Hooray For Jurisprudence

Excellent!  Finally, someone with a shred of power really gets it!

I don’t have much more to add at this very moment except to say: kick-ass.

Better post something… I’m wasting my best domain name!

Ohhh riiiight…. I have a blog.  No, I didn’t forget about it – but one might wonder why I haven’t posted anything new since last November.  Well, let me just make this post into a few tidbits about what I’m up to lately so it won’t take too long, and then I’ll get back to my busy day.  (I hope to resume semi-regular updates shortly, though!)

• Work. Shortly after my last post, I left the Great Satan-errr, the United States of America for a couple of weeks in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  It was a big project for my company, and I was fortunate to be one of a team of three nerds that were sent to install LIS software and train lab technicians at the UAE’s largest clinical reference laboratory to date.  It was a bit surreal, as it was my first trip outside North America and it felt more like I was in Las Vegas while a bunch of Arabs were in town.  That trip deserved a blog post all to itself, but I missed the last two weeks of the school semester and was therefore trying to keep up with biology and statistics, and then finals and then holidays and… you get it, I’m sure.
• School. This semester it’s chemistry, which is not nearly as hard as it seemed when I took it at age 19, when I was still trying to figure out why I should get up for class if I wasn’t going to miss the school bus.  I’m still working 8-5 Mon-Fri, but Tuesday night I have a three hour lecture and Wednesday night it’s a three hour lab. I want to be annoyed with my classmates who don’t understand how much of a privilege it is to be there (they’re always rushing through the lab to get out early), but I’m sure I was just like them once. Plus, I still procrastinate like there’s no tomorrow, so I haven’t grown up that much.
• Farming. I’ve been helping out where I can on the best new community project in Baltimore, the Ash Street Garden (aka Baltimore Free Farm).  It’s an inspiring groundswell of sustainability consciousness, DIY ethics, cleverness, and crunk-punk-rap-rock-folk-core anarchy in action — without pissing off the neighbors!  If any gardening or sustainability enthusiasts in the Baltimore region read this, you should definitely stop by some day to see what we’ve done with the place.  It was just a bunch of tree stumps and garbage piles a mere two months ago; today it is well on its way to the terraformed cathedral of urban agriculture it is bound to become.  Anyone is welcome to volunteer and join the fun.  If you have any experience in gardening, construction, farming, landscaping, plumbing, beekeeping, integrated pest management, or non-profit law and finance, you are especially needed!
• Vacation. That’s right – Celeste and I spent an awesome week last month exploring the Pacific Northwest, including Whidbey Island (where we stayed with her ‘rents), Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Vancouver, Olympic National Park, the Hoh Rainforest, Rialto Beach, and Port Townsend.  Olympic National Park and seeing my cousin Jeremy in Olympia were the highlights for me. . . Vancouver kicked ass, too.
• Training. Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration because I haven’t really done that much of it yet, but I’m trying to condition myself to endure 140 miles of bicycling in two days from Rehoboth Beach, DE to Baltimore, MD.  Shannon, my brother’s girlfriend, is the organizer of Ride For The Feast, which raises funds for Moveable Feast, a nonprofit organization that provides free meals to HIV and breast cancer patients. So, on May 15/16, Shannon, Mike, myself, and others will ride our asses off (literally, maybe) for this noble cause.  If you want to support my effort (please do!), you can make a contribution to Moveable Feast through my fundraising page.  Your contribution will help me achieve the $1,200 fundraising goal I’ve set for the event.  More importantly, though, it will bring the compassionate gift of good nutrition to our neighbors whose survival depends on it the most, at a time when their ability to provide for themselves is most diminished.
• That’s it! I have no other excuses not to be blogging. We’ll see what happens…

150 Years of On The Origin of Species

150 years ago today, on November 24, 1959, the most important book in the history of biology was published.  Charles Darwin’s On The Origin of Species was, and still is, the foundation upon which all of modern biology rests, with its myriad applications in medicine, ecology, philosophy, and beyond.  I’ve sort of let blogging take a back seat now that I’m busy with school in the evenings and working to get my foot in the door of the academic world, so even at the momentous anniversary I will probably be content to just remind everyone how important biological science is, and ask that you consider making a charitable donation to an organization that supports scientific research and/or education.  Perhaps there’s a cancer research foundation whose work saved the life of a loved one, or a college scholarship fund that helps low-income students in your community pursue higher education in biology.  I am personally a fan of the National Center for Science Education, which is constantly waging the legal battles to protect our public school science cirricula from an ongoing, organized assault by creationist groups who seek to replace the discipline of biology with their dishonest and ignorant religious agenda. You can contribute to NCSE here.  Lastly, I’ll mention that the National Science Foundation has put together an excellent resource in celebration of the Origin of Species anniversary, which can be found here.  I highly recommend checking it out!

I’m leaving on a business trip to Dubai on Saturday, which will be my first real adventure outside of the United States (except for the 51st state, aka Canada)*.  I hope to have some cool pictures and stories to share from the UAE next week, so stay tuned.

* Just kidding, ay? I love you, Canucks.

Delay of de liftoff

In case you haven’t heard, the STS-128 mission has been postponed three times now – the first was due to weather, and for the last two nights the delay has been due to a faulty liquid hydrogen fill and drain valve on the shuttle’s primary propulsion system.  The launch is now targeted for 11:59 PM tomorrow, Friday, August 28th.  Stay on top of the latest news at NASA’s main space shuttle mission webpage.  I’ll be watching the site tomorrow eagerly, hoping that it doesn’t get delayed again!  The weather forecast tomorrow calls for a 60% chance of favorable launch conditions at midnight, which means clear skies within 11.5 miles of the launch pad, with ENE and NNW winds < 39mph, and SSE and WSW winds < 23 mph… among other things.  Not that I looked it up

On another note, I just dropped almost $300 at the Towson University bookstore today – for just two classes.  Sigh.  School starts Monday, and I’ll be officially back on the academic bandwagon.  Here’s to progress!

Four Centuries of Optical Zoom

Today marks  another landmark scientific anniversary – the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first telescope.  It was on this day in 1609 that Galileo presented his prototype 8x-magnification telescope to the assembled Senate of Venice.  It was not the first telescope—that forgotten honor belongs  to Dutch astronomer Hans Lipperhey who built a simple telescope just one year earlier, in 1608—but it was the one that captured the attention of the Venetian merchants (who were most interested in its practical applications for shipping and navigation) and lit the candle of modern astronomy.  Galileo’s telescope allowed him to make precise observations that confirmed Copernicus’ heliocentric hypothesis and dispatched the notion of an Earth-centered universe.  Galileo’s published defense of this view in 1632 led directly to a papal trial in 1633, in which he was declared “vehemently suspect of heresy” and, after recanting his scientific views under threat of torture, his imprisonment sentence was commuted to house arrest.  Galileo remained in home near Florence (he was allowed one trip to seek medical advice near the end of his life) and was closely watched by church authorities until his death in 1642.  For a laugh, you can read the Catholic Church’s position on the Galileo controversy.

I, for one, am overwhelmed with humility by the science that Galileo’s telescope revolutionized.  It has brought us the likes of Carl Sagan, Maria Mitchell, Giovanni Cassini, and Stephen Hawking.  It brought us NASA and the space program, which will launch the space shuttle Discovery (STS-128) tomorrow at 1:10 AM EDT on a mission to the International Space Station.  There are no words that can, for the casual observer, capture the immensity of the expanding universe that telescopes have uncovered.  There is, at least, an image that comes close.  I am referring to the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, which is a composite image of a tiny region of space in the constellation Fornax, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope between 2003-2004.  It looks back over approximately 13 billion years, showing in just a tiny speck of sky that appears dark to the human eye the multitude of galaxies that existed only 400-800 million years after the Big Bang.  Every spot, blur, smudge, and speck on the image is an entire galaxy containing millions or billions of stars.  I will say no more about it, for if you’ve never seen it, this image deserves quiet reflection.  You can click on this small image to view the entire high-resolution version (18.1 MB).  In honor of Galileo, and without further blabbering from this blogger:

Hubble Ultra Deep Field

Perseid Party, or Death From The Skies!

IMPORTANT: Even if you can’t go with me tomorrow, please read this article about the Perseid Meteor Shower, and try to find the most promising way to see them near where you are.  And if you happen to read this before 5AM ET/2AM PT this morning (I’m looking at you, California kids!), try to go out and take a look now!

So – who wants to join me to see the best meteor shower of the year – the Perseids?!  It was too cloudy tonight to see very much, and even when some clear spots in the sky opened up, our very brightly lit urban environment overpowered all but the brightest stars.  I’m taking C in my car, so I’ll have room for up to three others.  I’ll drive some place dark, outside the city (suggestions welcome), and lay back to watch the show for at least 1 or 2 hours.  Bringing a folding cot, sleeping bag, hammock, or blanket is recommended for prolonged viewing comfort.  Binoculars, cameras, tripods, and telescopes are also great ideas if you have any of these available to you.  Food and drink never hurt anyone, either (hah)!  I will cancel this mini-trip if the weather doesn’t co-operate…  as it turns out, unfortunately, I can’t see the sky with my naked eyes through total cloud cover.

Hooray for death from the skies!

Back from Canada, soon Back to School

This fall, I’m going back to school.  I’d been weighing options for graduate school and finally determined that my best prospect for getting into a good ethology/zoology PhD program would be to get a B.S. in Biology first.  My first bachelor’s degree was a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Maryland-College Park; I focused on biological anthropology, but I decided I need more experience in research methods and applied math to really hack it as a doctoral candidate.  So, I’m about to embark on what will probably be at least a ten-year-long odyssey of learning and hard work before getting that Piled-higher-and-Deeper piece of paper.  I couldn’t be happier about it, however, because I’ve always dreamed of spending my life in the pursuit of scientific advancement, even if the work is tedious, repetitive, unrecognized, and doesn’t pay well.

On another note, C and I just returned from our vacation to Niagra Falls and Toronto, Ontario.  The falls were even more amazing than I remembered from a short visit around age 8.  And what a great city Toronto is!  It’s too bad I got a nasty virus (influenza or something similar) and spent much of the time suffering through fever, aches, congestion, cough, and fatigue – but we still managed to ascend the CN Tower, ride Segways, and catch a Blue Jays game among other things.  I’d certainly go back there again when I have more time and better health.  I’ll conclude this post with a few pictures from our Canadian excursion.

Niagra Falls, viewed from the American side

Niagra Falls, American Falls, illuminated at night

Toronto city center at night

Celeste & I rode Segways through Toronto's Distillery District

The CN Tower, the tallest free-standing structure in North or South America, illuminated at night.

View of Toronto from Skypod, perched 447 meters up on the CN Tower.

Happy Birthday, Nikola Tesla!

Unexpected hiatus, it seems – over 2 months without an update! I’m not letting this blog die, though. At the moment I am very busy but I wanted to post quickly to say Happy Birthday, Nikola Tesla! Without you, I wouldn’t have my car, my computer, my phone, my job, or Survival Machine.

Here’s one of Tesla’s patent drawings:

Alternating Motor patent diagram by Nikola Tesla

Ouranos ex machina

Dear Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences,

Verily, I beseech ye to establish a Nobel Prize for Magnificence, and award the first one to Steve Eves.

Humbly,
simian

Seriously, wow.

“It is time for us to lead once again”

I regret having just set a personal record for the longest period of time between posts.  But let’s forget about that right now, because today there are a couple BIG events to talk about.

Swine flu: Having very recently mutated to allow human/human transmission, it has already spread around the globe, leading to fears of a global pandemic.  To be fair, I think the mainstream news media have been doing more to fan the flames of fear (while sanctimoniously denying any intent to do so) than the flu itself.  As of this evening early Tuesday morning, only 40 50 cases had been reported inside the United States, and not a single fatality. CDC laboratory tests thus far indicates that the infection responds well to antiviral drugs such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza), which are being stockpiled in a number of states.  Maryland has already opened a swine flu command center right in my home city of Baltimore, in anticipation of likely infections occurring in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.  CDC lab tests have also indicated that the other two FDA-approved antiviral drugs for flu, amantadine (Symmetrel) and rimantadine (Flumadine), are ineffective against the swine flu.  Both oseltamivir and zanamivir are neuraminidase inhibitors, which work by blocking the action of the viral neuraminidase protein.  This is the protein on the surface of influenza viruses that allows it to be released from the host cell in the process known as “budding.”  Amantadine and rimantadine are both M2 protein inhibitors, drugs whose mechanism of action involves blocking the ion channel that removes a virion’s coating and releases its genetic content into the cytoplasm of the host cell.  It is worth noting that poultry farmers in China used amantadine to guard againt the H5N1 avian flu in chickens, an ill-advised practice (H. sapiens as an agent of natural selection!) that has led to the abundance of influenza strains resistant to amantadine.

It’s too early yet to tell whether the swine-flu fatalities in Mexico will be seen here in the United States or elsewhere around the world, but we probably won’t have to wait very long to find out.  As the eccentric chaotician Ian Malcolm said in Jurassic Park, “life finds a way” – we had better work hard to ensure that it’s human life that finds a way this time.  If you’re wondering what you can do, look at this guide on the US Department of Health and Human Services’ PandemicFlu.gov website.  And, of course, you can follow the CDC’s swine flu updates on Twitter.

In that vein, I lastly want to commend President Barack Obama, who, speaking today before the National Academy of Sciences, made a remarkable (and badly needed) commitment to the advancement of American science. After describing how the current swine flu emergency should remind us of the necessity of science, and among many breaks for applause, Obama said:

I believe it is not in our character, the American character, to follow.  It’s our character to lead.  And it is time for us to lead once again.  So I’m here today to set this goal:  We will devote more than 3 percent of our GDP to research and development.  We will not just meet, but we will exceed the level achieved at the height of the space race, through policies that invest in basic and applied research, create new incentives for private innovation, promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and improve education in math and science.

That’s why I campaigned for this guy. Let’s all make sure we hold him to this promise.