Fantasy Colbert League: January 4-January 7

Happy 2010, Zoners! I hope you all had a lovely holiday and enjoyed catching up on some well-deserved rest. I still have two weeks off for my winter break and I am getting plenty done myself. We have a lot to look forward to this upcoming year between the broadcasts in HD, the Olympics, and whatever else Stephen and the crew have up their sleeves, so let’s get started!

Erick Erickson is the Editor-in-Chief of RedState.com, “the leading blog for right of center online activists”. Before joining Redstate, Erick worked as an attorney in his town of Macon, Georgie at Sell & Melton, L.L.P. After his legal work, he began working on an advocacy project for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association which represents the interests of electric cooperatives and their consumers. In addition to his duties at Redstate, Erickson also helps maintain the blogs, Peach Pundit, and Blog Macon.

You can also follow Erick Erickson on Twitter or check out his official blog.

Fract: Separation between church and state? Not only does Erick work on the political website, but he also is a Deacon at Vineville Presbyterian Church in Georgia.

Tuesday, January 5: Riley Crane

Riley Crane is the Society in Science senior Postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and before his time at MIT was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Entrepreneurial Risks department at ETH Zurich (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) in Switzerland. Crane received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas, his Master’s degree from U.C.L.A., and also received his Doctorate from U.C.L.A. as well. His dissertation was titled “Probing the Bose solid: A finite frequency study of the magnetic field-tuned superconductor-insulator transition in two-dimensions,” and he focuses his research on studying complex networks and understanding the dynamics of the Quantum Critical Point.

Fract: Dr. Crane built AppZoo, which helps people find apps for their iPhones by using the power of “social intelligence.”

Wednesday, January 6: Capt. Charles Moore

Charles Moore is the captain and founder of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF). The AMRF is a non-profit marine research and education organization based in Long Beach, California which is dedicated to the protection of the marine environment. Before founding the AMRF in 1994, Moore ran a woodworking and finishing business for 25 years. In 1997, Moore and his team were travelling in the ocean by Hawaii, and he saw the trash that had overtaken the water. From that point, he found his calling, attempting to understand and remediate the ocean’s plastic load.

Fract: Sailing is in his nature. Moore’s father, an avid sailor, used to take Charles and siblings sailing to distant places like the Guadalupe Island and Hawaii.

Thursday, January 7: James Fowler

James Fowler is an affiliate of the Center for Wireless Population Health Systems and an associate professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. He is well-known for his work on the spread of obesity, leading to his new work, CONNECTED: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives. His page on the University of San Diego website lists his interests as including: “social networks, behavioral economics, evolutionary game theory, political participation, cooperation, and genopolitics (the study of the genetic basis of political behavior)”. In addition, Fowler has researched the legislative co-sponsorships in Congress and the network of Supreme Court precedents. Most notably in our own little Zoner world, James Fowler did the Los Angeles Times piece about “The Colbert Bump” back in 2008.

Fract: After graduating from Harvard in 1992, Fowler joined the Peace Corps and volunteered in Ecuador from 1992 through 1994.

Welcome back to the show!