Summer thoughts

Random thoughts:

1) What is it with kindergarten/elementary school/middle school graduations, complete with cap and gown and diploma?  "Graduating" from elementary school is not an accomplishment. You cannot be Class of 2012 in the 8th grade...no, try making it through senior year of high school and then properly celebrate that accomplishment in 2016. Is this a regional thing or a generational thing? I don't remember any of the sort during my primary and secondary education.

2) I am loving the long days of summer. It's light when I wake up and when I return home, which adds so much productivity and energy to my day.

3) Orange marmalade is bitter, huh? I guess I'm used to Smucker's, which is sweeter than a treacle tart. This TJ's Seville Orange Marmalade is sweet with a distinct bitter edge. I like it.

4) Thank goodness I went the medical school and not the Ph.D route. No doubt, I love research but man, the competitiveness (irony?) and the (lack of) funding. People in my lab have been post docs for 10+ years. 10 years! These are really smart people we are talking about, underpaid, overworked and still chugging away within a very flawed promotion system.

5) I am not ready to return to the wards! I like my research year...let me stay! Can I graduate and just get assigned a residency here and skip the whole application/interview process?

6) On the other hand, I am ready for a change of pace. And a break.  Bring it on, 4th year electives!!!

Memories past

I am home for the holidays. Yesterday, I visited my high school, after several years of not setting foot inside.  What a walk down memory lane.

A few things struck me:
1. Why do all my teachers look exactly the same? High school must be some sort of time warp where the youth and vigor from all its perky (or surly) teens infuses into its older inhabitants.
2. High schoolers? They look like babies. How did I even feed myself at age?
3. My English teacher, Mrs. G, still has an uncanny ability to stare straight into your soul. And she has those large batwing classes too. She is a living Sybill Trewlawny (from Harry Potter).

I am very lucky to have spent my formative teenage years at this place, where the teachers are dedicated, encouraging, and invested in what they do. So thanks Mr. and Mrs. B, Mrs. C, Mrs. G! You were and are amazing!

Flash mob

I'm so getting into the holiday spirit this year.  Check out the video above.  This type of thing always makes me smile.

I ran into the Dean of Student Affairs at a holiday event the other day and somehow, the conversation turned to flash mobs. I suggested that the medical school needed its own flash mob and without a moment's hesitation, she agreed with enthusiasm.  A few seconds later, she grinned and said, "But don't tell anyone I encouraged it." Someday... :)

Why do some birds hop and others walk?

I've wondered about this for years!  You know, when you see a sparrow hopping and then right next to it, a blackbird is walking.  My friend, a much of a bird nerd as I, provides the answer:

http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Walking_vs_Hopping.html

 

Walking vs. Hopping A bird moving along a telephone wire does not walk like a tightrope artist; instead, the bird will "sidestep," "switch-sidle," or "hop." Sidestepping (the way that people typically move along a ledge) involves alternately lifting each foot and moving it to the side while continuing to keep the same foot ahead. Switch-sidling means moving to the right or to the left by crossing one foot over the other in an exaggerated "pigeon-toed" step. Hopping, of course, requires moving both feet simultaneously.

When unconstrained by such a narrow perch, many birds walk or run using the alternating strides typical of most bipeds. Others, particularly small, arboreally inclined species, commonly hop. It is uncertain why hopping is more common in smaller birds. The evidence seems to point to economy of effort: short-legged birds move farther in a single hop than they do taking several steps, whereas it is more economical for larger birds, with longer strides, to move one leg at a time.

Although birds of the same taxonomic groups frequently share a common pattern of locomotion on the ground, the patterns often have exceptions. Most passerines hop, but others, such as larks, pipits, starlings, and meadowlarks, typically stride. Within the family Corvidae, jays hop whereas crows stride. Diverse species, including robins, ravens, and blackbirds, both hop and stride. Whether a physically unconstrained bird hops or strides is not just a question of anatomy; speed also affects choice of locomotion -- a hopper in a hurry tends to break into a run.

Leg length is not only related to locomotory mode but also associated, among other things, with foraging style. For example, among ground gleaners and waders, species with shorter legs forage in shallower debris or water. Some ground foragers (especially buntings, towhees, juncos, and sparrows) are more likely to use a method of foraging called "double-scratching," a maneuver involving little more than hopping in place. But here, too, there is no simple division between birds that hop, stride, and double-scratch. Some striders double-scratch and some hoppers do not.

Recording the locomotory patterns in local bird species in different circumstances could be helpful in determining, for example, the conditions under which birds that typically hop when on perches (such as jays, flickers, and House Sparrows) continue to hop when on the ground and under which conditions they do not.

Rain, rain

It rained yesterday. Hard. I had the stroke of genius to go grocery shopping. Granted, it was only drizzling when I started shopping. I then had another stroke of genius and requested paper bags, because you know, let's go green - hurrah!  The grocery clerk gave me a funny look after glancing out the window at the deluge, but I insisted.  About half way home, my paper bag grocery quest had officially become Operation Fail - the bags were soaked through and ripped open. At this point, I had given up on my umbrella and was resigned to becoming soaked.  I ended up leaving the bags and then flagging down the next cab - boo waste of money and effort. Unless you consider that I finally had fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and apricots to enjoy on my rainy day.

Random

Because who doesn't like a picture of a cute puppy? The fish is kind of random though, but I like it. I'm going to avoid going Freudian on this one.