Welcome to Thoughts from Kansas

Welcome to the new Thoughts from Kansas. I've moved a few of the posts I'm most proud of across from the old Blogger site, and I encourage you to check them out, that's probably the easiest way to get to know me, and don't be afraid to dig into all the archives back there.
By way of quick introduction, I'm a graduate student finishing my dissertation at the University of Kansas. That explains the second part of the title. I am not a native Kansan and never claimed to be, but this is where my thoughts originate.

My research is on the spatial distributions of species, and the ways that competition can restrict species from utilizing all the areas they could potentially occupy. Along the way I've spent a lot of time learning about ways that people predict species ranges using GIS systems and various statistical methods.

Much of which is probably news to long-time readers. I do that work for a living, and blogging is how I let off steam. You'll see a fairly diverse range of topics here, with an emphasis on local politics, analysis of national and international current events, and a wide range of scientific topics, historically mostly from beyond my own field.

I expect that, once the Kansas school board elections finally settle down with a pro-science Board, I'll be able to refocus this site on science, rather than the political science the Board has turned biology into. One feature I'll probably try to revive is some version of the now-defunct Evolution Project. That site has fallen into senescence because it just takes too much to keep track of even a small fraction of the research that comes out which relies on or demonstrates evolution at work. It was a worthy effort, and the move to Scienceblogs has inspired me to find some better way to demonstrate the same phenomenon.

So welcome to the new home here at Sb. Kick the tires, point out any housekeeping I forgot to undertake, and ask me about all the things I should have told you when I introduced myself.

I've tucked a few notes for long-time readers under the fold.

Long-time readers will notice a few changes. The comments here accept Typekey. That system lets you have a verified pseudonym across multiple sites, and it helps me screen out comment spam and other garbage. If you haven't got a Typekey account, I'd recommend signing up.

The other difference is that I now have this extended section. Those of you using an RSS reader will only get the first part, and if I convince you that the story is interesting, just click through. Because Sb gets their money from ad revenue, they really would like you to at least click through occasionally, as would I.

This extended entry will also make life easier for people with low-bandwidth connections. I can tuck nice pictures and other bandwidth hogs here, off of the front page so that you only download the pictures and videos you want to see.

Expect to see some new features and new directions in the next little while.