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grrlscientist | December 12, 2006
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315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.
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tags: dictionary, misspelled words. weird facts
grrlscientist | December 11, 2006The best medical blog writing awards for 2006 are now accepting nominations for a variety of categories, including several new categories, such as "Best Patient's Blog." Now, I am not saying that my nuthouse journaling was written for the purpose of winning such a nomination (it certainly was not), but I definitely would be proud to receive such a nomination if it came my way.
Nominations will be accepted until Sunday, December 31, 2006. Polls will be open from Wednesday, January 3, 2007 and will close at midnight on Sunday, January 14, 2007 (PST). Awards will be announced on Friday, January…
grrlscientist | December 11, 2006The newest edition of the Carnival of the Liberals is now available for your reading pleasure. I should mention that this is the first year anniversary of this blog carnival, and the editor chose the best ten essays from the past year, so this edition is full of high quality material for you to read.
I should also mention that I am hosting the next edition of this blog carnival on 20 December. This means that I have to think of a theme for the carnival and of course, I must choose the most appropriate essays that fit the theme as well. Since I am still a little unsteady on my blog-feet, I am…
grrlscientist | December 11, 2006
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Wouldn't you just love to blow up your laptop in the hands of its thief after it's been stolen? Well, that might be possible soon since scientists have discovered a new way to make silicon explode.
[ .. ] Michael Sailor and his colleagues at the University of California in San Diego have found a way to blow up silicon chips using an electrical signal.
They say their method could be used to fry circuitry in devices that fall into the wrong hands. For instance, the American spy plane impounded by China last year could have used it to destroy its secret electronics systems.
Sailor's team…
grrlscientist | December 11, 2006I know that some of you are reading specifically to see how I am doing now that I am out of the nuthut, so I will provide you with updates every so often. I will signify these personal updates with the bird icon that you see to the left, so if this sort of thing bores you, you are forwarned and can just yawn and click on to the next article. (Incidentally, that icon to the left depicts one of the bird species I keep and research, the yellow-bibbed lory, Lorius chlorocercus.)
I had a bumpy transition from captivity to freedom. For example, even though no one lived in my apartment, it is…
grrlscientist | December 11, 2006Below the fold is a link to an article that you should read about our nation's food supply written by Eric Schlosser, the journalist who wrote the brilliant expose, Fast Food Nation.
This fall has brought plenty of bad news about food poisoning. More than 200 people in 26 states were sickened and three people were killed by spinach contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. At least 183 people in 21 states got salmonella from tainted tomatoes served at restaurants. And more than 160 people in New York, New Jersey and other states were sickened with E. coli after eating at Taco Bell restaurants.…
purepedantry | December 11, 2006Here is what I am reading:
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the FDA, the Scientist has a look at its long-term prospects in light of recent scandals.
Best Buy has decided to go to totally flexible scheduling. I feel like business came to the party late on this one. Science had had flex-scheduling forever, and we are doing just fine. All it requires is a little trust and not caring when people get their work done, just that they get it done.
The NYTimes has a interesting article on the diminishing number of cases taken by the Supreme Court and speculation as to why that might be.
Daniel…
grrlscientist | December 10, 2006Here is a quiz that will tell you if you are a nerd, a geek or a dork -- by the way, it also tells you the definitions of those words, too.
Pure Nerd
91 % Nerd, 43% Geek, 21% Dork
For The Record:
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.
The times, they are a-…
grrlscientist | December 8, 2006I am piggybacking from home on my beloved mac laptop (I wish I could afford my own wifi connection). I am just going to free-associate here for a few minutes for those of you who are interested to read such random things. One random thing I wanted to mention is that it has been 115 days ago when I was first hospitalized, for those of you who keep track of such things -- just to put some perspective on things.
I have discovered one typographical error on a label for my medications that could cause me some real problems by triggering a manic episode, but I am smart enough to figure things out…
tqa | December 8, 2006As I mentioned recently, a number of soldiers in Iraq will be running the Honolulu Marathon this weekend. The course goes around a base several times, mostly over dirt roads. In part, running the Honolulu Marathon lets folks maintain a connection with home, but that's not the only reason that they are running. They're also running to support TAPS - an organization that provides support to the families of people who die while on active duty in the armed forces.
A death in the family is a massive tragedy, and creates a great deal of upheaval in the lives of those left behind. For the families…
grrlscientist | December 8, 2006How do you say goodbye to a group of people whom you've lived with during the past 115 days? How do you say goodbye to a group of people who have suffered from their personal demons alongside you for such a long period of time? How do you say goodbye to people -- the patients, staff and doctors -- who were really there for you and whom you wish to keep in your life as friends and allies, but cannot?
I guess I am going to find the answer to these questions today.
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And then what happened?
How the heck did this nuthouse story get started in the first place?
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tags: psychiatric hospital,…
grrlscientist | December 7, 2006I have not yet been released because the fearless leader for the hospital was unable to speak with me today (she makes the ultimate decision), but it looks as though tomorrow will probably be my discharge day.
The social worker found three potential programs for me to attend on the outside -- programs that are either support groups or a program with a psychiatrist/psychopharmacologist -- which I prefer. But both of which will cost a fair amount of money, even though they are on a sliding scale. Unfortunately, attending one of these programs will be the only way I can maintain my…
tqa | December 7, 2006A scientific paper just published in the journal Nature provides an in-depth scientific analysis of the evidence in the case of the six medics on trial for their lives in Libya. Scientists obtained RNA sequences from the HIV virus present in 44 victims who had been treated outside Libya. They used well-established techniques for determining evolutionary relationships to see if the infection came from a single source, and they used what we know about the rate at which HIV evolves to determine when the infections began at the hospital.
The analysis demonstrates, beyond even an unreasonable…
grrlscientist | December 7, 2006
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Most lipstick contains fish scales.
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Image source.
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tags: lipstick, fish scales. weird facts
grrlscientist | December 7, 2006
Six people were injured and up to 150 houses were damaged when a tornado swept through several London streets leaving a trail of destruction.
Rooftops were ripped off homes and cars were badly damaged as the twister hit the Kensal Rise area that is in north-west London. One man suffered a serious head injury and five more people were treated for minor injuries and shock.
Fire services closed six roads in a zone covering a quarter of a square mile and searched 100 properties. Fire crews were called at about 1100 GMT on Thursday to Chamberlayne Road and surrounding streets, amid reports of…
tlambert | December 7, 2006Revere has the latest on the scientific evidence that proves their innocence.
Janet Stemwedel has addresses where you can send letters.
bushwells | December 7, 2006
I'm a card-carrying member of the Wisconsin Alumni Association, and as such receive the glossy production, On Wisconsin, quarterly. Usually, the mag offers light reading and occasional updates on faculty, staff and fellow former classmates. However, an article published in the Summer 2006 volume, Putting Faith in Science (in pdf format) resulted in a flurry of letters from alumni to the editor in the Fall 2006 issue. Dismayingly, quite a few supported Intelligent Design. Granted, these are just a few creatio-cranks out of a large number of alums, but still, these were an embarrassing…
grrlscientist | December 6, 2006Are you ready for me to be freed tomorrow from the nuthouse? Well, according to rumor, tomorrow will be my release date. The reason has nothing at all to do with my own sanity, since I am still certifiably insane, but rather, the reason is that the person caring for my birds is demanding that I pay her $2500 for the priviledge (nevermind that one of my expensive and rare parrots died while under her care) and she is demanding that I pay her immediately so she can use it to pay college tuition.
What's the problem with this picture? When I first met my bird care taker, mere minutes before I…
sb admin | December 6, 2006by Revere and cross-posted at Effect Measure
We are asking the scienceblogging community once again to rally on behalf of our colleagues on trial for their lives in Libya. They have been accused of infecting over 400 children with HIV (see previous posts, here, here, here, here, here and here). When last we made an appeal (here) the response was extraordinary and spread quickly to the blogosphere on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum. The campaign to save the six health workers began with a strongly worded editorial in Nature and spread via the science blogosphere to the…
grrlscientist | December 6, 2006
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Ketchup was sold in the 1830's as medicine.
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tags: ketchup, medicine. weird facts