Nerd Camp For Nerds

In my quest to rule microbiology with an iron fist, I am spending six weeks this summer in Woods Hole, MA in a microbial diversity course at the MBL (formally: Marine Biological Laboratories). This is awesome news for my future as a scientist - as it has been three days and already I've learned an amazing amount of material.

[It is kind of bad news because my fledgling relationship with Bombshell may be strained as the six weeks drag on. She also happens to be studying for a major grad school exam, further adding to her stress level. I have complete faith that everything will be fine - it would so suck otherwise - but she may come and visit over 4th of July *fingers crossed*]

Microbes are funny things to work with. You can't capture individuals like in classical ecology and studying how they grow is limited to the species we can grow in a lab - which is not a lot. Maybe about 1% of all species can be cultured with our current know how, which is really small considering there is more bacterial species on Earth than there are visible stars. But some of the ones we can grow are ridiculously awesome. Like this one:

These organisms are bioluminescent. When cell densities reach a certain threshold, all the neighboring cells begin to glow. This picture was taken with my regular camera in a dark room - no other light source. No UV light - this isn't like a black light poster. They are so bright you can actually read my writing on the Perti dish in the lower part of the picture (it's upside down).

I am not sure which species this is right now. We'll be identifying it using molecular/DNA techniques later this week. I'll keep you informed because I know you are on the edge of your seat.

My muse!

I know it's been a while.

I have been lacking inspiration for some time. But this cheered me right up. I have been musing on how to fix the out of date economies of several big industries in this country (and the world) - the music monopoly and print publishers. The internet should be free (and hopefully always will be). And ads don't work because unlike the limited space of a newspaper (where real estate is limited) the internet has limitless space and the ability to link endlessly away from a page where the ads are situated. Not to mention we all ignore ads to begin with.

But still the old guard refuses to admit defeat and devise a new way to weasel money out of the general public. They demand protection from us evil citizens - who "rob" them blindly.

And then I saw this article about France's attempt to curtail piracy - Top French court rips heart out of Sarkozy internet law. *BOOM* Completely stopped in its tracks. Access to the internet is an unalienable right. Plus - the government has no right to track an individuals internet use. Nor can a administrative agency impose justice. Especially without giving an individual due process under the law to defend themselves.

Stop complaining about being a billion dollar industry, music companies. Come up with a new sustainable business plan and stop whining. (I do in fact feel bad for print media - they are getting a bum rap and should be paid for the time. they were never paid much to begin with)

any revolutionary business plans you want to share?

Clean coal? For realz?

A little something from the This Is Reality campaign.

Just call me Digg Jr

Just a fun article from AskMen.com that I found through Digg.com. Too many .coms there?

It lists 10 commonly held myths and dismisses them. Like... humans only use 10% of their brains. Wrong. That Napoleon was short. Wrong. And that men think about sex once every 7 second. Wron..... well.... definitely not 7 seconds... maybe... 15 seconds... Got to let one thought finish first, right?

Because I love them

I think crows and ravens may be the coolest birds out there. They always impress me with their intelligence and resourcefulness. The ravens that inhabit Catalina Island are amazing at exploiting the stupid humans and their spawn. So when I saw this video, despite most people not caring, I just had to post it here to show everyone how cool these birds are.

Update: To make my main page less annoying, the video has been moved to this link: video!

Plus I think it's Sir David Attenborough narrating, which is always a treat.

Tripping Balls

So I found this article last night about self-inducing hallucination... I am going to try the first one for sure and see if anything happens. Most of the tricks aren't really hallucination, more like mind tricks due to how the brain works. It's pretty cool. If you try any of them, let me know. And I'll keep you all posted too.

PSA

So I learned all about rabies today while listening to NPR's This American Life with Ira Glass (which if you don't listen to, you should be!). Not only is it a terrifying virus which attacks the aggression centers in the brain causing people and animals to become enraged psychopaths that don't take no for an answer. It also ups the infected individuals adrenaline too, giving them Hulk-like strength and Superman pain thresholds. It is a fairly brilliant design of natural selection because the infected attack everything, spreading the virus further. Like zombies... umm...

So it turns out NY state has been having an epidemic of rabies for the last 15 years or so. But as Alex Bloomberg told his listeners (and because it scared me as much as it scared him), I am telling you ----

infected bats can bite someone in their sleep and not leave a mark, infecting the victim without them ever knowing. So if you catch a bat in a room you were sleeping in be sure to immediately get it tested and yourself. I know. Scary! Two of three human deaths in NY came from kids being bitten in their sleep... AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! But now you know. And can be paranoid just like me.

[ICanHasCheezburger]

Shame, shame, shame

So in an effort to not only have posts about weed, masturbation, and sex in my first ten posts, my next... let's say... at least 4 posts will not contain such vulgar material and will instead steer towards the true direction of this blog.

I hope millions of Californians are out there questioning their vote on Election Day to ban gay marriage in our state. In an all to predictable move, the "Yes on 8" group has moved to nullify the 18,000 marriages performed during the short time they were legal. It makes me sick. I can't even begin to wonder who thought this was a good idea. If lines weren't drawn in the sand already -- they are now.

The Courage Campaign (if you live in CA and even if you don't and support gay marriage please sign their growing petition) collected and posted a number of pictures to put faces to the people whose rights will be violated should this legal maneuvering succeed. Check it out here.

Also, because he is much more articulate than I am, if you haven't seen John Stewart spar with Mick Huckabee on the Daily Show, check it out here.

[Courage Campaign]

Did you know...

that the Earth is slowing down. Slowly, but surely. This year time-keepers will add an extra second to keep the atom clock in sync with the Earth's rotation. The second will go in between 6:59:59 PM EST and 7:00:00 PM EST. Crazy.