The Rabid Librarian's Ravings in the Wind

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Today is Rare Diseases Day--spread the awareness

Some links:

Rare Diseases Day (http://rarediseaseday.org)
NORD--National Organization for Rare Disorders (http://www.rarediseases.org)
EURORDIS - The Voice of Rare Disease Patients in Europe (http://www.eurordis.org/)

Many rare diseases have an orthopaedic involvement, so I get requests for information about rare diseases and come across articles about various syndromes. But seeing patients who live every day with these disorders is something altogether different, and I'm glad that in some small way, I can help with their care.

Friday, February 27, 2015

I know it's only 9 pm

but I have to get up early tomorrow and take friends their animals to the vet. So I'm calling it a night. Have a great weekend!

And...

Listening to

Cool. Eerie, but cool...

Nearly Frozen Waves Captured On Camera By Nantucket Photographer

Check out the photographer's website for more. His name is Jonathan Nimerfroh.

Am I the only one who thinks it's lavender and gold???

The Science Of Why This Dress Looks Different Colors To Different People

I got a notification on my phone during lunch this afternoon

from a local TV news station, and as soon as I read 'Leonard Nimoy' my heart dropped in my chest. I realised he had died, had read he'd gone to the hospital recently, and I was so saddened by the news. But at least he did die at home, and he is hopefully at rest now. I watched my grandfather struggle for years with COPD, and my mother has it, too. It's a horrible illness, sucking your breath away bit by bit, like some sort of daemon. Mr Nimoy had smoked years and years ago, had quit 30 years prior to announcing his illness, and used that announcement as a teachable moment to urge others to not smoke. He had a great deal of warmth and dignity, and I will miss him. I loved him as Spock, of course, but I also was a great fan of the show 'In Search Of...', which explored mysterious topics such as the Bermuda Triangle or Bigfoot, with him narrating in his wonderful voice.

Leonard Nimoy, Spock of ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 83

Alav HaSholom to him, and my condolences to his family and loved ones.

Interesting opinion piece on the value of natural history collections

Libraries of Life

Hidden behind the popular displays at many of your favorite natural history museums — in their basements, back rooms and, increasingly, off-site facilities — sit humanity’s most important libraries of life, holding not books but preserved animal and plant specimens, carefully collected over centuries by thousands of scientist explorers.

These specimen collections serve as the bedrock of our system of taxonomy — the rules by which we classify life — and are integral to our understanding of the threats, origins and interrelationships of biodiversity. And yet, thanks to budget cutbacks, misplaced ethical critiques, public misconceptions and government regulations that restrict scientists while failing to restrict environmental exploitation, the continued maintenance and growth of these libraries is in danger.

Though most visitors never know they are there, natural history collections are as critical to modern biologists as libraries are to journalists and historians. Indeed, like good literature, each museum specimen allows reinterpretation by every person who examines it.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

I've been away from the university for almost fifteen years

and the red tape is still annoying me. They got my account fixed, and I was able to bring up the right tab, but it will not give me an unofficial transcript, claiming no programs found. Sigh. Maybe it is because I started 30 years ago--I was at my dear alma mater for many years working on three degrees (getting two of them) and I think when all was said and done, I wound up with three undergraduate majors and a minor, with one class lacking for a fourth major. Oh, well. I may have to go the official transcript route for the next time it's requested by a prospective employer.