Category Archives: fun stuff

Who are those people?

Posted on 4 May 2022 by David Maddison

In 2019, I went to Vancouver, Canada, to spend some time with family. While there, I went into a funky little store called Urban Source. It’s a great place that has all sorts of odds and ends that might be … Continue reading →

Posted in fun stuff, Musings | 4 Comments

Flavor 100

Posted on 3 November 2015 by David Maddison

Today we reached a milestone:  our 100th flavor in our approximately weekly Guess the Potato Chip Flavor event in my lab.  Today we decided to celebrate the event not only with our 100th flavor, but also with five other flavors to round … Continue reading →

Posted in fun stuff, Miscellany | 4 Comments

My favorite phylogeny

Posted on 22 November 2013 by David Maddison

In a previous post, I showed my second-favorite phylogeny. Well, here’s my favorite one, posted on the wall outside my lab. Not that you can really see any details in this picture, but you get the idea:  it’s big.  It … Continue reading →

Posted in fun stuff, Tree of Life | 2 Comments

(Almost) my favorite phylogeny

Posted on 16 November 2013 by David Maddison

I recently reported on my favorite beetle illustration.  In the same collection as that illustration was a favorite phylogeny of mine: This drawing was also done by my daughter Julia at age 3 or 4; perhaps she was depicting what … Continue reading →

Posted in fun stuff | 3 Comments

Chipodiversity

Posted on 3 September 2013 by David Maddison

This summer my lab has had, once a week, a “Guess the Potato Chip Flavor Day”.   It was inspired by my discovery in Vancouver, BC, of some intriguing potato chip flavors. While growing up in Canada I was exposed … Continue reading →

Posted in fun stuff | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Universal Problem Solver

Posted on 1 June 2013 by David Maddison

I want one of these. From an article by Paul Roman, “Artificial Intelligence at Milan”, in the April 1986 issue of European Science Notes published by the U.S. Office of Naval Research.

Posted in fun stuff, Scientific Illustrations | Leave a comment

Port and Roses

Posted on 21 April 2013 by David Maddison

In late January 2012, my daughter, Julia, and I were dining at Luc, having a typically excellent meal. At one point, Julia went to the restroom, and then returned to the table. The following conversation ensued. Julia: “David, I think you … Continue reading →

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Julia’s brilliant idea

Posted on 7 March 2013 by David Maddison

My daughter Julia came up with a brilliant idea: partial birthdays by relatedness.  It goes like this.  Say your birthday is on 1 January.  On that day, you have a birthday.  Imagine your daughter’s birthday is 1 June.  On that … Continue reading →

Posted in fun stuff, Miscellany | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Save Olea europaea

Posted on 3 March 2013 by David Maddison

Every once in a while I will post something that tickles me, even if it has nothing to do with beetles, scientific illustration, systematics in general, or academia.  Today’s the first of these posts. I came across a sign in … Continue reading →

Posted in fun stuff | 2 Comments