Archiving has entered the building

Proving that given a couple of hours, Julie can indeed enter the correct settings for archiving, this blog site now archives. So, if there is a post that disappears that you want to read again later, click the appropriate archive dates over in the right hand column, and voila, you'll get a page with all the posts of that month.

We don't need no education

Now we know who those kids are who sang the backing lyrics. I've always wondered about that, ever since watching a float in a Parade go by when I was a little kid in Darwin with a bunch of high school kids singing along with the song. I wouldn't normally remember something like that, except that the float shortly after them was a sex-ed float with people tossing little foil packs of individually wrapped condoms into the crowd. I guess the parade organizers figured that even if the kids of Darwin didn't want an education, they were going to make sure that they got at least that part of the curriculum. Darwin was not only one of the best places a kid could grow up, it was also one of the most amusing places now that I look back.

If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel

This week I experienced a previous undiscovered blessing associated with prayer. During landing of the Chicago to Portland leg of my flights this vacation, I got to enjoy the wonders of a blocked ear passage and was unable to equalize my left ear. Billy Joel's song "Pressure" now holds new meaning to me. It hurt pretty bad. Several hours later, when I finally retired to bed, still with an unequalized ear, I knelt in my usual fashion to offer my nightly prayer. I start out with good intent, kneeling upright (although, generally on the bed, which could be the source of my problem), but before the first few thank thees are uttered, I generally sway forward and end up in a folded-kneeling position with my head spear headed into the mattress just in front of my knees. I admit, that this is not the world's most reverent position, but this week my unusual habbit was a huge blessing. As soon as my head hit the mattress (which meant my head was upside down), the passage in my ear cleared with a terrific squeaking and rushing air sound that lasted several seconds. Most cool. I'm counting it as an instantaneous blessing due to prayer. Maybe someone will write a country song out of this. Or maybe U2 could do something with it, you know, sort of with a mysterious line like "if you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel..."

Thanksgiving vacation

I'll be spending this week with my sig. ot. and his family, so blogging will be scarce or non-existent. I shall return with full blogging fervor next week.
(Oh, and "sig. ot." is a new term I'm trying to coin. In science we shorten "significant figures" to "sig. figs." Sig ot is my newly authored term for "significant other." I'm sure it will catch on in all places hip. Start using it. You can claim to be one of the first ones).

The results are in...

University of Adelaide head of anatomical science, Professor Maciej Henneberg said the survey results showed Australia was a nation of "healthy, cheerful, size 16 women".

And

Australian women are 5cm bigger around the bust, 8cm larger around the waist and 4cm wider on the hips than American women.

Well, seeing that the Boob Fairy never came for me, and that my waist is fairly narrow, and being Australian born, then it becomes mathematically obvious that the 5cm + 8cm + 4cm must all be in my hips. One minute, let me go get a tape measure.............................................Wow! 17cm extra! I've always wondered about that. Thank goodness for science!

(Oh, and go to iTunes Music Store and buy Deirdre Flint's "The Boob Fairy." It's worth way more than the 99 cents you pay for the song. - Thanks to Cindy for introducing it to the crowd. May it continue to be the anthem it has become).

The Twin Paradox

While waiting for our coupon meal at Denny's, my sister (Lan) asked me a question. It was somewhat as follows. "If identical twin brothers marry identical twin sisters, would their children be cousins or siblings." - Excellent question. I can't believe that I have gone these 28 years without pondering this myself. While eating our chicken melts (our Denny's usual), we came to the conclusion that although by title, they would be cousins, by genetics, they would also be siblings....Pass the ketchup.

Did the lead up to 2000 permanently change the way we think?

Today in lab I was helping to go through a big box of old lab glassware. Much of it was wrapped in newspaper. While going through I found a movie review from the June 26, 1998 edition of the Isthmus written by Kent Williams. The review was covering "The X-Files:Fight the Future." I was thrilled to find the review since pop culture had been inaccessible to me at the time of the movie release, and being a fan of The X-files, I had wondered what reviewers thought about the movie. (Actually, I did get sort of close to seeing the movie on big screen as I was driving past a drive-in in south-central Pennsylvania and pulled over off the road for a minute to stare at a larger than life Mulder and Scully running around. At the time I was a full time missionary and even that was a little risque for the rules we choose to abide by as missionaries). Anyways, the reviewer was not an X-files fan, nor a regular watcher, so needless to say he did not enjoy the movie as much as I did when I finally got to see the whole thing post-mission. However, his review sparked a theory in my brain that will probably be mulled over for a while longer in my head. Here are the beginnings of the thought:

Quote from the 1998 review: I have a conspiracy theory about conspiracy theories-that they're devised by Big Media to take our minds off...Big Media. Not that "The X-Files" isn't picking up on something that's "out there," be it "the truth" or otherwise. With the end of the millennium breathing down our necks, we seem to be drifting into an apocalyptic mindset where anything's possible, if not exactly provable. "The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."... [emphasis added]

So we drew nearer to the year 2000, and people were swearing up and down that air traffic controls would go blank, banks would lose their data, and chaos would ensue in the computerized world. Well, it didn't happen. Our paranoia was all dressed up with nowhere to go. But then 21 months later something did happen, although unrelated to the 2000 hype, when terror struck the western world in an unprecedented way. The USA and its allies responded and are responding, but what of the 2000-prepped paranoid mindset of the population? Perhaps this is what spawned, or at least added, to the quick growth of distrust of our governmental leaders both past and present that both left and right leaning people seem to be displaying more than ever.

The thought is new, and I'm still working on it. Feel free to comment.

UPDATE: This refers to the type of paranoia I'm talking about.

A new translation of the Torah.....very, very interesting

The five books of Moses (aka The Torah) have been recently retranslated and published by a professor out at UC-Berkeley, Dr. Robert Alter. For those of you familiar with the nuances of the doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (of which I am a member), you might be interested to know that according to a CNN article:

And where the King James translation of Genesis had the earth begin "without form and void," the new translation of the Hebrew Bible says that the earth was "welter and waste."

And

But Alter, in an interview with Reuters, said he used the phrase "God's breath" rather than the "spirit of God" for a simple reason: "The Hebrew word means life's breath, a constant moving of oxygen in and out. The body-soul split of early Christianity is something not imagined in the early Hebrew."

Hmmmmm....very interesting.

Gradual disintegration into sheer and utter madness...

Today a friend of mine emailed and updated me on her life. She is also a PhD student in the biological sciences over in another country. Misery loves company I guess and I felt so much better knowing that her experience has been similar to mine. From her email:

I am studying [genetics], and I am hoping to finish by next October. I am slowly been driven mad. This phd thing is doing my head in. Nothing works... Still, if it doesn't break you, it makes you stronger, but if someone else tells me that, I will hit them...In between going mad and doing science (i am sure you will agree that they are one in the same thing) we [the lab] amuse ourselves in any number of ways which any normal person would think strange. But we get so stressed
that anything is amusing...[an account of lab antics]... Do you think I am mad yet? I can keep going if you don't.

I am mad, and each day, another straw is placed on the camels back, and one day it will be the last straw. The funny thing is that our bosses, i.e. the psychiatrists, don't seem to see the gradual disintegration of the lab into sheer and utter madness.

In the last week in my lab I have witnessed a grad student go into the sealed cold room to scream in broken frustration, and two different graduate students break down in tears in lab. Does anyone else find it odd that the largest private financial support institute for biological research was founded by a man that drifted into madness?

"I'm so cold my implants are frozen" - Amazing Race 6 premier

The above quote from Lori (of the Lori/Bolo team, both professional wrestlers) pretty much sums up the majority of the teams chosen to compete in this season. Are wanna-be actors and hopeful models becoming the only people available in the USA with flexible work schedules who can compete in a game like this? Still, there were some shining moments and some enjoyable teams. Hayden/Aaron, Kris/Jon, Lena/Kristy, Avi/Joe (eliminated) were all nice people on first pass. Freddy of the Freddy/Kendra team was just calm, caring and kind, even under pressure. Love that. Jonathan of the Jonathan/Victoria team is an absolute abusive pig. Is it possible to have TV show cross-overs from talk-shows into reality shows? Please Dr. Phil, please oh please help Victoria see that Jonathan is more caustic than concentrated nitric acid. I've never wanted a team to lose more than them. I just don't know if I can tolerate more than 2 minutes of Jonathan per week! Well, hopefully he won't last long and I can enjoy the show like I have enjoyed other seasons. I'll try just to focus on the good parts of this evenings show (like the funny neck brace guy on the blue line in Chicago).

To leave a comment Anonymously...

Actually, I would rather you leave your name after any comments just so I know who is laughing with/at me. But, to sign in anonymously and not have to create an account in order to leave a comment, be sure to look for the "Or Post Anonymously" option beneath the Sign In button when you go to post a comment.

"Thanksgiving, the day you eat your turkey Ramen"

That's a quote from our lab technitian to one of the graduate students here, I believe referring to our meager ability to celebrate the holidays. I laughed, then I Googled. Top Ramen does not make a turkey flavour, but thankfully, Ramen noodle fans have not let that stop them. Recipes here.

Keep your eye on the night sky this week

For those of you who aren't in perpetual overcast weather, be sure to be watching the skies on Wednesday or Friday night (and why not Thursday just in case). Apparently Earth will be passing through an annual meteor shower and we might be able to see some falling stars. If you see one, let me know! Looks like it is going to be cloudy here in Wisconsin all week.

Amazing Race 6

Heads up to Amazing Race fans and potential fans. Tomorrow night (Tuesday Nov 16th) is the premier of Amazing Race 6. Amazing Race is by far my most favourite reality show. I'll probably blog about it as the season progresses. Get ready for the fun!

Kalani's advice column

"Get off that ridiculous thing [computer] and go and buy some groceries."

Thank you, thank you...All this AND cheese curds!

I went to a Shawn Colvin concert last night. It was a good show. I didn't own any of her music till today. (I spent 99 cents and purchased "Wichita Skyline" on iTunes today. It just has a mellow road-trippin' sound. I liked it. Thank you iTunes). The show started out kind of odd with the sound equipment not working for a while. Then there was a conversation between the performer and the audience about foods available at mid-western state fairs. Shawn Colvin revealed that she had not yet tried fried cheese curds. By the end of the show a fan presented her with take-out fried cheese curds. That's devotion. At the end of her encore, with guitar in one hand and curds in the other, she thanked the audience, bowed, and before leaving the stage said 'thank you, thank you...All this AND cheese curds!' The day I graduate and leave Wisconsin I hope I remember to quote that line. (Which, of course, will be after I stand beneath the safety shower and pull the chain, which I have always joked will be on the day I earn my PhD).

Kalani's advice column

Kalani (aka Larn) is my sister. My sister lives with me and is also a graduate student at the same University as me (in a different program). She is a lot more socially savvy than me. I intend to post a fairly regular advice column of Kalani's advice to me. Here's a nugget from a couple of days ago:

"Don't use big words like that or you won't have many friends."

Sagacious.

UPDATE: Shawn's comment: "I capaciously cohere to the cogent commonition conferred by your circumspect and contemplative counterpart."

UPDATE: There is some discussion as to how to spell Kalani's nickname. Is it "Larn" or "Lan." Opinions welcome.

testing 1 2 3

This is blog #1. Wish me luck.