Jay's tribute to Dad

Yes We Can!

Science Debate responses from Obama and McCain

Both candidates have posted their responses to the top science questions facing the next administration. You can view them at http://sciencedebate2008.com/vote/ ... and even grade each candidate on their responses!

Regardless of your political affiliation, these addressing these topics will be essential toward keeping America economically competitive in science and technology in the coming years. And the recent financial meltdowns show us how important it is to be more economically competitive!

So please read their responses as an aid to voting this year!

Dancin' for the man

RfO... 'bout damn time...

Never, ever had a bumper sticker before. But I have this puppy on my car now:




Get yours at http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

Republicans for Obama

Well, the neighborhoods gone to shit. The neighbor has a McCain sign outside now. Oh dear, is it time for retaliation?

OK, while GOP is busily denying that there are Republicans for Obama, I'm ordering a free Obama button from MoveOn as well as a RfO bumper sticker. Is this one time hardcore Republican is turning wussy? (Yeah, I voted for Bush Sr.; unlike his son, he actually served in a war and was [gasp] smart enough to do well at Yale.) Seriously, I like real gun control (both hands, me in control, etc.), the death penalty ("some people just need killin"), and fiscal responsibility in government. (Oh wait, I guess that's been a Democrat thing since Clinton...silly me.) But I also support reproductive freedom and choice, marriage being a union between any two people who love each other, cultural tolerance, and that anyone wanting to have kids has to raise a dog right first. (Oh wait, that's my Republican side again. So confusing!)

The RfO site linked to this YouTube vid; since I don't watch TV and rarely do random web searches, I hadn't seen it before. I listen to both kinds of music (country and western), so while this tune is kinda outta my musical taste, it is a catchy tune, a damn fine video, and a great snippet from MLK at the end woven into the song. Good stuff.



Maybe Gen X finally has a candidate, regardless of party, who actually speaks toward what we believe. We pretty much tuned out in the 90s and into the 2000s as well, except for protest votes along the way. And now, finally, we might have someone worth supporting. Someone to vote for, instead of someone to vote against.

Here's to hope.

Unca Jay and Auntie Deana... swimming through the air

My bro and sis-in-law have taken to the air, to which I have to say, I am really damn impressed. Check 'em out here (Jay is in the middle, Deana on the left).



Kate loved watching it, too. "Unca Jay is a monkey!" she said. Of course, we already knew that.

(Note: the "getting stuck" was fake, the smack upside Deana's head was an accident!)

James' visit and clouds in the Olympics

My youngest brother James was visiting this past week, and as per usual we did the usual redneck pastime of going out in the woods and blowing crap up. Oh yeah, we went hiking, too. Here's a pic from up on Deer Ridge, the eastern shoulder of Blue Mountain on the north side of the Olympics, James going the extra redneck mile with the "Ozzy" hand:

It is usually sunny and blue in the summer around here, but occasionally we get this crazy wet and cloudy weather coming through. So it makes for some cool cloudscapes at times. Got this great shot looking toward the Blue Mt. summit not far from where I took the (above) pic of us:

Also managed to get him to Canada finally (after about 4 visits in the past 4 years); we spent a day eating and drinking our way around Victoria. What a great city--I wish it was on our side of the water!

Senor Fer de Lance, otra vez

Here is a sweet pic of the same fer de lance, taken by Brenda's friend (and way cool person even if she does go to OU) Ryan.

Click on the pic to get the full size image and see the rain on its skin... gorgeous pic, eh?

Las culebras mejores!

So I have seen dozens of fer-de-lances in my groundpounding around Central America, but I am pretty sure I haven't seen one this size:

This lil' puppy was hanging out on the trail to my cabana (which was about 1km from the main area--imagine walking that in the dark, completely lit [and we aren't talking light], and meeting this 'un--or worse, not even realizing he's around...) at least a couple of nights running. We heard about him one evening in el comedor but didn't find him that night. (To be fair, Bill and I couldn't find our ass with both hands that night.) The next night we wandered out again, and lo and behold, there he was. I'm guessing (knowing the average person's proclivity to overestimate snake sizes) he was about a 4 footer. My estimate is also based on the fact that after I spooked him, he uncoiled and took up a good portion of the 1.5m trail, even while remaining sinuous. Damn big snake.

So Bill was shooting pics (including these) and we were all holding flashlights to help him focus. I spooked the snake into the brush, where it hung out for awhile, facing away from us, and then coiled up in striking position again. Bill shot more pics as the skeeters swarmed (luckily for the rest of us, Michelle always smells good so the bugs were flocking more to her) and we lit up the snake with our massive 2 candlepower lights. After awhile, we were more interested in seeing the shots Bill got, so we were checking out his screen whenever he said "that looks like a good one!" Great shot, said Bill once, so we went over to check it out. Did look damn good. He thought it might be a little out of focus, so we shined our lights back into the bush alongside the trail, and ... no snake. Quick shining along all the nooks and crannies right by the trail, as well as the bare dirt itself, assured us (HA!) that the snake was not going to latch on to one of our legs immediately. We took that as the point at which intrepid snake hunters bid one another good night, and I took off (a quick walk) to the cabin and the rest of the crew headed the other direction back to theirs.

All in all, a highly successful night: good pics, BFS (big f-ing snake), and no permanent injuries.

My first day there, thanks to Mel and Shea's direction and Brenda's blog (for the pic, shamelessly stolen from her), I also got to see an eyelash pit viper--never seen one before, though I have spent lots of time in areas where they'd been sighted. They have "eyelashes"--thus, their name--but some say the name also refers to their habit of hanging out on small branches, large leaves, or vines, right about eyelash height on a person. Beautiful image, eh? A little snake latched on to my forehead doesn't sound like fun, especially one this venomous. (For those of you keeping track at home: venomous means that if they bite you, you die. Poisonous means if you bite them, you die.) Anyhoo, a gorgeous snake, and thanks to the crew for showing it to me.

A final aside to the commentors on the beans and rice post--when you guys amass as much time taking dumps out in the woods in the tropics as I have, you can harrass me about beans and rice (which I secretly love anyway). Actually, that brings to mind a pretty fun activity--next time you have a field day, save up your need to crap and do it out there. Within 10 minutes, you'll have a circus of dung beetles, flies, parasitic wasps, and all sorts of entomological excitement to watch. (Why is it that biologists have more fun with bodily functions than 4 year olds???)

Video: El Puente de La Selva

Here's a short vid from the suspension bridge at La Selva. All y'all out there in bloggerland will have to be happy with this for now; I have some cool snake pics and a story about one of the pics, but dinner is on the table and I will have a fork stuck in the side of my head if I don't call this good...

Adventures in Costa Rica, or, how i learned to love the rainforest from within an air-conditioned room

Just home late last night from Costa Rica. Had a great time with the REU crew (Brenda, Shea, Mel, and Chris [see links at left] and the rest of the village. For the first time since I was 15, I spent a good deal of my time in the rainforest in air-conditioned comfort, aka, I froze my ass. Here's a pic of me deep in the jungle, working hard with the crew:


Yeah, I was down there to do stats. You perceptive bloggeroos will notice that's R I have open; trying to get the damn code to work for 4 different study designs. I do have some good stories and a few pics to post, from outside actually, but that'll have to wait. Cerveza calls, and tonight... there is no beans&rice.... or rice&beans... or rice with beans&rice...

More fun than it should be

Just got a new Winchester semi-auto 12 gauge (Super X3 for those of you keeping track at home). Took it out to Slab Camp with Chris to try it out for the first time. We did stop shooting skeet long enough to play a little:

Junkfood Science... blog... and new energy source?

Discovered a cool blog: Junkfood Science. Latest post is a nice review of review paper on sweets and kids.

Also ran across this interesting video clip--can it be true?

Some research is in order to see where this is at, commerically and academically...

Does anyone know? Let me know if you do!

Science Debate 2008--85% of Americans think we need it!

"This is not a niche debate, the future economic success of the United States depends on out-performing the competition with smart people and smart ideas. Without the best education system and aggressive investments in basic research and development we will become a second rate economic power. We hope the candidates for president take this very seriously."

-Craig Barrett

Chairman, Intel

"WASHINGTON—May 12, 2008— A new poll (charts, pdf, 3.1mb) shows that 85% of U.S. adults agree that the presidential candidates should participate in a debate on how science can be used to tackle America’s major challenges. The poll found no difference between Democrats and Republicans on this question. A majority (84%) also agree that scientific innovations are improving our standard of living.

The poll, commissioned by Research!America and ScienceDebate2008.com and conducted by Harris Interactive®, shows that 56% strongly agree and 29% somewhat agree that the presidential candidates should participate in a debate to discuss key problems facing the United States, such as health care, climate change and energy, and how science can help tackle them..."

Read the whole press release here or visit the ScienceDebate2008 website here.

C'mon Obama, Clinton, and McCain! Let's talk about it!

The Front Fell Off--the Whole Story

The viral "The Front Fell Off" has been making its rounds across emails everywhere, which was damn funny in its own right but incomplete--I recently found the whole story. If you have yet to see just how the oil caught fire, as well as the Minsiter's comments off the air, check it out here:

Been busy... but what else is new?

Chris, Shea, Erin, and I recently got back from the 76th Annual Western Snow Conference, where we presented a couple of posters. This summer I'll actually be able to post a link to the papers... so stay tuned!

Had a damn good time there; there were a few thousand years of experience in the room at any one time, but everyone was laid back, friendly, and just made for a wonderful experience.

Long hike up Deer Ridge today; had to park way the hell down at Slab Camp and hoof it to the top of the ridge (2 hours, thank you very much! This ole guy can still hike, even if I can't keep up with the 'young 'uns'). Our ^#@ snow scale gave out after two courses, but at least we got some depth readings. Also got some snow for Bill, Jay, and Jessica in the microbial group; we'll see if anything interesting turns up outta that. If it does--hello pubs!

Got a fun video of Shea and Chris coming down a slope today. (Snow?!?! It's almost May!!!) Enjoy...

"Math Education: An Inconvenient Truth"

Great video at YouTube helps explain why many of the freshman I've taught can't do basic math in intro science classes.



You can't reason your way to math proficency--this provides good examples of how misguided math ed has been over the past decade or so. But I've seen some of her examples in my friends' kids'' homework!!!

It's 15 minutes long but worth watching if you have ever despaired over the state of math knowledge among college students or the general public.

Of course, if you don't know math, you will certainly have trouble reasoning logically. Hmmmmm.... the fact that NCLB came from Texas makes one leap for conspiracy theories. But since I am decent at math, I will simply leave it to the commentators to hash out and stick to my logical approach to reality. :-)

Back from Arizona...

Spent a week and a half visiting the folks in Arizona (blessed sun!), then back to the PNW in time to catch the last (probably) snows of the winter down here in PA.

Here's a spot near Sedona, off in USFS land and away from (most of) the touristas.

Here's a pic one of the rock walls near that same spot, catching some reflected rays from the midday sun:

And here's a close up of one of the alcoves within that rock wall. Eat your heart out Sistene Chapel!

And what vacaction blog would be complete with a great pic of me and my daughter playing in a creek? (Much love to all the fam out there!)

Clouds like a glacier, Dungeness watershed

view from the top

Been busier than the proverbial one-legged ass-kicker with snow work recently. Chris, Shea, and I have installed all but one remote weather station, and the last one was the best one... as far as the view goes.

Not as far as the 60# pack goes. Yep, I hauled in the instruments and the tripod tower. Them young whippersnappers had wussy light packs, in spite of Shea's claim to the contrary, and yours truly took the heavy load. GO OL' TIMERS!

So here's how I was at the bottom of the ridge (note the smile):


Here's how I was when I reached the top:

But of course it is all worth it, if for nothing more than for the pure joy of science:

Now ain't science great???

I am the Media

Found a cool website recently that is the YouTube of slideshows, apparently--recommendation from a deaf person. (We too often forget about ensuring the Web--and life--are inclusive.)

GREAT slideshow there called: I am the Media:

| View | Upload your own

For those of us in Gen X--WOW. We grew up through the beginning of all this and it is still stunning. For those of you Digital Natives, this is nothing new. :-)

Science, politics, and...

OK, last blog for today... I am trying to catch up on all the things I wanted to blog on since Dec.!

First, over the holidays I signed on--and so should ALL MY FANS IN CYBERVILLE (both of you)--to ScienceDebate2008, a website and group dedicated to having the presidential candidates do a debate specifically on science and science policy:

"Science and engineering have driven half the nation’s growth in GDP over the last half-century, and lie at the center of many of the major policy and economic challenges the next president will face. We feel that a presidential debate on science would be helpful to America’s national political dialogue." -Alan Leshner, CEO, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Personally, I think "helpful" is an understatement--given the HUGE advances in cell biology, genetics, and bioinformatics over the past few months (!), a forum of candidate's views on science, health, education, and the like is essential in helping voters chart both their potential candidates views as well as their own--Americans who live in ignorance of these advances will no doubt be shocked when the political and ethical dimensions of these advances suddenly become thrust into media life, no doubt attached to either a terrorism or celebrity story. We ALL need to be more aware and proactive in policy consideration before we are forced to confront these issues!

One that has always annoyed me is that genes are one of the few (only?) "facts of nature" that the US Patent Office allows for patenting. As a result, some of the tests that might shed light on the origins of my son's leukodystrophy might cost a few hundred bucks in supplies and technician time, but cost several thousand dollars in royalties to a biotech company, simply because they "discovered" a set of genes before others have. What if Newton had patented (had he been able) calculus? What if Einstein had patented his work that led to the development of the Atomic Bomb?!? Issues of intellectual property rights are tied hard and fast to ethical, economic, and societal concerns, and are getting more so by the day. Without a president with a realistic understanding of science and technology (something America has often lacked, not just currently), we face more difficult times ahead than we would otherwise. The advances in science and technology WILL shape the world of the near future, and it behooves all of us to ensure we are more proactive in anticipating the profound changes these advances will bring to our lives and livelihoods. Start by signing on ScienceDebate2008!

On a closely related note, a few interesting (and stupid) things have popped up in the media recently associated with the not-quite-dead-yet vacuous collection of ideas called intelligent design. For one, the Institute for Creation Research’s graduate school is proposing a Master's Degree in Science Education in Texas. The Dallas Morning News bashed that idea in an editorial, rightly pointing out that:

"The board's job is to certify institutions as competent to teach science in Texas schools. Despite the institute including mainstream science in its programs, it's hard to see how a school that rejects so many fundamental principles of science can be trusted to produce teachers who faithfully teach the state's curriculum."

The ICR's request is scheduled to be heard at Texas' Higher Education board in late April; meanwhile, the board states that it is seeking further information about the curriculum from both the ICR and a panel of science educators and scientists. Once again, Texas is trying really hard to be the laughingstock of the world--as if it needs more cause.

One of the most annoying aspects of all this intelligent design bs is that thoughful people from all sides of the political and religious spectrum have weighed in against it, and the numbskulls who support it still can't wrap their measly brains around the problems their stance causes to their very own beliefs. Mac Johnson, a self-professed conservative and blogger at a conservative blogsite, Human Events, comments in a recent post that

"I, for one, have religiously ignored the topic before now. I have done this partly out of a sort of professional courtesy to its supporters, with whom I share most other beliefs (and in many cases a personal affection), partly out of a belief that the idea was too obscure to argue over, and partly because the idea is so patently ridiculous to me that I felt that pointing this out would be somewhat akin to telling a friend that they have really, really bad breath. I mean - it would be an uncomfortable moment for both of us. But then how will they ever know, if I don’t tell them?"

Johnson, who is a researcher in the pharmaceutical industry, has perhaps one of the best critiques of the ID idea I have ever read. Towards the end of the post, he lays out his own belief:

"The proponents of ID may claim that evolution is an un-provable abstraction that cannot be witnessed in real life, but for some of us, evolution is real enough to harass us at work on a fairly regular basis. And as a matter of religion, ID is offensive to me in the lack of faith it demonstrates on the part of its proponents. I believe in God. My belief in Him is not dependent upon his being the motive force in developing shorter dandelion varieties for lawns and longer varieties for roadsides. I am not sure what God is. I am not sure what His role in this world is. But I am sure He is... To believe in both evolution and God is truly to believe in the marvel of marvels. To believe in Intelligent Design is something less than the marvel of marvels –quite a bit less. Intelligent Design is The DaVinci Code of Biology -- an emotionally attractive conspiracy theory that seems to explain the most amazing facts and coincidences. But in the end, it’s just not true, and worse yet, it gets one no closer to God. That’s all fine for an entertaining diversion, but it’s a poor base upon which to build either a factual or theological worldview. Intelligent Design is a bad idea, and the otherwise intelligent men that are espousing it would do well to re-examine their beliefs, before they corrupt both science and faith --and the amazing progress that conservatism has made during the last forty years."

Quite a statement, eh? For any number of reasons... Well, regardless of your political bent, his commentary is well worth the read.

Ever wonder where Bigfoot went?

With the rapid and increasing urbanization of the Pacific Northwest, forest critters are finding fewer and fewer places to hide out, and are also facing increasing pressure from other forest critters more adaptable to humans. Take the Barred Owl / Spotted Owl issue, for one. Or, perhaps more scientifically, one might look into the Bigfoot issue instead--apparently, the big furry hombre has had enough of people in the PNW and is now living on Mars. Personally, I think the Little Mermaid hypothesis is more credible, especially as that would explain both the worst of Kierkegaard and the subsequent train of thought that derailed somewhere before Derrida (though he and his fellows probably thought the train was still moving...).

The point of all this? None whatsoever. I need to get back to work!

Our project in the paper...

Last week, Sequim Gazette printed a pic of Erin and I working in the Dungeness for our NASA project. Chris took the pic, but did not make the credit page!

There is this old tradition in the fire service that if you make the press, you have to buy beer or ice cream for your crew (which depends on if you are working the following day!). I guess Erin and I owe Chris a beer...