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I've been working on and teaching a course (Math and the Art of M.C. Escher) from a non-linear online textbook for years now. The book we're using could never be a paper book, because it is too heavily illustrated, animated, and linked. It's also based of of learning modules (Explorations) rather than a linear read-through.

I would love to provide paths through the book - my coauthor and I teach the course in quite different ways, and the other users of the 'book' do as well. But it's proven technically challenging. We host our book with Mediawiki, and maybe that was the wrong choice, but it's worked well in many ways. Is there a good model of how to provide discourses or ontologies? I haven't really seen such a thing in a serious text. WikiBooks, for example, doesn't really have such a thing - if they did, we'd jump on board.

Unlike the book from TFA, though, we're not charging an arm and a leg for a dubious license. This makes me wonder how much of this 'innovative' biology book is really just to make a boatload of cash for the publisher. They must save a considerable sum on production costs, and the maintenance of this book sound quite a bit easier than the usual 'new edition every five years' model. They can gradually replace smaller parts when needed, rather than rebuild the whole book to justify selling a bunch of new copies.

This is NOT my site but, BIO 234 Diversity of Life

thanks for the spelling correction. I was wondering how u might spell that. I was talking about how chimps are kind of ruff on their females. This is NOT my site but, BIO 234 Diversity of Life

• Press Release about the Innovation Award
• Dr. Minteer's Faculty Bio at St. Louis University

• Press Release about the Innovation Award
• Dr. Minteer's Faculty Bio at St. Louis University

Read the substantiated facts:
  http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/docs/WG1AR4_SPM_Appro ved_05Feb.pdf IPCC science summary v4
http://www.realclimate.org/
http://www.wunderground.com/education/928.asp links to governmental agencies opinions.
http://www.wunderground.com/education/hoax.asp refutation of unsupportive satellite data:
http://www.wunderground.com/education/stateoffear. asp refutation of M.C's state of fear:

Distribution of EMS produced by our local star:
http://www.tak2000.com/data/planets/solar-rad.gif
or
http://www.eas.slu.edu/People/CEGraves/Eas138/fg02 _18.jpg

The consequences to the world economy of, say, an earthquake that devastated Tokyo would be appalling.

Been there. Done that. That's just Japan, but major quakes have caused severe damage in other parts of the world. Tragic? Yes. Severly damaging to the local economies? Yes. However, to say they had major consequences on the economy of the whole world? No.

And I think this statement sums up so much about the troubled psychology of so many climate change deniers. Because they worry about doom, they deny that we are causing it.

Correlation is not causation. Let me say that again; correlation is NOT causation. Would the world climate be changing if mankind was not here? Yes. This is undisputed. So what makes you so sure that mankind is all of a sudden the cause? If we are the cause then without mankind the climate would not change, yet science has demonstrated that the climate has been changing for quite some time, in cycles of heating and cooling long before mankind could possibly have any effect. Is it likely that mankind has some effect on the climate? Sure. But when you state that mankind is the cause you are making far more assumptions than hard science can support.

First, some science. We are causing it. We are pumping vast amounts of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

I just thought I should point out that your statement contains no science what-so-ever. Plenty of conjecture, sure.

Secondly, no-one is talking about 'doom'. ...... However, it will cause serious problems.

Well statements like severe economic consequences world-wide sure sound like 'doom' to me. Will climate change cause problems? I have no doubt. Will they be serious? I guess it depends on where you live and what you consider serious. I will continue to take issue with people who think mankind is the sole cause of climate change.

Hey, that's pretty cool! Now what I would like to know, how did they manage to completely localize their climate? It's no small feat to completely eliminate all outside factors.

In the case of Caruthersville, MO (which dropped 1.61F in 70+ years, not a decade) there are several factors that have occured in 70 years which could yield a lower mean annual temperature in the face of global, continental or regional warming. A shift in industrial activity in the region, changes to the Mississippi River and increased rainfall.

Or maybe Caruthersville fits into a weird climate hole that will resist global warming because of increased rain and storm activity while everyone around them bakes like a potato. http://www.slu.edu/readstory/more/4711

The most important prediction method is to antipicate the maximum horizontal force resulting from an earth quake. A force execeeding 10% the amout of earth's surface gravity, called a "g", at one Hertz can collapse a poorly designed building or overpass. 200% g is observed in the largest quakes. A guide to destruction in terms of "g" is here .

The United States Geological Survey has spent a lot of effort predicting maximum forces. this is based on the location of previous large earthquakes and local soil conditions among other factors. This has resulting in relatively low death rates of quakes of similar size. For example last month's central California quake and Iranian quakes were about the same size with death tolls of 3 and 30,000. Ditto 1994 Northridge and 1995 Kobe Japan with tolls of 55 and 6,000.

Actually, they kept very complete records, as was required to establish best times of year to sail and what to expect. 100+ years of that information can help indicate if there's a trend or we are simply seeing spikes.

El Nino has been considered as evidence of global warming, however, there are records of extreme rainfalls along the west coast of California back in the late 1800's over a period of years. Examine what was known about volcanic activity or anything else which might alter the general global climate and you get a better picture.

Interesting reading this morning was a study of the 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes. Based upon newspaper accounts the character of the three great quakes could be assumed to a fairly accurate degree.

Actually, they kept very complete records, as was required to establish best times of year to sail and what to expect. 100+ years of that information can help indicate if there's a trend or we are simply seeing spikes.

El Nino has been considered as evidence of global warming, however, there are records of extreme rainfalls along the west coast of California back in the late 1800's over a period of years. Examine what was known about volcanic activity or anything else which might alter the general global climate and you get a better picture.

Interesting reading this morning was a study of the 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes. Based upon newspaper accounts the character of the three great quakes could be assumed to a fairly accurate degree.

We've been over this already back in March. Granted, that article was looking in New Scientist, and this one is looking at MIT Tech Review, but they both refer to the same work done by Shelley Minteer at St Louis University in Missouri
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"For many years, Anheuser-Busch as well as our family have been firmly committed to helping Saint Louis U. become the top Catholic university in the U.S., and we're proud to once again provide support for the school, its faculty and the students," said [August] Busch IV, who earned a bachelor's degree in finance and a master's degree in business administration from SLU.

"For many years, Anheuser-Busch as well as our family have been firmly committed to helping Saint Louis U. become the top Catholic university in the U.S., and we're proud to once again provide support for the school, its faculty and the students," said [August] Busch IV, who earned a bachelor's degree in finance and a master's degree in business administration from SLU.