Lately (if you were wondering)

I've been taking pictures of weddings with Ryan Sigesmund, writing scripts for Pittsburgh Genius, working on the Pittsburgh-Aguascalientes Sister City project, getting together with other local science writers, and showing photos at Art Cubed. Oh, and I went to Mexico.

Enough about me... here's something to ponder:

Here lies, extinguished in his prime, / a victim of modernity: / but
yesterday he hadn't time--- / and now he has eternity. -Piet Hein, poet and
scientist (1905-1996)

Puny primate quite a find for Carnegie paleontologist

David Templeton in the Post-Gazette:

It's smaller than a mouse, but this little character left behind the oldest primate fossils ever discovered in North America and Europe.

Its discovery in Mississippi represents a career triumph for Chris Beard, a paleontologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Oakland.

The arboreal "Teilhardina magnoliana" apparently was living in Mississippi in what was then the Gulf Coast 55.8 million years ago when a major episode of global warming was under way.

More here.

Pitt husband-and-wife team discovers cancer-linked virus

A husband-and-wife team at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute have discovered a virus strongly linked to Merkel cell carcinoma, an aggressive skin cancer that used to be very rare but has become increasingly common in the past two decades, particularly among those with compromised immune systems.

Yuan Chang and Patrick Moore reported their findings in this week's Science.

Interestingly, Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV) is the second cancer-associated virus discovered by the pair. In 1993, they found the virus that causes the most common cancer in Africa, Kaposi's sarcoma.

Chang and Moore spent nearly a decade developing a new technology that was instrumental in discovering the virus. "Digital transcriptome subtraction" is so called because it subtracts genetic sequences known to be human from the genome of the tumor under study, leaving only genetic transcripts that might have come from a foreign organism.

Using the technique in Merkel cell tumors, they found one sequence that was similar to, but distinct from, known viruses. They went on to show that this sequence belonged to a new polyomavirus that was present in almost all the Merkel cell tumors they tested, but few other tissues.

Their discovery could lead to a blood test or vaccine, similar to the recently developed vaccines against human papillomavirus (HPV) to prevent cervical cancer.

Researchers had suspected the existence of MCV, which is genetically similar to an African green monkey virus. Up to a quarter of adults--one billion people--could be infected with the human relative of this monkey virus. However, just as with HPV, most people with the virus will not develop the associated cancer.

More: NYT, Reuters

Pittsburgh workers face racial intimidation, death threats

Disturbing local news from Rustbelt Radio, based at WRCT 88.3 FM:

Last week rustbelt radio reported on the racist threat made against a Port Authority worker in the form of a black Barbie doll with a racist comment written on it.

Since then two more incidents of racial intimidation have occurred at Pittsburgh businesses. On October 3rd a black female supervisor at Verizon found an inter-office envelope on her desk. Inside it had a black baby doll with a noose around its neck. The doll also had the words “nigger” and the woman's name written on the belly.

...

NAACP Pittsburgh Branch President M. Gayle Moss issued a statement on the three incidents, saying, "Although these three incidents seem isolated in their respective work environments, what they collectively represent is endemic to the culture in this region and this city recently voted the 'Most Livable City in America'—which in my opinion was both fallacious and shortsighted."

KDKA's story is here.

Local anthropologist/feminist activist passes away

When I interned at the Post-Gazette in college, one of my assignments was an obituary of an Oakmont doctor, T.J. Ferguson. I was really nervous about the assignment because it's a tall order to sum up someone's life, especially who you've never met.

But it turned out to be one of my favorite assignments. By the end, I was wishing I HAD met Dr. Ferguson.

That's how I feel about this woman, whose obit ran in the PG today: Carol McAllister.

She was a professor at Pitt, which is how I first noticed the item at all. But wow -- it sounds like she did some truly amazing things:

• director of the University of Pittsburgh Women's Studies Program and was active with the Thomas Merton Center, the Women's Resource Center for Greater Pittsburgh and the Social Justice Action Team of the First United Methodist Church, Pittsburgh
• work with Early Head Start, a component of Head Start which helps low-income mothers and families prepare sooner for the health and education of their children.
• gave the children in these communities disposable cameras and told them to chronicle their lives. Her work and their photos were published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2005.
• organized a conference with speakers from Rwanda, Israel and Canada that focused on the roles that women can play in conflict resolution and rebuilding war-torn communities.

I am so sorry for her family's loss, a loss for the community and world as well. And, I find her story truly inspiring. I would be proud to do half as much in my own life.

In case you were wondering, "Where can chipmunks be found?"

According to the Trib: "Chipmunks can be found in many a place."

P.S. Do Western Pennsylvanians really call chipmunks "grinnies," or is this reporter just making shit up?

How walkable is your neighborhood? WalkScore.com

(Image: caseywest)

When people here find out I'm originally from South Florida, their next question generally involves some combination of the words "why," "the hell???" and "Pittsburgh."

The short answer is that I came for school and it stuck. The longer answer is that the city impressed me so much when I came to visit (despite the snow, in April) -- the ethnic food, the symphony, the architecture, and the friendliness. That last one in particular seemed to have a lot to do with people actually using public transportation and walking, and therefore interacting face-to-face.

You just don't see that in Fort Lauderdale or the rest of the Miami-West Palm Beach strip, where even the smallest of errands means getting in your car and gearing up for the road ragers out there. (I actually love to drive -- but not all the time.)

All of which is a roundabout way of pointing you to Walk Score, a fascinating tool that calculates your neighborhood's "walkability" based on your home's proximity to restaurants, shops, and the like.

One odd thing: My house here -- in Squirrel Hill, one of the city's most walkable neighborhoods -- got a score of 65, while the house I grew up in, in Pompano Beach, FL, scored a 52. This does not really reflect the vast disparity between them. Walk Score might want to better take into account the difference between, say, highways and residential streets with sidewalks in coming up with their scores.

(Via mental_floss)

Run For Your Life

Run For Your Life
Originally uploaded by sgm1410

At the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix

(brag alert!)

My photo of the trees outside the Carnegie Library is featured in the Pittsburgh Flickr group as photo of the week.


Now I have to choose next week's photo - this is gonna be tough!

Not violent. Not violent at all...

I'm having some anger management issues of my own after reading this PG story on yesterday's hearing on the promotion of Pittsburgh police officers with histories of domestic violence.

Police officials have said that Sgt. Hlavac's domestic problems have been verbal, not violent.

A police report on a Jan. 3 incident states that Sgt. Raymond Hutton was called to the East Liberty apartment shared by Sgt. Hlavac and Lauren Maughan at 1:40 a.m.

Ms. Maughan told Sgt. Hutton that Sgt. Hlavac pulled her hair, hauled her from a bed and grabbed her wrist, according to the report.

Sgt. Hlavac told Sgt. Hutton that he grabbed her wrist in self-defense when she hit him while holding a cell phone, and did not grab her hair, just her pillow.

She was uninjured, but her left wrist and the back of her neck were red.

Obviously if someone grabs your pillow, your neck is going to be red. I mean, duh.

Sue of the Pittsburgh Women's Blogging Society performed a true service to the citizens of Pittsburgh, liveblogging the hearing.

ArtWalk this Thursday

Image: Kelly Lane Design

ArtWalk Fashion Show to Highlight Pittsburgh Designers, Artists

Hosted by WTAE's Sally Wiggin, Dress for Success benefit takes place May 24 at Warhol

PITTSBURGH--At a gallery crawl, artwork isn't all that's on display: From students in paint-splattered jeans and T-shirts, to leather-clad rock 'n' roll scenesters, to wealthy patrons swathed in furs, the audience themselves provide endless observational fodder.

Inspired by these elements of voyeurism and exhibitionism, three local artists and designers created the concept for ArtWalk, a fashion and art showcase to benefit Dress for Success Pittsburgh taking place 6-9 p.m. Thursday, May 24, at the Andy Warhol Museum (117 Sandusky St., North Side).

ArtWalk was conceived by designer Anne Rainbow Savage and artists Susan Englert and Julia Brooke Hustwit. The trio partnered with the Pittsburgh branch of Dress for Success, an international not-for-profit organization that seeks to advance low-income women's economic and social development and to encourage self-sufficiency through career development and employment retention.

Hosted by WTAE's Sally Wiggin, ArtWalk will feature professional and amateur models, including Dress for Success clients, wearing fashions by Pittsburgh's hottest designers and boutiques. Admission includes two free drink tickets, catering by Big Burrito, a silent auction, and access to all four floors of the museum.

Ten prominent Pittsburgh-based artists were invited to design picture frames for the Warhol's entrance gallery, placed to choreograph the models' movement along the path of the runway. The artists include architects, a fine furniture craftsman, a painter, and multimedia 3D visual designers, each transposing themes from their work to a new medium: translucent corrugated plastic.

Each artist's frame will be displayed on a stylish stand of stainless steel fabricated by master metalsmith Jerry Gardner of Gerald's Forge in Lawrenceville. The artists will donate their work to the Dress for Success Silent Auction at the event's finale.

Participating artists include:

- Lucia M. Aguirre
- Edgar Um Bucholtz
- Thommy Conroy
- Susan Englert
- Jennifer Ferris
- Garth Jones
- Jan Loney & Larkin Werner
- Joana Ricou
- Paul Rosenblatt, Bill Szustak & Bryan Grasso / SPRINGBOARD
- SO-AD (David Burns)

Participating designers include:

- Arretta Carmel
- Cdesign (Coleen Rush)
- Kelly Lane
- Lucid (Emilee Kohan)
- Savage Darling

Participating boutiques include:

- Allure (4730 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield, 412-687-6390)
- Eyetique (2242 Murray Ave., Squirrel Hill, 412-422-5300)
- Hip'tique (5817 Ellsworth Ave., Shadyside, 412-361-5817)
- JUPE Boutique (306 E. Carson St., South Side, 412-432-7933)
- Karma Fashion (2737 E. Carson St., South Side, 412-481-2466)
- Pavement Shoes (3629 Butler St., Lawrenceville, 412-621-6400)
- Sugar Boutique (3703 Butler St., Lawrenceville, 412-681-5100)
- Torque Denim (1931 E. Carson St., South Side, 412-381-TORQ)

ArtWalk is presented by Young Executives for Success (Y.E.S!) and sponsored by Kerastase Paris, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, the Andy Warhol Museum, Big Burrito Catering, Clear Channel, 96.1 KISS FM, Cyganovich Contracting, Beijo Bags, Grand Bahia, and the SouthSide Works.

Tickets are $65 in advance, $75 day of show ($45 for Y.E.S! members). Advance tickets are available at participating boutiques, by contacting Y.E.S! at 412-361-1757 or yespittsburgh@yahoo.com, or online at www.dressforsuccess.org/pittsburgh.

If we took a Holiday...

City Paper has a story on the closing of a venerable Pittsburgh institution: Holiday Bar.

CMU is buying the city's oldest gay bar as part of its expansion into Oakland. "Last call" is April 29.

My favorite quote:

"I think I'd like to be remembered as Pittsburgh's gay Cheers bar," [Holiday co-owner Chuck] Honse says. "People would go, 'What are you doing on my stool?' You don't get that in big dance bars, and you never will."

Pittsburgh Dish had the scoop. And the last time I was there I saw a Trib PM reporter and photographer, so keep an eye out for that story.

EDIT: Trib PM story is here.