Synaptic Misfires

A few weekends ago I attended my second kalis Ilustrisimo seminar, sponsored by Guro John Jacobo of SWACOM. Master "Topher" Ricketts and his son Bruce led the seminar and it was one hell of a good time, despite being in a sweaty gym in Baltimore on a 95 degree day. (That kinda added to the atmosphere, though.) I had not had the pleasure of meeting Bruce before, but let me say that kid is already amazing and is going to be one incredible fighter someday. Actually he is already. Kalis Ilustrisimo is a bladed art of the Philippines that was last handed down from the Ilustrisimo family by the…
I realize this post lacks purpose. I'm just excited...
Put a fork in 'em. The ultraconservative in centrist's clothing is toast.
Kinkade, the self-professed "painter of light", is known to be a rather boorish businessperson, to put it politely. I have long been uncomfortable, however, looking at the hackneyed Hallmark "art" he produces, but I could never understand why. Could it be that Thomas Kinkade, aka painter of light aka Lucifer, the light-bearer, be the source of all evil, and that evil be reflected in his paintings? Now I have proof.
I just noticed a comment in my Undergraduate Research Changed My Life post from a friend of mine; Camilo at Mercurical tagged me with the "8 Things" meme. Ok ok ok. I should just jump on this bandwagon as well. After all, Wilkins is doing it, and Tara at Aetiology issued a blanket tag for everybody that reads her blog (which I do regularly, so heck with it I better do this). Here are 8 things about me, in no particular order: 1. I was adopted out by Catholic Social Services at the ripe old age of 9 days, in Macomb IL. (Yeah yeah, that one is in order). 2. Cooking is something I like…
I'm pretty hyped to see The Simpsons Movie, so of course I have to jump on the "make your own avatar bandwagon". Here's me, rendered as a Simpson's character...
I've been reading the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson prequels and sequels to the late Frank Herbert's Dune series. Dune is arguably the most influential sci-fi series ever, and in my opinion one of the best ever written, even Frank Herbert's later books in the series which people tend to shun. However, I simply cannot stand KJ Anderson's writing style, and his influence on Brian Herbert and the prequels/sequels is particularly onerous. I find him to be completely without talent for the genre. His penchant for merely dragging the story through a series of plot points is perhaps the most…
It has come to my attention that Kurt Vonnegut has passed away. His death was reported by Morgan Entrekin, a longtime family friend, who said Vonnegut suffered brain injuries as a result of a fall several weeks ago. I need not delve into Vonnegut's literary exploits. Suffice to say he led an amazing, full life and reflected that in his writings, where his compassion for the human race was colored with poignant dark humor. Few authors today can claim to have had such an enormous impact crossing so many generations and cultural themes. Sleep well, Mr. Vonnegut. "We are healthy only to the…
Yet again, another Jesus flare-up. Rob Knop posted his personal religious views and the prophetical shit hath hit the fan. I swear the science and spirituality debate is like a bad case of hemorrhoids. Some of us just never had these problems that result from self-identification. I stress the self part because, as Chris Rowan points out, the whole discussion really is about how individuals reconcile their personal views with physical realities. We only run into problems when we start trying to pigeon-hole everybody else. Which is why when it comes to my personal beliefs/lack thereof,…
I was going to comment on the whole Women/Scifi/Brown people argument going on in other areas of this blog, but since the culprit said it better than I ever could have, I'll just let his words speak for me. (Emphasis mine). Now, does this surprise many of the readers of this weblog??? Ed was implying that only whites are the elite, but the reality is that Indian Americans might not be absolutely represented in the elite (being fewer than 1% of the population), but any given brown American is likely to be quite well off. There is at least one other regular brown frequenter of the wine bar,…
Looks like, once again, when somebody bothers to crunch the numbers those flimsy justifications for abstinence-only programs are found lacking. "It is remarkable that teens are becoming better contraceptors even as there are efforts afoot to reduce the information and skill-building that they receive about contraception," said Freya L. Sonenstein, a professor and director of the Center for Adolescent Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Truer words have never been spoken. Only 14 percent of the decline in pregnancy was attributed to reductions in teens' sexual activity,…
A Thanksgiving Treat!!! Even people who don't like sweet potatoes will like these!!! Apologies for not having exact quantities worked out, I generally eyeball these things and taste them at the end to determine what I need to add. You will need: 4 good sized sweet potatoes or yams or both (the fat ones take longer to bake) olive oil approx 1/4 cup orange juice 2 Tbsp maple syrup or honey (can use more if you like, or use both of them) 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 tsp to 1 Tbsp butter or SmartBalance approx 1 tsp cinnamon approx 1/4 to 1/2 tsp powdered ginger Any of these (optional): approx 1/4 to 1/…
UFC 65 was a night of surprises. Who knew that Tim Sylvia had a ground game, almost choking out a guy (who looked like the love child of Danny DeVito, that guy from The Shield, and a neckless Uncle Fester on steroids) to defend the heavyweight title? Who knew James Irvin would do a better job of knocking his own ass down than would Hector Ramirez? Who knew Joe Stevenson's shirt would put up a better fight than his opponent? Who knew Vera would make Frank Mir his bitch? Ok we kinda saw that last one coming. But what about the big event of the night... the Welterweight Title Fight? Unless…
Looks like creationist paragon of moral fortitude Kent Hovind might be headed to the slammer. Kent Hovind is charged with 58 federal counts, including failure to pay $845,000 in employee-related taxes and withholdings. If found guilty, he faces a maximum of 288 years in prison. His wife, Jo Hovind, faces up to 225 years. Her charges include aiding and abetting her husband with 44 counts of evading bank-reporting requirements. Don't drop the soap, Kent.
Almost too cute for words. Poor SFN conference virgin Jake just got his cherry popped. I tried to warn him that this conference is nuts, but does anybody ever listen to me? NOOOOO. This afternoon had a good run of posters relating to transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's Disease. Got me thinking a bit about the utility of these models and what we're really testing with them. Ok ok, so I already thought about all this stuff before but I realized that I need to do a blog post on them. I'll collect my thoughts on the matter and get back to you, dear reader. In the meantime, I got to hit…
Greetings and salutations from the 36th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience!!!! I'm gonna try and get back in the bloggin' business after some major life changes by writing about exciting news from the forefront. Unfortunately, the only thing I have to report so far is that Jake and Shelley and I had dinner last night and went clubbing, and poor Neurocontrarian ended up crashing on our floor after making out with some hottie. Ahh, the scientific life. Gonna try and squeeze in an actual science post or two this afternoon, but as today I have to catch up with friends and…
This SchadenFriday goes out to.... me, and my massive life changes. Take it away, Glen. Someone's in the backyard banging on the door Daddy's gone away, he's coming back no more His baby's curled up on a stranger's floor Momma's thinking family dinners weren't too much to ask for Everybody here's got a story to tell Everybody's been through their own hell There's nothing too special about getting hurt But getting over it, that takes the work One way or the other we'll all need each other Nothing's gonna turn out the way you thought it would Friends and lovers, don't you duck and cover Cause…
The takedown intro has been posted at The Panda's Thumb. If the server's down, keep checking in. Over the next week or two, various bloggers will pick apart the different chapters and expose this trash for what it is; a coffee table book for the sycophantic zombies among us. While I predict it will have a very limited audience, that audience consists primarily of so-called "family values" politicians who will buy into this vapid PR campaign. Yours truly will pick a Chapter apart midway through next week, so check back here around Wednesday. In the meantime, Tara has already trashed one…
As I posted Saturday, I'm on a quest to get myself back into tip-top physical condition for my upcoming Thai boxing test. To do this I need to set goals for myself. I'm going to enlist the help of my readers on this one! Warning: half-nekkid monkeys ahead I made a deal with myself-- I can get a new pair of kick-ass running shoes, IFF I can get a six-pack going. I figure this goal will take another month to six weeks to reach. I'm posting a picture of myself now for reference and will keep posting more pictures periodically, every 2-3 weeks. I'll try to rig polls as we go so all 5 of…
Another interesting twist in my life is at the gym. It turns out that Kru Scott is sufficiently satisfied with my progress and prior exposure that he's going to let me skip the Level I test and go straight to Level II. This means I get to cut at least a full year off my training time! Likely I will be able to test for my Muay Thai Assistant Instructor certification in the next year to year and a half. That is freakin' awesome. What is not freakin' awesome is the physical condition I'll have to be in for the test, which will likely occur in November. I've got about 3 months to get in the…