Random
catdynamics | December 11, 2011Yes, 'tis the season, and jólasveinarnir are headed for town:
Stekkjastaur - Lock up your sheep!
Icelandic media cautioned children last week that the jólasveinar were having a hard time this year, and to expect more socks and and underwear, and less overpriced plastic imported crap in their shoes this year...
austerity, it is also for half-trolls.
kbonham | November 30, 2011Here it is, the last day of Movember - a charity initiative to raise money for men's health.
*1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime
*A man is diagnosed with prostate cancer every 2.2 minutes
*1 in 2 men will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime
*Men are 24% less likely to go the doctor compared to women
I'm competing with a few friends to grow awesome mustaches and raise money. I knew getting into this that I wouldn't have much of a chance of winning on merit - this is the result after 30 days without shaving:
So, I need your help. Please consider giving…
kbonham | November 29, 2011Back in October, I wrote about the bittersweet nature of this year's Nobel in Physiology or Medicine.
On the one hand, it was given for early discoveries in the field of innate immunity - my field! On the other hand, it was given to a scientist that many* feel is undeserving of the honor, while at the same time sullying the legacy of my scientific great-grandfather.
Ed Yong rightly called me out for the phrase "many scientists." This term, and another often-used trope, "some scientists," are vague and lazy, since they obscure the details and can mean almost anything. "Many scientists…
catdynamics | November 27, 2011I've been a naughty blogger, I went off to the Mars Surveyor launch, and didn't blog about it, yet.
In no small part because I forgot to bring a USB cable.
But, honestly, mpostly because I wanted to just revel in the moment.
(Ok, I tweeted and fb'd a bit).
I'll get back to MSL, in the meantime I need to core dump some random links I've been meaning to ponder:
...does blogging have a wider role to play in the scientific discourse? - Yes.
Can the quantum state be interpreted statistically? - No.
Is The Reason Why Science Majors Change Their Minds That It Is Just So Darn Hard? - Yes and No.
Hm.…
kbonham | November 22, 2011I'm a little late with this video:
Yes, I know the actual day has passed, but that doesn't mean you can't make the rest of the month count.
And guys, you don't have to feel left out, even if you don't have a mustache - check out my Movember page, see my luxurious mustache (it's been 3 weeks since I shaved), and make a donation while you're there.
catdynamics | November 9, 2011I live just around the corner from Joe Paterno.
This morning there was a little horde of reporters and cameras across the street, hoping to get that little 15 second glimpse of the man, for the early evening news shot.
Last night, several hundred students gathered outside to voice support for the Paternos, who were clearly moved and grateful for the demonstration, which also provided some scenic shots for the news.
I can't comment on the case.
I also have no first hand knowledge, just what I read in the news.
The last few days have been an interesting ongoing lesson, not just in the evil…
kbonham | November 1, 2011Well, this is going to be embarrassing.
This year, some friends and I are participating in "Movember," an effort to raise money for prostate cancer research by having men embarrass themselves with ridiculous mustaches This is a shot of me this past weekend:
But alas, that fine follicular growth is entirely artificial.
If you've ever read the description under my picture to the left, and wondered what I'm talking about when I say "genetically incapable of growing facial hair," you'll get a chance to see exactly what I mean. And since my "mustache" is going to be such a travesty, I hope to…
catdynamics | October 18, 2011From Grauniad, via A.
Research on Cat Physics
Improbable, but true.
Followed by: "Extreme Medicine: Reconstructing Physicists After Feline Fury", Nature Medicine
kbonham | October 13, 2011While researching my recent post on the Nobel Prize, I discovered that the website has a series of "educational productions," including games and written/illustrated primers on different topics. I've been playing the malaria game all morning - you have to fly a mosquito around drinking the blood of humans while avoiding bug spray and mosquito nets and birds, but first you get a little lesson telling you about how malaria is transmitted.
Or play immune system defender where general macrophage teaches you how to hunt down the nefarious bacterial invaders.
The written articles are pretty good…
kbonham | October 12, 2011"We're all violent inside, we're all Hilter inside, and we're all Christ inside. Just try to work on the good bit..."
catdynamics | October 5, 2011"About twenty years ago Jobs and Wozniak, the founders of Apple, came up with the very strange idea of selling information processing machines for use in the home. The business took off, and its founders made a lot of money and received the credit they deserved for being daring visionaries...."
Thus begins one of the most important essays of modern times:
"In the beginning was the command line" by Neal Stephenson
Neal has now written another timely essay:
"Innovation Starvation" by Neal Stephenson at World Policy Institute
"...Today's belief in ineluctable certainty is the true innovation-…
catdynamics | October 4, 2011To do something interesting, you must have one of two conditions fulfilled:
either, know that it is possible to do it;
or,
not know that it is impossible.
catdynamics | September 30, 2011Fateful day, as the fed fiscal year closes and a new year begins...
As so often before, we skip and jump to the Mighty iPod One, and ask, what prospects for the new Fiscal Year?
Woosh goes the randomier.
Woosh.
The Covering: Rudi, A Message to You - Specials
The Crossing: God Bless Africa - Alpha Blondy
The Crown: Dog Days Are Over - Florence and the Machine
The Root: Toy Symphony 3 - Mozart
The Past: Fearless - Pink Flo
The Future: Silent Legacy - Melissa Etheridge
The Questioner: Reggae on the Move - Yellowman
The House: Lost in the Supermarket - Clash
The Inside: Woodstock - Joni…
catdynamics | September 28, 2011On saturday Alþingi, the Icelandic Parliament, reconvenes.
Protests are planned on the square outside, and there are suggestions that a new wave of protests may build up, similar to the "Household Revolution" back in the winter of 2008.
But there will be some missing from the demos.
On Wednesday, at informal meetings, a number of Icelandic Police, both from departments in the south west, where Reykjavík is, and in the north, declared that they would not be serving on the Riot Police squad.
As I understand, call up to riot squad duty, is essentially, non-mandatory overtime shift work, beyond…
kbonham | September 27, 2011In other words, you're more likely to catch a cold from shaking their hand than to get an STI from Sitting on the same bench.
There isn't much reason to fear getting a sexually transmitted disease from naked sitters. These infections are most commonly the result of vigorous and prolonged exposure of a person's mucous membranes, the thinner and more permeable skin found in the mouth and on the genitals. If you happened to share a seat with an infected nudist, you'd be protected both by your clothes and by your epidermis, which serves as an effective barrier against pathogens all by itself.…
kbonham | September 22, 2011
I pledged to donate a bit every month for the next 6 months. I've been so cynical about politics recently, but I decided if I hear something I believe in, I should put my money where my mouth is.
I'll have to cut back on the coffee though...
Via Slog.
kbonham | September 20, 2011Jad Abumrad, co-host of the amazing "Radiolab" just won a McArthur genius grant - a $500,000 prize with almost no limits on how to spend it.
If you've never listened to Radiolab, stop reading blogs, go download an episode sit back with a good pair of headphones. It's beautifully produced, a joy to listen to, and tells great science stories to boot. Many of my stock cocktail-party (or more often bar) stories should come with the disclaimer "I learned this on Radiolab."
The last episode on "Games," was fantastic, especially since I listened to it just after doing this year's fantasy football…
catdynamics | September 2, 2011at long last it is friday and before we rest, we ask
How now? oh Mighty iPod One?
Woosh goes the randomizer.
Woosh.
The Covering: Time - Pink Floyd
The Crossing: Louie, Louie - Toot and the Mayalls
The Crown: Vísur Skógarmúsar Ömmu - Thorbjorn Egner
The Root: Dammit Janet - Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Past: I Am Not A Robot - Marina and the Diamonds
The Future: Career Opportunities - Clash
The Questioner: You Woke Up My Neighbourhood - Billy Bragg
The House: I Left My Heart in Papworth General - Half Man, Half Biscuit
The Inside: Fais Dodo, Colas - Sien Diels
The Outcome: After the Snow…
kbonham | September 1, 2011I got this e-mail from the president of my school yesterday:
Dear Members of the Harvard Community:
Starting this October, Harvard will celebrate its 375th birthday. Such milestones encourage us to reflect on our institution's remarkable past--to remember that all we aspire to today finds inspiration in the creativity and commitment of those who have come before.
Even more, our forebears' example reminds us that, while we stand on the foundations they have built, we must never stand still. Our history not only provides us with a sense of continuity and confidence; it highlights Harvard's…