--- 1 --- If you're only going to read one link I put in the Quick Takes, make it this one on the way an over-reliance on mice may be screwing up our understanding of human disease. Mark Mattson knows a lot about mice and rats. He's fed them; he's bred them; he's cut their heads open with a scalpel... Still, he never quite noticed how fat they were—how bloated and sedentary and sickly—until a Tuesday afternoon in February 2007. That's the day it occurred to him, while giving a lecture at … [Read more...]

--- 1 --- This will be a lightning-quick Quick Takes since I found myself unexpectedly travelling for work this week and am now both exhausted and in the tackiest city on earth.  (Well, maybe second tackiest after Dollywood).  Once I'm back on the East Coast, I'm looking forward to responding to some of the comments on "The Matriarchy Trap" and "How do you pick a teacher?"  For now, a whirlwind tour of links. --- 2 --- The image above is a stained glass window depicting "Our Lady of … [Read more...]

--- 1 --- Sorry for a delay in posting and responding to comments.  Halloween fast approaches, and I've been spending pretty much all my spare time with my sewing machine, trying to finish a costume in time.  It's cyberpunk themed, and I'll tell you I got two of the patterns I'm using from here and here. It turns out I'm not even the only one of my friends doing a neo-victorian take on cyberpunk, since one friend of mine is going as the protagonist from Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age: … [Read more...]