personal
oracknows | March 25, 2007Having been born in Detroit and raised both in the city and one of its suburbs, news like this distresses me:
DETROIT (Reuters) - With bidding stalled on some of the least desirable residences in Detroit's collapsing housing market, even the fast-talking auctioneer was feeling the stress.
"Folks, the ground underneath the house goes with it. You do know that, right?" he offered.
After selling house after house in the Motor City for less than the $29,000 it costs to buy the average new car, the auctioneer tried a new line: "The lumber in the house is worth more than that!"
As Detroit reels…
clock | March 22, 2007You all know that I've been a big Edwards supporter since he first ran for Senate. I have met Elizabeth enough times to consider her a friend. I am clumsy when it comes to describing my emotions. So, I'll do what I do best - collect the best and most important links for you to read:
[Update: I have posted a second linkfest on Saturday night with more excellent commentary]
John Edwards: Thank you
John Edwards blog: Discussion Thread
Majikthise: Elizabeth Edwards' cancer returns
Pam's House Blend: Open thread - Edwards news conference
BlueNC: Open thread - Edwards news conference
Pandagon:…
pharyngula | March 20, 2007So, Mike Haubrich stopped by my office yesterday, and during the conversation he mentioned that there was a video of me on the Seed site … with some trepidation, I took a look, and there it is: it's my short presentation at the Inspiration Festival last fall. Ouch. I just cringe to see and hear myself, but in the spirit of being forthright and honest and exposing my flaws complete and without censorship, there I am. At least I really, really like developmental biology.
This is not an opening volley to trigger Atrios, the Editors, and TBogg to start hurling appalling YouTube videos across the…
pharyngula | March 16, 2007It's been a busy day—if you've noticed it's been quiet here, it's because I've been driving back and forth to St Cloud to help my son get situated in his new apartment, and also, by the way, today is our wedding anniversary — note that my wife cleverly scheduled it to be exactly one week after my birthday, making reminders easy.
I was going to make some lecherous joke about getting lucky tonight, but it would be superfluous since I seem to have been in luck for twenty seven years.
jstemwedel | March 13, 2007There will be a real post again within a day or so. I've been doing stuff in the three-dimensional world. So you don't feel left out:
I started coaching U6 soccer again for the Spring season. It's been 4.5 months since the end of the Fall season. They still have microscopic attention spans.
Apropos of nothing at all on the interwebs: One of my favorite activities in the whole world is engaging in real dialogue with people who hold different views than mine, where everyone in the dialogue takes each other seriously and no one starts by presuming that the other views are prima facie stupid…
pharyngula | March 12, 2007Chris of Mixing Memory claims that you can make accurate personality assessments about a person just from listening to ten of their favorite songs. OK, let's play that game. Here are ten songs I like.
Excitable boy, Warren Zevon
Us, Regina Spektor
Coming in from the cold, The Delgados
Ravnen, Sorten Muld (actually, my favorite by this band would be Tor af Hafsgaard, but it isn't on YouTube)
In your eyes, Peter Gabriel
Raspberry beret, Prince
Little fluffy clouds, Orb
Shine on you crazy diamond, Pink Floyd
Lullaby, The Cure
Put your hands where my eyes can see, Busta Rhymes…
jstemwedel | March 12, 2007Chris at Mixing Memory points to research that suggests musical preferences provide a window to the personality. I haven't seen the research yet but, at Chris's prompting, I'll throw myself into the ring as an experimental subject by listing 10 songs I like an awful lot*:
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Knock Me Down
Ani Di Franco, Gravel
Public Enemy, Can't Do Nuttin' for Ya Man
Sleater-Kinney, Good Things
Steely Dan, My Old School
Billy Bragg, St. Swithin's Day
Nina Simone, My Baby Just Cares for Me
The Beatles, I'm Only Sleeping
Descendants, Wendy
Dar Williams, In Love But Not at Peace
There are…
j7uy5 | March 11, 2007This
is from a meme; Tikistitch has put up a list of the "
href="http://tikistitch.livejournal.com/570773.html">Most
Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years".
I got this from
href="http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2006/08/essential_science_fiction.php">Coturnix,
who got it from
href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/03/uh_yeah_i_guess_i_do_read_some.php">Myers.
href="http://scienceblogs.com/evolvingthoughts/2007/03/sf_and_me.php">John
Wilkins has done it, too.
The idea is to put the ones you've read in boldface. One
thing I don't like about this is…
jstemwedel | March 9, 2007There's a rumor* that, when he's in his cups, PZ Myers sounds like an overeducated -- some might say Shakespearian -- pirate.
Therefore, in honor of his birthday, I offer this sonnet:
Paul Myers' squids are nothing if not fun,
Eviscerating with their beaks aglow.
They squirt their ink upon each Myers son
And Davy Jones, whose locker lies below.
Once naught but a developmental stage,
"Pharyngula" a mighty blog now names
Where readers may delight or burn with rage:
For PZ pulls no punches, plays no games.
This sage whose bearded visage is resolved
With zebrafish in nearby tanks arrayed:
How…
pharyngula | March 9, 2007I just know John Wilkins is going to gasp in horror and write frantic letters to Pieranna Garavaso, the organizer, telling her she's making a horrible mistake, but I'm going to be on a panel at the 31st Midwest Philosophy Colloquium on 26 March, here in Morris, at (zut alors!) the Newman Center just off campus. Perhaps you too are reeling at that cascade of improbable associations, but really, it makes sense. Eric Olson of the University of Sheffield is giving a talk on defining the boundaries of the beginning and end of human life, so they dug up a local biologist, me, to contribute a bit to…
pharyngula | March 9, 2007Whoa, I asked for poems for my birthday, I got poems. That was quite a response, and it had me regretting the fact that I didn't demand money. I could have retired by now.
On top of that, GrrlScientist, Bora, and Archy are compiling lists of birthday greetings, so I can just pop over there and browse through everything you people have written. It brings a tear to the eye, it does, especially since this is a day demanding I do lots and lots of work and not leaving me much time for cruising through the web.
Next week, though, I'll return the favor: there's Lynn Margulis's blog tour on Monday,…
pharyngula | March 8, 2007As of 7:07AM Pacific time on 9 March, that is. I expect everyone to write me a poem in celebration. To start you all off, Richard Dawkins has set an example.
Don't give me that cross-eyed look. It is not unusual that I inspire poetry, I'll have you know.
jstemwedel | March 6, 2007Surely I am not the only academic who feels perpetually buried under -- well, under stuff that needs doing. It's a very daunting pile, and sometimes I think that the only plausible way that I could catch up would be to fake my own death.
But one must not lose perspective. Progress is made occasionally. And, in the background, there are cool things that make the press of obligations more tolerable.
So, this Tuesday night, I urge myself onward by taking stock of some good things, and some wee bits of progress.
We'll start with the progress, for which I am indebted to the strategy of…
j7uy5 | March 5, 2007
A
slice of Pizza House's large House Special deep dish pizza, which, at
almost $25, is the most expensive pie listed on the menu of any
pizzeria near Central Campus. (PETER SCHOTTENFELS/
href="http://media.www.michigandaily.com/media/storage/paper851/news/2007/03/05/CampusLife/The-Priciest.Pizza.On.Campus.Deep.Dish.For.Deep.Pockets-2756917.shtml">Daily)
Those were the days...before I started taking lovastatin.
clock | March 5, 2007We had to wait on Saturday until the Moon rose above the trees and the houses, by which time the eclipse was half over, but my daughter managed to take a few pictures anyway and this one turned out the best:
drorzel | March 4, 2007I don't usually do "memes," but the "weird things" one (via Janet) seems entertaining. So here are some weird things about me:
1) I carry on complicated conversations with the dog, translating her bits into English in a high-pictched voice. I started doing this to amuse/ annoy Kate, but now I do it even when Kate's not around. (This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened to me-- my freshman year in college, a bunch of us started saying "Dude" a lot to mock one guy on my floor, and it stuck. I still say "Dude" a lot, and so does the dog...)
2) I have a weird obsessive thing…
jstemwedel | March 3, 2007As seen at Rants of a Feminist Engineer and See Jane Compute.
Ten Weird Things about Me:
1. I won the first NCAA basketball pool in which I participated, picking the teams in my bracket with absolutely no knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of their teams. Just based on my impressions of the schools (or in some cases, the names of the schools), I nailed three of the Final Four, not to mention the winner of the tournament. I have never done well in an NCAA basketball pool since then.
2. I like the puffed Cheetos-like snacks (although no-name brands more than actual Cheetos) when they'…
jstemwedel | March 1, 2007Just had an earthquake here. I'll post the USGS data on it when I have it.
UPDATE: Preliminary estimates put the magnitude at 4+. And more than 1000 people filed reports within about 10 minutes of the shaking.
We Californians are well trained.
j7uy5 | March 1, 2007Since I started a little self-disclosure yesterday, I am going to
continue that theme. Very few people know this about me.
The fact is, I have congenital amusia. No, that
does not mean I am "easily amused." It means I am tone deaf.
A couple of days ago, I heard a piece on NPR. This was one of
those bits where they record people's stories. The story was
about a woman who said that some old teakettles had harmonica reeds to
make the whistling sound more musical. She was thrilled to
get a teakettle that had three holes in the cap, so that the whistle
was not just a whistle, it was a…
drorzel | March 1, 2007You can't buy a car these days without a rear window defroster-- the little built-in electric heaters that melt ice and frost off the rear window. You push a button on the dashboard, and the ice just melts away, no scraping required.
Why is it, then, that to clear the windshield, you have to rely on a combination of warm air blowing on the inside of the glass, and scraping crap off the outside? Why don't they build little electric heaters into the windshield, which would make life much easier for those of us in cold areas?