Random Thoughts

The Buzzword Blog #5 : Subversion Subversion: The word 'subverted' has itself been subverted by agendists and has become just another buzzword. It now tends to mean:1 -  'them' telling people things that 'we' don't want them to know.2 - 'them' using technology in a way that 'we' don't want them to. Some examples: When you try to go against someone who was elected democratically with false accusations, this is a subversive act. This wonderfully ambiguous wording was reported to have been spoke by Silvio Berlusconi. A very insightful article on subversion of the people's rights by…

 There are certainly more mysteries than knowledge and, perhaps, more ways of finding out than science. I like science because when you think of something you can check it by experiment; "yes" or "no", Nature says, and you go on from there progressively. Other wisdom has no equally certain way of separating truth from falsehood. So I have taken the easy course with easy methods.     - Richard Feynman, Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From The Beaten Track, p. 356  

 An essential prerequisite [for genius] is a particular skepticism. [The scientist] must have refused to acquiesce in certain previously accepted conclusions. This argues a kind of an imperviousness to the opinions of others, notably of authorities. - Ernest Jones, "The Nature of Genius" Scientific Monthly February 1957

Not quite as scientifically challenging as Garth's Geek Off, but still a workout for the neurons. John Tierney's "Tierney Lab" column in the NY Times features DeCAPitated puzzles, like the one below: For the first puzzle, identify the edited movies. Hint: The first one is “Stigmata.” Too easy? There's more where that came from, including answers if you're really stumped.

This can't all be good stuff: a paper I'm reading noted that "Just a few keywords (linkage, mapping, SNP, genomewide association) identified 6866 articles in the PubMed database published in 2007 alone." (Before you get too depressed, note that this means the total of each single keyword search, not a search for all 4 terms at once.) Just for kicks, I tried my field. On Pubmed, there are 3664 papers published in 2009 alone that come up when I search for the term "cell cycle" (using quotes so that the search is for both words used together). If I limit my search to "cell cycle" and yeast,…

Fraud Takes A Lot Of Brass There have been many daring and dastardly deeds of deception throughout history.  The daring deeds of the French Maquis and Britain's SOE in the second world war are legendary. The faker and fraudster, on the other hand, just need a lot of brass1 to make a lot of brass2. Our generall caused to be set up a plate of brasse, fast nailed to a great and firme poste; whereon is engraven her Grace’s name and the day and years of our arrival there ... ... Caldeira ambled down a road. At an intersection in two dirt roads about a mile and a half inland from Drakes Bay…

If you have not yet heard, David Carradine, aged 72, was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room on Wednesday, probably of a suicide (or perhaps something more INXS-related?).    I was in my den drinking a coffee, reading science and eating some Mini-Wheats when Mrs. Hank came in: "Did you hear your buddy David Carradine died?" I was shocked.   "No!  I didn't even know he was sick." "They found him in a Bangkok hotel, so I don't think he was sick." "Really?  That's a pretty good way to go.  And even if it isn't, I'm sure he's somewhere lifting someone else's good…

An educational culture where it's an embarrassment to not know the names of five plays by Shakespeare but OK not to know the difference between a gene and a chromosome isn't functional.     - Larry Summers, quoted in The New York Times April 27, 2004

Random Noise #14 : Colorless Green Syntax Formal grammar is heavily based in syntax.  It is possible to generate sentences by using word lists and rules in a computer program, but the output rarely makes much sense and can be exceedingly funny. By ignoring syntax whilst chaining words together based on the frequency with which words follow one another, one can build an interesting 'sentence'.  The most famous such chain is Noam Chomsky's 'colorless green ideas sleep furiously'.  It obeys the rules of syntax but it makes no sense. The reason it makes no sense is that it has…

The Real Ira Hayes The world's largest statue is a bronze sculpture 110 feet high.It depicts six Marines.  Each figure is about 32 feet tall.They are hoisting an American flag on the island of Iwo Jima. I would like to introduce my readers to an artist who has painted a wonderful version of this iconic image.  He has also written an article about the real Ira Hayes to go with his painting. Unfortunately, I have been unable to contact him through his website for further information. "Old Glory Goes Up On Iwo Jima, Mount Suribachi, Feb. 23, 1945.Ira Hayes is a Pima Indian From Gila…