You might have noticed that my blogging output has, for want of a better word, taken a plunge over the last few years. There were a lot of reasons. Inertia, lack of inspiration, burnout, family and work time pressures, a personal life that had drifted away from academia - all that played a role in moving me away from regular blogging.

The primary cause was something different. At some point in the last few years, I realized that I no longer had a clue where I fit in with this broad scientific community that most of us inhabit. I'd started my PhD with every intention of doing phenomenal research, writing some great papers, and pursuing a career as a full-time scientist. When we left Hawai'i in 2007, I had every intention of picking up my degree work again at the earliest opportunity. When we returned to Hawai'i last summer, I had no intention of jumping back into the lab life.
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The picture below features three Hawaiian Monk Seals (Monachus schauinslandi). I took that picture yesterday. If current population estimates for the species are accurate, the picture includes 0.3% of all living members of the species. (click to embiggen)

Let's try to grasp that. If I take a picture of my daughter and her two closest friends, that picture will represent a smaller percentage of the total population of her high school. If I wanted to use the same camera (Canon 60D, if you're curious) to capture the same fraction of living humans, I'd have to fit more than 300 people in every available pixel.

These guys are really endangered. The population has really been growing, but it's far from safe - particularly with the debris field from the recent tsunami heading for the area where the bulk of the population lives.

Daugher, pointing to picture on her mom's phone: "What's that???"
Mom: "Oh, that's a training dummy from when the medics were practicing how to treat blown up people."
Daughter: "Not that, that!!" (pointing)
Mom: "Well, we use fake blood and stuff to make it more realistic."
Daughter: "No, that!! That!"
Mom: "Oh, that's a fake penis. Because they have to practice putting in catheters."
Daughter: "Why can't it be a girl?"
Mom: "Well, it's mostly guys who get blown up."

A brand new "super pac" just released a web ad. This particular ad is aimed at influencing the upcoming CA-36 special election, which pits LA Councilwoman Janice Hahn against Teahadist Craig Huey.

The ad defies description. It's either the single most sexist, racist, vile campaign ad that I've ever seen, or the greatest parody of such ads. I hope it's a parody, but every last bit of the available evidence suggests that it's not.

The definitely NSFW ad is below the fold.

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Eyed Click Beetle (Alaus oculatus).
Fort Rucker, Alabama
10 May 2011

Full size version available on Flickr - click the image to go there.

Just under ten years ago, I moved to Hawaii. We walked into the airport in Newark, checked in, and proceeded to the security checkpoint. I plopped my bag - 10-pound laptop, toiletries bag, and all - onto the x-ray belt, dumped my pocket change and keys into a little bowl that was passed around the magnetometer, showed my boarding pass to the security guard, and strolled through the metal detector.

A few months later, the world changed. Tonight, it may or may not have changed again. It certainly did not change back.

The past ten years have taken the United States, as a nation, in a direction that feels very, very wrong. We have compromised our freedoms to secure a limited amount of security. We have launched unjust wars for reasons that defy comprehension. The terrorists hurt us on September 11, 2001, and our pain brought out the worst in us.

We have yet to reclaim much of what we lost. It is far from certain we ever will.

Osama bin Laden did not cause the worst of the damage that was inflicted on America following the September 11th attacks. His death will not, in and of itself, repair any of it. It will not undo TSA pat-downs, or the Patriot Act, or the war in Iraq.

It will not bring anyone back to life.

It took far too long, and it cost us far too much in far too many ways for me to feel like dancing in the streets just because Osama is dead. It doesn't feel like a victory - it just feels like much less of a defeat than usual.