Given that I wear a tribute to her work on my arm, it should come as no surprise that I try to sneak Rosalind Franklin’s story into my classes whenever I can, if for no other reason than to correct an incomplete history.  It was especially applicable this semester in my Scientific Thinking classes, as it raises many relevant issues involving research ethics, the understated role of women in science, and of course what is probably the most important biological discoveries ever.  A well written account of the story can be found here.  It is brief, but comprehensive, and was a required reading for my class.  On my final exam I included a question on Franklin, which I have been grading today.  The quality of answers has varied, but for the most part I have been pleased with the students’ responses.  And then I came to this:

After Dr Rosalind Franklin did much work on the DNA, she finally could find out new discoveries.  She had pictures of the DNA in her lab which was a completely significant invention at this time.

Ok.  Aside from the generic introduction, so far so good.  These aren’t science majors, remember.

Her boss took advantage of that and he managed on killing her in order to get all her work and he started to work on it.  He made an invention on the DNA and won the nobel prize based on her work.

Oh my.

All is lost, all is lost.  It’s all I’ve ever written.

I could take your money with dice and cards, but I never could beat you at cribbage.

You will be missed.  A lot.

no internet and no beer make brandon something something…

I went on a trip to the Fayoum, or Fayyum, a couple of weeks ago.  I thought it was an oasis, but it turns out it is just a big, salty lake.  Saw some more pyramids, but didn’t get to see the highlight I was looking forward to:  Wadi el-Hitan, or the Valley of the Whales.  This is a giant open-air museum where Jesus or the devil or someone scattered about fossils of whales with vestigial hind legs to test our faith.  Or something like that.  Anyway, we got turned around about 30 km before we got there because the bus drivers and the bus company decided we would not make it on the sandy road.  Supposedly this was all checked out beforehand and the green light was given, but arrangements have a way of changing here.  Anyway, it is something I definitely want to check out at some point while I am here.  Maybe if/when I ever have visitors we can hire a 4×4 and make a weekend of it.

I went on a trip with a small group a few weeks ago to Minia, in middle Egypt.  I know essentially next to nothing about any of the sites we visit on any of these trips, but it’s enjoyable just to go and learn along the way.  We saw a lot of interesting things, but were not allowed to take any pictures in some of the cooler places.  For example, the tombs at Bani Hasan, which are decorated with amazingly intricate paintings of scenes of funeral preparation, people working, wildlife, what appeared to be specific dance steps, and dozens and dozens of specific wrestling moves (which included old favorites, like the pile driver).  Another example was at Tounah al-Gabal, where there are catacombs that extend at least 3 km, and are filled with thousands upon thousands of mummified ibises and baboons.  Not to say that there wasn’t plenty to photograph.  See below.

One other thing that I found really cool/somewhat disturbing:  In many places we would find ourselves walking over ground that appeared to be covered in light red red rocks, so thick that you could not see the sand beneath.  Turns out they weren’t rocks at all, but the sun-bleached shards of must literally have been hundreds and hundreds of thousands of broken Roman era pots, or as our encyclopedic guide, John Swanson, called them, the “plastic bags” of the Romans.  Use and toss.  The joys of living in an empire built on consumption and excess must be universal.

I guess it’s been a while since I updated this.  Things have been pretty hectic here, with the term winding/crashing down, withdrawal forms to sign, exams to write, and various trips taken.  Today marks the beginning of the second week-long Eid holiday this semester.  If I understand correctly, the first Eid was a mark of celebration and this one is a mark of sacrifice.  Meaning that tomorrow the streets are supposed to begin running red with the blood of the lambs and goats and such that families will have hanging out in front of their dwellings for streetside sacrifice.  Yumm!  Carcasses don’t bother me so much, but I’m not one for watching the life slip (drip?) away from any animal.  Fortunately, I have heard from a few people that the practice is not quite as common in my part of town as it is in other areas.  Unfortunately, as I was walking around today I noticed several pickup trucks full of sheep driving around and stopping to pass the wooly beasts over and down to crowds of excited men on street corners.  You don’t win friends with salad here, either.

Here are a few pictures from when I visited the Giza pyramids a couple of months ago.  The last two show the silly things people either choose to do for a photograph, or which people are slightly coerced into doing by a tourism “policeman” who grabs your camera out of your hand and of course wants a big tip for the clever keepsake he has created for you.

And the heavens parted, and the light of the full moon shone down upon me.  And there before mine eyes did I behold the gloriest of all visions.  And I did tremble as the sparrow out of Egypt alighted softly on my shoulder and whispered to mine ear, “Sí, se puede”

All indications were that Halloween is no big deal here.  I saw a few signs up for activities and heard about a few parties, but it sounded like it was mostly ex-pat family-type stuff.  I had just planned on staying in tonight to finish up grading mid-term exams (whee hoo!), but I ended up walking over to the grocery store to pick up a few things.  I noticed more people on the streets and a few kids in costumes walking around, but nothing too crazy.  My first indication that something was up was in the store, when some lady was yelling because they had no eggs to sell her.  I’ve never seen anything less than crates and crates of eggs stacked along the floors in one section of the store, and some guy told me they put them in the back and weren’t selling any more tonight.  Ok.  As I was checking out a whole crowd of people, employees and customers, came running into the store screaming, and I could here the pap-pap-pap of a dozen eggs smashing into the storefront.  So of course I went out to see what was going on.  I was only in the store for maybe 5 minutes, and suddenly the streets are filled with mobs of kids running around with handfulls of eggs and tomatoes and whatever might splat when they threw it.  Exciting!  I hung around for a bit to watch the commotion, and ran into one of my students.  He said the real action was up the street, so I let him lead the way.  Turns out Egyptian kids put Americans to shame with their Halloween shenanigans.  Eggs were flying everywhere.  And everyone was having a good time.  Cops were confiscating eggs, then turning around and tossing them right back.  My own bags were searched a half-dozen times, but I guess they weren’t too interested in my frozen corn and bottles of hot sauce, though I’m pretty sure my yogurt could have made for a fun toss.  Passing cars were a favorite target, and the only ones spared were those already covered in sticky yellow goo.  A short, skinny little Arabic Mr. T walked by and everyone laughed and yelled “Rocky III”.  Amazing!  My student disappeared and came back with eggs for all.  So of course I obliged and let mine fly alongside theirs into a distant crowd, the offensive meeting equally with groans of dismay on one side of the street and hoots of delight on the other.  I made it out unscathed.

During one of our new-faculty orientation sessions it was stressed that our three primary duties here are Teaching, Research, and Service.  At the moment (and for the foreseeable future) my research prospects are rather grim.  I suppose not much can be expected on the faculty end when, over one month into the semester, the student lab facilities have only been barely cobbled together, though I admit I expected more.  Teaching is keeping me plenty busy, but I decided I ought to start to doing more to account for my time and presence here.  So a couple of weeks ago I joined the Bus Transportation Advisory Committee.  Since I am a daily rider, the bus service is something of concern to me, as it is to many of my colleagues and most of my students.  This experience is serving well as my painful introduction to bureaucracy in action, and I am beginning to understand why Che left the comforts of post-revolution Cuba for the Congo.  It is harder to make the trains run on time!

With the move to the new campus, the university had to figure out some way to transport all the students, faculty, and staff out to the middle of the desert.  This is no simple feat, and one that still requires much refinement.  Of course the whole thing was handed off to some private contractor.  The most disturbing thing I have learned is that the drivers, the people we are entrusting with our lives twice daily, are paid less than the custodians on campus.  Rate of pay is outside the scope of our committee, and indeed it seems outside the scope of anyone in the university now, thanks to contractual provisions previously agreed upon.  One accomplishment that I am proud of has been the removal of all jump seats (which fold down into the aisle) from the buses.  These were a huge safety issue, especially on the smaller transports.  They only added a maximum of 5 additional riders, but ultimately packed people in like sardines and eliminated anything resembling an exit on the bus.  Anyway, we addressed and fixed that problem.

In related news, I was in the student newspaper today:

A concern of Brandon Canfield, a member of the newly established bus transportation advisory committee in charge of addressing rising concerns such as passenger safety, route adjustments and schedules, is that AUC plays no role in hiring bus drivers.

‘Currently, the committee is drafting a revised procedural requirement that all drivers must abide by,’ he said. ‘However, it is unclear how this will be enforced and what, if any, penalties drivers may face for failing to comply.’

The committee has fielded a number of complaints about bus drivers speeding and making dangerous passes on the road.

This is what I make the papers for now?  I am getting too old.