Science New Alerts

DOE and other federal science agencies help public stay "alert" to the latest R&D results with Science.gov Alert Service. The latest research results from the U.S. Department of Energy and 11 other Federal science agencies can be delivered to desktops through the new patron-customized Science.gov Alert Service.

Science.gov, the public's “go to” Web portal for federal science information, provides a free and convenient science Alert Service that will send alerts to patrons' desktops on their specified topics of interest. From the Science.gov home page, patrons can set up an account, and then let Science.gov do their searching for them.

Each Monday, up to 25 relevant results from selected science sources will be sent to the patron's email. The results are displayed in the email alert, as well as in each patron's personalized Alert Archive, which stores six weeks of alerts results. From this archive, past results can be reviewed and the Alert Profile can be edited.

Guidelines for Bloggers

Reid Goldsborough, a syndicated columnist and author of the book Straight Talk About the Information Superhighway offers the following suggestions for bloggers everywhere. He can be reached at reidgold@netaxs.com

You may quote short bits of what someone else has written, particularly if you’re providing commentary, without violating the person’s copyright.

You may report facts or ideas of others (though it’s considered plagiarism to couch them as your own).

You may use the trademarked name of a company (without the trademark symbol) unless you’re using it as the name of your own competing product or service or implying that the trademark holder endorses your content.

In criticizing another party, truth is an absolute defense against libel, but truth can be expensive to prove legally.

You can’t just stick an “In my opinion” in front of a verifiable statement for it to become opinion and protected against a libel charge.

If you don’t name a person you’re criticizing but the person is still identifiable through the context of what you say, you can still be exposed to a libel charge.

If you make up something about a company, such as finding a severed finger in the company’s chili, you can be liable for trade libel.

You may be liable for invasion of privacy if you publish private facts about another person if they’re offensive and not a matter of public concern.

If you get an unjustified cease-and-desist letter or e-mail message, consider exposing the party trying to squash your freedom of expression at the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse.

If you criticize your boss or company in your personal blog, even if you do so off-hours using your own computer and Internet service provider, you could be fired, legally, if you’re an “at will” employee.

Smart Homes Coming?

In ten or twelve years, perhaps, “smart” homes with computers built into the walls will become affordable. Such computers will respond to voice commands, offer a random-access data base, provide instant simulation via artificial reality, and free us to effectively use information, not be abused by it.

For now, we're stuck in the mire of the over-information era, subject to the daily overglut. The best hope to hold off the din is to recognize all its disguises. If we cannot apply, reflect upon, or effectively store information, more than ever, we need to guard against being deluded with
excess data.