October 2000

Nikkei Nexus Update | Canadian Thanksgiving | See One, Do One, Teach One | Ties Talk Archive Update | Master's Thesis Proposal

Master's Thesis Proposal
Today I presented my Master's thesis proposal at the weekly Research Conference of the OHSU Division of Medical Informatics and Outcomes Research. Thanks to the many who attended -- especially to those aren't even students or faculty in the Division! The topic I have chosen -- Medical Genetics -- must be of interest to the public. For those who couldn't be there, I have posted the text of my presentation slides on my thesis page.
- Beyond the Genome
  The fun has begun in the post-genomic age
- Genetic data glut looms
  The challenges of joining "wet" and "dry" data
- They see what's in your genes
  Two companies are building databases containing both clinical and genetic information
- BioSilico 2000: The Strategic Summit on In Silico Biology
  Scientific American's 1st Annual Bioinformatics & Genomics Conference
- The Molecular Genealogy Research Group
  A DNA family tree database which will eventually enable anyone, including people with "brick wall" genealogies such as adoptions, illegitimacies or missing records, to trace their origins.
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(27 October 2000)
Ties Talk Archive Update
There are few new pages in the "Identity" directory of the Ties Talk Message Archive, a collection of past messages from a Nikkei e-mail list I subscribe to.
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(23 October 2000)
See One, Do One, Teach One
This weekend Seattle hosted the Pacific Northwest Regional Taiko Gathering, a biannual meeting where drumming groups from Oregon, Washington, Idaho and British Columbia exchange ideas and perform for each other. It looked to be such a rich experience that the entire crew from Portland Taiko saw fit to attend. They were scheduled to be among the last to perform on Sunday afternoon (right after my sister's group, Northwest Taiko), and would still be doing the three-hour drive down I-5 when their evening adult taiko class began, so they asked me to lead their students through a warmup and lesson until they got back to Portland.
Despite my lack of taiko experience, I was comfortable with this, having come from the medical environment, where the saying, "See one, do one, teach one," summarizes the outmoded way in which much of medical education is done (and also indicates the lack of emphasis and awareness in medicine about teaching theory). It was a great honour to be asked to do this, made all the more enjoyable and rewarding by the expectant and eager faces of those who came to learn about one aspect of Japanese culture.
- Centre for Research in Education
  Improving the education of health care professionals at the University of Toronto
- Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
- Medical Education Online
  A web-based journal about educating medical professionals
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(15 October 2000)
Canadian Thanksgiving
One of our pathology fellows poked his head into my office in the OHSU Pathology Department and said, "My barbecue at home isn't working. It was made in Canada, so I tried calling the manufacturer this morning, but nobody answered. What gives up there?" I told him today is Thanksgiving in the Great White North, a national holiday that is a month earlier than the American holiday of the same name. "What?" he chuckled. "Who started that -- Canadian pilgrims?" I had to confess I didn't know for sure, but sought to find out:
- About.com: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving
  History, traditions and fun
- Canadian Thanksgiving
  History, memories, and a song
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(09 October 2000)
There is an update at Nikkei Nexus.
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(04 October 2000)

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