New(ish) Comics Day!

January 25th, 2012 . Posted in comics | No Comments »
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The comics section of my site has been improved and I think it all works! Aside from the more modern layout that looks more like the blog than the old site, there are also new and newish comics that make their internet debut! Today I’d like to highlight Keeley: 24 Hour Comic Character Extraordinaire.

I did this in 2010 as part of the official 24 Hour Comics Day, the last one we had at what is now the Root Cellar in Columbia. The idea was for each hourly page to reflect an hour in a day of Keeley’s life. Starting at the start time of the event, I was supposed to keep pace and draw in that hour the same hour as in the comic. I actually went ahead of schedule and got around six hours ahead so I could take a nap at around 5:00AM in my car. Still, I got a full day’s worth of comics drawn and I think it is a neat story revolving around Keeley’s dual lives. Enjoy!

If you want more, you can poke around the comics section and look for the other new(ish) stuff that is now there.

Construction Site

January 22nd, 2012 . Posted in comics | No Comments »

The comics section may be malfunctioning as I transition to the new pages. I’ll let you know when everything seems to be in place and working.

 

Update: I’m guardedly optimistic that the comics section is working properly. Give the link a click in the header!

An Atypical Work Day

December 23rd, 2011 . Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
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8:13
While my coworkers have taken today off to start their Christmas weekend plans, my vacation doesn’t start until tomorrow. Therefore, I’m the only person on the third floor of the School of Nursing today! I’ll be liveblogging my work day as I’m sure it’ll be very exciting.

As I came into the building I found that the stairwell door to the third floor was locked. I went back to the second floor and got in the elevator instead. The elevator took me to my floor and I noticed that the door from the medical school was open. So why lock the stairwell door? Oh well. I’m just glad I could get to my office.

8:33
I panicked when I couldn’t get into the fourth floor coffee room but I found coffee in the second floor copy room. I’m also going full speakers today. No earbuds for me!

10:29
I found one article that references another article we could use, that references another three articles. This is getting complicated. A little while ago, someone who works on this floor walked by but I haven’t seen her since. Someone from the second floor was here as well.

10:55
I saw someone I didn’t know in the student lounge. She was watching the same slideshow that has been on the TV there since I started this job. I’m afraid that if I describe this person to one of my coworkers, they’ll say “Why that person died five years ago!”

12:10
Let’s see what the cafeteria has for lunch!

1:12
Their special was ham so I just got the usual pre-fab hamburger, onion rings, and a soup. Their soup was a super thick wild rice and chicken stew. I forgot to get a spoon so I ate it with a plastic knife I found in the lounge.

Later
As it turned out, the rest of the work day was uneventful. I got a lot done, took a few walks around the deserted floor, and left for home, ready for my flight to San Diego!

Folsom Projectile Blues

December 13th, 2011 . Posted in anthropology, comics | 1 Comment »

IDW Publishing makes Star Trek comics of various vintages, from Original Series, to Next Generation. Issue 3 of Star Trek of their current series involves the new movie continuity.

While on the way to drop of medical supplies, the Enterprise investigates an odd planetary phenomenon. Spock and his away team crash land on the planet (of course) and are attacked by what appear to be giants offscreen. Examining a left-behind spear, Spock makes this observation:



Folsom is a real place in New Mexico, and Folsom points are a real thing. This type of stone spearhead is very important to archaeology because the discovery of one of these points embedded within an extinct bison’s skeleton was the first definitive proof that humans were in North America during the Pleistocene Period, over ten thousand years ago. It was nice for the writer of the comic to include this piece of real archaeology in the comic. The problem is that Folsom points actually look like this:

Also, they are this big (or, more apt, this small):

From the Royal Alberta Museum. Scale is in centimeters!

Since it’s unlikely that the Spock, the Enterprise’s science officer, would not be so wrong in his assertion, my only conclusion is that Folsom points really are giant (even for giants) and shaped like trowels in the rebooted Star Trek universe.

Tip #6: Welcome to the Global Community

November 7th, 2011 . Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
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I consider myself internet-savvy, but it took me a long time to discover websites aimed at helping grad students and other academics in their careers and daily lives. Here are what I consider the three most useful sites, so maybe you’d get a head start on tapping these resources.

GradHacker
I actually found this site after starting my own tips series. The posts there are extremely valuable for grad students and benefits from having many opinions on an issue instead of just one. Start with their recent posts (which range from “Grad School Extracurriculars” (an interesting take on my own Tip #1)to “Writing my Dissertation”).

Chronicle of Higher Education
My advisor was the first person to tell me about the Chronicle of Higher Education when they were predominantly a print publication. Over my years as a graduate student, I have seen their website grow tremendously as a resource for the grad student or budding educator. Some sections are for paying subscribers but there is plenty of free content to browse. There are helpful articles for every aspect of handling a career in academia, from being a student, to teaching students.

Academia.edu
Basically Facebook for academics. This is a great place to find people who share your interests. You can follow other scholars, their papers, and journals. I think this site is a great place for the more timid to reach out and network without the gravitas of sending an email or talking at a conference. If you’re uncomfortable adding professionals to your Facebook friends, definitely use Academia.edu as a alternate way to keep contact with other scholars.

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