Random
kbonham | July 5, 2011Been working hard on lab science, so I haven't had as much time for blog science, but I thought I'd share something else I'm proud of:
My friend Matt and I hiked to the top of Mount Jefferson in northern New Hampshire this past weekend with a table, 2 chairs, a bottle of wine, glasses, camera and tripod strapped to our backs. It was quite strenuous, and we didn't actually end up using the chairs (which were an extra 15lbs or so that I trudged up 4000 vertical feet with), but it was totally worth it.
The GPS track and more pictures after the jump.
02-JUL-11 02
EveryTrail - Find the best hikes…
catdynamics | June 17, 2011It is a damp friday with ominous rumbles on the horizon.
So we go and tremulously ask the Mighty iPod One: will she burst?
Woosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Sally MacLennane- Pogues
The Crossing: The Band Played Waltzing Matilda - Pogues
The Crown: Kick Out the Jams - MC5
The Root: Something is Squeezing my Skull - Morrissey
The Past: Marines Hymn (instrumental)
The Future: Teenage Kicks - Undertones
The Questioner: Happy Birthday - Altered Images
The House: How Soon is Now? - Smiths
The Inside: Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops - Cocteau Twins
The Outcome: Sidewalking - Jesus &…
kbonham | June 15, 2011In my first year of graduate school, Professor Sam Behar was giving us a lecture about phagocytes, a group of cells that includes macrophages, neutrophils, and a number of other immune cells that tend to gobble things up. These cells are all over the place, and some can stay in the same place for many years. "How long?" he asked, and then clicked to a slide that had a picture of my back.
To be fair, he didn't know it was my back - but all of my classmates did, and it was kind of awkward. The point he was trying to make is that phagocytes take up tattoo ink, but aren't able to break it down…
kbonham | June 9, 2011Someone is wrong on the internet:
I love that nomenclature, "the God particle". It is a sign that scientists sometimes are unabashed about acknowledging what atheists are often reluctant to grasp: that "believing" in science involves faith too.
Faith in science is far more practical than faith in the idea that a big, omnipotent boy did it and ran off. Or I place my faith in that argument anyway. But it's still faith, not fact, so sneering at faith per se is not a very reasoned or logical mode of argument.
Leaving aside the fact that most physicists do not believe in god, and the name is more…
kbonham | June 2, 2011This was the scene from my front porch last night:
Pictures of lightning are cool and all, and I've been in thunderstorms before. The crazy thing about this storm was the shear frequency of it.
Here in Boston, we went outside and enjoyed the light show. Throughout the neighborhood, we could hear people cheering every time there was a particularly large bolt. Other people in the state, though, weren't having such a great time:
BOSTON -- Residents of Springfield began cleaning up Thursday after the first tornadoes to hit Massachusetts in three years killed four people, destroyed buildings…
catdynamics | May 13, 2011So, reports are now out that one or more of the Fukushima Daiichi reactors really did meltdown, and TEPCO has come up with a great solution...
Told you so (well, ok so reactor 1 also slumped and breached the pressure vessel - hoocoodanode the water gauges were broken...?)
Good news is TEPCO now has a plan.
A brilliant plan.
They are going to tent the reactors!!!
Brilliant!
But, wait, this sounds familiar
This has been done before!
Christo and Jeanne-Claude!
This is so public spirited of TEPCO in these trying times.
Save the world in an aesthetically pleasing manner and sponsoring public…
catdynamics | May 12, 2011How do you move a private cannon across the USA in this day and age?
'cause in 2006, MIT students took the Fleming House cannon and moved it to MIT
This cannon
Well, apparently you wear overalls, and hitch it to a truck, or put it on a flatbed, and drive it,
presumably staying on the I-10 most of the way, so as to get maximum benefit from Texas laws on guns and campuses (hey, I wonder if Texas legislature knows that in Californa the students open carry artillery).
from
Thing is, it works,
the cannon, that is,
they fire it every year
(ok, blanks, house rivalry is not that intense).
Now…
catdynamics | May 11, 2011Caltech strikes again!
The Legends of Caltech record many pranks, some of which were really quite excellent.
I am happy to report that the spirit of the Rose Bowl lives on!
At this rate they will have to do a Real Genius sequel!
TTardis Project 6: The Prank
Tardis Project 1: Explaining the Project
Tardis Project 2: The Official Prank Club
Tardis Project 3: Why We Love Doctor Who
Tardis Project 4: What is a Tardis
Tardis Project 5: On the Road
h/t io9
Tardis Project 7: Success
Tardis Project 8: Good Fan Fiction
Tardis Project 9: Liz and the Doctor
Tardis Project 10: Prank Club is Born…
catdynamics | May 7, 2011Keeps on Rolling - but where.
Is this the year Ole Miss decides to break loose?
Back in '08 I noted that conditions were lining up for a risk of the Mississippi breaking out of its path, but that it was a low probability scenario/
Well, 2011 is looking much worse and there is now low probability that the lower Mississippi will not break out of its historic path...
So, the issue is the Atchafalaya River, a distributary of the Mississippi, which is tangent to the Mississippi at Red River Landing.
The Mississippi would like to break out of its current channel and move west to a shorter path to…
catdynamics | May 6, 2011happy friday, and spring is here
I even got some science done...
so, Oh Mighty iPod, this whole Dark Matter is pretty cool, and very topical.
Is it, or isn't it? And you know of what I speak.
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Somebody Got Murdered - Clash
The Crossing: Oliver/s Army - Elvis Costello
The Crown: Islands - The XX
The Root: One More Dub - Clash
The Past: Agnes of Friðrik - Bubbi Morthens
The Future: Wie? Wie? Wie? - Mozart
The Questioner: Love Will Tears Us Apart - Joy Division
The House: The Warmest Room (Live) - Billy Bragg
The Inside: Peter and the Wolf (yes…
catdynamics | May 3, 2011Astonishing GeoEye imagery of bin Laden compound after the raid.
GeoEye took a clear 1m resolution image of Abbottabad the day after the raid, with a nice clear image, coincidentally, taken of the bin Laden compound
Click for high res image:
"Copyright © 2011 GeoEye - Satellite image courtesy of GeoEye."
here is the close-up of the compound from GeoEye's portal
The dark cross shape in the yard is the special forces helicopter lost in the raid and destroyed on the ground.
h/t GeoEye blog and NASAwatch
catdynamics | May 1, 2011IF reports that US assassinated Osama bin Laden are true,then the big question is how this affects US relations with Pakistan.
Particularly if, as rumoured, ObL was well housed near Islamabad.
Abottabad near Khyber?
Now with bonus maps!
Now with actual correct bonus maps.
Details on Wiki: Death of Osama bin Laden
This is probably more important in the long run than Afghanistan, the Taliban,
or even the effect on US public morale.
Heavy firing near Pakistan Military Academy (thenews.com.pk)
"ABBOTTABAD: Three loud blasts were heard near the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) Kakul Road late…
catdynamics | April 29, 2011end of semester? already?
ooh, boy.
so, as you all know, change is in the air, starting with the release last week of the revised, corrected, definitely final NRC Rankings of PhD Programs...
and we did rather well, again.
But, we must ask, Oh Mighty iPod:
what will come of this research endeavour of ours in these late lamented times?
Woosh goes the randomizer.
Woosh.
The Covering: O Holy Night - Perry Como
The Crossing: Mirrorball - Peter Gabriel
The Crown: Inside Job - Pearl Jam
The Root: Brimful of Asha - Cornershop
The Past: I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got - Sinead O'Connor
The Future:…
catdynamics | April 22, 2011 ...and now we know where we have been
iSpy@home
as you know, Bob, there has been some flap in the intertoobz and old media that the iPhone keep GPS logs, automatically, by default, unencrypted, that are downloaded during backups...
Cool.
Er, well, maybe they should be turned off as default and be selectively turned on only by user, and maybe some prudent default encryption would also be good.
Or, you could just have told us, rather than let someone figure it out intuitively given that there is a GPS locator coupled to Apps.
Anyway, here is a selected snapshot from my life over about 3…
kbonham | April 21, 2011I wrote awhile back about an incredible book, Being Wrong by Kathryn Shultz. The author recently have a talk at a TED conference, and her talk has just been posted. I was honestly a bit disappointed by the talk, but it gives me a chance to highly recommend the book again. Read it, seriously.
catdynamics | April 18, 2011
View from Shizugawa high school as the tsunami comes in.
Very powerful and disturbing footage.
catdynamics | April 16, 2011We should do microbooks.
Electronic microbooks.
Like Apps, for $.99 each - sold as iPad/Kindle reads, with graphic.
Shorter than proper books, longer than blog entries or articles, designed to be of some lasting value. Something to read on a train, or a plain.
Yes, in the fiction limit this is the traditional short story, but there should be a potentially interesting niche here for educational material and general non-fictional commentary.
For impulse buys, viral reads, fast updates on interesting things.
kbonham | April 14, 2011I'm in the process of reading All the Devils are Here, and just got The Big Short for my birthday.
It would seem that the story of the financial crisis, the resulting economic slump, and the battles over how to fix it are stories of human greed, striving for self-interest and reckless (self-imposed) ignorance. Why?
Mencius went to see King Hui of Liang.
The king said, "Venerable sir, since you have not counted it far to come here, a distance of a thousand li, may I presume that you are provided with counsels to profit my kingdom?"
Mencius replied, "Why must your Majesty use that word 'profit…
kbonham | April 13, 2011Yesterday was my birthday, and I tend to use this time in April to re-up my commitment to all of those resolutions that I failed at around Jan 5th.
And add a new one: Data is the name of the game.
- Millions of cells in the incubator? Check!
- Freshly-made solutions and buffers? Check!
- 10-15 Western blots/week? Check!
- Will to live? Fading... but still there!
There's nothing worse than this phase in a scientific process. I know the answer to my question and now I just need to generate a few figures that are presentable for publication.
For instance:
That's a loading control for an assay…