Good news, everyone! I literally jumped out of my seat and punched the air when I saw this story. It’s as if this site was set up specifically to report on this exact piece of news.
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G4G Celebration of Mind 2012 Event Map is live
The event map for the Gathering for Gardner Celebration of Mind 2012 is now live, with nine events already listed in North and South America and Europe. More will surely be added in time.
These are parties “to celebrate the legacy of Martin Gardner on or around Sunday, October 21, 2012 through the enjoyment of Puzzles, Magic, Recreational Math, Lewis Carroll, Skepticism and Rationality”. The website explains:
Celebrations can be large or intimate depending on the event. They don’t have to be formal and range from a few friends getting together to discuss the above all the way up to series of lectures at Universities and Science Cafes.
In 2010 there were 66 on five continents and in 2011 there were 70 events on all seven (yes, seven) . This will be the third Celebration of Mind.
More information: You can find an event to attend in your area or sign up to host one.
Inaugural ICO Alan Turing lecture
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office, the “independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals”, is holding its first ICO Alan Turing Lecture at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester at 6pm on Tuesday 11 September.
According to the website, this lecture
will be delivered by distinguished Cambridge historian Professor Christopher Andrew, the official historian of MI5, who will be discussing the life and work of Turing.
If you would be interested in attending you are invited to send your expressions of interest to dpc@ico.gsi.gov.uk. While places are limited we will be doing our best to accommodate those wishing to attend.
The inclusion of “first” suggests this is part of a series but it isn’t clear what form this will take. The website says they “hope to arrange similar lectures in the future to highlight important issues connected to the ICO’s work”.
Source: First ICO Alan Turing Lecture.
Via, and thanks to, @Ben_Nuttall on Twitter.
Math/Maths 107: Peter’s new trek eases
A new episode of the Math/Maths Podcast has been released.
A conversation about mathematics between the UK and USA from Pulse-Project.org. This week Samuel and Peter were unable to speak so this is a short update about some booklets published by Peter’s project, some good news from the Olympics and some bad news about Number Gossip.
Get this episode: Math/Maths 107: Peter’s new trek eases
MAA MathFest Day 2
Colm Mulcahy talking about Martin Gardner. Photo by Rodger Hergert.
MathFest continues apace! Here are Colm’s pictures from day 2.
MAA MathFest Day 1
The Mathematical Association of America is throwing a big mathematical party at the moment in Madison, Wisconsin. It’s called MathFest 2012 and promises to be “informative, inspiring, and productive.”
Our intrepid schoolboy reporter Colm Mulcahy is in attendance, and will be sending in pictures and thoughts throughout the three days of the event.
Science Media Centre’s ‘rather good’ guidelines for reporting science & health stories
David Spiegelhalter, writing at his Understanding Uncertainty blog, highlights a set of “basic guidelines for science coverage” which were “drawn up in consultation with scientists, science reporters, editors and sub editors” and submitted by the Science Media Centre to the Leveson Inquiry. David says “they are rather good” (admitting that he was consulted on a first draft). He says:
It will be interesting to see whether they are eventually endorsed by Leveson, or whether Editors voluntarily sign up to them.
Note that I present this information with no context or background, no independent expert quoted and no discussion of the limitations of the process that arrived at the guidelines. I’ve put a quote in the headline to make it seem more exciting while dodging the issue of editorialising. Perhaps I should claim the guidelines offer ‘a cure for bad science reporting’.
Source: 10 best practice guidelines for reporting science & health stories.