gro – Battle for the Petri-Dish

Save even for the most germaphobe amongst us.
Make your bacteria grow the fastest to claim the
petri dish!

10. RoboRally

Provide the right programming code for your robot to be built in the factory and things will probably go wrong…sounds familiar? Maybe, but definitely is more fun!

(image of Sheldon Cooper taken from TV Fanatic)
(board game images and descriptions taken from amazon and Board Game Geek)

“The Physicist in the Kitchen”

Gesine — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:15:00 +0000

It seems all things appear suddenly more interesting when viewed from a scientific perspective. Cooking is one of these things. I recently discovered the blog Khymos created by Dr. Martin Lersch, which offers a vast amount of information on all things science in the kitchen. Amongst other things one can learn about the history of this rather young discipline:

In the late 1960s, Nicholas Kurti (left), a hungarian born physicist, set out to revolutionize our conventional conception of cooking. He thought there are more aspects to preparing a meal than the usual meat over fire procedure and did what he felt was the only right thing. He merged both culinary and scientific methods to gain a better understanding of the produce’s behavior under application of different physical and chemical solutions. Soon Kurti was joined in his venture by french chemist Dr. Herve This and together they created the discipline today known as “molecular gastronomy”. Their work caught on with many other people from similar fields of origin, who followed their lead with great interest and started exploring. This has lead to a vast increase in available material on molecular gastronomy, ranging from books and videos (like the one below from Dr. Herve) to articles and podcasts.

An especially visually pleasing experience rich in information provides this FLYP portrait of chef Homan Cantu “A Menu with Meaning”.

(image of Nicholas Kurti taken from Gourmet Girl Magazine)

Gadgets will have to do for now – at least there’s plenty

Gesine — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:42:00 +0000

It’s that dreadful moment many scientists frequently fear when finding themselves removed from the comfort of their own lab: a social interaction. The possible scenarios are endless but in each case seem to baffle the participant for various reasons. After all, how can not spending time in the lab or deep thought be useful?
Situations of social awkwardness should be avoided for the sake of all participants and science.

The recent triple-feature star wars weekend is still resonating in my brain’s circuits and so the answer seems ridiculously straightforward: A social droid – the suave friend, who wittingly applies all rules of social conduct with superior ease while emanating the warm glow of approachability. He easily guides you through any impending human interaction, even deflects it from you, if you wish (to get back to the lab).

Considering the current advances of such social droids on the market I couldn’t say that such a model exists -yet. But not to fear! I believe there still is a way to solve this social conundrum. Having to fall back on more conventional technology I say the answer is equally simple: Gadgets.
Versatile in their functionality, they can be used in social situations in many different ways:

Wow your fellow party guests with the latest of your gadgets. Make it a topic.

Skillfully fiddle around with your gadget creating the impression of being busy.

Use it to create an excuse to leave early. There’s always that one important phone call to make, impromptu meetings, taxes, bar mitzvah…

Maybe you can find inspiration on one of the following sites:

Gizmine
Gizmodo
Think Geek
Geeky Gadgets