personal
drorzel | June 26, 2009I'm headed home to give a speech at my old high school's graduation. Which is a weird feeling-- I don't feel like I'm really old or successful enough to be on the lecture circuit. Then again, it is twenty years since I graduated there myself, which means I've been out of high school longer than most if not all of them have been alive, so...
Anyway, to give you something to look at while I'm off speechifying, here's some video of SteelyKid:
In this clip, she shows off two new ridiculously cute behaviors: the "hold my toy" game where she hands something to you, then takes it back; and tool use…
pharyngula | June 25, 2009I'm getting a sudden surge of hate mail, and most of it seems to revolve around the Daniel Hauser case. I assume something I wrote has been reposted somewhere frequented by morons.
Anyway, these are a bit weird. Some people really hate chemotherapy, I think, because it has them extremely upset. So upset that I've put some examples below the fold, because they use very naughty language.
Bonnie Howard doesn't use bad language, she just hates Big Pharma, to the point where she even thinks insulin is a conspiracy.
Chemotherapy KILLS
We have epidemics of heart, cancer and diabetes. Ever asked…
terrasig | June 22, 2009
I just learned last week from Insider/Jack Friday at Pharmagossip that Reese Witherspoon will be starring in (and producing) a movie entitled, "Pharm Girl." (btw, if you are interested in the pharma industry and don't follow Pharmagossip, you must do so.)
Reese Witherspoon is going into Big Pharma
Universal Pictures is developing "Pharm Girl," an aspirational comedy centering on one woman's odyssey through the drug industry.
"Bad Santa" screenwriters Glenn Ficarra and John Requa are writing the screenplay and in talks to direct. Witherspoon is producing via her Type A banner and will play…
jdupuis | June 22, 2009Although I didn't blog about it at all (I did Twitter and Friendfeed about it a bit), many of you are probably aware that my work place, York University (Wikipedia) in Toronto, had a very difficulty time this past academic year with a strike, student protests and unrest as well as some disturbing on-campus violence. While trying, we did all get through it pretty well and things seem to be getting back on track. Enrollment will be down a bit in many departments come September, but the longer term prospects are very good.
York is still a very good place to work and go to school.
For those…
jdupuis | June 22, 2009Yesterday was Father's Day, of course, always a fun occasion for us dads. I'm generally not a huge fan of fake holidays but I usually find a way to make peace with them if they're all about presents for me.
In any case, I thought I'd share my take for this year as I think at least some of the items I received have a broader interest. It's also worth noting that in my family we usually take an attitude of enlightened self-interest for fake holiday gift giving -- in other words, the giver is allowed to give something they themselves would be interested in. We've come to calling that practice…
jstemwedel | June 20, 2009Since the cool kids seem to be doing cyborg names today:
Get Your Cyborg Name
I'm actually a little frightened with how well my cyborg name comports with my intentions in blogging.
pharyngula | June 19, 2009The latest issue of Zebrafish, a specialty journal to which my university does not subscribe, is dedicated entirely to using zebrafish in education. I want it. I want the whole issue. Unfortunately, the publisher wants to charge me $29 per article to get the PDFs, which is not going to happen. Anyone out there with an institutional subscription want to help me out? If you don't feel like sending me the whole collection, I'm particularly interested in the articles by Bagatto, D'Costa, McKeown, and Schmoldt.
Now watch, my mailbox is going to be flooded, isn't it? Once upon a time, I could make…
jstemwedel | June 18, 2009... from a secret location. Because, in light of fluctuations in the slug and snail population when I go away, I think they may read my blog.
Tuesday (day 39 of the snail eradication project) and Wednesday (day 40 of the snail eradication project) I found ten slugs each. No snails to speak of.
Both mornings were dry and overcast. All the slugs were located underneath the bags of compost and potting soil by the side of the house.
I didn't go snailing today on account of being in the aforementioned secret location. Where it is both hot and humid. I haven't seen any gastropods here, but…
laelaps | June 16, 2009
In case you missed the last announcement, author Tom Levenson has been running a multi-part series on the genesis of his latest book, Newton and the Counterfeiter (Available now. Pick up a copy!). One of the most recent entries is about, to borrow from Tom's title, "writing the damn thing", to which Chad Orzel has replied. Given that I still have a helluva lot of writing to do I am in a different place than both Tom and Chad, but I think my experiences might be of interest to other neophytes who are thinking of making the blog-to-book transition.
One of the greatest obstacles I had to…
jstemwedel | June 15, 2009When the snail hunter is away, the gastropods will play.
It should be noted, though, that the slugs and snails I found today were not playing in my vegetable garden. That's progress.
Conditions this morning were dry and overcast. However, it rained a little over the weekend, and our wee lawn was watered once with the sprinklers. Most of what I found today was on the lawn or in easy gliding distance from it.
Another observation: I found some slugs clustered around wee, shriveled fallen lemons on the lawn. These slugs were much less responsive to touch than were the gastropods who hadn't…
jstemwedel | June 14, 2009One of the fabulous things about living in our Northern California climate (zone 16) it the ability to transform our yard into a mini orchard. The biggest challenge so far has been patience, given that it takes fruit trees at least a few years to hit a level of maturity at which they produce fruit.
Even if we want fruit right now!
Currently, we have a lime tree, a pomegranate tree, and an avocado that are only making "practice fruit". You can tell they're trying, but they're just not yet at the point where they can produce anything full-sized or edible.
We also have a fig tree which last…
jstemwedel | June 13, 2009
A highlight of reunion at my alma mater, as far as I'm concerned, it that they open up the boat house and let alumnae paddle (or sail, or crew, depending on their druthers) around the lake.
I've missed the lake.
I was also missing the rest of the Free-Ride family, so I took advantage of the excellent cell phone reception from the middle of the lake and called home.
Among other things, I learned that the younger Free-Ride offspring went snailing in the yard this morning. The yard was reportedly wet in the aftermath of a light rain. The younger Free-Ride offspring took 18 slugs and five…
jstemwedel | June 13, 2009
You may recall a couple years ago when the Order of the Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique started issuing badges.
Now, the Science Scouts have a spiffy new webpage and many new badges ... and there are rumors (or should I say rumours) that actual, physical badges, suited for stitching onto sashes or lab coats, will be available.
So it seems like a good time to review the badges I have earned thus far as a Science Scout.
The "talking science" badge:
I don't need to explain this one, right?
Even before I had a blog about matters scientific, I talked science. At…
jstemwedel | June 13, 2009There are two main reasons I like harvesting crops from the Free-Ride garden. First, it means we'll have yummy, super-fresh fruits and vegetables to eat. And second, it often means we're freeing up space to plant another crop.
Even in Northern California, where it is said we have "climate" rather than "weather," there are crops that are seasonal. We are definitely past the "spring" planting season, and some of the spring crops are really looking happy.
For example, our peas.
As I mentioned yesterday, I planted two varieties, sugar-snap peas (whose pods are meant to be eaten) and shelling…
jstemwedel | June 12, 2009After a good long while hanging out and sucking wifi from MIT, I decided it was time to walk along Mass Ave to Harvard Square. The walk seemed significantly shorter than when I was a college student twenty (plus) years ago.
Possible explanations:
1. When I was a college student, I was working with tighter time constraints. (Maybe, but not always.)
2. At least a few of the instances in which I was making that walk (though in the opposite direction) were very late at night (like after 2 AM); maybe fatigue made the walk seem longer.
3. At least a few of the instances in which I was making that…
jstemwedel | June 12, 2009Overheard at Casa Free-Ride:
Dr. Free-Ride's better half: Hey, some of the silkmoths are mating already!
Elder offspring: With each other?
Savor that moment of stunned silence!
A bunch of the pupating silkworms are still in the cocoons, but as of Thursday, about ten had emerged as moths. I was actually lucky enough to be in the room with my camera as this one emerged.
Judging by the size of her abdomen (largish), we're guessing it's a female. She still hasn't "inflated" her wings yet.
And, we got to watch this female lay eggs:
The eggs are the little yellow spheres. In addition to…
jstemwedel | June 12, 2009Owing to the fact that the snail eradication project (or at least, my direct involvement in it) is on a brief hiatus while I'm on the East Coast (and while my yard is still in Northern California), I'm going to be bringing you up to date on the garden in whose service I have been trying to control the gastropod population.
Long time readers may recall that the raised garden beds are almost a year old. We actually didn't get the first seeds planted in them until near the end of July, 2008.
Some of the seeds we planted then are just now giving us plants that are ready to harvest.
Our onions,…
jstemwedel | June 12, 2009The torrential rain stopped (at least temporarily), so I got a chance to walk around a little. Having met my high school friend in Kenmore Square, I walked on Comm Ave (toward the Boston Commons) and hung a left on Mass Ave.
I decided I needed to check the functioning of the Harvard Bridge.
See, when I was a college student, the distinguishing feature of the Harvard Bridge was not that it provided a convenient way to get across the Charles River between MIT and the Back Bay. Rather, it was that the weather walking across the bridge was always significantly worse than the weather on either…
laelaps | June 12, 2009
There is no time like the summer to make a dent in my reading list. I am by no means a speed reader, but during this time of the year I can usually get through the average trade book in about 2-3 days. This year is a little different, though. I am digging deep in my research for my book about transitional fossils (now tentatively called Written in Stone), so this is not the time to get too distracted by titles unrelated to my work.
Still, it is good to take a step back and read works that I enjoy every now and then, no matter how unrelated to my work they might be. I'm working up a list of…
jstemwedel | June 12, 2009Some hold that Hell is other people.
Today, I'm inclined to disagree.
At the moment, I'm of the view that Hell is having one's plan to kill a couple hours before meeting an old friend by wandering the streets of a city one used to know really well twenty years ago thwarted by pouring rain.
And while I currently have a dry place to hang out, the internet connection is very slow. And there is no outlet in sight. And my laptop battery is running out of juice.
Yeah, OK, it's a pretty mild Hell. Nonetheless: Boo! torrential downpour! Also: Boo! slow internet connections!