personal
terrasig | October 27, 2008The blogger who I thought among all held the greatest disdain for any of these silly little narcissistic blogger games, Comrade PhysioProf, has tagged me with a meme.
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.
So here are six random things about me:
1. I belong to the Y-chromosome haplogroup J2: my markers carry the path of M168 > M89…
clock | October 26, 2008
One of the education sessions at ScienceOnline09 will be the middle/high school perspective (or: "how the Facebook generation does it"?) session that will be led by Miss Baker and eight of her high-school biology class students.
One of these students - Brandon - recently interviewed me via e-mail and the interview is now available online - you can choose the full text or you can opt for excerpts in a video form. I understand that other students interviewed other conference participants and I can't wait to see their interviews as well.
I see that Peter Suber already liked it ;-)
edyong | October 25, 2008G'day. As of yesterday, my month-long jaunt to Australia was officially over, which means that your friendly neighbourhood science blog will continue its regular service, with new posts starting tomorrow.
The holiday was amazing - we managed to pack in some time in Sydney and Melbourne, a sailing trip round the Whitsundays, visits to Kakadu National Park, King's Canyon and Uluru, a drive down the Great Ocean Road and even a wedding. We travelled through rainforest, coral reef, desert and wetlands and along the way, managed to avoid the many ways of being crushed or poisoned (see amusing sign…
drorzel | October 23, 2008Your weekly picture of SteelyKid with Appa:
She's getting big enough that it's starting to be difficult to keep them both in the frame, at least in the porta-crib bassinet thing. I may need to change the way I'm taking these.
On the developmental front, Kate reports hearing SteelyKid laugh on several occasions. I still haven't heard it. When I do the Baby Dance with her, she sometimes makes a little coughing sound that I think is the beginning of a laugh, but I have yet to hear real giggling.
She's also getting better with her hands. They're not always clenched in fists any more, and she can…
drorzel | October 21, 2008"Donate to my dad's DonorsChoose challenge, or I will pop you right in the mouth!"
"Bang! Zoom! To the Moon!"
You don't want to mess with her-- she's fierce. So please give generously.
For those keeping track, the current tally, at the time of this typing, is $4,887. Or, for the figure you really care about, that's $1,113 before I have to dance like a monkey.
That offer has brought in a little over $3,000 since last Wednesday, which is pretty impressive. There's been nothing at all since late Saturday night, though, so we may have tapped out the monkeyphiles.
drorzel | October 20, 2008From this weekend's visit home, a picture of my father and me, with our respective babies:
You recognize SteelyKid, I hope. The fuzzy yellow guy is Bodie, my parents' new Labrador Retriever puppy. Bodie is one day older than SteelyKid, and true to his Labrador breeding, he's a born experimentalist, running around the house giving everything an exploratory bite or two. You can even see him eying SteelyKid:
He's thinking "I could totally eat that."
And, of course, as a puppy, he maintains an unassailable dignity at all times, even when sleeping:
OK, maybe not so much with the dignity thing.
terrasig | October 19, 2008I've been a bit too quiet on my end during this third year of ScienceBlogs.com participation in the October Blogger Challenges for DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose.org was launched by Charles Best, a Bronx schoolteacher who recognized that public schools around the US were underfunded, particularly in districts with a high abundance of poverty:
Charles Best leads DonorsChoose.org, a simple way to fulfill needs and foster innovation in public schools. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit proposals for materials or experiences that their students need to learn. Any individual can…
jstemwedel | October 19, 2008My better half was clearing plates from the kitchen table as I was cooking something.
Dr. Free-Ride's better half: Hey, I thought our kids like zucchini bread.
Dr. Free-Ride: They do. That piece was [the kid across the street's] -- always gladly accepts a snack, never has more than a few bites.
Dr. Free-Ride's better half: Huh.
Dr. Free-Ride: I think that's why when our kids are over there, there are so many snacks. If you have a kid who only eats a little at a time, you have to feed continuously.
Dr. Free-Ride's better half: Why don't our kids eat like birds?
Dr. Free-Ride: I'm going to…
jstemwedel | October 18, 2008What would the Blogger Challenge be without hand-drawn bar-graphs?
You'll see that Chad is about 80% of the way to a "monkey dance". In less than $1300 in contributions to his challenge, he will be dancing for the amusement of his readers.
As for the big incentives I'm offering, my challenge has received a mere 10% of the $4000 goal that will result in my adorning my left ankular region with a philosophy of science tattoo. The overall ScienceBlogs donations (currently creeping up toward $16,000) put us a little closer (about 17% of the way) to the $90,000 threshold for my getting the Sb…
jstemwedel | October 17, 2008Nearly three months after we sowed the seeds in our raised garden beds, it feels like we're on the edge of a change of seasons. The days are still quite warm (with temperatures in the mid-eighties for most of the past week), but the days are definitely cooler, and the hours or sunlight grow shorter every day.
In the garden, this means that we're starting to look pensively at the slow-growing root vegetables (notably the carrots and the onions).
"Are you gonna be done soon?"
The rainbow chard and mustard greens are still overproducing what we can eat. Our strategies for keeping up…
oracknows | October 15, 2008Three months ago, our dog Echo died a mere three weeks after we discovered a tumor on her flank. That tumor turned out to be hemangiosarcoma and was already widely metastatic. It's hard to believe it's been that long, but amazingly it has. My wife and I still miss her--a lot.
Now GruntDoc reminds me why, as he links to the return of an Air Force serviceman after 14 months away from home:
Dammit. Where's my Kleenex®?
I miss those greetings, particularly when Echo used to talk to me in that bizarre bark/howl that reminded me of a combination of Scooby-Doo and Chewbacca. It was almost as…
pharyngula | October 13, 2008Congratulations to surviving for a whole 21 years. Now go say thank you to your sweetie, Avy.
It's very short notice and I didn't know what to get you anyway, so you'll have to settle for a picture of an affectionate pair of land iguanas.
(Click for larger image)
Party on, dudes, and be excellent to one another!
drorzel | October 13, 2008I've had miserable problems with hives over the past few years. I'm not sure what it is that I'm allergic to, but I take a distressing number of pills in an attempt to control the itching.
The past few days, I've been coming down with a cold-- sinuses full of gunk, a bit of a sore throat, etc. You might think that, presented with a real enemy to attack, my immune system could rally up and go after the viruses responsible, but instead, they've redoubled their efforts at self-immolation, and I'm itching like crazy.
Just what I need: my immune system is under the control of Paul Wolfowitz and…
pharyngula | October 13, 2008So people want to know more about the Toronto visit…
They're charging for people to listen to me? Wow, I feel like Celine Dion now. You can get more information and order tickets at the CFI site.
I am a little uncomfortable with the hyperbole on the poster, though. Couldn't they have said "world's most famous atheist & science blogger from Morris, Minnesota"? Especially with Larry Moran right there in town, he is probably going to give me some grief over that line.
There are also some other things planned for Saturday, but I don't have those details just yet. I know that the fabulous…
pharyngula | October 13, 2008Since people have been asking about my travel schedule lately, here's how I'm going to be spending my weekends:
Friday, 31 Oct-2 Nov:
Toronto, ON
Friday, 7-9 Nov:
Washington, DC
Thursday, 13-15 Nov:
Kearney, NE
Wednesday, 19-22 Nov:
Philadelphia, PA
Friday, 5-6 Dec:
Orlando, FL
I'm hoping the visit to DC will be an especially joyous one.
pharyngula | October 12, 2008I did not get shot at during my presentation. I was not heckled to the point of tears. Richard Carrier's talk did not bore me. Despite Springfield being the world capitol of the Assemblies of God Pentecostal church, Sarah Palin did not attend…but it is not the case that the event was poorly attended. I did not fall off the stage, nor were there any technical problems with the video equipment. There were no Catholic picketers. Jesus did not manifest in a chariot of fire to smite the two godless speakers. The audience at our talk did not shy away from asking difficult questions of Carrier and…
terrasig | October 11, 2008Nobel Prize month also means that Denver's 5280 magazine has announced the annual results of their top 270 medical professionals in 79 specialties. While the picture here is the cover of last year's issue featuring my dear colleague, Dr John J (Jay) Reusch, the good doctor was again named among the top six physicians in Cardiovascular Medicine. Our other compatriot, Dr Daniel (Dan) Bessesen was named for the sixth year among the top specialists in Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism.
Even my former pulmonologist, Dr James (Jim) Good, made the list - for his 14th year! The Pulmonary…
terrasig | October 11, 2008. . .is not the name of my new punk rock band.
It is, however, the key text of lab results that came back this week in following up on the most highly-read post of my blogging career.
That is all.
jstemwedel | October 10, 2008In a lot of ways, the DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge is a community endeavor. It is all about what you, our community of readers, can accomplish together for public school students and teachers in need. Also, it's a great example of how citizens of the blogosphere think about community -- not just a group of people clustered geographically, but people we're connected to by common interests and values.
While you're working together to make things better for school kids in classrooms across the fifty United States, you can also work together toward what Chad calls a 'big incentive'. Chad…
jstemwedel | October 10, 2008Today is day 10 of Blogger Challenge 2008, in which generous ScienceBlogs readers help public school teachers come up with the funds to deliver the educational goods to their students. As I write this post, challenges mounted by ScienceBloggers have crossed the $10,000 mark.
Given that this money has come from 113 donors and that there are about a bajillion ScienceBlogs readers, I'm guessing there are some folks thinking about making a donation but hanging back from actually donating. My hope is that this post will give you that little push forward you might need.
You'll recall that I've…