Terra Sigillata

The "I hate cancer" chronicles: GBM returns for folk-singer, david m bailey

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:02:05 -0500

Just clearing out the family e-mail account that has tons of old messages from various things I've signed up for over the years when I found a series of e-mails from Virginia-based singer-songwriter, david m bailey. I first saw david play at an event for people living with cancer about eight years ago - he's kind of a cross of old Cat Stevens and Jim Croce but very heavy on the inspiration he draws from 12 years of living with cancer.

For background:

The son of Presbyterian missionaries Dr Ken and Ethel Bailey, david spent his childhood in Beirut, Lebanon. He learned his first chords in 7th grade, went on to study classical guitar then soon after began writing his own songs, a passion he would nourish for years to come. The Lebanese civil war forced him to complete high school at a boarding school in Germany (BFA Academy). He spent weekends as a street musician and formed a small ensemble that toured in churches behind the Iron Curtain and Central Europe. In college, he played extensively in an original acoustic duo, but then put his guitar away and entered corporate America. Ten years later, doctors told david he had a malignant brain tumor and would be dead in a few months. david left his corporate job and returned to his first love of songwriting and performing. Over a lifetime, he has shared his hope and music with thousands of listeners: Now a 12 year survivor with 18 albums to his name and performances in 21 countries and 44 states, david and his music continue to challenge us all to find faith and treasure the beauty of each new day.

Strong melodies and intricate finger picking help deliver keen, witty and insightful lyrics about 3 of his favorite themes: faith, hope, & love, Hailed by one reviewer as a "prophet with a guitar, " david's voice is one that resonates with surprising depth and clarity among audiences of all ages - kids, their parents and their parent's parents enjoy the same concert!. His story has been featured on CBS News/48 Hours, 60 Minutes, NPR, Presbyterians Today, and dozens of newspapers and magazines across the country. While spending most of his time in his own niche of church and medical venues, he does step out into a wide variety of other venues including youth conferences (Montreat, NWMC), retreats, seminaries (Pittsburgh, Louisville), colleges, corporate events & more. In May 2003, he won the prestigious Kerrville NewFolk songwriting competition and has since shared the stage with many others. From Beirut to Budapest, from Pittsburgh to Portland, and on hundreds of stages in between, he has inspired and entertained thousands of listeners and maintains a relentless tour schedule year round.

When not on the road, david spends his time at home in Charlottesville VA with his greatest joys: his amazing wife, Leslie and 2 terrific teenage children, Kelcey & Cameron

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Smartphone hivemind: Treo, Blackberry, or iPhone?

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:01:59 -0500

Okay, my friends. My two years of imprisonment are up. I love my Treo 700p but it is time for me to make a change. Any reviews of new Treos I've seen tell me that I need to attend a funeral.

So, if I am to change, let me tell you first what I love:

1. a good synch-able scheduling function - I look back at this schedule when composing my annual report of scholarly activities for The Man. I like to synch it with my personal computer but NOT with the corporate Outlook.

2. keeping my personal stuff far separate from my business stuff (but I like the real-time push of business e-mail)

3. a real typepad *plus* my love of the treo touchscreen (I liked my demo of the Blackberry 8830 WorldPhone *except* for the lack of the touchscreen - couldn't get used to the friction ball.).

4. a half-decent web interface (just to access the blog, moderate comments, and check Gmail).

5. a phone that gets a signal in most metro areas but not at my desolate, vacant ranchland between Albuquerque and Pueblo.

My brothers Orac or DrugMonkey would certainly implore me to go to the iPhone. I just demo'd the Blackberry Storm today which got a "sucks ass" review from the NYT according to PharmGirl. However, I was surprised pleasantly and I quite liked the combo touchscreen and "pressable" keypad.

I'm looking at the Blackberry Bold that has a keypad but not a touchscreen.

Everyone 'round these parts (including The Real Paul Jones) raves about the iPhone but our AT&T coverage apparently sucks ass.

I don't care. I'm month-to-month right now with Verizon and just want something that doesn't piss me off too much (man, have I been hanging too much with PhysioProf or what?).

Let me also tell you something about me: I am not a fidder with web tech. I even hate the html I need to learn to run this blog. I want something that allows me to quickly do what I want but I won't spend more than 10 minutes on new code or uploading auxillary apps.

Yes. I have now become an old codger. Surely some provider wants to suck up to my tech-challenged but revenue-reasonable demographic.

Give me a new smartphone without the attitude.

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The Friday Fermentable: The Essence of Wine Appreciation by Seth Gross and Craig Heffley

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 10:45:01 -0500

Okay, so kill me - I'm posting The Friday Fermentable on Saturday morning. I just couldn't get it together yesterday and the US Thanksgiving holiday has my timing all screwed up.

I noted earlier this week that the proprietors of our community treasure, Wine Authorities, were to be interviewed on the local NPR affiliate, WUNC-FM, in (guess where?) Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Frank Stasio, a remarkable gentleman in his own right, spoke with Craig Heffley and Seth Gross on his noontime show, The State of Things. The interview was preempted Monday by the economy-related cabinet appointments announced by President-Elect Obama, but the boys appeared successfully on Tuesday's program (show archive here).

I promote these Wine Authorities purveyors often as examples of the philosophy, expertise, and objectivity that our readers should seek among their own local wine merchants (although USians may care to order directly from them: Seth and Craig will FedEx their wines to about 43 US states, a reasonable consideration for some offerings that are imported into the US only by them). The Wine Authorities are also longstanding supporters of the local scientific blogosphere and, more broadly, other like-minded independent businesses and the technology-based community.

I also bring these gentlemen to your attention as we are in secret negotiations with them to present some aspect of their wares and expertise to the 200+ of you who will be participating in the ScienceOnline'09 unconference in January.

Even if you're not in North Carolina, I encourage you to listen to their interview because of the unusual and refreshing attitude they bring to selling and educating about wine in their lives as combination neighborhood bar/butchershop/community gathering place. Here are the high points for me:

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The first annual StoryCorps National Day of Listening

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:30:12 -0500

The recent passing of Studs Terkel and my conversations with African American colleagues after the Obama victory has given me pause to think about our life stories, especially the life stories of our elders. For example, I lost all of my grandparents before I could get their life stories on videotape, digital recorder, or writing - I also said I was going to do it during some visit home. My grandparents had some incredible stories about The Great Depression, the World Wars, even the history of my hometown that was farmland in the middle of factories only a dozen miles from one of the largest cities in the world.

So I was delighted when I received an e-mail from StoryCorps Marketing and Communications specialist, Kathleen McCarthy. Kathleen remembered me from my commentary on the exploding bra story they aired on NPR last June and my admiration for Stetson Kennedy, the civil rights activist captured in a StoryCorps oral history.

StoryCorps is "an independent nonprofit that has helped more than 40,000 Americans record their stories. As one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, it is our mission to help people honor and celebrate one another's lives through listening." Highly-decorated radio documentary producer, Dave Isay, launched the initiative in October 2003 as a recording booth at Grand Central Terminal. A couple of StoryCorps Airstream trailers cross the country where people can sign up to interview a loved one or discuss a friend or family member who has passed on; two CDs are made, one for the participants and one archived in the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. When the mobile studio showed up in my town, reservations were completely booked up in just over a day.

Since many of USians are gathering for Thanksgiving this weekend, StoryCorps has partnered again with NPR to sponsor the first annual National Day of Listening on Friday 28 November.

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Sometimes "allies" need a kick in the pants

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:02:02 -0500

We had one of our most active comment threads the other day when I posted my thoughts on drdrA's own superb post about what is most important to her in being a woman in science. I noted my own desire to listen to and understand as completely as possible the issues of my women colleagues and discuss, in an upcoming ScienceOnline'09 session with Zuska and Alice Pawley (Sat 17 Jan, 11:30 am, session C), how they can enlist academic allies who have the traditional power and resource structure (i.e., white guys like me) to establish partnerships in working toward fair and equitable treatment of women in the STEM disciplines.

Much discussion ensued, particularly as pointed out by a commenter named Spaulding, that Zuska's rightfully pissed off tone in many of her blogposts is alienating to some of the men she seeks as allies. I and others argued that potential allies must first put aside one's defensiveness and listen to the content and reasons for the anger. I am learning this in several other aspects of my professional life from other groups who have been traditionally screwed over.

Well, I am truly blessed with some wonderful and thoughtful readers and the following note came in from a woman scientist whom I respect greatly. Everyone involved in last Tuesday's discussion (and all men in science) should read this. It is truly outstanding:

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Wine Authorities wine guys on local NPR today (Obama pre-emption; postponed 'til tomorrow)

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:10:48 -0500

Salamanzar and the Grand Poobah Wine Swami (Seth Gross and Craig Heffley) of the nationally-recognized wine merchant and community resource, Wine Authorities, will be appearing today on the local NPR affiliate.

Here is the official word from the boys themselves:

Wow! This coming Monday, the 24th, we're going to be on the air with none other than Mr. Frank Stasio on WUNC/NPR's "The State of Things" radio show. This is possibly the highlight of our professional careers thus far! We love this show. So tune in online or on the radio this coming Monday (November 24th @ 12 noon) of Thanksgiving week on WUNC. What could be next for us, Oprah? Letterman? 60 minutes? Click the photo to hear the show Monday or after.

Rest assured that they'll be making some wise recommendations for keeping the Thanksgiving table free of corporate plonk and proletariat swill.

UPDATE: 24 Nov 2008, 12:10 EST (1710 GMT)
The State of Things is being pre-empted today by President-elect Barack Obama's press conference, in which he is expected to introduce his new economic leadership team. We will carry live coverage of the event beginning at noon.

Neal Conan will host our coverage. He will be joined in the studio by NPR's Senior Washington Editor, Ron Elving, and NPR's Economics Correspondent, John Ydstie.

Today's scheduled program for The State of Things, "Meet the Wine Authorities" will air tomorrow (Tuesday, 25 November).

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The Friday Fermentable: Mediterranean and Nearby Island Wines, by Erleichda

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:02:03 -0500

Recent Wine Experiences - Mediterranean (and nearby) Island Wines
by Erleichda

Sweetpea and I enjoy (gentle) hiking vacations, and we share this fondness with a small group of other likeminded hiker friends. I attempt to steer our selected destinations to places where grapes grow, and this has brought us, so far, to Sicily and the Greek islands. So when the theme for the latest gathering of Jim's Disciples were wines of the Mediterranean and nearby islands, I was excited by the opportunity to explore some wines not heretofore tasted, and whose origins might provide the basis for future hiking destinations.

The group was also meeting at a new French BYOB restaurant, and we were not to be disappointed. While French food per se is not one of my favorites, it does provide a good palate for wine tasting. While we were all perusing the menu and catching up on Holiday Season news and gossip, I passed along two of the three white wines brought to the dinner and set to chill upon our arrival.

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Cornucopia House Cancer Support Center celebrates its founders

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:33:43 -0500

Just a quick reminder of who you're really supporting when you come by and click on this humble blog.

It's no secret that joining Seed Media Group's ScienceBlogs.com can bring the blogger(s) a very small amount of compensation based upon grades of site traffic - depending on your traffic, this could be about as much as paying for your monthly highspeed internet connection at the house. But over the course of a year, this ends up being more money than I donate personally to my public radio station.

Anyway, when I started Terra Sig at the old joint and was invited to join Sb, I was in a meatspace job where I was not allowed to accept any additional compensation. So, I just had (and continue to have) Seed donate my doubloons directly to a local, non-profit cancer patient support center that operates independently of our NCI cancer centers and other cancer hospitals. They perform a wonderful mission in giving resources, education, and a healing space not just for people with cancer but their family and caregivers as well. They also offer events on tai chi and exercise, stress management, nutrition, and other types of supportive modalities while being very, very careful not to venture into the unsubstantiated arena of deceptive alternative practices (yes, I'll occasionally be called up to evaluate a session for a ruling on "woo"/"not woo").

This past weekend, Cornucopia House Cancer Support Center, held an event to honor and remember the women who founded this organization 12 years ago:

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Perhaps if more of us were "that guy"

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:02:50 -0500

DrDrA at BlueLabCoats has returned with an outstanding post, entitled, "I want you to hear me, I don't care what you see...," that she wrote out longhand during her recent travels:

In my absence I picked up a whiff of a lot of chatter about what women scientists wear to work... or talk/write about wearing .... going on in the blogosphere. . .

You see- the struggle I'm in daily in my own life and career is not about appearances, and it is not about symbolism or femininity- and it is not about who I am as a person, my likes and dislikes etc. It is a struggle to be heard and taken seriously for my ideas, plain and simple. . .it is about training the students in my group - who right now happen to be all women- to be the best possible scientists, and teaching them how the system works. It is about not having to repeat the same reasonable idea 20 or 30 times and have it laughed off by a group of colleagues for two or three YEARS, and then having a man mention it once and have it roundly applauded and implemented.

Funny that she should write this outstanding post right now - since I've been reading her, Zuska, and many of my other women scientist friends (and witnessing my supremely accomplished wife get blown off by fellow academics), I've been trying my own experiments (not really experiments but rather real-life observations to which I've become attuned after reading my colleagues.).

The last one was at a meeting last week where I noticed at our opening reception a group of women academics next to the bar separate from the other groups of mostly men with one or maybe two women. I gently interrupted to introduce myself then spoke with a few about where they were, what they did, why they were here, etc., intentionally listening for 75-80% of the conversation rather than being the typical male ass who would descend upon such a group and hold forth on his greatness. Indeed, these women smoked me in terms of stature and experience and I did in fact have a great deal to learn from them (as I did for the rest of the workshop).

Well, wouldn't you know if, but along comes a gentleman obviously hoping to rescue these highly accomplished female academics from a man who was actually listening to them. After a few minutes of his blustering and chest-puffing, I turned back to the person with whom I was already having an engaging conversation and the gentleman took leave shortly thereafter.

I present this anecdote not for any self-aggrandizment - after all, what is such a big deal about listening more than speaking to anyone, any colleague, regardless of their gender or geographical ancestry? Instead, DrDrA's sentiments caused me to recall what DrugMonkey said in one of his more notable posts, gentlemen, it doesn't hurt a bit to be "that guy."

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Tagged by the five things meme

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:02:28 -0500

As if I don't already have enough to do, Comrade PhysioProf tagged me with this meme last night. I was also fortunate to be tagged by Isis the Scientist in her new digs at On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess. So, since these folks seem interested, here goes:

5 Things I was Doing 10 years Ago:
(1) Gleefully watching my first PhD student complete and defend her dissertation.
(2) Liberating myself from a demonic, parasitic spouse.
(3) Starting a long-distance relationship with PharmGirl.
(4) Releasing my first co-authored book.
(5) Preparing my tenure dossier.

5 Things On My To-Do List Today:
(1) Finish sections of a collaborative grant.
(2) Take PharmKid to see Madagascar.
(3) Call and/or Skype video chat with PharmMom and PharmSis.
(4) Write letter of congratulations and thanks to a colleague who gave a tremendous violocello performance last evening.
(5) Re-organize my home office area (or excavate it with a pitchfork and recycling bins, or just simply set a controlled burn).

5 Snacks I Love:
(1) C. Howard's Violet Mints (thanks to the late PharmDad and PharmPop).
(2) Hot, boiled green peanuts.
(3) Herr's Sour Cream and Onion Potato Chips.
(4) Barley sugar pops.
(5) Asian rice cracker mix, w/ or w/o wasabi peas.

5 Things I Would Do If I Were A Millionaire:
(1) Build a off-the-grid cabin in southern Colorado using an awesome plan selected by PharmGirl that is currently sitting somewhere on my nightmare of a desk.
(2) Set aside 4 yrs of undergrad tuition room and board for the PharmKid.
(3) If there is any money left (doubtful with projected college costs), establish a scholarship for one of my students.
(4) Donate more to our local food bank.
(5) I'd buy your love.

5 Places I've Lived:
(1) In the shadow of the town water tower.
(2) On a trolley line in West Philadelphia.
(3) Very close to Tom Petty's boyhood home.
(4) At 8000 ft with a view of the Continental Divide.
(5) Next to a tuberculosis era Jewish pauper's cemetery.

5 Jobs I've Had:
(1) Italian restaurant dishwasher.
(2) Pizza joint kitchen boy.
(3) Pizza delivery driver.
(4) Vivarium animal cage cleaner.
(5) Perfesser.

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Misha Angrist's Naked Genome

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 07:48:52 -0500

Picking up the Sunday paper after walking the PharmBeagle, I saw Dr Misha Angrist of the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy featured on the frontpage of the local fishwrapper. Ace higher ed reporter, Eric Ferreri, put together a lovely article on this local hero. As Misha notes elsewhere:

In 2007 I became the fourth subject in Harvard geneticist George Church's Personal Genome Project. As the PGP moves forward, I am chronicling the dawn of personal genomics, that is, people obtaining their genomic information for whatever reason(s) and figuring out what to do with it. I am interested in the relevant technologies and especially the attendant privacy and other ethical/legal/social issues.

Not only is Misha a geneticist and bioethicist, but he is also a published writer of fiction and non-fiction (separate from his own peer-reviewed publications - I jest). He is also an excellent scholar of discerning tastes in having invited me, Sheril Kirshenbaum, and Bora Zivkovic to speak with his students in bioethics where we were humbled by no one having ever heard of ScienceBlogs.com.

Ferreri notes that Church and the PGP set out specifically to recruit subjects with a very strong interest or qualifications in science:

If successful, the Harvard study and its leader, George Church, will have built the world's first public genome database to link genes with disease. Angrist is truly in at the ground level.

"Ten people is, statistically, not much different than zero people," Angrist said. "We have no illusions that anything from the 10 of us will be useful. The idea is to stick our flag in the ground and see if we can make this work."

In my view, Angrist's participation will be of high impact is in his role as an ethicist and professional writer in that he will be able to effectively communicate to the wider public the significance (or lack thereof) of personal genomics:

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The Friday Fermentable: Go forth and read scribbler50's, Behind the Stick

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:02:47 -0500

While I'm still compiling and formatting yet another fabulous overseas wine experience from Erleichda for today's main Friday Fermentable, I experienced a bizarre convergence last evening after writing my post on my dissertation defense anniversary.

After plowing through my post, I was catching up on Google Reader and was pointed to the latest post by writer-bartender, scribbler50, and his new blog, Behind the Stick. You must go read his post on, "yet another annoying snobbery afoot in that place I like to call bar-land. . .the newly minted single malt connoisseur."

The post by scribbler50 and the anniversary of my defense sent me back to the original mission statement of The Friday Fermentable on 21 July 2006.

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Do you remember your defense?

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:38:00 -0500

For whatever reason, I woke up really depressed and exhausted today - pretty much for no reason, I think.

I checked my schedule on my Treo - today marks 19 years since my dissertation defense.

I remember being really depressed throughout writing my dissertation thinking, "is this all I have to show for this many years of public support for my training?"

My defense was on a Monday so I spent most of Sunday practicing my seminar in the room where I'd give it - it sucked so badly that I couldn't even get through it once.

When the time came, it was the most incoherent performance I had ever given or ever would.

I was a blithering idiot during my oral exam. There was a great deal of laughter in the room as I stood outside in the hall.

How in the hell did they give me a Ph.D.?

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Flu-gle?: the influenza tracker from Google.org

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:49:05 -0500

Via Robert A Guth at the Wall Street Journal, I learned yesterday of a great new feature from Google.org, the arm of the search giant dedicated to the use of information and technology for the global good.

Google Flu Trends is a joint effort with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the "prevention" part is always lost in the acronym, CDC). There you can track the number of influenza cases in the US and in your particular state, enter your postal code to find the nearest purveyor of influenza vaccines, and even download weekly raw data on regional flu cases (more detailed description here). The site claims that the combined CDC information and Google search strategies provide flu trend data two weeks faster than most traditional sources. The Google Flu tracker is also a superb informational adjunct to the CDC's excellent flu information page.

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Mystery Congressional champion adds melanoma to DoD-CDMRP research grant portfolio

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:30:50 -0500

My long absence from home and the blog was followed yesterday by my lying on the floor and going through accumulated mail. These quiet times for "literature review," such as preparing the recycling and walking back from the mailbox, frequently provide me with blog fodder.

So I read with interest yesterday an Oncology Times article by Eric T Rosenthal from late last month on the Congressional appropriation of $4 million USD toward melanoma research:

Following passage by the House and Senate, and signing by President Bush, melanoma joined breast, prostate, and ovarian cancers as the only ones singled out for funding through the DoD's US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC)-the pot of money originally discovered by the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) in 1992 when National Institutes of Medicine research funding was capped. (Also included in the program at one time was chronic myelogenous leukemia, but that is not currently funded, a DoD spokesperson said.)

The $4 million was part of a bill providing for a total of $16 million for peer-reviewed cancer research programs not currently included in the DoD's portfolio.

For readers not familiar with the DoD biomedical research grant programs, the CDMRP funds are an add-on to the DoD's traditional research program:

The Office of Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) is funded through the Department of Defense (DoD), via annual Congressional legislation known as the Defense Appropriations Act. For most programs, the DoD sends a multi-year budget request to Congress in the form of the President's Budget. However, dollars for the CDMRP are not considered part of the DoD's core mission, and are therefore not included in the DoD's requested budget. Rather, the dollars to fund CDMRP are added every year during the budget approval cycle by members of the House or Senate, in response to requests by consumer advocates and disease survivors.

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