personal
clock | August 28, 2009A signed print of this!!!!
See, I heard it here first!
And here is the official announcement with the details of the contest.
drorzel | August 27, 2009SteelyKid says "Pose with Appa? No way! I'm a baby on the go!"
I actually did get a couple of reasonable Appa-for-scale shots (one is below the fold), but I like the action quality of this one. It's an accurate representation of what she's like at the moment, too.
I'm already up to 178 pictures on the new camera, and while many of those are just repeated shots of the same objects with different camera settings, to see what the new camera can do, you can bet there will be a bunch of baby pictures turning up here in the next week or two...
pharyngula | August 27, 2009Karen paid a visit to my university office and didn't find me, but left a nice note. Thanks!
This is going to be a common occurrence. I'm on sabbatical, so I'm not in my office very often — but if you just go out the main doors of the science building, turn right and walk up the sidewalk to College Avenue, and cross the street…I'll probably be there in the big white (but needs a new coat of paint) house. Go ahead and knock. I might show up at the door barefoot and in a grungy t-shirt*, but I'll probably be civil.
*There will be pants, too, probably. Usually.
jdupuis | August 27, 2009Apparently inspired by the occasional Five Songs I Love posts I've been doing (here, here and here), Ava at Jemsite asked me if I wouldn't mind coming up with one for their blog.
Well, it sounded like a cool idea -- so here's what I came up with.
It was a fun experience so I hope to do more guest posts as time and inspiration allow.
Thanks, Ava!
jdupuis | August 27, 2009And speaking of reading, a couple of the books on the summer reading list I posted yesterday were actually purchased at the World Science Fiction Convention dealers' room! We were lucky that this year the con was in Montreal, my home town and very near Ste-Agathe, where we spent most of our vacation time. The whole family came down to Montreal for the Friday of the con, while I stayed for Saturday and Sunday as well.
Overall, the con was a blast. I had a fantastic time! Of course, since I lived in Montreal for 38 years and was quite involved in Montreal sf fandom for a few years (I was on…
drorzel | August 26, 2009I've caught the intestinal thing that was making Kate's life miserable the last couple days, and the less said about that the better. Happily, my new camera arrived (Canon Rebel XSi/ 450D), giving me something to play with while I try to remain hydrated. And I have to say, it's a nice new toy:
I didn't do anything to that other than cropping and scaling it (4272x2848 pixels being a bit much for the Web), and that turned out nice. I like this toy.
Emmy is being remarkably patient with me, as I play with the various settings (of which there are many). The continuous-drive shots will wait until…
jdupuis | August 26, 2009My annual summer blogging break has officially come to a close. I returned to work Monday after a very nice four week vacation. Yes, I use my whole annual vacation allotment all at once and go the rest of the year without any significant break except for Christmas.
The first three weeks we spent most of our time at a cottage we rent every year near Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, about 90 minutes north of Montreal. The weather was mostly pretty good, so a great time was had by all -- swimming, canoing and just lounging around reading books. For my part, let's just say a lot of BBQing and drinking…
terrasig | August 26, 2009[Sort of a repost from the last three years, updated appropriately - APB]
Seven years ago at 11:24 am EDT (1524 GMT), your humble blogger was handed the keys to a whole new vocabulary of love.
The gift came in the form of a 7 lb 13 oz (3,544 gm), 20.5 inch (52 cm) bundle of drooling, peeing, meconium-pooping bundle of baby girl, yanked from an incision in PharmGirl's abdomen.
The lessons of compassion and unconditional love I have been taught by these two women have comprised the most formative experiences of my life.
In return, PharmGirl has suffered tremendous indignities on my behalf:…
pharyngula | August 25, 2009It's right next door, but I haven't been to North Dakota that often. There are a couple of dates planned that will change that, though: on 24 September, I'll be in Fargo for a free movie night with the Red River Freethinkers.They'll be showing Julia Sweeney's Letting Go of God at the Fargo Theater at 6pm, and then for an anti-climax, I'm giving a lecture.
If Fargo is just too darned congested for you, I'll also be speaking at Minot State University in Minot, ND on 5 October — deep in the heart of the state. I'll put up more details about that later.
jstemwedel | August 25, 2009In case you hadn't heard, the State of California is broke. (Actually, probably worse than broke. This is one of those times where we find ourselves glad that our state does not have kneecaps.) As a consequence of this, the California State University system (one of whose 23 campuses is my own fair university) is now dealing with a $585 million reduction in funding. (At my own fair university, the cut is about $40 million.)
None of the options for addressing the budget cuts are wonderful. They have included yet another round of student fee increases and layoffs of significant numbers of…
drorzel | August 25, 2009I'm doing better today, but still a little wobbly, and trying to conserve my energy for the Bruce Springsteen concert tonight. Thus, a poll:
Imagine you have a light switch box containing multiple switches, like to one at right. These switches control lights in adjoining areas of the house-- say, the living room, and the light on the stairs up to the bedrooms. At least one of these switches is part of a pair-- say, there's another switch at the top of the stairs controlling that light.
The question is this: when you go to bed at night, turning off all the lights, what should the position of…
jstemwedel | August 24, 2009Because we're all in the same exploding monkey factory together.
So far, no paper jams of consequence to report at the department photocopier, but the toner ran out at 11:58 AM Pacific Time. We are hopeful that the student assistant who comes on duty at 1:00 PM will be able to change the toner swiftly while whispering soothing words to the photocopier.
(Faculty are not allowed to change the toner, because as a group we have demonstrated little competence at this messy task. Also, the crying makes onlookers uncomfortable.)
Today's policy ponderable:
We have as a goal helping students to…
jstemwedel | August 22, 2009In my inbox today:
I'm curious, what credentials (academic or otherwise) does one need to become a philosopher?
For the purposes of employment in a university philosophy department, a graduate degree in philosophy (usually a Ph.D. but sometimes an M.A.) is standard. Kind of like a chemist can be expected to have a degree in chemistry, or a biologist to have a degree in biology.
If you're an off-the-books philosopher, I imagine this requirement might be relaxed.
Now, whether there are good reasons to accept the degree-linked-credentialist status quo (for philosophy or any other academic…
drorzel | August 21, 2009It's that time of year again, when the US News rankings come out (confirming my undergrad alma mater as the Best in All the Land) and everybody in academia gets all worked up about What It All Means. There are always a few gems in there with all the pointless hand-wringing, though, and Timothy Burke of Swarthmore has some of the best advice you'll ever read on choosing a college:
I sometimes join a faculty panel to talk to prospective Swarthmore applicants, and one of the first things that I say is that a college applicant and family can only have strong control over a few really basic…
drorzel | August 20, 2009This week's Baby Blogging breaks new ground: Outdoor Baby Blogging!
SteelyKid says "Stop mugging for the camera, Daddy! This is about me!"
This picture also serves to show off her new stroller. It's less collapsible than the previous one, but more maneuverable, and has a larger carrying capacity in the bottom bin, which is nice when we take an evening stroll over to the store to get staple foods that are running low. As we did tonight.
jstemwedel | August 20, 2009My guess is that the first faculty meeting after one's sabbatical year is never an easy one, but when that faculty meeting happens during a state budget implosion the likes of which no one can recall, it's kind of like parachuting into an exploding monkey factory.
The high point:
We got to discussing the potential long-term (post-furlough and other stop-gap measures) impacts of drastically reduced state funding on our teaching loads. One possibility raised was that faculty might each have to take on another course each semester, with no possibility for "reassigned time" (which releases one…
drorzel | August 18, 2009One of SteelyKid's birthday gifts from my parents was a wheeled wooden penguin on a stick. If you roll it along the ground, the wings flap, with a very satisfying clacking noise. It took SteelyKid a little while to get the hang of it, but she's got the idea now:
Really, I don't have anything to say here, other than "Look at the silly flappy penguin toy!"
pharyngula | August 17, 2009Since several people were curious, the reason I'll be in Australia next year is that I've been invited to speak at The 2010 Atheist Global Convention in Melbourne, on 12-14 March 2010. All that way for 3 days? I'll probably arrange to spend some extra time on my own dime checking out the drop bears and venomous kittens and raucous Australians out there — suggestions are welcome. Invitations to sack out on a couch somewhere, also welcome. Generous offers of good Australian beer, especially welcome.
The organizers also want to get an estimate of attendance, so they're asking likely attendees to…
drorzel | August 17, 2009Caught on video:
It's very difficult to decide which of the many, many toys in the toybox is the right toy...