Friday, December 3, 2010

The RUTE Data Set - 2010 (audio file)

This link is to the audio (as *.wma) file that goes with the *.pdf (= PowerPoint) part of the December 2, 2010, parasitology seminar on the RUTE (Research for Undergraduates in Theoretical Ecology) parasitology project conducted during the summer of 2010 at the Cedar Point Biological Station. - JJ

The RUTE Data Set - 2010 (pdf of PowerPoint)

This link is to the pdf version of the December 2, 2010, parasitology seminar in which we talked about the 2010 summer RUTE (Research for Undergraduates in Theoretical Ecology) projects in parasitology at the Cedar Point Biological Station. - JJ

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Memo to BIOS 101 students re their recent exam

We had our third BIOS 101 exam this week. As a result, I sent them all a letter. Note item (2) in particular. - JJ

Monday, October 25, 2010

Comments to BIOS 101 students about their Friday writings.

Collective feedback, after the first eight weeks of the semester, to my 251 BIOS 101 students about their extemporaneous Friday writings and follow-up self-assessments. I wish you could all read these papers; they're the rough equivalent of a 251-person focus group that meets every Friday for four hours.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Comments to my BIOS 101 students about grades

This link is to a letter that I sent out to my 251 General Biology students this morning.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Henry A. Giroux | When Generosity Hurts: Bill Gates, Public School Teachers and the Politics of Humiliation

Forward from Truthout. - JJ

Education

Read on through the article to see where our local Tea Party members get their education.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Thora's bot bly

YouTube video of Matt and Melissa Bolek's dog Thora, and the bunny she snapped at Cedar Point Biological Station during the summer, 2010. The bunny had a couple of really wonderful Cuterebra larvae coming out of its neck.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Chapter 7 from Bernice and John

This link is to one of the chapters from a book I'm working on entitled Bernice and John: Finally Meeting Your Parents Who Died a Long Time Ago. I don't know why I decided to post this chapter, except that automobiles and petroleum have been on my mind lately, probably because of a summer spent commuting to and from Cedar Point Biological Station, 286 miles from home. Comments are welcome.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Glenn Beck's and Rush Limbaugh's America

This link is to a Truthout column by Henry A. Giroux. It's must reading. It's also time for real hatred and stupidity to be called by their true names and for someone in this country, some rational, semi-secular, intelligent, well-educated, person to find the words to counter the Becks and Limbaughs who seem so capable to reaching directly into our deepest fears - fears typically overcome by education - and spurring us to actions that history will judge harshly (e.g., those of Hitler and Nazi Germany, actions also stemming from racism, stupidity and hatred)

Monday, August 2, 2010

TUSKERS - link to Amazon

This is a link to the trade paperback of TUSKERS, the OU vs. NEBR football game in the year 2090. Trust me; this one is a cult piece!! - JJ

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

American Society of Parasitologists program

This pdf file is a copy of the program from the recent meetings of ASP. Circled names are Cedar Point Biological Station alums who either took classes in parasitology, or did research in parasitology at CPBS, or did both. Most are faculty members at various institutions around the country where they are carrying on the grand tradition of parasitology established in the 1890s by H. B. Ward. Thanks, folks!!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

American Society of Parasitologists Teachers' Workshop-2010 (pdf)

This link is to a *.pdf version of the PowerPoint show that accompanied the audio presentation at a teachers' workshop held in conjunction with the 2010 American Society of Parasitologists meeting in Colorado Springs.

American Society of Parasitologists Teachers' Workshop-2010 (audio)

This link is to the audio (*.WMA) portion of my presentation at the Teachers' Workshop held in conjunction with the 2010 American Society of Parasitologists meeting in Colorado Springs.

Monday, June 7, 2010

TUSKERS - a synopsis

It’s game day on November 25, 2090, and football as you’ve never imagined it, between Nebraska and Oklahoma. Nebraska has not lost a game in ten years, but must win this last one against OU to complete the perfect decade. Both teams bring secret weapons—in the form of unique players—to the stadium. An obscenely-wealthy, foul-mouthed genius chemical engineer named Arly Hockrood, who holds the patent on corn slime, Nebraska’s most important agricultural product, is an evil force, using all his resources to help Oklahoma win. The origin of Hockrood’s disdain for Nebraska is explained as backstory. The other main characters include Marvin, Hockrood’s valet, chauffeur, and helicopter pilot; Archie, the woolly mammoth Nebraska mascot; Jack Alexander, one of Hockrood’s corn slime salesmen and ardent football fan; Suzi Alexander, Jack’s wife, a highly intelligent woman who, as a child, loved mammoths and now studies Archie continuously (learning about football as a by-product!); Nancy Robbins, one of Jack’s former girlfriends and now the mother of Charlie Robbins, the finest tuba player in the Nebraska Marching Band; West Edmond Wilcox, the Oklahoma coach, Billy Boy Peebles, the Nebraska coach and his staff—“Slammin’” Sam Bangham (defensive coordinator) and Mort Flint (academic adviser)—and various players, especially Tyreese “The Fleece” Henderson, the greatest cornerback in the history of college football and, of course, a uniquely talented OU backfield.
TUSKERS not only is science fiction, it also is hilarious satire, exploring the American obsession with football as a national sport as the world experiences global climate change, political turmoil, and accelerating technological advance. In the end, the book is not so much about sport as it is about our preoccupation with sport as a displacement behavior in a world that is changing so rapidly we cannot control it.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Open Letter to the National Republican Party

I'm sick of receiving fake census forms from the National Republican Party. Click on the link above for my open letter to the GOP. Feel free to forward and distribute this letter to your heart's content.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Conversations between God and Satan

The full title is: CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN GOD AND SATAN HELD DURING OCTOBER, 2004, AT THE CRESCENT MOON COFFEE HOUSE IN LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, USA, EARTH, MILKY WAY. Cover painting is by Wendy Jane Bantam. God invites Satan to coffee to discuss why people all over the universe are killing one another in His name. After two weeks of daily Big Talk, they decide to meet again in two thousand years. Stay tuned.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Why are politicians so scientifically illiterate?

Why are politicians so scientifically illiterate? And, why does the press give politicians a pass on science, or even on the matter of evidence (climate change, evolution, etc.)? I'd like to start a discussion of this topic, with some serious suggestions to the press regarding the right questions to ask of those seeking public office. Should we start with Sarah Palin and BIOS 101? The link is to a chapter from my book Pieces of the Plains: Memories and Predictions from the Heart of America (J&L Lee, Lincoln, NE, 2009), and I believe it outlines the issues reasonably well.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Podcast of Parasitology lectures

If you're having trouble getting to sleep, here is the URL to subscribe to my parasitology lectures in BIOS 385 at UNL:

http://my.unl.edu/webapps/lobj-podcast-bb60/feed/BIOS385150.20102/podcast.xml

It's supposed to work for everyone.

JJ

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Thorny-headed worms from 9/11

See my Facebook page for a photo album of thorny-headed worms, collected on 9/11/2001, and discovered this week in a block of ice.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Final Report on BIOS 101_09 to the faculty

This report is one delivered to some of our University of Nebraska faculty members regarding my large lecture section BIOS 101 from the fall semester, 2009. It's obviously somewhat of a political document, but it's also fairly informative regarding the first year, first semester, college student experience. - JJ