Thursday, March 24, 2011

Happening in Antarctica: Coming Attraction-Deltas of Animal House





Lessons on Inductive Reasoning:

Deltas of Animal House

Happening in Antarctica : Is it a bird?

Prestige brings in grants and support for Harvard. There are people, places, and things, that have very little to do with that. Where world class grantsmanship is more ancestral, traditional, and less competitive, prestige in the opposite of what you desire. Can Antarctic research be done in an Hawaiian library? Is there an hereditary line of Greenland mestizo-eskimos supported at NSF, perhaps connected with Admiral Peary?


Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Happening in Antarctica : Antarctica Melting?


A postdoc publishes a paper based on his doctoral thesis, but ... in his defense presentation consisting of only 35mm slides flipped by someone else, it was indicated that his snow pit samples had melted in transit from Antarctica. He was given his degree regardless. In his paper he claims to be making analyses of ice cores on the Siple Coast. What gives? Here we look a little at his paper, which is included here.

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Friday, April 17, 2009

Happening in Antarctica : Cui bono?

There have been a couple of mysterious deaths in Antarctica. In one case a USARP fellow just wandered away from a remote camp and was never seen again. I have never understood this, and perhaps someday I will. I would like to tell you about the other case : the death of Dr. Edward Thiel.

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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Happening in Antarctica : Another Joke?


Milton Berle, a notorious joke collector, was busy stealing yet another joke when a comedian, he said, made him laugh so hard, "I nearly dropped my pencil." Today, though, standards are different : Jokes are a serious matter. It places food on the table for a fledgling comedian. To steal a vintage joke, actually demonstrates your own lack of understanding the humour crowd.

So what of people engaged in polar work, that do not actually do any polar work? Do they get so cold thinking of going to cold regions that they have to get up and tweak the thermostat, whilst contemplating the climate? Are these guys real researchers? Let me present a case in point.


When a person borrows from one source they call it plagiarism, when they borrow from several sources they call it research.


This was once thought to be an apt idea. Today, though, in some circles, borrowing from one source is also called research (actually more like just a little reading), and published refe

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

Happening in Antarctica : A Real Biology Program?


I have indicated how the VIP's that visit Antarctica are shown the same cod, and told the story of fish-born anti-freeze. I wonder if you could take a cod for a ride on a cold day in the ocean? Now more interesting biological information is emerging from Antarctica. But, is the US NSF program involved?

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Saturday, March 15, 2008

Happening in Antarctica : Buy a position at Caltech/JPL

Is it possible to buy a position for someone at CALTECH/JPL? Many people have their applications ignored or rejected. Perhaps when people are bribed for some people to get in, this makes it more difficult for others who are without bribes. You can pay the annual tuition yourself (quite expensive). If your faculty advisor is in the NSF Antarctic Program, however, he can buy someone a graduate position with public money! Why use your own?

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