Exeterra

Pictures of Snowdonia

2009-02-17T10:16:00.014+00:00

Here are some pictures I took from a trip to Snowdonia in north Wales last Spring. Click for larger images.

The view towards Mount Snowdon from Nant Peris.

Looking towards Snowdon.

The view between Y Garn and Elidir Fawr.

Y Garn to the left, Snowdon in the distance, Elidir Fawr to the right.

Looking northwest from Elidir Fawr.

Near the summit of Elidir Fawr.

Looking down 1200 feet from Elidir Fawr. We came down this way. Slowly.

A Worm a Day Keeps the Immunological Disorders Away

2009-01-31T13:53:00.009+00:00

There's an interesting article on BBC News about a relatively new theory of allergies and immunological disorders. As you probably know, allergies have really increased in recent years -- and I'm not just talking about a sniffly nose here and there, I'm talking about potentially lethal allergies. Both allergies, asthma, type 1 diabetes, and many other diseases appear to be on the rise, and the specific causes of this are still unclear.

One of the leading theoretical explanations is the hygiene hypothesis -- this states that in early childhood, exposure to infectious agents, such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites, train our immune system to recognize what is dangerous and what can be ignored. Thus, if children grow up in an environment that is "too clean," their immune systems may not learn what the appropriate targets are, and become indiscriminate in their attacks. After all, allergies are what happens when our immune systems go a little trigger happy, and start launching assaults on harmless substances, with our own bodies being the collateral damage.

A new refinement on the hygiene hypothesis is the old friends hypothesis. While the hygiene hypothesis is rather broad in claiming we need microbiologically diverse environments to train our immune system, the old friends hypothesis is more precise in that ~~elderly Quakers~~ specific micro-organisms -- and macro-organism parasites -- release substances that drive our immune systems. These organisms have become "old friends" with our immune system, each benefiting the other.

In an early illustration of the old friends hypothesis (Jeon & Jeon, 1976), amoebae were infected with bacteria, which they unsuccessfully tried to fight off. As time passed, the amoebae evolved to peacefully coexist with the bacteria by removing certain sequences from their genetic code -- but the result was the amoeba were now dependent on the bacteria and could not live without them. A pathogenic relationship had become symbiotic.

This principle -- of microbiological pathogens co-evolving with us to play a symbiotic role within our bodies -- has been demonstrated more recently in animals. Take type 1 diabetes (aka juvenile onset -- not the kind you get from poor diet), which is a disease of the immune system. Type 1 diabetes is rising in the UK at a rate of 4% per year -- a rate that far exceeds the possibility of genetic change alone. This increase is fast enough that an environmental cause is highly probable. In one study (Cooke et al, 1999), mice were predisposed to type 1 diabetes. However, when they were given an extract of the tropical worm that causes schistosomiasis, they did not develop diabetes. Mice without the worm extract developed diabetes as expected. Thus, a (dead) infectious worm appears to have prevented diabetes mellitus.

Another study involved dogs who had developed eczema, an immunologically mediated skin disorder. All of the dogs had been raised by their owners on bottled water and human food -- relatively sterile stuff. When they were exposed to bacteria found in cow patties, the eczema cleared up.

Similar processes appear to work in humans. A meta-analysis (Leonardi-Bee et al, 2006) of the relationship between parasites and asthma found that hookworm infections were associated with lower rates of asthma while Ascaris lumbricoides (round worms) were associated with much higher rates of asthma. Other parasites had no effect. Similarly, some types of pig worms appear to treat inflammatory bowel diseases, including Crohn's disease (Summers et al, 2005; Summers et al, 2003).

The exact processes at play here are still uncertain, unproven, and likely to be diverse, but a few conclusions seem likely: 1) The roles of pathogen and symbiote; disease and treatment; and the whole macro-/micro-organism ecosystem are much more complex, colourful, and intertwined than we have realized. 2) It is less likely that the live infectious organism itself must be present, but rather certain substances produced by the organism. Even an extract of a parasite appears to confer beneficial properties. 3) Although it is still a long way off, it may be possible to create a kind of vaccine from extracts of parasites, avoiding the suffering they can cause, while maintaining their benefits. Your grandchild may receive a medicinal smoothie of pureed hookworm, schistosoma, and pig worm designed to prevent asthma, diabetes, and Crohn's disease, respectively.

I'll drink to that!

Hi!

2009-01-31T13:49:00.002+00:00

Whoa, what happened there? I blinked and saw my last post was almost a year ago. Well, I'm not going to make any guarantees about posting frequency, but things should be a little more regular around here, at least for the short term.

Signs of Spring

2008-02-18T11:36:00.004+00:00

I awoke suddenly this morning with a palpable sense of dread. I did not know the time, but I had the feeling that I was very late. I was supposed to be teaching at 9:30, and I felt I had already missed this. Why? Because there was sunlight in my room. The actual time was 7:40, and I was not late at all. But England is so freakin' depressingly dark in the winter that any hint of sunlight must mean it is nearly noon. A typical UK winter's day: dawn at 9, dusk at 3:30, and dim gray wetness inbetween. So waking up to sunlight must mean Spring is just about here! Thank you! My vitamin D reserves are most grateful!

Recipe: Lentil Loaf Supreme

2008-02-17T03:14:00.003+00:00

I enjoy cooking, especially when it involves completely making up a new dish of some kind. My lentil loaf supreme has been fairly popular and had many recipe requests. I always made it up as I went, but I finally wrote it down today to go into a cook book some friends are putting together.

Lentil Loaf Supreme

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 120 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup brown lentils
1 cup puy lentils
1/4 cup aduki beans
1/4 cup wild rice
1 cup couscous
3 bell peppers
2 onions
1 tube tomato puree
handful black olives
handful mushrooms
cooking oil
4 stock cubes
2 tablespoons dried chopped rosemary (or 4 fresh)
2 tablespoons dried chopped sage (or 4 fresh)
1 teaspoon chilli flakes

FYI... there is some general confusion about lentil nomenclature. When I say brown lentils, I mean the mostly flat, tan coloured lentils that are most commonly available. When I say puy lentils, I mean the dark green mottled lentils that are smaller and not as flat.

Put lentils, aduki beans, and wild rice in water, and simmer for 1 hour. Check every 10 minutes to stir, and add water if needed. The microwave is the easiest (and greenest) way to boil pulses like this. Once cooked, drain off cooking water, put in a large mixing bowl, and mash. The brown lentils should turn mushy, while the puy lentils, beans, and wild rice should hold their shape.

Chop peppers and onions finely into squares. Shallow fry in cooking oil for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add pepper/onion mix to lentil mix.

Bring 2 cups of water to boil, and add in the 4 stock cubes (crumbled), rosemary, sage, and chili flakes. Make sure the stock cubes are fully dissolved. Turn off heat, and stir in 1 cup couscous. Leave for 10 minutes to absorb water. After this, stir in couscous with lentil/pepper/onion mix. Also stir in 1/2 tube of tomato puree (100 g).

Grease a large, deep cooking pan (or two if they are small) with cooking oil, and add lentil/pepper/onion/couscous mix to fill the pan(s) evenly. Put the remaining 1/2 tube tomato puree in a bowl, and mix with 1/2 water. Spread this tomato sauce evenly over the lentil loaf in the pan. Put chopped olives and chopped mushrooms on top of this tomato covering. Bake for 50 minutes at 200 degrees. Let cool 15 minutes before slicing into squares. Keeps well for several days.

Best Campaign Video Yet

2008-02-03T02:18:00.000+00:00

This is by far the best presidential campaign video I have seen:

FYI, that was made by a guy named William Adams (he's the first guy you see in the video), not the Obama campaign itself. You can watch Obama's speech here. Transcript here.

Now, if you are like me, you've suffered from low-level clinical depression that mysteriously appeared in November of 2000, that you expected to clear up in November of 2004, but then didn't, and now you expect it to clear up in November of 2008. In fact, if you are like me, you might suspect that GWB is on the payroll of anti-depressant manufacturers seeing as he has done such a great job of drumming up business.

Obama does something here which is so simple but so effective: he shares emotions with people. And the emotion people need the most now is hope. Obama is a master orator, and his speeches absolutely resonate with hopeful emotion (he's not so hot as a debater, to be fair.) If you watch some of MLK's and JFK's old speeches, you will find a very similar style. America is broken, most Americans know that, and we need hope. We need our leaders to understand that.

In polls over the last several years, the US Congress (and Vice President) have had an approval rating in the teens, while the President has been in the 30s, "peaking" at 29%. For reference, when Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998, his approval was in the 60s, and in July of 1973, when the Watergate scandal was in full force, Nixon's approval was 39%. America, when compared to the rest of the developed world, has one foot in the crapper, and people don't feel very good about that. Aside from the normal big issues of bitter partisanship, Iraq, the economy, and the environment, we've got a whole lot of other crap going on. Our infant mortality rates are worse than every other developed nation in the world, with the exception of Latvia. Americans consume more cocaine than any other developed nation. We have the highest rates of teen pregnancy and STDs in the developed world (16 times as high as Sweden!) We imprison more of our own citizens by far than any other nation in the world, including Russia and China (both by proportion and absolute figures), and imprison seven times as of our own citizens as most developed nations (by proportion.) Educationally, we are dropping internationally, in K-12 comprehension, college enrolment, and university research output. Only 20% of Americans think the nation is on the right track. As a nation, we are getting downright grumpy.

But Americans are generally good people. I would say overwhelmingly so. And to see all these bad things happen to our country makes us sad, and yearn for hope. Obama sees that, and empathizes. Gore and Kerry saw it, and offered facts and statistics. (Bush doesn't see it at all -- he thinks we're all doing "a heckuva job.") Unfortunately, facts, figures, and policy plans don't win elections, and Democrats are big on presenting statistics and policy minutia. Do you know the only Democratic president in living memory to win re-election? Bill Clinton. Why? He could empathize with people, even if he was a slimeball in certain other regards. But this isn't just my opinion; there is a raft of empirical research showing that leaders (whether they be Presidents or just your boss) who empathize are the ones who are considered successful, facts be damned. The results are always the same: for most people, politics is all about emotion, and particularly emotions tied in with social groups. This has been demonstrated in countless studies conducted in the field, lab studies, and through fMRI scans (when thinking about political candidates, the logic parts of our brains don't light up -- the emotion parts do). Drew Westen, a psychology professor at Emory, has published extensively in this area, and has a good review of the research in The Political Brain (2007) for those who are interested.

Personally, I like facts and figures. Probably a little too much. So when I vote, it comes after a lot of time looking up statistics, checking on old senate votes, and comparing policy proposals. I do this for state elections in states I don't even live in. I realize that makes me about as lame as a two legged horse, but it's how I am. So trust me when I say policy is important. To me, it is all about utilitarianism. But policy does not win elections. Emotional intelligence does. It's a relief to finally see a candidate who can articulate and embrace the nation's feelings, and has a solid policy platform. Fingers crossed for Tuesday!

(Something else that needs to change: I received my absentee ballot just this week -- at least two weeks too late to guarantee arriving in time for Tuesday's primary. You guys will have to vote for me since mine won't be counted.)

I'm Back!

2008-02-03T02:13:00.000+00:00

Hello again! Sorry to be gone for so long. Life has been busy. There's the usual workload, and on top of that, I've had colds or the flu for about 75% of the time for the last five months. Seriously, my body is not made for England's cold and wet climate. In college in Georgia, I would almost never get sick, and never miss work/class because of it. But in the UK, I often have a cold for months in the winter. Some of my Australian friends here have had similar experiences. But I'm back now, and feeling better. I'll aim for at least one or two posts a week, but no promises just yet!

Thursday Ted: VIII Creativity, Copyright, and the Law

2007-11-22T18:36:00.000+00:00

This week's TED is by Larry Lessig, someone I have been a fan of for about a year now. He is a Stanford professor specializing in the study of copyright, and in a social dialogue that is so often little more than ad hominem attacks and crude generalizations, his is always a voice of reason.

On a personal note, I apologize for the lack of posting. I've been mega-busy with work, and have been at some stage of a cold for 8 weeks running now. Hopefully more posting soon, but no guarantees.

Priorities...

2007-11-01T01:51:00.001+00:00

In case anyone forgot, there is still a war on. No wait, make that two wars. You didn't forget about Afghanistan, did you? If anyone needs a refresher on how utterly foolish and wasteful it was to invade Iraq, this graph compares the cost of the war to the amount spent on researching new energy technologies -- something that might actually make the world a universally better place. The units are millions of dollars; figures are from the Department of Energy.

Why can't we provide health care to poor children? "It's too expensive." Why can't we cut toxic emissions? "It's too expensive." Why can't we invest in renewable energy? "It's too expensive."

Uh huh.

The American Friends Service Committee also produces an excellent line of posters which illustrate what a day in Iraq could have been spent on. Print-quality downloads are available from their site.

Job Specialization in Academia

2007-10-28T16:44:00.000+00:00

Having attended both a small university in the US and a large university in the UK for my undergraduate degree, and now studying/researching/teaching at a different large university in the UK during my postgraduate years, I've had some exposure to different styles of educational institutions, and experienced being on both sides of the desk.

One observation that has been increasingly on my mind is the nature of the dual teaching and researching responsibilities of academic staff at the larger universities. It is fairly standard that academics do both research and teaching as a part of their job description. However, almost without exception, every big-university professor I've met identifies more as a researcher than a teacher. Teaching becomes something that they appreciate the necessity of, much like committee meetings, but is often seen as just another job responsibility which must be done before they can get down to their "real" work -- research. This is a situation that appears to benefit neither the staff nor the students. To borrow an analogy from Mitch Hedberg, it is like asking that chefs also farm, and farmers also cook. Although their work shares the central element of food, requiring practitioners to both grow it and prepare it makes little sense. Similarly, researching and teaching revolve around knowledge, but generating new knowledge (research) and disseminating existing knowledge (teaching) rely on entirely different skill sets, and I cannot see why there is not more job specialization within academia. I've seen the current system produce a fair amount of both bad teaching and bad research by academics who are drawn more to the other component.

Of course, there are teaching-focused universities in the UK -- but they are generally considered a tier below the research universities. Why not have dedicated teaching staff teach most undergrad classes at all large universities? Allow the researchers to do more research, and have specially trained teachers do the actual teaching. It seems everyone would get a better deal: the students, the researchers, and those who love to teach, but do not wish to pursue research and grants. The current professors can continue to teach postgraduate classes -- this makes sense as most postgraduate work is heavily research based, and PGs are expected to learn for themselves from original source material.

These are just my recent thoughts -- there may be factors I've not yet thought of... can anyone give me a good reason why our current system is better?

Thursday TED: VII Understanding the Brain

2007-10-25T17:59:00.000+01:00

This is a great presentation from renowned neurologist Vilayanur Ramachandran, in which he talks about how unusual brain injuries and brain structures can reveal how normal brains work. In particular, he talks about phantom limb pain, synesthesia (when people hear colour or smell sounds), and the Capgras delusion, when brain-damaged people believe their closest friends and family have been replaced with imposters. Great stuff.

I just love how he pronounces his Rs.

Blog Action Day: Local Veggie Boxes

2007-10-15T23:33:00.000+01:00

As you may or may not know, today is Blog Action Day. (thanks earthchick!) The 15 of October is a day for bloggers to all write about a very important topic: our environment.

A fair chunk of posts on Exeterra are already about the environment, but it's time for another :)

This Saturday I went with some fellow members of the Green Society to Shillingford Organics, a local organic farm on 200-something acres. We had a great time getting a tour of their low-impact methods and trying our hands at farm work. We pulled dock, harvested more winter squash than I will eat in a hundred lifetimes, and planted garlic further than the eye can see. Here are some pictures:

Martyn shows us which yummy veggies to harvest.

We planted rows of garlic (one clove every six inches) on this strip of land, which was a few hundred metres long.

At the end, Martyn gave us as many free vegetables as we could carry. I have never seen people so ecstatic over carrots.

At the end of the day, I signed up for a weekly vegetable box. Shillingford delivers to a few hundred local households and restaurants, providing them with weekly vegetables that have been harvested no more than a day or two before arriving. You really have to taste this stuff to believe it -- there are lush flavours and sweet smells that I didn't know existed. The one bad thing I will say about their veg is that once you try it, you will never be able to eat supermarket vegetables again.

Although it is not as high-profile as automobiles, electricity use, or recycling, how our food is produced is just as environmentally important. With a local veggie box program -- or some other system of community supported agriculture -- you reach a win-win-win situation.

You win because you get the best vegetables ever delivered to you. Because there is no middle-man, the prices are comparable to supermarket prices. You actually know who grows your food, and have a connection with that person.

Your community wins because you are employing local small-scale farmers. You can also meet other like-minded people if you pick up your box from a neighbourhood delivery point. In some systems, the members spend a small portion of time working at the farm -- and believe it or not, this can be quite a lot of fun.

The environment wins because organic community supported agriculture can be very low-impact. Shillingford is within walking distance from my house, so not many food miles there. The vegetables are fertilized naturally through crop rotation (no petrochemicals in this food chain), pests are controlled biologically, and the harvest is gathered by hand. The farm supports us, but not at the expense of wildlife -- ponds, hedges, and woodland are integrated into the farm design to allow for co-existence rather than compartmentalization.

Most places in the US and UK have several organic vegetables box systems available -- try Googling it; you may be surprised at what you find. Most allow a trial veggie box so you can see if you like it -- so go ahead, give it a try! If you live in Exeter, I've already put a list together.

Science Sunday VIII: Cymatics

2007-10-14T23:38:00.000+01:00

Cymatics is the study of wave phenomena, often sound waves' impact upon physical objects. The video below shows a variety of frequencies acting on loose table salt.

I've never seen salt look so sweet.

Regular posting will resume when possible.

Green Soc Success - And Chockas

2007-10-02T23:46:00.000+01:00

The first Green Soc meeting was tonight, and I'd say it went pretty well. We had about 40 people show up for the meeting, and had to go to another room (ok- it was the student bar) that had room for us. Met lots of great, enthusiastic people. Our first big event is going to be at Shillingford Organics next Saturday (13 Oct). We'll get a tour and do some work - I worked for them for a weekend during the summer, and it's a great operation. About 30 people have expressed interest in going so far. Should be a great year.

In other news, Christian made a slightly disturbing poster of Chockas, in the traditional amotivational-poster style, which is now my desktop background.

Update

2007-10-01T20:14:00.000+01:00

Sorry to be a slack blogger - things have been picking up around here. A brief update of what has been going on:

Today was officially the first day of university classes, so there have been the usual rounds of meeting with convenors, professors, and other teaching assistants during the past week. I'm helping with the usual array of stats and psych classes, plus the stats helpdesk and I'm one of the MSc mentors. It's strange to walk around campus and see other people. And of course because 12,000 students have arrived here in the past week (the city is only 100,000 people), it means the Fresher's Flu is going around campus - I got it Saturday, but it's not too bad. Other people have been pretty busy too; I went into my office at 20:00 on Saturday, and found only 1 of the 5 people (self included) who share the office was not there working. Still, it's kind of fun to have so much stuff going on after the lull of summer.

The preparations for Green Society have been proceeding smoothly. We had a get-together of the committee members last week and made a banner and posters for the Fresher's Fair (which was Sunday.) 200 people signed up at the fair, and our first meeting will be tomorrow. Still much to do there - Green Week is in November, and we have about 20 events scheduled. This is the new Green Soc website - it's a modified blog because I didn't feel like coding raw HTML like I've done in the past - it's still pretty bare at the moment.

Our bunny Cocoa is being re-homed on Wednesday. He's a sweety, but the other bunnies bully him too much for his well-being.

Oh, and our new washing machine should arrive tomorrow. Our old one has been broken for more than a week. (!)

Furries Vs. Klingons Bowl-a-thon

2007-09-25T14:31:00.000+01:00

For some reason this makes me inordinately happy: This weekend in Atlanta, there is a bowling tournament between Furries and Klingons. It's just like the Internet manifested in to reality! But of course, this raises an awkward question: which groups do the targs join? Their site mentions they are going to a meal afterwards. I would love to be able to watch their arrival... I wonder if anybody will try to substitute mayo for gagh?

(Found via Boing Boing.)

New Word of the Day: Spaghettification

2007-09-24T11:21:00.000+01:00

Move over defenestration; there is a new word of the day: spaghettification!

Considering that defenestration has been an historically favoured way of disposing of corrupt leaders, I can only hope this trend will extend to spaghettification. After all, spaghettification is a natural result of defenestration via air lock when near a gravitational singularity. In fact, I believe I've seen the practice already established on a few of the more unique sci-fi shows.

Science Sunday VII: Photonic Propulsion

2007-09-23T12:23:00.000+01:00

If you're feeling a bit claustrophobic on our current earth-sphere, I have some good news: high-speed space travel just got a little bit more feasible.

The photon is a strange particle (or wave!) Though it has no mass, it can still impart momentum. When you turn on a light, the photons from it collide with you, and actually physically move you. It is not detectable to our senses, but every time photons hit us, they exert a force upon us. Shine a strong enough flashlight on a ball, and it will roll. This is known as radiation pressure (and FYI light is just a form of radiation.) With a strong source of light, such as the sun, and low gravity and friction, such as in the vacuum of space, radiation pressure is a viable means of transportation. This basic effect is the idea behind solar sails, and has already been used in unmanned spacecraft, such as Mariner 10. But that is all old hat.

It has been theoretically proposed that photons, in the form of lasers, can be amplified so that their thrust is greatly increased. In December of 2006, Dr. Young Bae did just that, by building (and publicly demonstrating) the world's first Photonic Laser Thruster (PLT), which amplifies photonic thrust by a factor of 3,000. Not bad for a proto-type. The demonstration paper will be published in the peer-reviewed journal American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), is titled Photonic Laser Propulsion: Proof-of-Concept Demonstration, and will be published later this year. Using several of these photonic thrusters together, spacecraft could achieve speeds of more than 100 km per second. This technology is not far-and-away, it is already present, and is being refined for more efficient use. With current technology, the trip to Mars would take six months. With PLT, it would take one week or less. Given that most of the hazards of interplanetary travel are risky precisely because of the length of the journey (radiation accumulation, bone deterioration, psychological stability), this just doesn't make interplanetary travel more comfortable, it makes it possible. There is still plenty of research and application to be done to be sure, but the deployment of these technologies will now be measured in years rather than generations.

A more practical application of PLT would be to maintain exact satellite formation - by exact, I mean staying within formation to a few nanometers, with the satellites spread out over kilometers. An immediate use of this kind of technology would be to form the next generation of telescope-like devices - satellite formations like this could scour the depths of the universe at many orders of magnitude greater detail than the Hubble telescope - we could detect black holes for the first time, see planets and stars never seen before, and indeed peer into the very origins of the universe. Considering the pictures from Hubble, think of what we could do with several orders of magnitude beyond this:

Of course these satellite formations wouldn't just take pretty pictures; more pragmatically, they would be able to search for rare minerals in asteroids, uncover precise details of our own solar system's planets and moons, and let us prioritize where our other efforts should focus.

And holy $hit, he's also made a lot of progress working on nuclear fusion engines and researching a freakin' matter-antimatter engine. What's next for this guy, an artificial quantum singularity engine?

I think the coolest part of this is that Dr. Bae is not a NASA scientist. He's just a really smart guy who loves to invent things, and started his own institute to do so. On his own, he built his amplified photonic thruster - the first in the world - with regular off-the-shelf products. It is becoming more and more clear that in the future it will be individuals and organizations that will lead the way in space exploration as much as it will be nation-states.

For a lengthy interview with Dr. Bae, check out this podcast of the somewhat quirky Space Show. The interview starts at 5:45.

Friday Comedy: Drunk Animals

2007-09-21T15:09:00.002+01:00

Continuing on our animal theme, this clip is of African wildlife gorging themselves on alcoholic Marula fruits - they're so... humanlike.

The video is from the 1974 film Animals Are Beautiful People. Thanks to Christian for sending this to me.

Here is a longer version (with morning-after hangovers).

Thursday TED: VI Bonobos

2007-09-21T14:44:00.000+01:00

Ok, so it's Friday, and I'm a day late. This week's TED is a good one, and a fun one.

It is often said that the chimpanzee is our closest animal relative. This is partly true - the Bonobo chimp is actually much closer to us than the common chimp. This video takes a look at what Bonobos are capable of learning (on their own - not through training). It's pretty impressive stuff, raises some important questions about the source of intelligence, and will make you smile many a time (if you can get over the cheesy narration.)

Here is more info for anyone curious to know more about Bonobo's scientifically fascinating sexual behaviour. For the repressed moralists who commonly say, "Behaviour X is just not natural!" -- I assure you, the Bonobos engage in behaviour X, and they are in fact a natural species. The list of common Bonobo sexual practices is... creative... to say the least. I must admit, this is the first time I've come across the phrase "penis fencing" as common parlance in a scientific sub-discipline.

Link Round-Up

2007-09-19T22:07:00.000+01:00

I haven't had much blogging time this week, but I don't want to neglect you completely... so it's time for a round-up of some links I've found recently:

For every Microsoft application, there is a better quality free one that will not bloat your computer/spy on you/annoy you with poorly animated paper clips. This site lists 27 of them with reviews.
Five simple electronic hacks: make noise cancelling headphones for $20, build your own USB powered cell phone charger, boost your car remote key signal by 50+ feet, make your video camera waterproof for $10, and get your PC to boot up faster. All are cheap and relatively simple to do. Ladies and gentlemen, warm up your soldering guns.
Stateris-UK. You remember Tetris? This is the same idea, but with British counties. Great fun! The first time I played, I finished in six minutes. What's your time? For geography nerds, this stuff is great! The original US Stateris is here. Also check out the versions for Africa and Europe.
On a similar theme, this is an online game where you name as many US Presidents as possible. There are also similar games for naming Shakespeare's plays, US States, US State Capitols, African Nations, and European Nations. You really don't want to know how long I've spent playing these over the past few months. That's right... months.
Not everyone enjoys online educational games though. Take Sherri Shepherd, conservative co-host of the tv show The View. After stating she did not believe in evolution at all, Whoopi Goldberg asked her if she thought the world was round or flat. She said she "never really thought about it." She said she was more concerned with putting food on the table for her family than wondering about stuff like that. Ummm... wow. 1) Rudimentary knowledge and providing for your family are not mutually exclusive. They actually go well together. 2) She is an actress and tv show host for ABC - I'm sure providing food for her family has been a big struggle. 3) How in the world do you get to the age of 40 and not know whether the world is round or flat!?! HOW?! 4) Why does this woman host a tv show?? When Barbara Walters asked her what she would say when her child asks her if the world is round, Shepherd responds, "Baby, we've got to go to a library."Details here, video below.

Cringe. The Stoopid, it burns! The goggles, they do nothing!

Bunny Blogging: Greedy Connie

2007-09-18T01:44:00.000+01:00

Our rabbit Connie eats everything. Everything: sheets of paper, envelope glue, wood, her own droppings, jam and wine labels off of bottles, the leaves off of our indoor rubber tree, telephone wires, other rabbits' shedding fur, mobile phone charger cords, and anything that falls on the floor. Now that list includes foam packaging pellets as well:

I kept hiding this box and she kept finding her way inside of it - by the time I filmed this, she had already eaten about 1/4 of the total pellets over the past week. As you might expect, we're a little concerned about this general trend, and don't know how to stop her. She's quite intelligent, and has learned to climb up and over brick walls (which she uses to raid our neighbours' gardens and visit their pet rabbits), and to jump up shelves - she used the shelf-jumping technique to gorge herself on a bag of carefully placed bird seed in our storage room. She can also chew through steel chicken wire, and open doors that are not fully closed. She knows she is not supposed to do these things, because if you catch her she will thump and dash away, only to reappear and sit on your feet the moment she hears the sound of vegetables being chopped.

Science Sunday VI: More Fun With Cornstarch!

2007-09-16T21:44:00.000+01:00

Ah, cornstarch and water. So humble, yet so non-Newtonian. You may remember this video (3rd down) of the great fun that can be had with a swimming pool of cornstarch solution.

But what happens when you combine cornstarch with a vibrator, you ask? I have a video to show you! It gets pretty freaky at the end with all the Fardaday waves and undulating fingers:

Although I have no expertise in understanding how all this works, or why it occurs, my understanding is that it is essentially caused by cornstarch's properties to act as both a liquid and a solid, becoming less liquidy and more solid as greater stress is applied to it. That's what allows you to run across a swimming pool of it, but to swim gently in it as well.

Weekend Comedy: Freudian Harry Potter Edition

2007-09-14T15:32:00.000+01:00

I love the Harry Potter series, and enjoyed reading all umpteen books. Ok, so that doesn't exactly make me unique, but I would like to begin this post with that stake innoculator.

I found this excellent, and, ahem, shall we say... Freudian interpretation of the first Harry Potter book, all by replacing the letter 'd' with the letter 'g' in one word throughout the book. Marginally not safe for work, though a legitimate exercise in the psychology of hidden psychosexual symbolism in literature.

Thursday TED: V (Theory of Brain and Artificial Intelligence)

2007-09-13T01:37:00.000+01:00

This week's TED talk is by Jeff Hawkins, a big mover behind the handheld computing industry, and a neuroscientist to boot. He asks why is it that after studying the brain for so many decades we still don't have a theory of how it really works? Hawkins says the time is ripe for a paradigm shift in understanding the brain, and once that occurs, artificial intelligence will not be much further down the road.