http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7390109.stm
Thursday, May 08, 2008
An unfortunate headline?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7390109.stm
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Word of the day
stu·pid (stōō'pĭd, styōō'-)
adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est
1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse.
2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes.
3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake.
4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.
5. Pointless; worthless: a stupid job.
Example: This country wants to turn millions of tons of corn into greenhouse gas-creating fuel for cars while a large fraction of the world's population is starving.
adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est
1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse.
2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes.
3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake.
4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.
5. Pointless; worthless: a stupid job.
Example: This country wants to turn millions of tons of corn into greenhouse gas-creating fuel for cars while a large fraction of the world's population is starving.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
My thought for today
Ignorance leads only to pain and suffering.
True happiness comes only through knowledge and awareness.
Monday, March 17, 2008
So apt...
One of the most frightening things in the Western world, and in this country in particular, is the number of people who believe in things that are scientifically false. If someone tells me that the earth is less than 10,000 years old, in my opinion he should see a psychiatrist.
- Francis Crick.
- Francis Crick.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Some blather to ponder
- Here's an interesting dichotomy:
I keep my work computer well organized. Everything is filed in appropriate folders, subfolders, sub-subfolders etc. Email is generally answered promptly and filed away. But my office... There are so many piles of paper it's hard to see any of the desktop. I have folders on the floor. Books and files on the window sill. It's a mess. How is it I can keep one part of my work life so tidy, but the other is a disaster area? Interestingly, in both cases I do know exactly where everything is. I never have to use the really cool search feature (Spotlight) on my Mac to find things, and I know not only which pile on my desk a particular paper is in, but also almost exactly where it is in the foot plus high pile. Usually within a half inch or so.
I'm going to devote at least 30 minutes a day for the next few weeks cleaning up my office (yes, it will take that long). That much clutter can't be good. Definitely bad feng shui.
- I updated my laptop to OS X 10.5.2 (Leopard) today. So far it seems to have worked without a hitch. It's worth updating for the built-in backup program Time Machine. Sure, there are a lot of backup programs out there. I've used a really good one called Carbon Copy Cloner for a couple of years. But somehow Apple managed to make backing up your computer cool. You have to see it.
- 'Cakes and her hubby, Barfless, gave me a book called "How to be a Genius" for Christmas. After having read it I understood why I haven't won that Nobel yet - you need to be a genius first. So, evil genius, or not-so-evil genius?
- JollyRgr and his L gave me Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion". A must read. Really makes you think. Kind of made my head hurt. Dawkins does a great job of demonstrating what a crock "intelligent design" is.
- Lastly, M and J were watching "Chicken Run" yesterday when they came up with that famous old question: What came first, the chicken or the egg? After some debate amongst themselves. M decided chicken. J decided egg. It's so cool watching them grow up.
I keep my work computer well organized. Everything is filed in appropriate folders, subfolders, sub-subfolders etc. Email is generally answered promptly and filed away. But my office... There are so many piles of paper it's hard to see any of the desktop. I have folders on the floor. Books and files on the window sill. It's a mess. How is it I can keep one part of my work life so tidy, but the other is a disaster area? Interestingly, in both cases I do know exactly where everything is. I never have to use the really cool search feature (Spotlight) on my Mac to find things, and I know not only which pile on my desk a particular paper is in, but also almost exactly where it is in the foot plus high pile. Usually within a half inch or so.
I'm going to devote at least 30 minutes a day for the next few weeks cleaning up my office (yes, it will take that long). That much clutter can't be good. Definitely bad feng shui.
- I updated my laptop to OS X 10.5.2 (Leopard) today. So far it seems to have worked without a hitch. It's worth updating for the built-in backup program Time Machine. Sure, there are a lot of backup programs out there. I've used a really good one called Carbon Copy Cloner for a couple of years. But somehow Apple managed to make backing up your computer cool. You have to see it.
- 'Cakes and her hubby, Barfless, gave me a book called "How to be a Genius" for Christmas. After having read it I understood why I haven't won that Nobel yet - you need to be a genius first. So, evil genius, or not-so-evil genius?
- JollyRgr and his L gave me Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion". A must read. Really makes you think. Kind of made my head hurt. Dawkins does a great job of demonstrating what a crock "intelligent design" is.
- Lastly, M and J were watching "Chicken Run" yesterday when they came up with that famous old question: What came first, the chicken or the egg? After some debate amongst themselves. M decided chicken. J decided egg. It's so cool watching them grow up.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Did you know...
Einstein once said:
"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy."
He (was) the man!
"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy."
He (was) the man!
Monday, February 25, 2008
We're so vacuous
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Obama Baby!!
This is worth watching. My favorite part is the line comparing politicians to diapers...
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Monday, January 07, 2008
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Believe it or not...
Awarded by my good friend DocStymie who has also won one.
According to The Shameless Lions Writing Circle, who originated the award, it is given for "blogs we love, can't live without, where we think the writing is good and powerful." I'm not quite sure how my little piece of the blogosphere qualifies, but I am very honored.
Apparently awardees are supposed to list "three things they believe are necessary to make writing good and powerful." I'm sure my three are far from unique and may perhaps even be considered cliched, but they are the three that top my list.
Good and powerful writing...
contains truth.
I'm a scientist. What I do is pursue truth, so perhaps I'm biased. But I do believe powerful writing contains truth. Truth isn't always welcome or pretty. We often hide it, or hide from it. But ultimately it cannot be denied.
is about life.
Life as we know it, life as it was, life as we hope it will be, or life as we hope it will never be. In some way, be it in small part or in whole, good and powerful writing is about life.
possesses humor.
Paraphrasing Blackadder, life without humor is like a broken pencil.
DocStymie inspired me to start a blog, in part because his writing embodies the three aspects of good and powerful I've listed. Thanks Doc.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
*SNORT*
I just came across a scientific paper titled "Basic math in monkeys and college students." An appropriate comparison methinks.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
It's a new year
And a Happy and Safe 2008 to All!
So what does 2008 hold in store for you? For me? Well, here's a partial list for my work:
1) I have a submitted paper I'm waiting to here back on. It may, or may not, need revisions. It probably will.
2) I have data for another two papers that I need to write.
3) I'm the new course director (ie in charge of) a graduate-level course that needs a complete overhaul.
4) I have a grant to write and submit.
5) I'm expecting the initial proofs for the book I edited soon. They'll need to be read carefully and all errors fixed.
6) I need to push along the new project to get it up and running.
7) I have to help organize the annual elections and dinner for the subgroup of the scientific society I foolishly got elected secretary/treasurer of.
Busy, busy, busy.
Did I mention that's the partial list just for January?
So what does 2008 hold in store for you? For me? Well, here's a partial list for my work:
1) I have a submitted paper I'm waiting to here back on. It may, or may not, need revisions. It probably will.
2) I have data for another two papers that I need to write.
3) I'm the new course director (ie in charge of) a graduate-level course that needs a complete overhaul.
4) I have a grant to write and submit.
5) I'm expecting the initial proofs for the book I edited soon. They'll need to be read carefully and all errors fixed.
6) I need to push along the new project to get it up and running.
7) I have to help organize the annual elections and dinner for the subgroup of the scientific society I foolishly got elected secretary/treasurer of.
Busy, busy, busy.
Did I mention that's the partial list just for January?
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
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