Janet D. Stemwedel
Janet D. Stemwedel (whose nom de blog is Dr. Free-Ride) is an associate professor of philosophy at San Jose State University. Before becoming a philosopher, she earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry.
jstemwedel
Posts by this author
March 9, 2009
The full text of the memorandum is here. Let's look at some of the details.
Within 120 days from the date of this memorandum [March 9, 2009], the Director [of the Office of Science and Technology Policy] shall develop recommendations for Presidential action designed to guarantee scientific…
March 8, 2009
Well, in truth, I did all the preparation and cooking, so I guess technically I made myself lunch. However, it was by way of Twitter that I was given a good, quick idea for what to do with a mess of produce I brought in from the garden today. (Eating this produce promptly is important, seeing as…
March 8, 2009
In the ScienceBlogs Pi Day bake-off, it would seem that Pastry Chef Free-Ride has a posse.
Reader Jake emailed me to share a pie recipe for me to prepare with the sprogs. Writes Jake, "This is one member of the extended family of molasses crumb pies and a cousin to the Pennsylvania Dutch Shoo-fly…
March 8, 2009
The Cincinnati Beacon - AMA prez hosts anti-animal testing group med forum: leading indicator or April Foolâs joke? - Cincinnati blog, Cincinnati news, Cincinnati politics
American Medical Association president Dr. Nancy Nielsen as featured guest in PCRM conference call? Really? Will she be…
March 7, 2009
We're still a week away from Pi Day, but the break in the rain here has made me believe that spring may be on its way. What better way to celebrate spring (especially in the aftermath of a wintertime fruit pie) than a violet custard pie?
The violet custard is based on a recipe from The Savory Way…
March 7, 2009
Back in February when we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium, my communing-with-jellies time included an interval gazing at the cross jelly (Mitrocoma cellularia).
The common name doesn't refer to this jelly's mood (although how you'd assess a jelly's mood is a question you might ponder while…
March 6, 2009
The younger Free-Ride offspring would like to report on a recent field trip to the Math/Science Nucleus.
Younger offspring: What's a nucleus anyway?
Dr. Free-Ride: It's what's at the center of things. The cells in your body have nuclei, and so do the atoms that those cells are made of.
Younger…
March 5, 2009
It's not Pi Day yet, but there's no reason to believe my first pie will be the one that hits the target. So, here's my opener in anticipation of March 14th, a dried cherry/dried apricot/apple pie in a nut crust. I'm calling it an end-of-winter fruit pie because it's made with what I have on hand…
March 5, 2009
I'm not a regular reader of the Huffington Post, but I received a pointer to an article there that strikes me as worthy of comment.
The article, Why I Take Animal-Tested Drugs, was written by Simon Chaitowitz, the former Communications director for the animal rights group Physicians Committee for…
March 4, 2009
Americans for Medical Progress has announced the Michael D. Hayre Fellowship in Public Outreach, designed to inspire and motivate the next generation of research advocates.
The Fellowship is named in honor of AMP's late former Chairman, Mike Hayre, as a testament to his visionary leadership within…
March 3, 2009
It has come to my attention that today's date (03-03-09) makes this a Square Root Day.
The Free-Ride household will be marking the occasion pretty much the way you'd expect -- with an evening meal that includes square roots.
Well, approximately square. The roots include diced sweet potatoes (…
March 2, 2009
Times are tough all around these days. However, at schools like mine, a large public university with a population that includes a significant number of students who are older than traditional college age, are the first in their families to go to college, and/or were in economically precarious…
March 2, 2009
Today at Inside Higher Education, there is a must-read essay about the impact that demands for ever-greater assessment has on faculty workload. Written by a member of the faculty at a large state university, the essay notes that faculty members, like other earthlings, have only 24 hours per day,…
March 1, 2009
During our second day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium last weekend, I finally got my much needed jelly time. I also had occasion to notice that their jelly exhibits have shrunk significantly since their height a few years ago, and that some of my favorite varieties are no longer on display. Booo!…
February 28, 2009
You knew the California budget shortfall was going to have an impact on higher education in the state. But maybe you didn't know that the pain will not be distributed evenly. Last weekend, John Engell, a colleague of mine from San Jose State University (and currently chair of the Department of…
February 27, 2009
An article in the Wall Street Journal notes the collision between researchers' interests in personal safety and the public's right to know how its money is being spent -- specifically, when that money funds research that involves animals:
The University of California was sued last summer by the…
February 27, 2009
This week, we finally get to the elder Free-Ride offspring's part of last-week's bath-night conversation about energy. Here's the audio of the discussion, complete with splashing bathwater and odd squawks from my computer.
For those who prefer words on the screen, the transcript is below.
Dr.…
February 26, 2009
At the New York Times Room for Debate Blog, a bunch of commentators were asked to weigh in with easy-to-make changes Americans might adopt to reduce their environmental impact. One of those commentators, Juliet Schor, recommends eating less meat:
Rosamond Naylor, a researcher at Stanford,…
February 26, 2009
This morning, I was made aware (by my better half) of the existence of Google Flu Trends. This is a project by Google to use search terms to create a model of flu activity across the United States. Indeed, the results have been good enough that they were reported in a Letter in Nature [1] back…
February 25, 2009
In last night's address to the joint session of Congress, President Obama said:
The third challenge we must address is the urgent need to expand the promise of education in America.
In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer…
February 24, 2009
I've been watching an interesting discussion unfolding at DrugMonkey, prompted by a post at Science Bear's Cave, about whether not irritating your lab group's principal investigator ought to be your highest priority. As DrugMonkey notes, such a strategy can have bad consequences:
If there is a…
February 23, 2009
Over at On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess, Dr. Isis looks at challenges of opening up participation in human subjects research to potential subjects who are not fluent English speakers:
When one enters the university hospital here at MRU, there are a number of skilled and qualified…
February 23, 2009
Over at The White Coat Underground, PalMD looks at the ways in which delivering good health care to deaf patients depends on providing good interpreters -- and notices the difficulty of making this happen:
How do we approach this as a society?
Item 1: Deaf people have special needs with regards to…
February 22, 2009
We're back at the Monterey Bay Aquarium today. Shortly after our arrival, the kids are up to their elbow in touch-tank water. Then, the younger Free-Ride offspring gets critical.
"The decorator crabs here aren't very decorated."
"It's true," says the volunteer working the touch-tank. "These…
February 22, 2009
We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium yesterday but, owing to the whims of the kids we were with (our own plus some friends), I didn't get to spend the hours I usually like to spend staring at jellies.
In fact, I was able to park myself in front of a single tank of jellies for maybe 15 minutes.…
February 21, 2009
On our drive to the Monterey Peninsula last night, la familia Free-Ride listened to (most of) the new Jonathan Coulton album JoCo Looks Back. (We skipped a few songs whose subject matter and lyrics were deemed "too mature" for the audience in the back seat.) The Free-Ride offspring had some prior…
February 20, 2009
This week, the bath-night conversation turned to energy. If you prefer to listen to the sprogs, what with the splishing of the bathwater and their American accents, you can download the audio file. (Actually, owing to the length of the conversation, this week it's just me and the younger Free-…
February 17, 2009
Owing to the fact that children are vectors of disease, three out of four members of the Free-Ride household have been feverish, achy, sneezy, sleepy, and grumpy for the past few days. (It's not clear yet whether the progression of this bug will include other dwarves.)
Since I'm still kind of…
February 13, 2009
One of my correspondents told me about a situation that raised some interesting questions about both proper attribution of authorship in scientific papers and ethical interactions between mentor and mentee in a scientific training relationship. With my correspondent's permission, I'm sharing the…
February 13, 2009
A conversation that bubbled up at the dinner table last night, some time after the Free-Ride offspring were informed that the cassoulet they were eating had, as one of its ingredients, white wine.
Younger offspring: Why do they call booze "spirits"?
Dr. Free-Ride's better half: I think that goes…