Eclectic Living
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The earliest version of this iteration of the Pledge of Allegiance (which incidentally didn’t include “the United States” or “under God”) was written in... Continue Reading →
Part I And just then the boy had a sudden spasm, as if something had bitten him in the stomach, and uttered a long, shrill wail. For moments that seemed endless he stayed in a queer, contorted position, his body racked by convulsive tremors; it was as if his frail frame were bending before the... Continue Reading →
In my November 3, 2016, post, "Scientific Policy," I wrote: "It is one week from the U.S. presidential election, and Science magazine has compiled a list of six areas of science in which the new president will need to be well-versed in order to lead our country down the right path." The first area Science emphasized was pathogens. "[N]ew... Continue Reading →
I recently went on a weekend golf trip to Arizona with a good group of guys. One might imagine that, in general, the demographic of guys who go on weekend golf trips would tend toward a bro-ish, self-absorbed, perpetual adolescence mindset. I hope that generalization's not true, and for our group, it wasn't. Still, I... Continue Reading →
My optimism stems largely from a belief in progress. Progress is the inevitable outcome of accumulated knowledge and enlightenment. As we understand the world better, understand ourselves better, we come to understand how to improve the world and our place in it. The Progressive approach is guided by reason and virtue. In many regards (hunger,... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/fmghBnJZTLw A few years ago I worked with some colleagues to write a paper about the potential for entomophagy to address undernutrition. We titled it, fittingly enough, "The potential for entomophagy to address undernutrition," and it was published in the Ecology of Food and Nutrition journal. Entomophagy is the fancy word for insect eating. My brother and I... Continue Reading →
It's well known that humans have had a huge impact on the world's biodiversity, with some suggesting that we have precipitated the sixth major extinction event in the Earth's history. This may also be the worst sin perpetrated in Earth's history. And it will only be accelerated and perpetuated via climate change. Shitty job, us. A lesser known... Continue Reading →
As visitors to the Cottage are aware, we like to get dirty. Another thing we like is the potential that crowdsourced science has to rapidly improve our knowledge. Here's an opportunity to combine the two. The Natural Products Discovery Group is offering free soil collection kits, which they will then analyze for fungal compounds that... Continue Reading →
“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and more steadily we reflect on them - the starry heavens above and the moral law within.” -Immanuel Kant Have you ever been awestruck? It's a truly palpable feeling, hence the bolt-of-lightning idiom often associated with it. Awe is often accompanied... Continue Reading →
I had a dream last night that I was keeping dodo birds the way one might keep chickens. They had been resurrected, phoenix-style, through DNA lab work. I was excited to tell my stepmom - this would be a great bird to add to her life list. In the category of birds that have run afoul of man's... Continue Reading →
Poppa's Cottage 