Mike Dunford is a graduate student in the Department of Zoology at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, where he studies evolution. He's also a contributer to The Pandas Thumb. As is the case with everyone else here, his opinions are his own, and do not necessarily represent those of any organization he is affiliated with.
December 31, 2006
Here's a good New Year's quote, from the first season of The West Wing: Toby: It's not the new millennium, but I'll just let it drop. Sam: It is. Toby: It is not the new millennium. The year 2000 is...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:01 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 29, 2006
On the First Day of Christmas, I did the "Yes, Virginia" quote. On the Third Day of Christmas, I did Terry Pratchett's take on the same question. Today is the Fifth Day of Christmas, and it's always been my favorite...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:01 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 27, 2006
This is a follow-up to the Christmas day quote - the Terry Pratchett take on the same question: "Susan," said Twyla, from somewhere under the blankets. "Yes?" "You know last week we wrote letters to the Hogfather?" "Yes?" "Only ....
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:01 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 25, 2006
Merry Christmas. "DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old. "Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. "Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.' "Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:01 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 23, 2006
When the time came to schedule this European odyssey that we're currently on, I discovered two things. First, that it was going to be a hell of a lot cheaper to fly on the 18th of December than on the...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 6:46 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
"The scientific spirit is of more value than its products, and irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors. --Thomas Henry Huxley "The Coming of Age of the 'Origin of Species'"...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:01 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 21, 2006
A little passage from Hogfather for the Winter Solstice: Ridcully, after a few more trial runs, settled on a song which evolves somewhere on every planet where there are winters. It's often dragooned into the service of some local religion...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:01 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 20, 2006
The kids and I get to London last night just in time to catch an early dinner and fall asleep. The kids, being used to Hawaiian Time (GMT -10) were up at 3 this morning. We went to see Father...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:27 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 19, 2006
My statistics class took up a great deal of time this semester, so this quote seems particularly appropriate: No study is less alluring or more dry and tedious than statistics, unless the mind and imagination are se to work, or...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:01 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 18, 2006
As you can tell by looking at the main page, I haven't been blogging much (again) lately. It's been a long semester, and I've had a lot of catching up to do at school. Between grading papers and trying to...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 1:45 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 8, 2006
As I mentioned recently, a number of soldiers in Iraq will be running the Honolulu Marathon this weekend. The course goes around a base several times, mostly over dirt roads. In part, running the Honolulu Marathon lets folks maintain a...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 2:38 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 7, 2006
A scientific paper just published in the journal Nature provides an in-depth scientific analysis of the evidence in the case of the six medics on trial for their lives in Libya. Scientists obtained RNA sequences from the HIV virus present...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 9:24 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 5, 2006
Go read this story in the New York Times and cry for what our country has become, and for what we have lost. The story is about Jose "Dirty Bomb" Padilla, and his treatment while incarcerated as an "enemy combatant"...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 4:34 AM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
