Yay!

Carl Zimmer won in the large newspaper category for a trio of articles he wrote for The New York Times on aspects of genetics and evolution. "I sometimes feel a little embarrassed that I like to write articles about the kinds of basic questions my kids ask me," Zimmer said. “For the three stories I submitted, the questions were, "What’s a virus?" "What’s a gene?" and "Why do fireflies flash?" I had a marvelous time talking with scientists about the complex answers to those simple questions, and now, thanks to this award, I don’t have to feel at all embarrassed.” Zimmer previously won in the online category in 2004.

And he shouldn’t be embarrassed, because it’s exactly those kinds of questions that should be written about! Engaging the public is what more scientists should do, and if they did it as well as Carl the world would be a better place.

For one, all our blog feeds are now being handled by Feedburner. Using feeds is actually pretty easy; think of it like a magazine you subscribe to that gets sent to your house. When a blog like mine is updated with a new post, the feed is updated, and if you subscribe to the feed you get the new post sent to you. I use Google Reader to keep up with blogs, for example. It keeps track of all my feeds so I don’t have to.

For another, the Discover Magazine website is now mobile phone friendly. I checked it out with my internationally-ridiculed pink iPhone and the site looked great. If you have a mobile device, just go to DiscoverMagazine.com and you should be redirected to the mobile site.

And just a note… there are social network buttons on every post here, just below the blog post title: Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon and so on. I would love it long time if, when you like a post, you were to vote it up or Digg it or whatever. It gets the word out to others, and allows me to eat and pay my utility bills, something I’m fond of being able to do.

Oh– you can follow me on Twitter, too. I tweet about all sorts of things, not just astronomy and skepticism, including most recently (and not necessarily in a related way) toilet paper, my tattoo, and Wil Wheaton.

And while I’m at it, please read my commenting policy, mmkay? I have noticed an uptick in people violating my one simple rule.

Thus ends our occasional BABlog notice. Thanks, and don’t forget to wash your hands.

The reason I can’t reveal mine is that I had it done as part of the TV show L.A. Ink, and I can’t post pictures or talk about the design until after the show airs. But don’t worry, I’ll post the whole painful (literally) story right here once I can.

Congrats to Henry for such a handsome ink job! I can’t wait until we meet up again, and we can compare tats in person. That’ll be a fun pic for the blog.

That was a fun afternoon. The weather in Boulder was nice, so we sat outside on the Pearl Street mall and chatted while eating pizza, then got gelato at my favorite candy store. I could use more afternoons like that!

So on Monday I take the plunge: I’ll be getting my tattoo. The design is pretty much set, the body part has been prepped, and my appointment is on the docket. The terror and panic I felt yesterday has mostly subsided, and I’m ready to go.

Except… I’m not sure what to do beforehand. I’ll be in a hotel the night before. I’ll get up, have a normal breakfast, get coffee, the usual. But I wonder. Should I go to the hotel exercise room and do a few bicep blasts so that my arms will look good in pictures? Or will that stretch the skin too much?

And do I need any special food? Orange juice, ginger ale, water? What about acetaminophen or ibuprofen? I know aspirin is a bad idea, but FSM, who uses aspirin anymore? Being a wuss, I worry a bit about how much this will hurt — it’s on my upper arm, which I’m told isn’t too bad, but the whole thing will be about 5×8 cm, an alarming amount of surface area.

I know a lot of BABloggees have tats. What’s your advice? Warning: anyone suggesting anything alt-med will be forced to take 100,000 doses of 30C gingko. And acupuncture jokes? Too obvious.

So whaddya got for me?

I just got back from Dragon*Con, and I plan on writing up some thoughts on it when I get a chance. Until then, the folks at D*C just posted an interview I did with them last year. It’s really long but full of brilliance and wisdom. Or mostly me talking up the end of the world, the JREF, and skepticism. You know the drill.