Open Access: One more link

Good introduction to a number of related topics. Terra incognita Blog, at Penn State: Open Access Jounral Literature is an Open Educational Resource

Free, Open, Cheap Textbooks

Textbooks. 21st Century Textbooks. I can't even start to express myself upon this topic. Stumbled upon these links today:

Open Text Book: Something of a clearing house: many links, including this one:

Bayanihan Book Project in the Philippine Islands. "to increase the quality and availability of high school textbooks." Currently said to have two books available. Textbooks sold in the PI for college students are often printed on pulp, often years or decades out of date. The only copy of Campbell's Biology at Silliman University Library was 2 editions out of date, and had been read so many times, was so severely dog-eared, that it had swollen to twice it's native thickness.

I once was privileged that a copy of an Oxford University Press Biology textbook for Africa crossed my path: this book was extremely cheap, and highly relevant to the African experience. Here's a Free High School Science Texts project in Capetown, SA.

I remember CALPIRG, from my days at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The best of the advocacy groups. CalPIRG is campaigning for affordable textbooks. Their mission statement:

When corporate wrongdoing threatens our health or our safety, or violates fundamental principles of fairness and justice, CALPIRG stands up for the public. We conduct investigative research. We publish consumer reports and exposes. We advocate new laws and other protections at the local, state and federal levels. And when necessary, we take corporate wrongdoers to court. Our results-oriented approach has won victories for Californians on a wide range of issues, including healthcare reform, prescription drug pricing, consumer privacy and product safety.

Today, an item on Slashdot showcases several projects: Competition in the Free Textbook Market.

Microwulf: Supercomputer on the cheap

http://www.clustermonkey.net//content/view/211/1/1/1/

Nuts and bolts account. I dwell on building my next machine in this way, with perhaps only one Motherboard, or perhaps 2. What about shielding?

Medical Mysteries: Pig Brains

The Scientist : Manna from hell

Balkan endemic nephropathy seems to be aristolochic acid nephropathy and is contracted when minute amounts of the plant Aristolochia clematitis. A chinese medicinal herb, Aristolochia fanghi is an ingredient in Chinese herbal medicines that have also been associated with kidney cancer.

The Scientist : Manna from hell

How a US-Croatian team confirmed that poisoned bread causes a kidney disease endemic to the Balkans - and verified that the same toxic ingredient was in herbal supplements used around the world.

Persistence pays off! These guys methodically put together a study drawing on Molecular Biology, Agro Ecology, Epidemiology. Toxicology. An intriguing international tale.

Hackzine

I like toys. These hacks are cool.

Gleaned on a Sunday

http://www.psych.ucsb.edu/research/cep/index.html
Evolutionary Psychology

The Edge:
The world question center: What is your formula?