Buenos Aires

** Click on any of the pictures below to see a larger version **

Ola from Buenos Aires! We took a city tour this morning for several hours, hit all the touristy places -- the Pink House where Evita gave her rally speech (sadly, my batteries were dead at that point so that'll come later when I walk back on our return day). Then to a very colorful area called La Boca to hit what is clearly the most 'cleaned up' version for tourists. Flat Stanley joined some of the stuffed locals to say hello.



This is a less sanitized view along the way:

Then on to the large cemetery - quite cool -- needless to say, my favorite part. Could've gotten lost in here for hours (which apparently does happen to people all the time). The final picture in this sequence is of a war memorial tomb, with a Matzel/Lemur like cat laying in the bottom corner. Like Jerusalem, strays abound.



And the major tourist attraction, the grave of Evita. She is in her family tomb "Duarte" (Peron is buried elsewhere) and appears at the bottom on the right side of the entryway. The last picture is of a tomb that's been open - not all of the graves are comparably cared for.


Okay, this is my last post till we come back from Antarctica. I will be keeping a journal on my palm pilot while there, and will provide daily summaries with lots and lots of pictures (and appropriate skeleton action figures) when I get back.

Bye for now. I think I'm going to go thru blogging withdrawal. It's hard to be away from your Mac for such a long period of time ;-)

Butterflies

First leg of the trip is done. I'm in Atlanta killing time on my 6 hour layover. Already met someone on the trip, overheard 'em speaking, introduced myself, turned out they are ND alums.

I'm hanging out in the Delta Crown Room, which beats the Red Carpet Club by a mile. All the more reason to continue my transition over from United.

I have to admit, as I started typing, it finally hit "I'm going to Antarctica!!" I've actually got butterflies in my stomach, interesting feeling. It's been awhile.

So, I'm finishing up stuff for the start of the semester, then will kick back and sleep (with some chemical help most likely) on the 10 hr flight to Buenos Aires. Hopefully I'll be able to update this blog from there before we head out.
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ANTARCTICA FUN FACTS -- Like humans, apparently fairy penguins, or little penguins, parade during "good years," when food is plentiful. A penguin parade consists of 5 to 10 individuals that walk together, nearly in sync, while arriving or leaving a colony. The benefits of penguin parades might include preventing predation and improving foraging success. During the successful breeding years of 2002 and 2003, the colony was a veritable penguin parade fest, with numerous groups forming in the morning and evening hours. The scientists noticed that the majority of parading groups consisted of adults that nested close together and that were in similar physical shape. "Middle-aged penguins, 5 to 11 years old, tended to have sync parades," Chiaradia explained. "We know from previous studies that these penguins are at the peak of their breeding performance, meaning they are more experienced." (Source: Discovery News)

into the Wild Blue Yonder

Okay, time's up. 10 hours and the adventure begins. Got everything packed, got all the class stuff handed over to Jaime, house is clean, cats have gotten plenty o' cuddling today, all job candidates lined up for lectures while gone. Just need to finisih a few letters of recommendation tomorrow during my 6 hour layover in Atlanta. Then the computer goes away and I go thru withdrawl symptoms for 12 days.

I'm gonna miss my furry little friends for two weeks. But as I sit here typing, Jaimie is playing 'the stick game' with them...they might not even notice I'm gone. sniff.

Psyched

Okay, I'm getting pretty psyched. Can't sleep a wink. Brain is in serious overdrive. On the up side, maybe I'll be super tired for the 10 hour flight from Atlanta to Buenos Aires and sleep like a baby ??

Here's an update on the river height -- it crested at almost 9 feet above flood level. For those that know the area -- it caused them to close Riverside around Leeper Park. Fortunately there are no houses over there, just a duck pond - I'm guessing those particular residents don't mind. Here's a shot at the corner of North Shore and 31/33 - the water at the Angela bridge (1/2 mile away) is almost up to the arches but the picture didn't turn out:

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ANTARCTICA FUN FACTS -- With the end of the long polar winter comes the arrival of millions of seabirds to breed. First to arrive are the Adelie penguins who have walked as much as 50 kilometers across the sea ice to reach their nesting grounds. They are followed by the petrels and skuas, flying in from the open sea. Of the 35 species of seabirds that live south of the Antarctic Convergence, only 19 species breed on the continent itself. Probably 100 million or more birds breed along the coast and offshore islands of Antarctica. These include the pelagic or free-ranging species such as the albatrosses and petrels. Coastal species, by contrast, forage close to the shore, and among them are found skuas, cormorants, terns and sheathbills. Most sea birds breed in large concentrations, owing to the scarcity of snow-free ground used for nesting. During the long austral summer, the birds have virtually an unlimited food supply in the nearby sea-zooplankton, cephalopods, and fish.

Looking for Recruits

Check out the great new blog by Dan Lende and Greg Downey. What a duo, this thing will be one to watch!! They will likewise be using it as a teaching tool.

The site is called Neuroanthropology.

It's such a great idea, I am thinking about doing likewise with a BioArch blog. But I'd need help. Anyone out there interested? It would mean being on the lookout for good links, scanning the web for appropriate articles in the popular press, helping review pertinent literature in the field, incorporating the blog (and blog-writing activities) in appropriate classes, getting people to occasionally write editorials 'n such, etc. I'm happy to act as conduit to postings, searching the web, and coordination, but would need help with some of the mechanics.

Almost Done...

Got my suitcase all packed for the big trip, no small undertaking give the severe luggage requirements. It's now sitting in the living room, where Wiley's giving it the hairy eyeball. I should probably hang an 'evil eye' charm on it for protection... And I figured out how to rip the songs off my iPod to the new computer (and hence to the new iPod).

So, except for finishing letters of recommendation, getting my first 4 lectures done for a new class, xeroxing syllabi, calling our job candidates, setting up our museum internships, and housecleaning, I'm all ready to go. Details.

As I was working tonight, I noticed that my new young charge has perhaps been spending a bit too much time with his big 'brother.' Please note that while he's on his way...


...he's still got a way to go before he equals 'the master.'

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ANTARCTICA FUN FACTS -- Antarctica may be the most competitive job location in the world. Each year, thousands of Americans apply to work on The Ice, through the National Science Foundation or Raytheon Polar Services. Eighty percent of personnel work during austral summer between October and February. While most of Antarctica's employed population is there for the adventure of life on the continent, there are other benefits. A technical or labor job in Antarctica pays considerably more than the same job in the U.S. And for those who live in the American Midwest, January's weather is warmer in Antarctica than at home! (Source: Origins-Antarctica) *** From Sue -- I swear I didn't add that last line, it's on the website, a direct quote ***

Random Bytes

Evolution Not 'Just a Theory', and Yes, Huckabee It Does Matter
By Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides
Wired.com; Jan 08, 2008

Jan. 8, 1942: Birthday of a First-Rate Mind, and a Medical Marvel
By Tony Long
Wired.com; Jan 8, 2008

How To Survive a 47-Story Fall: Make sure you land on your feet.
By Melinda Wenner
Slate.com; Jan. 7, 2008

Ruins take precedence amid war
by Ben Macintyre and Jon Swain
The Australian; January 01, 2008

Beer brewed long ago by Native Americans
By Heather Whipps
MSNBC.com; Dec. 28, 2007

And on a lighter (kinda) note:

Bush Begins Preparations For Nation's Final Year

Get Out the Sandbags...

Rain Rain Go Away

Well, this time last week we were under a snow emergency warning. Today temperatures rose to 60F and now we're under a Flash Flood Warning and Tornado Watch. The river out front is getting mighty high I have to admit. No more snow obviously, and we're now far above the summer temps in Antarctica (at least that's reassuring I suppose). We're supposed to drop into the teens again by Wednesday however. In truth, I'll take it.

By the way - and quite unrelated -- there was a good conversation today on evolution and intelligent design today on the Diane Rhem show on NPR. Both sides made the appropriate amount of fun of the Creation Museum in Kentucky at one point, I quite enjoyed it. Here's the link where you can listen to the program: Teaching Evolution and Creationism
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ANTARCTICA FUN FACTS - John Carpenter's "The Thing" is the first important film about industrial American life in the Antarctic. It is based on a short story called "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell. (The short story has a fictionalized setting based on Richard Byrd's Antarctic expeditions, which occurred from 1929 onward.) The movie is enjoyed at the stations as a rich Antarctic document, interwoven with classic Antarctic myths and probably accidental accuracies. (Source: Big Dead Place)

Baby Steps

As a follow-up to finally watching An Inconvenient Truth, there are a few fun 'green' ideas I came across today on an interesting website (now on the sidebar under 'Assorted Fun', titled "Another Limited Rebellion"). I might add this as a "Carbon Footprint" category at the bottom of the entries to replace the "Antarctica Fun Facts" once I get back:


Catalog Choice is a free service that helps you get rid of unwanted catalogs in your mail. By utilizing customer codes that are printed on catalogs you can even get rid of ones that come in someone else's name to your address!


Target has started selling used electronics (big and small) on their website. They had so many people brining back returns in 'perfect working order' that they started this "recycling" program. They don't have much on offer at the moment, I think Christmas may have emptied the coffers. But that might also be the reason they refill rather soon unfortunately. They call it their "Pre-Owned" page.

Battlestar

This one's for Alicia, Jaime, Lesley, and Shannon -- Here's a blurb about Battlestar Galactica from Entertainment Weekly. They ranked it the 2nd best Science Fiction show/movie of the past 25 years (The Matrix got #!).

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Developed by Ronald D. Moore

You remember the show, right? Lorne Greene in a shiny cape leading a band of well-coiffed thirtysomethings as they flee from extras in shiny suits? Glen A. Larson's original '70s Battlestar Galactica: not the worst by-product of the Star Wars juggernaut, but close. So one could view the unmitigated brilliance that is Sci Fi Channel's reimagined Battlestar Galactica series two ways: (1) They had no place to go but up or (2) it's amazing they did so much with so little.

The core of the Galactica plot — the last human survivors of a catastrophic genocide are on the run from their attackers, the Cylons — carried a new resonance in the wake of 9/11. And in keeping with science fiction's grandest tradition, BSG tapped into the power of allegory to enrich its outer-space dogfights and military pomp with the gravity of issues like abortion, terrorism, stem-cell research, racism, even the war in Iraq. The dysfunctionally awesome cast gives it all the ring of authenticity: from Edward James Olmos' crusty warhorse Admiral Adama and Mary McDonnell's tender-as-nails President Roslin to Katee Sackhoff's bedeviled pilot Kara Thrace and Tricia Helfer's glacially threatening Cylon known only as Number Six. But the real MVPs of the ensemble are Michael Hogan, who plays Adama's boozy right-hand man Saul Tigh, and James Callis, who makes you feel for Gaius Baltar, the best, most conflicted villain on TV.

POP CULTURE LEGACY The damned thing won a Peabody award for its second season. It's proving what sci-fi fans have known for decades: Science fiction is as legitimate a vehicle for human drama as any other genre.

THE BEST BIT While any given episode of Galacticais better than 90 percent of what's on the air, the thrill of discovery makes the first season (including the miniseries) the way to go.

—Marc Bernardin
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ANTARCTICA FUN FACTS -- Conspiracy theorists for years have connected the Nazis to everything from UFO sightings to anti-gravity technology. One particularly persistent myth -- that the Nazis established a secret base in Antarctica -- is now the subject of a peer reviewed scientific paper...to debunk the entire idea. The myth goes like this -- Nazis established a secret base in Antarctica to which they spirited Hitler at the war’s end, fought off British special forces and an American military task force, partly by shooting down US planes using flying saucers. The Americans eventually destroyed the base with nuclear weapons in the 1950s. Since then, various governments have striven to conceal this.

To give just a few points from the new article: the Germans' pre-war visit to Antarctica, concerned mainly with establishing a whaling base, was fleeting, never spending more than a day on the ice shelf. The wartime British force in Antarctica was tiny, and concerned mainly with observation and securing territorial claims to the islands around the Falklands. The U-boats were in the southern ocean during the Antarctic winter, when the pack ice would have made it impossible for them to reach the coast. The US atomic tests in the 1950s took place around Tristan da Cunha, thousands of kilometres from Antarctica. (Source: Wired.com and Cynical-C Blog)

Christian Fellowship - Huckabee Style

While I doubt this really applies to anyone reading my blog -- for those who might be considering a vote for Huckabee, here's an example of his ethical grounding. In 1992, while running for the Senate, he said the following:

If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague.

It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents.

Mind you, the mechanisms of AIDS transmission were well understood by the mid-80s. To add insult to injury, speaking on Fox News on Dec 30, 2007 (yes, a week ago), he refused to 'recant' this comment. I think you can see from today's skeleton action figure what I think of this comment...

Zzzzzzzzzzz

Icky grey day...not that I really noticed however. I slept 13 straight hours, no bathroom breaks, no lying there with eyes open, just sleep (an the occasional cat nudging when they wanted me awake, but who opted for snuggling when they realized I wouldn't budge). I feel GREAT, so must've need it.

Might've been because I watched two emotionally draining films last night. They were supposed to be background noise while I worked on a paper, but I got caught up in each. The first - An Inconvenient Truth. Damn that was good, I'm late to game on watching it, but am glad I did before leaving for the South Pole.

And the second? Bridge to Terabithia. It came on afterwards and I figured it was a kids movie, I wouldn't be interested. Wrong-o! It was one of the saddest films I've seen in a long time. I don't know if it was because I was tired, or if Al Gore set me up for it, but I cried like a baby. Wracking sobbing, not just teary-eyed wimpy crying. Man, I hope it's NOT a kids film. Poor Maz didn't know what to make of his "pillow" blowing her nose so often (he was 'trying' to sleep on my lap at the time).

So on a happier note, yesterday I spent the afternoon in the lab with Sara and Laura. Then Matt joined us for dinner at the Mishawaka Brewery. Fun time, no food babies this meal however ;-) Here's a shot of them working away in the lab, since I know they missed having their picture taken continuously...

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ANTARCTICA FUN FACTS -- The idea of the mythical continent Terra Australis Incognito originated with the Classical Greeks. Both the Mela Map of 43 M.E. and the Ortelius map of 1570 show this mythical continent. Ptolemy believed that the earth had to be balanced or it would topple over. So he figured that there had be a land yet unknown to Europeans somewhere below the Indian Ocean. For over 200 years hundreds of European navigators set across the seas searching for the Unknown Southern Land. They expected to find gold and other treasures. The idea persisted until Captain James Cook explored the Antarctic seas. (Source: Classroom Antarctica, The Maps and Australian Studies Center)

Random Bytes

Should We Throw Hazardous Waste Into Volcanoes?An answer to the Explainer's 2007 Question of the Year.
By Daniel Engber
Slate.com, Jan. 4, 2008

A Clutter Too Deep for Mere Bins and Shelves
By TARA PARKER-POPE
Published: January 1, 2008

What’s Your Consumption Factor?
By JARED DIAMOND
NYTimes.com, January 2, 2008

'Subprime' is word of year 2007
BBC.com, January 5, 2008

Study: Monkeys 'Pay' for Sex by Grooming
By GILLIAN WONG
Wired.com, Jan 5, 2007

Value of a Liberal Arts Education

To all the past & present lab assistants -- if you doubt your Notre Dame education will pay off, check this out: Alicia is currently in Bangladesh on a Fulbright, pushing back the frontiers of science. They are bringing someone in to teach all the fellows how to use...wait for it...Endnote! Yep, all those hours slaving over the Byzantine St. Stephen's Library (now known as the Bioarch Library) paid off - she'll look like the brainiac of the group thanks to all those dead monks and gomorrah-ites.
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ANTARCTICA FUN FACTS -- Antarctica is well known for its ferocious winds and blinding storms. Its reputation as the windiest and least hospitable continent on earth is well-deserved. Localized blizzards and life-threatening wind-chill temperatures are an ever-present danger. Travel and outdoor activities become virtually impossible during the Antarctic winter season. Along the coast, cold dense air flowing down off the ice-cap funnels through topographic channels at great speeds lifting snow high off the ground and reducing visibility to only a few feet. In the interior, inversion winds coupled with the extremely low temperatures have led to many a tragic end to an Antarctic expedition. (Source: Antarctic Connection)

Fast Paced Life

Slow day - got a haircut, bought groceries, took some stuff to the post office. Yep, Winter Break in South Bend, the action never stops. Also bought the last few things for the trip and swung by to check on Sarah and Laura. Gave them some advise that resulted in more work for them - realized "my work here is done" and left (tee hee).
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ANTARCTICA FUN FACTS -- The average thickness of the ice sheet that covers 98% of Antarctica is 7,200 feet. This amounts to 90% of the ice and 70% of all the fresh water in the world. The thickest ice found is in Wilkes Land, where it reaches a depth of 15,669 feet. That is about as deep as the highest of the Alps is high. If the ice cap were to melt, the average sea level would rise 230 feet. This doesn't seem like much, but it would easily inundate most coastal cities, among them: New York, London, and Hong Kong. Los Angeles, however, would survive. The weight of all this ice is so enormous that the continent buried beneath it would rise to an average altitude of 3,280 feet if the ice sheet were removed. (Source: CARA Education & Outreach)

Where in the World is ??

The ClusterMap to the left has been a fun way to watch where people are traveling. Because it's a closed blog, I know who just about all the dots belong to. But a few have me stumped. Are you the mystery traveler(s)?? If so, who are you? And why are you clearly having more fun than me?? ;-)

* Three dots in Mexico
* Northern Norway
* Hudson Bay Canada
* Sweden
* Cairo, Egypt

Team Schmorl

First, congratulations to Mary D. on getting a Global Service Corp Internship to work in Tanzania this summer thru the Kellogg Institute!! Great job!

Second, welcome to SB Sarah H and Laura M. Team Schmorl is in for the weekend to look at vertebra -- which may not sound particularly fun until you realize that it'll keep them indoors, which is a very good thing right now.

And like old times -- we went out for Mexican food tonight where Sarah conceived another food-baby ;-)
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ANTARCTICA FUN FACTS -- A new United Nations report recommends that rules are needed to protect Antarctic'sorganisms from exploitation by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. It recommends that the Antarctic Treaty System establish regulations to control the “commercialization of genetic resources” such as Antarctica’s extremophiles—strange and exotic organisms such as bacteria or animals that live in harsh environments like frigid water and lakes that are 10 times saltier than saltwater. These organisms survive in Antarctica because of their unique configurations of genes and proteins. Knowing more about their genes could help biotechnology companies develop new drugs, technologies for improving medicine, or even cosmetics. (Source: Genome News Network)

Random Bytes

Where And Why Humans Made Skates Out Of Animal Bones
ScienceDaily
Dec. 26, 2007

Twins reunited, after 35 years apart
By Jane Beresford
BBC.com, 31 Dec 2007

Don't Fear Starbucks: Why the franchise actually helps mom and pop coffeehouses.
By Taylor Clark
Slate.com, Dec. 28, 2007

The Invisible Ingredient in Every Kitchen
By HAROLD McGEE
NY Times.com; January 2, 2008
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ANTARCTICA FUN FACTS -- It has been only 100 years since humans first occupied the continent of Antarctica (1899), and a mere 180 years since seafarers first saw the islands of the Antarctic Peninsula (1819). Yet even before they laid eyes on it, most early explorers were convinced a large, southern continent existed. They called it Terra Australis Incognita--the Unknown Southern Land. The idea went back to the ancient Greeks, who had a fondness for symmetry and balance. There must be a great continent to the south, they postulated, to balance the great land masses in the northern hemisphere. (Source: Antarctic History)

A Pleasant Surprise

I was up till the wee hours of the morning (still on Seattle time I think) and got up a little early-ish today to get ready for company. I had planned to shovel the driveway when I found an email saying plans had changed. Several people stopped by offering to shovel my drive (for a price), but I said no, planning to don my warm clothing and venture forth. I puttered around the house for awhile, then curled up with the boys for a nap before shoveling.
I awoke to magically find my driveway plowed, and little penguins at my doorstep. A New Year's miracle (compliments of Michael and Doug). I should nap more often!! (okay...so maybe not...)
Thanks guys! Enjoy sunny Hawaii while I'm in Antarctica. Either way, we'll all be warmer than we are right now in South Bend!!

Oh Come On!!

I've noticed for the past 2+ weeks that South Bend wins in the "coldest" category when compared to the Antarctica peninsula. Every day. Now, I realize that it is summer south of the equator, but still...it's Antarctica! Today took the cake -- it's currently 30 degrees colder here.

I blame this knowledge on Lesley. If she hadn't suggested putting the Antarctic weather bug on the blog, I'd be happily ignorant of this fact. THANKS Lesly!

Could be worse however -- Mo wrote today from Canada saying it's 40 below in her neck of the woods. Had to cancel plans to visit due to car troubles as a result. Bummer (sniff)!

Lots o' Snow

Over a foot of snow today. Looks like I picked the wrong year not to have a snowblower. I'll have to don my Antarctica gear tomorrow and dig out before company arrives. Supposed to get almost 2 feet before all is said and done on Wednesday night. Very pretty to look at, nice view for the first day of 2008!
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ANTARCTICA FUN FACTS -- Penguins often are referred to as "flippered flyers" due to their effortless movement through the water and their possible evolution from gull-like birds. Its believed that 40-50 million years ago, while Antarctica breaking away form Gondwanaland, penguins also were separating to form their own species. Originally, indigenous to warmer climates, penguins adapted to the cold as Antarctica made its move southward. (Source: Penguins)