An Award from the Cool Kids!

I was Nominated for Versatile and Mystery Blogger Awards!

I am very honored to have been nominated by Moosmosis, an open-access education platform exploring the intersection of the arts and sciences. Moosmosis creates and provides original and unique learning tools, such as science lessons, literature study guides, flashcards, and interactive learning games. Created by students, for students and lifelong learners – all lessons and resources on this their site are open and dedicated to help students and learners from around the world. Subjects covered include biology, literature, general chemistry, psychology, and much more. Check out their site at Moosmosis. Thank you again for this honor!

The Versatile Blogger Award is a peer-nominated award recognizing newly discovered bloggers for their fresh and insightful work in our global community. Nominated websites and blogs are awarded for their exceptional quality of writing, uniqueness of the subjects covered, and the level of love displayed in the words of their digital pages.

The Mystery Blogger Award is “for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging; and they do it with so much love and passion” (Okoto Engima).

Questions from Moosmosis for me to Answer

• What is your passion?

I like attacking/solving technical problems, this what “engineers” are trained to do. Some people like to read a book or watch a movie in their spare time to relax.  A few years ago I decided I wanted to “attack” other people’s problems in my spare time, ie. causes of autism and cancer and other diseases since I had some spare time and extra mental and CPU bandwidth available…  I have found through life that many times it is easier to solve other people’s problems than your own and my blog is like therapy to me. I once read that “service to many leads to greatness” and I have learned that even though that doesn’t always pay very well, it can feel much more rewarding than a paycheck .  I get a kick out of watching governments and universities and the military visiting my blog almost daily and guessing they are probably thinking “Is this guy nuts or is he on to something”?  I had one follower on twitter say “my blog skirts the edge of reality with a skill that leaves them in awe” and I took that as a complement although I am not sure if it was or not 🙂

I also have coached lots of sports as my kids have grown up.  I like to motivate and teach children.  They have a chance to make a difference while the rest of us adults are mostly lost…

• What does the word ‘lifelong learner’ mean to you?

Learning something (or lots of things) new from each day of your life and making use of it down the road.  If you pay attention each day pretty soon you have a bag full of tools and tricks to use!  Whenever my research or reading makes me laugh or cry I know I am on the right path…

• What was the most meaningful experience or moment in your life?

As a kid I fell twenty feet onto my head in our barn. I was knocked out cold and I ended up in the hospital for a week, drinking tea with the nurses.  I learned that gravity and women were two very powerful forces in my world and one should not underestimate either. Besides that I listened to Carl Sagan talk about Science and the Universe at a speech in Atlanta and I thought he was pretty cool.

• Who inspires you?

I like anybody that “changes the frame” through which we see life.  That could be through art or science.  I admire physicists who have changed the thinking of the masses. A songwriter who’s song echoes around the globe, a painter/painting that tells a story without saying a word.  I have learned to not trust anything you hear and only half of what you see in this world.  I am working on breaking down the half that you see to understand how much of that is real…

• Fun Bonus: Which animal would be your spirit animal, and why?

I like the laughing seal that I use for an avatar.  I don’t think nature and the universe take humans too seriously even though we think we are tremendously intelligent driving around in our fancy cars, polluting the Earth, immersing ourselves and our children in radiation 24/7 and aiming thousands of nuclear warheads at each other.  Most of the animal kingdom appear to be much smarter than humans, as we seem hell bent on wiping out our own species.

10 Nominees (List in progress)

1. Terry Lilley (Underwater2Web): Terry has a few conspiracy theories but mostly dives on the island of Kauai daily, trying to understand and protect the fragile coral reef environment.  I helped out with a non-profit on the island Terry belongs to.  Want to Help?
2. Jeff Wefferson: Jeff is an environmental activist and painter/artist in Australia/New Zealand that likes to discuss scientific explanations for the ongoing destruction of the Earth by the military industrial complex.  He also paints really cool rocks (I have some!). Jeff dropped his $2500 camera in the ocean and needs you to buy some of his artwork so he can get a new camera, OK?
3. Rationalizing the Universe: Great Science and Philosophy Blog.  Rationalizing the Universe has the modest aim of communicating some science. “On some level, we firmly believe science appeals to everyone. It probes some of the biggest and oldest questions posed to mankind, greedily engulfing Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Philosophy (along with a host of other fringe subjects). This has been the view of mankind since the first of our species walked the planet, and will continue to be the view long after we die. This is the cosmos.”  This blog has much higher vacuum stability(generates less entropy) and is much less obnoxious then my blog…
4. List To be continued (I am still goofing off…)

I have a song for Moosmosis!  Thanks Guys and Gals!