The Old North State
terrasig | December 31, 2008I just sent out an e-mail to a bunch of friends asking what they were doing this New Year's Eve.
We'll be at home in the City of Medicine drinking a bottle of 1997 Grongnet "Special Club" Champagne. Then I'll try to do a 8K trail run being held tomorrow at Duke Forest. Feel free to join me - I'll be the 151-year-old dead guy wearing these shoes.
But in Brasstown, NC, (right at the NC-TN-GA tri-state border) they will be dropping the opossum - yes, the famed New Year's Possum Drop. It's a non-alcoholic family event that begins with a blessing and singing of church songs followed by the…
terrasig | November 29, 2008Okay, so kill me - I'm posting The Friday Fermentable on Saturday morning. I just couldn't get it together yesterday and the US Thanksgiving holiday has my timing all screwed up.
I noted earlier this week that the proprietors of our community treasure, Wine Authorities, were to be interviewed on the local NPR affiliate, WUNC-FM, in (guess where?) Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Frank Stasio, a remarkable gentleman in his own right, spoke with Craig Heffley and Seth Gross on his noontime show, The State of Things. The interview was preempted Monday by the economy-related cabinet appointments…
terrasig | November 24, 2008Salamanzar and the Grand Poobah Wine Swami (Seth Gross and Craig Heffley) of the nationally-recognized wine merchant and community resource, Wine Authorities, will be appearing today on the local NPR affiliate.
Here is the official word from the boys themselves:
Wow! This coming Monday, the 24th, we're going to be on the air with none other than Mr. Frank Stasio on WUNC/NPR's "The State of Things" radio show. This is possibly the highlight of our professional careers thus far! We love this show. So tune in online or on the radio this coming Monday (November 24th @ 12 noon) of Thanksgiving…
terrasig | November 16, 2008Picking up the Sunday paper after walking the PharmBeagle, I saw Dr Misha Angrist of the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy featured on the frontpage of the local fishwrapper. Ace higher ed reporter, Eric Ferreri, put together a lovely article on this local hero. As Misha notes elsewhere:
In 2007 I became the fourth subject in Harvard geneticist George Church's Personal Genome Project. As the PGP moves forward, I am chronicling the dawn of personal genomics, that is, people obtaining their genomic information for whatever reason(s) and figuring out what to do with it…
terrasig | October 24, 2008From this press release:
It is with deepest sadness that North Carolina Central University announces the passing of photojournalist Alex Rivera [Alexander M Rivera, Jr]. Rivera, a nationally renowned and prominent photojournalist, established the public relations office at North Carolina Central University, and served as the office's first director.
"This is a sad day for NCCU", said Chancellor Charlie Nelms. "Not only was Mr. Rivera an integral part of the university's history, he made invaluable contributions to the world through his photography. He was a valued member of our community and…
terrasig | October 13, 2008Much hoo-hah in the local fishwrapper regarding the installation yesterday of Dr Holden Thorp as Chancellor of the state's flagship university, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (installation address here). Thorp has brought a large degree of enthusiasm and optimism to Chapel Hill with his numerous and diverse accomplishments to date as well as his vision and youth - he has turned 44 during the time between his appointment and installation yesterday.
My scientific colleagues at UNC-CH have been giddy with Thorp's appointment as he is himself a scientist: his appointment is in…
terrasig | September 12, 2008I can't believe that it's only been a year.
Back in March I wrote about the importance of local wine shops, community resources just as important as your library or local farmer. Therein I sang the praises of my local heros, Seth Gross and Craig Heffley, proprietors of Wine Authorities in Durham, NC, and their then-recent ink in Food & Wine magazine.
My latest Wine Authorities favorite is an unusual German Pinot Noir Spätlese from Weingut Schäfer in Mettelheim (US$18.99).
Yes. Red. German. A German Rhinehessen red. An overripe red. No kidding.
Their notes, accessible on their…
terrasig | July 17, 2008Arachnologist and diplopodologist Dr Jason E Bond at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, is most recently well-known for naming a spider (Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi) after Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Neil Young.
Kristin Day of The Daily Reflector is now reporting that Professor Bond has agreed to name a spider after Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central's host of "The Colbert Report."
When news emerged in May that Bond had named a species of trapdoor spider after Neil Young, the biologist could not escape Colbert's web:
"Where's my spider? I have lots of animals named after me: turtles,…
terrasig | July 7, 2008Well, I didn't exactly plan to break my silence with a non-science post but a couple of you asked if I had any comments on the passing of Senator Helms. Frankly, I was already going into the US Independence Day weekend with a bit of melancholia, feeling very much like the Philadelphia Inquirer's Chris Satullo in his not-so-glorious-Fourth essay.
Then Jesse Helms died on the 4th and I had to hear about "the passing of a great patriot," and any number of hypocritical invocations of God ("America has lost a great friend, but Heaven has gained another of the great cloud of witnesses. We stand on…
terrasig | June 8, 2008Apologies for being such a homer with the last few posts (and a couple upcoming) but there have been interesting local happenings of broad interest, especially while I was away earlier this week.
Turns out that the good Senator Edward Kennedy took a foray to the Town-That-Tobacco-Built to have his glioblastoma excised by Dr Dr Allan Friedman. The local fishwrapper covered this while I was away and noted that while Duke is big on tooting their own horns, they kept an unusually low profile with their high-profile patient.
But I actually didn't learn this news until I received an e-mail from a…
terrasig | June 7, 2008Oy vey, am I embarrassed for missing this piece of good news. Last month, Erin Zuiker graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.
Folks in the local and international science blogging community may recognize that Erin is the better half of Anton Zuiker, science blogger extraordinaire and co-founder with Bora Zivkovic of the former NC Science Blogging Conference (to be known next year as ScienceOnline'09) and leader of the BlogTogether movement.
Conference attendees this past year may not know that Erin Zuiker was solely responsible for securing and…
terrasig | May 26, 2008Let me say from the outset that I am too close to this issue, in many ways, to be fully objective. However, this issue is likely to be of interest to those in the academic community and especially anyone who followed the now-discredited 2006 Duke lacrosse case.
On 15 May Duke graduating senior and guest columnist, Kristin Butler, wrote an editorial in The Duke Chronicle entitled, "Summa cum loony." Her editorial addressed the fellow graduation across town of Solomon Burnette, convicted in 1997 of robbing two Duke students, and Crystal Gail Mangum, the exotic dancer hired by Duke lacrosse…
terrasig | May 25, 2008So here's a bizarre convergence of the controversies surrounding cognitive performance-enhancing strategies and the end-of-grade (EOG) testing stress on teachers and students.
Esther Robards-Forbes reports in yesterday's Charlotte (NC) Observer that a third-grade teacher was arrested for contributing to the delinquency of minors by giving three students adult-strength multivitamin pills in advance of their EOG tests:
A third-grade teacher at Marvin Elementary in western Union County was arrested and suspended from his job after he was accused Friday of handing out vitamin pills to three…
terrasig | May 22, 2008Well, things have changed in my life that have begun to impact my posting frequency so I really appreciate the support of readers when I last spoke of this change of life (no, not menopause).
I've even gotten so distracted that I have neglected to read the daily fishwrapper - that is until today's recycling when I stood outside on the street at 6 am rummaging through my blue bin to read Tuesday's paper (hell, it was news to me). At least I was courteous enough to the neighbors to throw on a pair of shorts.
In it, I learned that an academic physician settled with her employer for $200K after…
terrasig | May 20, 2008On 8 May after a six-month search by a 21-member search committee, 43-year-old chemistry professor H. Holden Thorp was named Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The search committee was unable to find anyone else nationally or internationally that could match Thorp's promise in leading the university.
Thorp is a pretty amazing guy for any age, having already achieved full, distinguished professor status, chair of the chemistry department, dean of arts & sciences, started a couple of companies, directed and rejuvenated the university's aging planetarium, and…
terrasig | May 19, 2008One last political post for a little while at least.
We posted almost two weeks ago a note of thanks to the NC Democratic senate candidate, Jim Neal. The progressive candidate and friend of the blogging community (and blogger himself) lost to Kay Hagan, who will now face Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) in the November election.
I missed Jim's response to us in a long thread at BlueNC:
it's never too late for you and science/medicine bloggers to make an impact. Get to know Senator Hagan and other candidates. Inform them about what you are doing and your POV.
You have a voice. Use it. Expect,…
terrasig | May 7, 2008We're not a political blog here but I certainly care about politics as it relates to national science policy and social justice.
Last night, North Carolina's Jim Neal lost in his bid to fight against Sen Elizabeth Dole for her seat in the US Senate. Pam Spaulding at Pam's House Blend has all the details from last night's gathering at the campaign's election hub, including video of Neal's concession speech. However, he and his supporters have everything to be proud about and I wish Mr Neal all the very best in deciding next how he will continue his service to the community.
Many of us who…
terrasig | May 5, 2008I did not know this:
In the spirit of our recent hosting of the Tar Heel Tavern blog carnival and our general posts on debunking alternative medicine, I learned today about the source of these two words with ties to the homeland.
Miss Cellania's always informative posts at mental_floss blog linked today to Neatorama's, 10 Insulting Words You Should Know. The outstanding list, which you should read in its entirety, includes the origin of the word, "bunkum," which is derived from Buncombe County, NC:
In 1819, a North Carolina congressman, the Honorable Felix Walker, was giving a rambling…
terrasig | May 4, 2008Well, we kept the polls open as long as possible and some bloggers voted early and often while others waited 'til the last minute. We've had some locals and some out-of-staters with recollections of North Carolina. So, without further adieu, the NC primary edition of the Tar Heel Tavern:
NC Politics
Political bloggers in the state were not surprisingly among the first to submit entries. Perennial NC blogging fave, The Olive Ridley Crawl, gives us NC Primary - Vote for a Non Panderer.
Jim Buie submitted several of which I picked Obama, in Raleigh, Shows He's No Elitist Egghead and In NC,…
terrasig | April 29, 2008Offer extended through Friday! Friday! Friday! 2 May!!!!Submit entries to tarheeltavern.abel at gmail.
For the first time since I've lived here, the NC primary will actually matter especially given that Clinton and Obama appear to now be running neck-and-neck in PA.
The Tar Heel Tavern was an early blog carnival, with contributions on numerous topics from the unusually dense NC blogging community. The first THT was hosted by Bora Zivkovic at his old blog, Science and Politics, back on 27 February 2005.
I've offered to resurrect the carnival in time for the NC primary with the topic, "What…