Colin McAllister's Travels

Borneo Longhouses to have Internet Access Soon

2009-09-25T09:42:00.004+08:00

Longhouses to have Internet Access Soon. Reported in the Borneo Post, 25 September, 2009, p. 15. Broadband Internet services will be available in several longhouses in Lubok Antu and Engkilili once the Community Broadband project is completed. "The Internet is also a good way to promote the longhouse to people in other parts of the world" said MP William Nyalau anak Badak. The town "Engkilili" is in the Sri Aman Division of Sarawak, Malaysia. The longhouse is a traditional dwelling on the Island of Borneo in South East Asia. The Sri Aman government website is under construction. My photo shows a traditional longhouse at Sarawak Cultural Village, near Kuching in Malaysia. It is not the longhouse mentioned in the news article. Discuss this and other Internet related topics on the Equatorial 2.0 discussion group on Facebook.

Thinking Upstream About Ideas and Human Rights

2009-06-27T21:29:00.004+08:00

My other blog Thinking Upstream, about ideas and human rights, is based on online news of some of the bloggers and journalists who remain unjustly imprisoned in several countries. As one blogger among many, I hope to draw attention to the people mentioned, urging that we each seek peaceful ways to secure their freedom. They have been hurt by authoritarianism and its cruel repression, and by those who execute that repression or gain from it. I have no experience of the countries mentioned, but am convinced of the accuracy of the news, by the variety of reputable publications, to which I refer in the hyper-links of my posts. I blog about human rights because: all freedoms and rights are fragile, and at risk of being lost, if we are even a little careless. Thinking Upstream is now a PDF file on Scribd.com for easy offline reading, even in places where Friendster is blocked. I used Google Translate to machine-translate it into various languages, also in PDF format on Scribd.com.Thinking Upstream is at: http://cmcallister.blog.friendster.com/. Your comments are welcome.
The image refers to United Nations' Article 19, and contains photos of victims of repression.

Ferrymen at Bako National Park

2009-02-20T16:39:00.003+08:00

Ferrymen waiting to return visitors home from a rain forest trek at Bako National Park in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

2009-02-08T17:54:00.007+08:00

I wish my friends a prosperous and happy Chinese New Year and Gong Xi Fa Cai. This holiday coincides with the end of rainy season, which has been a bad one in Sarawak. Term is starting at the universities and we will be expected to work like oxen in the Year Of The Ox.

Universities and Transport in Sarawak Malaysia

2009-01-04T15:05:00.004+08:00

As a newcomer to Sarawak, transport was a big problem for me, so I bought a scooter. You can buy a used scooter in Malaysia for MYR 3000 or less. Motorcycling is not without risk, so always were a helmet. I fell off and broke a couple of ribs. If you can afford MYR 10,000 to 25,000, you could buy an old car when you arrive. I taught Physics at Curtin University near Miri, and have just started working at Swinburne University in Kuching, lecturing in Computing and Design. If you live on campus, you will have less worry about transport and housing. Kuching is a GREAT city, much smaller than KL and much bigger than Miri. It's too early for me to comment on Swinburne University, except to say that I am impressed by the facilities, which are in a down town location. If you are looking for a more rural campus, I recommend Curtin University near Miri, Sarawak. Related groups on Facebook are Swinburne University of Technology (Sarawak) and Curtin University of Technology Sarawak Campus. There is a bus service from Curtin University, via the Senadin suburb to Miri city center.

Discuss Mathematics on Friendster?

2008-10-29T18:51:00.008+08:00

All are welcome to join the "Mirimatics" group at Friendster.com. An unofficial online forum for discussing: mathematics and popular or obscure stories about mathematics, fact or fiction.

Mirimatics Topic List:

Does the use of examples make learning mathematics more difficult?
Statistical Evidence on the need for Helmet Laws
Where can undergraduates publish mathematics research?
Does Bistromathics explain the global financial slowdown?
Open License makes OpenGL Graphics Library more available
Is your aptitude for mathematics being neglected and wasted?
Interested in the mathematics of computer games?

I use Friendster.com because it is popular in Asia. I also opened the "Sarawak Science" group, an unofficial forum for discussing science. I blog on Friendster at "Thinking Upstream".

Sabah, Malaysia has the Worlds Longest Insects

2008-10-17T19:49:00.002+08:00

A 56.7cm long stick insect, of the previously unknown species "Phobaeticus chani", was discovered by a Sabah resident in 1989, and given to Malaysian amateur naturalist Datuk Chan Chew Lun. Not including its legs, the insect’s body measures 35.7cm. The specimen is on display in the Natural History Museum in England. Read the N.H.M. article "World's longest insect revealed" for more details. It says "The world's longest insect, a 56.7cm long stick-insect from Borneo, is revealed at the Natural History Museum today." British scientist Dr Philip Bragg described and named this stick-insect and details are in the journal Zootaxa. As noted by Chan Chew Lin, in The Encyclopedia of Malaysia, "Probably 200-250 species of these (leaf and stick insects) inhabit the rainforests of Malaysia." In addition to discovering new species, Chan Chew Lun is chief editor of the Natural History Publications series. Reference and insect photo from http://www.welt.de/english-news/.

Yukawa's Pionymous Legacy

2008-10-08T08:45:00.012+08:00

Physicists Hideki Yukawa (1907-1981), Shoichi Sakata, Mitsuo Taketani, Richard Feynman, Enrico Fermi, Murray Gell-Mann and many others of their generation laid the foundations for the science of fundamental particles. Particle physicists of the early 20th century theorised and discovered pions, muons and quarks, the subatomic components of matter. The science was encapsulated in the Standard Model of Physics which evolved in the early 1970's. The three winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2008 were recognised for their contribution to the Standard Model. Their discoveries explain the broken symmetry in subatomic physics, and the vast difference between the amount of matter and antimatter in the universe. The Standard Model has been well tested, at places like Fermilab (named after Enrico Fermi) and CERN. The experiments can be as grand as the Large Hadron Collider, or as simple as releasing a balloon into the upper atmosphere to detect cosmic-rays. In 1935, Yukawa realised that particles were responsible for carrying the nuclear force between the protons and neutrons in the nucleus. The pion (pi meson) particle predicted by Yukawa was discovered in 1947. Yukawa was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1949 for this prediction. Quarks and pions occur within the atomic nucleus. One of the 2008 Nobel Prize winners, Yoichiro Nambu, proposed the gluon particle, which carries the colour between quarks. The search for fundamental particles continues today in the hunt for the Higgs boson, a particle that is required to explain symmetry-breaking. The Yukawa Institute of Theoretical Physics at Kyoto University is named after Hideki Yukawa. Toshihide Maskawa, one of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2008, is a Professor Emeritus at the Yukawa Institute.

Who was Isaac Newton? Let's communicate!

2008-10-06T18:58:00.005+08:00

“Who was Isaac Newton?” If you are a Physics student; that is the kind of question you might ask on the Internet. Or, if you are concerned about your health, you might ask “What are the dangers of trans fat?” In addition to Google and Yahoo, there are many places where you can look for answers. The web site Ask.com (now with more answers) is specifically designed to answer questions. WebMd.com is a good place to seek general health advice. Of course, you should first consult your family doctor or teacher, especially if you have an urgent or important question. My doctor is from England, so he knows all about Sir Isaac Newton! You have the right to ask questions, and you also have a duty to answer questions, and publicise your expertise and research. This is especially true if you are, or want to become, a scientist, engineer or a professional in any specialised discipline. The right to communicate is so important that it is protected by the United Nations, and in most countries. Communication helps us to work together to solve problems, especially global problems like pollution and space exploration, that are too big for any individual scientist or even any one continent to solve on their own. There are many ways to communicate, SMS, email, and social networking web sites like Facebook and Friendster. As part of your education, you should make use of your communication skills. Many of you are multilingual, a skill that is less common around the world than you may realise. Personally, I have made a lot of effort to communicate in my few months as lecturer at Curtin Sarawak Malaysia. I created three web logs, and joined three social networking sites. None of this is complicated; blogs have standard templates that let you become a blogger in a few hours. I am not asking you to join a social networking site, as you should give priority to your family, studies and job. But, if you are already on Facebook, Friendster or LinkedIn, then join in the discussions. For example, I invited a science researcher Erik Tunstad to join my class on Facebook. Contact individual scientists and ask them about their research, or offer to discuss your own interests with them. You could send your questions to research publications like http://www.forskning.no/ in Norway, or to equivalent publications in your own country. I suggested to my students that they could contact researchers of computer games, for example Torill Mortensen who blogs in English at torillsin.blogspot.com. It is not essential that you speak Norwegian; Translate.google.com lets you read websites from China to Norway, and beyond. I am making a general recommendation that you initiate discussion at any reputable research site on the Internet. There are never enough ways to communicate; I added a group “Sarawak Science” on Friendster that I invite you to participate in. It is an unofficial group; refer to its description. I entered a few articles there to get the discussion started, but I wish to let others do the discussing. Like the airline cabin crew who advise you how to put on a life jacket; I advise caution online. The Internet is very public, so avoid discussing personal details that you would rather keep private. If your network has limited bandwidth, avoid web surfing during peak times. Some universities and businesses do not approve of social networking sites and web mail, and recommend that you use company email. The best communication is face to face, but the Internet is a tool that lets us meet a wide range of people and broaden our education. As the YouTube Generation; Let's use it!

Trouble in Physics - Blogged at Forskning.no

2008-10-01T17:56:00.003+08:00

Trobbel i fysikken by, Erik Tunstad, summarises the dilemma of theoretical physics that is the backdrop to the Large Hadron Collider experiment. Referencing physicists Lee Smolin and Peter Woit, he quotes key questions such as "Why has physical theory stood still since the early 1970s?" The blog is in the Norwegian research publication Forskning.no. A partial English translation can be read, by pasting the URL into: translate.google.com. Online articles by the referenced authors include: Einstein's Legacy -- Where are the Einsteinians? by Lee Smolin, and, Discover Magazine's Susan Kruglinski’s dialog with Peter Woit about String Theory. Peter Woit blogs at Not Even Wrong Lee Smolin published: The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next, in 2007. Peter Woit published: Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law, in 2007. Publisher and blogger Eric Tunstad is an outspoken and clear-thinking sceptic who does not hold back in denouncing pseudo-science and dangerous conspiracy theories. (Picture of LHC, credit CC Ethan Hein).

Using Facebook to Promote Science News

2008-09-30T14:00:00.008+08:00

Yesterday I tried a short experiment with Facebook, using it to promote science related news. Calculation of satellite orbits is one of the topics that I teach as a Physics lecturer. The ATV-1 Jules Verne space freighter was scheduled for burn up early this morning, so it was the last opportunity to use this vehicle as a relevant example. First, I posted a link to the ESA satellite tracking site showing a live map of the vehicle's path over the Earth. That link caused my browser to lock up, so I quickly deleted it from Facebook, and replaced it with a more reliable link, http://www.n2yo.com/. At about 1pm (GMT-8) on Monday, I noticed that ATV-1 was passing nearby, just South East of Borneo, so I captured a screen image of the web page, which I posted as a photo on Facebook. The web site knows where I am, from my IP address, and shows my location on the map as a house icon. About 90 minutes later, ATV-1 had already circumnavigated the Earth, and I captured it again just North West of Kuala Lumpur, using a different tracking page. Finally, this morning, the BBC Science news reported that the satellite had burned up as planned, and I posted the photo of the "fireworks" on Facebook (video).

That completed the experiment. There are no tangible results except the attached image of the postings from my Facebook profile page. No one commented on any of the photos. I have no plans to repeat the experiment, as I do not want to add load to the university's network during daylight hours.

I did a similar experiment almost a decade ago, and did not need the Internet (except to download Keplerian elements). I used an MS-DOS satellite tracking program to track the Mir Space Station, or more precisely the replica Sputnik that one of the Cosmonauts had thrown out of the Mir capsule. Note that space stations are only a few hundred kilometers overhead. Using a vintage Azden 2-metre mobile amateur radio and a car roof mounted antenna; I was able to pick up the Sputnik beacon as it passed overhead at the predicted time, and to repeat the experiment for a few days until the signal faded away.

I never send Friendship requests to students on Facebook, however a few of my students found me online, and I accepted their requests. I do not use Social Networking or Blog sites to communicate school work online. The space craft example was sufficiently general that I felt that it was appropriate to post on Facebook. Similarly, I have posted some other science related news on my Vox blog. I use Friendfeed to link my Delicious bookmarks, blog and Flickr postings to my Facebook page. I feel that social networking will become a more important aspect of university communications in future, and that was my justification for this modest experiment.

My conclusion is that it is possible to use a social networking site like Facebook to present real time commentary on a newsworthy episode, and to do so with very little planning, time or resources. Since there was no feedback from students, I can only report my own opinion about the results. It was satisfying to record this event from my own frame of reference, and to have made the effort to communicate it. There are legitimate concerns about privacy and rights to content on social networking systems. I am not aware that this online interaction caused any additional privacy risks, as students worldwide are already using Facebook, and no confidential information was discussed. (Text in italics added 1st October 2008).

Comment to Research Dissemination and Blogging

2008-09-18T11:40:00.008+08:00

Professor Bjordal, I found your 10 September blog post Forskningsformidling og blogging (Research Dissemination and Blogging) interesting, having read an approximate version of it, automatically translated by Google Translate. I agree with you that it is important for scientists to reach out to the public. I mention three examples: (1) Global warming: information about the causes and risks of global warming has been misrepresented for years. (2) The Large Hadron Collider (LHC): doomsday predictions about unfounded risks of this physics experiment have unnecessarily frightened people. (3) Safety of vaccines, and scare stories in the DailyMail.co.uk. In each case it is the duty of researchers to present the facts. I disagree that disclosure of research work and opinions to the public is a "hobby". I see it as an ethical duty, important enough that we must reserve time to write blog posts or newspaper articles. I recently made the effort to start two blogs. In http://mcallistercolin.blogspot.com/, I made reference to the Forskning.no blogs while commenting on Jill Walker Rettberg's (http://jilltxt.net/) article "How Newspaper Blogs Go Wrong.” In my science and technology blog http://cmcallister.vox.com/, I made a short post about the Large Hadron Collider, without finding it necessary to sensationalise by predicting the end of the world. Links: (1) Global Warming: http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/ (2) LHC http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1838947,00.html (3) MMR Vaccine http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1071313 Comment by Mr. Colin McAllister, Physics Lecturer.

Newspaper Blogging Done Wrong?

2008-09-16T20:45:00.008+08:00

A recent blog post "Research dissemination and blogging" in the Norwegian web journal http://www.forskning.no/, translated to English using Google Translate:

The original article Forskningsformidling og blogging (10 Sept 2008), by Jan Magnus Bjordal, is a 1730 word long monologue. While these blogs are informative newspaper columns, they are bad examples of blogging, according to University of Bergen professor and experienced blogger Jill Walker Rettberg. Jill's (http://jilltxt.net/) article today is: "How Newspaper Blogs Go Wrong. Forskning.no a Norwegian web journal that publishes science and research news, has jumped on the newspapers-must-assimilate-blogs bandwagon and asked researchers to blog for them. Unfortunately they don’t seem quite sure what a blog is." She continues with an eight point list of how the newspaper could have done a better job. It is good advice useful for casual bloggers too. For example, point 5 is: "Insist that if readers respond to a blog post, the blogger should ANSWER." I will take note of this point, and hopefully I will learn a little more about blogging in the process.

Online Encyclopaedias, Dictionaries and Thesauri

2008-09-16T08:28:00.012+08:00

The online encyclopaedia Citizendium.org is looking for volunteer authors. The Citizendium Blog lists three new online encyclopaedias: Britannica Online, Medpedia and Knol. Britannicanet.com is complementary for one year to bloggers. If you just need a dictionary, then try http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ for British spelling or http://www.merriam-webster.com/ for American spelling. Do you use an online word processor like Zoho Writer or Google Docs? Google Docs has added an integrated Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopaedia, according to Mashable.com.

The Diversity of Sarawak

2008-09-13T16:54:00.000+08:00

Here are some web sites where you can find out about the diverse heritage, cultures, and environments of Sarawak.

Selamat Datang (Welcome) to My Personal Web Log

2008-09-13T16:51:00.000+08:00

I live in Sarawak, Malaysia. I am greatly indebted to my family and friends for letting me move to Borneo. I work as a Physics lecturer and teach in English "lah". I hope that everyone will understand my "wee" accent. I know just enough Bahasa Malaysia to be polite. Terimah Kasih.

All opinions in this blog are my personal opinions, not representing any business or university in any way. I encourage comments, but I reserve the right to moderate, edit or delete comments. I receive no compensation for this blog. This blog has no content which might present a conflict of interest.