Philosophy

Dennis sent me this from the BBC. Made my brain hurt.

Movie: Stranger Than Paradise

So in researching this flick, I'd forgotten that Jim Jarmusch also did "Broken Flowers", an excellent movie with an excellent soundtrack. And the excellent Bill Murray. But anyway - this is an odd flick but had me hooked from the start with the fact that two of the main characters are Hungarian. And the bit where they visit the Hungarian aunt in Cleveland (Cleveland! Of all places!) was great - reminded me of my grandmother. It was something of a novelty back when it came out. Anyway, I liked it, if you like weird, half-foreign-language "absurdist comedies" check this out for sure.

More info: Wikipedia entry

Movie: Kicking and Screaming

Yeah Noah Baumbach. This was my boyfriend's favorite movie in college and I can see why - a bunch of humanities/English majors coping with life after graduation. But in reality, this could be any college seniors at pretty much any college in America where people don't want to grow up. I saw more than just a little of myself in Max, hanging out at the dorms (but not chasing freshman tail). I spent pretty much the first two years of grad school essentially living my fifth and sixth years of undergrad back at my old dorm. I'm not going to extrapolate further on the negative effects this may have had on my subsequent graduate career.

Anyway, the movie is cute, has some great lines in it. The character of Chet, the n^th year undergraduate who works as a bartender and has a kid with a professor, hit a little close to home for me, especially the line where he says "this is my life". Kind of scary.

If you've seen anything else by Baumbach - in particular, The Squid and The Whale - I highly recommend this too.

More info: Wikipedia entry

Why I Hate Christmas "Cards"

OK. So, I like getting Christmas/holiday cards from people. Emphasis on the "card". A piece of paperboard, folded in half, with things written on it. Sometimes photos are enclosed, or are a part of said "card". This year, in particular, I have been getting photos being passed off as "cards".

A LOT of them.

This aggravates every neuron in my cerebral cortex.

Here's why: you know what these cards come across as? A very irritating, impersonal way of saying, "look how un-screwed up my life is because I got married/had a baby/(insert happy life event here) and as such, I am too busy to write you anything personal but I am going to shove my happiness in your face at one of the most emotionally unstable times of the year."

Now, in the unlikely event you are one of the several people who sent me such a card AND are reading this: chill. You probably didn't INTEND for your card to come off as such an obnoxious gesture. And I don't hate you. And, a few of you I actually talk to on a regular basis and you probably didn't think you NEEDED to write anything on the card. Here's some friendly advice: YOU DO. And, I am not the only person to feel this way - a few of my other friends as well as family received these kinds of "cards" and they all had pretty much the same reaction as I did. It's not cool. If you don't want to make an iota of effort to send a card that is personal, that makes your recipient feel like they are more than just an entry in your computerized address-book-label-printer-database-of-people-that-you-keep-to-feel-relevant, then save yourself the trouble.

So, please do me a favor: next year, if you want to do the whole wonderful-life-photo-card thing, either spend 10 seconds and use a felt pen to write me a note on it, or save yourself a stamp. K? K.

Sleep Deprived

Yeah. Another day I can't get up at a reasonable hour, woke up at 4:30am and drifted in and out of sleep till I got up. Had a weird dream - was at a party with Jesus Jones - yeah yeah I know. Something about Mike almost drowning and me and Al had to save him... there was this other bit where I was at what I think was a coffeeshop in Northampton. There was a woman who gave away a bag with two calendars in it. One was this souvenir calendar from like 1993 with all these pictures of JJ in it. Some other woman took the bag and both calendars, and I asked her if I could have the JJ one 'cos I'm a HUGE fan and she said absolutely not. Then, somehow, I had another calendar from some other store in Noho (I think it was either Haymarket or Cornucopia) and I offered to trade with her and then she said yes. And I was all excited and I took the calendar to the party and showed the guys.

Time passing? Passing love? Love no matter what? I'm sure the dream analysts out there would have a field day with this one.

Off to the lab.

Signs Of The Apocalypse: North Of The Border Edition

So Canada, our wonderful neighbors to the North, have their collective s&#t together even if we don't. They stepped it up with opening their checkbook to the Big Three because, as we all know, the carmakers going out won't affect ANYONE but overpaid union employees.

Can someone wake up and smell the burning rubber please?

SciFinder On YouTube

So, somehow I am on CAS's SciFinder mailing list. For the two or three non-grad students reading this tripe, SciFinder is a pretty awesome database for scientific info. It has been incredibly useful to me in my research. However, to pump up their usage stats (or image?) they now have a YouTube channel. They follow two dorks around - one uses SciFinder, one doesn't. Guess which one has loads of time to piss around on Facebook and throw parties?

Check it out:
SciFinder Webisodes YouTube Channel

...and it sucked before 7am today

So I wake up at 6:30am this morning in a cold sweat because my family was about to be obliterated by Daleks. No, I'm not joking, some part of my brain must still be 9 years old. I haven't even WATCHED Doctor Who recently so I have no idea where the hell this came from. The Daleks were coming up my block, and I ran into the kitchen and my mum was crying, and I knew I had to get everyone out to the bunker in the backyard, but the Daleks were all over the street and I think they saw us through a window... then I woke up.

Naturally I have to pee my brains out so I go into the bathroom (without my glasses) and sit down to pee. Something cold is under my right foot. A ball of cat poop. Three inches away from the litterbox. Just barely onto the rug that I washed THREE DAYS AGO. I think my boyfriend forgot to clean the litterbox last night before we went to bed and this tweaked the cat so while she was digging to China or whatever she does in there, she must have sent one flying.

I'm slightly delusional at this point because I may be coming down with either ANOTHER cold or possibly a freaking sinus infection (I've NEVER had one but I am coughing up some NASTY CRAP right now). The person I saw at UHS last night wasn't sure, so they gave me a script for amoxicillin just in case. If I really feel like death by Wednesday it's probably an infection and I need to take hated antibiotics. Oh well.

Anyway I went back to sleep for a few hours and I feel more human now.

Let's see what other sorts of fresh hell will rain down on me today, eh?

Movie: Idiocracy

No. Just, no.

I'm not even providing a link to more info. Just say no to this one.

The only funny joke they put in the movie happened AFTER THE MOVIE ENDED. That's about all you need to know.

When The Lonely Wind Sounds Like Company

So as if Thanksgiving wasn't bad enough, the three days after brought me:

1. Unemployment
2. Expensive dental work (no insurance, obviously)
3. My apartment being burglarized

Add to that the fact my idiot advisor could really care less about me or my thesis progress and you have an extended hiatus.

It's not you, it's me. No, really.

I've sort of forgotten how to talk to people because my mind is so messed up. Typing things, emails, etc are more manageable because I can write it all down, get it out of my head, and sort of massage it to sound coherent and get my point across. But actually talking to people has become nearly impossible (if it's not about work, science, or sports). So, yeah.

Maybe one day, it won't be me anymore. I hope.

Could Intelligent Design Explain THIS?

Scientists fascinated with pooping whale sharks. Explain THAT.

Oh, wait, someone did.

Heh.

On Hiatus

I've had a hellish past 2 weeks or so. Besides the usual work BS, I was in a wedding that nearly physically destroyed me, I worked the three days before Thanksgiving, and helped my family out Thanksgiving day and the day after. All the while I have been fighting a ridiculous cold/infection/something and finally these past 2 nights been able to sleep a good 12 hours or so to try to feel better. So, I am behind on email, Facebook messages, etc. I don't know what's up with work this coming week, I may or may not have to give a presentation Monday, and the fun continues. I'll try to get back to everybody soon.

Movie: Coffee & Cigarettes

This was a cute flick, a bunch of vignettes revolving around -- you guessed it -- coffee and cigarettes. Jim Jarmusch assembles an all-star, albeit unlikey, cast of characters to tell short stories. The bits with Iggy Pop meeting Tom Waits (that's DOCTOR Tom Waits to him) was brilliant, as was the bit with Bill Murray. But then again, I love Bill Murray and most of what he's done recently (Broken Flowers and Lost In Translation were both excellent).

Oh and is there no end to Cate Blanchett's hotness??? I loved her in "I'm Not There", and here she does double duty has herself and her "cousin".

Anyway, this was great. Check it out.

More info: Wikipedia entry

Signs Of The Apocalypse - Gen Y Special Needs Edition

I can't tell if this really is a Sign of the Apocalypse, or just people being dumb. But the title of this article was really just funny enough as it is.

Being from M.I.T. I am more than familiar with the "millenials" and I put about as much stock in it as I do in MJ's resume.

The creepiest part of this article? Parents who want to look at their kids' health plans... and employers who accomodate them. Are you f'ing kidding me??? My parents stopped checking my homework in fifth f'ing grade yo, so either these people have smarter parents than me (possible), or are interviewing for really simple shitty jobs. Sigh.

Signs Of The Apocalypse - Batman Vs. Turkey Edition

Um, wtf?

Signs Of The Apocalypse - Bailout BS Edition

Just a quick note to say I agree with a bailout for our 401k's.

In case you haven't been paying attention, the $700 billion bailout that OMG WE HAVE TO HAVE THIS NAO OR EVERYTHING WILL ASSPLODE well, hasn't been quite that. It was really meant more as a way to restore confidence - to the banks, to consumers, etc. Well, IT DIDN'T WORK. Dow closed around 8800 today, which is up, but nowhere NEAR the 14,000 it was.

Now the auto industry wants some free money and is being told to drop dead, but the Spa Weekend Pimps are getting more money.

Has anyone noticed where all this money is going?

Let me help you out: my very wise friend Don said that the only thing in this country that makes money is... more money. All these bailouts are to banks, insurers, lenders, i.e. PEOPLE WHO MAKE MONEY ON MONEY.

What happened to using money to, oh CREATE JOBS? Invest in something that will give you actual returns? Manufacturing is gone, goodbye, C-YA! But there are TONS of other things in this country that could use this bailout money - companies rebuilding infrastructure, developing new technologies, things that would develop our workforce and create returns for YEARS.

It was all a fucking scam and it really just irritates the shit out of me. Am I the only one???

Geek Roundup

Ever wonder if there was Wi-Fi around? Well, wonder no more.

And it just tickles me that, in spite of all the public mudslinging, Microsoft really loves Apple.

And, via Dennis, tequila: is there ANYTHING it can't do?!?!!

I'm tired and full of hate for the leaf blowers outside my apartment at 7:15am this morning. Need to go fire off an irate letter to management.

Signs Of The Apocalypse - Underwear Edition

This just popped up on my Twitter from ABC News in NYC: Toxic bras at Victoria's Secret? Still a developing story, but apparently after claims of illness and rashes, the bras tested positive for formaldehyde. You know, the stuff they preserve animals in for biology class?? Now, I am not 100% familiar with what VS bras are made of, since I am way too poor to afford them, but I know it is a solvent for some kinds of chemical reactions. Also, it may be used in some sort of dyeing process for the fabric. In any case, this shit is bad so if this is true, um, holy shit.

Also what got me was this last sentence:

This isn't the first time a consumer has sued Victoria's Secret. In June, a Los Angeles woman went after the retailer, claiming a thong malfunction injured her. She is seeking unspecified damages and the case has yet to be resolved.

This has to do with some bling flying off and hitting her in the eye, apparently.

Well, good thing I'm too poor to afford metal-studded underwear too, huh. Good thing I'm too poor to have stock investments, a mortgage, hey this ain't so bad...

Something to be said for Hanes granny panties, yo.

UPDATE: My fellow engineer Linder makes three good points:
1. Did these people wash the bra before they wore it? May not necessarily have helped, but might have reduced any residual crap in the bra.
2. Or is some creepy old guy pouring formaldehyde on underwear? Check if they were made in China...
3. What in the hell is a 52-year-old woman doing trying on a thong????

Good, Quick Read from Slate

Bill spotted this list for Obama from Slate. Many are putting their wishlists out there, and it seems Obama is wasting no time...

The Definition of Human

Thank you Keith. This should be required viewing for the entire country.

Movie: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

Ok, seriously? One of the saddest movies I've ever seen. Excellently done, except, apparently for the factual accuracy. But, leaving that aside, it is a really well-done, moving movie. You don't really think that some rich playboy from France, who left the woman who fathered his children but never married, could be a sympathetic character. But, anyone with locked-in syndrome by definition becomes a sympathetic character. Jean-Do is left unable to move except for his left eye, but his mind is left completely (painfully) intact. He manages to write his book (of the same name) by blinking one letter at a time to an aide. It's a pretty phenomenal feat.

The most inspiring thing to me was that this movie showed what locked-in syndrome was like first-hand and I looked around on the web for other stories about this terrible condition. And, being a nerd, I wanted to know what was being done to help people with this. Lo and behold the story of Erik Ramsey popped up in my Googling. Left locked-in after a car accident when he was 16, Erik is now 24 and has had electrodes implanted in his brain and is learning to make sounds by thinking about speaking. A big team of scientists are working to capture the electrical signals in his brain and convert them to audible sounds. Fascinating science, and for a noble cause to boot - something I will keep an eye on for sure. As "evil" as science has been made out to be (in certain quarters of this country), it is science that will one day allow this man to speak.

More info: Wikipedia entry

Movie: I'm Not There

So we have this awesome thing called NetFlix which just delivers movies to our HOUSE! No fighting in public at Blockbuster anymore! Bill got this so he could watch entire seasons of "The Wire" in one weekend and not go completely bankrupt. We've seen loads of movies, and I thought, hey, might be interesting to drop a line on the blog here when I do watch something good. More as a personal movie journal for me than recommendations for you.

The best thing about this movie? Cate Blanchett as Dylan, or "Jude Quinn" I should say. I honestly did not know who the actor (?) was when that character was first introduced. I found her strangely attractive. Dissect that comment as you see fit. It was a pretty interesting take on Dylan, basically making him a six-sided die that rolled and rolled. The soundtrack was pretty excellent, especially some of the more bluegrass versions of classic Dylan tunes. Dunno if I'd watch it again on purpose, but would definitely pick it over lots of other crap out there.

More info: Wikipedia entry

Why I Am A Sadomasochist (a.k.a., Life As A Mets Fan)

So, I am minding my own f'ing business, trying to get out of the Holyoke Mall after spending too much money on Christmas presents for people who probably won't appreciate them. Bill & I are walking past the Spencers store - every mall has one. I hate that store. Cheap, useless, stupid crap imported from China that will probably give you cancer if you accidentally lick it when you're too drunk/high/etc.

I am wearing my Mets hat. Usually, if anything, this gets me lots of sympathy from the MA crew. I had a bunch of Mets crap on my first car, and when I went in for an oil change once (if you're in Amherst, GO TO REN'S MOBIL) the guys wrote "Let's Go Sox!" on my oil change sticker, assuming we were 'united' in hatred for the Yankees. Which, for me, was basically, "When in Rome, be a Roman" especially when it comes to finding a good mechanic. I kept my mouth shut about dating a Yankees fan (but I think we were both eventually forgiven).

These douchebags, outside of Spencers, start BOO-ing me, "two years in a row!" "BOO!". I was like, "what? WHAT?" I couldn't actually believe what I was hearing, first of all. Second of all, I hate people, I hate malls, I hate shopping, and was trying to get out of there before I vomited. Bill wisely restrained me from going back there and kicking their asses (he was driving).

I mean, COME ON. First off, your beloved f'ing Sox didn't do much better. Lost to the RAYS??? LAME. Second, picking on me for being a Mets fan, if you are a Red Sox fan, is kind of like being a Patriots fan and picking on a Jets fan (which I am also and have been picked on for it as well).

It's like beating up the retarded kid at the playground and calling yourself a tough guy.

Back in May of 2007, when my excellent friend Linda scored 4 tickets to the Colbert Report, we all crashed at my house. Did I mention I'm from Queens? WITHIN SIGHT of Shea Stadium? I was wearing my "PROPERTY OF NY METS" tshirt 'cos, well, the Mets were doing pretty well around that time. And, I'm in Queens for Chrissakes, so it should be ok, right? Anyway, we were walking from the house to the bus stop, and some IROC's drive by screaming, "METS SUCK!" I was so stunned I couldn't even respond. WTF, Queens???

And, let me give shoutouts to my Queens posse - JT, Eka, Steph, etc. - I was at the last game at Shea. You cut my skin, I bleed orange and blue. Now is NOT the time to be hating on the Mets - we lost our season, we lost our HOME - I promise I will post some pics from that last day when I get my s*it together. That was, no kidding, the saddest day of my entire sad, pathetic, ridiculous life.

So, to all you Haters out there, F___ OFF.

Now, I am going to continue getting drunk. Later.

Signs Of The Apocalypse - Subconscious Edition

OK. So here's some background: My thesis advisor is a _______. My mother tends to say not-too-nice things about me on a fairly regular basis. Last night, she was wondering what the hell happened to me because I am a 9th-year graduate student.

Thanks, Mom!

My advisor got divorced in 2006, and all hell broke loose. Part of why I am a 9th-year graduate student, but more details are not relevant at the moment. Especially in public.

So, last night? My nightmare was that my advisor got divorced... and hooked up with my mom. For those of you that know either my mom or my advisor (I don't actually think any of you would know both of them), you will understand immediately why I woke up in a cold sweat and decided to get up and go grocery shopping to try to take my mind off of it.

As far as whatever Freudian analysis you want to do - I'm looking at it as my subconscious combining all the worst things into my life to really make me lose my mind.

Why I Stay Subscribed to Senior-House

Because occasionally someone comes across with a gem like this:

THANK YOU KENT JONES!

Super Obama World!

Well that didn't take long. There goes my night.

SOTA - Charlton Heston Edition

This post was emailed to me by devangel, a question asked by P.Z. Myers - "Where's Charlton Heston when you need him?" and really, it says all that needs to be said.

Reason number 9,746 why I'm not religious anymore.

OH BABY! YES WE CAN!

Obama is gonna WIN!!!

Damn, I'm all drunk and double-posting...

OH BABY! YES WE CAN!

Obama is gonna WIN!!!

Signs of the Apocalypse - Hometown On Fire Edition

What the hell is this noise??

I was chatting with my brother this morning and he told me the bank in the Whitestone Shopping Center blew up. Turns out, it was WAY worse than that. In the course of finding that video, however, I found another one detailing this fire in Flushing from a few days ago.

The Whitestone Shopping Center is about 10 minutes from where my parents live, and Flushing is about 15.

I don't like seeing my hometown on fire. This is extremely suspicious.

My brother thinks it's a little presumptive to say it's arson, but two commercial building fires in the same week (in nearby towns)? Suspicious to me. The Whitestone fire in particular, they say the flames were EXTREMELY hot. Sounds like (1) the fire systems in the stores must have been disabled to allow it to spread so far and (2) the fire had help or was set deliberately in the electrical systems. As for the Flushing fire, they haven't said anything concrete so far, but if the fire was bad enough the buildings had to be completely demolished, well, that's bad. And suspicious.

I wonder what, if anything, the businesses had in common....

WE LIKE THE MOON

So, one of my favorite blogs, Nature's "The Great Beyond", has a great entry honoring India's moon mission. How could they NOT put up SPONGEMONKEYS??? I told them as much, let's see if they listen.

But in all seriousness, The Great Beyond is a great blog (in addition to being a great R.E.M. song). I mean, GREEN CATS?!?!?

C'mon, that's great stuff.

And no, I don't think I can say "great" any more in this great blog post.

Believing The Green Hype

So you think you're green? You think your company is green?

Well, think again.

Interesting article about how "green" you think your company really is... just to increase your granola-chomping tree-hugging corporate hippie cred. With a Twitter piss-take just for good measure.

No Escape

I accidentally watched 30 Rock tonight, and in reward for giving them ratings I get dissed when they call graduate students the "worst people in the world". To quote The Simpsons, we're not bad people "we've just made bad life choices". I mean, seriously. I'm dirt poor, I have a crazy family, I work for an ogre, and all my projects suck and I don't think I will ever graduate.

All I want is to forget about s**t for a while and watch some teevee. And what do I get? Pissed on by Tina Fey.

See if I watch your stupid show again, Sarah.

Oh, and to just pour alcohol on my gaping open TV wound - David Tennant is leaving.

Oh and in another bizarre coincidence - any U.S. "Life on Mars" fans out there? Sam Tyler's mom's name is... wait for it...

ROSE TYLER!

I haven't seen the British version yet - but according to Wikipedia it's not a coincidence. (I looked it up after I heard the reference.) Heh.

Alright, enough outta me. Gotta go to sleep soon.

"We can all expire happily in the name of God." - Part 2

So as I was working in my other job today to attempt to pay my rent, I was catching up on old podcasts and happened upon two that really cracked me up.

First is the Nature podcast from October 30, 2008, the link takes you to the download page. The audio is available, but the transcript isn't up yet - you want to start listening at 27:40. I swear I hadn't heard this when I wrote my post 2 days ago (well I couldn't have, now could I?). The hosts basically rip into Palin and I was laughing my ass off. They talk about how her comments, which obviously weren't written by her, undermine her whole (fake bullshit) stance on helping people with disabilities, and how the Republican party in general hates science. The hosts' signoff lines are great.

Second is an old one that I just heard today, this one from Science Friday on the $3 million "Projector". This is another brilliant demonstration of McCain just shooting himself in the foot - they talk about how planetariums inspire kids to study science and math, and how that's exactly what we need right now in this country and how McCain claims to want that but doesn't really know what the hell he is talking about (i.e. the projector comment).

Again - not that any scientist with a brain would vote Republican anyway, but the longer comments like these stay out, the more damage it does to those two fools who CLEARLY do not understand how the world works.

"We can all expire happily in the name of God."

So in case you've been hiding under a rock, the latest idiotic BS out of Palin's mouth is that fruit fly research is crap. Yup, as if the Republicans couldn't alienate the scientific community any more. After creationism, stem-cell research, and abstinence-only sex ed, now they've been reduced to attacking the lowly fruit fly (and blaming the French for good measure). I'll let you read the links (another good one from Science) to explore the lunacy at your own leisure.

There's been many good articles in the semi-layperson science literature (i.e. Nature, Science, SciAm) and of course the one thing they all have in common is: Obama > McCain on science issues.

What this speaks to, if you look very closely, is the underlying theme of elevating ignorance in the Republican party. This has been bemoaned very recently by Republicans leaving the fold to vote for Obama: George Will, Christopher Buckley just to name two.

Why?

Because stupid people are easy to control.

There's a great great quote from the movie "The Neverending Story" where G'mork says "People with no hopes are easy to control." I think it's been something like that. That's the Rovian strategy: keep the people stupid. Don't let them ask questions - if you ask a question, you might learn something from the answer.

And what is the fundamental tenet of scientific inquiry?

Ask questions.

So scientists and scientific evidence has been Target Number 1 by the Republicans over the past several years - people don't have to ask questions to understand God, guns and gays. They believe what they are told. Target the questioners - they're the troublemakers. And, as one of the most striking anti-intellectual moves EVER, No Child Left Behind has basically ensured that our schools will remain crappy and money will be funneled into the pockets of the private agencies responsible for "fixing" them. Why? Kids are trained (not taught) to take tests, not ask questions, which is what you do when you want to learn something.

So, anyone "shocked" by Palin's idiocy simply hasn't been paying attention to the Republican Party of the past decade. We scientists have known it all along - and we're not surprised in the least.

Signs Of The Apocalypse - Backyard Edition

8-year-old boy dies after shooting himself with an Uzi.

OK. This is just completely ridiculous. Everyone who read this story that I know immediately said, "What about Legos or cartoons?" No, kid has to go shoot an assault weapon at a firing range. (They are legal to buy again, by the way.)

Now, I'll just put this out there that I HATE GUNS. I played paintball once and that was about as close as I ever want to get to firing any kind of weapon. I'm all Doctor Who on this one - no guns for me. Not necessary. Now of course, there is the Second Amendment, and I'm not necessarily opposed to intelligent people owning guns. (Although I think the original intent of the Framers was to prevent a military coup, not promote sport shooting.) And, I actually know a few hunters. Although it's something I would never ever do, hunters actually do quite a bit to keep certain animal populations under control, for the benefit of the environment (yes it's true), other animals, and people.

But, let's assume that it's okay to own and shoot guns, and it's even okay for kids to learn how to use guns responsibly. I'll accept those conditions.

PLEASE tell me, why is it a good idea for an 8-year-old to fire a fully automatic assault weapon? Did the range instructor, or the father, not have any idea about what kind of weapon the kid could handle? Give him a .22, or better yet a freaking BB gun. Give him something smaller, easier to handle first. Apparently it was the first time the kid ever shot an automatic weapon. It doesn't say what his previous shooting experience was, if any.

And, in spite of myself, I do feel bad for this kid's parents, especially his father since he was the one who gave permission for the kid to use the gun. But, I also can't help feeling this was Darwinism at work too. Someone who lets an 8-year-old fire a machine gun is not someone I want continuing to populate the earth. Sorry. Call me a bastard, evil, heartless, cruel, whatever. I'm a scientist - I can handle it.

This was a completely preventable tragedy.

How To Fix Capitalism

So here's an interesting article from TheStreet.com on how to fix capitalism. While I think this is aimed at the average investor making $250K+, there are some good points in there - namely close loopholes and have sensible market regulation. Not sure I buy the whole "raising taxes discourages earnings" in a clear reference to Obama's position. But overall a pretty good read. Check it out.

Question 1

Question 1 on the ballot in Massachusetts this election day proposes to roll back the state income tax. So, no one likes taxes. But some people (like me) like the following:

* free transportation to and from school
* being able to GO to school - UMass gets public funds and will already be getting f**ked because the economy sucks - this will NOT help
* having cops around - yeah usually they are arrogant, asshole townie cops, but I've had a few run-ins with decent ones that actually care about my safety (even if I didn't at the time)
* having a fire department - when s**t's on fire, that's usually not cool
* I actually have a number of people I know who receive state aid for various things and I don't want them left out in the cold

I mean, seriously. I'm willing to give these people, the proponents of 1, the benefit of the doubt that they had NO idea of the s**tstorm the economy would become over the past 6 months. But when the ENTIRE STATE ECONOMY (nay, the ENTIRE COUNTRY!) is in the toilet, cut the budget by 40%???

And, I don't know for 100% sure if this is true, but the "survey" that the proponents cite as evidence of wasteful spending? A bit dodgy: it's what people estimate? I haven't been able to find any examples of serious "waste" that this would eliminate on the yes on 1 website , but more than 2 million people would get WAY LESS than the "average" $3700 - you gotta be making serious money in MA to be paying THAT MUCH in income tax. Also, I like most of what my taxes support. Source for the last two statements here (pdf).

I'm a scientist. Show me the numbers.

And finally a bit of a personal observation: I participate in the local community Freecycle, and I keep an eye out for people soliciting donations outside Stop & Shop (i.e. for the food pantry, the animal shelter, etc.) and I usually find $5 from somewhere to get something to pitch in. I save whatever I can that's useful for the food pantry and the survival center.

And it's not enough. It's never enough. When the need grows and resources dwindle, you have a catastrophe on your hands.

Cut funding for the police - hope you Conservatives have your guns ready to defend your property when crime spikes.
Cut funding for schools - see above - what kind of trouble will kids get into when their parents are working 3 jobs just to make ends meet and they have nowhere else to go?

Like I said - no one likes taxes. But I think of taxes the way I think of porn - the only thing worse than a world with them is a world without them.

I think it's close to over.

Stevens is TOAST and idiots want to kill Obama. If this doesn't spell Democratic landslide, I don't know what else does. That makes me happy :-)

So what else is new in my new quest to blog on a regular basis? Today I became an aunt :-) My best friend's sister had a baby and I am an honorary auntie :-) I'm already planning on where she's going for college.

Work/school was okay. A bunch of stuff wasn't working and it pissed me off. SSDD. I need to graduate and get out of there. I like my friends there and the people I work with. My boss leaves much to be desired though, heh. I think, once I decide what exactly I want to work on, that will motivate me more to leave.

I'm about to make dinner, chicken and kale and rice and salad. Very yummy and healthy. So far knock on wood I have avoided getting sick. Took a few days off last week as a precaution and slept and ate, and I think that worked. Tomorrow I may work from home, or go into the lab and stay home Wednesday. I think it will be a game-time decision.

Speaking of which, it's MONDAY! Titans tonight, I think I had total points at 35. Good luck y'all.

Time to eat, watch Olbermann & football.

PS - No pics in this post, just links. If you're in Facebook and it's not rendering correctly, click "View Original Post".

This page is under construction.

Haha. No really I am going to be paying more attention to this and make it the primary source of updates since Facebook can import RSS feeds and talk to Twitter and OMG the internets are ruling my LIFE. Soon I will only be a virtual entity and express all my actions in 160 characters or less.

When Happiness Is A Three-Dollar Steel Drum CD...

... then you know you are driving the Mercedes-Benz version of life.

Some internet funnies for you:

DL's entry takes the cake, and proves how anal the Russians are.

Courtesy of Matt (of Matt's Kid's Blog fame):

I don't care what this makes me in Inter-Tube land, I laughed my ass off.

I think I found this on Fark, or maybe PhD:
Nano-Ramen
And AngelFury points out that the scientist had to state the noodles "weren't edible".
I love science.

A doozy from Chelsea, who innocently found this for a paltry $795. While looking for toothbrush holders. I'm tellin' ya, Target has everything.

No one told me our baby Bowie is a free-thinker. Courtesy of WWP.

Very-soon-to-be-Mommy Meghna sent this along, which made me cry:

More info: Where The Hell Is Matt?

WWP: Broken Statues... so may metaphors I just won't get to with this...

In other news, I'm pissed at the management of the Mets for punting Willie. Omar, your days are numbered, man.

Working, tooling, surviving in the age of $4 gas. Write and let me know how you are holding up.

Graduate Student Piss-Taking

Via JLM:

Grad Student Notebooks, via The Onion.

Personally, I prefer puke-green engineering paper.

And from the esteemed Dr. Jones, The Super-Single Graduate Student. I assure you, this female is NOT in the sciences or engineering.

Grad school sucks. Pour on the piss.

The Racist AND Sexist Vote in West Virginia

So let me preface this by saying at the outset of the Democratic primary race I supported Senator John Edwards because of all the candidates, I aligned with his views the most, plus the fact that he left the Senate to put his money where his mouth is and actually work to try to end poverty in this country. After he suspended his campaign, I thought long and hard about who to vote for (my state was an original Super Tuesday primary state), and decided that Senator Barack Obama was the one with the positions closest to Edwards that I agreed with. I also decided that should Senator Hillary Clinton wind up the winner, as a Democrat I would support her in November.

Basically, I don't care if you're a Martian with pink and yellow stripes - if I agree with your positions, I'll vote for you. And in the end, I'll vote for whoever has a D next to their name, since as a female scientist I am by definition persona non grata in the Republican party.

So, when Clinton wins West Virginia by 60-40, or even 70-30 as they were predicting last night on MSNBC, I think, fine whatever, she has name recognition, it's the south, etc. Even when the exit polls say that 20% of voters said race was a factor in their decision (second highest only to... Mississippi?!?), I think, wow these people are dumb enough to admit that to exit pollers.

But when I hear Keith Olbermann report that JOHN EDWARDS got something like 7% of the vote?? That says to me 1 of 2 things:

(1) Having a "Ph.D. in life" (as I heard so often last night) apparently doesn't make you smart enough to realize who is actually still actively campaigning for the nomination and who suspended their campaign three months ago,

OR

(2) You have 7% of your Democratic electorate SO racist AND SEXIST that they can't BEAR to vote for anything other than a white male and thus throw their vote away on protest. Let me add that had this been a trend (i.e. Edwards getting more than 1% of the vote) in previous primaries, it probably wouldn't be bothering me so much - but 7%????

The West Virginia Democratic Party - Welcome to 1908.

Inbox Purging

Since I don't actually feel like telling any of you what's really going on, here's some crap I found cleaning out my inbox.

1. Bush & Blair play "The Weakest Link" (from JLM):

Mmmm, Anne Robinson.

2. From JR, A Charlie Brown Heavy Metal Christmas (and yes, piss off, I know it's May):


3. Finally, devangel postures this is "fun at Roast?"

India baby toss

(Sorry, don't know how to embed CNN vids.)

Signs Of The Apocalypse 03/10/08: Your Tax Dollars At Work Edition

Ohhh, it's been a while since I did one of these, but today's a doozy.

First up: If you told me Eliot Spitzer was in trouble, I'd say he got caught with Jim Cramer snorting Pixie Stix off Neil Patrick Harris's ass and got such a sugar high the fire department had to pull him out of the ventilation.

Alas, it was teh secks. And man, does he look sorry... (Although not as sorry as the hooker did when she saw that face. Man.)

I really want to say this was a Set Up, or Eliot was working on a sting, or something. But seriously, check out screencaps of the Emperor's Club website (Newsday). I mean, who wrote that crap? The grammar alone was enough to irritate me: "our models are perfect preference" and, my personal favorite, "Each of our companions is a product of an exceptionally fine background and a success in her right." But, like Playboy, no one buys it for the articles.

In all seriousness, New York has enough hypocrites. As much as I like you Eliot, get out. As an aside - I saw the Lieutenant Governor, David Patterson, speak at my brother's graduation and he'd be more than capable of filling in.

In other news, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and the TSA is still full of Grade-A idiots (Fark). This is just the latest in a long line of TSA lunacy. You know all those TSA agents started out just like this.

I'm sure they still communicate with tin cans on the end of strings too.

There's a reason I don't fly anymore.

Ghostbusters '08

I just saw this for the first time tonight on Countdown. Maybe it's because I've been hosed and crazy, and I am thus insanely tired and exhausted, that I found this so hilarious I cried laughing.

Mho is Ohm Backwards

It's been a while since I last wrote. A lot has happened. I lost my job and got it back. Said goodbye and then hello again. Spent 12 hours a day with The Origin.

Realized that being unemployed, well, sucks. Even you're working.

In other news, the Man and I celebrated our 5th anniversary together. I love you!

Also trying to catch up on my Torchwood viewing...

Oh, and I am completely addicted to Facebook. Damn. But, it has been good to be back in touch with so many of you.

Every time I remember I have a blog, there's so much I want to write about, but then when I sit down to write, at 12:30am on a Saturday night, nothing comes to mind. Maybe I need to "just be spontaneous" - write whatever, whenever comes to mind. No matter how nonsensical it is.

Oh, and did I mention I'm in yet another wedding?

See what I mean?

Being in touch with so many people from the past on Facebook has been great, but also sad in some ways. I find myself awake at night, thinking back over the last 15 years or so, particularly college. There were a lot of things that happened to me, a lot of things I did, that didn't make sense to me at the time. Blame it on celiac messing with my head, blame it on stress, family, what have you - the whole "things happen for a reason" argument sometimes falls apart. Unless, you look at it from the other side, from 15 years away. You look at it from somewhere you never could see at the time, no matter how open minded you think you are. It takes time to gain that kind of vantage point - it takes time to learn to look at things backwards.

HOLY CRAP

THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!
THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!
THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!

OK, well not really.

THE GIANTS WIN THE SUPERBOWL!

Disclaimer: I am a Jets fan, but I live in Massachusetts, so I root for whatever New York team is in the playoffs.

Well, except if you're the Knicks because Isiah Thomas is an idiot.

This sort of makes all the unacceptable crap that has happened over the last two weeks, well, somewhat acceptable.

And, it puts my personal safety at risk, but oh well.

I'm leaving the Giants mylar balloon in my window. Piss off!!!!

Love,
Ace

It's Been Awhile...

Yeah, it's been too long.

Let's see what's been going on...

Thanksgiving was quiet, friends, family, and the cat. After that, work and more work. Some things work, some do not. Considerations of what to do - finish, or not. Work, or not. Job... or not. Christmas was work, helping parents, cooking, sleeping, and friends. More quiet, not bad. Since then, uncertainty. Planning. Preparation.

I am looking at unemployment at the end of the month, unless something magical falls out of the sky. A long hard road, six months, to finish what I started so many years ago. What's that expression... no pain no gain? Alas, but could we all be Paris Hilton - civilization would end in an hour.

I'm being vague, and sinister, partly because I'm tired and drunk. And watching The Sopranos. And wondering who's watching this.

It's been cold and snowy up here in the foothills. I've been easily distracted. I've been a pincushion - you know what, acupuncture is freaky. Give it a shot - it might work for you. One day, I swear I was more relaxed than I'd been in years, and fell asleep right there on the table. It's been helping with my stress level, and the depression. Who knew?

Right, The Sopranos. We're on Season Six Part 1 finally. Not much longer to go until I can give an honest opinion on that classic ending. In other news, Keith Olbermann's girlfriend is younger than me. It was weird reading the new book, I remember all the first special comments and I remember thinking, THANK GOD AND THANK YOU, KEITH. It reminded me of the end of Series Three of Doctor Who, and "You Are Not Alone." And yes, I am aware that I am now babbling.

And Tuch is coming tomorrow!! YAY!!!

Seriously, for all you concerned out there - I am OK, just busy as hell. Working N hours a day (well, except right now), worrying about the future, hoping I have the guts to stick this out. Your emails do not go unread, but it may be a bit before I respond.

More later.