He's not here yet.
Can't wait to meet him.
[Photo Credit: I took this picture in the commuter train concourse at Union Station, Toronto, Ontario, Canada]
Showing posts with label My World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My World. Show all posts
The Hobbit Is Coming to Toronto
He's not here yet.
Can't wait to meet him.
Waiting for Santa
Today's the day of the Santa Claus parade in Toronto. The radio tells me that one million people will be lining the parade route when the parade begins. Here's the Santa Claus fans just outside my building on Queen's Park Circle. You can see that some of them were smart enough to bring a Tim Hortons coffee.
A Halloween Witch
Halloween is a very big deal in Venice—probably because it's so "bohemian/hippie." There were hundreds of kids in the streets and most houses had elaborate Halloween displays that have been up for days (see And Now for the Spookey Part, and Halloween in the Hood).
Visiting the Grand Canyon
Where Am I?
My granddaughter, Zoë, took a picture of me getting a hot dog. Can you guess where I am?
Viva Las Vegas!
Ms. Sandwalk and I are in Las Vegas with our friends. Posting may be a bit light for the next few days.
Zoë Goes to School
She's two-and-a-half years old. She loved it.
Want more? Go to The Big Day.
For All Those People Who Like to Take Pictures of Their Food Using Their iPhone
You know who you are!
Evolution and Poutine
A bunch of us are attending Evolution Ottawa 2012. We set off to find the best poutine in the region and ended up at Jean Burger in Wakefield Quebec—about 30 minutes north of Ottawa.
Here's the group enjoying "French cuisine." From top left to right there's Bjørn Østman, Seanna Watson, Steve Watson, Ryan Gregory, Rosie Redfield, and Jerry Coyne.
Jerry really liked the poutine. Rosie ... not so much ... although she did say it wasn't as bad as she expected. For the record, it was the best poutine I've ever had so the trip was worth it.
Afterwards we drove into Wakefield and visited the bakery for dessert. I've been going to this bakery for 50 years—my favorite ski hill is nearby.
We talked about a lot of things, especially science, skepticism, and blogging.
Here's the group enjoying "French cuisine." From top left to right there's Bjørn Østman, Seanna Watson, Steve Watson, Ryan Gregory, Rosie Redfield, and Jerry Coyne.
Jerry really liked the poutine. Rosie ... not so much ... although she did say it wasn't as bad as she expected. For the record, it was the best poutine I've ever had so the trip was worth it.
Afterwards we drove into Wakefield and visited the bakery for dessert. I've been going to this bakery for 50 years—my favorite ski hill is nearby.
We talked about a lot of things, especially science, skepticism, and blogging.
Richard Harter 1935 - 2012
I just heard from Dave Greig that Richard Harter died over a month ago [Richard Harter 1935 - 2012]. He was a long time contributor to talk.origins having been there since it was called net.origins in the early 1980s. Richard was a staunch defender of science and evolution and a vocal opponent of stupidity (aka creationism). Here's how he describes the phenomenon that is talk.origns [Evolution, Creationism, and Crackpots].
Richard was born in South Dakota and he moved back there in 2000. He never stopped reminding us that South Dakota actually exists and people actually live there. He died of complications from myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) [Why couldn't I have something simple, like pneumonia].
There's lots more where that came from. Check out Richard Harter's World while it's still active. I especially like his detailed analysis of one of the most difficult problems in all of science: The Seat Stays Up. His summary of everything related to Piltdown Man is a classic.1
The motto on his web page is appropriate ...
UPDATE: talk.origins remembers Richard Harter
UPDATE: I'm told that Richard's website will be preserved at Richard Harter's World.
I discovered the usenet news groups circa 1983. In those days there was no big 8 hierarchy; everything was net.this and net.that. One of the hot groups was net.origins, now talk.origins, the designated dumping grounds for creationism/evolution flame fests.
Some usenet newsgroups are models of decorum, where specialists in sundry topics urbanely discuss their specialties. Some are havens of nattering wherein recipes and small talk are exchanged. Such newsgroups represent usenet at its best as a civilized expression of the electronic personal free press. How boring.
There are newsgroups which are open cockpits wherein all and sundry engage in electonic eye-gouging, leaving bodies scattered about the floor, bodies which miraculously arise to gouge and rabbit punch in return. Much more entertaining. Unfortunately such entertainments pall after a while. The same things are said by the same people endlessly. When one flamer departs he or she is replaced by a clone, another mindless dweeb screaming invective into the electronic night air. There is no content, merely an exchange of prejudices and emotion.
The talk.origins group is, to my taste, a happy combination of meat and sauce. To be sure there are no end of flames. However there is much content also. It all has to do with the subject matter. Talk.origins is supposed to be the arena where creationism and evolution are debated. That happens. However it is a happy hunting grounds for cranks and crackpots who come to be told that they are idiots. They revel in it for, finally, someone is listening to them.
The nifty thing about talk.origins is that you can get a real education by reading the group -- the crackpots are not only told that they are idiots, people cite chapter and verse to show where they are in error. Biologists, archaeologists, paleontologists, and the like post there. There is also a good deal of offbeat humor. For your delectation I have prepared a potpourri of essays and materials drawn from talk.origins.
Richard was born in South Dakota and he moved back there in 2000. He never stopped reminding us that South Dakota actually exists and people actually live there. He died of complications from myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) [Why couldn't I have something simple, like pneumonia].
There's lots more where that came from. Check out Richard Harter's World while it's still active. I especially like his detailed analysis of one of the most difficult problems in all of science: The Seat Stays Up. His summary of everything related to Piltdown Man is a classic.1The motto on his web page is appropriate ...
I don't worry about dying.
It's not going to happen in my lifetime.
UPDATE: talk.origins remembers Richard Harter
UPDATE: I'm told that Richard's website will be preserved at Richard Harter's World.
1. I hope someone copies it before it disappears.
Visiting John Hawks
I'm in Madison Wisconsin. What in the world does one do In Madison? Well, there's the State Legislature (beautiful), the free zoo, and a boat ride on the lake. But all those pale in comparison to the main attraction ... visiting John Hawks of John Hawks Weblog. I found him in a lab full of bones at the at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Multi Faith Room Disappears!!
I'm pretty sure the Dean is behind this. As soon as she learned about it, she recognized that someone had done something inappropriate (i.e. stupid). We'll probably never learn who was responsible but I thank the Dean for taking care of the problem so quickly.
This is just one more in a long list of good things she has done recently. We are lucky to have her as Dean.
Now, if only she had a better staff in the Dean's Office ....
San Diego Bay
Here's some photos of the area along the bay beside the convention center where Experimental Biology 2012 was held. The convention center is between the two large hotels (Marriot and Hilton) in the first picture. You can see that some people own some very large and expensive boats.
1
1
Food Trucks
I love the food trucks. Today was a special day, there were seven new food trucks visiting our campus.
There were so many choices ....
Two of my favorites ...
Bacon poutine and a cinnamon-sugar BeaverTail. Only in Canada!
Davey Jones (1945-2012)
Davey Jones of the Monkees died yesterday. He was 66 yeas old. Here he is singing Daydream Believer, a song that hit #1 in the USA in December 1967.
La Brea Tar Pits
The La Brea tar pits are in the middle of greater Los Angeles on Wilshire Boulevard. The area is now a single large city block that contains the remaining tar pits and the Page Museum.
The tar pits are composed of thick black asphalt and usually there are bubbles of methane forming on the surface. The largest pit was mined for the asphalt in the early 1900's and now it's a dirty-looking lake with methane bubbles.
The Page Museum contains some of the fossils that have been removed from the pits. (You can see an evacuation in progress at Pit 23.) These plants, insects, and animals date from about 40,000 years ago to about 11,000 years ago. The panorama below show the main species: mastodons, juniper trees, saber-toothed cats, camels, Dire wolves, ground sloths, horses, bisons, and a variety of currently extant small animals.
The museum is well worth a visit if you are in the Los Angeles area and you are interested in evolution. Creationists will not like it.
There are millions of fossils and this allows paleontologists to look at variation within a species. There's a nice display of 404 Dire wolf skulls to illustrate the point.
Here's an example of a small tar pit.
Granddaughter Zoë liked the museum but the grassy hills outside the building were an even bigger hit with all the young children. They could climb to the top and roll down to the bottom. Zoë did this several hundred times before we had to get in the car. She was sad to leave the La Brea Tar Pits.
The tar pits are composed of thick black asphalt and usually there are bubbles of methane forming on the surface. The largest pit was mined for the asphalt in the early 1900's and now it's a dirty-looking lake with methane bubbles.
The Page Museum contains some of the fossils that have been removed from the pits. (You can see an evacuation in progress at Pit 23.) These plants, insects, and animals date from about 40,000 years ago to about 11,000 years ago. The panorama below show the main species: mastodons, juniper trees, saber-toothed cats, camels, Dire wolves, ground sloths, horses, bisons, and a variety of currently extant small animals.
The museum is well worth a visit if you are in the Los Angeles area and you are interested in evolution. Creationists will not like it.
There are millions of fossils and this allows paleontologists to look at variation within a species. There's a nice display of 404 Dire wolf skulls to illustrate the point.
Here's an example of a small tar pit.
Granddaughter Zoë liked the museum but the grassy hills outside the building were an even bigger hit with all the young children. They could climb to the top and roll down to the bottom. Zoë did this several hundred times before we had to get in the car. She was sad to leave the La Brea Tar Pits.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
