begin rant

It is announcements like this one that remind me why I should take my current graduate studies seriously. While I may not be directly involved with the crafting of said bioengineered organisms, I am examining and exploring the small-scale dispersal of a creature difficult to observe. This experience may prove vital in exploring the consequences of a large-scale release of some future engineered creature.

"The purpose of the USDA Biotechnology Risk Assessment Grants (BRAG) Program is to assist Federal regulatory agencies in making science-based decisions about the effects of introducing genetically modified organisms into the environment. Investigations of effects on both managed and natural environments are relevant. Applications to the USDA BRAG Program must seek partial funding for a conference or address one of the following areas:

1. Identify and develop practices to minimize risks associated with genetically engineered organisms;
2. Research methods to monitor the dispersal of genetically engineered organisms;
3. Research to increase knowledge about the characteristics, rates, and methods of gene transfer that may occur between genetically engineered organisms, and related organisms;
4. Perform assessments to provide analysis which compares impacts of organisms modified through genetic engineering to other types of production systems;
5. Other areas of research designed to further the purposes of the USDA BRAG program."

I need to keep my eyes on this money, because I would like to work with whatever labs become more directly involved in tackling this project.

Posted by Derksen at 2:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh, Benadryl, why must you be so perfect an antihistamine for my allergies, and yet so cruel in your side effects? Two small pills, and all my sneezing goes away - but I cannot walk, let alone operate heavy machinery in your presence. After dosing, I get from two to ten minutes of clarity and perfect breathing, and then unconsciousness sets in with the power and surprising subtlety of a blizzard in the night.

I took a pair last night at around seven, and I am still a little bit groggy and bleary-eyed.

Posted by Derksen at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Without imagination we are nothing, and without bold ventures and risks nothing great of permanence is attainable."
- from the introduction to Jack Chalker's Lords of the Middle Dark

Posted by Derksen at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Adult Geiger beetles aggregating on the underside of a leaf on a Geiger tree just off of US1 on the road to Key West. The beetles are precinctive to the area, and the Geiger tree is their only known host. A friend of mine is working on some of the interesting defensive behavior that the beetles' larvae display.

Posted by Derksen at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My friend Jeremy Tolbert has always been a something of a visionary. He was the guy who always saw a little farther down the road than the rest of us, and came up with these amazing plans for businesses or technologies that would revolutionize the world. I will admit to having disparaged some of his ideas as outlandish or impossible from time to time, but he worked persistently to implement or create some of those ideas in spite of critics like his former roommate, and had a moderate degree of success.

Where he did not always succeed, his ideas sometimes did.

Somebody would eventually come up with a "massively multiplayer online roleplaying game", or a social networking system worth billions, or a new way to look at DNA expression that better explained the system, and filled people's imagination and other more fiscal needs.

It was no surprise that he would eventually turn to writing. He has a few short stories published here and there in magazines of speculative fiction, and at one time or another has run such a magazine himself. Yesterday, he released his "intensely personal story of death, Led Zeppelin, and how families cope with death, Babe, I am Going to Leave You" as a free creative-commons tale on the internet. I think that maybe you ought to read it. And while you are at it, you might as well read one or two other things he has written. He is a talented and creative guy, and I'd hate for you to miss out.

Posted by Derksen at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Derksen at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Folks who have known me entirely too long for their own good might be amused to take note of the following lab vehicle:

It is almost as old as my old yeep, and has just as many problems with the air conditioning, power steering, brakes, windows, engine, and oil - but it is also just as responsive as my old warhorse once was. In fact, when I first made its acquaintance, I was not completely certain that it was not my old beast. It would have been fitting and appropriate for us to have found one another thousands of miles from where we last parted ways.

For such a lunker of a car, it handles pretty well - and could probably manage any exit that the highway might provide.

Posted by Derksen at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You know, there is something to be said for striking while the iron is hot. Lately, I've been entirely too distracted for my own good. This leaves me full of ideas and potential... that are sadly often left incomplete. I am trying to put the pieces back together into the semblance of a human being, but there are fits and false starts. It is going to take a lot of personal effort to finish this degree while simultaneously trying to figure out where I am going next, and why I will be going there - all while trying to retain or manage the ghost of a personal life that might give greater meaning or purpose to the whole process of human existence.

There is also something to be said for productive slacking. Yesterday evening, my roommate and I tore out of here to see a concert. I did not get anything degree-related accomplished last night, but I have been remarkably productive thus far this morning. I may be easily distracted, but if I am at peace, I can focus on completing even a distasteful and uninteresting task.

I obviously need more slack in my life. As always, I am open to suggestion.

Posted by Derksen at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While searching for recent publications on my research creature of focus, I stumbled upon the UniProt database entry for the two sequences used to develop a phylogeny for family Thripidae. It is almost enough to drive me in search of the ITS1 and ITS2 sequences for the species, because I am sure it would further illuminate the phylogeny for the family as a whole.

Maybe later, when I am not supposed to be working on the dispersal ecology of the critter?

Posted by Derksen at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)