Let's pretend the US is in a bit of an economic crunch and, due to that, universities which up to now have had carte blanche to raise costs any time they like (average - double the rate of inflation but for quality schools, much higher), as much as they like, in the interests of 'quality', are now discovering that parents don't have unlimited money.

If you haven't heard - and you will, because I will keep talking about it - citizen science is getting its own summit this weekend, when H+ sponsors "Rise of the Citizen-Scientist"(1) ... but that is not all that's been going on.   Citizen Science is (finally) catching on everywhere.   It's the new Prius!

A columnist at the Guardian wants help from the Web to determine the best science sites on the Web he and others there don't currently know about.   He put his personal favorites in the article and, not surprisingly, it was heavy on the political/cultural writers in science blogging but I suppose that is why they are asking for help; the shrillest and most aggressive self-promoters (and some are owned by corporate media companies) will be known but not necessarily the best.  

If you want to perhaps see your name in The Guardian you can get someone to nominate you, or do it yourself.

Before he was House on the TV series named ... "House" ... Hugh Laurie was a comedian; you know, one of those smug types UK people love, except he was actually funny.    In this clip, he and fellow comedian Stephen Fry (fun fact - they were introduced by Emma Thompson of Howard's End", "Sense and Sensibility" and one of my wife's favorite Christmas movies, "Love Actually", while at Cambridge in 1980) take a poke at mathematicians, but it could easily apply to any scientist: