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The Amazing Geckoman

Scientists in the UK have created a sticky tape which works in the same way as gecko feet.

Co-worker Brian Cortez sent me this link from the BBC, about a tape that has been developed that works using microscopic hairs, just like a gecko’s feet. (Isaac owns a New Caledonian crested gecko, and they are amazing climbers.)

There are still significant technical challenges to overcome before this can be mass-produced, but Brian suggested this likely scenario at the WIlcox house:

I can see the toy manufacturers drooling over this one. Imagine being able to sell a set of real “Spiderman” gloves! I can also imagine you as a parent telling your son Isaac to get off the ceiling … it’s dinner time. 🙂

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In Memory of Elizabeth Camplese

Note: I’ve created a second site now as a living memorial for Beth. It’s at http://camplese.wilcoxfamily.net/.

We received a phone call today from Christy-Sue Olson, a classmate I haven’t seen since junior high school, with some sad news. Beth Camplese, who lived just about across the street from where I grew up in Easton, passed away at Mass. General Hospital on May 1, succumbing to a battle with lymphoma, complicated by pneumonia and infections. (I think we all expected her to outlive us, if by nothing else than sheer stubborness.)

A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, May 7, 2003, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., at the Copeland Funeral Home, 38 Center Street, North Easton, Ma.

In respect for Beth’s wishes (and in lieu of flowers), a scholarship fund in honor of Beth’s lifelong devotion to teaching has been set up. Donations may be made to the Elizabeth Camplese Scholarship Fund, c/o Washington Irving School, 105 Cummings Hwy., Roslindale, MA 02131 (617-635-8072).

Beth was a teacher at the Washington Irving Middle School in Boston. She was a fascinating person, with a fiercely independent spirit, a wide range of talents, a love for books, a willingness to share what she had, and a complete lack of prejudice of any kind.

She enjoyed taking care of animals, including, among the years, sheep, goats, a retried race horse, dogs, and geese. (The meter readers used to hate going to her house.)

Following are a few (of many) memories I have of her.

  • Her house was full of books. In fact, she started a book store at the Washington Irving School, and I would sometimes buy some titles of interest from her to aid the bookstore, called “The WISE Place.” One book she refused to sell to me was a copy of Cervantes’ Don Quixote, in Spanish, published in Barcelona—I kept haggling, but she never relented.
  • When I was in elementary school, I remember repeated run-ins with her sheep, especially one particularly ornery one named Saffy—Sheep can kick, and this one seemed to enjoy kicking me repeatedly.
  • My brother, Aaron, when he was only 2 or 3, had one of her geese grab his coat through the fence, and it just wouldn’t let go. (Maybe the coat was goose down?) Better his coat than his fingers, I suppose.
  • When I left for college, my parents moved to Florida. Beth let me store my things in a room at her place. I made 17 trips over, but her kindness let me hang on to many things that otherwise would have been lost.
  • One time someone snatched her purse on the subway, and she chased him down. I don’t think she caught him, and remember her friends were mortified. “What if he’d had a gun?” I doubt that would have impeded her retribution. It might have been better to ask, “What if she’d caught up with him?”
  • My favorite story regards her long-standing problem with dozens of pigeons taking up roost in her eaves and gutters. They made a terrible mess of her house for years. My wife, Nichelle, and I, when our son, Isaac, was an infant, were visiting her, when I asked, “What happened to the pigeons?” She replied with a wicked gleam and a laugh, “I shot them all.” She had done exactly that, over a period of weeks.

The world is a poorer place without her.

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You think Boston traffic officers are tough?—Try Britain

Read this from Reuters. 🙂

I once got a parking ticket when the fuel pump died on a car I was using; I managed to coast off I-93 at the Government Center exit, and park behind the first legal parking space on the right. This was way before everyone’s dog had his own cell phone, and I had to leave the car to make phone calls, so I left a note on the dash. I thought about leaving the keys in the car so the traffic officer could verify that it really was a breakdown, but then someone would probably have taken the keys or locked them in the car. Obviously, when I got back to the car, it had been ticketed. Next time I’ll just cause a massive traffic jam.

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People Will Believe Anything, 2

I’m going to try to stay out of trouble today, after yesterday’s fiasco of pointing to an extremely inaccurate and anti-semitic conspiracy page.

I have always found the Urban Legends section of about.com (formerly The Mining Company) immensely entertaining. It’s also extremely useful in debunking the ever-present hoax virus warnings and too-good-to-be-true “Forward This to Everyone on Your List” e-mails.

Why are anti-NWO conspiracy theorists typically anti-semitic?

This may fall under the unanswerable questions category, like “Why did The Man in the High Castle win a Hugo award?” but ki pointed out that many global conspiracy theorists and their organizations are strongly anti-semitic. This makes little sense to me, as this future New World Order is, according to Scripture, going to be anti-semitic itself—attempting (and failing) to destroy Israel. Ki suggested that I am looking for logic and reason where none exist.

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The Wilcox Family BLOG is Up and Running

For those of you who were wondering, a BLOG is a weB LOG.

Lots of news to report:

  • Best news we've had in a while: Nichelle is feeling better, and consistently so. She still needs quite a bit of rest, but is starting to return to her workaholic tendencies.
     
  • The first ultrasound of the upcoming addition to the Wilcox family is done. The creature appears to be human, and doing well. Due date is sometime in October.

    Isaac believes this is much too long to wait, and says a month should be enough. I explained to him that babies take a long time to cook. He replied, “You mean develop, Dad.” I tried to weasel my way around that by explaining that he had to cook in an incubator for a month after he was born, but he didn't buy it.
     

  • We are probably going to take our house off the market when our contract expires in 10 days, and do some cosmetic work to bring it as close to perfect as we can, including the long-postponed finishing of the upstairs bathroom and probably replacing the kitchen cabinets and countertop. We still hope to move to Nashua before the baby is born.
     
  • Today the US began its campaign to free Iraq from their oppressive dicatatorship. Interested in what kind of regime we are trying to topple? Consider this article from the New Zealand Herald.
     
  • The Iraq war is a complex subject, and I'll post some more of my views on this big issue later. I am not really a fan of war, but there are times when it is necessary. Remember that Israel was severely criticized for taking out Iraq's nuclear research facility years ago, which proved to have been vital when we were forced to get the Iraqui's out of Kuwait. We pray that our leaders would have wisdom in this matter.
     
  • We have a new pet in the house. Isaac's leopard gecko died, apparently from old age, a few weeks ago. We now have an absolutely adorable crested gecko. This guy can climb smooth or rough vertical surfaces, change colors (light-green, sandy, or dark brown we've seen, and we expect to see red as he gets bigger). There are some fairly decent photos of these critters here.