There are, of course, other people carrying the surname Cmar in this world. One of them is my brother, who in this video gives an excellent accounting of what inspired him to enter his current legal career, and why he does what he does. Suffice it to say, I am proud.

Previously:

• Cmar is also… Central Maine Animal Rescue
• Cmar is also… Croatian Metal and Rock
• El Cmar, technico

old man looking, CC BY-ND image by artisrams via Flickr

Yes. Right. Website. I have one of those. On it!

Here are a couple of interviews I did quite awhile back, but are still worth checking out: back in March of 2011, I chatted with Baltimore magazine about patients using blogs to talk about their medical experiences, and more recently in December, I contributed to Lifebridge Health’s blog about World AIDS Day.

…as a guest on Midday with Dan Rodricks, talking about Human Papilloma Virus infections and the use of vaccines to prevent them. Additionally, I’m excited and honored to announce that I’ll be a regular health and medical guest for the show on a monthly basis. Dan’s an outstanding host, and I’m greatly looking forward to our conversations. We’ll also be taking listener calls, which always makes things interesting.

The story about how this came about, which may or may not be true, can be found at The Secret Lair. You can listen to the audio stream online at the appointed time here, or download the show after the fact here. Additionally, you can follow Dan on Twitter @DanRodricks, WYPR @WYPR881FM, and the Midday show @MiddayWYPR.

Sat 10:00 PM in Crystal Ballroom Two—How the Internet and Texting Have Changed Sexual Mores

Robert Heinlein famously commented that anyone could have predicted the internal combustion engine would revolutionize transportation, but only a science fiction writer could have predicted how it would influence mating habits. Technologies like the internet and “texting” have been doing the same thing. We’ll explore the impact of instant communication and online presence has had on our society.

Sun 10:00 AM in Plaza V (Five)—Universal Gene Testing: Boon, Bane, or Boondoggle?

Catching criminals CSI-style. Finding kidnapped children. Standardized haplotype-profiles for drug prescriptions at the doctor’s office. Screening for chronic, inherited conditions. Is it time for a universal DNA database? What are the costs? What are the dangers to civil liberties?

Laura will be involved with:

Sat 6:00 PM in Plaza III (Three)—The James Webb Space Telescope

When the James Webb Telescope launches in 2018, it will be able to see the first galaxies formed after the Big Bang. The Webb will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System. Laura Burns is a contract engineer with NASA and worked on the James Webb Space Telescope for 11 years. She will talk about the project and its future impact on our view of the Universe.

As always, I will be otherwise hanging about, and will be posting occasional pithy observations. If you are going, I look forward to seeing you there!

CC BY-SA image from db2r via Flickr

To: All Hospital Employee (sic)
From: xxxx

There is a strong aroma coming from Mount Washington into the hospital. Measures have been taken to reduce the outside smells coming into our intake however please be patient as it will take time before the smell has completely subsided.

No explanation given. And, really, did I want one? No, methinks.

I do hate it when outside smells are coming into my intake…

The Moon Ranger and I will be headed shortly to Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA. We will both be attending the Charity Star Party at the Emory University Math & Science Center tomorrow night, and we will both be participating in the Parsec Awards ceremony late Saturday afternoon. In addition, my schedule includes:

• Title: These are the ways the world will end…
  Time: Sat 11:30 am Location: 207 / 206 / 205 – Hilton (Length: 1)
  Description: Our panel tears apart the asteroid apocalypse theory, rips into the latest “world enders”, and answers questions. We’re probably safe (for now).

• Title: XMRV, CFS, and the Internet: How Patient Communities Are Changing Medicine
  Time: Sun 11:30 am Location: 201 – Hilton (Length: 1)
  Description: How the Internet and patient advocacy is changing research and medicine, using the XMRV and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome controversy as a case study.

• Title: KILLER STAPH OF DEADLY DOOM!!!
  Time: Sun 07:00 pm Location: 202 – Hilton (Length: 1)
  Moderator / MC for panel
  Description: Terrifying developments! New strains jumping from livestock to humans! Antibiotics that don’t work! But don’t panic – yet.

Laura will be involved in:

• Title: LandSat – The Origins of Earth Imaging
  Time: Sun 04:00 pm Location: 203 – Hilton (Length: 1)
  Description: Before Google Earth or Mapquest , the LandSat program was delivering images of Earth & it continues to be a valuable scientific resource.

• Title: I Work in the Space Industry, But NOT for NASA!
  Time: Sun 08:30 pm Location: 203 – Hilton (Length: 1)
  Description: You’ve always dreamed of working in the space industry but NASA’s not your thing. We’ve got the people to tell you how.

• Additionally, Laura is assembling a so-fresh-it’s-not-on-the-schedule panel on Friday at 4pm that will spotlight the James Webb Space Telescope, which will focus on the importance of the mission as well as the plethora of reasons why a loss of funding for the project would be both an epic loss to science and an incredibly bad idea. Co-panelists will include Dr. Pamela Gay, and possibly another special guest.

Apart from these, I will be otherwise hanging about the science and podcasting tracks, and possibly be doing some Bad Doctoring for The Secret Lair. As usual, I will be posting occasional pithy observations, and if you are going, I look forward to seeing you there!

I shall be doing a more proper update on what’s been going on in The Secret Lair shortly, but for now, know this: it is Angry Robot week in The Lair, and if you send us glorious haiku, you have a chance to win 5 of their books!

Angry Robot is an excellent UK-based publisher whose mission “is to publish the best in brand new genre fiction – SF, F and WTF?!” Apart from publishing excellent books, they are doing some seriously cool, innovative things, like their freshly announced WorldBuilder project. All this week, we’re taking a look at some of their novels and short stories, as well as doing several interviews and taking a closer look at their WorldBuilder initiative, so please join us.

All of this culminates in the Angry Robot Haiku Contest, which is taking submissions until 8pm EDT on Thursday, September 1st. The details and prize descriptions are here. Enter! Amuse us! Win great stories!

I’ll be headed shortly to Renovation, the 69th (In Reno. With brothels. Yes. Ok, it’s out of my system now.) World Science Fiction Convention. Tomorrow, I have the good fortune of participating in a couple of science panels:

• Thu 16:00 – 17:00, Space and the Biological Economy: How does space exploration drive the United States’ biological economy? What do the advances in telemedicine and the biological sciences driven by NASA mean to our nation’s long-term economic and physical health? – David W. Goldman (M), Nick Kanas, H. G. Stratmann, John Cmar, Greg Bear

• Thu 17:00 – 18:00, Infections and Viruses that Could Doom Humankind: What could create the next pandemic? A virus from animals? Food-borne illness? An engineered retrovirus? – John Cmar (M), Vylar Kaftan, Tom Lehmann, Jim Fiscus

Apart from these, I will be otherwise hanging about with the Moon Ranger and other good folk, and possibly be doing some Bad Doctoring for The Secret Lair. As usual, I will be posting occasional pithy observations, and if you are going, I look forward to seeing you there!

At long last, the latest episode of The Secret Lair is up, in which Overlord Miller calls a board meeting with yours truly as the Chief Medical Officer, Natalie as the Secretary of Aesthetic Engineering, and David as the Commandant of the Air Forces in attendance. We address both the scent of bacon wafting through The Lair, and what that might have to do with the fate of the absent Overlord Johnson.

Also, therein lies a roundtable on our recent geeky pursuits, after which I find myself strapped into the Interrogation Chamber: I am interviewed about the need for, and the issues surrounding, the non-medically trained public reading articles from the medical literature directly, as opposed to merely accepting media reporting on medical study results at face value. From the medical evidence behind bedbugs and superbugs to finding citations to support beer and good health, it’s a fun and informative chat.

Go here and listen, else when the Overlords’ time comes, you will be the first into servitude.