Where I live is a bit of suburb residential area. Squirrels are common, and I've seen opossum, skunk, and raccoons in my backyard.
In this season, my cat goes out in the morning and comes back at night. He is a half-outdoor cat.
On 1/10/2018, right after his 5-years old birthday, he came home with lost collar, looked all dirty, and miserable. I thought he got into another fight with a neighborhood cat, and just grabbed him and gave a shower to clean him up.
Afterwards, he looked strange, like in a lot of pain, with root of tail swollen and the tail limp.
I thought he might have gotten a tail-pull injury by a cat fight-gone-wrong, or by encountering a vicious dog, or by having a car accident, or by an abuser (a pet abuser will go to special place in hell).
Tail-pull injury can make cats incontinent by damaging nerves controlling bladder and bowel movement. I was concerned. Fortunately he was able to urinate, then later, defecate.
Next 3-4 days he was asleep all day, with a swollen and tender spot at the root of his tail. He's lost weight and gotten lethargic.
Six days ago I noticed the swelling finally subsided. Also noticed a bald spot in his tail fur right next to his rear, with two necrotic lesions, one inch apart.
It wasn't a tail-pull. It was a bite, likely from a snake.
Since it is winter, I forgot about snakebite. But snakes can bite even in this season, if you step in their den, wake them up, and disturb them. And apparently that was what happened. Lucky enough the bite did not kill him.
My cat is getting recovered and I am very happy about it. He started nagging me in the morning to get out. But I will keep him inside at least until he regains his weight and strength more, has better control over his tail movement, and both the open wounds close. Although one of the wounds is almost gone, there still is an open deep puncture wound, that I'd hate to see gotten infected. Until he sees recovery, I'll just keep using vetericyn spray to sanitize the wound and observe.
He was vaccinated for rabies. So he should be okay for rabies even if the bite was from other animal. I'll keep an eye on his behavior for a while, just in case.
As a semi-outdoor cat and a member of neighborhood fight club, he's got some injuries before. A bump on his head in 2016, an abscess on his head that took almost a month to heal in 2017, then, this bite in 2018.
Now he is curling up on my lap and asleep. Cats are resilient animals. Yet, he's got only six more lives to go. Be careful.
January 23, 2018
January 18, 2018
Science: An NIH grant (almost) going out 1/18/2018
This entry is a little bit about my work as a scientist.
We are almost sending off a grant application to NIH. "An application" will be a PDF file with attached PDF files.
Grant application is basically a paperwork. It is the same process for many different grants.
What you need to prepare is;
Title
Narrative (2-3 sentences)
Summary (<30 lines)
Biosketch for key personnel (<5 pages/person)
Facilities (1 page)
Equipment (1 page)
References cited (no limit)
Budget spreadsheet
Budget justification (1-2 page)
Specific Aims (1 page)
Research Strategy (12 page)
Vertebrate animals (2-4 page)
Select agent (1 page)
Letter(s) of Support
Data sharing plan (1 page)
Authentication (1 page)
Cover letter (1 page)
Do you see it a lot of work, or not?
Writing is one thing. The way you write, and the skill for writing appealing grants, is called grantsmanship. Like any other skills, there are people who are good at it, and mentors, coaches, advisers, and editors you can turn to.
Establishing credibility is another. Grant is money that they invest. They do not want to invest on someone shaky and unfounded. You need to appeal to them that you are solid scientist through your proposal itself and your records (publication, reputation, work history, etc), and that the grant money will be well spent for the sake of public health. If you need to team up with someone to get the proposed job done, you got to make the arrangements.
I anticipate this proposal to go through our university offices internally next week. Once the final version checked and approved by the grant office (Office of Research Administration), the application will be electronically submitted to the NIH.
[Up until several years back, there were still grants that had to be submitted with hard copies/printouts. Time has changed.]
Grant application is a paperwork, seeking government or funder's contracts to fund your proposed research. It is one of small number of ways to fund your science, meaning, it is terribly important for scientists. Unless you have your funding source (the money), this fundraising business/grant writing is something you got to deal with.
With this proposal almost out, I've started working on the next one.
Cancer Center symposium is coming up on 2/2, and slides for the 20+5 minutes talk should be submitted by 1/24.
To get them done, I calculate what is needed, how much work is needed, how much time is needed, then decide priorities in my schedule. I want to throw in some time to dance, too. But for a time being, my priority is on my money-making activities.
This is how science is done under capitalism.
We are almost sending off a grant application to NIH. "An application" will be a PDF file with attached PDF files.
Grant application is basically a paperwork. It is the same process for many different grants.
What you need to prepare is;
Title
Narrative (2-3 sentences)
Summary (<30 lines)
Biosketch for key personnel (<5 pages/person)
Facilities (1 page)
Equipment (1 page)
References cited (no limit)
Budget spreadsheet
Budget justification (1-2 page)
Specific Aims (1 page)
Research Strategy (12 page)
Vertebrate animals (2-4 page)
Select agent (1 page)
Letter(s) of Support
Data sharing plan (1 page)
Authentication (1 page)
Cover letter (1 page)
Do you see it a lot of work, or not?
Writing is one thing. The way you write, and the skill for writing appealing grants, is called grantsmanship. Like any other skills, there are people who are good at it, and mentors, coaches, advisers, and editors you can turn to.
Establishing credibility is another. Grant is money that they invest. They do not want to invest on someone shaky and unfounded. You need to appeal to them that you are solid scientist through your proposal itself and your records (publication, reputation, work history, etc), and that the grant money will be well spent for the sake of public health. If you need to team up with someone to get the proposed job done, you got to make the arrangements.
I anticipate this proposal to go through our university offices internally next week. Once the final version checked and approved by the grant office (Office of Research Administration), the application will be electronically submitted to the NIH.
[Up until several years back, there were still grants that had to be submitted with hard copies/printouts. Time has changed.]
Grant application is a paperwork, seeking government or funder's contracts to fund your proposed research. It is one of small number of ways to fund your science, meaning, it is terribly important for scientists. Unless you have your funding source (the money), this fundraising business/grant writing is something you got to deal with.
With this proposal almost out, I've started working on the next one.
Cancer Center symposium is coming up on 2/2, and slides for the 20+5 minutes talk should be submitted by 1/24.
To get them done, I calculate what is needed, how much work is needed, how much time is needed, then decide priorities in my schedule. I want to throw in some time to dance, too. But for a time being, my priority is on my money-making activities.
This is how science is done under capitalism.
January 10, 2018
Science: Do what they say
I sent a draft for a grant proposal to our institutional editor on 1/4/18. She sent back edited versions yesterday.
There was a lot to do. It took all day to fix a half of them. I got to think hard to fix the rest. I am hoping that sleeping on it helps for the fixing.
When we get critical feedback on our work, our initial (maybe natural) reaction is not responding to the critical feedback, with a defensive attempt to justify ourselves or making excuses.
Don't be that way. Switch the viewpoint to theirs, and fix whatever they say. They did excellent job for providing constructive criticism, for which I should be thankful. It was my fault that some points did not get across, and that there are some cumbersome parts.
Note to self.
[It is for technical writing. May not apply for your poem or fiction.]
There was a lot to do. It took all day to fix a half of them. I got to think hard to fix the rest. I am hoping that sleeping on it helps for the fixing.
When we get critical feedback on our work, our initial (maybe natural) reaction is not responding to the critical feedback, with a defensive attempt to justify ourselves or making excuses.
Don't be that way. Switch the viewpoint to theirs, and fix whatever they say. They did excellent job for providing constructive criticism, for which I should be thankful. It was my fault that some points did not get across, and that there are some cumbersome parts.
Note to self.
[It is for technical writing. May not apply for your poem or fiction.]
January 4, 2018
Dance: What do you mean by "Tango basics"?
Imagine you love music and want to play piano. Imagine your goal is to share your music with others with your piano.
Nobody is born with skills to play piano. Playing an instrument even just to a satisfactory extent takes a lot of practice. I mean, practice of "basics", in order for you to play and others can enjoy the "music", not noise.
"Basics" for an art are a set of physical movements that you use for the particular art. "Practice basics" means that you practice them so that you can use the moves with ease, fluently, and even beautifully or gracefully, eventually to communicate the art to others.
Let's get back to the piano example. Imagine a keyboard of piano. Place your right thumb on C, pointing finger on D, and ring finger on F. Then you hit E with middle finger and G with pinky finger in an alternative manner. Repeat it 20 times.
Can you do it? Can you do it smoothly?
How about, changing the finger combination? Say, place thumb, middle, and pinky on C, E, and G, and move only pointing finger and ring finger, hitting D and F?
Personally, at first I couldn't even lift ring finger. It took finger stretching, warm-up and practice, only to be able to barely hit the keys.
I picked up this exercise from a blog by a professional pianist. These exercises are "basics" for pianists.
Now, Argentine Tango has basics.
If you try to break Tango moves down, they can be simplified, like I attempted in my "Beginning Argentine Tango" book.
Walking is a directional move, shifting your weight-carrying axis leg from one to another. Pivoting on a leg is a rotational move, when, generally, you stay at the place. If you are a lead, you'd "lift her" to signal your intention for her to stay there on her axis. Giro/molinette is combination of walking and rotational move, side-back-side-front, ....etc.etc.
However, there are aesthetically-pleasing ways (and not-so-pleasing ways) to do them.
Do the following beautifully in front of the mirror.
Stand on a leg/an axis.
Have defined alignment in the body (like T-position while she is standing).
Collect ankles.
Pivot on a leg.
Take cross-legged T position and stay in balance.
....there are many "basics" and countless drills to reinforce beauty of them.
If you center "your feelings" for learning the dance, you may miss or neglect these technical aspects.
And these technical aspects of "basics" are the source of aesthetically-pleasing, good-looking dance that can appeal to others.
Winter break is over. I'm back to work and to my sedentary "Professor's" life style. But I also started to practice Tango "basics" on occasion. The cross-legged t-position for Tango lifts (as in my 12/18/2017 entry) is not as hurting as before. That is good. Body is honest. What you build is what you show. It is as simple as that.
Nobody is born with skills to play piano. Playing an instrument even just to a satisfactory extent takes a lot of practice. I mean, practice of "basics", in order for you to play and others can enjoy the "music", not noise.
"Basics" for an art are a set of physical movements that you use for the particular art. "Practice basics" means that you practice them so that you can use the moves with ease, fluently, and even beautifully or gracefully, eventually to communicate the art to others.
Let's get back to the piano example. Imagine a keyboard of piano. Place your right thumb on C, pointing finger on D, and ring finger on F. Then you hit E with middle finger and G with pinky finger in an alternative manner. Repeat it 20 times.
Can you do it? Can you do it smoothly?
How about, changing the finger combination? Say, place thumb, middle, and pinky on C, E, and G, and move only pointing finger and ring finger, hitting D and F?
Personally, at first I couldn't even lift ring finger. It took finger stretching, warm-up and practice, only to be able to barely hit the keys.
I picked up this exercise from a blog by a professional pianist. These exercises are "basics" for pianists.
Now, Argentine Tango has basics.
If you try to break Tango moves down, they can be simplified, like I attempted in my "Beginning Argentine Tango" book.
Walking is a directional move, shifting your weight-carrying axis leg from one to another. Pivoting on a leg is a rotational move, when, generally, you stay at the place. If you are a lead, you'd "lift her" to signal your intention for her to stay there on her axis. Giro/molinette is combination of walking and rotational move, side-back-side-front, ....etc.etc.
However, there are aesthetically-pleasing ways (and not-so-pleasing ways) to do them.
Do the following beautifully in front of the mirror.
Stand on a leg/an axis.
Have defined alignment in the body (like T-position while she is standing).
Collect ankles.
Pivot on a leg.
Take cross-legged T position and stay in balance.
....there are many "basics" and countless drills to reinforce beauty of them.
If you center "your feelings" for learning the dance, you may miss or neglect these technical aspects.
And these technical aspects of "basics" are the source of aesthetically-pleasing, good-looking dance that can appeal to others.
Winter break is over. I'm back to work and to my sedentary "Professor's" life style. But I also started to practice Tango "basics" on occasion. The cross-legged t-position for Tango lifts (as in my 12/18/2017 entry) is not as hurting as before. That is good. Body is honest. What you build is what you show. It is as simple as that.
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