Synaptic Misfires
neurotopia | August 12, 2010There's a slick new online Sci Fi rag called Lightspeed. I like this one because they also publish nonfiction pieces that are relevant to their fiction stories. Ok I'm a bit biased because they asked me to write a nonfiction piece for them. In the same issue there was a story called Manumission by Tobias Buckell, which used intentionally created memory loss as a plot device for a story that is part noir, part Heinlein, and all funky fun. My piece loosely relates to the story, but explores a bit more of what memory loss means for an individual's perception of themselves.
Do drop by and…
neurotopia | July 1, 2010
You may not think of our flesh-eating diseased brethren as being the thoughtful types. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't.
As Sci mentioned, I'm gonna be holed up in the Costco for a while so I got time to think about it. They're the slow-moving-undead zombies, not those ultra-quick "infected" (I hate those creepy bastards). I rolled down those big steel doors, barricaded them with anything heavy I could find here, gathered up all the lighting supplies for when the power goes out, bandaged up that bite on my arm, and I've taken to making jerky out of all this meat I've got laying around…
scicurious | July 1, 2009It wasn't until college that Sci first heard Wednesday referred to as "Hump Day".
She apologizes for a certain lack of hefty content in the latest series of posts. This thing, they call it "real" life", and it's getting in the way.
But there are some things you NEED to see.
1) The guys at Deep Sea News posted a video last night on some critters found in a sewer in NC. O.M.G. Don't watch this with food. ALIEEEEENNNNNSSSSS. Really, the scientists don't know what the gigantic, glistening thing in the video IS. It's...really scary. Evolution in action, and I think this thing is going to…
scicurious | June 29, 2009The call, half roar, half terrifying honk of annoyance, echoed across the room. From the depths of a warm, comfortable nest, the monster stirred. Something was prodding it out of its lurid, murky dreams.
"brrt, brrt, brrt...
...brrt, brrt, brrt..."
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Snarling, the beast surged from the bed, lunging over to the alarm clock placed irritatingly just out of reach. Awakened from its rest, the animal dragged itself around the room, uttering incomprehensible grunts which made the small, furry carnivores huddled around the nest scatter in panic.
The beast, sight blurred, flung itself…
scicurious | June 25, 2009Sci loves it when she's famous. This is mostly because it never happens in real life. But you will ALL know who Sci is when she TAKES OVER THE WORLD. Mwah ha ha ha.
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I know I look cute and furry. Don't be fooled.
And now, as part of my new plan for world domination, there's an interview with me over at Bora's place!! Truly, the Blogfather has been good to me. Check it out!
scicurious | June 24, 2009First off, how many is a "few"? I mean, I think of a "couple" as two, and a "few" as three. But what does that make five? "Some"?
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Anyway, please head on over and congratulation Southern Fried Scientist for his Quark win!!! 3quarksdaily picked his post on dolphin-safe tuna for their quark award! I'm so jealous, but it's a great post and totally deserves it. The other quarks went to Daylight Atheism and Bad Astronomy, and they were both worth checking out. Clearly I need to write some better stuff before next year...I want a quark to hang on my wall...
Secondly, you should…
neurotopia | June 23, 2009Looks like I got cornered by Ava over at Paw Talk for an interview. Go check it out. We talked about animal intelligence, modeling diseases using animals, and my stupid cat's antics. Good times!
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purepedantry | June 10, 2009This guy is awesome. In fact, this guy makes me wish that awesome was a verb, so that I could say that "he awesomed around like there was no tomorrow."
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Pop Sci reports that Carlos Owens of Wasilla, Alaska built his own 18 foot tall robotic exoskeleton in his backyard because...you know...he can. He acknowledges that it may have legitimate applications for the military or construction, but this ignores it's primary function: terrifying the villagers! Owens needs to work on his evil laugh. Muahahaha!
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(Side note: the above clip is from Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long blog…
neurotopia | January 23, 2009My illustrious coblogger points out that by taking part in research studies, a graduate student can actually afford to do things like, well, eat. Normally relegated to scraping the crumbs off the post-seminar cookie tray, or sneaking into a urology luncheon and being forced to sit through an hour talk on ureter infections only to have the opportunity to pick through the dregs of the boxed sandwich choices (ultimately finding the pimiento cheese spread/sprout pita to be the sole viable option), graduate students eke out a meager existence where we're pitted against each other to fight for the…
neurotopia | December 31, 2008My illustrious coblogger already put up a New Year's wish from both of us, but I simply had to add this one. There's a big fake-o tree made of lights on the highway by my digs. It's supposed to spell out "Joy Hope Peace Love Faith" or something to that effect. Some of the lights burnt out, leaving us with this gem:
Someone. Please. Alert Failblog. Now. (Ignore the fact that it looks a bit like a dilapidated FAIU).
Happy New Year everyone! I hope your holiday season was a standout!
neurotopia | September 8, 2008In a bit of a shift, I've decided to take a co-blogger. I'm up to my ears in work and whatnot so I think it would be worthwhile to have another voice here. Look for the official introduction in the next couple days!!!!
neurotopia | August 19, 2008Lots of attention has been paid to the capacity of great apes to use objects as tools. Well, here we have an example of a chimpanzee at the Honolulu Zoo using a toad as a "marital aide". I feel bad for the poor toad, it certainly doesn't deserve to be treated like an object.
There's not more I can say about the subject, frankly I'm still simultaneously trying to process it and scrub it from my brain. Again, not safe for work viewing.
neurotopia | July 18, 2008I'm going to try to review a movie without discussing the plot much. Last night we trudged out to the theater at midnight for the first screening of the new Batman flick The Dark Knight. I went in with high expectations given the stellar cast, but a bit nervous about Heath Ledger in his role as the Joker. Heath's acting has always been a mite bit unpredictable for me; he was amazingly good in Brokeback Mountain, for example, but bored me to tears in Ned Kelly.
Turns out that very unpredictability makes him perfect for a "reimagined" darker, grittier, noncampy version of the Joker. In…
neurotopia | January 25, 2008Maybe we should call this one SchadenThankFuckingChrist. It appears that Dobson's influence has been steadily falling off.
The ministry apparently has been "flat" for some time. For example, in 1994 Dobson's monthly newsletter had a circulation of 2.4 million copies. Today, that circulation is about 1.1 million. Also, in the 1990s, Dobson was drawing audiences of 15,000 or more to his speeches; but in the lead-up to the 2006 mid-term election, only about 1,000 people heard his anti-abortion speech at the 2,500-seat Mt. Rushmore National Monument amphitheatre. Daly explains that the event was…
neurotopia | December 12, 2007I've scarcely been back in the Midwest and already I have to tunnel out from under a layer of frozen crazy. Funny enough, we can't remember losing power in ice storms for more than a few hours when we were kids, but it was out for a good 14 hours on Tuesday. To make matters worse, half of the 60 foot tall pine tree in the front yard is now on the ground, so I'll have to find some way to get rid of that mess.
In the meantime, I'll have my hands full gutting out the drywall behind the toilet and shower; a leak in the shower is making it crumble and triggered a growth of mold that needs to be…
neurotopia | November 12, 2007Great, I'm 33 now. More gray in my beard. Whohoo!
I have good news, at least. I'm getting the hell outta Dodge (aka Maryland) and heading west this weekend. Hopefully, I'll have good news on a new job in the next two weeks or so. One that will allow me to blog without feeling like the fury of the federal government is going to come down on my head just because I happen to have an opinion on something...
neurotopia | October 26, 2007Steve at Omnibrain has been discussing a deep-fried turkey and turducken event in the back channels, and that has led some of us to ponder the ramifications of deep-frying a turducken itself. In the spirit of that discussion, I wrote a really dumb poem. I also apologize that it is rife with inside jokes. Any sciblings I left out, sorry, but there are just too damn many of us.
Fried turducken makes me choke
Fried turducken is for the blokes
I do not like it on a log
I do not like it with a sprog
I would not eat it with a carrot
I do not like it with a parrot
You can stuff it wearing socks…
neurotopia | October 1, 2007Recently Orac took apart the findings of another acupuncture study. Those who administer acupuncture typically insinuate that a mysterious vital energy known as "chi" travels along meridians in the body, and that normal flow of chi is necessary for good health. Orac pointed out that this recent study effectively disproved the notion of meridians in traditional Chinese medicine.
Similar woo also permeates the martial arts. If one's chi is properly aligned, supposedly the practitioner can make their body do amazing things such as selectively exploding an opponent's internal organs when…
neurotopia | September 8, 2007Usually when one sets up a parody website, they at least have the courtesy to indicate someplace on the site that it is in fact a parody. Unfortunately I was unable to find such a disclaimer on this one, and since there are actually people sick enough to use the internet for buying and selling underage brides, I am seriously forced to wonder even though my bullshit detector is going crazy.
Marry Our Daughter
Parody. Please. Be a parody. The tone of the testimonials suggests parody. Please. Cuz if it's not, I seriously hope there's a hell so that these people can burn in it.