Miscellany

My heart sank as I stood on the Metro platform at the Zoo stop and watched the second completely full train pull away. All those stories of people in Japan pushing people into trains started to make sense. It seemed there was no other way to get on the train and getting the rally looked impossible. I didn't know what to do so I got on a different train and rode in the opposite direction. Two stops later, the crowd didn't quite as bad and now, I didn't have any other way to get back to the hotel anyway. I moved with the crowd, slipped into the still-packed train and tried not to take up…

One of my all time favorite books is South: The Last Antarctic Expedition of Shackleton and the Endurance (The Explorers Club Classic) . It's an amazing adventure and an incredible story. It's a comfort to know that any challenges I face will be easier than those conquered by Shackleton. Luckily, traveling to Antarctica these days is far less hazardous. And we're glad of that because we'd really to send one of our favorite bloggers there as our surrogate eyes and ears. We're also glad because the we won't have to worry about her getting eaten by polar bears. Help send Grrl to the far south,…

It's October 1st (well it was yesterday, anyway), and I'm pretty excited, because this means it's the start of another DonorsChoose challenge. For those of you who weren't around at this time last year, DonorsChoose is an organization that pairs up your ka$hmoney with educational projects in public schools. You get to choose the project your money goes to fund from an enormous range of schools, subjects, and students. It's sort of like what tax dollars are supposed to do, only it actually works. Last year, I set what I thought was an ambitious fundraising goal for Signout's readership, and…

It's been an exciting week here at Signout. Now that I am back from my unannounced sabblogtical (yeah, I made that up), I've tended to some much-needed housekeeping. To wit, the blogroll has been pruned of defunct and outdated links. Now you may futz around all up in the sidebar without fear. Futz, I say! Speaking of, and not to nag or anything, I kind of wish you'd give a little more click to the DonorsChoose link I posted last week. Every single visitor to that site can raise up to 10 bucks by voting for each of the 10 video profiles listed. With two minutes and a little back-button savvy,…

Yesterday, when I was on overnight call, something truly astounding happened: the hospital ran out of coffee. By which I mean, there was no coffee available all day, nor all night. To quote one of my favorite ScienceBloggers, what the fucking fuck?! Seriously, what kind of hospital runs out of coffee? Doesn't that violate some kind of accreditation requirement?* I had intended to write something thoughtful on my arrival home, but I'm too inadequately caffeinated to put a coherent thought together. Instead, you get the following link, which certainly benefits humanity far more than my usual…

Praise be, and hallelujah! That is all.

They could have used the data from my serial killer survey, but no, being scientists or science-related, the ScienceBlogs overseers want to find out for themselves. Plus the chance of winning and iPod is higher than the chance of winning the lottery and you don't even have to buy a ticket. Take the survey, maybe even win. I wonder if they have the pink Valentine iPods?

You guys remember that DonorsChoose campaign in which Signout participated last October? Well. A project called "The Pencil Monster" was funded exclusively through donations obtained via this very blog. And because it was a great project, it got televised. Behold, the 20/20 clip! (At this linked website, click on the video on the right to view it.) You may ask how Signout knows about this media gem. After all, Signout may not seem like someone who spends a lot of time browsing the 20/20 website. The fact is, I was contacted months ago about the possibility of participating in the segment. (…

In response to a few kind inquiries, several gentle nudges, and an overwhelming quantity of porn-related comment spam, I'm posting again. I'm not one hundred percent sure why I stopped. I think it has to do with my sneaking suspicion that my job may actually be just a job, and that really, not that many people care to hear about it. Feeling this way makes it easy to be lazy about chronicling the growing pains of becoming a real doctor, so lazy I have been. On the plus side, my apartment is really clean, and I've been eating lots of tasty food and learning a lot in my primary area of interest…

Maybe there's something a little bit odd about having a gingerbread construction contest to raise funds for researching juvenile diabetes. Maybe these gingerbread houses aren't environmentally proper or particularly sustainable. But they are impressive. If you're in Seattle over the holidays, you can see them at the Sheraton Hotel until Jan 2nd and even help fund research on juvenile diabetes. Some more examples are below.

And I was. It was the dreaded Seven Random and Weird things meme! It's on the loose and I've been tagged. The rules are: Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. 1. Who tagged me? Greg Laden of the kingdom of Linux. 2. 7 random or weird things about me. Random thing #1: I unconsciously memorize song lyrics and they pop into my head at random times.…

Oh, the public's clamor is too much! Must Signout give and give and give until there is no Signout left, even for Signout? I kid. It's not that my life is really all that chaotic these days, or that nothing interesting is happening at work, or that I'm incredibly depressed--I just don't have that much to say. It'll come. Thanks for sticking around.

Yowza! Within four days of my announcement about the Donors Choose campaign, you guys donated enough to more than double Signout's fundraising goal. You've raised nearly 600 bucks, kids, and I couldn't be prouder! Of course, don't let that keep you from telling your friends or checking out some of the other great projects you can help fund at DonorsChoose.com. I've added a few new ones, which you can check out here, or you can search their project database yourself by all sorts of variables. Let me also take this opportunity to note how absurd it is that so many of our public schools are so…

Last year, our very own Janet Stemwedel (of Adventures in Ethics and Science) introduced ScienceBlogs to DonorsChoose. Put simply, this organization matches a donor's funds with a grade school classroom project that donor wishes to fund. This means that if, like me, you go on and on about the sorry state of education in this country, you can actually shut up and do something about it in a very directed way. A quick browse through the list of projects needing funding will open your eyes to the incredible devotion and creativity of this country's teachers--and the incredible dearth of resources…

One of my neighbors at Scienceblogs, Retrospectacle's Shelley Batts, has been nominated for a blogging scholarship--meaning, an award toward study given to a blogger of note. The scholarship award recipient is determined by votes, and Shelley is in second place. In my estimation, she has a fine blog, and deserves this in a big way. Please consider visiting the above link and helping a sister out.

In addition to containing the Truth, the Science Creative Quarterly (SCQ) contains a whole lot of really excellent science writing. Some of it is by ScienceBloggers, but much of it is not. I recently heard of the site from a Signout reader named Benjamin Langer, who himself has a very nice critical piece on intelligent design in the current edition of SCQ. Why I hadn't heard about this publication before, I don't know. I can only hypothesize that I perhaps have been living under a rock. I have become a linking machine. Man, do I need a day off.

There's a news article over at The Scientist on the life science blogs favored by the unwashed masses (i.e., you). Go there, and make your scratchy little voices heard! Many thanks to Zuska for the tip.

I can think of at least 20 regular readers who need to look at Carl Zimmer's collection of science tattoos immediately. Some of them are lyrical, detailed, and beautiful. Others are tight, terse, and smart. Still others consist of carefully considered text. All are clearly quite meaningful to their owners, and endlessly wonderful to me. You know who you are. Get over there.

Next to my unfettered access to the ScienceBlogs Ski-Doo, my favorite SB perk is the weekly newsletter. Now you can live the sweet life, too, by signing up for the "Week in ScienceBlogs" email. It's first class all the way, baby! The newsletter is great for picking up on the highlights of the week, including the best quotes from the week's blogging and other goodies. Bonus: Act now, and you'll get included in the 500,000th Comment Contest drawing for the trip to the world's greatest science city! Which, right now, looks to be an international location! Be a champ, not a chump. Carry on.

At least this is what I imagine it's like to live with someone who has bipolar disorder. Tonight - Sept. 19th, between 7-8 pm EDT, there will a "blogger's conference with the experts," discussing this very thing. The transcript will be posted and you can learn more about the event here.