The Big Red Biotech Blog

John Cleese on Being Creative

For all or you who are seeking more innovation in your work or private life, here is a talk on "How to be more creative" by Monty Python's John Cleese.  Creativity is not exactly equal to innovation but for me shares many elements and is close. Remember - Space, Time, Time, Confidence, and Humor.

PharmaGossip: John Cleese on how to be creative - Boing Boing.

This lecture is excellent -- with lots of good suggestions and information -- and of course some humor. I especially liked the last 2 minutes which has to do with "How to Make Sure You Stamp out ALL Creativity in Your Subordinates."  See how many of these techniques you already use -- : ).

Posted by Bruce Lehr Apr 15th 2012

Hit the 150,000th Page View Milestone

Every once in a while I post a milestone (as defined by me) number of page views that has been surpassed by readers of this blog.  I guess I'm always surprised that anyone comes to look at what I write or summarize, as may be the case.  But here we are -- at 150,252 and counting..........

Posted by Bruce Lehr Mar 30th 2012

 

Innovation - Don't Let It OUT!

Here's a nice post from the Innovate on Purpose blog comparing senior executives feelings about innovation and Pandora's box.  It's seems top execs treat Innovation as good -- only if you can control it  and put it back in it's box when it is time.  Otherwise, it can be a frightening prospect to release on your company if it can't be controlled.  Unfortunately, most innovation only works under the latter circumstances.  And if you want a culture of innovation to take root and grow  -- you need to let it loose.

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Mar 29th 2012.

There's 143.5 Million Reasons This Man is Smiling!

From the PharmaGossip blog via Bloomberg's, retiring J&J CEO William C. Weldon will receive a retirement package worth $143.5 M -- yes -- that's GREENBACKS.

And that's why this man is smiling today.  That's a long way from the pay he received as a sales rep back in 1971 when he joined the company.  Wow! Just think what he might have earned if J&J had been able to make artificial hips, otc medicines and vaginal mesh products over the past couple years.

Then we might have been talking some real money.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Mar 14th 2012.

 

If I Ran the Pharmaceutical Zoo

 

A cute and perceptive poem from Xconomy's Stewart Lyman on the state of the pharmaceutical industry in the style of who else -- but the good Dr. Seuss.

 

How can you not like Dr. Seuss?  Kudos Stewart. Kudos.

 

 

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Mar 13th 2012 

 

Dumb as [this] Post and Don't Even Know It

A colleague gave me the following article this morning, and I'm beginning to think there was a method to his generosity.  Apparently, a new study shows incompetent people don't recognize their own incompetence, dumb people are too dumb to notice and unfunny people don't understand that they AREN'T funny.

That explains a lot in terms of this blog.  More incompetent than I think, dumber than dumb and about as unfunny as can be imagined.  Maybe this also explains some of what we see going on in the industry, with our political candidates and process, and in society in general.

Everybody now.

If you're stupid and you know it clap your hands. If you're stupid and you know it clap your hands. If you're stupid and you know it, your work will clearly show it. If you're stupid and you know it clap your hands.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Mar 5th 2012 

 

 

 

Never Woulda' Thunk It - 100,000th Page View Today!

 

 
We're celebrating (in a small way) at the Big Red Biotech Blog today.  After being around for 20 months, we hit the 100,000th page view sometime this morning.  I never would have thought that was possible -- either lasting 20 months or having 100,000 page views.  We'll take whatever we can get.  Thanks to anyone -- anywhere -- who has ever visited the site.  If you liked it, please come back.

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Aug 16th 2011

Hit 75,000th View Today

I like to record page view milestones here for reference.  Today is 75,000th view.  I'm surprised to have ever made it this far.  I guess you never know.

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 5th 2011.

Page View Milestone

Another first for me! 

This is the first time that I've exceeded 10,000 page views in a 30 day period.  Traffic seems to be building slowly but surely -- with a fairly predictable upward trend with seasonality - : )

Keep those cards and letters coming.

 
 

Posted by Bruce Lehr April 13th 2011

My Ego Unchecked - View mirror.me | Bruce M. Lehr

Here's a new application (that I got wind of from the Pharma Strategy blog) called mirror.me that analyzes your Tweets and assembles a word cloud describing your Tweet contents/interests. 

mirror.me | Bruce M. Lehr.

I can't resist such arcane features and especially if I can focus this on myself.  So my Cloud is on the above link.  If you click on individual words, you can see users in my community with similar interests. 

You can create your own cloud when you get to the site and have some fun.

 
Posted by Bruce Lehr March 29th 2011.

No Joy in Jupiter

The Mighty Cardinals have struck out.  

 
Looking too it seems. See here and here.  I don't know how they will recover with FANS in short-term.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Feb 16th 2011.

Punxsutawney Phil - Early Spring but Mum on Steelers-Packers

Punxsutawney Phil is no Psychic Octopus. 

All he could do today was predict that Spring is only 6 short weeks away (probably missed that one!).

 

But on the really important question - Who will win the Superbowl this weekend?  Punxsutawney Phil is staying mum. “Two years ago, Phil’s forecast also acknowledged the Steelers’ Super Bowl XLIII win the night before. This year, Sunday’s game was mentioned in the forecast but no winner was predicted between the Steelers and the Green Bay Packers,” writes AP.

Too bad. Phil had the chance to grab fame and glory by correctly predicting a 28-24 win by Steelers.

 
 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Feb 2nd 2011.

Recipe of Month - Bonus - December 2010

I ask readers all the time what they want to see in new recipes.  As predicted, I'm just overwhelmed with requests for a good catfish recipe!  So here's one to try during the holidays.

Sweet-and-Sour Catfish

• 2 to 3 lbs catfish fillets
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 teaspoons hot sauce
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
• 1 (8-oz) can pineapple chunks packed in juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 table spoon plus 1 cup cornstarch, divided
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red (cayenne) pepper
• 2 1/2 cups of peanut oil, divided
• 6 to 8 carrots, cut diagonally into bite-sized pieces
• 1 rib celery, cut diagonally into bite size pieces
• 1 medium onion cut into 8 wedges
• 1 medium red bell pepper, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 cup purchased sweet-and-sour sauce
• Hot cooked white rice
• 4 green onions, green portion chopped for garnish


Preparation

1. Cut catfish on the diagonal into 1-inch pieces. Place in self-sealing plastic bag
2. For marinade, stir together soy sauce, wine, hot sauce and ginger.  Drain pineapple reserving juice.  Cover and refrigerate pineapple chunks.  Add 1/2 cup pineapple juice to marinade.  Stir together water and 1 tablespoon cornstarch; add to marinade.  Pour over the catfish.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Make the coating in paper bag.  Add 1 cup cornstarch, cornmeal, seasoned salt, onion powder, garlic powder and cayenne pepper.
4. Remove fish from marinade, let liquid drip off.  Put about half the fish into the bag and shake to coat.  Shake off excess coating.  Repeat with other half of fish. Discard marinade and residual coating.
5. Heat 2 cups of peanut oil in a wok or large skillet to 360 degrees or until oil begins to ripple slightly (i.e. it is hot).  Fry fish in small batches until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
6. When all fish is cooked, drain wok and wipe it out with paper towels.  Return wok to heat.
7. Add 3 tablespoons of peanut oil.  Add stir-fry vegetables - carrots first, then celery, then bell pepper and lastly the onion.  Cook until tender (7-8 min) and remove vegetables to plate.
8. Pour 1 tablespoon peanut oil into the wok.  Stir in sweet-and-sour sauce.  Return fish and vegetables to wok and coat in sauce.  Finally, add reserved pineapple chunks.
9. Serve with white rice, garnished with green onions. 

Yield: 6-8 servings

Posted by Bruce Lehr December 29th 2010.

 

 

 

Recipe of the Month - December 2010

Today. we have a recipe for good luck in the New Year -- black-eyed peas.  This one comes from Lucy Buffet's (yes, Jimmy's sister) restaurant called Lulu's in Homeport Marina in Gulf Shores, Alabama. It is rather whimsically called - LA (lower Alabama) Caviar.

LA Caviar

• 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 (15-ounce) cans black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
• 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 cup each - chopped green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper and red bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped red onion
• 1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
• Saltine crackers or tortila chips, optional

Instructions

1. Make dressing by combining vinegar, oil, sugar, salt and pepper in a jar.  Close and shake vigorously to dissolve sugar.
2. Place balck-eyed peas in a large glass bowl.  Add tomatoes, bell peppers, onion and parsley.
3. Pour dressing over pea mixture; toss well to combine.  Cover and refrigerate 2 hours to overnight.
4. Serve as side dish or with crackers or tortilla chips as an appetizer

Yield: 20 to 25 appetizer or 8 side-dish servings.  Cut down recipe if you want less. 

Happy New Year - remember eating this will bring you luck!

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr December 29th 2010.

 

Big Pharma's 9 levels of scientific hell

Another funny post from PharmaGossip.  What more needs to be said?  Except that it rings too true perhaps.

 

PharmaGossip: Big Pharma's 9 levels of scientific hell.

The NINE?

• Limbo
• Overselling
• Post-Hoc Storytelling
• P Value Fishing
• Creative Outliers
• Plagiarism
• Non-publication
• Partial publication
• Falsification

 

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr December 12th 2010.  

Big Red Hits 35 - 35,000 Page Views

Another month and another milestone -- of course I pick what is a milestone so it's not that hard to achieve.  As always I'm appreciative of anyone who ever checks out the site and am particularly grateful to any of you who may choose to visit regularly.  We'll see if we can make 40 K before the end of the month.

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr December 5th 2010.
 

Recipe of the Month - November

These two come to me via the NY Times.

Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Hazelnuts

• 1 1/2 pounds of brussel sprouts
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon (or 10 grinds) black pepper
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut brussel sprouts in half and remove yellow or brown outer leaves.  In large bowl, toss brussel sprouts with olive oil, salt and pepper.  After sprouts are coated, spread evenly in 9 x 13 inch or larger baking dish or sheet tray.  If you choose a tray, you may want to cover with foil for easier clean up.

Place in oven.  After 15 minutes, stir sprouts with spatula or large spoon to even out browning. After 30 minutes, stir in maple syrup.  (You can store here overnight if you wish).  Bake 15 more minutes or until sprouts are fork tender (about 45 minutes total roasting time).  Toss sprouts in toasted hazel nuts and serve.

Raw Butternut Squash Salad with Cranberry Dressing

•  1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, picked over and rinsed
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 1 butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds) peeled and seeded

Combine the cranberries, orange juice and ginger in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Cover and cook (about 10 min) until berries have begun to break. Remove from heat and add olive oil, honey and salt and pepper. Stir well to combine.

Grate the butternut squash by hand or in a food processor. Add squash to a large bowl, add the warm cranberry dressing and toss to combine.  Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Posted by Bruce Lehr December 5th 2010.

 

 

 

Stan the Man to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

One of my real passions in my private life is baseball.  I attend many major and minor league games all over the country each year.  Given that is the case, it is especially lucky for me that my professional career has taken me to St. Louis.  Baseball is a three generation family affair here in Cardinal Nation and is as close as sporting gets to a religion. 

One of the benefits of being a Cardinal's fan is that we have a great tradition stretching back to the turn of the Century - having in fact won more World Series than any other team than the Yankees(a distant second).  We have a history of Great players.  And those players, are very visible members of the Cardinals family.  They actively take part in spring training and are visible at the ballpark many times during the long baseball campaign - especially so on Opening Day and throughout the playoffs (when the Cards are there and they usually are). 

It is common enough to see players & managers like Red Schoendienst, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Tim McCarver, Bob Forsch, Jack Clark, Whitey Herzog, etc. But the Greatest Cardinal of them all is Stanislaus Francis "Stashu" Musial or as we all know him - STAN THE MAN.

In a 22-season Major League career, Stan established himself as one of the greatest hitters of all time. He batted .331 lifetime with a .417 on-base percentage and a .559 slugging percentage. Musial hit 475 home runs, amassed 3,630 hits, 1,951 RBIs and scored 1,949 runs, and was a three-time National League Most Valuable Player. He appeared in 24 All-Star games.   He won seven batting titles and led the NL in doubles eight times, runs five times, hits six times, triples five times, RBIs twice and total bases six times. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first season of eligibility, receiving more than 93 percent of the vote to enter the Hall in 1969.

But, he is an even better person and is recognized as such by all of St. Louis.  A ardent group of supporters has been lobbying to get him the Presidential Medal of Freedom while he's still with us.  Stan is 90 years old next week.  And, they've done it! Stan will be presented with the Medal and St. Louis couldn't be happier.

See here for link to story on St. Louis Cardinals site.  Meet me at Stan's Statue to attend the ceremony.

 
Posted by Bruce Lehr November 17th 2010.

Big Red Tops 30,000 Views!

 

 

The hits just keep on coming with more than 5000 page views in just over 3 weeks to drive the Big Red Biotech blog over the 30,000 mark.  We plan to just keep blogging away.

Posted by Bruce Lehr November 16th 2010.

 

 

Happy Halloween

For those of you who like to watch scary movies in the Dark.  A few of my favorites.

 

 

 

 

Directed by Brian DePalma and starring Sissy Spacek supported by her really scary Mother - Piper Laurie. With the Greatest Amercian Hero, William Katt, John Travolta and Nancy Allen (DePalma's eventual wife), and the sweet Amy Irving.  

 

 

 

 

It still gives me the willies - even just hearing tubular bells theme song. I've seen this the fewest times as a result.                 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite one from Alfred Hitchcock.  And still tough to top today for suspense and creepiness - just think Tony Perkins.  And who could ever believe Janet Leigh would go in the first reel?

Like Mother, like daughter.  Both iconic figures of horror genre - likely not something they aimed for at the time.  Janet Leigh and Jamie Lee Curtiss.

 

Finally, another couple stars cross over into the horror game later in their careers - Gregory Peck and Lee Remick - and both meet their demise.  I still jump during grave yard scene with the dogs.

 
Posted by Bruce Lehr October 31st.

Recipe of the Month - October

I picked this one up out of the NY Times a few weeks ago and gave it a try.  It was easy to prepare and I thought turned out quite well - even my son liked it!

Spaghetti Squash Gratin with Basil

• 1 spaghetti squash, about 3 lbs
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup low-fat milk
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (1/4 cup of leaves)
• 2 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (1/2 cup)
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan

Here we go - we're off. 

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.  Pierce squash in several places with sharp knife - be careful please.  Cover baking sheet with foil and place squash on top. Bake for 1 hour, turning squash every 20 minutes until it is soft and easy to cut. Remove from heat and allow it to cool.  Cut in half lengthwise and allow further cooling. Don't burn yourself!  Remove seeds (with spoon) and discard.  Scoop out flesh into large bowl.  I scrape with fork to separate into strands as I remove flesh. Chop strands of squash coarsely.  Measure out 4 cups for recipe.  You can retain and left over for another dish if desired (or freeze).
2. Oil/grease 2-quart gratin or baking dish.  Heat olive oil in large, heavy skillet at medium and add onion. Cook until tender for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and a generous pinch of salt.  Cook, stirring for about 30 seconds.  Add the squash. Cook about five minutes until squash is a bit more tender. Season to taste with salt & pepper.
3. Beat eggs in large bowl with milk, salt, pepper and basil. Stir in squash mixture and grated Gruyere cheese. Mix well. Scrape contents of bowl into the greased baking dish.  Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top.
4. Bake 40-45 minutes until nicely browned.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.  Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.  I think it was best when served hot.

Yield: Serves 6 as main dish (pushing it in my view), eight as a side.

Nutritional info (six servings): 172 calories, 9 grams fat, 3 grams saturated fat, 119 milligrams cholesterol, 16 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams dietary fiber, 139 milligrams sodium; 9 grams protein.  

I served with mixed greens and glass of Ruffino Chianti Classico. It was just Gourd-geous!

Posted by Bruce Lehr October 30th 2010.

 

They're Hiring at Xconomy San Francisco

 

 

 

I enjoy reading Xconomy as one of the best on-line publications for information on the business side of Life Sciences and Technology. It seems they are hiring for their Bay Area beat.

We're Hiring at Xconomy San Francisco.

I thought I'd give them a shout out.

 

 

 

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr October 25th 2010.

 

Sam the Sham sings "Little Red Riding Hood"

Here you go - one of Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs best known hits

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr October 25th 2010.

Another Day Another Milestone for Big Red

The Big Red Biotech Blog is happy to recognize its 25,000th page view this morning! It's a beautiful Sunday morning here in Saint Louis and nothing goes better with Sunday Brunch than popping open some champagne.

So here's to my readership! Celebrate with me.  Not only do we hit another pageview milestone but the Rangers and Giants pull upsets to reach World Series.  And Mizzou wallops OU for a change. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

 
Posted by Bruce Lehr October 24th 2010.

Recipe Month - Late September

Typical.  Late again with this post.  This recipe is adapted from the Creole Gumbo and All That Jazz cookbook by Howard Mitchum.

 This is Baked Flounder a la Creole II (page 190).  I've subsituted flounder for Red Snapper.

• 3-4 8-oz flounder fillets
• 1 16-oz can of tomatoes
• 1 6-oz can of tomato paste
• 2 scallions with 3" of their green leaves, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 green pepper, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 lemon slices
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 stick butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Here we go, let's start with the sauce.  Melt butter in deep pan, add the flour and stir until blended.  Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, scallions, onion, green pepper, garlic, parsley, and celery.  Add the bay leaves, lemon slices, chili powder, salt, and black pepper.  Basically, add all the damn ingredients to the butter/flour roux.  Cook and stir until vegetables are soft  - if you can see them through the tomato ingredients - and translucent.  Add enough hot water to make the sauce semi-fluid, and let it boil gently for 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and lemon slices.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 F.  Place the fish fillets in a greased oven pan, cover with the sauce (you can reserve extra sauce), and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Lift the fish out with a spatula (treat gently!) and place on preheated (or not) serving plates and cover with sauce. Decorate with lemon slices, sliced olives and parsley sprigs. Serve at once.

I accompanied dish with brown rice, broccoli florets, and fresh baked bread sticks. Serve with hearty red wine - I paired with Dona Paula Estate Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina. 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Ocotober 10th 2010.