Narcissistic self-involvement
palmd | August 6, 2009So yesterday was filled with yummy veggies and fruit, with some proteins and fats thrown in. I made some compromises that were less than healthy (granola bars), but managed to get some great locally-grown melon, salads, and some nice marinated beans, among other things.
This morning I woke up feeling like it was, well, morning, but climbed on the stationary bike for 16 minutes.
Yea!
palmd | August 5, 2009Note: I've been informed by one or two experts whom I trust that my plan sucks. My basic plan is based on a Weight Watchers model, but I take experts with evidence very seriously, so there may be some serious modifications to this post. --PalMD
Obesity is a bad thing. This isn't a moral judgment. If one of your values is long life and good health, then obesity is a bad thing. In general, I think it's a bad idea for me to write about my personal health issues, but I'd like to try an experiment. I suffer from one of the most common and fasting-growing (!) health problems in the U.S.---…
palmd | July 25, 2009Desire is a great friggin' album, and this is one of the better songs, but I never knew about this cover. A shout out to my buddy, whose musical tastes might run in another direction.
palmd | July 22, 2009If you look to your left, you may notice me paddling a black and white cedar-strip and canvas canoe. I am not about to dump into the water---the "lean" is proper solo canoeing posture. A few years decades back, I was the canoeing director at a Canadian summer camp and taught hundreds of kids how to paddle a canoe. Since this is a "science blog", I'll explain this awkward-seeming posture to you.
The proper position for traditional Canandian-style solo paddling is half-way between the bow and the stern, leaning to the side you paddle on, preferably on your knees. The lean itself…
palmd | July 21, 2009Dear Fred:
First, I'd like to thank you for guarding the integrity of the swimming pool in my folks' neighborhood. I know they feel safer because of you.
On that proud day twenty years ago, the day they handed you the thin cotton t-shirt with the banded collar and sleeves that reads "Pool Monitor", who could have known the proud years of service that would follow? I know I couldn't have because I was in college writing a paper on The Authoritarian Personality (classic Adorno, you should read it).
Your recent service is to be especially praised. When my wife fell asleep in the sun by the…
palmd | July 19, 2009Yes, this post is a repeat from long ago, but I was reminded dig it up after reading a piece at a friend's blog. Thanks for indulging me. --PalMD
If Bob Dylan provides the soundtrack for much of my life, then coffee provides the "smelltrack". I did not start to drink coffee until I was about 20. My best friend of 18 years told me I should learn to, as I might need it. He also told me to drink it black, because I might not always have cream and sugar, but I still might need the coffee. So, I started to drink it. Now, this was terrible coffee...institutional, stale, sour, just generally…
choofnagle | June 23, 2009
Sounds like a more dangerous form of Scientology, according to the Chronicle's Scavenger Blog:
...Lee's yoga focuses on Brain Education, or as one official put it, "using your brain well." Part of this training includes the head-shaking Brain Wave Vibration exercise...Participants take basic yoga classes and are reportedly encouraged to attend pricey workshops, retreats and healing sessions. The group also sells followers $4,000 healing turtles, $800 healing necklaces and $90 vibrating power brains, according to a Boston TV station.
palmd | May 18, 2009Blogging requires a thick skin. So does life, so I don't get personally worked up about shit that happens on line. But some things do piss me off.
Chapter One: Blinded by...
I wrote a little piece about the Obama/Notre Dame flap. I wanted to look beneath the putative reasons for the protest (abortion). Some of my readers would not allow that. There were a few types of stupid responses:
The non sequitur: "I didn't bother to read but abortion is BAD."
The burningly stupid analogy: "If you let Obama speak, the terrorists win!!!"
The Reading Comprehension Fail: "Don't accuse me of teh…
palmd | April 8, 2009I'm not one for long posts on religion, but with the Jewish festival of Pesach (Passover) upon us and Easter rapidly approaching, there are a few things worth noting.
Spring festivals have probably been going on since people began planting crops. Easter (and the Passover from which it descended) are both, at their heart, reinterpretations of pagan spring/fertility holidays. But that's not news. Let's (briefly) review the basics of these holidays.
Pesach is the Jewish festival that celebrates the (supposed) Exodus from Egypt. Over the last couple of thousand years there have been many…
palmd | April 1, 2009My friend Isis wrote today about her immigrant past, and it reminded me a bit about mine, although a generation removed. Last year I wrote a little piece about rediscovering family, and today I'd like tell you a little more detail about their immigration.
My grandfather Phil came from a town called Ostrow-Mazowiecka in Poland (my grandmother has a similar story, but from another town called Skitel, in Belarus), and while he was not wealthy, his cousins owned some of the prosperous businesses in town, including the lumber mill, the brewery, and the electric station.
My cousins in front…
palmd | March 9, 2009Most of my readers know that I'm a dad, but I don't write all that much about fatherhood. We have some great bloggers here who talk about being a mommy and the difficulties of being a mom and a scientist.
I'd like to add a voice about fatherhood. Every couple and every individual approaches parenthood differently. My writings, needless to say, are my experiences.
The way my wife and I have ended up doing things has a lot to do with our earning potential---mine as a physician is much higher than hers as a teacher, so she is the primary at-home parent. This isn't to say that my wife isn't…
palmd | March 5, 2009So, Open Lab 2008 is now available, and you must buy a copy. Open Lab collects the best writing from the blogosphere and (ironically) captures them in print. It's a nice chance to read some great stuff that you knew you'd love, and some great stuff you've never even seen. The cover art by Dave Ng and The Flying Trilobite is awesome. The proceeds go toward ScienceOnline10, next year's online science writing conference, which totally rocks. Lot's of the attendees are graduate students, academics, high school students, and other types of hungry people who could really use a subsidy to come…
palmd | March 3, 2009I need a pick-me-up today.
She loves Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.
But not as much as she loves her daddy!
palmd | February 27, 2009MTV news is reporting that Bow Wow is coming to Chris Brown's defense. For those of you who have been too busy worrying about the economy to follow the personal lives of celebrities, Chris Brown is a young singer who beat the shit out of his girlfriend Rihanna, another young singer (I'm sorry--"allegedly" beat the shit out of). The up side of this is that it may actually affect his livelihood---he has reportedly lost some advertising deals. But as Kobe Bryant showed us, if you're a celebrity you can rape whomever you wish and you will probably not end up in jail or the poor house.
So…
palmd | February 25, 2009It's really early, but I've been up for a while. The leg pain caused by the disk pushing into my L5 nerve root is turning me into a cranky insomniac. So this morning I'm giving in. I'm giving up on tossing and turning, grinding some good coffee beans, boiling some water, combining them in a coffee press, and sitting by the computer. My wife's office downstairs is a peaceful room. (Hold on, time to press the coffee---that reminds me. A couple of years ago, I was pressing the coffee and I accidentally sent the press flying, coffee and grounds painting the family room. My 4 year old…
palmd | February 25, 2009HP feels really, really bad, and they are sending me a brand new tablet pc, apparently a newer, shinier, happier one. Yea!!
palmd | February 23, 2009So I've been dealing with a sick computer for a while now. It died ungracefully during ScienceOnline09, first giving me the dread blue screen of death, then giving me a black startup screen that said the pc equivalent of "piss off".
My other computer is a mac, but the hospital's system isn't mac-compatible, and my wife needs it, so I'm in a bit of trouble. As far as I know, I don't keep a lot of irreplaceable data on it, so I'm not too worried about that, but I really, really want my computer back.
It's a lovely little hp tc4400 tablet pc. I don't use it in "tablet mode" very often, but…
denialism | February 4, 2009The process of choosing a medical specialty, and applying for residency programs is nearly complete as I have returned from my tour of the West Coast and am nearly done with interview season. This is when medical students travel the country at great (and unreimbursed) expense to find their future training program. When all is said and done, all your research into programs and time spent interviewing boils down to a simple question. Do you want to work with these people for the next 3-7 years of your life?
It's also nice to see the cities where you may live and get a feel for the type of…
palmd | January 28, 2009I love my podcast. A lot. I have great guests lined up. Really.
But I also have a dead computer (I'm using a hospital PC right now). My laptop has all the "stuff" I need for the podcast, so please don't give up! When it's back out again (hopefully this weekend), I'll let you know.
That is all.
palmd | January 27, 2009Now, both of my readers may note that: 1) the number "37" appears to be randomly assigned, and 2) "incoherent" would appear to be redundant. But let me explain.
Many, many years ago I injured my back. It got better. Until 3 a.m. this morning. Since then, I have been a walking question mark, except when I'm laying on the X-ray table or floor trying to find a flat surface from which I might just have a chance to get up again. It's both humiliating and humorous to hobble through an enormous American hospital holding onto the walls. Normally, I stride rapidly from room to room, down tunnels…