Recently in Events Category

As a Googler, I have the most incredible perks, not the least of which is a level of participation in "corporate civics" that I've never enjoyed elsewhere. Among those perks is the privilege of nominating authors to speak at Google in a sponsored venue. One of my nominations, public intellectual Christopher Hitchens, spoke at our Mountain View campus about a week before my departure to New York City:

ABSTRACT

Author Christopher Hitchens discusses his book "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" as a part of the Authors@Google series. The author of Why Orwell Matters and Letters to a Young Contrarian, Christopher Hitchens is a Vanity Fair contributing editor, a Slate columnist, and a regular contributor to The Atlantic Monthly. He has also written for The Nation, Granta, Harper's, The Washington Post, and is a frequent television and radio guest. Born in England, Hitchens was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he received a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics. He now lives in Washington, D.C., and he became a U.S. citizen in 2007. This event took place on August 16, 2007 at Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA.

Yesterday I attended the Pleasanton Highland Games, the largest event of its kind in North America, with my friends Dale Seago and Garland Glessner. I'd missed a few of these over the last few years, and I'm likely to miss several more, so I was especially happy to have attended this one, since 1.) I serendipitously met some friends I'd not seen in years, 2.) I got to hear the Wicked Tinkers live, and 3.) I met this sweet young lady, selling handmade silver whiskey flasks:

She'll be working at the Northern California Renaissance Faire this fall; find her and say hello. Sorry, won't tell you her name, you'll have to work for it...

...yesterday at Vertical Challenge 2006 at San Carlos Airport, California, a car hoisted down the length of a runway, then dropped it:

I'm very happy I had my Olympus E-1 kit in the trunk of my car, since my friend and I stumbled on this airshow quite by accident, seeing all the helicopter activity from the highway whilst driving north intending to watch the jumbos landing at SFO, from the shoreline at Burlingame.

Meant to put this up a few weeks ago: me and Dale Seago at a recent (21 January 2006) Rabbie Burns Birthday celebration in front of San Francisco's Edinburgh Castle Pub:

It was busy that night: I managed to snag the last booth upstairs in the mezzanine area, with a sightline into the area where we expected the haggis to be piped in. It took an hour and a half to get our fish & chips, which were worth the wait; they're made at some nearby mom & pop shop and delivered in. In the meantime, we enjoyed a few of the most excellent Belhaven peat-smoked ales, my first time trying that, and I thank Dale for introducing it to me.

The festivities were well worth the trip up to the city. The piper was very good - and looked every bit the part, wish I'd snagged a good shot of him - and the Burns poetry readings were rousing, marred only ever so slightly by some rather self-consciously narcissistic political posturing on the part of a (I'm not making this up) Scottish socialist lesbian Buddhist working class nun.

The night culminated in a hearty reading of "Address to a Haggis" followed by a free-for-all of flying forks in a frenzy of delectation. I managed to snag a small amount, happy I had any, and returned to the booth to enjoy it... and discovered to my gratitude that Dale had managed to snag double servings for both of us! I quite enjoyed it, and may even keep a small stock of it in cans for emergencies.

This is a pretty amazing number, considering that a couple of days ago, Google was claiming around 3% of this number:

"Results 1 - 20 of about 177,200,000 for Support Denmark"

...and growing.

As I write this, I'm seeing live footage of the aftermath of the jetBlue Airways flight which just made an emergency landing of an Airbus with a stuck nosegear at LAX. What an amazing landing! Hell, the pilot & first officer kept the aircraft exactly in line with the runway's centerline, right to the very end. Whoo hoo! You guys rock!

I'm just about to crash soon, having come back from the first of a multi-day Bujinkan training seminar by Arnaud Cousergue of Paris (Vincennes, actually) at the Bujinkan Martial Arts Center in Sacramento, a couple of hours' drive from here.

That's Dr. Pete Lohstroh, a UC Davis reproductive biologist, and myself. Pete's interested in medical nanotechology too, by the way, but that's deliberately off topic. I really do meet cool people in this art.

The shiner I acquired Thursday night is even more pronounced in this photo, but it doesn't hurt at all anymore. On a related note, Arnaud ended the day insisting on the use of padded training weapons through the end of the year, for various reasons with which I entirely agree. To that end, on the way back from Sack-of-Tomatoes to Saint Jose, I stopped at the Home Despot near the Sacto dojo and acquired the requisite materials:

- a $1.97 bag of thin 6' bamboo rods from the Garden section
- a $1.97 6' section of 5/8" inside diameter foam copper pipe insulation

I then duct taped 3 pinky-width lengths of the bamboo together at 9-inch intervals, put that inside the foam, and placed styrofoam caps at the ends, duct taping those. I finished by taping the entire thing lengthwise.

Looks surprisingly good, and not at all like a late-night vodka fueled project. I took photos of every step of the project which I will be posting in a few days.

Time to crash now.

FEMA, in fact, is an illegal organization. It's mentioned nowhere in the Constitution (which lists the lawful powers of the government in Article I, Section 8), nor did anybody ever vote about it, neither you nor I, nor even the Congress. It was created out of thin air by Presidential fiat, and given unprecedented power to override, at gunpoint, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the rule of law in general.

L. Neil Smith

I'm rested now and recovered from last weekend's attendance at the 4-day tactical shotgun course at Front Sight Firearms Training Institute near Las Vegas, Nevada. I surprised myself by making Distinguished Graduate, so I'm now qualified to come back to attend the 4 Day Advanced Tactical Shotgun course. On the second day of training, Greg Carroll snapped this pic of me after the two of us had done our respective runs through the outdoor canyon "clean the hostage takers out" simulator exercise:

The (visible) firearm is my Benelli M1 Super 90, with a nylon tactical sling and a GG&G M3 Tactical Illuminator mounting rail in the 2 o'clock position on the foreend, not the 10 o'clock position GG&G recommends on their website (experience in a previous course having shown me that, as a right-handed longgunner, the 10 o'clock position allows the light to bump on.)

I'd last done a tactical shotgun course about 4 years ago, and so I was quite interested to see how training doctrine had changed in respect of that weapon at Front Sight. The men in the evolution I attended - those 13 in the class who were there for the full 4 days - were all at least previous attendees at another weapon systems class (e.g. defensive handgun, practical rifle) so the class was run at a slightly accelerated pace befitting the audience. Attendees were about evenly divided between cops, active duty military (a Marine heading back to Iraq soon) and private citizens, all of whom were treated exactly the same by the instructional staff, the excellent Chuck Burnett and John Pierson.

One difference I noticed was the much heavier emphasis on incorporating movement, keeping the fight dynamic, and training that way to the limited extent allowed in the "square range environment." I was particularly pleased that, after the Monday (4th day) afternoon skills test, and the "load and go" indoor tactical simulator, I was allowed to do several rounds of 2-man team shooting on the move, with my new friend David L. Loads of fun, and I was pleased to find that a walking skill I'd been cultivating the last few years, walking fast with very short tank-tread heel/toe action to keep the hips and shoulders on level planes, allowed me to get good hits moving both forward and backward, without muzzle bob.

I'm at a level of membership at Front Sight that allows me to take any firearms course free for the rest of my life, much like some golf club memberships. So, I get to take these courses again and again, which allows me not only to revisit, revive, and refine my skills, but also to work out equipment issues. I've discovered I really don't like the Lyman TacStar SideSaddle mounted on the left side of the receiver: it catches on my clothing, when loaded it dampens recoil (and hence reliability) on this recoil-operated weapon, and with the standard provided cross-receiver screw, was coming loose even though I'd installed it properly and Lock-Tited it. I guess a couple of thousand rounds will do that to the Lock-Tite. That, and I'm leery of over-tightening that screw for fear of impeding bolt travel. Oh, and there's the issue of potentially "egging out" the screw holes on the aluminum receiver. My friend David assures me that, should I care to keep the SideSaddle, I can send the weapon to a gunsmith who specializes in Class 3 firearms with aluminum receivers, experienced in setting up weapons to resist receiver failure, but I'm going to switch to keeping my slug rounds on a belt carrier anyway.

Nor am I going to solve the "problem" of having extra ammo by changing out the tube magazine from a 5 to an 8 round capacity. This is my home invasion repellant device... if I can't solve The Problem with what's available in that weapon, then I'm in a very serious situation indeed. I'm more and more preferring lighter, more maneuverable weapons the more I train, with as few bells and whistles as I can get away with. I've heard more than one long arms instructor over the years comment on how students will arrive at a course with their all-singing, all-dancing Space Gun rigs, everything mounted everywhere, only to find themselves quickly shedding equipment after the first day... especially when training in the 105 F degree desert heat. Heh.

Recommendation: check out Estate Cartridge's low-recoil 12-gauge 9-pellet 00 SWAT loads. I've used this buckshot at a previous shotgun course, and had made the decision to attend this most recent course with too little lead time to order more of the same for this class. So, I had a mere few dozen of them to use at various times during this course, instead using a mix of Winchester and Federal buckshot for most exercises. No comparison. At half the price of Federal, the Estate-branded cartridges gave outstandingly tight and nicely distributed (e.g. no annular "donuts of death") patterns, turning heads on the firing line and eliciting a number of "what are you shooting, man?" enquiries.

I had the pleasure of remaking the acquaintance of at least one old friend, who was taking a course on an adjacent range. Additionally, I was happy to have a couple of libertarian friends, longtime (but previously untrained) gunowners, take the full 4 Day Defensive Handgun course on the same weekend. Both men, Alan and Chris, came away from the experience very much more competent than when they arrived.

My friends Chris, Sean, and Tom, in London, are safe and accounted for after today's murder bombings. Chris lives near Russell Square, where I too lived a number of years ago.

Cambridge biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey will be speaking next week at Stanford University, on "Why the prospect of dramatic life extension matters now." Talk will occur Wednesday evening 7:00-8:30 PM, 8 June 2005, at the Clark Center Auditorium. Thanks to Tyler Emerson for forwarding this to me; I do plan to attend.

Jim Lesczynski reports that "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Comedy Central is repeating last night's new episode tonight at 4pm Pacific (7pm Eastern) time, with the 18 February 2003 segment in which he was featured, "Guns For Tots," spliced in.

Bruce Sommer informs me that Apple has released the online trailer for "Serenity," the film adaptation of Joss Whedon's tragically short-lived "Firefly" television series. It looks fantastic!

I mentioned here a couple of years ago that I attended a seminar given by Don Angier of Yanagi Ryu Aiki Jiu Jitsu. I missed last year's event in northern Californa, but I managed to make this year's event last weekend. I attended both days (as did another Bujinkan practicioner), and met one other Bujinkan student during the Sunday session at Aikido of Diablo Valley.

As has always been the case with Don's seminars, I enjoyed it immensely. Both days were Yanagi-style taijutsu training, no weapons this time (e.g. the jojutsu we did in April 2003.)

The first day, we did 3-man training involving breaking from 2-attacker both-arm wrist grabs (morote in aikido parlance). The second day, we did 2-man Yanagi "kiri dori" with reversals. Both days ended with recap training.

As usual, the training was incredibly useful: the principles of Angier's art are shared with our own, with an interestingly different emphasis on how to convey them. I didn't attend with the intent of "learning their art" - that really only happens with core Yanagi students, in their dojo environment, as is the case with us and our art - but what I do expect, as I've experienced in previous years' training with the Yanagi folks, is that I'll be able to see aspects of our own art from an outside perspective.

One solid claim I can make for training with these guys is that I'm forced to re-examine all the "unclean" (or sloppy) elements in my own movement.

Really, I can't recommend highly enough that Bujinkan students take the time to attend a seminar by this incredible 73 year old practicioner of a rare Japanese family art.

I should also add that the people I trained with, mostly aikidoka, were very good training partners, and incredibly welcoming, which made the experience all the more rewarding.

Happy Chinese New Year to y'all. I've got a couple of midterms coming up, so blogging has been light of late.

Wondering if this displays properly in most browsers:

新年快樂

Just saw this a few minutes ago on a SuperBowl TV commercial: Richard Branson & Volvo team up in a contest to give away a suborbital flight on Virgin Galactic.

Yesterday, I attended Dale Seago's "Return from Japan" seminar in San Francisco. I'm reminded that my friend Monica attended a Bujinkan seminar in London, and had some good things to say about her training experience.

The infamous "Assault Weapons Ban" died today. I wish I had more time to express my happiness about this, but I'm extremely busy.

Jeffrey L "the Hunter" Jordan is freed, with a few hundred dollars' fines (and months of expense and a lost job and other anguish,) and even gets to keep his own property. I first posted about this 8 months ago. I'm glad it's (mostly) over, with the exception of his upcoming expected fight with Verizon over their cowardly treatment of him. More news as it happens.

By the way, I did notice the glaring omission of the National Rifle Association in the list of those organizations that assisted Jordan. Figures.

One of the kittens (well, year-old cats) just discovered how to push out the screen on Peggy's second-floor office window! I'm sitting here, wrapped up in my writing, and Peggy comes downstairs asking, "Where's Lucy?" and commenting that her office window's screen was now down on the side carport. We both immediately grabbed one each of the many head-banger Maglite flashlights ("torches" to my UK and Aussie friend-readers) we have sitting in various rooms around the house and ran outside to the back yard. We found her quickly, shivering under a stash of gardening supplies. She was uninjured, but apparently had been outside for a couple of hours, and was a bit dusty.

We brought her in and in a fit of guilt fed her most of a bag of cat treats. Her brother Selmak, uncharacteristically, hissed at her: I'm guessing that's his way of saying, "Goddamn, you smell funky girl!"

I'm imagining that a Chihuahua, given a similar fall, would not have gotten off uninjured, the way she did.

I'll be looking for bird carcasses in the morning. I'm hoping the yard will be littered with them. If you're going to go through an unscheduled skydive, there should at least be good hunting on the ground after the event.

I often keep the Fox News Channel playing in the background while I work, and the last couple of days I've heard the occasional newstwit breathlessly report on incidents of "price gouging" during and after the recent hurricane there. I'd been wanting to comment on the idiocy of the whole "price gouging" thing, but have been knee-deep in work. Doug Allen, I think, has said what I wanted to say (thanks Patri) in 'The "G" Word."

Looks like that Google IPO I mentioned yesterday is actually happening today or early next week... I can't really understand their conflicting press releases listed here.

Google will be opening auction bidding for its 25.7 million IPO shares in less than 4 hours. This will be an interesting event.

Orkut.com and Chris Claypoole both inform me that Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik hits the half-century mark today. Congrulations on your continued survival!

Reed's Sporting Goods in San Jose, California is having its 46th Annual Firearms, Ammo, and Reloading Sale, which started yesterday and runs through this Sunday, 18 July 2004. They generally have excellent deals on a very healthy selection (for California) of goods. Every year, too, Winchester shows up with at least a semi-tractor load of their high-quality ammunition. I'm going to try to make it today or tomorrow. Any of my local friends are welcome to join me.

Anyone who thinks Objectivists are lacking in humor haven't met some guy named Steve. Heck, I just noticed that an acquaintance of mine (and friend of my friend Alan Weiss), Amanda Phillips, is featured on this page, "Hot Objectivist on Objectivist Action" (or, for those of us steeped in Monty Python, "The Society for putting Objectivists on top of other Objectivists".)

Bob Tipton has a less than stellar experience with a Savage Scout.

Well, isn't this this grand: national concealed carry for cops has become a reality, but the rest of us have to go state-by-state for our "permits" to exercise our fundamental civil right.

James R. Rummel passes on a fascinating account of harassment of the Pink Pistols contingent by goons at the Stonewall Union gay pride march. The offending security guard - and her goons - seem to have bought hook, line & sinker the dogma that people with guns are predators, while in fact (in this case) they are usually protectors. If you read into the comments, you'll see where a legally savvy person notes the legal basis for taking the guard and her 20 goons to court, in some detail. Interesting indeed.

Many have heard the now-famous quote by H.L. Mencken, "Puritanism: the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." Well, here's another instance of it in action, reported by The Guardian: "Britons caught on camera as shots of cruise ship orgy shock Cyprus."

This is getting even more interesting: Eric Pavao sends along yet another piece (Popular Science) on the SpaceShipOne flight, this one intimating that Burt Rutan has a lot more up his sleeve:

After winning the X-Prize, Rutan will quickly move on to other challenges. During press conferences leading up to Monday's flights, he dropped hints about "going to orbit sooner than you think," an apparent allusion to the Tier 3 orbital space-vehicle program that he is reportedly involved in. The SpaceShipOne program is known as Tier 1, and Tier 2 would probably be a tour-bus-like version of the same concept, a vehicle capable of carrying up to 10 passengers on suborbital space flights. Under his contract with Allen, Rutan is required to deliver data on how much such a vehicle would cost to build and fly. Mojave Aerospace--a new company jointly owned by Allen and Rutan and disclosed this week--will own the rights to SpaceShipOne technology and would oversee future franchising and commercialization efforts for the system. Details will remain secret, said the cagey Rutan, "until we're ready to push something out of the door."

Bill St. Clair passes along this SpaceShipOne flight coverage with video (you'll need to enable pop-ups in your browser).

Eric Pavao reports that Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik of Austin, Texas will be interviewed by Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly tonight.

The success of SpaceShipOne feels like a reward for my faith. I can’t say I’m terribly surprised – relief is more the word. If I were anywhere near the Mojave desert instead of freezing through a London summer, I would have travelled myself to witness it.

It’s a shining example of what like-minded people would say is the ultimate freedom – the freedom to create, to produce, to take risk, to try and also to fail. The freedom that can only fully be realized where our money (our very lives) isn’t taxed away for a variety of hare-brained political schemes and our lives aren’t regulated to the point of absurdity.

Most Americans reading this would have paid for NASA through their taxes – where’s your return on investment? I’m willing to bet that the VCs who stumped up for SpaceShipOne are looking forward to some long term return on their money.

I hope that those who advocate the big-government nanny state for various reasons sit up and take notice this week. This is what we humans are capable of – without the interference, guidance or regulation of beaurocracy.

Monica White

This is the in-flight face of the first non-government, privately-financed test pilot to earn American astronaut's wings:

The full story here. Now go out and buy a copy of Victor Koman's "Kings of the High Frontier."

The world's first privately funded manned spaceflight will occur in less than 7 hours from now, with the takeoff of the carrier ship and spaceship from Mojave Airport at 0630 California time.

Via Eric Pavao: Japanese company takes delivery of first new Zeppelin airship, a 247-foot updated helium version of the original ships.

Today's the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. I'm reminded that a couple of weeks ago, a couple of friends of mine and I went shooting at a rifle range in northern California, taking a number of weapons including an M1 Garand rifle which probably saw action in WWII. Here, my friend Andy Chen, a brand new shooter (and 18 y/o college classmate), fires my other friend's Garand:

This was Andy's first time out shooting... and on steel reactive targets set out at 100 meters - after having been briefed on safety and weapon operation - he kept up with us two trained, experienced shooters, at least on the sandbag rests. He's spent his high school years reading military history, and knows an incredible amount of factual data on weapons history. He's also used to playing first-person shooter games - in which I've never been interested, thinking them useless for training - causing me to start to re-think my opinions of twitch games.

An older gentleman at an adjacent shooting stall took some time to discuss the Garand with Andy, pointing out that he had ordered his own Garand (which he was also shooting) from the U.S. federal government's Civilian Marksmanship Program, which I've heard about over the years, though I'd bought my own past two Garands from commercial sources.

I'm encouraging Andy to join a local CMP-affiliated club and shoot a match this summer, so that he can be eligible to buy at least a "rack grade" rifle for as low as $350... shipped Fedex directly to his door (yes, they do that)! I don't see Garands selling at gun shows for less than around $800 nowadays. Here's a very detailed and interesting account, with photos, of the experiences of two CMP participants in the purchase and shooting of their own CMP Garands.

It's especially worth noting, for California residents, that a Garand is "Kalifornia legal", making it an excellent rifle to keep locked in the trunk of one's car... just in case. Also note that a number of companies (such as Smith Enterprises) do "tanker conversions" to shorten the overall length, and one can convert the weapon to .308 caliber.

Eric Pavao passes on this fantastic news: SpaceShipOne will be making its first historic flight from Mojave in less than 3 weeks:

Mojave, CA: A privately-developed rocket plane will launch into history on June 21 on a mission to become the world's first commercial manned space vehicle. Investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen and aviation legend Burt Rutan have teamed to create the program, which will attempt the first non-governmental flight to leave the earth's atmosphere.

Paul G. Allen and aviation legend Burt Rutan have teamed to create a manned space program, which will attempt the first non-governmental flight to leave the earth's atmosphere. SpaceShipOne will rocket to 100 kilometers (62 miles) into sub-orbital space above the Mojave Civilian Aerospace Test Center, a commercial airport in the California desert. If successful, it will demonstrate that the space frontier is finally open to private enterprise. This event could be the breakthrough that will enable space access for future generations.

A few days ago, my Bujinkan teacher Dale Seago announced on our dojo mailing list that some kilts he owned, including one he'd recently ordered, no longer fit him due to the continued success of Atkins on his waistline. He said he'd like to give the new one away to anyone who'd claim it. I'm a pretty fit guy, but I'm naturally broader-beamed than Dale, and the size he mentioned was exactly my size, so I spoke up for it. Last night in training, I received it:

Dale, last week, on where these kilts can be purchased:

These are modeled on the traditionally-constructed, khaki canvas kilts issued to the Black Watch during World War I. And for $99, you can't beat 'em.

Dale, today, celebrating the continued kiltification of his dojo (a subcultural blend you'll not see anywhere else in the world, folks):

Y'know, there was a time when proper clothing was outlawed, from August 1747 to July 1782. For Russell and the rest, here is a translation from the Gaelic of part of a proclamation that was issued upon repeal of the prohibition:

"Listen Men. This is bringing before all the Sons of the Gael, the King and Parliament of Britain have forever abolished the act against the Highland Dress; which came down to the Clans from the beginning of the world to the year 1746. This must bring great joy to every Highland Heart. You are no longer bound down to the unmanly dress of the Lowlander. This is declaring to every Man, young and old, simple and gentle, that they may after this put on and wear the Truis, the Little Kilt, the Coat, and the Striped Hose, as also the Belted Plaid, without fear of the Law of the Realm or the spite of the enemies."

I hadn't mentioned that the sense of "F-R-E-E-D-O-M-M-M!!!" (Dale's words, channelling William Wallace) which I got after trying on the kilt - and then returning to the bathroom to correct it, having put it on backwards - was fantastic! Yep, it's a man's garment. So, I wore it for the entire training session, leaving my gi trousers in my training bag. And for some reason, I just felt more bellicose, a feeling my training partners got to enjoy. Heh.

Thanks Dale!

An old friend of mine, Redvelvet (who doesn't keep in contact as well as she should!) sent me email last week announcing that she would be displaying some of her most recent products, including scented candles, at a San Francisco house cum ad hoc art gallery. So, my g/f and I headed up to the City for some good and outrageously low priced dim sum in the Sunset district, then motored over to the neighborhood where she was working.. where we spent half an hour scrounging for parking.

We found the funky house where she was working, first encountering "artists" of the type one usually finds in the Haight district, then found Christina, who'd been given a corner slot on a semi-indoor/semi-outdoor veranda. I introduced her to my g/f, and exchanged "how've ya been doin'?" gossip for a while. Turns out she had a bellydancing accident a couple of months ago - she's not explained to me yet what that means - and decided to start a cool little business while she's looking for work in the field she's re-trained for recently, digital circuit layout (her first degree is in theoretical mathematics).

I was stunned at the dozens of fantastic candles she had on display. I and everyone who stopped by to snap up candles noted that these types of candles usually cost a multiple - 2 to 4 times - what she was charging. So, I'm telling you, my friends, about this (though I get no cut of her sales at all) because I like Christina and I think these candles sell themselves... see for yourself.

Kevin Cole on Orkut passes along this bit of only-in-the-new-world news: "Devils Hit Cyber Church".

This was sent me yesterday by my good friend Tom Burroughes in London, who gave me permission to reprint here:

Hi Russell, you remember my friend Martin who came over to California back in 1995? Well, he did a crazy thing today -- he went to Lord's cricket ground in north London, and as a "dare", took his clothes off and ran across the pitch before getting booked by the police, all the while producing pandamonium in the crowd.

Oh. My. God.

Tom follows up that, "I checked the cricket reports on two channels and I have not come across the incident although I notice the television channels often tend to brush such stuff [aside]." He says that Martin was hit with a small fine and given a warning by the police. Anyone hear about this incident? Monica?

My thanks to my longtime friend (I avoid the term "old friend" for such a young woman) Kennita Watson for alerting me to this lecture at Stanford on 23 June 2004: "The Artificial Synapse Chip: Towards an Electronic Prosthetic Retina" by Harvey A. Fishman, M.D., Ph.D, Stanford University School of Medicine, the Director of Ophthalmic Tissue Engineering and Chief Ophthalmology Resident in the department of Ophthalmology.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common form of severe and irreversible blindness in the U.S. Our research program consists of a highly interdisciplinary effort between physicians, engineers, and scientists to develop a neural interface that will connect the output from a digital camera to individual retinal cells in patients with AMD, thus bypassing injured cells.

I really wish I could make this lecture, but I have a bioanthropology final exam during the very time slot this lecture occurs (6:15pm for dinner at the hospital cafeteria, 7:30-8:30pm for the lecture). If you, the reader, can attend I'd love to hear your impressions of the event.

By the way, this sounds like a skillset for the type of research physician I find really interesting:

Dr. Fishman's area of expertise is translational research that uses a multidisciplinary approach to develop novel therapies for blinding diseases in the eye – in particular, Age-Related Macular Degeneration. His research bridges the gaps between tissue engineering, surface science, nanofabrication, chemistry, neuroscience and retinal transplantation biology in Ophthalmology. His background in new technologies and medical science is diverse including bioMEMS, chip-based microfluidics and confocal and time-lapse microscopy, neuroscience/nerve cell regeneration and macular diseases in Ophthalmology. He has made contributions in the fields of microfluidics, laser-induced fluorescence detection, separation science, and biosensors.