personal
clock | July 21, 2006Coturnietta is on the front page of the newspaper today. No, she's not in jail for a drive-by-shooting. After all, she is only nine years old.
Last week she spent the weekend in Raleigh with her grandmother, two aunts and three cousins and, while there, they saw a big injustice happen - the neighbor's famous mailbox chicken was stolen!
Of course, being my daughter, what did she do? She immediately e-mailed the newspaper. News & Observer sent out a reporter and the article came out this morning on top of the front page. Read the article under the fold:
Funky chicken is MIA:
"Madison…
pharyngula | July 20, 2006I occasionally put up some of the wackier/more obnoxious e-mail I get from creationists and other deluded True Believers, but I don't want to give the wrong impression—I also get lots of friendly and supportive email. I just don't think any of it is quite as entertaining as the crazy stuff. Anyway, for balance, and because he was nice enough to give permission to post it, here's a message from the sane side.
Dear Prof. Myers,
I wanted to write you a thank you letter, for a couple of reasons. I understand that you must be a busy man, what with the students and family and all, so I hope you…
drorzel | July 20, 2006Kate and I both hate doing housework, so a year or so ago, we broke down and hired a cleaning service. Every other week, they send a crew in to vacuum and dust and clean the bathroom and kitchen, so we don't have to. IT's not a terribly expensive service, and we're happier as a result.
I occasionally have pangs of liberal guilt about this, because it's such a bourgeois thing to do. I had this mental image (aided by the brochure they sent when we signed up) of the cleaners as middle-aged Hispanic women, probably getting paid about six bucks an hour. Which would put me in the position of aiding…
jstemwedel | July 19, 2006I've been having a great email exchange with another blogger about the current flare-up of the battle over women in academic science, and he brought to my attention a bothersome feature of this New York Times interview with Dr. Ben A. Barres:
Q. How does this bias [that men have an innate advantage in science over women] manifest itself?
A. It is very much harder for women to be successful, to get jobs, to get grants, especially big grants. And then, and this is a huge part of the problem, they don't get the resources they need to be successful. Right now, what's fundamentally missing and…
clock | July 18, 2006
I love my kids, and they are growing into wonderful, passionate atheists. This one is from March 24, 2005, under the fold....
The kids' spring break just started, the weather is gorgeous, and the computer is broken. What a great opportunity to spend a lot of time together (instead of timing each other's computer use)! Zoo next week? Oh, yeah!
In the last post about my kids, I concentrated on Coturnix Junior. This one is more about Coturnietta. She is eight years old. We went to Weaver Street Market for lunch (and also to get food for the rest of the family who remained at home). At one…
clock | July 17, 2006David Ng of Science Fair is asking an informal AskThe ScienceBlogger question:
Are there any children's books that are dear to you, either as a child or a parent, and especially ones that perhaps strike a chord with those from a science sensibility? Just curious really. And it doesn't have to be a picture book, doesn't even have to be a children's book - just a book that, for whatever reason, worked for the younger mind set.
MarkCC and Janet have responded with their choices. And you should definitely look up David's reviews of several science-related children's books here, here, here, here…
terrasig | July 16, 2006Dear Mom,
I was still sick all day on our first day back from vacation. However, I just wanted you to know that we are all thinking of you for your birthday today hoping, especially, that the celebration included healthy doses of Chimayo Cocktails!
Love,
The Black Sheep of Your Family
pharyngula | July 16, 2006I'm going to be giving a talk tomorrow and Tuesday in St Paul and Minneapolis—if you're free at the noon hour, stop on by! The title of the talk is "Science and Secularism in a Demon-Haunted World," and it's sponsored by the Atheists for Human Rights.
On Monday at noon I'll be at the St Paul Landmark Center, 75 West Fifth Street, in the Ramsey County Room.
On Tuesday at noon I'll be in the Minneapolis Downtown Public Library, in the Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi Room.
If you aren't in the Twin Cities area, be patient…I just agreed to do an interview with the Infidel Guy sometime in…
j7uy5 | July 15, 2006The UM Center
for Organogenesis will have a booth at the
href="http://www.arborweb.com/annual_events_index.html">Art
Fairs in
Ann Arbor, featuring their Bio-Artography.
They'll be at
booth 155, on East University St.
href="http://bioartography.com/index2.html">
src="http://bioartography.com/thumbnails/033motoring5x7.jpg"
border="0" height="120" width="94">
href="http://bioartography.com/index2.html">
src="http://bioartography.com/thumbnails/021networking5x7.jpg"
border="0" height="120" width="101">
alt=""
src="http://bioartography.com/thumbnails/004rosebud_kidney…
jstemwedel | July 15, 2006It's been warm in these parts lately. In weather like this, by evening the indoors is stiflingly hot, while the outdoors is just staring to cool down. So, it makes sense that we'd be driven outdoors. Perhaps it makes less sense that, after escaping the heat indoors, I'd build a blazing hot fire over which to cook.
Life is full of mysteries.
Anyway, while I'm working on the promised post about what non-scientists can do to improve commuications with scientists, I'm curious to find out who else runs to the grill, and how you do it. If you want to consider this a meme, you should also…
pharyngula | July 13, 2006I just finished a brief interview with Tom Crann of Minnesota Public Radio's All Things Considered show, so if you hear me calling the creationists idiots while you're driving home sometime in the next few days, don't be too shocked. (Sorry, I didn't ask exactly when it will be aired.)
Here's a link to the radio program.
terrasig | July 11, 2006Sorry, gang, but this is just more journal than blog - and yet another emphatic and blathering reason of why I love this town.
Had a lovely hike yesterday with PharmGirl and PharmPreSchooler to the Grottos just outside of Aspen proper, an amazing series of igneous rocks and ice caves at the base of Independence Pass. PharmMom now forbids posting pictures of her beautiful granddaughter on these here internets, so here's an inanimate shot that still doesn't do justice to the view:
Then, had a lovely lunch with a dear friend in Explorer Bookstore and Bistro, an idyllic setting in an old…
pharyngula | July 11, 2006
Syd Barrett is dead.
Trip to heave and ho, up down, to and fro'you have no wordtrip, trip to a dream dragonhide your wings in a ghost towersails cackling at every plate we breakcracked by scattered needlesthe little minute gongcoughs and clears his throatmadam you see before you standhey ho, never be stillthe old original favorite grandgrasshoppers green Herbarian bandand the tune they play is "In Us Confide"so trip to heave and ho, up down, to and fro'you have no wordPlease leave us hereclose our eyes to the octopus ride!Isn't it good to be lost in the woodisn't it bad so quiet there, in…
clock | July 11, 2006This post from May 07, 2005, was one of the rare personal posts I have ever written. Under the fold....
It is Derby Weekend! Exciting, isn't it? I had to watch the re-run tonight, but I saw it. Giacomo! Who's that!? I love when underdogs win!
I practically grew up on the Belgrade Racecourse. Horse sports being really small in Yugoslavia, it is an unusual place. The mile-long dirt track is on the outside. Inside is a 1000m long hard track for trotting races. And in the very center, there is a large show-jumping ring. The Sunday racing program would usually start with a jumping class (and you…
clock | July 7, 2006
This post is really ancient - from September 24, 2004 - but it was fun to write, I remember. In the meantime I learned that it is actually official - as an atheist I cannot get elected for any office in North Caroina (and a dozne or so other states). That is written in the state law. Only people who believe in fiary tales (or are good at lying about it) can get elected here. Under the fold....
I will never be elected a dogcatcher. I'd never run for that office as I happen to like dogs and would have a problem with taking them to the pound. Even if I ran I would never get elected for a…
pharyngula | July 1, 2006Because all the cool kids are doing it, I plugged my face into this Face Recognition software.
I am not happy.
I mean, really, what did I do to deserve this?
→
I'm a little happier with my second choice.
→
I'm still not going outside anywhere without a bag over my head anymore.
oracknows | July 1, 2006As of midnight last night, it's official...
...I'm now an Associate Professor of Surgery.
clock | June 28, 2006...so now you know. CFeagans, Mike Dunford and Dave S. were the closest to the correct diagnosis in the comments. You should start a car-repair show on NPR, guys!
I also needed - badly - new front tires and alignment. Total cost = St.Peter's scrambled eggs!