If a tree falls in the forest…
This month’s issue of the Annals of Improbable Research answers the question of whether a tree falling in the forest will make a sound if no one is around to hear it. The answer is yes (Melchior 2010). Moreover, the bigger the tree, the louder the sound. What I like about this article is that […]
Positive and negative feedback in science: Scientists as social animals
At a recent meeting at the University of Manchester, the keynote speaker was Prof. Helen Gleeson OBE. She gave an informative and interesting history of her career and the lessons she has learned. One thing she said resonated with me (paraphrasing): “As a scientist, you get lots of rejections, but not a lot of supportive […]
How to Research and Write Effective Case Studies in Meteorology
If you write or review case studies, this open-access article at the Electronic Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology provides 16 tips about how to research and write an effective case study. Schultz, D. M., 2010: How to research and write effective case studies in meteorology. Electronic J. Severe Storms Meteor., 5 (2), 1-18.
Publishing the Same Work in Two Languages
In one of the workshops I was teaching, I was asked whether it was acceptable to publish the same article twice in two different languages. I was a bit stumped as to what to say. Keith Seitter, the Executive Director of the American Meteorological Society, was able to provide a great answer to this question. […]
Should reviews be anonymous?
Probably ever since peer review started, authors have complained about it. If the process were started today, would it take on the same form? Probably not, but what form would it take? Would reviewers continue to be anonymous? As my career has developed, a greater percentage of my reviews over time have been nonanonymous, but […]
Forecasters Forum
The journal Weather and Forecasting (a sister journal to Monthly Weather Review, the journal for which I serve as Chief Editor) has a department called Forecasters Forum. It is a department allowing anyone (not just forecasters) to hold “discussions of forecasting problems and solutions” (Burpee and Snellman 1986). In a Forecasters Forum article, authors are […]
Another common mistake in least squares fitting
On p. 121 of Eloquent Science, I spend a page discussing the misuses of linear correlation. Turns out I didn’t cover all of them. Mark Hibberd writes: I think your Figure 11.10 [to the right] clearly shows a very common mistake of inappropriately using a standard least squares fit. The fit given (y = -13.2 […]
Use of first person in writing (a cross-disciplinary thought experiment)
May 10, 2010 Filed under Blog, Uncategorized, Writing
I recently attended a workshop on writing across the disciplines at the University of Manchester run by Alex Baratta. The group spent a lot of time discussing how each of our own disciplines uses the first person in academic writing. After the discussion went on for a while, I offered the following model. What does […]
Book Review: How Not to Write a Novel
May 8, 2010 Filed under Uncategorized
How Not to Write a Novel: 200 Classic Mistakes and How to Avoid Them–A Misstep-by-Misstep Guide The cover of the book (British version) caught my eye. Then the title. Then the tagline: “200 mistakes to avoid at all costs if you ever want to get published.” I was curious about how many lessons could be […]
The need for communication skills in the meteorological private sector
In 1995, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) conducted a survey of the private sector members of the AMS. The results, published in the Bulletin of the AMS, substantiate the importance of teaching communication skills in colleges and universities. The top three jobs performed by the professional meteorologists were broadcasting, general consulting, and weather information/communications. The […]
