terrasig

User Image

Posts by this author

January 1, 2010
To launch our 2010 blogging, here's a cultural take on our core theme of folk medicines and prescription drugs derived from natural sources (plants, fungi, marine creatures, and microorganisms terrestrial and aquatic). I've lived in the southern United States for a combined 15 years but it was…
December 31, 2009
Note: If you've read all of this at the conference website and just want to pay, CLICK HERE. For those of you attending ScienceOnline2010, I'm the one tending to the Saturday night banquet at the headquarters hotel, The Radisson at Research Triangle Park. The banquet will be held following the…
December 29, 2009
In the light of the Northwest Airlines "pantsbomber" episode and America's penchant for quick but poorly-thought out theatrical responses to such incidents, some international colleagues planning to attend ScienceOnline2010 have expressed some concern about the hassles they might encounter flying…
December 28, 2009
In discussing the Christmas birth of a son to ScienceBlogs launcher and science journalist Christopher Mims and his wife, I neglected to note another addition to our tribe of science, from a science blogger specifically. ChemicalBiLOLogy blogger, Arlenna, gave birth on Christmas Eve to a beautiful…
December 27, 2009
Sitting back today looking at news and webcams in my former home of Colorado had me also reflecting on the events that conspired to put me in North Carolina. This unexpected turn in my life also opened me up to a local community of remarkably creative people with national and international…
December 26, 2009
The other day, author pal and PharmFamily friend Rebecca Skloot sent out a Twitter request for iPhone app suggestions for her new gadget, particularly those that might be of greatest use on her upcoming, self-supported book tour for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Let me first congratulate Ms…
December 25, 2009
To all of our readers, celebrating today or not, we wish you all the best of what this season means to you and your family. I particularly like the sentiments shared by my colleague, PalMD, on what Jews and Muslims are doing today in Detroit, Michigan. I also like the sentiments so nicely expressed…
December 24, 2009
. . .or a spread in Playgirl. Huh? Orac has a nice essay today for your Christmas Eve reading about a USA Today article yesterday by Liz Szabo that called out celebrities for their pseudoscientific proclamations and advice entitled, "Are celebrities crossing the line on medical advice?" So that's…
December 23, 2009
On December 14 (last week), the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) released the findings on adolescent drug use and trends as determined from the 35th annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey (press release). The ambitious survey is conducted with NIDA funding* by the University of…
December 22, 2009
Audio documentarian, local hero, and Pharmboy family friend, Richard Ziglar, let us know over the weekend of some employment opportunities for music and tech-minded folks at Zenph Studios in Research Triangle Park. What is Zenph, you ask? Zenph takes classic piano recordings, often from long-…
December 18, 2009
I wanted to issue a great big thank-you to all of you who came by to comment on the 4th anniversary of this blog and share with us who you are and why you read. After a slow start, a few blog links and Twitter-prodding by my colleagues got the commenting going full bore. I intend to respond to…
December 17, 2009
If you think that the H1N1 pandemic is slowing down and have grown complacent with vaccination now that vaccines are more widely available, please learn something from last night's tragic loss of local college student from Rhode Island, Lillian Chason: A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill…
December 15, 2009
The Preamble Four years ago today, I wrote my first post in the blogosphere over at the old Blogger version of Terra Sigillata. The post, entitled, "A Humble PharmBoy Begins to Sow," set out my mission to be an objective source for information on natural health remedies and drugs that come from…
December 14, 2009
Update: New ScienceBlogs colleague, Sharon Astyk at Casaubon's Book, brought my attention to the fact that this local southern Colorado story has been picked up by CNN. Although I originally wrote this post rather tongue-in-cheek, some scientific evidence has accumulated for the benefits of…
December 14, 2009
Last week in Stockholm (and Oslo), the 2009 Nobel Prize winners were gloriously hosted while giving their lectures and receiving their medals and diplomas. In Chemistry this year, the Nobel was shared by Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A Steitz, and Ada E Yonath for their studies on the structure…
December 11, 2009
In an article by Wayne Heilman of the Colorado Springs Gazette, I learned of a US FDA action against contract drug manufacturer Provident Pharmaceuticals. The company has been cited for good manufacturing practices (GMP) violations as well as the manufacture of unapproved drugs. The GMP violations…
December 10, 2009
As I have said on occasion, the health care insurance reform debate seems to have underestimated the role of the clinically-trained pharmacist in improving care and cutting health care costs. Hands-on community-based drug management models have been operating around the US with far less fanfare…
December 9, 2009
By way of my substance abuse blogger colleague, The Discovering Alcoholic, I learned of yesterday's New York Times article by Sarah Kershaw on Dr. A. Thomas McLellan. McLellan is a psychologist and drug abuse researcher with over 400 peer-reviewed publications to his credit. He held an academic…
December 7, 2009
Alexa Ray Joel, the daughter of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, was hospitalized Saturday with what I originally thought was an overdose of some type of sedative. However, today's Newsday and MTV are reporting that the family is calling this an overdose of a homeopathic medication called Traumeel…
December 7, 2009
An article by Paul Davidson in this morning's USA Today reminded me of another reason why we need health care reform in the United States, or at least a move away from employment-linked health coverage: temporary employees may soon comprise 25% of the national workforce. An encouraging jobs report…
December 6, 2009
I posed this question earlier today on Twitter and have already garnered a good number of responses. STEM - science, technology, engineering, and mathematics - is the acronym used by educators, researchers, and funding agencies focused on fundamental science. The US National Science Foundation,…
December 5, 2009
Alright. I understand the prohibition on not taking photos of presenters' data. However, prohibiting Twittering? Use of cameras and all other recording devices (this includes digital, film, and cell phone cameras, as well as audio recordings) are strictly prohibited in all session rooms, in the…
December 4, 2009
Earlier this week, I saw one of the best treatments of a misinterpreted story that has me thinking about how all news outlets should report in vitro laboratory studies. Only thing is that it didn't come from a news outlet. It came instead from a brainwashing site run by those medical socialist…
December 3, 2009
Dear Readers: No I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth. I've only been quiet because I am getting crushed during this last week of the semester. I have a couple of topics I want to share with you but it may not happen today. Please accept my apologies for slacking on my commitment to each…
November 30, 2009
Welcome, fellow ScienceOnline2010 registrant! This is just the payment page; for more details on the banquet, CLICK HERE. ScienceOnline2010 Saturday Night Dinner Radisson at Research Triangle Park Saturday 16 January 2010 - 7:00 pm $37.50 (USD) per person (includes $1.50 PayPal fee) Who are…
November 29, 2009
I had the honor today of witnessing the recognition of a civil rights landmark here in The-Town-That-Tobacco-Built. This afternoon, North Carolina Historical Marker G-123 was dedicated at the site of the 23 June 1957 segregation protest at the Royal Ice Cream parlor, just north of downtown Durham…
November 28, 2009
As we mentioned earlier this week, a brouhaha has erupted north of the border (or just a bit east for our Detroit-area colleagues) whereby graduates of Canada's two naturopathy schools may be given drug prescribing rights by the Ontario legislature. Editor-in-chief of the Skeptic North blog, Steve…
November 27, 2009
The region of southern Colorado on either side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains is quite special to the Pharmboy family. The high plains to the east and San Luis Valley to the west are sparsely populated, stunningly beautiful with a veritable mine of geological treasures, and are unlikely to be…
November 26, 2009
Two weeks ago, Canadian Skeptics United published on their Skeptic North site a piece by an Ontario pharmacist criticizing a proposal by the province to grant limited prescribing rights to naturopaths. The essay, which was reprinted in the National Post on Tuesday, outlines the intellectual and…
November 25, 2009
By most metrics, those of us at Terra Sig World Headquarters are liberals. Nevertheless, we often enjoy reading conservative writer, attorney, and American Enterprise Institute fellow, David Frum. Perhaps I have a soft spot for him because he's Canadian and he also writes for my favorite print…