Random Thoughts

It's always good to have a back-up plan and I may have found mine if Science 2.0 doesn't get bought by some rich media conglomerate in Germany; people gullible enough to believe their organic food is structurally or nutritionally superior and are willing to overpay for it are also likely to overpay for pet food. Don't think organic food for pets matters? I got no dog in that fight.  As P.T. Barnum said, “I don't care what you say about me, just spell my name right.” HA! You thought I was going to use “There's a sucker born every minute” or at least “Nobody ever lost a dollar by…

Some science faculty are not happy because they believe that these days in science the trainees do not work the long hours like they used to in the "old days".Is that true? If it is true, is that a bad thing?  Could it be a good thing? Bottom line--How many hours should trainees (grad students and post-docs) be putting in per week in the lab?  Take my lab's poll and see the interesting results here.

Good news for flapjack junkies.  For 15 hours on February 28th,  you can get some free pancakes at IHOP and raise some money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. It's National Pancake Day! Pancake Day has been around forever, of course, IHOP did not invent that.  If you don't know, Lent in Catholicism is when you abstain from something for six days per week, starting on Ash Wednesday 40 days before Easter.(1)  Sundays during Lent are exempt, that's why it is only 40 days instead of 46. In modern times people give up something they really like but in the past, it…

That is what Hamza Kashgari, a 23 years old reporter and poet from Saudi Arabia, is realizing the hard way. He used twitter to write a poetic "dialogue" with prophet Muhammad, and this was enough to get him condemned to death by the salafi sheikhs. Hamza tried to escape, but was arrested in Malaysia. He now risks beheading for his words. I am both disgusted by the fact that still, in the 21st century, somebody can decide on your life or death because of what you say and write, and relieved that I was born in a place where these things do not happen. And I am brought to smile at my own…

It's been a rough two weeks--tears galore, bright spots, strep, then mono, and days passed in bed, sleeping hour after hour, as if in a week, I managed to make up for 22 years of child-created sleep debt. I'm pretty sure there's still some sleep debt remaining, as I remain wiped out, with a shower and getting dressed this afternoon taking all the energy I had and depleting it. Two weeks ago we had to put Frankie, our giant orange tabby, to sleep. Although he had been ill since before Christmas, we weren't expecting to make that decision as suddenly as we had to, and there's a part of me that…

I watched a bit of the superbowl last night. Not for the football game, you'll have to understand. I struggle with rugby at the best of times. American football to me just looks like an all out war, only the soldiers for some reason are not allowed weapons, or to punch or kick, so their only way of attacking seems to be to slam into one another head first. Oh, and like rugby there's a perversely shaped ball being chucked around the place. So, yeah; I was in it for everything other than the game itself. I watched it as an intrigued outsider. And, I really enjoyed it! I gather that it's almost…

The Wall Street Journal posted a letter from 16 scientists who are critical of climate science in general and anthropogenic warming in specific. There were numerous flaws in the letter (see Robert Cooper's Denialiasm 101 piece An Excellent Study On Denialism for the takedown) but it's an opinion piece so I took it for what it is worth; the New York Times lets Paul Krugman write on economics and that's also completely made up so opinion pieces are common and always have been. As expected, the progressive witch hunt elsewhere began. This hypocrisy happens a lot and not just in journalism; an…

The decisions of life and death are not easy to make, whether it's about a loved one on life support or the need to spare a beloved pet suffering. As one family struggles with the harsh words of an insensitive doctor, our family is dealing with the economic realities of chronic health issues in a pet. In no way are the two situations comparable, and yet, the fact is that many people spend more time thinking about their pets than about the disabled and how society treats and cares for them. I wonder...the doctor who told Amelia's parents he wouldn't recommend a transplant for their…

Tom Chivers, Telegraph's assistant comment editor, may think he is being all edgy and cool by claiming Republicans - 50% of America - are anti-science. In reality, he is like an Emo-haircut wearing kid dressed in black insisting he is an outsider while he dresses like all the rest of them. So Rick Santorum doesn't buy Evolution. So what? What Chivers actually knows about adaptive radiation can dance with an angel on the head of a pin.  He doesn't "accept" science, like progressives constantly try to frame it in smug tones, he simply believes it.  And he should. Evolution is the…

Is the entire country of Mexico anti-science? Of course not, they are just willing to let really gullible people believe in silliness if it will generate a few dollars in revenue. We could learn that lesson in America, I think, as long as the anti-science crackpottery isn't harmful, like the left-wing fetish with giving their children crippling diseases in order to stick it to drug companies that make vaccines.  Instead, because it is campaign season, there is a whole bunch of people in the media throwing "anti-science" around about the opposition.   Last week alone - and I was not…