In which I get my first copy of JVP...

Me: "Oh...this is so exciting! It's like paleontologist pornography!"

J: pointing to a figure in the journal..."Is that a coprolite?"

Me: "No...that's part of a skull."

In which I get taken advantage of...

Last night, J, my friend Jamie and I went out to eat at a local restaurant. A half hour or so into our meal, we heard the sound of bagpipes. They got louder and louder and finally, a group of people, clad in red and white clothes came into the dining area. One of them was dressed as Santa, the rest dressed as elves. They announced that they were there to raise money for the local respite house and then sang "Here Comes Santa Clause" while holding over-turned hats under our noses.

After collecting donations, the group filed out and on the way, one of the guys asked us how we were. We were obviously annoyed... J said "We're just trying to eat here" to which the guy responded, "Well, we're just trying to raise money here, selfish."

Note to annoying carol-singing money-raisers:

We do not have to give you money. The fact that we don't want to give you money does not make us selfish. We also do not need to be interrupted in the middle of a dinner we're paying for by a bunch of people who think it's okay to solicit from people in a private establishment. It is not okay to corner us in a small restaurant, damage our ears with your insanely loud music, stand right in front of our table and stick hats right under our noses. It's especially not okay to call us "selfish" if, after you do all those inappropriate things, we decline to give you money. You ruined our dinner. Happy fricken holidays.

Semester Wrap-up...

So all the grades are in and it was an AWESOME semester.

Here're the final grades:

Chemistry final exam: 97%
Chemistry final grade: A

Calculus final exam: 101%
Calculus final grade: A+

My GPA was a 2.0 at the start of the semester...this was due completely to a semester in 2001 in which I did nothing but drink, smoke pot and skip class. Now, after these two classes, it's a 2.71. If I get all A's next semester, I'll have a 3.08.

Then, if I take Geography over again (one of those classes from that first crappy semester) and get an A, I'll have a 3.40. I think I'm going to do that...I just hate that I've got that scar on my transcript. Bad choices...bad consequences.

In which J does something sciency...

(I've been trying to get J to do a guest post for a while and last night he came up with a great idea...so this is his first guest post...sorta...I mean, I'm writing it (and I added in my own little bit with the cat)...but it's totally his idea)

Last night, among the dirty dishes, laundry and cat hair tumbleweeds of the Self-designed Student Household Formation, we found a fossil. It took us several hundred nanoseconds to remove it from the bedroom matrix, but eventually, we had a beautifully-preserved specimen. After some final cleaning and field note-taking we tried to find out where, exactly, the bone belonged. J called the process a "common paleontological game."

Was it part of the mental protuberance?

Perhaps a tooth?

In the end, J decided that the bone was actually a nose spike. However, he had a nagging suspicion that he might someday be proven wrong.

Emily slept through the whole thing. What a sexy little creature...

A is for Academic Awesomeness

Well, school's over for the semester. I'm pretty sad about it since it means not having an hour class-break in my work day. However, it does mean I can do more of the following:

• paint
• lay in bed
• read
• spend time with friends (though now I have very few...a semester of full-time work plus school will do that)
• cook healthy meals (versus pizza...every.single.fricken.day.)

Anyway, the real reason for this post is that I wanted to brag about the A I got in my chemistry class. Yup...the professor emailed me today and congratulated me on it. I got 97% on my final and my final grade was 95.7%...

I can die now.*

*But not really. I still have an undergraduate degree to get, a master's to get, a phd to get...and I want to take J to London and Florence before I die. Plus, I still need to read a bunch of books I got from the library, seethe 4th Jurassic Park movie (if it ever comes out), go to the SVP conference and win the lottery. And I can't very well die having never been on a dig...

Evolution as fact...

Okay. I had a disagreement with J the other day about whether or not evolution is a fact. He supports evolution, but claimed that the fact that something is happening doesn't make it a fact. His example was, "if you call someone and tell them I'm at the pizza place, then it's not necessarily a fact to them." (But that doesn't matter because regardless of whether or not that person believed he was at the pizza place, he'd still be at the pizza place)

Another person I talked to agreed with him, stating that the definition of fact mentioned the word truth and she argued that evolution cannot be proven to be an ultimate truth. (But what can? Can't we even argue our own non-existence under this assumption?)

According to Wikipedia, a fact is "something that is the case, something that actually exists, or something that can be verified according to an established standard of evaluation." It goes on to say, "Just as in philosophy, the scientific concept of fact is central to fundamental questions regarding the nature, methods, scope and validity of scientific reasoning. In the most basic sense, a scientific fact is an objective and verifiable observation."

Evolution is a fact in both cases; generally and scientifically. It is the case. It exists. It can be verified. We have mountains of evidence to support it.

The logic isn't too different from that of gravity. Wikipedia says, "...it is a fact that an apple dropped on earth has been observed to fall towards the center of the planet, and the theories commonly used to describe and explain this behaviour are Newton's theory of universal gravitation (see also gravitation), and general relativity."

Likewise, it is a fact that a process (evolution) occurs that results in heritable changes in a population spread over many generations. The theory commonly used to describe and explain this is the theory of evolution, which includes Darwinian theory.

I call evolution a fact because it is...but also because calling it a theory leads to statements like "it's just a theory."

Seven Things About Me Meme mememememe...

Just when I thought I'd have to quit blogging... *

It's been one of those weeks where I want to post something but then I read everyone else's blogs and I feel totally inadequate so I just don't post. But Brian has tagged me for a meme, so now I have an excuse to post something less-than-sciency; something I know a lot about....me! Here's my lineage...

Father: Laelaps
Grandfather: Greg Laden
Great Grandmother: The Ridger
Great Great Grandmother: Grrl Scientist
Great Great Great Grandmother: Tabor
Great Great Great Great Grandmother: Maya's Granny
Great Great Great Great Great Grandmother: Busha Full of Grace

1. Up until recently, I had a 1979 Honda CM400T motorcycle. I learned to ride about 4 years ago after I got sick of riding on the back of my ex's bike. It got towed about six months ago and I couldn't afford to get it back.

2. I was a model for a few years. I didn't do anything big...just some fashion shows and some promotional jobs. Once Abercrombie and Fitch invited me to a go-see, but then they realized that I'm an old fart (for their purposes) and they smiled politely and thanked me for coming while not-so-secretly judging the crap out of me. Here's one of my portfolio pics:

3. When I was five, I told everyone that my name was Hank. It all started when a women asked, "Oh, what a cute little boy, what's his name?" I asked my dad what to say and he said, "Anything you want." And so I became Hank.

4. I haven't had any alcohol or drugs in almost six years. I do this on purpose. Mostly because once I start doing them I can't stop.

5. I love Mystery Science Theater 3000 movies. My favorites are Pod People, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank and Time Travelers. And of course, I love the shorts as well. I have a Crow T. Robot tee shirt that says "Bite Me." I can't ever make it through an entire movie (I fall asleep), but I just love them...

6. Last January I got really upset at the amount of thought I put into my appearance. I made a resolution to stop wearing makeup, stop shaving, and to stop smoking. So far, I've successfully upheld those resolutions, though I get really self-conscious about the not-shaving thing and it took me a few months to quit smoking. I don't think about how I look nearly as much as I used to.

7. I was a Civil War reenactor in middle school. My friend, Matt, got me into it and we formed the 14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. We enlisted about ten other kids between the ages of seven and twelve. At our peak, we had authentic uniforms, real muskets/rifles and participated in reenactments . We marched in parades, put on mock encampments and did the 21-gun salute on Memorial Day in my hometown. I think we were the youngest regiment around...and we were good, considering!

Photo from ozarkmerchants.com

And that's plenty, I think...perhaps too much. Anyway, for taggees, here are the rules...

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.

I tag:

Zach

Dr. Brazen Hussy

Matt C., museum instigator

Ben D.
Manabu

Rudbeckia Hirta
StyleyGeek

I'm not going to put a comment on your blog...just do the meme if you want to (or are struggling for content, as I am).

*UPDATE* I am not going to quit blogging! I only mean to convey my frustration! I pretty much can't breathe without blogging. That's also not true...but I love it and don't want to stop.

Pteranodon Jeebus and the Triceratops...

I've been promising pictures of my triceratops painting so, last night, I pulled out the camera and took some teaser pictures. The painting is not, by any means, original. It's actually a painting of a photograph by Chad Shier of the Royal Tyrrell Museum that appears in John Acorn's Deep Alberta. Either way, a lot of time has gone into it (maybe 15-20 hours) and I'm pretty happy with it so far.

Also, below are some photos of J's painting, which I from now on dub "Pteranodon jeebus." J is in an oil-painting class this semester and he had to make a shadow box and use it to paint something abstract. He used our Pteranodon toy and our LED Jesus statue in the shadow box, as well as a bowl and a piece of wood, which you can see in the lower right and left-hand corners. It's rad.

And of course, I couldn't resist posting this fun photo of me as a little girl. I was so cool back then...*sigh* That chubby little hand trying to steal my video game belongs to my little brother, Tyler.

Time for myself, thank you...

As a fledgling scientist...very very fledgling...I find it is sometimes overwhelming to take on the task of writing sciency posts. I don't feel qualified, I don't feel like I have much to offer and I certainly don't feel like I can do anything new and interesting. Those, of course, are all feelings that kept me from initially pursuing a science career so I do my best to work through them and forge ahead. But today I want to just write about whatever comes to mind. I need a post without expectation. I need to write with no end in sight. So that's what I'm doing.

Here's what's going on in my corner of the world (and by "my corner" I mean "my life"):

• Shopping... Holiday season is here and I'm running around trying to find interesting, personal and meaningful gifts for the people I love. It involves spending lots of money, fighting other drivers for the parking space closest to the downtown area and generally arguing with myself over the fact that I highly dislike religion and still seem to love Christmas.
• Debating... I'm slowly...okay, quickly...getting drawn into the ID/Evolution debate. I really love it. It's something I feel very passionate about that I also understand and am fairly well-informed on. I've been spending a lot of time reading blog posts about the debate, visiting atheist websites and reading up on Intelligent Design (know thy enemy).
• Chillaxing... That's J's word for "chilling" and "relaxing." I've been watching movies, mainly "Flock of Dodos" and "Shrek 3." And I've done some more work on my Triceratops painting. It's really coming to life...very 3-dimensional and highly textured. I promise to post some pictures of it soon.
• Studying... I have a final on Friday and one on Tuesday! Study study study!!!
• Play-fighting... I get into these wrestling matches with J...they're fun, but then I get hurt and I get all "how could you hurt me?" for a moment (I usually get hurt on the offensive, which is a bit embarrassing and totally my fault). I'm pretty sure my thumb needs a cast. I can't even hit the space bar with it and certainly can't use it to grab anything.
• Getting worked up over the gender gap... Check out this post at Shakesville. It's pretty interesting. I showed it to a few guys and their reactions were "well, at least they make one for girls" and "but the blue one costs more." I thought that was interesting, too.
• Battling rashes... Well, not really. The steroid creams have mostly cleared up the eczema, but the dermatographia is alive and well. I was taking antihistamines every night for a few weeks and moved on to the "take as necessary" stage. Unfortunately, it seems they're necessary every night, since one missed night results in weird, puffy red rashes. The clincher: the antihistamines sometimes make me feel like I'm on drugs. And for a recovering drug addict, that's not good.

That's enough from me. Tomorrow I'll post something more sciency. Promise.

Flock of Dodos

I saw Flock of Dodos last night and it brought up a lot of interesting points and prompted some interesting discussion between me and J. I believe this stuff is best dealt with in bullet form:

• Communication: Randy Olson brought up the point that scientists/academics do not communicate well to the public. The poker game in his documentary backed up his idea; though, as a nerd, I secretly wished I could be part of that game Unfortunately, I don't think that this issue is really as simple as it was presented to be. The question is, how much responsibility does the scientific community have in ensuring public understanding of evolution? We could argue that the responsibility lies solely within the scientific community. Or, we could argue that the public should take a more active role in understanding. Of course, depending on the public to do so would be dangerous; we live in a fairly lazy society that likes easy answers. It takes work to understand evolution and most people just aren't up to the task. Part of the problem is that evolution has remained largely marginalized in textbooks and classrooms. I cannot remember studying evolution in any detail in high school or middle school. Even my biology course for my bachelor's degree didn't include anything. Can we expect the public to know anything in light of the absence of evolution from education? Unfortunately, no. Should scientists then pick up the slack and work extra hard to promote understanding? We need better education when it comes to evolution and science...and unfortunately, that's the debated issue.

• Anger: There's a lot of anger on the evolution side of the debate. Is this anger detracting from the argument? I've been wondering how this anger comes across to someone neutral on the debate. Is it seen as condescending? Is it justifiable? There's a great post on it at Greta Christina's blog. She gives a ton of reasons to be angry and explains why the anger is not a negative thing and I agree with her that anger is often the single instigator of action and that it is necessary and not unhealthy. I also believe that it can be misdirected, especially when using it to argue a point in a debate. It seems that the anger evident in the Creationism/ID/Evolution debate is also the reason that the argument goes from one of "this doesn't belong in science education" to "you're wrong, I'm right." What we're debating is the teaching of it in public schools, in science classrooms. Our emotions, namely our anger, lead us to engage in debate that borders on the real issue and therefore weakens our argument.

• Philosophy: J brought up an interesting question about philosophy. His question was, "why do we place more value on science than on philosophy?" I'm not entirely sure what he meant by this, but I think it's something like, "why do we think evolution is correct because it's science and think ID is wrong because it's based in philosophy?" Or, furthermore, "don't humans assign value to science and philosophy?...and if so, how can we say one is more valuable than another?" Perhaps we do value science more (though evidence in this country shows that science isn't necessarily valued by most). If so, I'm inclined to say it's because of the tangible evidence. Where philosophy is pure thought, science is based on the natural world. Regardless, I think his point was that the value we assign is based entirely on our beliefs. This is a slippery-slope. If we can't support one over the other because we can't trust our value-assignments, then what else can we marginalize? In the context of philosophy, we can completely deny our own existence. So what, then, does anything matter? J did bring up the point that philosophy and science are partners more than separate entities, that is has been the precursor for many scientific ideas. So, I do not mean to discount the importance of philosophy.

In all, I thought the movie was pretty fair. It gave a lot of camera time to both sides. It was definitely skewed toward the evolution side, but hell, that's the side that's right. If anything, it made me feel responsibility for eradicating the immense amount of ignorance surrounding the debate. Unfortunately, I've just recently learned enough myself, and I don't feel qualified quite yet to do so.