You know, that blog...

Double Covered, Double Smothered

2008-07-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

Now, y'all should know that I love me some Waffle House, so this piece from the Gwinnett Daily Post of Lawrenceville, GA, warms my heart and sums up true Americana for me:

Scattered, smothered, covered and hitched: Couple marries at Waffle House

The article (and accompanying photo slide show!) brought a tear to my eye...though that might just be the phantom smell of the onions in the triple smothered hashbrowns I'm imagining/craving right now.

My favorite part of the article was the groom, George "Bubba" Mathis, thoughtfully explaining the reason for the Waffle House wedding:

"I don't know, it's something different," Mathis said while fixing his tie prior to the ceremony.

Indeed. What truly captured our nation's modern culture and made me proud to be an American, though, was the reporter's description of the wedding's after-party:

The result was what a NASCAR tailgate might be like if Hank Jr. himself stopped by with all his rowdy friends: Loud and proud - country music, storytelling and plenty of Dale Earnhardt paraphernalia - and not an iota of pretentiousness.

Git 'er dun!

Yum!

2008-07-21T23:20:00.000-07:00

Now this is pop science I like:

Edible Antifreeze Saves Ice Cream: Food Chemists Use 'Edible Antifreeze' to Make Smoother Ice Cream

Science Daily (July 1, 2008) — Chemists adding a tasteless edible protein called gelatin hydrolysate to ice cream find that it keeps ice crystals small, resulting in a smoother, more pleasing product. The protein inhibits the growth of ice crystals, keeping them small and preserving the creamy texture of ice cream.

My only hope is that the 'tasteless edible protein' doesn't have any nasty side effects. The last thing we need is another Olestra on our hands! :) The rest of the article can be found here.

Sunday Playlists - Science Songs

2008-07-19T23:47:00.000-07:00

Now that I've recovered from my birthday, back to blogging!

This week's Sunday Playlist is a fairly random smattering of my favorite songs with science/chemistry in the title. Please enjoy, fellow nerds. :)

1. The Scientist - Coldplay

2. The Scientist - Johnette Napolitano & Danny Lohner (Wicker Park Soundtrack)

[I know it's the same as song #1, but this version is equally amazing and even more haunting...it deserves its own spot on this list.]

3. Chemistry - Semisonic

4. The Chemicals Between Us - Bush

5. Chemicals - The Notwist

6. Chemistry of a Car Crash - Shiny Toy Guns

7. Rest My Chemistry - Interpol

8. Chemical Calisthenics - Blackalicious

9. She Blinded Me with Science - Thomas Dolby

25th Birthday

2008-07-18T02:31:00.001-07:00

In honor of today, my 25th birthday, a list of 25 science/pop culture items (in relative chronological order) that have helped make me the dude I am today:

1. Lego...a perfect blend of science and pop culture! Is there a better way to hone spatial logic skills and build sweet fortresses at the same time? I think not.

2. Number Munchers and Oregon Trail - two of the best computer games of my childhood. That little frog and the stagecoach are iconic images for any American kid in my generation. Learning was so fun back then!

3. Kinder Surprise Eggs. These chocolate eggs were my favorite treat when I lived in Germany as a little kid (and I still love them!). There's a yellow plastic egg inside which contains an intricate and fun toy. (Sadly, they're mostly banned from being sold in the US because of the small toy parts.) I get to enjoy them still, though, because there's an awesome German post-doc in our lab who brings them over from Germany. Mmm...

4. Game shows. I'm a sucker for most any kind of game show. The favorites of my childhood included The Price is Right, Press Your Luck, Double Dare, and Legends of the Hidden Temple. I think I liked the competitive aspects combined with all the contestants being so enthusiastic and pumped up.

5. The "Do Eggs Float in Salt Water?" science experiment I did for at least two science fairs when I was younger. Funnily enough, I hated science fairs as a kid and repeated this project each time to make things as painless as possible.

6. Survivor. I will admit to having seen every episode of Survivor...which is embarrassing since there have been 16 seasons. The show ups my love for game shows (see #4) by combining the standard competitive elements with survival elements, stunning remote locations, and intriguing interpersonal dynamics. I'm a big fan of strategic planning and game theory, of which the show is chock full. It's one of the few shows I'll watch until it gets canceled.

7. Coldplay and Travis. Two bands from the British Isles whose monumental albums from the year 2000 (Parachutes and The Man Who, respectively) single-handedly got me through my late teenage years.

8. Sheila Lightbourne (I couldn't find a picture of her). My high school chemistry teacher was THE reason I first started to love science (a huge feat, especially considering #5 on this list). She brought a passion and enthusiasm to the classroom that made me truly want to dig in and learn the material. She's now helping raise another generation of bring students as principal at a Florida elementary school.

9. The NY Times Crossword (especially the Sunday one). My mom got me started on crossword puzzles at an early age and I haven't been able to stop. Will Shortz brought a new spark to the daily feature when he took over as NYT crossword editor in 1993, turning the puzzle into one that tests not only general knowledge and vocabulary, but pop culture, sports, and everything else under the sun. When other kids wanted to be astronauts or firemen when they grew up, I wanted to be Will Shortz.

10. The works of Kurt Vonnegut. His novels give you the middle finger while making you rethink most of what you thought to be true. His characters' dialogue is the most real of anything I've ever read, hands down. Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse-Five might be my favorite books of all time.

11. HomestarRunner.com. This cartoon website was an internet sensation when I was in college, and I still hold a spot in my heart for the title character. For me, he's easily the most endearing fictional character of the past decade (well, maybe tied with Wall-E). Other cartoons of interest on the site are the Strongbad Emails and Teen Girl Squad!

12. My college organic chemistry textbook: Organic Chemistry: Structure & Function, 4th Edition (Vollhardt & Schore). You laugh, but this book opened up such a world for me. It explained tough concepts in a way that just made sense, and I still go back to it from time to time to brush up on the basics.

13. Facebook. You would all call me a dirty liar if Facebook didn't make this list. Facebook, a social networking site approximately equivalent to crack cocaine, has been the go-to way to keep up/in touch with friends, acquaintances, and enemies since it debuted in 2004. There's a reason it's one of the 10 most accessed sites in all of cyberspace.

14. David Lemal, my undergradate thesis advisor in college. His phenomenal course in introductory organic chemistry that I took during my sophomore year made me drop everything to major in chemistry. If I am one day lucky enough to be a professor, I hope to model my style after his enthusiastic and thoughtful manner of teaching.

15. That class in differential equations I took in college. It was easily the driving force away from a math major and towards a major in chemistry (along with #14).

16. Nalgene water bottles. I absolutely love water and almost always have my Nalgene with me. These bottles are near indestructible, as seen here. I don't think I knew anyone in college who didn't have one.

17. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. An absolute must read for any- and everyone...the title speaks for itself. Even though it was first published in 1936, the principles Carnegie talks about are still quite applicable today. It remains one of the best-selling self-improvement books even to this day. Even if you're amazingly charismatic, Carnegie's sites Abraham Lincoln, train robbers, and railroad executives, making the book as much a history lesson as it is a lesson on social graces.

18. Cycloaddition reactions. Even though I don't work on cycloaddition chemistry, it's always intrigued me. I think it's cool that you can take different individual components and bring them together to make much more complex ring systems. Dorky, I know...but neat!

19. Pinback and Broken Social Scene. My evolution in music tastes brought me from #7 on this list to Pinback and Broken Social Scene, two alt bands that have become the soundtrack of my early-to-mid 20's. Their lyrics are precise, their sounds amazing...I can't recommend them highly enough.

20. Organic Chemistry (Clayden, Greeves, Warren, and Wothers), my new favorite organic chemistry textbook. It's clear, accessible, and a step up from the one I used in college (#12).

21. Suze Orman. Suze is a brilliant financial analyst with a show on CNBC (Saturdays at 9PM and midnight, EST). Her motto is "People first, then money, then things." and she's not joking. Her key belief is that one's emotions play very much into that person's financial life and that we should acknowledge that...pretty simple stuff that a lot of us need to hear. She pulls no punches, telling people to get their financial lives in order for their own well-being...it worked for me!

22. AlterNet.org, the uber-liberal newsblog I check on a daily (or hourly?) basis. It feeds my conspiracy theories and provides me with liberal talking points on myriad issues.

23. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Even though I read the standard organic chemistry-related journals, this is always the one I go to if I'm less motivated than normal...mostly because of the snazzy, colorful abstracts and punny (often groan-inducing) titles. [Read: Something shiny! Oooh...]

24. Ryan Gosling, in Half Nelson and Lars and the Real Girl. Gosling explores loneliness and the struggle for self through two extremely different characters, and does so with expert fluidity. He's easily one of the best actors of my generation.

25. PhD Comics, Jorge Cham's all too real depiction of the lives of grad students. He was a Stanford grad student himself, so it's cool to see iconic Stanford imagery in the background of some of his comic strips.

Website Roundup

2008-07-17T17:12:00.001-07:00

I stumbled upon a few crazy websites that I couldn't help but pass along:

Dinosaur Adventure Land
http://www.dinosauradventureland.com/index.php

This is the website for a theme park located about an hour away from where I went to high school in the panhandle of Florida. It's a creationist theme park that seems to base its theme on the idea that humans and dinosaurs were alive at the same time. The website's intro:

Dinosaur Adventure Land is a theme park and science museum that gives God the glory for His creation. It has rides and fun-filled events and activities, each involving a physical challenge, a science lesson, and a biblical truth.

Yay! The best part of the website is the Our Fossils section, where you can peruse and order replicas of your favorite ancient fossils! Included are the Pterosaur Skull Replica, the Megaraptor Claw, and this artifiact from the same era of time:

The item's description starts, "Finally, a way to display your Christian beliefs." Finally, indeed! Displaying one's overt Christian faith was near impossible before this $99.00 replica was made available. I just wish they would include a baby pterodactyl stuffed animal or something for that price.

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Wholesome Wear
"Modest Clothing for Wearever [sic]"
http://www.wholesomewear.com/

Wholesome Wear is a company that specializes in (overly) modest swimwear. Their product is an important one, they assert, because "the need for modesty in swimwear is greatest and the supply is almost non-existent." Indeed.

The company especially focuses on swimwear that "highlights the face rather than the body," which is ironic, since the people who'll buy this swimwear are the ones whose faces you'd probably rather not highlight in the first place.

Regardless, here are a few of their hot fashions, taken from their website:

Music Video Time - The Fashion

2008-07-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

I feel like I haven't posted anything overtly pop culture in the past few days, so here's one of my favorite new music videos: Like Knives by Danish alt band, The Fashion. The concept for the video is simple, but provides for a really neat effect. Enjoy! (I love the baby 1:47 into the clip.)

ETA: If the video isn't working, you can see it here:

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=8507326

THE FASHION - Like Knives

Parents 1, Scientists 0

2008-07-16T18:16:00.000-07:00

An article in the newest issue of Nature shows that a gaggle of ill-informed, whiny parents can trump any number of scientists who know what they're talking about: Autism study panned by critics (Nature 453, 259 (2008)).

Here's the gist of the article: Many people believe that trace mercury from vaccinations is the reason for their children's autism. The problem with that? It's a theory that's been scientifically discredited. Nonetheless, many parents still believe it to be true, trusting their own beliefs over numerous scientific studies to the contrary. The result of this paradigm: a new clinical study has received preliminary permission to proceed, despite the fact that many experts in the field believe "the trial will put children at risk for what is certain to be no medical gain." Parents 1, Scientists 0.

The proposed study intends to introduce chelating agents into affected children as a way to scavenge and remove trace mercury from the body. The method is already used to treat people with substantial heavy metal poisoning, but has noted side effects in that the chelating agents can also remove essential metals (calcium, zinc, etc.) from the body. This treatment has been documented to lead to cardiac arrest in humans, cognitive problems in rats, and other serious ill-effects.

Is this clinical trial, then, justifiable when scientific evidence shows that mercury in vaccines isn't responsible for childhood autism and that chelating agent therapy has potentially serious negative side effects? The trial is currently seeking ethics approval...let's hope that the committee sides with informed scientists opposing the study and not parents trusting their intuition and nothing else.

Wow. Just wow.

2008-07-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

I was convinced this was something from The Onion, until I remembered that I was reading CNN.com (which is at least somewhat more respectable):

9/11 Billboard Draws Flak from Florida Democrats, GOP

Some guy in Florida has been putting up the billboard below as a way to encourage people to vote for a Republican in November. Yes, that's the enflamed World Trade Center in the background:

The best part is the guy's reasoning for hoping for more Republican leadership in Washington, as quoted in the article:

"I believe 9/11 could have been prevented if we'd had a Republican president at the time," Meehan said Wednesday on CNN's "American Morning."

I mean, I guess I see the guy's point...if Bush had been president on 9/11 instead of Clinton, we could have avoided the attack all together. Oh wait...

Article Roundup

2008-07-15T20:56:00.000-07:00

A pair of articles I found interesting today - one interesting and one just plain bizarre. First, the interesting:

A New Frontier for Title IX: Science (New York Times) John Tierney explores a new arena for potential Title IX implementation: the sciences. It seems that NASA, the National Science Foundation, and other organizations are inquiring into scientific labs that receive governmental research funding to determine whether there's a gender disparity (caused by sexism/gender bias) to be remedied by Title IX by gender quotas or some other action.

Tierney does a decent job throughout the article exploring the various potential reasons for gender disparity in the sciences (and why they may or may not be bias-based), though he by no means advocates one or any of the theories outlined. The part where he gets a bit iffy for my tastes, though, is in his concluding paragraph:

Whether or not quotas are ever imposed, some of the most productive science and engineering departments in America are busy filling out new federal paperwork. The agencies that have been cutting financing for Fermilab and the Spirit rover on Mars are paying for investigations of a problem that may not even exist. How is this good for scientists of either sex?

Sure, we should focus our efforts on making new and important scientific discoveries, but to imply that the fulfillment of those endeavors justifies turning a blind eye to gender imbalance in the sciences is crazy. You can't take the humanity out of the sciences, lest we all start viewing each other as soulless robots working on an assembly line towards bigger and better things.

One of Tierney's major theses seems to be: maybe women are as good at science as men and just choose to do something else more often than men do? While that could be true, I'd rather give the issue a fair shake and look into things a bit more closely. I think it's worth the time and effort (and yes, paperwork). Regardless, it'll be interesting to see results of the inquiries. Stay tuned, faithful(?) reader.

Addendum: I just realized that, shockingly, there's no mention anywhere in Tierney's article about those ever-infamous comments by former Harvard president, Lawrence Summers, about the innate abilities of men and women in the sciences. Bold.

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And now, the plain bizzare:

Last tenant 'found decapitated' (BBC NEWS, tipped off by reddit.com)

A sad headline, but the article starts out on a fairly straightforward note:

"A man who was found with his head severed by a chainsaw was fighting to stay in a block of 70 flats in Hampshire cleared for redevelopment."

Simple enough. What made me really scratch my head, though, was the following conclusion from the coroner's office:

"As far as we know nobody else was involved. There's nothing suspicious about the death."

Um, what? I asked around to see if anyone could come up with a plausible way to cleanly behead oneself by chainsaw, and the handful of people I asked all seemed to think of the same solution: fix the chainsaw into a horizontal position and then fall onto it. Touche. Though you have to imagine that the circumstances surrounding the poor gentleman's death might have merited further inquiry?

An Historic Event

2008-07-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd live to see the day of such an historic event. I can't tell you how much I've been enraptured by the international news that's dominated every major news outlet, how much the news has deeply touched me and made me believe that there's a chance for our little ol' world after all: Brad and Angelina had their twins! And in France even!

O
M
G
!!

Y'all, I'm so excited. This could not have come at a better time. What with all the hate and fighting going on, blah blah blah, this could really be that key defining moment that brings us together, around the world, for peace and love. Think about how everyone in the Middle East, in the Sudan, in all those other regions with silly little misunderstandings will be able to drop their weapons and break bread over such a monumental and joyous occasion.

Honestly, just think of how much Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline have done for the world already? Make those kids UN ambassadors, seriously. It kind of makes me feel like I need to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity or something. I'll tell you one thing, though: I'm sure glad I didn't go into international relations, now that our world's sorted itself out and all. Sciences or bust, man.

I am, so I eat?

2008-07-13T22:59:00.000-07:00

In honor of my fast-approaching quarter-life birthday (and subsequent crisis), I thought this Science Daily article from a few weeks ago was too appropriate:

Morbid Thoughts Whet The Appetite

ScienceDaily (June 27, 2008) — Can watching TV news or crime shows trigger overeating? According to new research in the Journal of Consumer Research, people who are thinking about their own deaths want to consume more.

So let me get this straight: seeing my birthday cake will cause me to think more about my own mortality, which will make me more likely to eat all of said cake, which will make me question my mortality again, which will make me wonder where the ice cream ever ended up?

Damn it. You can find the rest of the article here while I go dig out that quart of Ben & Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough...

Sunday Playlists - Super Guilty Late Night Mix

2008-07-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

Here's the plan: each Sunday, a playlist of songs to inspire diversion from that Death Cab album your labmate/co-worker won't stop playing. (Was Narrow Stairs even that good anyway?)

This week's playlist is for those late nights when you're stuck in lab, no one else is around, and you decide it's safe enough to blast those pump-up songs you secretly love...you know, those guilty favorites. Fair warning: You should consider turning off your last.fm scrobbling for some of the later songs.

* Extra fun for the astute scientist/listener: Which two songs' beats sound almost identical? It's like they're not even trying anymore.

1. Elevator - Flo Rida (feat. Timbaland)

2. Don't Stop the Music - Rihanna

3. Dangerous - Kardinal Offishall (feat. Akon)

4. The Way I Are - Timbaland (feat. Keri Hilson & D.O.E.)

5. Gimme More - Britney Spears

6. Touch My Body - Mariah Carey

7. Leavin' - Jesse McCartney

8. Say it Right - Nelly Furtado

9. Lovestoned / I Think She Knows - Justin Timberlake

Boyz 2 pipettemen

2008-07-13T00:15:00.000-07:00

An article in Nature Magazine (Nature 454, 149 (2008)) - whose oh-so-clever(?) title is above - recently piqued my curiosity. In an effort to sell more pipettes and automated machinery to the MTV/TRL generation, biotech company Eppendorf decided to hire a creative consulting firm to spice up their image.

The result? Well, I'll let you read the first bit of the Nature article to find out...I could never do it equal justice:

In a dreary, lonely lab a young female postdoc puts down her pipette to massage her aching latexed hands. Sounds like the perfect set-up for a hot new music video. Well at least it does to Tyler Kay, creative director at Compare Networks Production Group (CNPG) in San Francisco, California. A recent release from CNPG features a group of five winsome young men singing the praises of a new automated pipetting system called epMotion, made by international biotech company Eppendorf.

As the lab heroine is whisked to a beach under the Golden Gate Bridge, the band members gyrate around her and her glasses are shed along with her inhibitions, just before the chorus. “Girl you need epMotion” (whispered: “yeah girl it’s time to automate.”)

I already bought tickets to their concert tour with Hannah Montana. And for all you fanboys/girls out there, here's the band's publicity image (also included in the Nature article) which you can now plaster to your high school bedroom ceiling. I think the photo's caption speaks for itself:

Later in the same article, an interview with Tyler Kay (the creative director behind all this) is quite revealing:

Kay, a self-taught film-maker with Biocompare since near its inception, wrote the song with a list of product features and intense background research. “I had to listen to a whole lot of boy-band songs,” says Kay. “I started to gain an appreciation for it. Those guys really know how to crank out the hits on a few chords."

Indeed.

Apparently, the YouTube clip has gotten quite a bit of hits...let's see if we can push it over the edge: