nodalpoint.org

Sometimes I wonder what what the point of blogging is and just how much time people (myself included) waste reading and writing them. Let's face it, most leading scientists are too damn busy to pay much attention to the blogosphere, especially when it descends (as it frequently does) into "uncontrollable verbal discharge". This unfortunate medical condition is also known as Blogorrhoea. A free-flowing blog is unlikely to directly increase a scientists productivity (as approximated by the infamous h-index), and might even decrease it. Now, we all know that powerpoint can be PowerPointless, so is blogging also a pointless activity? Or to put it another way: Nodalpoint or Nodalpointless?

From Tim Bray to Jim Gray (via Seymour Cray)

Grid Computing already plays an important role in the life sciences, and will probably continue doing so for the forseeable future. BioGrid (Japan), ^myGrid (UK) and CoreGrid (Europe) are just three current examples, there are many more Grid and Super Duper Computer projects in the life sciences. So, is there an accessible Hitch Hikers Guide to the Grid for newbies, especially bioinformaticians?