terrasig
Posts by this author
September 20, 2006
Curcumin has been much in the news as of late as considerable cell culture data has been suggestive of the compound's utility in cancer prevention and cancer treatment. The impetus for me speaking on this has been the recent report by my ScienceBlogs.com colleague, Razib, at Gene Expression.…
September 20, 2006
A very exciting day here in the Southland as Tim Westergren, Pandora co-founder, comes to the area for town hall meetings with Pandora listeners at UNC and in Durham.
Have you used Pandora and its Music Genome Project algorithm for listening to music and learning about bands like those you already…
September 17, 2006
This year's recipients of the Lasker Awards were announced yesterday. These awards from The Lasker Foundation are often referred to as the "American Nobels."
The award for Basic Medical Research went to three scientists for "the prediction and discovery of telomerase, a remarkable RNA-containing…
September 17, 2006
A back alley conversation among several ScienceBloggers is the impetus for this week's post.
A couple of weeks ago, Dave Munger over at Cognitive Daily asked all of us about our favorite cheap wine deals. So, with the permission of my SciBlings, I thought I'd let the readership in on the…
September 13, 2006
I applauded Keith Olbermann in this space two weeks ago.
I finally got around tonight to reading his commentary presented Monday night at Ground Zero.
Apologies to my readers who may be overwhelmed by all of the 9/11 attention this week but, as Olbermann said, "I belabor this to emphasize that,…
September 12, 2006
I have to admit to feeling a bit unnerved by smelling fire all day yesterday, the anniversary of the US terrorist attacks.
Little did I know that we've got a little case of overzealous municipal composting gone awry:
A massive pile of leaves and wood at a city of Durham composting facility ignited…
September 12, 2006
Writing under this masthead for the past three months has been a great privilege, interacting with some really outstanding thinkers and writers in science, medicine, and society. We've got real journalists, scientists, physicians, students here, each of whom bring a unique and thoughtful eye to…
September 11, 2006
Let me tell you about John Michael Griffin, Jr.
Griff, as he was known in high school, was a friend of mine.
Late in the first half of our lives, he stood up for me physically and philosophically, for being a science geek. John's endorsement was the first time I was ever deemed cool for…
September 10, 2006
Most of last week's posts were about music, so I thought I'd round out the holy trinity of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.
Traveling this weekend gave me an opportunity to indulge in one of my secret guilty pleasures: reading USA TODAY.
First up, as it were, is Kitty Bean Yancey's story on the…
September 9, 2006
Another reason I reposted yesterday on my Stetson Kennedy visit in January was to also note some bad news that came my way this week. Steve Blackwell, Florida folk guitarist and magnificent songwriter, lost his battle with malignant melanoma last Sunday. He was only 58. His memorial service will…
September 8, 2006
Next month, the family Pharmboy is headed down to Beluthahatchee, Florida, to help celebrate the 90th birthday of famed human rights legend, Stetson Kennedy, the subject of some Woody Guthrie lyrics put to music by Billy Bragg and Wilco. Among ScienceBloggers, I've learned that Janet and Steinn…
September 6, 2006
From BBC News,
"With the fight against illegal downloading of songs starting to pay off, the music business has set its sights on a new enemy on the internet - websites which transcribe pop songs into musical notation."
Not content with suing Moms and kids who illegally download mp3s, the recording…
September 6, 2006
My ScienceBlogs.com colleague, Alex Palazzo at The Daily Transcript, has just posted on the announcement of a 3rd major San Diego/La Jolla research institute with plans to establish a presence in Florida.
Current issues of Roman numeral mixups notwithstanding, Florida has been very quietly rising…
September 4, 2006
If you've read Michael Pollan's, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and you still eat beef, chances are that you prefer to purchase grass-fed over corn-fed feedlot beef. The advantages include a more humane lifestyle for the animals and less fat for the consumer.
Well, the US Department of Agriculture has…
September 4, 2006
"Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country," said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor. "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of…
September 1, 2006
Another Wine Escapade : The Tuscan Dinner
by Erleichda, special guest correspondent to The Friday Fermentable
(Note to readers: As mentioned in previous editions, guest-blogger Erleichda is a slightly more senior colleague with a much more experienced and seasoned palate. I find Italian wines to…
September 1, 2006
Interesting to see the Wall Street Journal this morning with an article carrying this title (here, but subscription req'd - hence, I will quote heavily).
Everyone knows that US NIH funding cuts have made it difficult for all academics who depend on the nation's health agency for research support…
August 31, 2006
I'm deeply appreciative of all who've come out to support my student and former lab intern, Jen, who is riding in her brother's memory in the Philadelphia LIVESTRONG Challenge 100-mile bike ride for the Lance Armstrong Foundation on 10 Sept 2006.
http://www.livestrongchallenge.org/06pa/jenforjon…
August 31, 2006
Sadly, we have no Winston Churchills evident among us this evening. We have only Donald Rumsfelds, demonizing disagreement, the way Neville Chamberlain demonized Winston Churchill.
But we at least have Keith Olbermann, and an all-too-small handful of journalists willing to call it like it is.
You…
August 28, 2006
I was so happy to learn that this e-mail is still posted on CNN's website.
After I read it a year ago, I paid $55 on eBay for a Joe Horn Saints' jersey:
There was a Saint in New Orleans during the wrath of Hurricane Katrina and his name is Joe Horn, pro-football player for the New Orleans Saints.…
August 26, 2006
Four years ago at 11:24 am EDT (1624 GMT), your humble blogger was handed the keys to a whole new vocabulary of love.
The gift came in the form of a 7 lb. 13 oz. (3,544 gm), 20.5 inch (52 cm) bundle of drooling, peeing, meconium-pooping bundle of baby girl, yanked from an incision in PharmGirl's…
August 25, 2006
The Burnham Institute chooses Orlando.
First, some big health systems like Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic established satellite hospitals and clinics across north and south Florida.
Now we learn that one of the top non-profit research institutes in the US is setting up shop in Orlando.
The…
August 24, 2006
The wimpy approval of OTC status today for Plan B emergency contraception only for women 18 and older has me nonplussed.
I've been disgusted by the intrusion of politics into science and medicine on this issue for quite some time.
As some Terra Sig readers know, a major network news outlet keeps…
August 24, 2006
I've been terribly remiss in not welcoming the trickle of additions to the ScienceBlogs.com stable, especially Molecule of the Day, the new blog most allied with my subject matter.
However, I was not going to miss the Sb launch of one of my faves and long-time members of my very short and poorly-…
August 22, 2006
The beauty of being here on ScienceBlogs.com is being part of an international discussion with so many folks from diverse backgrounds.
So, on many occasions, commentors have more to say than I, with both broader perspective and greater brevity.
In our recent discussion of the Virginia teenage…
August 22, 2006
A Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee, New Jersey, writes in and says,
Dear Roseanne Roseannadanna,
I just read of some bizarre Southern ritual whereby Durham-Chapel Hill-RTP bloggers are meeting this coming Friday for a barbecue.
What have Triangle bloggers done to anyone such that they should be…
August 21, 2006
I try to not to be too much of a homer here, especially since moving to ScienceBlogs.com. Instead, I have been running a second blog called Bull City Bully Pulpit for items of local interest that our some of the Terra Sig audience might not care about so much.
But with the university academic…
August 20, 2006
Dear Readers,
Due to the combination of hot weather, a paucity of drinking and reading, and the intrusions of the day job and events in the reality-based community, I've decided not to post The Friday Fermentable for this week.
Please be sure to check back next Friday, 25 August, when this feature…
August 19, 2006
Yes, I know that I am late with The Friday Fermentable, but this pharmacologist couldn't pass up the following blogthing on a lazy Saturday morn:
Your Personality Is Like Ecstasy
You're usually feeling the love for the world around you - you want to hug everyone.
And while you're usually content…
August 18, 2006
I've stayed out of the Starchild Abraham Cherrix case, where a 16-year-old boy and his parents are trying to refuse known, effective, and life-saving chemotherapy for a curable cancer in lieu of a scientifically unproven alternative regimen that includes coffee enemas.
Orac of Respectful Insolence…