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jstemwedel | August 16, 2009It was decided that the Free-Ride offspring are maybe, kind of, old enough to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark without having nightmares. Even though they haven't seen it before, they seem to have picked up at least some general information about Indiana Jones as one of the canonical figures in American pop culture.
Dr. Free-Ride: So, what do you know about Indiana Jones?
Younger offspring: He's a hero.
Dr. Free-Ride: Actually, he's an archaeology professor at a university.
Younger offspring: No he's not!
Dr. Free-Ride: Yes he is! He's a professor just like me! Maybe I'm a hero, too.
Younger…
drorzel | August 16, 2009As a parent of a newly mobile one-year-old, I have a can't-fail suggestion for a toy product that would fuse two popular technologies: realistic infant simulators (baby dolls that cry, wet themselve, etc.) and vacuum-cleaning robots.
All you need to do is mount a baby doll on a Roomba chassis, and use the same random-walk algorithm they use for the vacuum cleaners. Have the doll wander around completely at random, occasionally bumping into things. Anything small on the floor gets picked up, and stuck in the doll's mouth. For bonus realism points, have it stop at random intervals for no…
drorzel | August 13, 2009It's getting harder and harder to get good SteelyKid pictures, because she's always in motion (see digital camera complaints in the previous post). So, we have to resort to tricks like putting her in her babypod and holding Appa up next to her:
Fortunately, she doesn't mind too much...
Actually, she sits in the babypod for dinner every night, where she gets Cheerios and banana puffs to distrct her while Kate and I eat. And, lately, she also gets water in a sippy cup, which allows her to demonstrate that she is her father's daughter:
People who knew me at Williams will recognize the…
edyong | August 13, 2009A very brief note to say that today, Not Exactly Rocket Science is three years old. Sniff... they grow up so fast...
laelaps | August 13, 2009Alright folks, I've got a few more things to pack and some last-minute blog posts to finish, but otherwise I'm all set for the big trip to Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho. Fossil Butte, Dinosaur National Monument, Yellowstone, Grand Teton National Park, Craters of the Moon... it's going to be one hell of a vacation. At least I will have plenty to write about when I get back!
I won't return until late on August 30th, but I may pop in to share a few photos if I stop by somewhere that's wired. There will still be plenty going on here at Laelaps, though. I have scheduled a bunch of posts for while I am…
drorzel | August 11, 2009We are back in Niskayuna now, where SteelyKid is using her new powers of bipedal locomotion to help me burn off some of the excess calories from the weekend in Montreal. She's only been walking for a couple of weeks, but she can really move.
I'm pretty fried, even after napping for two hours earlier today (we dropped SteelyKid off at day care on the way home, so we could unpack and rest a little), and I have a few commitments that will limit my blogging time in the next few days, but I figured I ought to throw out a few things about the last day or two of Worldcon.
-- The Hugo results were…
clock | August 10, 2009Wow, the weight-loss topic is still going strong in the blogosphere (see that post for links for several initial posts).
Pal MD has more and some more.
Dr.Isis is on a roll.
Janet is now in the discussion.
Bikemonkey joins in.
Larry's had something related recently.
It is interesting to see how experts differ on the topic...and the comment threads are enlightening as well. Take-home message: don't trust a "TV dietitian"...or diet advice in your local newspaper or Cosmo....
As you know, my problem has always been the opposite. How to gain weight?!
The only time I managed to put on a few…
jstemwedel | August 10, 2009PalMD is trying to eat better (and drop a little weight). Dr. Isis has been offering some advice on what sorts of meals might help Pal cut the calories while still being healthy and satisfying. Pal has been taking the advice to heart, but finds time constraints an impediment to the kind of food he want to be eating.
As you might guess, my work and family situation give me some experience in throwing together meals under time pressure. So I wanted to offer a couple of quick recipes to Pal. But I also thought I'd page Dr. Isis to see if she'd weigh in on the nutritional punch these dishes…
jstemwedel | August 6, 2009At bedtime, after the reading of the stories, the younger Free-Ride offspring lay upon Dr. Free-Ride's better half, and Dr. Free-Ride's better half responded by making strangling noises. Of course, I called in from the other room to remind the children that homicide, whether intentional or accidental, is forbidden in the house.
Younger offspring: I'm not killing him! He's pretending!
Dr. Free-Ride's better half: Actually, I'm pretending to be alive.
Elder offspring: Pretending means you are alive. If you weren't alive, you wouldn't be able to pretend anything.
Dr. Free-Ride: Well played,…
drorzel | August 6, 2009Even though Kate and I are en route to Montreal, dodging Assassins des Fauteuils Rollents, through the miracle of post scheduling, you get your Thursday Baby Blogging. To get around the problems posed by her new mobility, we'll fall back on a classic: the sleeping-baby picture:
If you look at the file name, you'll see that this is Week 52 of Thursday Baby Blogging. And, indeed, Friday is SteelyKid's first birthday, hooray! The year has gone by really quickly, except when it dragged horribly (usually in the wee hours, with Shrieky Baby).
For perspective, here's a flashback to the very first…
pharyngula | August 5, 2009I was recently interviewed for the Young Australian Skeptics podcast, and it's now available for download.
laelaps | August 3, 2009After a number of false starts, I have finally started work on a "best of Laelaps" anthology. I am going to call it Tales From Deep Time, and it is going to be a sort of "b-sides" compilation that will complement my other, professional book-in-progress about paleontology and evolution. This blog has thrived on material I wanted to include in the other book but had to leave on the cutting room floor, and I look forward to presenting these miscellaneous tidbits in a more professional manner.
I am doing more than just cutting and pasting blog entries, though. Right now I am in the process of…
drorzel | August 3, 2009We don't have SteelyKid watching any kind of baby-oriented tv, because I'd rather be stabbed with a fork than have to listen to the Tellytubbies. We do frequently have the tv on while she's playing in the living room, though, as we try to catch up on DVR'ed programs. This has led directly to SteelyKid having a favorite show:
That's right, our baby is part of the Colbert Nation. Whenever the credits sequence for the Report plays, she claps at the bit where the eagle swoops in. This is very repeatable (Kate re-played the opening a few times, and SteelyKid always clapped), and especially…
j7uy5 | August 2, 2009Botanical names drive me nuts, sometimes. Every plant that is
worth anything has many names. The supposed gold standard, the
(Latin) Linnaean taxonomical name, gets changed every so often.
So there is no constancy. You'd think it would be easier to
research something if it has an unusual name that you can use as a
keyword. But that is not always the case. Especially if the
names are changed.
Last week, I noted that I am familiar with one kind of tree, called a
mimosa tree. This tree has blossoms of an unusual color.
But that color is not mimosa. There are other trees, also called…
drorzel | August 2, 2009It's critically important to be on your guard when exploring our living room at the moment. The wily SteelyKid can strike without warning:
Of course, not all of her attacks are quite so violent:
Awwwwwww.....
oracknows | August 1, 2009...that my parents tied the knot.
All I can say on such an occasion is that my parents, though their example, have taught me what marriage can be at its best. This evening a few dozen of our closest family and friends will gather together to pay tribute and celebrate 50 amazing years together. There will even be a video tribute. (And, no, it won't be posted on YouTube.)
Happy 50th Anniversary, Mom and Dad. I'll be seeing you later today.
drorzel | August 1, 2009These aren't really SteelyKid's first steps, just the first ones I got on video:
She routinely goes farther than that, more confidently than that, but the big lunge at the end is awfully cute. It's hard to get her really good walks on video, because she always seems to be on the verge of disaster, either by falling and hitting herself, or by walking toward the dog while she's chewing a bone, or heading some other place where she shouldn't be....
From what I understand, the terrifying phase should only last another twenty years or so.
laelaps | July 31, 2009I'm going to be quite busy this weekend (what with two papers to write, an anthology to edit, packing for the big camping trip, and a much-delayed trip to Cape May), so I've decided to open this de-lurking thread. Who are you, and what do you like about Laelaps? I have a general idea of how many people stop by this blog on the average day, but I would love to better get to know you all. By telling me what you like about this blog, as well, you are not only giving me encouragement but also providing important feedback so that I can keep this blog going strong. Whether you wish to introduce…
jdupuis | July 31, 2009My son Sam is a budding scientist and blogger. He came to the ScienceOnline09 conference in North Carolina with me this past January and had a great time.
Needless to say, Bora has tracked him down and interviewed him here.
How does (if it does) blogging figure in your work? How about social networks, e.g., Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook? How much will they in the future?
In Grade 9, I had a science project to do that was supposed to be about anything that had to do with the curriculum. They were pretty loose on this definition: if it in any way had to do with space, biology, physics, or…
revere | July 31, 2009It's late-ish in the evening and this one of the Revere troop has pulled his/her/its new-ish car (funny, it doesn't look newish) into the Best Western parking lot and gotten online for the first time since this morning. First about the car. It isn't brand new. It's a couple of years old but we bought it to replace the infamous 15-year old Volvo sedan shit box I've been complaining about for years here. I finally got someone to take it off my hands for $340. I was asking $800, we settled on $600, but when he drove 100 miles to look at it (he'd seen pictures and I had described it with brutal…