Janet D. Stemwedel
Janet D. Stemwedel (whose nom de blog is Dr. Free-Ride) is an associate professor of philosophy at San Jose State University. Before becoming a philosopher, she earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry.
jstemwedel
Posts by this author
June 12, 2009
Some hold that Hell is other people.
Today, I'm inclined to disagree.
At the moment, I'm of the view that Hell is having one's plan to kill a couple hours before meeting an old friend by wandering the streets of a city one used to know really well twenty years ago thwarted by pouring rain.
And…
June 11, 2009
Over at Cosmic Variance, Julianne Dalcanton describes a strategy for scientific communication that raises some interesting ethical issues:
Suppose you (and perhaps a competing team) had an incredibly exciting discovery that you wrote up and submitted to Nature.
Now suppose that you (and the…
June 11, 2009
I have a quick question for the hive-mind:
Where are good places with free wifi in Boston, Cambridge, and Wellesley?
I'm heading off to my 20th college reunion and I am hopeful that an area as student-centered as the Boston metropolitan area will be brimming with free wifi. But, seeing as how I…
June 11, 2009
Dry and overcast again this morning. I've never been a big fan of humidity, but I was really hoping for some today.
Close inspection of the garden beds indicated that they were gastropod free. The bag of compost and the bag of potting soil on the ground by the side of the house each had only a…
June 10, 2009
Almost a month ago, I told you about a pair of new case studies released by The Global Campaign for Microbicides which examine why a pair of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) clinical trials looking at the effectiveness of antiretrovirals in preventing HIV infection were halted. In that post, I also…
June 10, 2009
Well, it was another dry morning in the back yard. And I was sufficiently busy with other stuff yesterday afternoon that I did not have a chance to set up any beery gastropod watering holes.
So the pickings today were predictably slim.
Not only were most of the plants and planting areas free of…
June 9, 2009
The pattern of dry, overcast mornings continues.
Not very satisfying weather for a gastropod hunter.
The only gastropod action this morning was under bags of compost and potting soil, plus one slug hiding on the side of a raised garden bed.
There weren't even that many weeds to pull while I was…
June 8, 2009
In a post a couple weeks ago, I commented on the ethical dimension of opting out of vaccination against serious contagious diseases:
Of course, parents are accountable to the kids they are raising. They have a duty to do what is best for them, as well as they can determine what that is. They…
June 8, 2009
Three weeks after the first cocoon was built, the first of the intrepid Free-Ride silk moths have emerged.
They are big. The Free-Ride offspring judge them cute. I haven't been fully convinced. But in time, I may come around.
Dr. Free-Ride's better half thinks the moth pictured directly above…
June 8, 2009
Yet another dry, overcast morning. Not the kind of weather when one feels like sliding on one's foot across scratchy leaves or stems.
At least if one is a snail or slug.
I went right to the instant-gratification spots for slug capture. Only two out of the six locations yielded slugs today. One…
June 7, 2009
The New York Times has an article about a physician-scientist caught in scientific misconduct. The particular physician-scientist, Dr. Timothy R. Kuklo, was an Army surgeon working at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He is now (for the time being anyway) a professor of medicine at Washington…
June 7, 2009
Despite the threatening skies yesterday morning, it did not rain. And, it was pretty dry this morning.
Accordingly, the gastropods seemed to have better things to do than sliding along the dry surfaces of my plants, meal or no meal.
Luckily, I've identified a few instant-gratification spots for…
June 6, 2009
I found this bug in the garden today, on my rainbow chard:
I couldn't find it on my laminated chart of common bugs in my area (harmful or beneficial). Any idea what it might be?
Also, if anyone can recommend a good way to deal with hundreds of ants near a vegetable garden (where "good" involves…
June 6, 2009
This morning it was dewy and clear as I went on patrol for gastropods. By the time I was done patrolling, clouds had rolled in and there was no sun at all.
Tut, tut. It looks like rain.
Needless to say, the dew had awakened the slumbering slugs, sending them out for a constitutional before the (…
June 5, 2009
"Hey, buddy! My eyes are up here!"
Just a quick reminder that the voting is still open for the 3 Quarks Daily contest for the best science blogging of the past year.
My post How does salt melt snails? currently has 15 votes, which is not enough to push it into the top-20 vote-getters and move it…
June 5, 2009
Dr. Isis offers advice to a reader who gets ogled by a professor.
Numerous commenters chime in with their own experiences of being ogled, groped, and otherwise harassed by professors, classmates, bosses, colleagues, and random guys.
Some of the men among Isis's commentariat say, are you kidding?…
June 5, 2009
The morning was dry, but the skies were not overcast, and I think the air temperature was a bit warmer than yesterday morning.
That, plus the two rainfalls earlier this week, seems to have changed things up.
Because today, there were babies.
Most of them were very well hidden -- almost undetectable…
June 5, 2009
We're going on three weeks since the first of the Free-Ride silkworms made a cocoon.
So far, there have been no signs of anyone trying to get out. So we'll have to wait a while yet before we witness the miracle of life (or of silkmoths bumping bug uglies, depending on your perspective).
In the…
June 4, 2009
Twenty years ago this spring, after finishing my last round of final exams as a college student, I was enjoying a civilized custom called "senior week," a break of approximately seven days in length between finals and commencement. The campus had largely cleared of students who were not seniors,…
June 4, 2009
Unlike Tuesday and Wednesday, today there was no early-morning rainfall.
As such, the slugs and snails decided, apparently, that there was no compelling reason to be out munching on my garden.
There were, however, a good many potato bugs.
So, last night, Uncle Fishy and I were talking about potato…
June 3, 2009
This came up when I was making dinner.
"Pasta primavera?" I asked.
"I think that jumped the shark in about 1972," Uncle Fishy replied.
"Yeah, but would you eat it?" I asked.
"Sure. It's yummy, and vegetables are always good," he said.
But then, as we were eating, it occurred to us that the Happy…
June 3, 2009
Dr. Isis reports that faculty and staff at MRU will be taking unpaid "furlough" days to deal with a budget crisis:
In many cases, faculty (some of whom already do not receive summer support) will be asked to take furlough time in the middle of the instructional period of the academic calendar, but…
June 3, 2009
We had another early-morning downpour (today at about 3 AM).
Thus, the half-hour of gastropod hunting was productive.
The damp weather definitely seemed to make the slugs and snails feel more comfortable being out and about (rather than hunkered down wherever it is they hunker down on the dry…
June 2, 2009
It's been a long time since I posted a garden update. As we're on the cusp of summer, there's a lot to update you on.
And I will, soon.
But today, I wanted to share two reasons carrots are sometimes hard to pull up.
Reason #1: The carrot you're trying to pull up is wrapped around another carrot…
June 2, 2009
Yesterday, in my first post about the Silence is the Enemy campaign, I wrote:
Addressing rape directly. From the point of view of ethics, you'd think this would be a very short discussion. It is wrong to commit sexual violence. It is wrong to act out your frustration or your sense of entitlement…
June 2, 2009
"It's never going to rain again." -- Dr. Free-Ride's better half, contemplating cloudy skies over the last month or so
"Oh yeah?" -- The weather in the vicinity of Casa Free-Ride, at approximately 4:45 AM today
It was not a torrential downpour, but there was a good, hard rain for 15 to 20 minutes…
June 1, 2009
Remember those prizes 3 Quarks Daily is offering for the best science blogging of the past year?
Well, the nominees are now up, including four of my posts:
How does salt melt snails?
SVP Ethics Education Commitee statement: lessons learned from 'Aetogate'
The Hellinga Retractions (part 1): when…
June 1, 2009
On Saturday, the Free-Ride family went to the Maker Faire.
The place was abuzz with things to do and see and hear (and taste and feel), so we'll just give you the snapshot.
There were fabulous arty and tech-y (and arty/tech-y) items on display, including a giant assembly of 2 liter soda bottles,…
June 1, 2009
This morning's conditions were more of the same -- overcast and dry.
There were no gastropods in evidence.
Maybe this speaks to the success of our weed-clearing and morning snail- and slug-picking. Maybe there's a pocket of them I haven't located yet, busily breeding and plotting their revenge.
Or…
June 1, 2009
This month, Sheril Kirshenbaum and Dr. Isis are spearheading a blogospheric initiative to call attention to a continuing epidemic of mass rapes in Liberia even six years after the end of its 14 year civil war, and to try to do something about it.
Last month, Nicholas Kristof described the situation…