Mike Dunford
tqa
Posts by this author
July 20, 2010
UPDATE: I have a new blog home!The Questionable Authority can now be found at Scientopia.
When Pepsigate first erupted, I was extremely unhappy both with that situation and with how Seed had been treating its bloggers. I did not join the large (and still growing) group of departing…
July 20, 2010
...before someone used Pepsigate as the inspiration for some painfully good satire. Well done, Bob.
July 8, 2010
Since I've obviously started blogging again (at least for the moment) I thought this might be a good time to bring you up to date on the latest excuses reasons I haven't been blogging much over the last few months.
I've been working a real, live jobby job. It's one that has extremely limited…
July 8, 2010
This is not the post I though I'd be putting up today. This morning, I fully expected to come home from work, post my already-written "I quit" post, and point you all to a WordPress blog I set up yesterday. As of this moment, I'm not leaving Sb. As of this time next week, who knows?
As some of…
July 6, 2010
A few of you might have noticed that there's a new blog here at ScienceBlogs - one that does not exactly seem to be receiving a warm welcome.
Pepsico - the makers of much of the sugary caffeinated goodness that gets me through the day - seems to have managed to purchase a blog here. (Contrary to…
May 5, 2010
It's been a while since I've posted, because I've been busy goofing off and having fun - I took a long European vacation (pictures and posts to follow). I'm back, mostly recovered, and almost back to my normal routine.
March 29, 2010
As of this morning, at least 20% of your genes were patented by someone other than you. The holders of the patents could quite literally forbid you to investigate large portions of your own personal genome. This afternoon, a federal judge in New York handed down a broad ruling that calls into…
March 29, 2010
Next week, I'm going to be in the UK. My plans for the trip are centered on two things: the room I've booked in London for the week, and the 8-day rail pass I purchased a couple of months ago. This morning I hit the National Rail website to start figuring out exactly which trains I need to take to…
March 18, 2010
If it takes a village to raise a child, I was particularly lucky to grow up in the middle of a wonderful little village in the middle of the Bronx. All things considered, the village did a pretty good job with a whole bunch of kids, who have since spread out all over the place. Some have gone on…
March 17, 2010
One of my many distractions lately is travel planning. After spending several months living in the wilds of Lower Alabama, I'm getting to take a bit of a vacation. Right now, face a 60-minute round-trip commute to get to the nearest bookstore (a marginally acceptable Barnes and Noble). If I'm…
March 16, 2010
Via GeekDad, I just discovered the blog of the Illinois Poison Control Center. More specifically, I discovered the "Day in the Life of a Poison Center" feature they did last month. As medical blogging goes, this was brilliant. They posted very brief descriptions of each of the calls that came into…
March 11, 2010
In what seems to be a bit of a continuation on his earlier post (which I talked about yesterday), Larry Moran has another post up on the whole "is science ever compatible with religion" thing. At the end of the post, he asks a very good question - one that gets right at something that's very…
March 11, 2010
As you might have noticed, ScienceBlogs picked up a couple of new bloggers recently. Peter Janiszewski and Travis Saunders moved their blog, Obesity Panacea, over to these parts last week. Their move gives me an opportunity that's way too good to pass up - an excuse to present my latest excuse for…
March 10, 2010
While reading Peter Ackroyd's London: The Biography, I came across something I hadn't heard of before - the "city hermits" that lived in medieval London. The concept struck me as odd - hermits (at least the non-crab variety) were something that I had always thought of as a purely wilderness…
February 11, 2010
The SandwalkDown House, Kent, England31 August 20081/45 sec @ f/4; 18mm focal length
Technorati Tags: blogpix, darwin, Raw, sandwalk
February 11, 2010
The title on this one pretty much says it all - after less than an hour of deliberation, the jury in the trial of Anne Mitchell came back with a not guilty verdict. The civil suit against the doctor, hospital, sheriff, district attorney, and county will presumably now come out of the holding…
February 10, 2010
The more I look at the circumstances that lead up to the criminal prosecution of a nurse in Texas for informing the State Medical Board of her concerns with a local physician, the more I wind up wondering just how things wound up where they are. It's easy - and far from inaccurate - to view this…
February 9, 2010
Remains of street sign embedded in pahoehoe lava flow.Chain of Craters Road, Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii4 November 20061/60 sec @ f/5.6; 55mm focal length
Technorati Tags: blogpix, lava, volcanoes national park
February 9, 2010
As some of you might know, there is a very scary criminal case currently underway out in West Texas. A registered nurse named Anne Mitchell is currently standing trial. She's been charged with misuse of official information, which is a felony carrying a 10-year maximum sentence. She allegedly…
February 8, 2010
View of St. Thibaud de Brageac - a 12th century village church in FranceBrageac, Auvergne, France2 January 20071/30 sec @ f/8; 55mm focal length
Technorati Tags: blogpix, brageac, France, Raw
February 7, 2010
Misty morning.NAS Pensacola, Florida31 July 20081/350 sec @ f/5.6; 148 mm focal length
Technorati Tags: blogpix, Raw
February 6, 2010
Rainbow over Kalihi valleyOahu, Hawaii28 May 2005HP Camera
Technorati Tags: aloha, blogpix, kalihi
February 6, 2010
The things Zuska has to say often make me uncomfortable, and the way she says them often irritates the hell out of me. But I still read her blog, because she almost always makes me think about things in ways I hadn't before. Her post about the recent Lindsey Vonn Sports Illustrated cover is a…
February 4, 2010
Sometimes "No Swimming" is a really good idea.Warning sign, highway rest area, I-10, Louisiana8 May 20081/250 sec @ f/11; 18mm focal length
Technorati Tags: blogpix, dawn, hudson, Raw, sign
February 3, 2010
This one's a quiz. What's special about the airplane that has the NK on the tail?
1/750 sec @ f/9.8; 180mm focal length
Technorati Tags: blogpix, Raw
February 3, 2010
A little late today.
Royal ObservatoryGreenwich, England12 January 20071/180 sec @ f/8; 55mm focal length
Technorati Tags: blogpix, Greenwich, Raw, world heritage
February 1, 2010
There's no such thing as an ugly ecosystem.
Salt marsh.Near Big Lagoon, NAS Pensacola, Pensacola, FL1 May 20091/160 sec @ f/8.0; Canon EOS Xsi; 20mm focal length
Technorati Tags: big lagoon, blogpix, Raw, swamp
January 31, 2010
I don't know why, but this just feels like a Monday picture.
A cold gargoyleBasillique du Sacre Coeur, Montmartre, Paris, France27 December 20101/45 sec @ f/5.6; Pentax *ist DS; 300 mm focal length
Technorati Tags: Basillique du Sacre Coeur, blogpix, gargoyle, Raw
January 30, 2010
CH-47D Chinook in flight.Oahu, Hawaii24 February 20071/750 sec @ f/8.0; Pentax *ist DS; 300mm focal length
Technorati Tags: blogpix, CH-47D, helicopter
January 29, 2010
Dragon Boat RaceWaikiki Beach, Oahu, HawaiiUnknown Date, ~2002HP Camera
Technorati Tags: blogpix, dragon boat races