While perusing PZ Meyers’ blog I read an interesting entry about a brouhaha brewing up in the paleontological world over alleged theft of naming rights to specimens.

In Summary
A graduate student, Bill Parker, completed his master’s thesis using a New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science specimen

He argued that the specimen was unique enough to warrant its own name and submitted a paper to the Journal of Systematic Paleontology in which he bestowed a new name on the specimen.

The rules of paleontology apparently state that whoever publishes first gets naming rights. I’m not a paleontologist, but apparently naming a new specimen is very important and can make a Paleontologist’s career.

Parker’s article to the Journal of Systematic Paleontology was reviewed by Spencer Lucas.

Here comes the murky and alleged parts:

Lucas then published a paper in an New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science’s in-house publication (which is not peer reviewed) two-weeks prior to the January 2007 publication date of Parker’s article.

Parker is alleging that Lucas used his position in the Museum and as journal reviewer to steal the naming rights away from Parker.

Given the timeline presented, Parker’s allegations have a lot of merit

after the break - the allegations mount

Finally, it's time for summer, which means eating ice cream, heading to the pool/beach and playing lots of video games. Well, I guess at Stanford that mean doing internships at big companies, working at start-ups, doing research, studying for a standardized test, training for an athletic team or some combination thereof.

I'm taking it easy this summer - just working part-time at the Stanford Calling Program, doing gymnastics training and doing a little work for Gumball Capital. More about that next time.

What are you up to this summer?

The CoHo reopened Monday morning, to some Stanford Facebook fanfare, after almost a year of absence. Was it worth the wait?

A friend of mine and I stopped by for lunch to give the "new" old CoHo a try. She ordered a Portobello mushroom sandwich, which came in a clear plastic container and looked encased in two thin slices of Corporate Bread. My friend, a vegetarian for many years said the sandwich had "way too much cheese".

I ordered a Pear and Goat Cheese salad for 7.04 USD with tax, and some minutes later received a small bowl of baby spinach, tiny pear slices, soft bits of goat cheese, and a mild but seemingly omnipresent glaze of oil-based dressing.

We noted the aged wood tables still present, the odd Stanford alum? caricatures on the wall, and a large wall-sized poster of a Spanish matador. It was a quiet, Stanford summer scene, but after that small salad, my stomach asked for more.

I inquired about the provenance of the 1.75 USD Croissants on display, not the ones Satura-made, but the ones the cheery cashier claimed were made in-house by Guillermo, a trained pastry chef, she said. I asked about the flour -- organic and/or refined? She didn't know, just saw all-purpose flour, and Sysco Wholesome Farms butter.

As an artisan baker myself, spoiled by the organic Giusto's flour and (American Humane association Certified) Clover Stornetta organic butter I use when preparing my own Viennoiserie from scratch, I gave the 1.75 USD CoHo-made croissant a try and was somewhat disappointed. Although the execution was good and the visual aesthetics pleasing, the quality of the ingredients, or shall I say the lack thereof, clearly shone through. I put the croissant back in the bag after two bites and left the new old CoHo.

First impressions?

Overall food rating: B+
Ambiance: A-
Sustainability: B (no mention of organic ingredients, dairy sourced from large corporate farms (SYSCO), non-compostable utensils and plastic-heavy food containment)

For a campus that prides itself on being at the vanguard of sustainable food and dining for a college campus, I for one hope we can and will do better.

I've blogged about my friend and Stanford alum ('06) Jack Conte on here before, but I couldn't help but put this one up, too. It's a collaboration with Nataly Dawn (aka Natalie Knutsen '09) called "Pas Encore" and released under the collaboration name Pomplamoose.

As if the awesome group name wasn't enough, the song is better. If I were cool enough to say the word bumpin', I would say this song is effortlessly bumpin'. I downloaded the mp3 from Jack's mySpace and have been playing it on my iPod all morning. It's my "new, awesome, hot" song for the summer. And, much like Jack's other YouTube videos, this one was first released in VideoSong format, so there's some fun stuff to watch. A particular delight for you CCRMA folks, I would think.