Calvin and Hobbes

I don't know if anyone realized this, but yesterday, October 30 marked the 11 year aniversary of what I'm pretty sure was the very last Calvin and Hobbes. It's kind of convenient that the Complete anthology of the comic strip came out recently.

Curse You First Person Narative!

Richard Russo's Straight Man is an excellent example of what has happened to the modern novel (not as in modern and post-modern, just recent). The story is about perfectly normal people, having perfectly normal problems. In this case, it's a middle aged English professor dealing with office politics during a period of budget cuts, an enlarged prostate (which happens to be a metaphor for both his stress level and his issues with his estranged, albiet academically famous, father) and his daughter's marital problems. There, in only a few lines, I've summed up what took Russo 400 pages to say. It wasn't even until more than half way through the book that all of the characters were fully introduced.
Ironically, from the blurb on the dust jacket, I thought that I'd really enjoy the book. Even from a more detailed synopsis than the one I gave above, one would come to the same conclusion. The main character's sense of humour is dead pan, sarcastic and relies greatly on irony (a subject very close to my heart). The issues dealt with in the the novel are one's that I'm familiar with. University politics are practically the bread and butter of University conversation. The protagonist even threatens to kill a duck every day until he received his budget and later admonishes an obsequious, ambishous and untallented student for writing fiction directly based on his own life, the very thing Russo has done. The thing was that all of these things are not extrordonary. This kind of stuff goes on all the time, and nobody else thought to write a horrifically long book about it.
Furthermore, the first person narative bothers me. The reason is that it effects my own internal monologue. By silently reading the author's syntax and diction, it gradually becomes engrained into my own patterns of thought. I find myself using his repeated phrases even. I noticed this when I read the works of Chuck Palianuck, but those stories were at least odd enough to be interesting. Straight Man is just boring and has driven me further into insanity.

Comments: now with word verification

The spam has gotten out of hand. Consiquentially I have enabled word verification for the comments section. It's an extra step just to leave a comment, but it's either this or no comments at all (not that you guys comment anyway).

Science Marches On

It's a good week for Mankind; I just hope that company-kind doesn't ruin it for us. The completion of a major phase of the HapMap project marks the identification of variations in the 0.1% of the genome that differs between individuals in our species. While 0.1% sounds like a small number, it actually acounts for about 10 million pieces of genetic information. This information will greatly accelorate the study of causes of -, suseptability to- and effectiveness of treatment for diseases. I anticipate some people to be concerned over the implications this will have in nightmare scenarios (any science fiction plot about a dystopia where science has run amock; e.g. designor babies as in Gataca). Already a clinical trial is underway at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas to determine the social effect of gender selection by couples undergoing assisted reproduction. However, the real concern for me is that the human genome hasn't been treated as entirely open scource. You can have a look at any sequence you like via Genbank, but genes are actually patented by companies allowing only them to conduct research into the prevention or treatment of diseases linked to that gene. I fear that ultimately, companies will price gouge people on the basis of their heredity and that because all people have potential to be gouged equally, the government will turn a blind eye to it.
Furthermore, the scientific comunity has issued some very straight forward suggestions for how to bring the United States back to the forefront of scientific research (which is a major source of economic growth) that I fear will be likely ignored for at least another 3 years, until an new (hopefully more academically friendly) administration takes power.

Literary Musings

What does a hermit do when he has a lot of time on his hands and no TV? The answer is read, a lot. So far, in the last two weeks, I've polished off H.G. Well's The First Men in the Moon, Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, William Golding's The Lord of the Flies, Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days and already a third of Aldus Huxley's Brave New World. My favorite by hare is already Brave New World. It was originally written to satirize the Californian way of life as Huxley saw it but ended up representing almost the entire world. There are some pretty corny cultural references in the book too. For example, the first name of Lenina (an obvious derivation of Lenin) and the surname of Trotsky are both considered fine and respectable names. Obstacle golf (aka mini golf) is a common passtime and one may go to the feelies (tactile descendant of the talkies) or listen to a sexophone.
I have enjoyed the book so thuroughly though because the "brave new world" is so like the old one (the one that Huxley lived in and we're still living in) with the primary diference being that people naturally fall into their castes rather than being forced there. The conditioning is the same, only done by parents rather than a totalitarian government and soma isn't quite so popular.
My parents made frequent references to this book when I was growing up, so now it's a treat to finally read it. "Betas are better because we have more fun," or "the world needs epislons too," my dad would occasionally say. I'll grant that this shows just how nerdy of a home I grew up in. Personally, I think of myself as an Alfa, if not an Alfa plus, but then, that's how Huxley likely saw himself too. Aldus Huxley was from an amazing family. His grandfather was Thomas Henry Huxley, famed associated of Charles Darwin; his father was a noted writer; one of his brothers was the first director of UNESCO and another brother was a nobel laureate for Biology. Is it better to be a Beta? I don't think so. Nobody remembers the Betas of the world, and not even most of the Alphas. But then, only an Alpha would be more conserned over perminance than having fun. I was conditioned to be an Alpha, it's all I want or know.

Science + Music = Sexy

Which spinosaur is that?

While searching for info to either confirm or deny that this "oldest South American Dromaeosaur" might actually be a spinosaurid, I came across the below images of a spinosaur skull in a japanese fossil catalogue. What puzzles me about it is that it is listed as a replica. I can't figure out what it is supposed to be a replica of. It isn't of Suchomimus as the website claims, since that is very different looking. Furthermore, the teeth in the sockets are either real spinosaur teeth, or some of the best replicas I've ever seen. Furthermore, if it is a replica, then somebody put alot more effort into painting it to look real than other specimens in the catalogue. I'm not suggesting that the whole thing is real. To the contrary, most of the lower jaw, the quadrates, the post orbital and possibly the squamosal look fabricated or at least of a very different preservational state than the rest of the skull. Irritator chalangeri has an orbit similar to this piece but ot the fancy rest (which does look real). Baryonyx and Suchomimus have much more rectangluar (rather than trianglular) profiles to their skulls and neither has the crest.


Oh, and since I'm on the topic, after reading the paper more carefully, I agree with the authors of the South American dromaeosaur paper. It was the maxilary fenestra that sold me on it.

Dinosaur News link dump

the Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology is this weekend. It's in Arizona so I won't be going this year. However, this is the time that everybody reveals their discoveries for the year. A few people have released theirs early to beat the rush. Paleo-mammal and fish discoveries are coming out now, but few of them ever make the major news chanels.

another Swimming theropod

Russian dinosaur footprints

The flight of a 4-winged dinosaur

earliest “dromaeosaurid” (quotation marks because I seriously doubt that it is a dromaeosaur. I thinks it’s likely a small spinosaurid, a group common to south America and Africa, but not included in the study)

Mode of killing in dromaeosaurs

News Flash: Some Scientists Nerdier Than Previously Thought!

In the Journal Nature, one finds many articles that would be deemed sensational such as Pleistocene re-wilding, the biggest, oldest or smallest dinosuars, and the latest news about global warming. Reading through a back issue recently, I came across and actual argument over the genetics of Wizarding in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. The text is as follows:

Jeffrey Craig and colleagues, in Correspondence ("Harry Potter and the recessive allele" Nature 436, 776; 2005), recommend the use of analogies as tools for introducing young people to scientific concepts. Taking their example from J. K. Rowling's stories about the young wizard Harry Potter, they suggest that wizarding is a monogenic trait, with the wizard allele (W) recessive to the muggle allele (M). We believe the assumption that wizarding has a genetic basis to be deterministic and unsupported by available evidence.
Following Craig and colleagues' analogy, Hermione, as a muggle-born witch, must have WM parents. However, as Rowling fans could point out, Hermione's parents were muggle dentists who lack any family history of wizarding. It's true, of course, that chance may not have thrown up a witch or wizard for many generations, or that any who did have magical powers may have kept them secret to avoid a witch hunt.
What about Neville's apparently poor wizarding skills? These cannot be explained by incomplete penetrance, as Craig and colleagues suggest. In incomplete penetrance, individuals either display the trait or not: they do not display an intermediate degree of the trait. Poor wizarding skills might be indicative of variable expressivity of an allele. However, both variable expressivity and incomplete penetrance are associated with dominant alleles. If the wizarding allele were dominant, rather than recessive as suggested, wizarding children such as Hermione could not be born to non-wizarding parents.
Neville's clumsiness may, perhaps, be an individual characteristic unrelated to his potential powers. However, it is not possible, from the evidence presented so far, to conclude that wizarding is a heritable trait.

Link dump

Cold plasma

Regenerative mice

science blog

fellow disbeliever

Not Learning My Lesson

Laying on the floor, staring at the carpet fibres, thinking to my self "well, here we are again. You know this isn't good for you, that this isn't going to help you in your ultimate goals, so why do you keep doing this? You seem like you've got a decent sized brain pan, so what gives? Are you trying to make up for four years of lost time? And just think of your organs! Oh well, I give up. I'm checking out, good night." I've lost my soul, I'm hitting the sauce and the sauce is hitting back right in the gut. It all seems like such a good idea at the time; "have some friends over. . . it'll be fun." But when friends don't show up and the philosophy is "more for me then," I ultimately end up on the floor of my apartment, clutching my stomach and going over the opening lines of this post in my head over and over. Oh damnable cranberries! Terriaki, orange and ginger have been the wreck of me. Eat to live, don't live to eat as they say. This frenzy of cooking with actual recipes, sauces and side dishes has resulted in a couple of nights of over eating and resultant stomach aches. The fact that the soul has completely fallen off one of my sneakers hasn't even distracted me from my gastronomic experimentation. Oh, and it all seemed so good at the time.

It’s like a party in my mouth and someone lit the carpet on fire.

Hermits aren’t usually known for our cooking. If a meal requires more than one pot or pan, then it is usually regarded as too complex a dish for our humble pallets. However, since I’ve sent out an open invitation for thanksgiving, I thought that I should try out some more gastronomically pleasing dishes. I made spicy chicken, coconut rice and vegetables. I modified a recipe I’d found online to fit my budget and I’ll admit that it turned out better than I’d expected.
Coconut rice: just like normal rice except you replace some of the water with coconut milk.
Spicy Chicken: Ingredients:
1. As much chicken as you plan on eating. If this is greater than one whole chicken, multiply the recipe and then consult a physician about your eating disorder.
2. One dollop of margarine (any other oil based food product will likely work, with the exception of cheeze wiz)
3. ¼ cup water
4. 5 tbsp teriyaki sauce
5. 2 tbsp vinegar
6. ½ tsp Cayenne pepper (the more you add, the spicier it gets)
7. 1 chopped clove of fresh garlic (here I interpret a clove to be one of the internal subdivisions rather than the whole thing of fresh garlic)
8. ½ inch section of fresh ginger, thinly sliced
9. Handful of chopped red onion (people with big hands should perhaps consider making more chicken)
10. Pinch of curry powder

Directions: Mix together ingredients 3 through 10. Cut up the chiken into bite-sized pieces and fry it in the margarine till it starts to discolor (about 5 minutes) then pour in the mixture. Let this boil down (I don’t like words like simmer) to a desirable volume, or until you get bored and then serve it over the rice. There, it’s so simple that a one armed chimp with palsy could do it.

and I even had permission

I'm not in Calgary right now. I should be. I should be quietly laughing at creationists tring to out argue two of my favorite professors. I should be, but I'm not. The guys left without me. Oh well, I pretty much know how these things turn out in the end anyway.

Editing Opinions?

In the Opinion section of the school newspaper a "debate" over the idea of intelligent design has been taking place. This happens every year, but usually it happens much later. Every year, I write in to put this argument to rest. Frankly it's like beating a dead horse; it's fun and energetic for a while, but in the end nothing is accomplished. Normally, my letter hasn't been edited, but this year was different. They actually cut out one of the most poignant sentences in my letter, as well as changed the title. The original title read "Art Students don't get a say in science." The new one reads "Intelligent design supporters don't understand science." I'll grant that it's true, but arts students don't understand either. The important portion that was omitted was this: "I DON'T HAVE TO RESPECT YOUR OPINION. Respect is earned, not given." It might as well have been the thesis for the whole letter since it sums up the importance having informed opinions vs. just anybody. The real issue is whether or not they should be editing opinion pieces for content that is neither profane, unclear, or exceeds the word limit.

Weekend far from Serene

On Friday night, a few friends and I saw Serenity. I was originally going to write a much longer post, but I think that saying that "it was so unbelievably, stupendously, incredibly awesome that I nearly filled my pants" pretty much sums it up. I wasn't even the most excited on in the theater either. By comparison, I was quite subdued. Alot of fans of the show Firefly (on which the movie is based) had a lot of questions, that they hoped would be answered. I'm not giving too much away here, but no, the questions are not answered, nor will they ever be, now stop asking!
Saturday, I was supposed to go prospecting in the North Sascatchewan River valley, but it rained, so I went to the mall and baught a cell phone instead. It is amazing the difference that a sales person can make. There are at least three stores for each major local cell phone company at West Edmonton Mall. First I tried individual stores, and then found one that had all the companies in one shop. At individual stores, the sales rep assumed I was going to buy the phone right then and there when they explained their "deal." One guy actually said "so, are you going to get it?" At each one of the individual stores, I got the impression that they were jointly trying to deceive me; not telling me all I wanted to know, waiting to be asked about every little detail. How much is long distance? How much is roaming? How long of a contract to I have to sign up for to get that promotion? How many minutes do I get after the promotional period? Can I switch companies with this phone? I'm leaving the country, of course I don't want to sign up for a three year plan. In the end, the girl at the all-in-one store was the most helpful; explaining which phones could be unlocked and switched to other companies and recommending that I get a monthly plan rather than a pay as you go plan, and a long distance phone card rather than a long distance calling plan. Guess who got my business.
The phone wasn't cheap. It was $200 and the phone company required a $200 deposit since I didn't have any credit in Canada. My last phone company never asked for this, but I'm still pissed off at them anyway. The interac machine in the store had difficulty reading my bank card, so I went to a nearby cash machine, which stopped working before it finished dispensing my money, or a receipt. In any case, I bought the phone and went on my somewhat less than merry way. I don't like shelling out a week's pay for something that I'd rather not need, so I went to see Batman Begins at the cheap theater. It doesn't quite balance out, but I wasn't really thinking about how much I'd spent during or until much after the movie. By the way, Batman Begins was really well done. It was nice to see a batman without bat-nipples or neon painted street gangs or cheesey one-liners.
Sunday was fairly uneventful, except that the guy at the Shopper's Drug Mart sold me a Pay as You Go phone card rather than a long distance calling card. It was a waste of $10 for me, but I don't blame him too much. The packaging was very misleading.