REPOST (Classic Terra Sig)
terrasig | September 8, 2006Next month, the family Pharmboy is headed down to Beluthahatchee, Florida, to help celebrate the 90th birthday of famed human rights legend, Stetson Kennedy, the subject of some Woody Guthrie lyrics put to music by Billy Bragg and Wilco. Among ScienceBloggers, I've learned that Janet and Steinn are big Billy Bragg fans and Josh is a big Woody Guthrie fan, so it seems apropos to celebrate Mr Kennedy here. This is one post I've been meaning to move over here from the old blog, where it first appeared on 15 May 2006.
[I'm currently on the road and I've somehow screwed up the code for…
terrasig | July 23, 2006Reading the paper this morning reaction to murder charges being brought against a New Orleans doctor and two nurses post-Katrina makes me want to read a little more into the facts of the cases. However, my SiBling, Prof Shelley Batts at Retrospectacle, points out correctly that the circumstances surrounding the delivery of health care in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina may have led to the deaths of the patients involved.
Most certainly, those levying the charges had likely gotten out of town and were enjoying drinks, air-conditioning, and putting their feet up on a soft bed…
terrasig | December 20, 2005If you Google, "Terra Sigillata," you'll get a number of hits for various clay pottery recipes. Very complicated stuff, requiring the use of a deflocculant to separate out large clay particles from the small ones. Terra sig, as it is known among pottery hipsters, is then used to coat finished pieces to produce a very smooth, high luster and waterproof finish.
What does this have to do with pharmacology and natural products?
Terra Sigillata literally means "sealed earth." In the common potter's vernacular, "seal" probably relates to the waterproof character of the product. But, in ancient…
terrasig | December 15, 2005OK, so I'm a latecomer to blogging.
I was also more than a week late for my own birth.
The blogging spark for me was an Aug 1 2005 article in The Scientist by David Secko. That's where I first learned of Derek Lowe over at In The Pipeline...and GrrlScientist, Pharyngula, BotanicalGirl, and, YoungFemaleScientist, among others. Secko's tagline was "Few scientists have caught onto the Internet's power of posting, commenting, and debating - where are the rest?"
IMHO, pardon the pun, I've always been a rather humble scientist. So I first ran "natural products," "pharmacology," and "pharmacognosy"…