Art or crap?

Check out this art! I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago this weekend, and it was pretty good. There were things I did not "get." Take the art of Richard Tuttle for instance. He is an "artist's artist," meaning most of us don't "get it." His art involves a lot of studies of lines. The art to the left is a white wall with some nails in it, and some florist wire strung between the lines. Nice. I walked by about 10 of these before I noticed there was stuff in the walls. That is part of the art, it's small scale and fragility. Some of his pieces were good, but most (like the plywood shapes on a wall, or the white cloth octagon on an off-white wall) just went over my head. Perhaps he is just laughing all the way to the bank. I would like someone to go with me who can expain to me why I should appreciate some of the pieces.
Art to me should evoke some sort of response, and a lot of these did, I just think it was not the response the artist intended. He did invoke a response, I did question what art is, and perhaps that is what he was going for. He did use everyday materials, which I like, but the guy can't even draw a straight line! They were wobbly, and that is supposed to make me feel connected to him? I can draw a wobbly line, too, without even trying. I guess I assume an artist needs to possess "skill" along with "talent" to practice his trade. Tuttle has obviously changed that assumption. He may be smart, insightful, and esoteric, but I would not ask him to sketch me (unless I look like a crooked line).

wikiality

From Cory - t0 the left is a screen shot from the wikipedia entry for "Neurotransmitter." I love wikipedia, I think it's great. However, the article states D-Aspartic Acid is a common amino acid neurotransmitter. It is not. It's status as a neurotransmitter is not even well established, and to say it is common! The message is do not trust wikipedia. For example, I am not listed under the entry for "God's Gift to Women."
Of course others have noticed that wikipedia can be open to editing. The wikipedia article on it is great, with excellent cartoons. See any other mistakes?

You decide

I saw this list on the fridge this weekend. It is a list stating foods the author does not like, and things she does. The list was made so that her parents could be sure to feed her properly. The list should be easy to understand. I especially like the "Leave Jen alone, she probably hates you." How old do you think the author is?

Slaughterhouse-Five

I finished Slaughterhouse-Five. It is one of the best books I have ever read. Below is my favorite passage from the book:

Billy Pilgrim padded downstairs on his blue and ivory feet, He went into the kitchen where the moonlight called his attention to a half bottle of champagne on the kitchen table, all that was left from the reception in the tent. Somebody had stoppered it again, “Drink me,” it seemed to say.

So Billy uncorked it with his thumbs. It didn’t make a pop. The champagne was dead. So it goes.

Billy looked at the clock on the gas stove. He had an hour to kill before the saucer came. He went into the living room, swinging the bottle like a dinner bell, turned on the television He came slightly unstuck in time, saw the late movie backwards, then forwards again. It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this:

American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.

The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.

***

When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.

The American timers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby. Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn’t in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed.

Isn't that a great passage, a great thought! If we were all so lucky to see life like Billy Pilgrim. Awesome.

Need cash?

I recieved this flier in the mail. Is this supposed to help stop organ harvesting? Look at the $$$ involved! You can make a lot of money! I have some spare parts, and I could use the money.

This is a serious issue, I just think they should leave the dollar amounts off. What is worse, the profits they made, or the fact that they are harvesting organs from humans?

Bookman Alley

I went to the best bookstore this morning - Bookmans Alley in Evanston, IL. It was awesome. I loved the layout, the atmosphere, and the staff was great. The store was full of antiques, it was like a labyrinth, and the rugs were great. I bought one book, Slaughterhouse-five (Kurt Vonnegut). Believe it or not, I have made it this far in life without reading it. I have no excuse. I will probably be finished tomorrow, it is that good.

Have you ever been to Bookmans Alley?

Pink

My cell phone died today. That is OK, it has served me well. I then went to a store to get a new one. I don't want to sign a new contract, so I asked if they had any used phones I could buy, the man said "No." I replied "You must have one?" It turns out he did, he said "Well, I have a phone, but you don't want it, it's a Pink Razor." I was insulted. He assumed because I was a man, that I did not want a pink phone. He was wrong, I think it would be cool if I had one. He went to get it, but I guess it was sold earlier that day.

I will never shop there again!

Wolfram water

I was at Wolfram Research (makers of Mathmatica) this week, more on that later, and I got his bottle of water. Check it out! Read the label where the "Nutritional Information" would be. It says "Mathmatical Facts" on it. I actually take issue with them using the words "mathmatical facts" on this. Tht is because the label is refering to something in the real world which must be measured. When I think of a mathmatical fact, I would say something like "1 + 1 = 2" is a fact. Or some fancier equation, but I have a challenge - I have a prize for the first person who can tell me what the serving size is.

One billion overweight...

This is kind of sad:

For every four adults in the world who are malnourished five more are overweight, 30 percent of them clinically obese, according to the World Health Organization.
The scourge of obesity, bringing in its train a host of health and economic problems that could one day cripple economies, is more prevalent in some countries than others, but still constitutes a global epidemic, says WHO.
A billion people out of the world's six billion population are now considered overweight, compared with 800 million who do not have enough to eat.

We have enough food to make a lot of fat people, but some people go hungry. "A nation with their freezers full is dancing in their seats, while outside another nation is sleeping in the streets." A little sad.

Will the real scientist please stand up?

From Slate:

W.H. Auden once remarked, "When I am in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a drawing room full of dukes." Scientists often do have an aristocratic air. After all, they know things—important things, nature's secrets—that the rest of us could never understand ourselves. Or could we?
In a recent experiment of his design, British sociologist Harry Collins asked a scientist who specializes in gravitational waves to answer seven questions about the physics of these waves. Collins, who has made an amateur study of this field for more than 30 years but has never actually practiced it, also answered the questions himself. Then he submitted both sets of answers to a panel of judges who are themselves gravitational-wave researchers. The judges couldn't tell the impostor from one of their own. Collins argues that he is therefore as qualified as anyone to discuss this field, even though he can't conduct experiments in it.

I think this study is so cool! The fact that we can fool "scientists" speaks volumes about the field. All you need to know are a few flashy words and phrases. It also shows how difficult it is to ask questions what really show someone "understands" a field. I mean understands.

Men have less tertosterone

From Reuters:

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study has found a "substantial" drop in U.S. men's testosterone levels since the 1980s, but the reasons for the decline remain unclear. This trend also does not appear to be related to age.
The average levels of the male hormone dropped by 1 percent a year, Dr. Thomas Travison and colleagues from the New England Research Institutes in Watertown, Massachusetts, found. This means that, for example, a 65-year-old man in 2002 could have testosterone levels 15 percent lower than those of a 65-year-old in 1987. This also means that a greater proportion of men in 2002 would have had below-normal testosterone levels than in 1987.

I am not sure why this is happenning? Is it environmental?

Men and cell phones

Read this article, and think about the following: I keep my cell phone in my pocket, where do you keep yours?

Men who use mobile phones could be risking their fertility, warn researchers.
A new study shows a worrying link between poor sperm and the number of hours a day that a man uses his mobile phone.
Those who made calls on a mobile phone for more than four hours a day had the worst sperm counts and the poorest quality sperm, according to results released yest at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting in New Orleans.

Ig Nobel Prizes

At the Beckman a couple of weeks ago, the founder of the Ig Nobel Prizes, Marc Abrahams, came to give a speech. I do not use the word "hero" lightly, but he is probably the greatest hero in American history. For those not in the know, these prizes are given out for:

Research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK...

It was a very good seminar, and I did laugh - a lot. He talked about past winners, they give out 10 of these a year, and there were four seminars while we were there. They also had an opera, "Inertia makes the world go round," performed by the Girls Next Door. It was as good as it sounds. The speakers talked about the periodic table table, the fastest BBQ, attention and gorillas, and how to make a slower computer. I don't think everyone there got it, during the question and answer period, this kid raises his hand and asks in disbelief "So, you want to make computers slower, and more expensive?" The reply was priceless - a simple "yes."

I recommend you check out the web site, you can laugh for hours. This man has done more for science that you can possibly imagine - being able to laugh at ourselves is a valuable trait. The Ig Nobel is a pun, of course. The definition is below:

Ignoble –adjective

1. of low character, aims, etc.; mean; base: his ignoble purposes.
2. of low grade or quality; inferior.
3. not noble; of humble descent or rank.
4. Falconry. noting any hawk with short wings that chases or rakes after the quarry.

I think they are making fun of the fourth definition - hawks with short wings are so damn funny! What is your favorite Ig Nobel prize?

UPDATE: Who raised this kid?

Here is an update on my previous post - apparently the father taught his son to change a tire then and there! KUDOS!

Borat!

Against my better judgement, I went to see Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan this weekend. I did laugh during the film, but overall I did not think it was funny. Don't get me wrong, I "get it," I know why it's funny, I just thought is was too much. Too much film, no plot, and it did get old. I do love "humor of the embarrassing" as I call it. Shows like "The Office" (UK version) do a great job at this.

Anyone else out there see Borat? What did you think?

Celebrities

Anyone who knows me knows I love celebrities. I am sure to watch "Access Hollywood" every night, I read every tabloid, and I cannot get up in the morning without knowing what Paris Hilton did last night. My friend Leah sent me this analysis of which celebrity I look like. I see the Jeff Daniels - I could have played opposite him in Dumb and Dumber. It is pretty funny - thanks, Leah.

In another note, check out this web site: http://www.wwtdd.com - it is hilarious.

Best game ever

From Tar Heel Monthly - The Best Game Ever. Like anyone can even know that.

Election 2006

The results are in:

State Representative 103rd District - 100% OF PRECINCTS REPORTING

Naomi Jakobsson (D / Inc.), 14,501, 59%

Rex Bradfield (R), 7,274, 30%

Tom Abram (G), 2,830, 12%

Congrats, Naomi! I mean it. The 5 fliers I got from you in the last 2 weeks was enough to make me sick. I voted for the Green Party candidate simply because of that. I will hold you to your promises, I expect an assault weapons ban for the sate of IL, and healthcare for all of my children...wait I don't have any - do you? You have eight? Of course you want heal care for all of them, you are overpopulating the planet - another reason to vote for the Green Party candidate. Seriously, I am sick of the gun issue (see my previous post). There are plenty of other issues you can help the state with. Such as: decline in rural population, lack of insustry in the area, and educational opportunities.
What I seriously do not understand is why you had such an as campaign when you had no real opponent the whole race? Can anyone tell me why?

Update:
The election was yesterday, and today I recieved a letter from...you guessed it, Naomi! After so much correspondance, I feel like we are on a first name basis. She wants me to vote for her in the general election...the one that was yesterday.

curvy structures?

As the SFN annual meeting this year, I saw Frank Gehry give a talk. He is an architect for those not in the know. SFN has an annual talk trying to get a non-scientist to talk about what he does, and how it might relate to science. Last year the Dali Lama was the speaker. I did not get to see it, because we got into the conference late, so this year I was sure to be there. To the left is his Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago's Millennium Park. He has many other buildings throughout the world. I think his work is kind of neat, although at times, I believe they do not feel "organic," and I mean that in the sense of fitting in with the surrounding buildings.

He was very entertaining, and talked about his process for creating the buildings. FIrst he draws a sketch, then some people magically turn these sqiggles into a model for him, and he repeats the process. If you have ever seen these sketchs, they look like random ink on paper, but when you look at the finished work, it looks just like his drawing. That is amazing. My favorite line from his talk was someone asked how he knew when to quit; when he had arrived at a good design. He stated "Those that believe in a higher power see it as Divine inspiration, I do not believe in such things, so I say it's magic." That is a profoundly deep and funny statement.

Out of place?

Have you ever been reading a science textbook, and seen a passage that seems out of place? As you might know, my favorite French Philosopher is Marcel Proust. The book "From Neuron's to Brain" has a passage of his in there - on a section on olfaction! When Christine pointed this out to me, I loved it that some scientist put these passages in their books - it breaks up the monontany. Any other exapmles out there?

Mister, do you got $2?

Anyone who has spent time in downtown Champaign has seen this woman. She is usually called "The two dollar lady," appropriately enough, because everytime you see her, she asks for two dollars. Her real name is Margaret Freeman - and she is not homeless! According to News-Gazette:

Most people who spend any amount of time in downtown Champaign have heard that question, or a variation of it, from 56-year-old Margaret Freeman.

A short, gray-haired woman, Freeman can be found on North Walnut Street or North Neil Street most afternoons, persistently panhandling downtown visitors.

Though some might believe her to be homeless or living in a shelter, Freeman said she lives with her daughter near Third and Washington streets. Jobless and an admitted former heroin addict, she said she asks for money to help pay off medical bills for her emphysema.

"I'm not on drugs," she said. "I might have a beer once a year."

Despite her daughter's request that she quit, Freeman says she enjoys her interactions with downtown visitors.

I have seen this woman many times. Although panhandlers can be annoying - I think it is their right to ask for money - as long as they are not really pushy. Read the article yourself, it's pretty good. To find out she has a home does make me mad, though. She could get a job somewhere and do OK. She obviously has people skills.

A reflection...

I would like to thank several people for pointing out a few flaws in me, and how I can improve them. I am always striving to be a better person, and I have been challenged on a few prejudices of mine. I want to be more equitable in my expectations on people, and not commit the prejudice of complacency. This happens everyday, and I am guilty of it. I should know better - the prejudice of low expectations can be devistating to society.

I hope you can continue to help me be a better person. Perhaps now we can only have 1 more discussion in lab about this...

The most dangerous game

I am of course refering to the popular book by Richard Connell. But surely this is fiction, right? This would never happen in real life, right? WRONG AGAIN, SUCKER! This is happening in real life here in the State of Illinois! According to Naomi Jacobsson, HUNTING HUMAN is going on right now!
This sort of fear-mongering is insane! The rest of the flier had just as much drivel. It makes you think (I am not sure what, exactly). When I got this flier, I thought it might be pro-gun for a minute, then I realized it was anti-gun. Where can I but this gun in Illinois; I would like to get one. Naomi is trying really hard for someone with no real opponent. What's the deal?