Darrell Wright

Following message arrived from Bill Hill this morning.

"I am sad to announce that Darrell Wright, one of the founders of the California Lichen Society and its first Editor of the Bulletin, passed away at his home in Greytown, New Zealand in the afternoon of Saturday, March 24, 2007, after suffering a relapse of cancer which was thought to be in remission in January of this year. This news was conveyed to me by his wife Janet Collinson, whom he had met online when he was living in Arcata CA, and who has been his life companion ever since. Darrell grew up in San Anselmo in Marin County and for years, once he was excited by lichens, scoured the County on weekend lichen jaunts and had probably the most thorough collection and survey of Marin County lichens as anyone. Besides the excitement of discovery and study of lichens in his newfound home in New Zealand with Janet, he was in the process of writing a Lichen Flora of Marin County, a work which will have to be completed by others now. He was also fascinated by the genus Usnea, he had written a synoptic key in FoxPro for Bryoria, and was an advocate of "fingerprinting" lichen species by their chromatograms.
He was a dedicated and enthusiastic lichenologist, first in California, and later in larger circles. We will all miss him greatly."

I never met him, but I know him, because we described a new lichen species together. It was initially called The Mystery Lichen by the people in the Californian Lichen Society, who first discovered it. Darrell and me described it in 2004 and named it Xanthoria pollinarioides in the second volume of the Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. The name was suggested by him, and it fits the lichen perfectly, I think.

I will remember him as a very friendly person who cared for details. Here is something he wrote in one of the emails during that period:
“Xanthoria parietina is certainly weedy here in NZ. I suppose if it was not reported by the early explorers that that would argue for its having been introduced since their time, although, if they do report it, that would not say much about its origin. It might then have been introduced by Captain Cook!”

Wilmer

The Scanian (Malmoe) rock band Wilmer X started in 1978, and was originally called Wilmer Pitt. The name was changed in 1980, when the slightly disturbing word Pitt was replaced with a more versatile X. I would say that the peak of the band's career was in the eighties. Some of my favorite songs are: Vild, Vem är den flickan, Säj din mamma & din pappa, Kör dej död, Om en hund mådde såhär, and so on.
The band has connections with legendary Scanian music profiles, Torsson and Peps. Nowadays, I guess that their history is over. And, presumably, noone in Norway has ever heard about Nisse, Jalle and the other boys in Wilmer...

Assymetry and chaos

OK, so I'll go on with just this blog: "kaos och asymmetri", as it was commented.

A first

Yesterday, for the first time, I reviewed for a scientific journal with a journal impact factor above 4! I was relieved when I received (confidentially) the other two reviewers' comments today, and found that we all pretty much agreed! Wow!

Academic life

"Vad i detta kan du påverka till 100%?”

appr. "What about it can you influence a 100%?"

In this process of writing applications, reviews, papers and things:
I guess, that the only thing I really can influence is my own performance...

... and my performance, is, I guess, adequate and "good enough" from a coaching perspective.

This is what I ought to do:

Split this blog into two: One for personal stuff, one for fungal and scientific stuff. Why is it so hard?

Happy Birthday

Today, I have been present on Earth for 39 years. I will celebrate by taking a walk in the sunny chilly winter weather and buying cake for me and my lovely darling.

Happy week-end!

Searching blogs for Xanthoria

Sorry, Abigail this is not Xanthoria borealis! In fact, it is Xanthoria parietina. Additionally, while Xanthoria borealis belongs to the genus Xanthomendoza, and therefore is Xanthomendoza borealis, Xanthoria pariteina belongs to Xanthoria sensu stricto.

I demand

Ok, so you may think that I am demanding quite a lot of myself. But I can comfort you; I expect more of people around me!

Kicked out?

Rumours that I will soon have to move out of the office that I am sharing with a postgrad here. I hate rumours!

Submitted the application for the Milde job. Feels good to get rid of it.

Now: must focus on the two articles that I must focus on.

Sällan

Hm, jag skriver så sällan här, så jag kommer inte ens ihåg vilket språk jag brukar skriva på. Sorgligt. Just nu är jag inne i en övergångsfas, och försöker vänja mig vid att vara "arbetslös".

Among other things, I am writing an application to this position:
http://melding.uib.no/doc/Ledige_stillinger/1167901095.html
...another one in the chain of positions I won't get to inhabit...

2007 - fresh

I år är målet:

1. Lyssna mer på musik
2. Vara vänligare (mot världen, människorna och mig själv)
3. Äta ordentligt
4. Fortsätta träna


Hur har det gått såhär långt?
1. Var och tittade/lyssnade på ny stereo i dag (Hifiklubben). Vad tror vi om en Denon DM33? Men jag tror att det får blir Dali-högtalarna istället för Argon, som ingår i det billigaste paketet…; 2. Tja, får nog jobba hårt; 3. Ja, och de senaste dagarna har jag börjat känna mig hungrigare – bra; 4. Jadå – Isabell kommer att hålla mig igång! I går fick jag nya övningar för armarna (aj!), och jag har lagt på vikt på alla bengrejorna.

Jag har precis sett en visstund med Lena Nyman, Rune Andersson och Bernt Egerbladh på TV, och nu är det Eric Gadd. Bra. Mer musik. Och där kom Leonard Cohen (NRK2)...

I am number one...

...on the waiting list of Norwegian Research Council!!!
(Which, of course, does not mean anything, more that that I am NUMBER ONE!

"din søknad er ikke innstilt til bevilgning, men står på førsteplass på ventelisten. Dette betyr at hvis noen trekker seg vil du rykke opp. Vi er nå i kontraktsfasen,og det ser ikke ut som noen vil avstå fra bevilgningen de har fått."

God jul god jul

Fresh

Ojojoj!
Klimax nåddes i slutet av förra veckan! Detta har varit en höjdartermin - jag kan inte förklara det. Och så avslutas den såhär... jag kan inte tro det! "I must have done something good..."
1. Bio230-eksamen (tenta), muntlig, hela torsdagen. Och alla studenterna (5) klarade sig. Och genomsnittet blev B - helt otroligt! Jag är så stolt!!!
2. PÅ vinlotteriet fredag lunch vann jag en flaska! - och det var längesedan sist, det vill jag lova!
3. Succe med svenskarnas lussetåg på BIOs julfest fredag kväll. Skitmysigt!
och 4. en bra fest, trots att jag inte vet om BIO kommer att vara min arbetsgivare nästa termin...
Till sist: TACK härliga studenter, för att ni finns! Ni ger mig lön för mödan, oavsett om ni är på grundnivå (BIO112), vidare mot batchelor (BIO230), eller på masternivå (R, F, med flera)!
Nu: sista veckan mot jul: bara jobba i DNA-labbet (gott!), med Lobaria!

Biodiversity and evolution

Biodiversity and evolution

xanthoria

Check out xanthoria.blogsome.com