terrasig
Posts by this author
July 18, 2006
Monday's contest to win $50 decoding the chemical and historical nature of the Terra Sigillata banner masthead got such a response that I didn't even expect it. Amazingly, one entrant answered 4 of the 5 questions correctly, with the 5th being closest of anyone.
I'll be contacting the lucky feller…
July 17, 2006
Get ready to be barraged by news of a proprietary pine bark extract exhibiting efficacy against attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Today's report by the French company that manufactures a maritime pine bark extract seems to be associated (see press release below fold) with Dr Steven Lamm, a…
July 16, 2006
I've never properly acknowledged the commercial artist, Mr Brien O'Reilly of SaBOR Design, who designed the content-rich, scientific eye-candy banner in the masthead above for the Sb version of Terra Sigillata.
So, I'd like to kick off the week raising awareness of the banner and advertising Mr O…
July 16, 2006
Dear Mom,
I was still sick all day on our first day back from vacation. However, I just wanted you to know that we are all thinking of you for your birthday today hoping, especially, that the celebration included healthy doses of Chimayo Cocktails!
Love,
The Black Sheep of Your Family
July 15, 2006
I've gotten a few raised eyebrows this week as to why a modestly-compensated, mid-career cancer researcher would choose to (or could afford) to vacation in Aspen, Colorado. I'll have more to say about this, but just one example of why this is such a worthwhile place to visit comes from my 2 hours…
July 14, 2006
As alluded to on ScienceBlogs.com editors' Page 3.14 blog, many of us are formalizing our more light-hearted posts on Fridays to coincide with the inevitable dropoff in internet traffic and reality-based work.
I had intended to launch today "The Friday Fermentable," my views on the joys of…
July 13, 2006
As PharmMom is a retired nurse and some of my favorite health sciences students have been nurses, it is always my pleasure to promote Kim at Emergiblog. It's always worth a trip over if for nothing other than her vintage nursing and pharmaceutical advertisements.
The second issue of her newly-…
July 11, 2006
For several years, various media outlets have asked my opinion about herbal medicine and dietary supplement issues. I've generally written several pages of responses only to find a few key quotes mined from my paragraphs of wisdom (in my mind). No problem at all; I just have trouble with churning…
July 11, 2006
Sorry, gang, but this is just more journal than blog - and yet another emphatic and blathering reason of why I love this town.
Had a lovely hike yesterday with PharmGirl and PharmPreSchooler to the Grottos just outside of Aspen proper, an amazing series of igneous rocks and ice caves at the base of…
July 11, 2006
Do you live near Pittsburgh, New York, Boston, or Southern Denmark/Rostock, Germany and have at least two relatives (or yourself) over the age of 80? The US National Institutes of Health has funded researchers interested in recruiting you and family members to find out the secrets of longevity. (…
July 10, 2006
Turns out that I was not the only one offended by the content of Ken Lay's biography and obituary:
From the Letters to the Editor of this morning's Aspen Daily News:
Editor:
I just finished reading your paper's obituary of Kenneth Lay and was somewhat puzzled by the dichotomy between Kenneth Lay,…
July 9, 2006
I wasn't going to disclose my location while on working vacation, but since half the world already has my dang cell phone number, I might as well share with you the latest from Aspen, a magnificent mountain town whose winter opulence gives way to slightly less opulence in the summer, together with…
July 7, 2006
This link provides a truly lengthy diatribe on "11 Effective, Natural Strategies To Kill Your Cancer" that I found the other day while reading on ABCNews about Sheryl Crow's battle with breast cancer. It literally takes about 15 min to read and then ends with a list of links to purchase products…
July 5, 2006
I've gotten a bit sidetracked so we'll have to wait on my follow-up on pharmacist's refusal and some posts I've been working on about curcumin in cancer and the concerns about lay persons making treatment recommendations about lymphoma treatment.
I just learned over the weekend that the brother of…
July 4, 2006
As noted in my last post on the end of our ScienceBlogs.com DonorsChoose campaign to raise funds for public schoolteacher projects around the country, we have all been amazed at the outpuoring of generosity from readers who share our passion for educating the next generation of scientists. At the…
July 4, 2006
Sometimes, it's just best to leave the truth and sentimentality to the most idealistic among us...
Here's a nice Independence Day message from a local boy, one Mr. Greg Randolph, to his grandchildren in 2076.
July 2, 2006
The DonorsChoose campaign here at ScienceBlogs has come to a close and our challenge has been the beneficiary of support from about 10 donors. As a result of the generosity of readers, including poor graduate students and thoughtful family members, we've met all three of our challenge goals to…
June 29, 2006
You really didn't want to work today, especially in the States where we're heading into the 4th of July holiday weekend. So, thanks to Julie Meloni at No Fancy Name, I'm blowing off stuff today to re-live memories of grad school through 1980s music videos. I still remember the mad rush to finish…
June 29, 2006
As someone who has been associated with colleges of pharmacy as student or professor for 25 years, I feel compelled to weigh in on the debate raging in the US between a pharmacist's right of conscientious objection to filling certain prescriptions and their responsibilities as a licensed health…
June 28, 2006
Yesterday, Matt over at Pooflingers Anonymous celebrated his one-year blogiversary. (Question: should it really be "anniblogary" to reflect the Latin, annum?). To understand the nature and concept of poo-flinging, I direct you to his mission statement.
When I first began reading blogs, I was truly…
June 26, 2006
Last week's local independent rag had a number of articles on the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) individuals and the revived religious war against our fellow citizens. Featured therein is a brief from Pam Spaulding, who bloggers will recognize from Pandagon and Pam's…
June 26, 2006
Not exactly a natural products question, although naturally-occurring dyes have been used for millennia for body decoration.
My elder SiBling, Prof Tara Smith at Aetiology, wrote a post last week on a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report article about cases of community-acquired methicillin-…
June 26, 2006
Well, you know my answer when you see that I am more than a week late with this post on the 15 June question.
How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically?
Priorities…
June 25, 2006
Blogging has been very light over the last two weeks as I was serving my national health agency and fellow scientists and physicians by critically evaluating research proposals. By the end of last week, the sight of my computer screen began to induce migraines and I'm still not feeling 100%.…
June 22, 2006
A brand-spanking-new blog carnival, Change of Shift, is up at Emergiblog. Focusing on nursing issues, as Kim does so beautifully, the carnival's aim is to provide broad insights on nursing as a profession, akin to Grand Rounds.
(Note to Mom: Kim and I have corresponded about your nursing career…
June 21, 2006
...not to mention you are discriminating, generous, good-looking and intelligent!
What am I talking about? First, recognize that our move to Sb has increased our daily visits steadily into the triple digits but we are still only floating around positions 32 to 40 among our 44 SiBlings.
But, be…
June 19, 2006
The US FDA has filed a seizure and forfeiture complaint for unapproved medical devices called, "Dr Ho's Double Massage" and "Dr Ho's Muscle Massage."
But, in all seriousness, this is serious:
The devices, components, and accessories, are adulterated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act…
June 18, 2006
On this Father's Day, it is only right to promote Pediatric Grand Rounds vol. 1, no. 5, from my pediatrics colleague, PGR founder, and fellow proud papa, Dr Clark Bartram at Unintelligent Design.
As ol' Doc Bartram sez:
I am very proud of this edition of the PGR. It is a perfect example of the…
June 18, 2006
Much to my amazement, over $500 has been donated to fully fund the first of my three pet projects in North Carolina. What is even more amazing is that these donations came from a total of two individuals: one is a blogger and the other is unknown to me, I think, but DonorsChoose does not list the…
June 16, 2006
(This is a repost from 4 June that was supposed to have been here for our launch on Sb - Ewen Callaway's interview with Michael Pollan is definitely worthy of a wider audience)
Here a belated plug to my Colorado compatriot, hard-working microbiologist, and real-life journalist, Ewen, at his…