Gone

I’m going on indefinite hiatus from all AmoebaMike entities. 

 

Goodbye and thanks for all the support.

Change of Venue

After what is just under 3 years of blogging, I’m changing venues. And form. I think Tumblr is a better fit for me and what I want to accomplish as AmoebaMike now that I’ve had my run. I’m leaving this blog up because my images and posts still get lots of hits despite my lull in posting for the past 6 months. I may decide to post to it from time to time, but follow me on Twitter or Tumblr if you want more Amoeba in your life.

I wouldn’t call 50,000+ hits unremarkable, but FSM knows plenty of people get that in a week. I’m glad to have reached so many. Mainly with my science cards, my cell diagram, and the most popular: my spontaneous generation experiment image.

My move to Tumblr, will not be without changes. Besides the form, of course. My posts will become more varied and more adult–not necessarily pornographic, specifically I mean adult situations and language. There’s your fair warning.

AmoebaMike will continue to live on at Tumblr, on Facebook, and on Twitter. I will also keep making science swag, when I get the bug. Additionally, I plan to do some professional writing that will use the AmoebaMike pseudonym. You haven’t seen the last of AmoebaMike!

Kids Can’t Identify Tomatoes

This is a serious problem in America. This isn’t about mass farming versus local farming. This isn’t about organic versus traditional.

I could go on for days and days about those topics.

But this isn’t about that.

This about kids being so out of touch with food; so removed from the entire process.

It doesn’t matter if you work minimum wage for your entire career. It doesn’t matter if you have a personal chef. Everyone in this country, regardless of education, economic status, or anything else–everyone, should know how to identify the ingredients their food. They should know what they look like, where they come from, and how to cook them a differently.

I’m not saying no processed foods ever. I’m not saying if you can’t pronounce don’t eat it (I have a minor in chemistry, you’d be surprised what I can pronounce). What I’m saying is there are sometimes foods and their are everyday foods.

You, and your kids, should know what everyday foods look like, how to cook them, how to buy them, and mostly, you should be eating them.

Watch this video from TEDPrize winner Jamie Oliver and when the kids don’t know what a tomato is, you should either be horrified or disgusted. Personally, I was both.

Schrodinger’s Amoeba — Well Schrodinger’s Cat

Have you heard of Schrödinger’s cat? Possibly on a funny shirt or a internet cartoon that you didn’t understand?

It’s a quantum mechanics thing, but basically it involves a kitty in a box with some radioactive material and poison gas. It’s just a  thought experiment–no one’s actually putting cats in boxes with such things–but it basically shows that if you put the cat in a box it is both alive and dead at the same time.  As long as you never look in the box to know, it will always exist in both states: as both happy, living kitty playing in a box and as dead, poisoned, radioactive kitty.

My wife is carrying Schrödinger’s Amoeba.

Well, it’s my Amoeba, but in the way we’re doing our pregnancy, it could be called Schrödinger’s Amoeba. Mrs AmoebaMike and I are not finding out the biological sex of AmoebaJr before delivery.  Friends and relatives find this highly annoying. They want to know.

Of course, they all have their suspicions/predictions as well.

But there’s no way for them to know. We don’t know. Not even our doctor knows!

So until AmoebaJr arrives next month, AmoebaJr is both a boy and a girl at the same time. It is only by observing its sex that we force the universe into a single answer.

#SCIO12 The Un-Conference

As you might have guessed, I’m a science guy. Sure, I’m not smart enough to understand most of it, but boy does it ever excite and fascinate me. I’m not, however, all that great in social situations. So going to a conference of 450 science communicators, educators, and fans had potential to be quite interesting.

Of course, it’s the only conference I’ve ever been to that had power strips every few feet and wifi hubs in every room to ensure everyone was connected to one another. Thank you organizers and sponsors!

I got to sit in on many sessions and even voiced my opinion once or twice, but by far the thing that makes ScienceOnline special is the people that participate. While I did go to a session during each slot, I got far more out of meeting people in between sessions.

All but about 2 people did I meet that were nice, awesome, and/or cool online turned out to be an order of magnitude more nice, awesome, and/or cool in person. I even heard more than one person say they, “heard that AmoebaMike was here.” That was kind of funny. Celebrity I am not. Not online and not in person.

While I am pseudonymous, I have never hid my actual identity on this blog. If you read the About page, you can see what I really look like (you do have to click through to FB 😉 ). Most people, though, just know me as a cute little guy in a lab coat with a cowboy hat riding an amoeba. So when I did introduce myself, I usually was greeted with, “oh, so you’re AmoebaMike.” I pretty much take that as “of course you’re not as cute as your avatar because how could you be.” Also, I look closer to biker than kid blogger.

Besides the awesome people–oh don’t worry, I will name names (keep reading)–the conference was great because of the inspiration. There were times when I thought of a great idea and surrounded by such greatness I said to myself why not? instead of no, that will never work.

Sure my shyness kept me feeling awkward where it probably shouldn’t have. Part of that since some of these people have been to 3 and 4 ScienceOnline conferences. But, there were more than a few people I connected with that I really hope I can grow a better friendship with in the coming years. Will I go to ScienceOnline in 2013? I don’t know. While it’s not expensive for what it is, it’s still money out of my pocket–I can’t get my employer to pay for it. With AmoebaJr on the way, I have to put myself on the back burner. Of course after more than 6 months of stay at home daddy time, that might just be the cost Mrs AmoebaMike has to pay to get me some sanity back.

Now I will publicly call out people I met at Scio12:

• Heidi Smith: We didn’t get to talk enough but she was very nice and I hope to make conversation online soon.
• Kaitlin Vandemark: Awesome physics undergrad I had never heard of before but am hoping to connect with much more and possibly even collaborate with.
• Carin Bondar: Even more gorgeous and friendly in person. Dr Bondar not only introduced me to Kaitlin, but also tried to help me get out of my shell.
• Jessica Morrison: A G+ buddy of mine, is just a sweetheart. One of the few to get to bring the spouse.
• Laura Wheeler: A very nice girl who was in a bunch of sessions with me. We’re kicking the idea around of collaborating together if we can come up with something good.
• Christie Wilcox: Exactly what you’d expect from her online, which yes, is a good thing. NerdyChristie got me introduced into a few good groups. She’s honestly my favorite science writer–and I told her as much.
• Cassie Rodenberg: More sweet in person than you could ever get from her great writing on addiction at SciAm blogs. Really hoping to continue conversations online and even collaborate with her.
• Cara Santa Maria: One of those rare people who just exudes awesome sauce. Yes, exuding awesome sauce sounds a little messy, but I assure you she’s the kind of person I could hang out with every day and continue to find fascinating.
• Mark Hahnel: Only briefly spoke with me, but really seemed like a genuinely good guy. Since I’m not a researcher, I don’t know that I have a use for his product, figshare, but he’s the kind of guy you want to share a drink and a pizza with.
• Sheril Kirshenbaum: Yes, she’s been featured here a time or two previously. She’s very much a sweetheart and I was sad I only got about 3 minutes with her.
• Scicurious: Also someone that has been featured on this blog before, sci is a really awesome person. Her intelligence and personality is like none other in the science community. I would totes be her friend if she let me. 😉

And now, a proud recipient of a RUN PCR shirt I donated to the Scio12 film fest:

Photo courtesy of Joanne Manaster, http://www.joannelovesscience.com

Top 10 Gifts for Scientists or Science Lovers!

It’s the giving season and there are lots of great gifts out there, but it seems ideas and decisions are in short supply. So I’m here to give some great suggestions for the scientist or science lover in your life! Based on personality type, here are the 10 best science gifts:

For the book lover, like Joanne Manaster, I recommend Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon’s Army & Other Diabolical Insects by Amy Stewart.

For the mom, like Carin Bondar, I recommend The Nerdy Baby’s ABCs Flash Cards.

For the science writer that no longer sees the inside of a lab, like Ed Yong, I recommend a nice piece of art such as Petri Dishes 5 by the talented Michele Banks.

For the marine biology lover, like Christie Wilcox, I recommend Blue Planet.

For the star gazer, like Phil Plait, I would highly recommend the book The Pluto Files by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

For the kid at heart, like Brian Krueger, I recommend a plush or bobble head famous scientist.

For the bug lover, like Bug Girl, I recommend a handmade plush insect sculpture, like the ones by Weird Bug Lady.

For the fashion forward, like Michelle Clement, I suggest a nice piece of jewelry and recommend this piece: silver DNA earrings.

For the funny one, like Brian Malow, I recommend something wearable that says: not only am I funny, I want everyone to know so I’m wearing this shirt.

For the person who has everything, like no scientist I know, a great gift would be a membership to the local science museum!