Goda nyheter

Personen jag nominerade fick äntligen sin Achariusmedalj! Jag har nominerat William A. Weber (Bill, född 16 november 1918) flera gånger, och nu gick det igenom. Hurra! I Edinburg 2010 var jag så säker på att han skulle få den, när IAL ordnade en egen middag. Så jag satt på middagen och blev jättebesviken, men höll masken.


Men i år! samma år som han fyller 100 år!


Jag träffade Bill och hans fru 1993, när jag och HMO var på insamlingsresa till mitt doktorandprojekt.


Bill Weber, Due, and Louise, Colorado, 1993.

Busy week

Detta har varit en riktigt rolig (men inte lugn) vecka!


Måndag:
- Gick HMS-runda tillsammans med två andra i laboratorierna i A-blokka (jag är skyddsombud)
- Jobbade med någons lavprojekt i labbet
- Var med på BFK:s "Monteringskurs"


Tisdag:
- Jobbade med någons lavprojekt i labbet
- Var på Horisontföreläsning: "Why is Life Like it is?" (Nick Lane) Jag håller ju på att läsa boken, svårt! Men inspirerande biologi - många åhörare!
- Det blev inte klubb; jag var trött och gick hem (Veckans Brott på TV)


Onsdag:
- Levererade sista (?) lavsekvenserna till sekvensering (någons lavprojekt)
- En artikel jag har varit med att producera kom ut!*
- Gick en stickkurs på kvällen - "Strikke rundt på ermer" Jag var enda deltagaren, och det var nervöst men mysigt! Kul att ha läraren helt för sig själv, nästan tre timmar för 400 kronor.


Torsdag:
- Trevlig serviceman som felsökte vår tvättmaskin i ca 45 minuter på morgonen. Hittade inget fel, trots en ganska allvarlig felindikation. Jag provade en tvätt i går, och det gick strålande!
- Skrev om en nomination jag har lämnat in. Fixade fram mer information som Kommittén ville ha.
- Fick ænnu mera blommor! Tack!
- Kørde en maskin med tvætt och det gick bra!


Fredag:
- Extraherade en spænnande lav (eget projekt)
- Färdigställde och skickade in en nomination och fyra bilagor med information (pust)
- Anmälde förköpsrätt till en lägenhet som snart kommer ut på marknaden, hoppas jag




 Nu är klockan 16.04 och jag ska stänga labbet och gå hem!



*) Øvstedal, D. O., Lindblom, L., Knudsen, K.& Fryday, A. M. 2018. A new species of Acarospora (Acarosporaceae, Acarosporales, lichenized Ascomycota) from the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). Phytotaxa 340(1): 86-92.

Edinburgh 2010

Ok, so the IAL conference in 2008 didn't quite meet my expectations. But we must always look ahead: A couple of days ago, I registered for IMC9 in Edinburgh, and I think it's going to be great! I already have the financing, since I have some funding left from the 30.000 NOK that BIO gave me after the received the two awards for the BIO300 course; the 'Uglepris' and the national 'Utdanningskvalitetsprisen'! Feels GREAT!

Kalifornien 2008

Jag medger att trippen till Kalifornien inte helt motsvarade mina förväntningar. Ok ok ok... Jag hade en bild av Monterey (från 1993) och att konferensen skulle innebära långa soliga dagar och långa mörka kvällar med brasor på stranden och Stilla havets brus. Fast de hade varnat för den kyliga California-luften. Men den minns jag inte alls från fältresan 1993. Då var jag 25, när H och jag reste 2008 var jag 40; det kan ju inverka på mina upplevelser. Och den irriterande jet-lagen... Höga förväntningar hade jag också. Jag var inte förberedd på att den delen av Kalifornien som vi kom till var så konservativ, att polisen rensade stranden 22-23 varje kväll och att konferens-stället också tyckte att klockan tio dags att sova! Alldeles för liten tid att njuta Kaliforniskt vin, men H och jag lärde oss att ta ett litet glas till lunch för att kompensera, HAHA!!!

Men vi hade en hel del fina upplevelser! Till exempel: "Met Timdal and Haugan at a restaurant at night, a ’project’ I never thought would work out, however, I must learn to trust Blom as a project leader! Observed blue heron (Ardea herodias) on our way back to the hotel." Och att H hittade Xanthoria pollinarioides på den första lokalen vi stannade för att kika efter arten!

En lång dikt

Hittade precis mina anteckningar från 2008, och tycker att det ser ut som en dikt. Den kan ju till exempel heta:
"Ode till Amerika-resan" (eller nå't s'ånt)!?:

SAN FRANSISCO (”The City”)
Some things that we observed that are mentioned in tourist guides:

- Embarcadero

- the Transamerica Pyramid

- Alcatraz

- City Lights Bookstore

- Fisherman’s Wharf

- Pier 39 (incl. Sea lions)

- Columbus Ave.

- Coit Tower

- Chinatown / Financial District



MONTEREY

Some things that we observed that are mentioned in tourist guides:

- Sensory Garden

- Cannery Row

- Fisherman’s Wharf (incl. Sea lions)

USA trip; 9-21 juli 2008-08-03

Wednesday, 9

Wake up at 04.05. Flight (KLM 1184) from Flesland at 06.10... It was 1 hour late out from Schiphol due to a flat tire. A beautiful morning and I lost my camera.

Landed at SFO around 14.15 local time. AVIS rental car: Chevy Classic, Malibu.

Best Western Coyote Point Inn (San Mateo)

The pizza in San Mateo was good, however, I was too jetlagged to appreciate it.

Thursday, 10

Morning stroll in the area

BART train from SFO to San Fransisco

Nice walk from Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf

Had a nice lunch

Sea lions at Pier 39, but not very many (as in 1993)

Lots of haze, we just barely saw Alcatraz

Hotel shuttle back from SFO

Saw humming bird outside the hotel room window

Dinner and a good red wine at a nice restaurant in San Mateo, jazz trio (took a cab!)

Friday, 11

Route 92 west to Hwy 1 at Half Moon Bay

Sea access by the golf course provided us with the first observation of Xanthoria pollinariodes Lindblom & D.M. Wright, on a planted Lonicera by the fence!

More stops on the journey south, no more sightings of X. pollinarioides

Late lunch in Santa Cruz at a micro brewery, very homey

Had booking at Best Western at Ocean Street (internet from Coyote Point) – big room!

Explored the town

Dinner at Hindquarters restaurant with huge portions of meat and cole slaw and really good wine a short stroll from the hotel!

Saturday 12

Hwy 1 to Monterey

First stop Moss Landing (a well known spot for bird watchers) with X. pollinarioides (the only observation that day)

Monterey: good parking by Fisherman’s Wharf and a slightly touristic, but good lunch

Sea lions, Cannery Row, and the free bus back

Old town

Drove out to Best Western Monarhc Inn in Pacific Grove and got a nice and quiet room

Walk down to Asilomar and to the beach, a bit longer than we expected, but exciting (black tail deer, Moneterey pine, X. parietina at the cemetery, etc)

Dinner at Indian restaurant in Oliver St., very nice

Sunday, 13

Met the bryologists at Asilomar for the day excursion to Nisene Marks State Park (secondary redwood forest)

Short stop in Moss Landing on the return, but we didn’t see the sea otter

Registration for IAL6, Asilomar Conference center

We got a nice big room (1007) in house Manzanita, North Woods

Right after dinner was the welcome reception with lots of nice things to eat (and drink!)…

Monday, 14

Introduction to IAL6 (the Programme is found here, so I won’t og into details)

Poster was up one day (only): Lindblom & Søchting: Xanthomendoza borealis – a bipolar lichen species

Tuesday, 15

H and I skipped the morning session and drove into Pacific Grove/ Asilomar to fill gas (met a biologist in a Volvo), shop and drink coffee (espresso and cappuccino!)

Best session: Systematics and Phylogeny

Wednesday, 16

Best lecture: Lutzoni

Evening: British Lichen Society reception

IAL banquet was nice, but ended before 22

Post-party with the Oslo people and Iceland and some bottles of good Californian wine…

Thursday, 17

Printzen and Lindblom session at 16.00-17.30: Between Individuals and Species: Population Genetics of Lichens

But before that I had a quiet moment in our room. The humming bird appeared outside our window.

Night: IAL business meeting. I surrendered at 22.00 and rounded off the day with a couple of glasses of good Californian wine with Ekman and Blom and, finally, Printzen

Friday, 18

Haugan, Blom, and I drove into Pacific Grove/ Asilomar to have coffee and buy smoke

The Save Mart was big and nice

Stopped by Asilomar State Beach to look at a X. candelaria s lat

Best lecture: TGA Green

Closing reception between 20.00 and 22.00

Nice walk with Haugan back to our lodgings and exciting observations of the ’Night Police’ of Asilomar…

Saturday, 19

Leave the room and pack the car

Two sessions before lunch

Drove north and stopped at Moss Landing

Found a Comfort Inn in Santa Cruz without much ado, nice and relatively quiet

Saw an American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) (?)

Met Timdal and Haugan at a restaurant at night, a ’project’ I never thought would work out, however, I must learn to trust Blom as a project leader!

Observed blue heron on our way back to the hotel

Sunday, 20

Hwy 1 and 92 north in haze and light rain, same route back to SFO

Everything went smoothly and the flight back to Europe was on time

Monday, 21

Rain in Amsterdam

Tired

The flight to Bergen Flesland was delayed ½ hour

Met Sætersdal on his way back from conference in Tennessee!

Splendid weather in Bergen – good to be home

Had a pizza and managed to stay up until 22.30!
-----

IMC9 in 2010

1–6 August 2010
9th International Mycological Congress (IMC9).. Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Edinburgh, UK. Contact: info@britmycolsoc.org.uk.

USA trip; 9-21 juli 2008

Wednesday, 9
Wake up at 04.05. Flight (KLM 1184) from Flesland at 06.10... It was 1 hour late out from Schiphol due to a flat tire. A beautiful morning and I lost my camera.
Landed at SFO around 14.15 local time. AVIS rental car: Chevy Classic, Malibu.
Best Western Coyote Point Inn (San Mateo)
The pizza in San Mateo was good, however, I was too jetlagged to appreciate it.

Thursday, 10
Morning stroll in the area
BART train from SFO to San Fransisco
Nice walk from Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf
Had a nice lunch
Sea lions at Pier 39, but not very many (as in 1993)
Lots of haze, we just barely saw Alcatraz
Hotel shuttle back from SFO
Saw humming bird outside the hotel room window
Dinner and a good red wine at a nice restaurant in San Mateo, jazz trio (took a cab!)

Friday, 11
Route 92 west to Hwy 1 south at Half Moon Bay
Sea access by the golf course provided us with the first observation of Xanthoria pollinariodes Lindblom & D.M. Wright, on a planted Lonicera by the fence!
More stops on the journey south, no more sightings of X. pollinarioides
Late lunch in Santa Cruz at a micro brewery, very homey
Had booking at Best Western at Ocean Street (internet from Coyote Point) – big room!
Explored the town
Dinner at Hindquarters restaurant with huge portions of meat and cole slaw and really good wine a short stroll from the hotel!

Saturday 12
Hwy 1 to Monterey
First stop Moss Landing (a well known spot for bird watchers) with X. pollinarioides (the only observation that day)
Monterey: good parking by Fisherman’s Wharf and a slightly touristic, but good lunch
Sea lions, Cannery Row, and the free bus back
Old town
Drove out to Best Western Monarhc Inn in Pacific Grove and got a nice and quiet room
Walk down to Asilomar and to the beach, a bit longer than we expected, but exciting (black tail deer, Moneterey pine, X. parietina at the cemetery, etc)
Dinner at Indian restaurant in Oliver St., very nice

Sunday, 13
Met the bryologists at Asilomar for the day excursion to Nisene Marks State Park (secondary redwood forest)
Short stop in Moss Landing on the return, but we didn’t see the sea otter
Registration for IAL6, Asilomar Conference center
We got a nice big room (1007) in house Manzanita, North Woods
Right after dinner was the welcome reception with lots of nice things to eat (and drink!)…

Monday, 14
Introduction to IAL6 (the Programme is found here, so I won’t og into details)
Poster was up one day (only): Lindblom & Søchting: Xanthomendoza borealis – a bipolar lichen species

Tuesday, 15
H and I skipped the morning session and drove into Pacific Grove/ Asilomar to fill gas (met a biologist in a Volvo), shop and drink coffee (espresso and cappuccino!)
Best session: Systematics and Phylogeny (Ekman & Schmitt)

Wednesday, 16
Best lecture: Lutzoni
Evening: British Lichen Society reception
IAL banquet was nice, but ended before 22
Post-party with the Oslo people and Iceland and some bottles of good Californian wine…

Thursday, 17
Printzen and Lindblom session at 16.00-17.30: Between Individuals and Species: Population Genetics of Lichens
But before that I had a quiet moment in our room. The humming bird appeared outside our window.
Night: IAL business meeting. I surrendered at 22.00 and rounded off the day with a couple of glasses of good Californian wine with Ekman and Blom and, finally, Printzen

Friday, 18
Haugan, Blom, and I drove into Pacific Grove/ Asilomar to have coffee and buy smoke
The Save Mart was big and nice
Stopped by Asilomar State Beach to look at a X. candelaria s lat
Best lecture: TGA Green
Closing reception between 20.00 and 22.00
Nice walk with Haugan back to our lodgings and exciting observations of the ’Night Police’ of Asilomar…

Saturday, 19
Leave the room and pack the car
Two sessions before lunch
Drove north and stopped at Moss Landing
Found a Comfort Inn in Santa Cruz without much ado, nice and relatively quiet
Saw an American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) (?)
Met Timdal and Haugan at a restaurant at night, a ’project’ I never thought would work out, however, I must learn to trust Blom as a project leader!
Observed blue heron (Ardea herodias) on our way back to the hotel

Sunday, 20
Hwy 1 and 92 north in haze and light rain, same route back to SFO
Everything went smoothly and the flight back to Europe was on time

Monday, 21
Rain in Amsterdam
Tired
The flight to Bergen Flesland was delayed ½ hour
Met Sætersdal on his way back from conference in Tennessee!
Splendid weather in Bergen – good to be home
Had a pizza and managed to stay up until 22.30!

Back from our Big Trip

Back in Bergen after our U.S. trip including IAL6 in Asilomar, CA! I'll write soon, promise!

Stress är bra för mig

Angående förra inlägget: nästan all stressen som jag skriver om är ju positiv stress. Allt är positivt och allt går bra, ju!

Jag skulle hitta något coolt om detta på nätet, men, men... Som vanligt för mycket skit att rota igenom. Här och här, sedan insåg jag att detta bara är en enda stor prokrastinering! Jag får gå och laga kaffe istället!

Första natten i USA ska vi bo vid Coyote Point, men det finns nog inga prärievargar där nu.

Poster

The poster I have started to make for the IAL symposium in California this summer is titled Xanthomendoza borealis - a bipolar lichen species. We are two authors and B, our terrific illustrator, is helping me out. I really look forward to seeing it finished. My goal is: "en enkel (men utseendemässigt häftig!) poster, med lite text och ett enkelt budskap" ("a simple, but cool, poster with a small amount of text and a simple message"). I enjoyed reading this homepage.

Nothing is straightforward

IAL6: In the second circular on the homepage, instructions for posters say:

"Maximal dimensions of usable space on the poster boards will be 7’9’ x 3’9” (ca. 230 x 110 cm), with the long dimension being the width."

1. When I convert inches to centimeters: the result is 200.66 cm (7.9 inches) x 99.06 cm (3.9 inches). Which measurement is correct?

2. This would mean that the board is 2 metres wide and one metre high. Is this correct? I need to know for sure, because it seems like a very unusual size for a poster board.

California, here I come

In response to your application to the BLS under the above scheme, I am delighted to inform you that the BLS Council has awarded you a grant of $600. The money will be made available to you in cash at Asilomar. I hope very much that this grant will help you raise additional funds and I hope you enjoy the conference.

With best wishes
Yours sincerely
Peter Lambley
(President)

California, here I come

Yess- I got travel funding from the L. Meltzer Høyskolefond for going to the IAL6 symposium in California this summer!

A contribution to the Lichens-l listserver

Promoting lichenology – interest, networks and funding

Promoting interest in lichenology is a responsibility for all of us, Jan-Eric Mattsson pointed out in an article in the 39(2) issue of the IAl Newsletter (2007). In this contribution, I focus on the responsibility to support research projects in the field of lichenology.

There are different aspects of this responsibility. For example, Jan-Eric listed several suggestions concerning teaching, research, and various scientific meetings. He specifically stated that it is a responsibility for “those of us who have more or less permanent positions and some degree of financial support etc”.

On page 16, he stated that “Most of us appear… doing what they [the funding body] ask rather than something scientifically more productive.” I would like to add that perhaps it is possible for “those who have more or less permanent positions” to write successful applications without considering the requests from the funding body. But, for someone in a more unsafe position, for example having completed both a Ph. D. degree and a subsequent post doctoral fellowship and with no permanent position within reach, it is crucial to please the funding body by proposing projects, which contain the requested elements and relate to given criteria. That is, to offer to do what “they” ask. Scientific reviewers are asked to evaluate and judge the proposed projects with the given criteria as the framework. The product is likely to be a mainstream research project that provides a kind of research that may or may not provide valuable knowledge for the discipline of lichenology.

There are other aspects to consider when writing project proposals. For example, it is important to consider various aspects that committees tend to find attractive, for example, to what degree international collaborators from countries considered appropriate are included.

Since the lichenological family is comparatively small, finding suitable partners to invite to a collaboration (i.e. with good scientific quality in relation to the criteria and the proposed project, good personal chemistry with the applicant, as well as being appetising for the deciding committee, for example, by being located to a country considered scientifically cool) can prove to be a difficult task. Moreover, most who have more or less permanent positions are overworked and hesitate to accept potential additions to the workload by accepting to be active collaborative partners.

Basic research in Norway is currently under-financed and struggling. Politicians repeatedly express intentions to raise research funding to the OECD levels, but seem to fail. The Norwegian Research Council is one of very few realistic funding bodies, and one of the sections, Fribio (funding the whole spectre of research in biology and biomedicine, see http://www.forskningsradet.no/servlet/Satellite?aid=1179775827355&c=MidlerParent&cid=1176800609882&erAktiv=true&pagename=ForskningsradetNorsk%2FPage%2FStandardSidemal#Resultat), is in practise where almost all lichenological projects must be proposed. Competition is extremely tough. For example, out of > 80 proposals submitted to Fribioøko (the section preceeding Fribio, funding biology, e.g. terrestrial ecology) in 2006, only 9 were funded (c. 10%).

As a consequence, only projects that receive the highest marks from all scientific reviewers (last year, there were three reviewers for each application) have any chance whatsoever being considered by the deciding committee!

Again, the lichenological family is relatively small, which brings about both advantages and disadvantages. The fact that most of us know each other or at least our work, or, have met may disturb the individual evaluation process, which ideally should be objectively critical. This may manifest both positively and negatively, of course.

The tradition of the lichenological family to strive to maintain a neutral perspective on ourselves and our science and to give honest criticism (although friendly!) can prove to be a disadvantage in the context of relation to funding bodies. Although we may like the project that we evaluate as a reviewer, find it scientifically sound and worth of funding, perhaps we are too carful to point out any details that may improve the project. The consequence is that the reviewer might not be able to give it the highest marks for some of the evaluattion criteria. And a good or very good overall mark is given, but it may seem impossible to reward the proposed project with the highest overall mark, in the name of objectivity.

In some countries, e.g. Great Britain, our head of department has told us, the Research council have access to an adequate amount of money. The competition is indeed strong, but a character indicating that the project is “Good” to “Very good” (equal to a character of 4-5 out of 7 in the Norwegian Research Council) can be enough to get the proposed project funded. In Norway, however, basal biological research (including all aspects of the science of lichenology) is financially squeezed, and only proposed projects given the highest marks by reviewers are considered by the committee in the final round!


Suggestions to reviewers and referees of proposed projects
- Be aware of that the fact that we belong to a small and “tight” scientific community may affect your role as an evaluator.
- Be aware that reviewers of other disciplines may give high marks in order to promote their particular scientific field – we lichenologists might consider promoting our science likewise.
- In some cases, in order for the project to have the slightest chance of receiving funding, it must have received the highest mark available. That is, if you like the proposed project and think that it is worthy of carrying through – reward it with the highest character! If you give any other (that is, lower) character you might just as well have written that you hate it and don’t think it worthy in any way or at all.