Driving to the science-blogging conference

I made it! After a late start and a long drive, LotStreetWiz and I arrived at Research Triangle Park at 02:45 this morning.

Saturday is a blogging skills session and a lab tour: for me, behind the scenes at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

Lawnmower dinosaur

A living lawnmower, Nigersaurus taqueti, has been reconstructed from fossil bones discovered in the Sahara desert. The dinosaur is on exhibit in Washington, D.C. so we will plan on seeing it during our winter trip to the U.S.

A CAT scan of the skull reveals that more narrow teeth are lined up behind the ones in use, ready to drop into their sockets like the leads in a mechanical pencil.

Dinosaurs of China in Miami, Florida

We're planning our winter holiday. That's a chance for me to see the Dinosaurs of China exhibit in Miami, before they go back to China. The exhibit is at the Miami Museum of Science and Space.

Human flying squirrels

I am never going to try this, but it is amazing just to watch: the mountain wingsuit demo by Espin Jones and friends.

(Hat tip to LotStreetWiz at Road of Iron for the link)

LOLcats: Monorail Cat is offline

This is about what I feel like tonight:


I'm home from New Orleans. All the cats are in and accounted for. The kittens are visibly bigger. I'm going to get some rest.

In New Orleans!

I slept in, missed the Community Service day, but walked "all over" the French Quarter for three hours, looking at lots of nice three-storey houses with iron-railed balconies. I had some crackers in the morning, then wandered around for almost three hours before finding the Cafe du Monde and its famous French beignets - a sort of puffy pillow of eggy pastry, deep-fried and then whisked to your table. Finally, a reason for powdered sugar! It keeps the beignets warm. Back at the hotel (Canal & Bourbon), I went to the conference welcoming buffet - a good thing, too, I was hungry.

Then a group of us went out again - I wanted a dark ale and they were after oysters. We waited in line for half an hour, then got into one oyster place where we could stand by the bar watching patient fellows shuck live oysters for our pleasure. I slipped away, ogling the costumes in the street -- it's the Saturday before Halowe'en. The streets are narrow - buld before cars were thought of, they're at most two lanes wide. One of the tourist attractions is a tour by mule-drawn open carriage. But I resisted temptation -- it's $60. So I've had lots of fresh air today.

On the road again!

I'll be travelling tonight, spending four days in New Orleans for the Advanced Technical Communication and Project Management conference, and then travelling again Tuesday night. So posting might be sporadic.

New Orleans is on the south side of the large Lake Pontchartrain. The Mississippi River winds through the city, and downstream the river spreads into an elaborate delta.


I'm planning to spend Saturday working at a Habitat for Humanity. I found a relevant blog: Rebuild New Orleans.

I'll get back to my client just in time to see the results of the IT department's pumpkin-carving contest. I'm always amazed at people's ingenuity, and I've volunteered to take photographs.

Airline sacrifices goat to cure mechanical faults

Over at Tainted Ideals, Dogscratcher has a link to an article about the sacrifice of a goat on the tarmac at Kathmandu airport in Nepal. Read "Let's book a flight."

Ironman nutrition in Madison

For the past few days, I've been trying to stick to a Weight Watchers plan and LotStreetWiz has been trying to eat healthily for an athlete's training plan. He gets to eat about 4,200 Calories a day. It's hard to eat healthily while travelling.

The Chicago Grill Uno Pizzaria was delicious, but the individual pizzas were almost 2,000 Calories each with 4 ounces (130 grams) of fat. My meal there blew away my whole diet budget for the week. No wonder half the patrons were blimps. They should rename it Fat City:


The star is the Panera Bread restaurant. The food is delicious, with sandwiches made with fresh bread, salads, robust mixing of flavours, and home-made soups. There's a bakery with home-made desserts and good coffee. And there's free wireless Internet access. So we're here.

In Madison, Wisconsin

We're here so that LotStreetWiz can swim/bike/run the Wisconsin Ironman. Various offspring are holding the fort at home.

This time, we drove the short way: through Sarnia and Flint, past Detroit, through Chicago around the southern tip of Lake Michigan, west across the tip of Illinois and north to Madison. I think we're about the same latitude as whence we started, perhaps 35 miles further south. This is the short route:

We did the long route in June.

We drove all day across the very glaciated landscape of the Great Lakes area. Along the way I noted various science attractions, such as a Museum of Archaeology in Michigan, a Glacial Lakes and Drumlins park, Rock Cut State Park, and a bog state park.

We were on the road for 13 hours so I'm going to get some sleep. We are staying at the Staybridge Suites in East Madison.

I'm in Wisconsin

LotStreetWiz and I drove to Wisconsin over the last few days: first from Toronto to Sault Ste Marie and then from the Soo to Madison. We've seen a lot of wildlife (an unfortunate amount of it roadkill), lots of rocks, and innumerable trees. I wish I'd brought my tree book. Someone is house-sitting for us, so the cats are not alone.

Tomorrow and Sunday, LotStreetWiz will be out biking. I need to buy a new camera; then I'm thinking of going to the Geology Museum.

I'm wondering if there are any science-bloggers in the area.