Austins Next Tech Boom

Software? Semiconductors? Nope — biotech.

…in the last several months nearly $500 million in venture capital funds targeting life sciences have closed or are in the works in Central Texas. Combined with the formation of the Austin Technology Incubator’s new Bioscience Incubator, the passage of Proposition 15 to create a $3 billion Cancer Research Institute, a new lifesciences commercialization center in Georgetown and medical schools both real and rumored in Central Texas, Barchas says the life sciences and biosciences sector is on the verge of catalyzing.

 

“The ‘we can’t do bio in Austin’ attitude is no longer true,” Barchas [director of the University of Texas' IC2 Institute] says. “Taken together, it feels like this is the moment when things are happening in bio. I think in two years we’d point to this moment and say, ‘that was when things started to happen.’”

Found it here.

Friday Random Ten

Ooh, the suspense…

1. Kite – Nick Heyward
2. Say It Right – Nelly Furtado
3. Raspberry Beret – Prince
4. The Nightfly – Donald Fagan
5. Food For Songs – Del Amitri
6. Magic – Olivia Newton-John
7. It Was Almost Like A Song – Ronnie Milsap
8. Route – Son Volt
9. Make It Always Be Too Late – Del Amitri
10. Peace Hotel (What Is Love) – Shanghai Restoration Project

Eyes On The Prize

Lately, I have started to really worry that Obama and Clinton supporters are prepared to cut off their noses (ie, vote for McCain) to spite their own faces should their preferred candidate not get the nomination. I have started to worry about Clinton’s attacks on Obama, and the possibility that she will weaken him enough enough that he would be too weak a nominee to defeat McCain. And I worry that, should Clinton be the nominee, the people who already loathe her plus the Democrats she is currently alienating will come to the polls in droves just for the pleasure of giving her the finger.

This gives me a little comfort, even though I know they are both only saying it because they must. I just hope they and their respective supporters actually take it to heart. Up until about a month before the Texas primary, I was leaning toward Clinton. But I finally decided Obama might just be sincere about doing things differently, which greatly appeals to me. Clinton knows how to play the current game, which is good if she is getting things done that you support, but doesn’t do anything to change the stinky way the game is played or restore people’s trust in government. When it comes to policy, Clinton is very different than Bush, but I think the two of them share some fundamental approaches to governance that I vehemently dislike.

The thing is, if Clinton is the nominee, there is no question that I will vote for her. Somebody’s got to dig us out of the mess we are in and I know a Republican can’t and won’t do it. So I will hold my nose and vote for Clinton if it comes to that. Democrats can’t let themselves lose sight of the overriding priority in November, which is to get a Democrat back in the White House to fix what Bush has so thoroughly broken. What I fear is that many people are focused on their idealism (which I completely share in this regard) to the exclusion of practicality.

Get Rid Of The Jelly Bellies

No, not the candy. The ones some of us are struggling to button our pants around.

People who have big bellies in their 40s are much more likely to get Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia in their 70s, according to new research that links the middle-aged spread to a fading mind for the first time.

 

The study of more than 6,000 people found that the more fat they had in their guts in their early to mid-40s, the greater their chances of becoming forgetful and confused and showing other signs of senility as they aged. Those who had the most expansive midsections faced more than twice the risk of the leanest.

 

Surprisingly, a sizable stomach seems to increase the risk even among those who are not obese or even overweight, the researchers reported in a paper published online yesterday by the journal Neurology.

 

“A large belly, independent of total weight, is a potent predictor of dementia,” said Rachel A. Whitmer, a research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., who led the new study.

Scientists aren’t sure exactly what the relationship is between belly fat and later dementia. But there are already indications that Alzheimer’s may be a type of diabetes, and having an apple weight gain pattern (ie, the tendency to store fat in the abdomen) puts you at higher risk for diabetes.

I, of course, am hosed. I am an apple. Even when I am really good about eating and exercise and get to an ideal weight for my height, I still have a belly and not much of a waist. And now that I am older, it will get even harder to get rid of abdominal fat. When I look at my parents, I see what my genes have in store for me…I should be at the gym lifting weights instead of sitting here in front of a computer.

Funny

It is a weird, small world.

As many of you know, I helped start and am currently president of a group that has been fighting a redevelopment project in my neighborhood that will include a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Well, get this: a guy I was in debate society with in college started a group called Americans for Wal-Mart.

It has been (gulp!) about 18 years since I have spoken with him, but I just sent him an email explaining this funny coincidence. This totally cracks me up. Given how we know each other, we obviously need to stage a debate!

I Am Weenie

I have never been a big fan of movies that are scary or gross. As I have gotten older even my ability to sit through suspense has diminished. But this weekend I was amazed at how strongly a movie can affect me.

My husband rented I Am Legend. I like Will Smith so I decided to give it a try. Things were just fine for the first half hour or so of the movie but then we got to the scene where he’s caught outside after dark. Even before any infected people showed up, I had to stop watching. Just knowing cute little Will was in trouble was enough to make my heart start beating faster and my stomach start knotting up. I thought I would just read emails as I sat there, to distract myself a bit but keep watching. It wasn’t enough. I literally had to leave the room to calm my body’s stress reaction.

My adrenal glands can slam into overdrive like nobody’s business.

My Baby

Tomorrow my older daugher turns eight.

Eight years ago today, three days before my due date, I went in for an ultrasound. The tech told me the baby was breech – and I immediately started to cry, knowing it meant I would have to have a surgical delivery. The OB came in to check me out and confirmed it, noting that the baby was clearly over nine pounds, over which the protocol for breech babies is always a c-section. We scheduled the delivery for the following day. I was both devastated (I really wanted a natural birth) and scared (they were going to cut me open and I was going to be awake the whole time??!!) so rather than happily looking forward to finally meeting my baby, I spent the day weepy and anxious. My husband and I went through the Dairy Queen drive-thru on the way home, which is where he decided he wanted the baby to have his last name rather than mine as we had previously agreed. He has another daughter and it occurred to him that he wanted both girls to have the same last name.

Amelia’s birth was one of the worst experiences of my entire life.

Friday Random Ten

I heart my iPod.

1. One In Ten – UB40
2. Choux Pastry Heart – Corinne Bailey Rae
3. My Eyes Adored You – Franki Valli
4. Sleeping Lessons – The Shins
5. A Demain My Darling – Andre Collin
6. Knuckle Down – XTC
7. Sexy Motherfucker – Prince
8. Trista Pena – Gypsy Kings
9. Tears of Love’s Recall – k.d. lang
10. Positively Beautiful – Lewis Taylor

The Serial Comma

Another shot has been fired in the raging battle over the serial comma.

Punctuation Man, a leading authority on punctuation and teaching punctuation to elementary school children, today announced his decision to fully support the use of the serial comma.

 

Shunned by the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook, the serial comma is still widely accepted by educators, grammarians, and literary circles, including Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, and the Chicago Manual of Style.

I dislike the serial comma unless necessary for clarity. For example, I would use the serial comma in these sentences:

She ordered green beans, liver and onions, and macaroni and cheese.
We ensure appropriateness of services by educating physicians about clinical practice guidelines, monitoring use of guidelines, and conducting prospective, concurrent and retrospective utilization review.

but not these:

The flag is red, white and blue.

She likes reading, hiking, gardening and cooking.

When the complexity or structure of the sentence makes the meaning ambiguous or difficult to ascertain, the serial comma has a function. Otherwise it is extraneous and just clutters up your sentence.

Thanks to Michael May at the Austin Chronicle for raising this important issue.

Respecting People Who Are Off Their Rocker

How can two people of differing religious or political views truly respect one another, despite both believing that the other holds a false belief (no matter how sincerely)?

There is a gap between certainty of one’s own infallibility and very-close-to-certainty that one is right, and that gap is what makes respect possible.

I won’t name any names, but some people I know (*cough*SamandMike*cough*) could stand to mull that one for awhile.

I’ll Take “My Kids Are So Hilarious” For $500

I love eavesdropping on my daughters while they are playing. My older daughter, who is almost 8 and in Brownies, just snipped to my 5 1/2 year old, who is a Daisy this year:

“Could you be a little more considerate, Miss Not Girl Scout-ish?”

Ahhhhh

What a lovely day. The weather has been gorgeous and I haven’t had to do anything for anybody except myself (and not much for my kids, who have been busy much of the day with the other two girls their age in the neighborhood). My kitchen is mostly clean, the living room and my desk are neat and tidy, a load of laundry is in, I have a get-away to look forward to…heaven.

The highlight of my day was working out — for the first time since late January. After being so completely in my head for several weeks, it was good to just be in my body for a change. I could tell I had lost a bit of conditioning, but the endorphins kicked in and I was stupid happy. I had this fantastic I’m Alive moment walking out of the gym into the beautiful day.

The Big Picture

I would imagine few people have better perspective on the ups and downs of life than those who spend their days contemplating when it all began and when its going to end.

From The Amen Corner

Tell it, Brother Terrance -

Unless he’s going to actually govern, Jesus is not relevant to the presidential race. Nor is what the candidates think of him , or if they think of him at all, since their religious beliefs shouldn’t be the basis of public policy. It doesn’t matter whether a candidate believes in Jesus any more than it does whether he/she believes in leprechauns.

It doesn’t matter whether Obama believes in Jesus or not. It matters that it matters. And it matters that that doesn’t matter.

On a related note — I swear to god, I am going to lose it if one more uberconservative religious family member or acquaintance sends me that ludicrous “Obama Is A Radical Muslim” email.

Things I Will Never Understand

Why elected officials, who must know their every move will eventually hit the papers, do illegal things.

Related mystery: Why any man whose position in life virtually assures myriad legal options for cheating on his wife would instead seek out a hooker.

Let’s Blow This Joint

I am coming off several crazed weeks of work – I am exhausted from the stress and hours, my husband is exhausted from picking up all my family slack on top of his own job and my kids are cranky and mad at me for not paying any attention to them lately. Plus this week is their spring break. So I am trying to get us all out of town for a couple of days this week to relax and just hang out together.

I don’t want to spend too much money, drive too far or work too hard to plan it — just a low-cost, low-key, low-effort trip. We are considering San Antonio, either the Hill Country Hyatt or somewhere on the Riverwalk. I am also looking around for a quiet vacation rental on the river. Maybe Houston. The girls suggested the beach but I have no desire to surround myself with college kids gone wild. Any ideas?

Cookin’ With Coolio

Inifinitely preferable to Rachel Ray.

But – while I love this song – I have to go with Jamie Oliver for Favorite Celebrity Chef.

We’re Here To Pump You Up

I’ve been listening to motivational music today as I frantically try to finish bits and pieces of a project. After about six weeks of balls-to-the-wall effort and hours (two weeks of which were spent mostly cramped up on my sister’s guest bed with my laptop while we waited for her to drop a baby, and her kid plus my two were running around like hellions), I am ready to drop and need something to keep me moving forward.

Here’s a song that never fails to rev me up.

This one is good too. I heard this one for the first time last year in a hip hop dance workshop.

UPDATE: OK, two more – I love iTunes shuffle, it reminds you of stuff you otherwise forget to play.

Keep It Dark and Turn It On Again

Stuff White People Like

God help me, but I think this blog is funny. Yes, I know it is ridiculously obvious. I laugh anyway.

The really funny (scary?) thing is, sometimes I recognize myself in the posts.

White people believe that if they had been given French language instruction when they were younger, their lives would have turned out very differently. Instead of living in the US, they would be living and working abroad for the United Nations or some other organization with a headquarters in Switzerland or The Hague.

Generally, white people prefer their children to speak French. Advanced white people will actually spend outrageous amounts of money to send their children to a Lycee or Ecole Francaise.

I got an undergrad degree in Romance Languages (French and Spanish) and always wanted to study abroad but never managed to pull it off. At one point I did, in fact, think the UN would be a cool gig. Both my kids went to a French-immersion preschool for three years and now do three hours a week of after-school French. I have informed them that they can quit anything else – soccer, dance, gymnastics, whatever – but not French. While the preschool was no more expensive than regular daycare, I do spend outrageous amounts of money on the French tutoring.

How boring to be so predictable. But apparently I am an advanced white person by these criteria, so at least there’s something.

Friday Random Ten: The “Where Has She Been?” Edition

I’ve been in project hell. But it is almost over…

1. T’inquiete – MC Solaar
2. Hope Fell Down – Difford and Tilbrook
3. 1000 Umbrellas – XTC
4. In A Manner of Speaking – Nouvelle Vague
5. In Love For The First Time – The Style Council
6. Sweet Dreams – Air Supply
7. Whirly Girl – Oxo
8. Waiting For A Dream – Rufus Wainwright
9. Dance With Me – Orleans
10. Pearly Dewdrops’ Drops – Cocteau Twins

The iPod gods are having an 80s day.