Lectures at JPL

The von Kármán Lecture Series at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory is available at JPL. The videos of 2008 lectures are available for download now. In addition, you'll find the January 2009 lecture, "Spirit and Opportunity: The Corps of Discovery for Mars Rolls On", by Steve Squires.


Also available is the list of scheduled lectures for 2009. For lifelong learners interested in astronomy and our exploration of the universe, these full-length lectures are a treasure trove of current and historical information

Everyday Scholar Update

Just a note to explain why I'm not posting as often as I have in the past. I am working on a new writing project that is requiring all my time and attention right now.

Shortly, I'll get back to a regular schedule. In the meantime happy learning!

Learning in 2009

Happy New Year!

The Everyday Scholar is looking for to a busy, very interesting 2009.

See you in the New Year!

And, be safe out there!

101 Cookbooks Blog

Learning about food may be a new topic for The Everyday Scholar, but I think it's going to be a regular, maybe once a month.

Here's the second post on learning about cooking, food and recipes. One of my favorite food blogs is 101 Cookbooks. Heidi Swanson says of her quest to actually use her rows of cookbooks:

"101 Cookbooks started in early 2003 when I looked up at my huge cookbook collection one afternoon and realized that instead of exploring the different books in my collection - I was cooking the same recipes over and over. I seemed to buy a new cookbook every time I stepped out the front door - always with good intentions."

She specializes in whole foods, with a lot of vegetarian recipes and she's an expert at making even complicated dishes seem easy. You can sign up to receive her frequent recipe alerts and you don't have to worry about resulting spam or unwanted emails.

I highly recommend 101 Cookbooks to lifelong learners and wanna be chefs.

Local Foods with Molly Watson

Yes, here's a first for The Everyday Scholar. This week we're going to talk about food and resources for lifelong learners. I guess the idea started with Thanksgiving and trying to decide whether to go traditional or expand our horizons and try some new recipes. While doing the required research, I discovered some great places to learn about what's going on with food these days.

Lifelong learners have to eat and since we are learners after all, let's take a few posts and investigate resources for learning about food and cooking.

Let's start with "Local Foods" and to me that means starting with Molly Watson. She is the About.com Guide to Local Foods and she does a great job of explaining what going "local" is all about. From how and why to eat local, to what's in season when, then on to recipes and everything in between, Molly can teach lifelong learners some new tricks when it comes to food.

See what you think about Local Foods. The next post will introduce you to the 101 Cookbooks Blog.

Mars 3-D Photos Released

If you need a break and want to check out some really cool Martian landscapes, here is today's post on The Coconino Chronicles:

Mars 3-D Photos Released

Remember the Mars Exhibit at Lowell Observatory? Now you can seesome spectacular pictures online, at the Arizona Daily Star. Thanks to Arizona Geology Blog for this link.

The University of Arizona High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter did fantastic work.

Kudos!

Our Vanishing Night at National Geographic

Thought you might enjoy this post from my Northern Arizona Blog, The Coconino Chronicles:

The November 2008 issue of National Geographic has a very welcome article, Our Vanishing Night, on light pollution and its effects on nature and on humans. In the third paragraph down on page 3 of the web version of the article, the writer, Verlyn Klinkenborg, writes about the mission to limit light pollution and protect the dark skies. He mentions Flagstaff and its pioneering civic efforts to control light and protect the viewing at Lowell Observatory. He also writes about the implementation of even more stringent lighting regulations in Flagstaff and its designation as the first International Dark Sky City.Be sure to take a look at the beautiful photographs by Jim Richardson and read Glynnis McPhee's interview with him.We do appreciate National Geographic publishing this story that highlights the ever-growing problem of light pollution and acknowledging the efforts of cities around the world to control that pollution.

I just found a print copy of the November 2008 issue and it is beautiful.

A Grain of Sand

If even you aren't into geology, you're going to want to look at Dr. Gary Greenberg's "A Grain of Sand Picture Gallery" at geology.com. He's taken microscopic photographs of grains of sand, with amazing results.

These photos are a sample of what are included in his book "A Grain of Sand: Nature's Secret Wonder." His website for the book is here. While you're there take a look at some of his other microscopic subjects. The flowers are awesome.

Dr. Greenberg gives one a different view of some of nature's beauty.

Understanding Science at Berkeley

The beta version of Understanding Science, created by the UC Museum of Paleontology of the University of California at Berkeley, is up and running.

This is going to be a great resource for lifelong learners and teachers. The official launch will be after the first of the year, most certainly to coincide with the beginning of the Year of Science 2009. But, don't wait for January to roll around, go check it out now.

Be sure to subscribe to receive updates.

Impact of Global Warming in Alaska

"While the earth has warmed approximately 1°F in the last 50 years, according to the National Assessment Synthesis Team, Alaska has warmed approximately 4°F during this same time period. In many ways, Alaska is the “Paul Revere of Global Warming”, and serves as a sentinel for the impacts of global warming."

Sounds like something we want to find out more about doesn't it? Lifelong learners should find this article, Impact of Global Warming in Alaska, and its associated content very interesting. As usual Deborah L. Williams has done an excellent job explaining about "early warning" area.

Southwest Crossroads

If you're a lifelong learning searching for resources about the Southwest United States, the go take a look at Southwest Crossroads which describes its website, "Southwest Crossroads: Cultures and Histories of the American Southwest is a dynamic, interactive, on-line learning matrix of original texts, poems, fiction, maps, paintings, photographs, oral histories, and films that allows users of all ages to explore the many contentious stories that diverse peoples have used to make sense of themselves and the region."

It's also a great website for teachers, since the material can easily be used for classes.

Arizona Geology Blog

Whether you live in Arizona or not, if you're a lifelong learner studying geology, then this blog, Arizona Geology, will be a resource you'll want to check often.

Lee Allison, who writes this blog, is State Geologist and Director, Arizona Geological Survey and he is very dedicated in his posting.

Not just an excellent source of geology news and information, Arizona Geology provides us with a great dose of optimism. You can tell that geology is more than a job to Lee Allison.

You can read his first blog post, Arizona lives and dies by its geology, on Monday, January 01, 2007.

Hallie Eakin at Encylopedia of Earth

Earth Portal's Topic of the Week Environment in Focus: Human vulnerability to global environmental change by Hallie Eakin is a must read for lifelong learners with a passion for learning about environmental change and the human population.

This is just one article in a long list of environmental topics available at the Encyclopedia of Earth.

History at Boise State

History courses by Dr. E.L. Skip Knox can be accessed at Boise State University. You'll find four courses:

• History of Western Civilization
• The Crusades
• The Late Middle Ages
• The Reformation

Lots of good material here for lifelong learners. Be sure to check the copyright page.

On the Origin of Species

Ever stumble across a book that just grabs you and you can't get it out of your mind? That happened to me at Barnes and Noble last week. Yes, I know that those of you who have been reading The Everyday Scholar for awhile realize that I have a thing about books. Some would say that I've never met a book that I couldn't find something good to say about it. But....

This new On the Origin of Species: The Illustrated Edition, edited by David Quammen really is fantastic! For visual lifelong learners out there, the new illustrated edition will change the way you think about this Charles Darwin classic. It is so readable! The illustrations are so perfect for the text. And the graphics showing pages from The Voyage of the Beagle tie together his thoughts during that voyage with his conclusions in the Origin. For everyone else, you'll be impressed also.

Please put this on your lifelong learner's wish list and let everyone know its what you want for your next gift-giving occasion. You won't be sorry.

PhysicalGeography.net

If you need more material for physical geography study, take a look at the website that Dr. Michael Pidwirny is developing. Though still under construction, PhysicalGeography.net already offers quite a bit of material, including the Fundamentals of Physical Geography ebook.

This looks like it is going to be an excellent portal to physical geography on the Internet. Be sure to check out the links for each chapter of the ebook. Add this one to your learner's toolbox if you're interested in geography.

Geology of National Parks at Salem State

Here's a great geology for non-majors course: Geology of National Parks GLS110 01, Fall 2008. This one includes an enormous amount of excellent material. Professor Lindley Hanson uses Annenberg's Earth Revealed geology videos as a core to present the geological history of the United States and its national parks.

Be sure to follow all the links to available material. You don't want to miss anything here.

Scottish Enlightenment at OpenLearn

Open University makes many of its courses available through OpenLearn. One extremely interesting course is Science in the Scottish Enlightment.

This is a good introductory course, a jumping off point to more indepth study for lifelong learners.

History of China At UC Berkeley

If you're searching for a framework within which to put your introductory study of the history of China, you might want to consider a course at the University of California at Berkeley. Professor Michael Nylan teaches this course, History 6A - Fall 2008 History of China: Origins to the Mongols.

This course is not podcast, so it is actually just a framework, but it does have a complete reading list, including books for further reading. With a little Google research, you should be able to find some of the additional reading material from the course reader which is not available, but the author and title of the articles are given.

This should be a good resource for lifelong learners interested in the history of China.

EBooks at Encyclopedia of Earth

Lifelong learners can find a nice selection of environmental ebooks at The Encyclopedia of Earth EBooks.

Environmental Classics offer access to online versions of several historical ebooks, including Walden by Henry David Thoreau, Theory of the Earth by James Hutton and Tragedy of the Commons by Garrett James Hardin.