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Thursday 26th July saw the launch of SciLogs.com, a new English language science blog network. SciLogs.com, the brand-new home for Nature Network bloggers, forms part of the SciLogs international collection of blogs which already exist in German, Spanish and Dutch. To celebrate this addition to the NPG science blogging family, some of the NPG blogs are publishing posts focusing on Beginnings.

Participatingin this cross-network blogging festival is nature.coms Soapbox Science blog, Scitables Student Voices blog and bloggers from SciLogs.com, SciLogs.de, Scitable and Scientific Americans Blog Network. Join us as we explore the diverse interpretations of beginnings from scientific examples such as stem cellsto first time experiences such as publishing your first paper. You can also follow and contribute to the conversations on social media by using the #BeginScights hashtag. Bora

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Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all. Sir Winston Churchill, British politician (1874 1965)

In the 18th and 19th century collections of natural oddities and specimens were very popular among rich people. Most displayed material was collected by lucky discoverers, assistants or students, only much later also the noble men themselves got into the field, even is such activity was considered more a necessity to gather unique specimens than to understand nature.

The Swiss professor of philosophy Horace-Bndict de Saussure (1740-1799) was one of the first to propose to the savants of the time the necessity to gain also observations and measurements in the field. Savants was a general term adopted simply to well educated people interested in various arts like philosophy and medicine which often included studies of natural phenomena. Natural philosophy included all observable phenomena in nature, from the physiological reaction of the human body on the summit of a mountain to the rocks composing such a mountain. Natural philosophy was only loosely divided in three sub-disciplines- zoology, botany and mineralogy based on the collectable specimens (like animals, plants and minerals).

Fig.1. James Hutton (left) and Joseph Black portrayed as philosophers or early geognosts, caricature published in 1787 by John Kay (Edinburgh).

A much specific approach, to the structure of earth itself, was initiated by a new science emerging from geography and adapted to the necessities of the mining industries to understand better the underground.

In Germany the art called geognosie (earth knowledge) included the description and representation of the surface of earth, like geography, but widened its approach to the third dimension, hidden below the surface of earth. This science was referred also as mineralogical geography or with the french term of gographie souterraine (geography of the underground). Its goals are best understandable in the Italian name anatomia della terra anatomy of earth.

Fig.2. Luigi Ferdinando Marsili On the Structures of Mountains, published in 1705. Early geognosts mapped and developed a classification scheme for the various landscapes observed in nature; however a theory, explaining the formation of these features, was lacking.

Originally posted here:
In the Beginning Was the Word

Listen Now [2 min 38 sec] Max Whittaker/Getty Images

File: California Gov. Jerry Brown announces his public employee pension reform plan October 27, 2011 at the State Capitol in Sacramento.

Gov. Jerry Brown is a quotable man with a penchant for saying things that cause listeners to cock an eyebrow. At a press conference Wednesday, he told reporters, "I want to get s--- done." David Siders of the Sacramento Bee explains JerryBrownSays, a Twitter account devoted to curating the politician's one-liners.

"He's always putting things in an interesting way, and I think that's what's good about the account," Siders said. "We could just put quirky things he says that are only funny, so we could just laugh, but because he says things in a different way, it's interesting. He called the budget earlier this year a 'pretzel palace of incredible complexity.'"

Siders added that the only challenge with maintaining the Twitter feed is keeping up with Brown's vocabulary.

"I'm not sure if all the time the words actually exist. It's certainly composed of more than one language. He tends to speak in Latin, sometimes, which is beyond me. So that requires a turn to the dictionary," Siders joked.

We've gathered several of Brown's sidesplitting moments from @JerryBrownSays:

Storified by 89.3 KPCC Thu, Jul 26 2012 15:19:58

It's a pretzel palace of incredible complexity (state budget)Jerry Brown Says

Hi, this is Gov. Jerry Brown. I'm calling because California really needs your help. http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/04/jerry-brown-appeals-in-robo-calls-mailer-for-tax-initiative.htmlJerry Brown Says

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@JerryBrownSays: Gov. Brown's S-word slip not surprising

The Pac-12 announced today it is introducing a "Power of the PAC'' Facebook app intended to help fans let their service providers know that they want the conference's Networks, which are set to debut Aug. 15.

Here's the link.

As a press release from the conference reads, the app "lets users send an e-mail to their service providers requesting Pac-12 Networks. Each time a user submits an e-mail from the Power of the PAC app they are entered for a chance to win a trip to the 2012 Pac-12 Championship Football Game on November 30th, 2012. Users can also request Pac-12 Networks via Twitter and the hashtag #IWantPac12Networks.''

As further explained in the release "the app is being hosted by the Pac-12 conference's Facebook page and all of the Pac-12 school's Facebook pages.''

The Pac-12 last week announced it had reached a deal with the National Cable Television Cooperative. And it earlier reached deals with Comcast, Time Warner, Cox Communications and Bright House.

However, it is still working to reach distribution agreements with other companies, notably DirecTV (though as Jon Wilner noted earlier this week, signs are positive in that regard) and Dish.

For more info on Pac-12 Networks and to find out if you will get it, click here.

Read more here:
Pac-12 attempting to spread word about its Networks

July 26, 2012, 7:46 AM PDT

Takeaway: Words Go To feature has two modes of navigation. You can use it to access an element once, or you can browse common elements, one by one.

You probably know that you can use the Go To feature ([F5]) to quickly access any number of elements in your document. You can go to a specific page, section, line, bookmark, and so on. You simply press [F5], identify the element, and enter a number-easy as pie.

What you might not know is that you can use this same feature to browse through the document. By browse, I mean you can step through common elements easily. For example, you can use this feature to access, in order, all the endnotes in a document, one by one, without specifying each one by number.

First, lets run though a quick example using Go To to access a single element. When doing so, remember that this feature begins searching at the cursors position, so you might want to move the cursor first - or not. Then, press [F5] and identify the element, such as Endnote. Then, enter a number in the Enter control, and click Go To. Thats it!

Now, lets suppose you want to browse all the endnotes. To do so, youd position the cursor where you want to start browsing and press [F5]. Next, youd select Endnote, as before. But this time, instead of entering a number in the Enter control, youd press Next. Hmmmm, Next wasnt available in the last example, was it? It was, until you entered a number in the Enter control - thats when Word changed the Next label to Go To. Try it all again and watch that label update, if you like.

Without entering a number, click Next to move through the documents endnotes, one by one. Click Close when youre done.

You can also move back and forth between sections and return to browsing later - its up to you. Knowing that Go To has an additional navigating behavior is the key to using it efficiently.

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Use Word's Go To feature to browse common elements

A dictionary is relevant even in todays digital world, asserts Joanna Turnbull, managing editor of Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary Eighth Edition

The good old dictionary is going strong. Even in an era when words open up at the click of a mouse. Our dictionaries sell extremely well. They are not only tools that you can carry in the palm of your hand but also access at the tap of the screen. We provide information in different forms as a CD Rom, app for android smartphones and iPhones. We provide the best of both worlds, says Joanna Turnbull, managing editor of Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (OALD) Eighth Edition.

She is on a visit to India as part of the Oxford University Press Indias centenary activities for school teachers and is conducting workshops for them in Lucknow, Kolkata and Pune. The workshops are aimed to guide middle school teachers on using the dictionary as an effective tool to help students improve their writing skills. She was in Chennai recently and spoke to the English Language Teachers Association of India on the role of dictionaries.

Oxford has a long history in India. In India, think dictionary and you think Oxford, says Turnbull. The history of the learners dictionary goes back to 1948 when A.S. Hornby had the idea of publishing one how to use the word and also provide illustrations and simple definitions. All these features are still there, says Turnbull, but now we have infused new technology, she says.

The dictionary in the book form is used while one is working at the desk but while students are outside, they refer to the digital one, says Turnbull opening out the Eighth Edition of the Advanced Learners dictionary that comes with a CD Rom.

How relevant is a dictionary in todays digital world? Very, she replies. We have new editions that connect it with todays world with technology and the social media. The role of the teacher comes in a big way, adds Turnbull.

We conducted world wide research. We were surprised to find the problems and challenges the same in countries where English is not the native language. Students find writing difficult. They dont plan their writing and dont check their written work. The teacher can play a vital role in helping students consult the dictionary and the way it is used. Which age group uses dictionaries the most? Anyone who is learning English, and requires information that can help him / her pass an exam, get a job, improve language skills and vocabulary.

It must be quite a challenge to decide what words to introduce in the dictionary and what to take out It is dangerous to take words out. But sometimes there are words such as millennium bug, which are typical of the times and so we have removed them. Before words go in, we consult the corpus of English to test them out. The corpus has three billion words! The corpus tells us how language is being used today, whether words are worthy of being used or not. Lexicographers in the past had to use their intuition, now we can be more scientific. Most of my colleagues are teachers and they exercise their judgment. So now both science and judgment go into the process.

My research team and I have introduced the topic collocation notes, for example, Environment. The Oxford Writing Tutor is another distinct feature. It contains guidelines on how to write essays, reports, formal letters, business and academic e-mails, CV This helps the student work in tandem with the Oxford iWriter, which is part of the CD Rom.

Do texting and the way the young people use language pose challenges to those who bring out dictionaries? Thats a form of communication. Some of them find serious writing difficult. We reflect how younger people are using words. We have people around the world constantly searching for new words. When my team members and I see or hear a new word on television, we immediately take it down. In fact, it is a sort of compulsion; it takes over our lives, she laughs.

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Word building