I'm back from SVPCA to a chorus of "Did you have a nice holiday?" from my well-meaning workmates (they have no idea - I need another week off!). My computer is well and truly dead, so we'll see if I can get myself a new one by SVP. Eek. Prepare for a long-ish post (but not as long as Laelaps manages on a very regular basis!).
So what's been happening? Well, Boneyard #4 is up at When Pigs Fly Returns. It's a great one, and nice to see some of Laelaps' posts in (he's too modest for his own good!). Must stress, at least until Zach can change it, that it's my husband's uncle's blog he's linked to, not my husband's - Paul wants me to reiterate that there's no way he looks that old...
So what's been happening? Well, Boneyard #4 is up at When Pigs Fly Returns. It's a great one, and nice to see some of Laelaps' posts in (he's too modest for his own good!). Must stress, at least until Zach can change it, that it's my husband's uncle's blog he's linked to, not my husband's - Paul wants me to reiterate that there's no way he looks that old...
I'm hosting it on 15 September, so send me anything you want to go in, or you can e-mail me - will get a proper mailto sorted (Paul's got a cool anti-spam job, and I want the same), but for now send it to "julia" at this domain. I'm already collecting some fine specimens.
A very pleasant surprise while I was at SVPCA was to be nominated for a Thinking Blogger Award by Chris of Catalogue Of Organisms. Thank you very much Chris - I have learned more about spiders in the couple of months I've subscribed to his blog than I ever knew before. As is the law, I must nominate five blogs that make me think, so...
1. Ask Doctor Vector
I first met Matt Wedel at SVP in 2003, when I'd just given my talk on Cetiosauriscus. Really liked his recent post on discovering one's Cope-Marsh number.
2. Clamouring To Become Visible
It's not nepotism if the blogger's work would blow you away even if you weren't married to him. Paul is my husband, and an aspiring writer. I think his fiction is brilliant (if a little disturbing), but he always makes me think (even if sometimes it's "should I be scared by this story?"). His recent short story The Angel And The Path nearly made me cry.
3. Atheist Perspective
I'm not brave enough to have formed the conclusion that there is definitely no God. But nonetheless I thoroughly enjoy reading Michael's blog, and he always manages to pick out ways that supposedly religious people shoot themselves in the foot.
4. Highly Allochthonous
Chris picks up where I and my palaeontological buddies freak out at the sign of an igneous rock. He and I did geology at Cambridge together, although he was in the year group above me. Although my abiding memory of him is stuffed Pokemon toys flying round the library during exam term, I find most inspiration in his very honest tales of life as a postdoc.
5. On Being A Scientist And A Woman
I don't know ScienceWoman, and would never expect to know who she is, for that would ruin her extremely honest blog. Occasionally, some of the woman-in-academia blogs I read get very defensive and quite bitter. I'm guilty of bitterness myself. ScienceWoman takes a different approach. Somehow her writing style, and her entire mindset in fact, gets across all the various hurdles she has to overcome (how many male professors have to make sure they've expressed enough milk for their baby before they go to work?). So if you ever read this, ScienceWoman, thank you for helping me to see things differently.
Now, I deliberately left out blogs that already have Thinking Blogger Awards (or at least those who have displayed the symbol), because I want to highlight some that may not have a lot of traffic (at least of the nominating variety). But of course, you have to check out these too (already recipients or honourable mentions): Laelaps, Catalogue Of Organisms (my nominator), Tetrapod Zoology (nice to meet you Darren!), Fresh Brainz, On With My Life... and Microecos.
More on SVPCA coming up, along with photos, but only when I get home. The plants have done well in my absence - not only surviving but positively flourishing. Now I know every parent wants their children to be okay if they have to go away, but I think my Asplenium scolopendrium, after a month of nothing, is taking the piss frankly by sporing AND growing new fronds.
1. Ask Doctor Vector
I first met Matt Wedel at SVP in 2003, when I'd just given my talk on Cetiosauriscus. Really liked his recent post on discovering one's Cope-Marsh number.
2. Clamouring To Become Visible
It's not nepotism if the blogger's work would blow you away even if you weren't married to him. Paul is my husband, and an aspiring writer. I think his fiction is brilliant (if a little disturbing), but he always makes me think (even if sometimes it's "should I be scared by this story?"). His recent short story The Angel And The Path nearly made me cry.
3. Atheist Perspective
I'm not brave enough to have formed the conclusion that there is definitely no God. But nonetheless I thoroughly enjoy reading Michael's blog, and he always manages to pick out ways that supposedly religious people shoot themselves in the foot.
4. Highly Allochthonous
Chris picks up where I and my palaeontological buddies freak out at the sign of an igneous rock. He and I did geology at Cambridge together, although he was in the year group above me. Although my abiding memory of him is stuffed Pokemon toys flying round the library during exam term, I find most inspiration in his very honest tales of life as a postdoc.
5. On Being A Scientist And A Woman
I don't know ScienceWoman, and would never expect to know who she is, for that would ruin her extremely honest blog. Occasionally, some of the woman-in-academia blogs I read get very defensive and quite bitter. I'm guilty of bitterness myself. ScienceWoman takes a different approach. Somehow her writing style, and her entire mindset in fact, gets across all the various hurdles she has to overcome (how many male professors have to make sure they've expressed enough milk for their baby before they go to work?). So if you ever read this, ScienceWoman, thank you for helping me to see things differently.
Now, I deliberately left out blogs that already have Thinking Blogger Awards (or at least those who have displayed the symbol), because I want to highlight some that may not have a lot of traffic (at least of the nominating variety). But of course, you have to check out these too (already recipients or honourable mentions): Laelaps, Catalogue Of Organisms (my nominator), Tetrapod Zoology (nice to meet you Darren!), Fresh Brainz, On With My Life... and Microecos.
More on SVPCA coming up, along with photos, but only when I get home. The plants have done well in my absence - not only surviving but positively flourishing. Now I know every parent wants their children to be okay if they have to go away, but I think my Asplenium scolopendrium, after a month of nothing, is taking the piss frankly by sporing AND growing new fronds.
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