A Free Man

Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics, started to study the mechanisms of heredity after observing variations in flower color in his garden pea plants. He began to notice patterns from season to season and ultimately was able to predict the frequency of one flower color occuring in subsequent generations versus another. What started with attention to detail ended up as a set of natural laws that still stand unchanged 150 years later.

It’s serendipitous discoveries, like Mendel’s peas,  that have driven most of the great scientific discoveries over time. Something can start off as a curiosity and evolve into a groundbreaking revelation. So, one, especially if that one is a geneticist, can’t help but swell with a bit of pride when sent a photo like this. My young son is clearly demonstrating a scientific curiosity and spectacular powers of observation. Maybe he’ll get that Nobel prize that his Papa fell (well) short of…

….or maybe not.

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Ego bubble unceremoniously popped, I thought I would turn my narcissism outward and point you all at the folks that are doing this blogging thing better than I. I was talking to a friend about my apparent good karma today (let’s talk about that later) and I figure I better spread it around a bit to keep it coming. Here are some of my recent favorites:

Politics: If you’re not supplementing your election coverage with the Wonkette, then you’re taking this whole 2008 election far too seriously. While I occassionally disagree with their politics, the Wonkette folks are treating the race with just the right amount of gravitas.

Science: I tend to recoil from “old media” blogs, but Nature’s online commentary is excellent. The Great Beyond covers ‘hot’ science with just enough sarcasm and humour to keep it accessible and interesting. Nice work from the scientific “Grey Lady”.

Music: One of my favorite music bloggers these days is a 24 year old primary school teacher from Down Under. It’s a great statement about the democratization of media and I guess I’m just surprised that a school teacher has her fingers so perfectly on the pulse of new music. Impeccable taste and a way with words - check out Agnes at It All Started With Carbon Monoxide.

Personal: One blog that I’ve recently stumbled upon is really tickling my fancy lately. Formerly Fun is authored by a Southern California bikini waxer. If that doesn’t encourage you to give her a click then your priorities are all sorts of misplaced. She’s dead funny, prolific and spends just the right amount of time talking about mons pubis (or is that mons pubii?).

Wild Card: Finally, Garfield Minus Garfield. Ryan pointed me in the direction of this site which, as you may have guessed, is based on the hackneyed cat comic strip. Turns out that if you remove the title character, you go from having a fairly unfunny comic strip to a horse of an entirely different color. Garfield Minus Garfield is a portrait of the inner workings of one lonely, slightly disturbed, feline-less man. Even if you don’t like Garfield, especially if you don’t like Garfield - this one’s for you.

Wishing you a great weekend from Happy Valley.

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Update

While I’m spreading the love, I just have to point you to this post from one of my long-time favorites. Schadenfreude.

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The Dandy Warhols’ “Welcome to the Monkey House” is available from .

 

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