It’s been a good long time since we have had a Celebrating Jackals post! And by good long time, I mean far too long.
f you look at it one way, you could think that this is a strange time to celebrate anything. Viewed in another way, in times like these, it’s even more important to take the time to celebrate the good things.
First up: Albatrossity
A proud papa moment, and worth celebrating in a time when science and scientists get hate mail whenever they mention anthropogenic climate change.
My daughter Ellen (pictured below using her first pair of binoculars to study a grasshopper) was the primary writer and corresponding author of a 2023 Nature paper that just won the Frontiers Planet Prize (worth over $1 million) from a Swiss foundation. The laboratory of Peter Haase (her postdoc advisor) gets the money, but maybe some of it will come her way to fund a student or postdoc in the future. She was in Switzerland for the announcement and presentation of the prize, and now is back in Montana. She is a Smithsonian Institution research ecologist, working to understand grassland community ecology in eastern Montana Lots of grasshoppers there!
At any rate, this will look pretty good on her CV and in her annual review report! And if her research helps us understand and help our warming planet, that would be good, too.
How adorable is that photo!
Seriously, if I were a parent, I might be tempted to want to freeze that moment in time forever!
So let’s celebrate with Albatrossity – and if anyone else has *anything to celebrate, please share it with us in the comments.
*You do not need to have won a million dollar prize in order to participate.
HinTN
I will celebrate Albatrossity and his obviously gifted descendant. I will also celebrate the eggplant dish, The Imam Fainted, being in the oven and the rice cooking on the stovetop. It’s hot here, but not unbearable in the shade. Happy Sunday, Jackals.
trollhattan
That’s one heck of a dadbrag and hearty congratulations to Ellen, parents and all involved!
Me? We watched Runner Girl walk at the end of May, earning her BS in psychology—neuro-biology, summa cum laude, plus the award for top student-athlete in her class. Totally her parents’ doing (not!). The girl is driven.
Now she’s in NC working a summer research job in [dad refuses to describe a thing he does not understand] something to do with regenerative medicine and in fall, will be taking a grad certificate in a different thing and running in the very competitive ACC. Today she did a training run in Charleston, as she adds to her states-visited list.
Living her best life. Here, it was 115 yesterday afternoon and words fail.
Can’t wait to read more.
Suzanne
WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO, Ellen! That’s incredible!
Scout211
Whoa! What a huge accomplishment. Congrats to Abatrossity’s daughter!
Princess
Yay, Albatrossity and Ellen!
Popping in here to say early results put the Left coalition first, Macron’s gang second, and the Far Right third, with no party having an outright majority. Parts of the left are pretty problematic so I don’t know if that is unalloyed good news but beats a far right majority for sure.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Congrats to Ellen and her dad.
Sheila in nc
Our daughter defended her PhD dissertation last month, at UNC Gillings School of Public Health, in health economics. Dad and I both attended, which we both thought was weird (we had committee only at our defenses!) but I think it is now a thing. Particularly since half the committee attended via Zoom.
Chris
@Princess:
Yeah, that’s what Le Monde seems to say. Holy shit.
I didn’t think the far right would be in third place. I assumed the Macronists really were so far down that even in the most optimistic scenario, the fascists would still be second. So glad I was wrong.
J.
Congrats to Ellen! Love the photo!
trollhattan
@Sheila in nc:
Sounds wonderful. Like you, not a thing I’ve ever pondered, much less formed opinions on.
Congratulations to the kiddo!
trollhattan
@Princess:
Perhaps the “We will change ‘front’ to ‘rally’ and maybe nobody will notice it’s the same thing” trick does not work.
ETA, this from BBC is something we should take to heart: All the opinion polls appear to have got it wrong.
Bard the Grim
Big congratulations to Albatrossity’s daughter from a fellow Smithsonian science researcher (we’re not just museums ;). And to that Mayhew/Anderson character on the threshold of receiving his doctorate!
CaseyL
Fantastic news, and congrats to Ellen!
I am continuously amazed at the variety of people who hang out here. A whole lot of very highly accomplished folks – and their highly accomplished children and near relatives.
narya
Congrats to ALL of you, and your spawn! Like CaseyL, I’m always so impressed by the talents on display.
And, this is a tiny thing–especially compared to all of the above AND the previous post!–but my 89-year-old mom decided this week that she wanted an Apple Watch. I helped her pick it out (over the phone), and helped with a little set-up, but she did a whole lot herself. I’m so proud of her for just jumping into new tech and trying new things.
cope
Well, I don’t usually brag about it but I did graduate in the upper 7/8ths of my college class in 1972, way before all this grade inflation.
RaflW
Amazing, congrats Albatrossity and Ellen!
zhena gogolia
Wow! Congratulations, Ellen and Albatrossity! So cute!
Albatrossity
For sure! Although there are a lot of pandas in the Smithsonian news feed :-)
Thanks for all the congrats, I will pass them on. And congrats to the other graduations and accomplishments mentioned above. It’s a good feeling to see your kids succeed and thrive!
Villago Delenda Est
How adorable is that photo? Kittens and puppies are about to take legal action for trademark infringement, that’s how adorable!
Chris
@trollhattan:
What this election brings up, and is always worth remembering because of how much the narrative cuts against it, is that fascism is not popular. Even in Italy and Germany I don’t believe it ever crawled its way to an outright majority. Even in peak periods when there really are a lot of people who like it, there are at least as many people who are horrified and disgusted by it and very much don’t want it.
It takes enormous, sustained, and usually violent effort, and usually at least some luck, for the bad people to push fascism to the point where it’s actually in a winning or competitive position. No matter how hard they try to portray themselves as such, they’re not actually the natural voice of the people – they wouldn’t need all the authoritarian measures if they were. The antifascists have a lot of people to work with. We’re never as alone as we think, and that can never be said enough.
Tehanu
Congrats to Ellen, to Sheila in nc’s daughter, and to all of you for keeping our spirits up!
KRK
Congrats all around!!! And what a great photo. Though I do miss Albatrossity’s usual detailed description: Is this a gregarious year-round resident or lucky capture of a shy individual on a multi-thousand mile migration? Do her parents also sport such colorful plumage or is that unique to the juveniles?
SiubhanDuinne
This is beyond wonderful! Love Albatrossity in proud papa mode.
Ellen deserves All The Things. Congratulations, Ms. Trossity!!
SiubhanDuinne
@cope:
I can still fit into the same earrings I wore at my wedding.
SiubhanDuinne
@trollhattan:
@Sheila in nc:
@narya:
You are all related to gifted and determined people! Thanks for sharing their accomplishments.
frosty
@SiubhanDuinne: Perfect! I can’t say the same.
Mousebumples
Congratulations, all!
Donatellonerd
As a Parisian, I am celebrating the election results with great relief. We didn’t vote today because our New Popular Front (ecologist) candidate won a majority last week (we are happily in a very left and green district). My (also dual-national) daughter is proud that people saw the danger and came out to vote — wants to know why the Americans haven’t. Congratulations to Albatrossity as a rightfully proud father … and to his brilliant daughter.
Another Scott
This is such a great story, Albatrossity. And yet another example that there’s so much potential in every single little kid. They can do so much, and make the world a place filled with understanding and good things, if we do our part and help them grow up with wonder.
+eleventy-billion on the Wonders of the Jackals and the Jackal Adjacent!
Cheers,
Scott.
Donatellonerd
@Chris: it takes right wing politicians trying to outfascist fascists— why vote for the fake? especially if they don’t have anything to offer rural voters with problems except migrant-hatred. I live in Paris, I have excellent government services. they don’t.
Steeplejack
@KRK:
😹 Well played!
WaterGirl
@KRK:
What you wrote it so totally awesome there is not a word for it.
Albatrossity
@KRK: I feel seen!
Thanks, and I am pretty sure that this is a unique individual, in unique plumage!
SteveinPHX
Just saw this! That explains the shadow over Arizona this afternoon. The puffed out chest of a very proud father! Way to go! Both of you!
PAM Dirac
@Sheila in nc: When I defended my thesis my Mom and a number of brothers attended, the brothers being much more of the beer drinking blue color sort than the PhD defending sort. I also had a friend in attendance that had moved away a few years previously so we hadn’t talked in detail about my work. After my talk she started asking a lot of interesting questions so we were going back on forth over the details of atomic quantum mechanical calculations and my boss cut in a suggested that there were members of the audience that were in need of a beer, which my brothers seconded and thus we adjourned to a nearby bar.
KRK
@Albatrossity:
😊
PAM Dirac
Absolutely brilliant stuff and very much worthy of much celebration. Multiple cheers to Ellen and the parents who supported her.
Even though it isn’t a Nature paper, I can announce that I am an author of a newly published paper in The Astronomical Journal. I got a kick out of it because it is the first peer reviewed paper I’ve been an author on since I retired. I gathered some data with my telescope in the backyard and contributed it to a characterization of an exoplanet. It’s so much fun to still be able to contribute to science after retirement.
Albatrossity
Congrats on the newest publication! I agree that it is great to still contribute to science while in retirement. I still have library privileges, and a fair bit of time, so it seems like the thing to do. I do miss working with smart young people, but otherwise retirement is a great time to continue to do science.
SiubhanDuinne
@PAM Dirac:
I think that’s awesome!
PAM Dirac
@Albatrossity:
Is it ever. You don’t have to worry about your career, office politics, etc., etc. and you can do it completely on your own terms. None of those things are easy and there are a lot of really good, committed scientists that end up falling to the wayside, so even more reason to celebrate the successes. That picture is just so wonderful, the child like curiosity gets channeled into a scientific career. I’ve found that retirement let’s you get back a bit to that simpler time when you could just chase what you wonder about.
Albatrossity
@PAM Dirac: Yes, it is far simpler. Besides the lack of office politics and administrative intrigue and bungling, there are no grant proposals, annual progress reports, or leaky lab roofs to worry about!
stinger
How I love posts like this! Congratulations to Albatrossity, trollhattan, Sheila in nc, narya, PAM Dirac, and the French people!
No One You Know
Retirement is also a good way to do art. Congratulations to Albatrossity and daughter, Sheilah in nc and her daughter Ellen, Runner Girl, Pam Dirac, and everyone celebrating life in midst of chaos!
My (very humble) addition today: for the first time ever in my life, I was greeted with congratulations and entreaties for “how was it” when I walked into a room with a bunch of people in it who knew I’d won an exhibition slot in a juried show and gave a painting demo while talking to walk-ins two weeks ago. Many of these people knew me from my first class with them four years ago.
And then I did a new drawing and gave $30 to Gavin Newsom to celebrate.
J. Arthur Crank
@PAM Dirac: Awesome. I am a big exoplanet fan myself, and I am happy that the serious amateur or the retired professional can contribute.
StringOnAStick
Wow, Albatrossity, quite the young lady you raised and nurtured. I’ve been a Smithsonian subscriber since 1979, the only magazine I get; I have such deep respect for that institution!
I have a tiny brag. I’ve been taking voice lessons and yesterday everything clicked for working from the diaphragm. We roared through House of the Rising Sun, and the teacher had tears in her eyes. I’ve been invited to join her weekly vocal exercise group for professional singers; pretty sweet. Until 3 years ago I never sang in front of more than a couple people and now I do a lot of open mic nights
WaterGirl
@StringOnAStick: That’s awesome! You are having quite the string of exciting new things.