Mike Richardson's Web Lab

Website ported to Jekyll

Sat, 09 Apr 2016 00:00:00 -0700

For the past few years, I’ve been using Statamic as the CMS for this site. However, version 1 hasn’t been a great fit for me.

I’ve been flirting with Jekyll for a few years, and have successfully run several other websites using it. I therefore put my http://mikerichardson.org website down for maintenance while I moved all of my files from Statamic over to Jekyll.

Finished tweaking the code today, so it’s time to throw the switch on the new Jekyll site!

Julia D!

Sat, 17 Oct 2015 00:00:00 -0700

written by Mike Richardson
10/17/15
contradance
duple, improper, longways

part	moves	beats
A1.	Long lines forward & back	(8)
	Women start ½ hey across the set (pass L sh to start) to long waves on sides (women facing in)	(8)
A2.	Balance forward & back	(4)
	Women dosido x 1 & ½	(12)
B1.	Balance and swing partners	(16)
B2.	Circle left x 1 & ¼	(10)
	Swing neighbors on side	(6)

Notes

This dance was written for Seattle’s own Julia D — Julia Derby. Her only request was to “Write a dance that fits the fiddle tune: Julia Delaney.” Although she didn’t explicitly say so, I suspect she was also hoping for a dance that doesn’t suck. I believe that this dance fulfills both of those requirements.
In the long waves at the end of A1, the women are facing in and the men are facing out. One should have one’s neighbor in one’s right hand.

Brad and Valerie's Excellent Adventure

Sun, 19 Jul 2015 00:00:00 -0700

written by Mike Richardson
7/19/15
contradance
duple, longways, improper

part	moves	beats
A1.	Gypsy neighbor 1 and 1/2	8
	Men start 1/2 hey, passing L shoulders	8
A2.	Balance & swing neighbor on sides of set	16
B1.	Circle left x 3/4	6
	All swing partners on sides of set	10
B2.	Pass through to an ocean wave	4
	Balance the wave (forward & back)	4
	Women turn by L x 1/2	4
	Balance the wave (forward & back)	4

Notes

written for my friends Brad Reynolds and Valerie Cohen for their awesome wedding, which occurred September 12, 2015.
In B2, women take L hands and turn about 1/4 to form the wave.
Beginning position of wave: men on outside, facing in direction of progression; women on inside, facing away from direction of progression; everyone has right hands with their partners.
The gypsy 1 and 1/2 in A1 is fairly zesty. A crowd of newcomers might have trouble doing the gypsy and the half hey in 16 beats. For such groups, an easy fix is to change A1 slightly: gypsy just once, and have the women start the half hey.

Noun, Verb, Swing Your Partner

Mon, 26 May 2014 00:00:00 -0700

written by Mike Richardson
5/26/14
contradance
duple, Becket, longways

part	moves	beats
A1.	Long lines forward & back	(8)
	Ladies chain across	(8)
A2.	Balance partner (across set) with R hand	(4)
	Pull by partner by the R hand	(2)
	Pull by neighbor by the L hand	(2)
	Balance partner (across set) with R hand	(4)
	Pull by partner by the R hand	(2)
	Pull by neighbor by the L hand	(2)
B1.	All allemande R once with *new* neighbor	(8)
	Women allemande L once and a half	(8)
B2.	Balance & swing partners	(16)

Notes

The dance title succinctly summarizes the story arc of most current U.S. contradances. Alas.
The 6 moves listed in A2 are collectively known as a “square through”.
This dance was premiered with KGB at the Northwest Folklife Festival, Monday, 5/26/14.
The tunes “Ray on the Porch” and “Chattanooga Chochek” by Dave Bartley were played especially awesomely by KGB for this dance and fit it like a glove. However, other swell tunes would doubtless work well too.
The Puck’n Stompa work by Claude Ginsburg in this medley should be singled out for its effectiveness.

On to Jekyll!

Thu, 20 Mar 2014 06:07:15 -0700

Octopress was swell, but Jekyll is a much better fit for me.

I have converted all of my Octopress markdown entries to Jekyll format.

Another Dance I Nicked

Tue, 13 Aug 2013 00:00:00 -0700

written by Mike Richardson, 8/13/13
contradance
duple, improper, longways

part	moves	beats
A1.	Do si do neighbors	(8)
	Men do si do — once and a tiny bit more	(8)
A2.	Men pass right shoulders in center to start 3/4 hey for 4 across set	(12)
	Gyspy partner left shoulder x 1/2 (on mens’ original side)	(4)
B1.	Balance & swing partners	(16)
B2.	Long lines forward & back	(8)
	Circle left x 3/4	(6)
	Pull by up & down set to progress to new neighbors	(2)

Notes

Commissioned for Nick Cuccia by his wife, Andrea Hall-Cuccia.
The name refers to the fact that I have written a previous dance for Nick, called “In the Nick of Time”.
While the men are dosido-ing in B2, the women can make the transition into the A2 hey easier by moving slightly up or down the set while bulging out at the sides.

The Road to Boston

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

I’m spending Pi Day flying to Boston, where I’m giving Grand Rounds tomorrow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The title is “Breaking Rad with an iPad”. Therein I will present various ways of teaching radiology with the aid of iPads and other technology.

Ventilation/perfusion scanning for acute pulmonary embolism

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

My co-authors and I just published a new paper:

Toney LK, Lewis DH, Richardson ML. Ventilation/Perfusion scanning for acute pulmonary embolism: effect of direct communication on patient treatment outcomes. Clin Nucl Med. 2013 Mar;38(3):183-7.

Spoiler alert: direct verbal communication of V/Q results between the nuclear medicine physician and the referring clinician results in a higher rate of treatment, regardless of the outcome of the V/Q scan.

Radiology Grand Rounds at UC Davis Medical Center

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

It was my pleasure to present Radiology Grand Rounds today at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, CA. I had a wonderful time giving talks and visiting my friends at UCD. Their hospitality was, as usual, awesome.

Essential Apps for Handheld Devices

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

The article I wrote for AJR on my favorite iPad apps ¹ is now available online.

Everyone I know with a handheld computing device has strong opinions about their favorite devices and applications (apps). So do I. This article is a list of my favorite apps that I also consider relevant to radiologists. It is an unabashedly iPad- and iPhone-centric list, but similar Android apps fill many of these software niches.

Richardson ML. Software Aids for Radiologists: Part 2, Essential Apps for Handheld Devices. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2012 Nov 20;199(6):W714–22. ↩