Liz's Bloglet - Thursday 13 December 2007

I was tested and registered for the National Bone Marrow Registry about 10 years ago. At the time, they had to caution us about the procedure to actually extract the bone marrow--generally involving a femur puncture (and the accompanying pain) and a stay in the hospital. As indicated by this first person science blogger account, the procedure has gotten significantly easier from the donor's perspective If you're not registered, you should really think about it. _
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11:36:21 AM, Thursday 13 December 2007

One month after calling for a review of the video game ratings process in the wake of “Manhunt 2” receiving a “Mature” rating, Senators Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Evan Bayh (D-IN), and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) called for a thorough review of the video game “Enhanced Interrogation 2.” Berube's still got it. And whatever it is, it's awesome. _
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11:21:58 AM, Thursday 13 December 2007

The Golden Compass is pretty awesome. I can imagine that some people who love the book will not love the movie, but I think they will recognize that the movie was made by people who loved the book and wanted to do it justice, even if they didn't always succeed. And, wow, digital effects have gotten good. _
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09:33:38 PM, Friday 7 December 2007

I am not a celebrity worshiper. If Rick Jones of Tampa, FL had come up with this idea I would be just as impressed. But, the fact that Brad Pitt is doing it may get the attention of people who assume the Gulf Coast is fine. 150 houses isn't that many, compared to 50,000 FEMA trailers. But it's a lot if you get to move into a house. _
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01:29:20 PM, Wednesday 5 December 2007

I don't go around slapping the label of evil on things, but I think that these people might deserve it. If not them, certainly the people who let them dictate Texas textbook selection, which in turn, as the Gablers acknowledge, controls the availability of quality textbooks for the rest of us. _
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11:04:20 AM, Wednesday 5 December 2007

All the feminist movement needed to do was bring on someone who had the balls to do something about this glass ceiling business _
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06:22:45 PM, Tuesday 4 December 2007

Tuxedo came home. 3 hours later than usual, covered in dirt, with a bad limp. On the coldest, windiest night we've had yet. But he came home. The household is peaceful now. _
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08:07:21 PM, Monday 3 December 2007

A really nice reading of the Hanukkah texts as environmental mandates _
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04:30:10 PM, Monday 3 December 2007

My dad's the one with the tuba _
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07:53:38 AM, Sunday 2 December 2007

Love.

Thanks for 10 wonderful years, sweetie. I hope you feel better soon so we can enjoy it. _
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11:59:03 AM, Saturday 1 December 2007

I am in the middle of a scientific ethics mini-course aimed at ecologists, which is being taught by a prominent, half-retired ecologist who just happens to have been the advisor for both my current advisor and my master's advisor. Some interesting, but random points:
--All research grants are awarded to the university, not the person who wrote them or will do all the work; ultimately, they own the money and all of the products of our work--this is a burden, a buffer, and probably the best way to do things
--if your advisor commits academic fraud, you should turn them in. You may have to start grad school over completely, your current work will almost certainly be screwed up, but your whole life may not be, as it would if you don't turn her in and then she gets caught (it should be noted that my advisor is sitting in on the class and is a very ethical person, plus she's such hot stuff she has very little need to cheat).
--Scientific hatchet jobs by someone with a conflict of interest clouding their integrity are as old as science. Sometimes the conflict of interest is one's own ego, sometimes it's the oil (pesticide, coal, etc) company that pays a whole lot of money for bad science
--Scientists in general assume their own objectivity and are bad at examining their own biases (this is a very similar point to what we've been discussing in my Epistemologies of Biology group, but it's interesting to come at it from such a different way)
--There is no simple, objective way to evaluate somebody's academic success, and anybody who says otherwise is probably selling some index or other _
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07:17:56 AM, Saturday 1 December 2007

Guess what my grant just bought me:
It's sitting in my lap.
It's shiny and black.
It has a picture of a piece of fruit on the top.
It has a 2.16 ghz processor, 160 gb harddrive, and does not suffer from spyware, viruses, or the blue screen of death (although it can suffer from all of those things if I so choose). _
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01:59:59 PM, Thursday 29 November 2007

The editor of Bitch magazine in the Washington Post on the use of the word in American political discourse

Bitch is a word we use culturally to describe any woman who is strong, angry, uncompromising and, often, uninterested in pleasing men. We use the term for a woman on the street who doesn’t respond to men’s catcalls or smile when they say, “Cheer up, baby, it can’t be that bad.” We use it for the woman who has a better job than a man and doesn’t apologize for it. We use it for the woman who doesn’t back down from a confrontation.

So let’s not be disingenuous. Is it a bad word? Of course it is. As a culture, we’ve done everything possible to make sure of that, starting with a constantly perpetuated mindset that deems powerful women to be scary, angry and, of course, unfeminine — and sees uncompromising speech by women as anathema to a tidy, well-run world. _
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03:12:18 PM, Sunday 25 November 2007

Happy Thanksgiving to all from a city that is coming back!
In the same neighborhood as last summer, where everything appeared vacant, a grocery store just opened. People who planned to stay in Texas and California have gotten new roofs and started to think about what comes next. "Road Home" money is trickling in from the federal government, finally. Thanksgiving is being served in many FEMA trailers, still, but also in brand new living rooms. _
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04:39:51 PM, Thursday 22 November 2007

Going to New Orleans for the week. Don't know what to expect. Have learned that's probably for the best. _
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11:33:49 PM, Saturday 17 November 2007

A really amazing post responding to the Kathy Sierra thing

Actually, it's so amazing I'm going to post a large chunk:
‘Cause the thing is, you and the guys you hang out with may not really mean anything by it when you talk about crazy bitches and dumb sluts and heh-heh-I’d-hit-that and you just can’t reason with them and you can’t live with ‘em can’t shoot ‘em and she’s obviously only dressed like that because she wants to get laid and if they can’t stand the heat they should get out of the kitchen and if they can’t play by the rules they don’t belong here and if they can’t take a little teasing they should quit and heh heh they’re only good for fucking and cleaning and they’re not fit to be leaders and they’re too emotional to run a business and they just want to get their hands on our money and if they’d just stop overreacting and telling themselves they’re victims they’d realize they actually have all the power in this society and white men aren’t even allowed to do anything anymore and and and…

I get that you don’t really mean that shit. I get that you’re just talking out your ass.

But please listen, and please trust me on this one: you have probably, at some point in your life, engaged in that kind of talk with a man who really, truly hates women–to the extent of having beaten and/or raped at least one. And you probably didn’t know which one he was.

And that guy? Thought you were on his side.

As long as we live in a culture where the good guys sometimes sound just like the misogynists, the misogynists are never going to get the message that they are not normal and that most people–strong, successful men included–do not hate women. _
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10:10:08 AM, Saturday 17 November 2007

We really need to improve science education in this country Really. Maybe so that people understand what a miscarriage is, and what an ectopic pregnancy is, and, for that matter, what development is. _
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08:43:41 AM, Thursday 15 November 2007

Catching up on a large backlog of pictures. Still have about 100 to go through from my trip to the beach (including lots of nephew pictures). _
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08:41:00 PM, Wednesday 14 November 2007

I wrote this almost exactly 3 years ago, and nothing has changed

People expect me to apologize for where I'm from, to be ashamed, to hate it, to hide my accent. They say obviously my parents must not be from here, obviously I didn't go to public school here, obviously I can't wait to leave here. They think I must be stupid, I must be racist, I must be sheltered, I must be crazy.

I am not. I am fiercely proud of my people, of every color and every political stripe, and everything we've accomplished in spite of your contempt and your disdain and your jokes and your ignorance.

Because we are who we are, we still welcome you with open arms and open homes. Come visit. I'll take you to Duke and to an inner city school and an inner city stream and Remi's theater and my crazy church. I'll take you to the mountains and to the coast. I'll take you to where my parents live and show you our suburbs, and then I'll take you to Charlotte and show you our prosperity and hope. I'll take you to Athens and Atlanta. I'll take you to where my mom grew up in rural Georgia. I'll take you to where my dad grew up in NC and show you what happens when textiles leave. I'll introduce you to people who will finally help you understand what this place is. _
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06:37:34 PM, Tuesday 13 November 2007

In DC. Staying at Remi's sister's apartment building. Breakfast & lunch with Mike & Debbie. Contemplating the fact that UDC would probably be a pretty interesting place to teach. Certainly one of those "I learn as much from my students as they do from me" places. And there's still the very strong possibility of the US Public Service Academy _
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09:35:19 PM, Saturday 10 November 2007

I just explained alterations in carbon quality due to urbanization to Melinda French Gates as she toured the new building she built us (my advisor was the token female faculty member on the tour). She told us about their vacation house on Puget Sound and the water quality problems on the inlet. That was actually pretty cool. Thanks, Pseudo Ivy University. _
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10:37:25 AM, Friday 9 November 2007

Senator Clinton announced an intelligent, scientifically sound, and not at all centrist or politically cautious climate and energy plan _
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08:11:20 AM, Wednesday 7 November 2007

Save a Muslim, oppress a feminist _
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01:55:40 PM, Tuesday 6 November 2007

In response to several requests, I wrote a long explication of many things I like about John Edwards, complete with links, at the end of the previous Edwards comment thread. It was spamblocked. Hopefully, Moss can find it. If not, I will attempt to recreate it at a later date. _
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10:43:22 AM, Monday 5 November 2007

For every girl who takes a step toward her liberation, there is a boy who finds the way to freedom a little easier

The patriarchy hurts men too! _
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04:31:06 PM, Sunday 4 November 2007

Seems like the biggest problem with the “Google Ron Paul” campaign is the possibility that Americans might actually do it _
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10:08:18 PM, Friday 2 November 2007

I don't know what to say Does anybody have an explanation? _
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12:23:39 PM, Friday 2 November 2007

Feminism is not your expectation _
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12:19:05 PM, Wednesday 31 October 2007

I don't think I've been explicit about this--I don't think it will shock anybody, either--but unless something dramatic changes, I will be voting for John Edwards in the primary. As someone who routinely votes for women and people of color just to cancel out the votes of people who vote against them only because of who they are, this is not a choice I make lightly. But the simple truth is that neither Senator Clinton nor Obama is liberal enough for me. Neither of them has a fundamentally populist, progressive message.

Edwards "Two Americas" thing really resonates with me and my daily life. Part of that is being surrounded by incredibly wealthy undergraduates in an incredibly impoverished town. I like his healthcare plan. I like that he doesn't seem to me to just be pandering and scraping for votes from the alleged moderates in this country. There are plenty of things I don't like about him. In 2004 he wasn't even vaguely on my radar. But Howard Dean is not running, Paul Wellstone is dead, and John Edwards is as close as we have to a reform candidate. _
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10:09:53 AM, Wednesday 31 October 2007

This is what a patriot is _
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08:32:19 AM, Monday 29 October 2007

New dissertation title: "Freak drought or amazing metabolic opportunity?" _
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02:34:12 PM, Thursday 25 October 2007

I come from a world where all state universities are in one system called the University of North Carolina System--including UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC-Charlotte but also including places that don't have UNC in their name like North Carolina State, North Carolina A&T, and Appalachian State. I tell people a place like UNC-Asheville is my dream school to teach at, and they are confused because they assume it's a third tier research school, not an awesome little public liberal arts college.

So I am intrigued by the California system, or rather systems, where you have universities that do research and universities actually designed for undergraduates, and you can tell this by their name. I have to say that all of the interesting jobs I've seen in California have been at a California State University system schools, like this one at Stanislaus

And then there are lots of states which basically don't have public schools aimed at undergraduate education. If folks want the small school experience, they have to pay private school tuition. That's a shame. _
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09:31:33 AM, Thursday 25 October 2007

Is it me, or are all computers, and the internet as a whole, running really slow today? Did some new worm come out last night or something? _
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09:58:04 AM, Wednesday 24 October 2007

What Color Are the Holes in Your Parachute?
La Lubu tells what happened when her daughter was born premature at 25 weeks gestation (one pound, ten ounces) and she got laid off.

There are many myths in These United States (why do I keep wanting to type “Untied” States?). The myth of Individuality reigns above all. The idea that one stands, or falls, all on his or her own. It is at the root of the notorious historical amnesia this country suffers from. It informs racist and sexist beliefs. It distorts the ability of various progressive groups to organize around issues central to the fabric of our lives, let alone form coalitions with other progressive groups to aim towards and achieve justice for All. It is the poison in our well. This ridiculous notion that we can manage without the assistance of others. _
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04:24:09 PM, Tuesday 23 October 2007

The U.S. average life expectancy is greater than ever -- for everyone but pregnant women
But according to the Centers for Disease Control's new "National Vital Statistics Report," the number of women dying in or around childbirth has risen -- putting the United States behind some unsurprising countries, like Switzerland and Sweden, and some surprising ones, like Serbia and Macedonia, Qatar and Kuwait, in its rate of maternal mortality. In rankings calculated on 2000 numbers, the World Health Organization (WHO) ranked the United States at No. 29 on the list, even though, according to the most recent statistics, there is only one country, Tuvalu, that spends more on health care as a percentage of gross domestic product than the United States.

But...but...but...Best Healthcare System In The World...and doctors have to make money or they won't got to medical school...and Planned Parenthood (one of the only good, consistent, low cost pre-natal care options) is evil. _
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08:59:19 AM, Tuesday 23 October 2007

"Yes, but Ugg will smash out enemies"

Considering the chestbeating about "Islamofascism" in the Republican debates, I think that actually already happened. Is Huckabee actually crazier than McCain? Who knows? _
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11:07:39 AM, Monday 22 October 2007

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