Before I knew his catalog as Slum Village’s producer, and before he went on to become the mythologized “best producer of all time” after his death, I knew J Dilla simply as Jay Dee.  I enjoyed Slum Village but I didn’t really know much about the group besides their actual music, so when I randomly stumbled upon “Welcome to Detroit” online, I decided to download one of the tracks.  I happened to pick “It’s Like That” for no reason, but I guess I picked a good one because this track sent me on a hunt to find “Welcome to Detroit.”  Since then Jay Dee has been one of my favorites.  And this is one of his illest beats, simple but really hard, adding subtle elements here and there, and culminating with a pair of really crazy instrumental outros. Rest in Peace Dilla!

Jay Dee feat. Hodge Podge and Lacks – It’s Like That (2001)

The oldest continually active scientific society, The Royal Society, will celebrate its 350th anniversary in 2010.  Getting a jump on things, they have launched an interactive website, Trailblazing (H/T Financial Times science blog), to note a few of the articles they have published over the years.  Granted, highlighting just 60 out of roughly 60,000 is very selective, but the website a good way to sample how scientific research – and how it is communicated – has evolved over centuries.

To get the full impact, go past the commentary on each article and go directly to the original document.  Benjamin Franklin makes an appearance, as one of his letters to a member of the society is highlighted in the project.  And yes, it concerns electricity and kites.  Do keep in mind that the letter s was printed very differently in the 17th and 18th centuries, and you should be able to read the older documents with little difficulty.  I hope the Society sees fit to expand on the project.  Even if it doesn’t, I do appreciate being able to access the older articles through their efforts with JSTOR.

We are very excited about the fact that today is December the 1st!!   The lights are out and strung around the house and there are boxes everywhere.  It’s crazy. We’re madly trying to get the house all decked out.  Actually no.  We tend to take our time getting the house decorated by savouring each and everything that goes up.  Today our focus was getting our fancy Advent Calender organized by placing special treats in each drawer…take a look…

OUr reusable Advent Calender

Each drawer is a piece to the puzzle

This calender is great because we put our own treats in year after year.  The kids open the respective drawer, take out thier treat and flip the drawer around so the piece of the puzzle is exposed.   Big C is evens and Little C is odds.  It’s a fun tradion.

Big C at the Festival of Trees

 This weekend, we had the opportunity to hear Big C and her fellow choir mates sing Christmas carols at  the Festival of Trees at VIU.  What a nice way to start the Christmas season – they sang beautifully!!  We were so proud of her.

Amaryllus Update….

Amaryllus plant at 2 weeks

 I think this plant is growing quite rapidly.  At 2 weeks, it appears to be where the plant should be at at 4 -6 weeks.  Little C has been tending to it very well.

Thanks to my day job, I found out about a screening in Washington next week of the documentary Whiz Kids.  It’s not attracted a lot of attention during its travels to various film festivals and other screenings.  It tracks three students as they conduct their research and present it at science fairs, leading up to the Intel Science Talent Search.  I have not seen the film, but I appreciate any effort to try and present the different backgrounds, tensions and concerns that create any scientist.  The December 9 screening in Washington is the only one currently remaining on their schedule, though I think interested groups could manage to have a screening at their institution by contacting the filmmakers.  A DVD is also available.

I have no idea what Intel thinks of the film, but given the subject matter, and Intel’s work with Conan O’Brien, perhaps some national exposure could be arranged?

Was it ever a relief to have this new couch in my kids’ playroom this weekend.  Little C started to feel unwell with a sore tummy and burning fever on Sunday.  It was so important that she stayed away from big B the entire time she was sick – he cannot get a fever!  Once I realized she was unwell, I immediately put her in the play room and let her rest on the couch.  It also made me realize I was alone in the care of my sick child due to the potential risk to big B which was both stressful and tiring to me.  Anyway here is a cute shot of the girls on the big comfie couch (for those of you back East who have been wanting to see)  It’s very child proof for it’s dark colour and easy to clean material.  And it was MADE IN CANADA – I purchased it at the Bay…

Made in Canda couch!

I”m loving this space with the girls because the lighting is nice for reading or just sitting and talking in the evening.  And the last few days have been very dark and dreary.  The colourful lights around the adjacent window also perk it up a bit.

I’m also scheming to frame some cute cards that I have set aside over the years that I know the kids will love to look at.  Recently I purchased an etching from an artist in Port Alberni.  She gave me permission to write about her in my blog – her name is Janice Sheehan and I happened to chance upon her adorable gallery at the waterfront.  Sometimes my work takes me to this community and I’m discovering there are a number of talented artists including Janice and many potters etc.  I had to buy this etching at once because it reminded me of my daughters…

"Rock Beach" by Janice Sheehan

The girls  are infamous for their rockcollecting!  My house is living proof.  Anyway Janice’s website is www.janicesheehan.com – she nicely explains the process that is involved in making her beautiful etchings and the inspiration behind many of them – the West Coast of the island ofcourse (she will also mail you her etchings if you cannot make it to Port to buy them in person!)

I also just love these little cards with Fairies and Toadstools on them…

fairies and toadstools

Just some hodge podge from the playroom…

Little C managed to find the energy today to start decorating the house for Christmas.  She found these German wooden Santas in the closet…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA BONNIE!!

Thanks for visiting my VISTA blog! This is a couple months late in the making, but better late than never, right? I am currently in my fourth month of VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), and a lot has happened since PSO in Albuquerque, NM. I don’t even know where to begin! So… I won’t. Haha! Well, I will in bits and pieces. But I’ll save the monstrous update for another time (or never.) I should have all the basics to the right anyway, and also in the “About” section. So take a look around!

Oh, and I guess one big update. I just finished revamping the Pulaski County Health Department website. So please take a look when you have the chance! And please give suggestions and insights if you have any!

It’s gonna be legend-… wait for it… and I hope you’re not lactose intolerant because the second half of that word is DAIRY!

And it was.  Well, its not over yet.  The year of 2009.  There are 39 days left until we hit 2010 so I guess this is as good a time as any to indulge in reminiscence.  Come with me, won’t you please?

My main goal for 2009 was to run 1000 miles.  Being that I broke my right big toe on January 21, 2009 that particular goal was going to be difficult.  Just 4 days earlier, I had completed my 1st 10 miler.  I was on cloud 9 after that run, and then I go and break my toe.  So, dreams were dashed and I became what I was afraid of.  A big ole couch potato.

But, thats so far in the past that that I hardly ever think about my broken toe, except when I hit it on the coffee table ~ then I am reminded ever so slightly that there was a bone that was broken and has now healed.  Almost!

Goals ~ schmoals.  It’s just thoughts in my own head.  Things I think I can accomplish and sometimes I do.  Sometimes, I don’t.  But, I sure as heck always try.  I am not a quitter.  I take pride in that.

I did run 2 half marathons this year.  Didn’t reach my goals in those, but I did finish.

There is really so much in my head, that I am not sure if I am indulging in reminiscence to the best of my ability.  I guess I just like to think back.  But, mainly, I want to look forward to what’s to come because you cannot change the past, but you sure as fuck can control what happens going forward.

So, onto the past couple of workouts.

I did my very first brick workout on Saturday and I really enjoyed it.  I decided on a 1 hour bike ride, followed by a 2 mile run.  It went well.  The “transition” was slow because I had to take my bike up to my apartment, then change into my running kicks/VFF’s and then get back outside.  That took about 9 minutes.  So I rode about 12 miles in 1 hour and then ran 2 miles in 19.49.

My running speed is very slowly coming back.  I’ve done a few sub 30 minute 5k’s now, my fastest being 29.33 post-flu.  That flu made me breathe harder than I wanted to and enabled me my first snot rocket of the season.  Nothing like getting rid of the crud in your lungs.

Today, was an awesome longer run.  7.10 miles in 1.11.39 with an average pace of 10.05 min/mile.  I loved this run for a couple of reasons.  Great company and a good route that was different than my normal boardwalk running.   Not that there’s anything wrong with running on the boardwalk that I love so much, but sometimes change is good.

So, this indulge in reminiscence wasn’t really that much was it?  I thought perhaps I would just give a hint.  There is more, so much more.

Like that fact that I am currently at 841 running miles and 423 cycling miles for 2009.  Like the fact that I am falling in love with running all over again and again.  Really, every single day.  Like the fact that I met so many incredible folks this year.  Like the fact that I am now a proud member of the Brooks Inspire Daily Program.  Like the fact that the year is not even over yet and I think some good stuff is yet to come.

So, the pictures I took in my mind will forever linger there.  It will let me remember all the good times and even some of the bad stuff.  There is so much more to do.  In fact, I will never be done.  I will always be striving for more.  For bigger and better and awesomeness.  My running mojo is here , hopefully to stay a while.

The only way to be who you want to be is by being what you haven’t yet been.

‘the skies call out to us … not a sunrise, but a galaxy-rise !’

Some updates on previous posts:

The Large Hadron Collider is gradually ramping up activity, and with any luck should resume regular operation this weekend after a shutdown of over a year.

Philip Coyle, nominee for Associate Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy for National Security and International Affairs, had his nomination hearing on Wednesday.  No word on when his nomination will come up for vote on the Senate floor.

A bill to establish domestic production of isotopes critical for things like medical imaging was passed by the House earlier this month.  The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on the bill after the Thanksgiving recess.

Found on Science Cheerleader:

Good for younger kids, I suppose.  Older audiences might prefer things spiced up.  Perhaps Triumph the Insult Comic Dog narrates?

In what I hope becomes a regular feature on io9, Astoundingly Late Reviews, this post takes a look at an issue of Astounding Science Fiction from 1954.  Showing that science fiction speaks as much to the present as it does the future, the author notes some of the small differences in life and science in the intervening 55 years.  There’s the small stuff, a concern over polio (the issue came out a few months before Salk’s vaccine) and the timelessness of scam ads in the back of magazines.  The critical point comes in the author’s examination of how the scientific understanding of the relationship between Neanderthals and homo sapiens has changed over time.

“While reading Before the Dawn, I was again doing a little time-traveling, though this time only to 2006 instead of 1954. Since 2006, there have been a few developments that put Anderson’s essay back in the running for scientific fact again.”

When I taught a science and technology studies course, I assigned science fiction as a way to help introduce to students how what we can do with science and technology influences society.  The io9 post hints at what science fiction can tell us about history, and I’d love to see more of it.

I’ve regarded the America’s Next Great Pundit (was there a first?) contest with my typical exasperation at the swan dive in the quality of The Washington Post’s op-ed pages, and the apparent unwillingness to actually edit what appears there.  It was interesting to see that a Nobel laureate physicist was in the running to write columns, and I’m not surprised to seem him fail to pass the first round.  Dr. Burton Richter did himself no favors by writing a pretty dull, or at least ordinary, piece on energy and the environment.  He might have fared better if he had stretched, and tried writing about a topic outside of his scientific background.  I say this not to suggest that readers wouldn’t be interested in a science and technology focused columnist, but to argue that embracing a number of topics would allow judges and voters to see the writing skills of Dr. Richter, something that might matter in placement on the Post’s op-ed pages

Burton Richter, 1976 Nobel laureate in Physics, is aiming to be The Washington Post’s (sorry, not America’s, though that’s part of the competition title) Next Great Pundit.  His first round entry in the competition ran on Friday, focusing on various things that could be done to save energy and reduce emissions.  I suspect he is doomed because the piece reads very reasoned, logical, and kind of dull.  But there are additional rounds, and Richter needs only to be in the top five (of ten) to advance.  The judges advance one to the next round (not Richter) and online readers vote for the other four.  Want to have a say?  Go vote.

As a noted engineer once said, “the trickier the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.”  The Large Hadron Collider, a huge particle accelerator facility in Europe, recently had trouble due to a magnet problem that was traced to a bad electrical connection.  The resulting problem led to a months-long shutdown.

Now we go from the embarrassing to the bizarre.  The Guardian and other news sources report that the Collider once again had power trouble, causing a shutdown.  The cause?  A bird eating bread on a junction where power enters the facility.  The bread apparently gummed up the junction causing it to overheat.  This makes ordinary power failures look perfectly reasonable.  No word yet on how long this delay will be.

I’ve fallen off the bandwagon for reading Washington Post op-eds, as they have deteriorated in quality to the point where they’re running a contest for America’s Next Great Pundit because the putative editor of the page thought it’d be fun.

So it took ScienceInsider for me to notice that one of the finalists in this competition is physicist Burton Richter.  He was awarded the Nobel in 1976 (shared with Samuel Ting) for work in discovering the psi particle, a heavy subatomic particle.  His entry that earned him finalist status is yet another attempt to resurrect the Office of Technology Assessment.  While this issue has been beaten like a dirty rug over the last several years, I doubt it’s had much attention on the website of a major American newspaper.  A second effort by Dr. Richter should run on the contest website later this week.  That should suggest whether or not he has a future as a columnist at the Post.

halloween2009006, originally uploaded by kriswaide.

So Tyler was a guitar for Halloween this year (no he didn’t trick or treat, he just dressed up!). So here is after trying it on for the first time! Such a little cutie pie!

I’ll never conquer the computer, I’m pretty sure, but happily, the email problems I’ve been experiencing are being worked out by a competent professional. Once I have everything updated, I’ll be able to post a proper article. Maybe even a Saturday special.

tylersfirstbirthday149, originally uploaded by kriswaide.

Tyler turned one already… where did the year go? He had a wonderful party, the house was filled with people and we are so blessed to have so many wonderful family and friends who could share Tyler’s first birthday with us!

Continuing the trend from this morning, we have a lab safety video produced by The Sounds of Science.  The group is a collection of University of California, Berkeley students and alumni.  This particular video is intended for science students in lab settings to remind them of safe procedures.  It might be more effective broken up into segments for specific equipment or procedures, but it’s still effective as a longer piece.  YMMV, of course, but my pro-puppet bias keeps this in the win column.

I have no idea what to make of this.  You might have seen this video mashing various clips of Carl Sagan into a music video.

It’s apparently part of the Symphony of Science, a project that seeks to deliver scientific knowledge and philosophy in musical form. The state of the website suggests the project is in the earliest stages. It’s not at all clear to me how putting Sagan to a catchy tune and beat will add to the communicative value of his message. I hope that becomes clear as the work develops.