PUBLIC MARKS from paleorthid with tag blog

Peak Energy has a long post on Terra Preta that brings together what has been established on the subject. As of yet, there is no direct mention of the role of glomalin, just a minor mention of the mutualistic fungi that produce it. Glomalin is an unvalidated factor in Terra Preta formation that several of us sense will be demonstrated by soil research as fundamentally important. Spurred on by back40, I am fascinated with bio-char, Terra Preta's key soil amendment. Last summer I constructed a small charcoal retort out of a cracker tin. I used it to produce small pilot batches of low temperature charcoal. Hoping to transform my simple charcoal into a reasonably bio-char-like material, I am currently composting my bits.

Greetings to all soil science professionals - agency, academic, and private sector - The National Society of Professional Soil Scientists (USA) has initiated the first professional soil science organization blog. Hopefully other soil organizations will follow. It is no secret that blogging thrives in a community setting. Initial posts in The NSCSS News and Views Blog will be soil science job opportunities, event announcements, and member news. Comments will be closed during this establishment phase. Once interest and readership develop, we hope to convert this blog to support active public exchange on the three issues that we in NSCSS never tire of discussing: professional and ethical conduct, soil science education, and unfair competition from taxpayer-supported entities.

David Crouse, over at North Carolina State has started a new soil science blog. It is obviously a tentative effort at this point, seeing as how the last post has nothing to do with soil science. You have to start somewhere. I am eagerly looking for more soil science blogging. NC State is one of my favorite soil science universities so, while I haven't met DC personally, I expect this blog could work up to (or inspire) something noteworthy. I have started a second soil science related blog: NSCSS News and Views. A fair amount of material gets passed to me as NSCSS Secretary. Job opportunities, for example. I'll post items as they get to me. If I notice anything attracting and holding folks attention, I'll build on that.

a resource for people interested in recent advances in Soil Science in all its guises

David Berlind agrees. According Dave Winer, wikis could use a bit of OPML (Outline Processing Markup Language).

I write at least twice a week about life as we know it and the trials and tribulations of dirt doctoring.