Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
It's firefly and June bug season on Nantucket and the fireflies are out in force. Check out this article from a few years back that I wrote for Yesterday's Island. As the summer warms up these species are indicators that the 4th of July is right around the corner: http://www.yesterdaysisland.com/archives/science/9.php
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Today I am writing an article for my weekly column in Yesterday's Island (Island Science at http://www.yesterdaysisland.com/) about the recent hysteria over the Great White sharks around the Cape and Islands and commenting on the clearing of the beaches last weekend over what turned out to be sunfish (Mola Mola) which are relatively common here. Here's a link to the past week's news stories:
The Nantucket Field Station has helped to house and support some of the researchers who have been tagging great White Sharks like Dr. Greg Skomal of Shark Week Fame. I have just discovered this site which has a lot of information on what's up in shark news "without the hysteria".
Over the past few years I have written articles in Yesterday's Island about the lumbering sunfish and as I resurrect this blog I thought I would dust one off and revisit why people think "shark!", when in reality it is more likely to be a dolphin, whales, or sunfish.
Oddballs of the sea!
The Nantucket Field Station has helped to house and support some of the researchers who have been tagging great White Sharks like Dr. Greg Skomal of Shark Week Fame. I have just discovered this site which has a lot of information on what's up in shark news "without the hysteria".
Over the past few years I have written articles in Yesterday's Island about the lumbering sunfish and as I resurrect this blog I thought I would dust one off and revisit why people think "shark!", when in reality it is more likely to be a dolphin, whales, or sunfish.
Oddballs of the sea!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
wine and aging-sleepless at Logan
well, one of the few good things about missing your connection at Logan from Nantucket due to fog (normal for flights off the Rock) and having a solid 12 hours of quality time to spend at the aiport is that I finally get to catch up on my blog.
My brother kindly got me the newest version of Dragon Speaking Naturally as a Christmas present. Each year he asks me what I'd like (typical family ingrained practicality trait) and I've always wanted to try speech recongition software in order to speed up my writing and spare my wrists from a second set of carpal tunnel surgery.
During the spring, summer and fall, I write a weekly column (1500-2000 words) for Yesterday's Island which is published online and in print on island. Last week's article on wine and aging was my first attempt to use Dragon and I was pleasantly surprised by the ease of use. I was able to speak/type the first 650 words in about 5-10 minutes. I can type about 40-45 words per minute, but I'm not very accurate, so I'll take any help I can get. I haven't had the chance to see how well it works with a lot of noise like a TV program in the background, but I am hoping that I can use it in a variety of ways each week. Like most people, I have my "best" ideas for columns or research or education or whatever in inverse proportion to my distance from a pen and paper, so lately I've taken to carrying around an ancient voice recorder to speak into when the muse strikes. Dragon has a button for transcribing, so my next experiment will be to see how well my static-y recorded voice is transcribed.
This past month, we've been doing twice daily horseshoe crab surveys in the marsh and along the beachfront on the full and new moon cycles and 48 hours before and after each anticipated high tide. Here's an article I wrote two years and many crabs ago. I'll update it soon with some information gleaned from late night surreal surveys.
My brother kindly got me the newest version of Dragon Speaking Naturally as a Christmas present. Each year he asks me what I'd like (typical family ingrained practicality trait) and I've always wanted to try speech recongition software in order to speed up my writing and spare my wrists from a second set of carpal tunnel surgery.
During the spring, summer and fall, I write a weekly column (1500-2000 words) for Yesterday's Island which is published online and in print on island. Last week's article on wine and aging was my first attempt to use Dragon and I was pleasantly surprised by the ease of use. I was able to speak/type the first 650 words in about 5-10 minutes. I can type about 40-45 words per minute, but I'm not very accurate, so I'll take any help I can get. I haven't had the chance to see how well it works with a lot of noise like a TV program in the background, but I am hoping that I can use it in a variety of ways each week. Like most people, I have my "best" ideas for columns or research or education or whatever in inverse proportion to my distance from a pen and paper, so lately I've taken to carrying around an ancient voice recorder to speak into when the muse strikes. Dragon has a button for transcribing, so my next experiment will be to see how well my static-y recorded voice is transcribed.
This past month, we've been doing twice daily horseshoe crab surveys in the marsh and along the beachfront on the full and new moon cycles and 48 hours before and after each anticipated high tide. Here's an article I wrote two years and many crabs ago. I'll update it soon with some information gleaned from late night surreal surveys.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Weird bone report
Andrew McKenna-Foster, the Natural Science Research and Education Director at the Maria Mitchell Association found this weird bone in their collection a few weeks back. Any guesses as to what it is??
It is very rounded and smooth; no identifying tags or location clues besides being here on Nantucket (which can be a red herring with all the trade and travel initiated by the whalers).
While I was looking around the web for some clues to this mystery, I came upon this site and really liked it, so I thought I would share it with you: http://www.neatorama.com/tag/fossil/
Lots of fun fossils on there, one of my favorites is a member of a family of giant armored turtles called meiolaniid which can be seen at the Smithsonian Natural History museum in DC. If you are ever in the area, check out some of our greatest national treasures, the various free Smithsonian museums (19 at last count) on the Mall in DC:
It is very rounded and smooth; no identifying tags or location clues besides being here on Nantucket (which can be a red herring with all the trade and travel initiated by the whalers).
While I was looking around the web for some clues to this mystery, I came upon this site and really liked it, so I thought I would share it with you: http://www.neatorama.com/tag/fossil/
Lots of fun fossils on there, one of my favorites is a member of a family of giant armored turtles called meiolaniid which can be seen at the Smithsonian Natural History museum in DC. If you are ever in the area, check out some of our greatest national treasures, the various free Smithsonian museums (19 at last count) on the Mall in DC:
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Pump up the volume
Every morning I have been dragging my sorry butt downstairs to the shop to jog on my treadmill. This morning, our Labradoodle, Swegen, decided his new game would be to toss a tennis ball over, under, on, or around me as I am jogging. I'd like to say a graceful dance ensued, a pas de deux of human and animal, but in reality, it led to a very quick coda with said dog getting to explore the snow outside on his own.
Like almost everyone else, I enjoy listening to music while I jog. My treadmill has a TV which if connected would be another way to while away the blocks/miles, and I've tried to listen to comedy podcasts and NPR too, but each time, I tend to do much better listening to music. Once in a blue moon I'll forget my itouch or discover I haven't charged it and find out that I do much more poorly without the inspiration. Even with a somewhat eclectic and not all that "beat happy" a play list (My Chemical Romance, Weezer, LIVE, Cake, U2, David Bowie, Flaming Lips, Muddy Waters, White Stripes, insert 90s grunge band here) my gait increases from one of a dead sloth to a mildly motivated Galapagos turtle.And as a certified geek, I know there is some science to back that up: http://www.acefitness.org/certifiednewsarticle/805/
“Music is like is a legal drug for athletes,” says Costas Karageorghis, Ph.D., from London’s Brunel University School of Sport and Education, one of the world’s leading authorities on music and exercise. “It can reduce the perception of effort significantly and increase endurance by as much as 15 percent.”
I am not specifically advocating for the following sites, but there are many on the web that let you find a series of songs at a specific beat per Minute (BPM) to help you exercise; try: http://jogtunes.com/ or http://www.runningmusicmix.com/and of course, Lifehackers.
So get out there or in there, keep the dog out of the way or entertained, and enjoy.
Friday, February 11, 2011
spelling bee, quentin the quahog and a good blog to read
Many people think that there is not much to do on Nantucket in the wintertime; and for islanders, this is what we keep wanting them to think. But, it's not true, in fact, just the opposite. Winter is our time to socialize, to get out and spend time with friends, to take long walks in the Middle Moors, and to do things that make life on "the Rock" special. This is even more important this winter, when travel to "America" has been a bit more challenging.
Tonight, for example- there are at least 3 or more social events happening on island; all of which have the possibility of being uplifting, entertaining, and educational.
1) Sustainable Nantucket presents a screening of the Film "The End of the Line" with a Q&A with local fisherman: more info at http://www.libraryinsight.com/eventdetails.asp?v=3&jx=nd&lmx=322281
2) one of the many "One Book One Island (OBOI): events this week. A showing of "The Tuskegee Airmen at the African Meeting House; Len is organizing some music and the readings. http://www.nantucketatheneum.org/programs-events/for-adults/one-book-one-island-2011/
3) our normal Friday night event: trivia night at the Rose and Crown; we usually fill up two 6 person teams (boys and girls ;-)) Our team names are BassAckwards and Clueless; tonight's fun is a benefit for Family Planning and includes raffle items. Every week, almost everyone we knows shows up for trivia for a chance to win cash and bragging rights.
Speaking of bragging rights :-) the Civic League Team (Members include myself and Chris Lohmann and Peter Morrison) won our island Spelling Bee last week which is a benefit for the "Friends of the Nantucket Public Schools ( . Here's a picture of our team with our trophy and t-shirt costumes and a link to the story. It was a hard fought battle- we have some amazing spellers on island, many of whom study and practice and come back every year (21 teams) and we just barely squeaked by Nantucket Bookworks! Example words: lederhosen, nachtmusik, dachshund, perestroika, knish, schloss, quixote (with the hard pronunciation), philhellenism, sayonara, sarsaparilla (both teams- down to two then, forgot the second "a" out of 4 "a"s, and jipijapa (pronounced "hippy-hopa").
the last two weeks have been full of other OBOI events, potlucks, superbowl parties, long chats in the produce aisle, seeing one another at the high school science fair, and competing in trivia and game nights. Quentin the quahog is our version Punxsutawney Phil. This year he squirted to the left indicating 6 more weeks of winter.
For the next few weeks, the political atmosphere will heat up on island as we prepare for Annual Town Meeting and our yearly elections as well as open a brand new public safety facility. Summertime, we become more serious, work 12-16 hour days, marvel/curse at the increase of population from 15,000 to 60,000 people not counting tourists, and while we enjoy the warmth, we look forward to our "social season".
If you have made it this far in today's entry, please go read and sign up for this excellent blog by my friend and colleague, Dr. Greg Smith! [http://natorder.blogspot.com/].... today's post covers a recent topic currently circulating among island biologists and conservationists concerning feral cats.
Tonight, for example- there are at least 3 or more social events happening on island; all of which have the possibility of being uplifting, entertaining, and educational.
1) Sustainable Nantucket presents a screening of the Film "The End of the Line" with a Q&A with local fisherman: more info at http://www.libraryinsight.com/eventdetails.asp?v=3&jx=nd&lmx=322281
2) one of the many "One Book One Island (OBOI): events this week. A showing of "The Tuskegee Airmen at the African Meeting House; Len is organizing some music and the readings. http://www.nantucketatheneum.org/programs-events/for-adults/one-book-one-island-2011/
3) our normal Friday night event: trivia night at the Rose and Crown; we usually fill up two 6 person teams (boys and girls ;-)) Our team names are BassAckwards and Clueless; tonight's fun is a benefit for Family Planning and includes raffle items. Every week, almost everyone we knows shows up for trivia for a chance to win cash and bragging rights.
Speaking of bragging rights :-) the Civic League Team (Members include myself and Chris Lohmann and Peter Morrison) won our island Spelling Bee last week which is a benefit for the "Friends of the Nantucket Public Schools ( . Here's a picture of our team with our trophy and t-shirt costumes and a link to the story. It was a hard fought battle- we have some amazing spellers on island, many of whom study and practice and come back every year (21 teams) and we just barely squeaked by Nantucket Bookworks! Example words: lederhosen, nachtmusik, dachshund, perestroika, knish, schloss, quixote (with the hard pronunciation), philhellenism, sayonara, sarsaparilla (both teams- down to two then, forgot the second "a" out of 4 "a"s, and jipijapa (pronounced "hippy-hopa").
the last two weeks have been full of other OBOI events, potlucks, superbowl parties, long chats in the produce aisle, seeing one another at the high school science fair, and competing in trivia and game nights. Quentin the quahog is our version Punxsutawney Phil. This year he squirted to the left indicating 6 more weeks of winter.
For the next few weeks, the political atmosphere will heat up on island as we prepare for Annual Town Meeting and our yearly elections as well as open a brand new public safety facility. Summertime, we become more serious, work 12-16 hour days, marvel/curse at the increase of population from 15,000 to 60,000 people not counting tourists, and while we enjoy the warmth, we look forward to our "social season".
If you have made it this far in today's entry, please go read and sign up for this excellent blog by my friend and colleague, Dr. Greg Smith! [http://natorder.blogspot.com/].... today's post covers a recent topic currently circulating among island biologists and conservationists concerning feral cats.
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