Friday, February 29, 2008

New science book...

There's a new science book, online, called the Encyclopedia of Life (www.eol.org), that I've read about in the New York Times online edition in the Science section--really cool. more like a book of all species, really. It's planned to include every life form on the planet, from single cells, to plants, to mamals, you name it! And while the sceintific community is entering everything known to them about each species, and updating it, it will also be useful for the rest of us too! That's the part I really liked. If you're going on vacation to Thailand you could use the different wildlife parks as search terms and find out what animals you'd see, and more about them. Like when you're more likely to see them. (Like twilight, midnight, etc.)

The article did have reservations, since its a lofty goal, I mean, all species. And there is a shortage of the scientists that describe animals, I believe they are called taxonomists. And I was thinking, who is doing the work on the algorithims. Anyway, it does sound like a really cool new online tool.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Learning

I've always asked my own questions in addition to the usual classwork, and used the tools I was learning to use in school to answer those questions. That habit continued through the years, and through the different and more sophisticated tools, and when computers became commonplace, well, another tool! Actually, a lot more tools. The question is, which ones will I actually use, both in life and for work? I'm aware of several, but not always cerain how they'll help in the workplace. And I do have a talent for hitting the wrong keys and losing things (files, paragraphs, my entire first post...) But learning, falling down, sometimes spectacularly, and asking questions, are things I can do. And learning sometimes = life.