Five Things

Alex over at Myrmecos Blog tagged me, so I'm "it":

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago:

• Celebrating my 4-month wedding anniversary
• Attending Quad City Mallards games
• Passing my comprehensive exam (for the PhD I decided not to get)
• Planning my next fieldtrip to Baja (for the PhD I decided not to get)
• Reading century-old manuscripts by C.V. Riley on the pollination of yuccas by yucca moths (ditto)

5 Things On My To-Do List Today:

• Grade a stack of freshman lab reports on cellular respiration
• Take Emma out to lunch
• Pick out a Christmas tree
• Grill up some nice sirloin steaks for dinner
• Meet with Emma's 2nd grade teacher during parent-teacher night

5 Snacks I Love:

• chips and salsa
• chocolate-covered pretzels
• honey-roasted peanuts
• buffalo wings
• prosciutto

5 Things I’d do if I was a Millionaire:

• acquire a vessel
• take a long vacation in Italy
• buy Linda that new ring she wants
• purchase some acres in Maine or on Cape Cod
• add to Emma's and Jack's college fund

5 Places I've Lived:

• Shrewsbury, MA
• Brunswick, ME
• Iowa City, IA
• Cranston, RI
• Polacca, AZ

5 Jobs I've Had:

• record store clerk
• Cutco knife salesman
• Marine Research Specialist (fancy name for "lab tech")
• stay-at-home dad
• high school science teacher (I lasted 1 semester!)

And now I tag Linda, Sarah, Kathy, Miriam, and Emile.

I've always wanted one of these

Michael over at The Dispersal of Darwin has graciously bestowed upon this humble (yeah right!) blog the award of excellence. Thank you, Michael. I am honored.

The acceptance of this award seems to stipulate that I nominate other blogs for this award. Well, the number of blogs I read is relatively small. Those that I deem excellent and thus read daily (if not hourly) are those that I have added to the right over there under "Me Bloggin' Mates". So, if your blog appears there, consider yourself nominated for blogging excellence. Occasionally, I add new blogs to my blogroll, so if your name is added in the future, please also consider yourself nominated for this prestigious award.

Happy Hallo-Meme!

Rick MacPherson (any relation to Dick?) tagged me with this meme about the worst science-themed horror movies over the weekend. I was too busy being warmed by the glow of victorious New England sports team to respond until now.

Now that the dust has settled, I'm happy to oblige.

I'm not sure that this counts as horror, but this one certainly is frightful



(update: for those of you who need to replenish some brain cells after watching that, go check out the real deal about fireflies over at the Other 95%)

Seriously now, I have to admit that I was never a fan of horror movies, even the cheesy silly ones, so I really can't pick out a favorite. I do however remember watching the Creature Double Feature on Channel 56 WLVI when I was little. So in honor of those really awful shows, I give you the the following clip:



I think Rick tagged everyone I would have tagged myself (my blogocircle is rather small), so I'm going to pass on passing on this meme.

The Pharyngula Mutating Genre Meme

Dale over at The Meming of Life has tagged me with this convoluted experiment started by PZ Myers. It took me a while to figure it out, but I think I've successfully maneuvered my brain around it, so I'll give it a shot. Besides, my memetic legacy hinges on my successful completion of this challenge.

THE RULES

There is a set of questions below, all of the form , “The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is…”.

Copy the questions. Before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations:

> You can leave them exactly as is.

> You can delete any one question.

> You can mutate either the genre, medium or subgenre of any one question. For instance, you could change “The best timetravel novel in SF/ Fantasy is…” to “The best timetravel novel in Westerns is…” , or ”the best timetravel movie in SF/Fantasy is…, or ”The best Romance novel in SF/Fantasy is…”

> You can add a completely new question of your choice to the end of the list, as long as it is still in the form “The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is…”.

> You must have at least one question in your set, or you’ve gone extinct, and you must be able to answer it yourself, or you’re not viable.

Then answer your possibly mutant set of questions.

Please do include a link back to the ‘parent’ blog you got them from, (e.g. FROM ARCHAEA TO ZEAXANTHOL), to simplify tracing the ancestry, and include these instructions.

Finally, pass it along to any number of your fellow bloggers.

Remember though: your success as a Darwinian replicator is going to be measured by the propagation of your variants, which is going to be a function of both the interest your well-honed questions generate, and the number of successful attempts at reproducing them.

MY LINEAGE

My great-great-grandfather is Pharyngula.

My great-grandfather is The Flying Trilobite.

My nonna is Leslie’s Blog.

Daddy dearest is The Meming of Life

THE MUTATING MEME

THE MEMING OF LIFE’s mutation:

*The best romantic movie in scientific dystopia is: THX 1138

*The best sexy song in traditional is: “Chan Chan” by the Buena Vista Social Club

*The best satirical movie in comedy is: Life of Brian

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FROM ARCHAEA TO ZEAXANTHOL's memetic code:
I'm taking some risks here - "dumbing" down the memetic pool as it were - it's either a brilliant move or memetic suicide. I'm banking on the former - have you seen "Idiocracy"?

*The best romantic movie in comedy is: The Princess Bride

*The best sexy song in 80's hard rock is: "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard

*The best satirical movie in comedy is: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

Passing on the meme:
(Hopefully I don't have any MTDs)

the Other 95%

Deep Sea News

Aardvarchaeology

Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice, and Sunsets

I'll stop there. I don't want to get a reputation for being promiscuous.