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Soapbox 3
By rickyjames, Section News
Posted on Tue Dec 16, 2003 at 04:58:32 AM PST
Announcements Hi, everybody; welcome to "The Soapbox". Think of this posting as a permanent "letter to the editor" page, the watercooler we can all gather around from time to time and just chat. It's recommended that you click on the "+Hotlist" tag in the upper right of this article, visible to members; this will create a Hotlist right-column box you can monitor for future newly-posted comments. This the place to come to get the latest updates, news and gossip about what rickyjames (that's me) is up to now in making ongoing changes to the SciScoop site. This "Soapbox" posting is also to give you a place you can leave me or anybody else a piece of your mind on whatever subject you want. If I get enough pieces of everybody else's mind, maybe I can put them all together into a whole one. E Pluribus Unum.

By the way, this was getting so big I'll start a fresh one as needed, and leave links for the previous editions below....

The Soapbox: May 2003

The Soapbox: June - Dec 2003

The Soapbox: Jan - Apr 2004

The Soapbox: Apr - Jul 2004

The Soapbox: Jul - Oct 2004

Soapbox 3 | 80 comments (80 topical, 0 hidden)

FOR APSMITH! (5.00 / 1) (#13)
by gypsysoul on Tue Dec 23, 2003 at 06:20:56 AM PST
I finally remembered to ask the editor (David Prather) about your writing book reviews for the paper.  He'll be out of town until around Jan 1, but he's very interested & would like for you to e-mail him --

 prather@htimes.com

if you really would like to write reviews on recent science/tech  releases.  You do get the book to keep and a very small check.

I've given you a 2 thumbs up already (not that I have tremendous influence over these important decisions, you understand) -- send him a note if you're still interested.



New Armageddon topic (5.00 / 1) (#20)
by Drog on Thu Jan 08, 2004 at 08:30:23 AM PST
I just added a new topic, with its own icon, called "Armageddon" (which I said I'd do right away, last June), to handle all the stories about the end-of-the-world via weapons of mass destruction, asteroid impacts, gamma-ray bursts, genetically engineered plagues, etc. Enjoy! :)

Looking for political forums? Check out "The World Forum".


What a Monday... (5.00 / 1) (#21)
by rickyjames on Mon Jan 12, 2004 at 08:30:05 AM PST
When it rains, it pours. (Didn't I do an article recently by that title?) Not only did I find out today I incorrectly said LuxLucre = BitGeek in my big heartfelt weekend eulogy, I also just got off the phone with NASA Security here in Huntsville, who wanted to know just who S.A. Tabib was and for that matter, just who ***I*** was. They were doing their job, wondering if I am giving classified technology to foreign nationals. I thought about making a joke about Drog being Canadian, then decided I'd better shut up and play ball with the nice man. He WOULD call on the day I change the poll question from Mars to Satanic/Sexual/Alien Memeory Repression.

Enjoy reading this SciScoop story? Here's a thousand more.




Sweetwind, who can stay on a budget but... (5.00 / 1) (#53)
by gypsysoul on Sat Jan 31, 2004 at 01:37:12 PM PST
seemingly not a diet.  Have I found the diet for YOU (and me):-)

You know those pesky 20 pounds you've mentioned?
I'm doing South Beach and in 3 and 1/2 weeks have lost 10 of the 30 I absolutely MUST drop... .  I'm not hungry, and I feel GREAT!  I'm treadmilling about 40 minutes every afternoon, which helps considerably.

You get carbs on this diet... just good carbs. A student from last semester brought me HOMEMADE FUDGE this week, and I haven't TOUCHED the stuff!
(Of course, we're not talking Hershey's kisses here, but I really don't have the cravings I've had on other food plans.)

BTW, I didn't buy the book.  I bought Prevention magazine's weight control magazine that came out after Christmas:  2 pages of what you can eat, 2 pages of what to avoid... so simple.

The quick weight loss will slow as I add a larger variety of foods back into my diet, but I'm enjoying being able to zip up slacks and BUTTON the BUTTON, finally.  YEY!!

Just wanted to let you know, this one works without making you feel like committing a felony just to taste a crust of bread :-)



Interview Picture (none / 0) (#1)
by rickyjames on Tue Dec 16, 2003 at 05:07:15 AM PST
Drog, I saw that you had modified the Scoop "current interview" box so I went ahead and uploaded the picture to XLan and posted the box. Gotta go to lunch RIGHT NOW, more in an hour...

Enjoy reading this SciScoop story? Here's a thousand more.




I like the photo-- (none / 0) (#2)
by gypsysoul on Tue Dec 16, 2003 at 09:03:51 AM PST
I also saw Dr. Shermer on 20/20, but having access
to his picture without even clicking onto a link is definitely effective.  Let's have more pics with future articles!


  • Well... by Drog, 12/17/2003 03:56:17 AM PST (none / 0)
    • Oh, my! by gypsysoul, 12/17/2003 04:23:39 AM PST (none / 0)
  • Totally! (for interviews) by Sweetwind, 12/22/2003 08:39:02 AM PST (none / 0)
    • If only by gypsysoul, 12/22/2003 03:01:17 PM PST (none / 0)
site fixie: Ask SciScoop (none / 0) (#8)
by Sweetwind on Mon Dec 22, 2003 at 08:55:29 AM PST
When you go to submit a story and use the "Section" drop-down menu, "Ask SFT" appears instead of "Ask SciScoop." If you choose "Ask SFT", "Ask SFT" appears as the Section in the story preview. Also, when pulling up any of the stories in the section (for example) the section says "Ask SFT" at the top. Finally, when you click "Sections" from the menu bar at the top of each page, the header "Ask SFT" is used, and the link at the bottom of the list says "More Ask SFT" (and this link brings up zero results, not sure if that's correct or not since there are not very many stories in the section).


  • I'm On It... by rickyjames, 12/22/2003 09:50:42 AM PST (none / 0)
Done (none / 0) (#10)
by Drog on Mon Dec 22, 2003 at 11:35:43 AM PST
Took 10 secs. Thanks, Sweetwind.

Looking for political forums? Check out "The World Forum".


Dan Quayle's Quote (none / 0) (#16)
by Drog on Mon Jan 05, 2004 at 09:17:46 AM PST
I loved today's quote by Dan Quayle -- "Mars is essentially in the same orbit. Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe." Too funny.

Looking for political forums? Check out "The World Forum".


Moderation page (none / 0) (#17)
by Sweetwind on Tue Jan 06, 2004 at 07:25:57 AM PST
Today I noticed, after voting for a story, I can no longer see the little box that tells me who else has voted. RJ, did you intentionally remove it? I thought it was pretty cool, myself.


Good Days (none / 0) (#19)
by rickyjames on Tue Jan 06, 2004 at 08:12:10 AM PST
Just so everybody knows, Mars doesn't mean heavy web hits just for NASA. SciScoop got 14,500 page hits Monday and 4000 more just in the first half of Tuesday. I think we're getting hit for the Mestro article; I'm going to check the weblog for sure. Pretty cool to be routinely getting hit 1000+ times per hour for hours on end...

Enjoy reading this SciScoop story? Here's a thousand more.




OFAC (none / 0) (#25)
by apsmith on Thu Jan 15, 2004 at 08:33:47 AM PST
There are some details on this from the IEEE. The problem there was the US Treasury Dept's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The banned countries are specifically Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Sudan. Given that Pakistan is not mentioned, it sounds like it must have been a different bunch of feds who called you up, Ricky.


Join us at the National Space Society and help open space to everyone!


New Warfare Topic (none / 0) (#26)
by Drog on Mon Jan 19, 2004 at 08:26:29 AM PST
Just created a new topic entitled "Warfare", with its own icon. See http://www.sciscoop.com/special/topics.

Looking for political forums? Check out "The World Forum".


Moderation to Section Only (none / 0) (#27)
by Sweetwind on Thu Jan 22, 2004 at 06:36:51 AM PST
This is the first time I've seen it happen, bunyip's Blueprints or Blundering? review went to the Reviews section but not the front page. Wow, people are actually using the "Post to section only" selection!


New GIF At Top Of Pages (none / 0) (#32)
by rickyjames on Thu Jan 22, 2004 at 11:48:26 AM PST
I've spent more time on it than I should have, but I replaced the Scoop GIF that was beside our SciScoop logo with a new GIF. I put the Scoop GIF there originally so everybody would realize one of the main reasons I / we selected SciScoop as the new name of the site when we switched from Sci-Fi Today. Tha's all water under the bridge now and SciScoop stands alone as a legitimate brand name. RIP Sci-Fi Today, which as Drog tells me is now back up for grabs as a URL domain name.

Anyway, it's pretty obvious where clicking on the new GIF goes. I am unreasonably proud of that page. The new second counter on it lists the number of times that specific page has been accessed. If anybody is interested, let me know here and I'll email you how to access the little bar charts that are accessable if you right click on those number counters.

I'm open to anybody saying they think this just doesn't work artistically or that the page would be better off with just the main logo and more uninterrupted blue space. Also, if anybody wants to take a crack at a better GIF, go for it.

Also, anybody want to do a right-click-view-source on the 1000-story page and tell me what I'm doing wrong on that right border that isn't where it's supposed to be? Looks like I'm not very good at HTML...

Enjoy reading this SciScoop story? Here's a thousand more.




  • Well... by Drog, 01/23/2004 09:01:30 AM PST (none / 0)
    • Actually... by rickyjames, 01/23/2004 10:14:03 AM PST (none / 0)
      • Oh man... by Drog, 01/23/2004 11:05:43 AM PST (none / 0)
        • Well... by rickyjames, 01/23/2004 11:20:08 AM PST (none / 0)
          • Done by Drog, 01/23/2004 05:28:55 PM PST (none / 0)
        • size limits by janra, 01/28/2004 09:42:14 AM PST (none / 0)
          • Seems to work fine by janra, 01/28/2004 11:42:07 AM PST (none / 0)
            • Cool! by Drog, 01/28/2004 03:15:44 PM PST (none / 0)
New Aerospace topic (none / 0) (#34)
by Drog on Fri Jan 23, 2004 at 08:43:01 AM PST
...as Sweetwind suggested long ago. :) See its spiffy new icon here.

Looking for political forums? Check out "The World Forum".


  • nifty! :-) by Sweetwind, 01/24/2004 07:02:13 PM PST (none / 0)
New Totalitarianism Topic (none / 0) (#36)
by Drog on Fri Jan 23, 2004 at 09:57:15 AM PST
as I suggested myself a long time ago, to cover the various stories regarding how our society is becoming more and more like the dystopia depicted in Orwell's novel '1984'. Loss of privacy, loss of civil liberties, Patriot Act, Total (now 'Terrorist') Information Awareness, etc. See the new icon here.

Looking for political forums? Check out "The World Forum".


Love the pic! (none / 0) (#43)
by gypsysoul on Sun Jan 25, 2004 at 08:57:11 AM PST
Great job of posting the photo of Jay Hosler, sweetwind, Ricky, or Drog.  Did I leave anybody out? :-)


Broken link to cartoonist interview questions (none / 0) (#47)
by apsmith on Wed Jan 28, 2004 at 06:46:24 AM PST
Ricky - or somebody! The links around Jay Hosler's picture give me a "can't find that story" error, when I try to click from another story page! I think you've got a relative URL instead of an absolute one there...


Join us at the National Space Society and help open space to everyone!


  • Fixed by rickyjames, 01/28/2004 07:06:09 AM PST (none / 0)
In the Past 30 Days (none / 0) (#54)
by Sweetwind on Wed Feb 04, 2004 at 08:59:18 AM PST
I have a tiny little nit on this box. The second and fifth items are not from the last 30 days but are totals instead. Maybe you (RJ) could move those down to the bottom of the list, and put a little separator between the 30-day items and the Total item? Just a thought.


  • Your Wish... by rickyjames, 02/04/2004 10:04:21 AM PST (none / 0)
    • Ooooh! Ahhhh! by Sweetwind, 02/04/2004 07:08:03 PM PST (none / 0)
      • LOL by gypsysoul, 02/05/2004 01:59:44 AM PST (none / 0)
      • I'm trying by rickyjames, 02/05/2004 08:43:42 AM PST (none / 0)
RE: Abracadabra! (none / 0) (#64)
by Sweetwind on Mon Feb 09, 2004 at 05:31:38 AM PST
(continuing the conversation from the Hydrogen Myths story)

RJ, I keep forgetting to mention this, but I haven't yet figured out how as an editor I can post my own stories without waiting for votes. If I use the "New Story" admin tool and save it, it goes in the moderation queue. Am I supposed to fiddle with the status pulldown (submitted/pending/normal)?

Mostly I have been using my magical editor status to fix misspelled words in stories that some user with the handle "rickyjames" keeps posting... ;-) It also comes in handy when I write to someone asking for an interview, it sounds so official when I introduce myself as "an editor at the science community website SciScoop..."



  • How To Self Post by rickyjames, 02/09/2004 06:56:19 AM PST (none / 0)
    • My raison d'etre by gypsysoul, 02/09/2004 09:51:37 AM PST (none / 0)
    • Geez by rickyjames, 02/10/2004 03:54:25 AM PST (none / 0)
  • PS by rickyjames, 02/09/2004 06:58:14 AM PST (none / 0)
worldchanging? (none / 0) (#69)
by apsmith on Sat Feb 14, 2004 at 08:19:26 AM PST
Ricky and Drog and everybody - a site with a similar operation to sciscoop, though broader in scope including politics, culture, and general technology interests, is worldchanging.com. Some interesting stuff over there - I wonder if we can cross-fertilize a bit? I'm recommending sciscoop to them too. I know at least one of their regular contributors (Jon Lebkowsky) through the Dean forum I have been involved in.


Join us at the National Space Society and help open space to everyone!


Mod Q Timeout too quick?? (none / 0) (#70)
by Sweetwind on Mon Feb 23, 2004 at 04:43:50 AM PST
On Sunday morning I observed 2 high-quality stories in the moderation queue, both submitted by gpmap. One had been submitted a few hours earlier than the other, and when I voted thumbs-up on both, the earlier story had a score of 2 and the later story had 1 (just my vote). The earlier of the two ended up getting posted, at 06:51:45 PM Sunday if the datestamp is to be believed, and the other one has vanished.

I'm guessing that only two people moderated after me on Sunday, so the later story didn't get the requisite four votes through Sunday and Monday AM and got timed out of the queue... can this be confirmed?? I know you resolved, rj, to let the stories stand or fall by the vote now that the site's traffic is higher. The traffic is lower on weekends, though, and I think it caused us to lose a good story. Can the queue timeout be extended on the weekends?



So Far I've Kept My End Of The Deal... (none / 0) (#72)
by rickyjames on Mon Feb 23, 2004 at 07:21:41 AM PST
...and I have let every single story abide by the will of the majority. So far so good.

Actually, even when stories go over 36 hours and disappear from the moderation queue they may still be found in the story list. From there they can be resaved with "time stamp set to now" to give them additional time for voting. There's also a delete button that will banish the story forever without the ability to retrieve it, and I've used that a time or two on stories that didn't get 4 votes in 36 hours and were like a single sentence with a single link. I'm not sure if the story delete button is a superuser or an editor function...

Enjoy reading this SciScoop story? Here's a thousand more.




1000 members! (none / 0) (#74)
by apsmith on Mon Mar 22, 2004 at 01:59:21 PM PST
Well, it's 999 right now - anyway, we seem to have been growing - planning a celebration Ricky?


Join us at the National Space Society and help open space to everyone!


  • 1000 Members by rickyjames, 03/23/2004 12:29:19 AM PST (none / 0)
Happy Birthday! (none / 0) (#76)
by Sweetwind on Tue Mar 23, 2004 at 11:58:45 AM PST
I kinda thought you must have been doing a membership drive already, I have noticed a lot of new folks posting lately.


Time for a new soapbox? (none / 0) (#77)
by apsmith on Wed Mar 24, 2004 at 02:18:19 AM PST
With all those new members, might be good to mention the soapbox, starting fresh!

By the way - Sweetwind, wonderful of you to get David Goodstein for the interview. Great job! How do you get hold of these guys?


Join us at the National Space Society and help open space to everyone!



  • Thanks! by Sweetwind, 03/24/2004 05:20:23 AM PST (none / 0)
RDF Feed Not updating (none / 0) (#79)
by Anonymous on Sun Apr 04, 2004 at 03:13:17 AM PST
I tend to keep up on SciScoop through Slashdot. But SciScoop's RDF feed seems to only update once a week or so, instad of whenever a story is posted. For example, right now the latest stories are all from Thursday:

http://www.sciscoop.com/backend.rdf

This of course is reflected on Slashdot. Can this be fixed? It'd be nice if the feed was updated at least once a day (and even better if it updated with each new story).



Soapbox 3 | 80 comments (80 topical, 0 hidden)

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