Sex, Genes & Evolution: tags

The Evilutionary Biologist (aka John Dennehy) has tagged me with an Intellectual Blogger Award. Given my serious lack of posting lately, I'm not sure that I deserve it...but thanks!

The award traces to An Unquiet Mind where the stated rules are:

This award is intended for those bloggers who demonstrate an inclination to think on their own. This is what I think is needed in today’s blogosphere. The term ‘Intellectual’ has often been derided in recent times, and this is one way to resurrect the true meaning: “An intellectual is one who tries to use his or her intellect to work, study, reflect, speculate on, or ask and answer questions with regard to a variety of different ideas.” The rules are:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with nominations for 5 blogs that you think are of “Intellectual Bloggers”.
2. Optional: Link to this page so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Intellectual Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

I hereby nominate:

Tree of Life (Jonathan Eisen; even though he doesn't like these memes)
Aetiology (Tara Smith)
Twisted Bacteria (Cesar Sanchez)
Small Things Considered (Elio)
Evolgen (RPM)

and one that I was suprised to find has apparently not yet been included:

Sandwalk (Larry Moran)

I have been tagged by Shalini over Scientia Natura, Here are the rules:
(although I don't think that she followed #5)

We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I consider myself a native Iowan. Although I was born in Missouri (1965), I grew up in Iowa (1968-1983) and went to Iowa State University as an undergraduate (1983-1988). After various academic stints elsewhere, I returned in 2003 to join the faculty at the University of Iowa.

2. I shook hands with Dave Loebsack today at the Coralville 4th of July Parade. Dave is our freshman Democrat congressman who beat out long-standing incumbent Republican Jim Leach last fall. I asked Dave to "keep up the good work" and to pay particular attention to health care and science funding. He assured me that he will do so.

3. I have a motorcycle, but I don't ride it enough. It's a 1995 Honda Shadow VT600C that I got when I finished my PhD 12 years ago. I have been planning to upgrade to a bigger bike someday (a Harley Fat Boy would be nice).

4. I spent a year studying abroad at University College, Swansea (now Swansea University) in Wales as an undergraduate (1985-1986). I took philosophy and psychology courses there because I was unsure about biology at that time.

5. I like my coffee black and my art abstract. Peets Arabian Mocha-Java is my favorite coffee. Rothko and Pollack are among my favorite artists.

6. I played baritone sax when I was in high school. I was particularly interested in jazz and even once won a solo contest at the state level. I considered a music major in college, but quickly realized that I was not as prepared (and committed!) as I needed to be. Lately, I have been considering picking it back up (but I need to buy one first!).

7. My entire academic lineage is comprised of Members of the National A cademy of Sciences. My undergraduate mentor, Steve Briggs, is now at UC San Diego. My PhD advisor, Jeff Palmer, is at Indiana University. My post-doc advisor, Ford Doolittle, is at Dalhousie University. I am proud of the accomplishments of my mentors, but they have placed the bar rather high!