06.30.08
Posted in Not just a theorist, behind the curtain at 1:33 am by CMonster
It’s been a hectic few weeks, including a trip to Kansas last week for a funeral.
I can’t say that I ever enjoy these things, but in a way, my labmate’s family did a good job of making it more about a memorial for his life than about the fact of his death. I realize that black clothes and tears are traditional, yet at the same time, they often seem out of sync with the person being mourned… by contrast, his family wore comfortable, brightly colored clothes and invited his labmates over to swap memories over mexican food (J’s favorite). As strange as this may sound, this was perhaps the most respectful funeral imaginable: a final memory that captured the spirit of who he was.
That said, it’s also remarkable in a broader sense: it’s very rare to see all the aspects of someone’s life in one place that way, as I’ve noticed that many people compartmentalize their lives to present different sides to different people.
In the end, there were stories that surprised me, but all were things that (in retrospect) fit perfectly with the person I’d known all along. After two years of working together, and even after knowing someone well enough to read their next response from a simple gesture- it’s easy to think that seeing someone every day equates to knowing them well. But that’s not always the case.
A sad occasion for many reasons, but in the end, I’m glad I was able to make it there.
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Posted in Adventure, behind the curtain at 1:00 am by CMonster
If you were to pick one moment from each day to remember, what would you choose? The new and exotic, or the familiar and cherished? The whimsical, or the practical? And how would you preserve that memory for your future self, years down the line?
Nowadays, the internet makes that almost easy. Most of my the people I know keep a blog (or three!) , and sites like Twitter make it possible to preserve even a record of life by the minute. (Which might be entertaining, if someone ever decided to record their thoughts as a hangover sets in…)
These ideas had been kicking around in my head for a while, but what really crystallized them was a reminder that people are creative- and that records of daily life have existed for centuries. Yet although Samuel Pepys certainly became known for his diary, somehow, the age of photography brought whole new ways to track life.
The story I have in mind is aptly titled “He took a Polaroid every day, until he died“- it ran a few months ago, and it’s been making the rounds since. Really an amazing read- what started as a college project lasted some 18 years, cut off only when the artist died of cancer. The result runs the gamut of work and life. Some of the images are funny, while others are deeply personal- but what they have in common is that they all capture a moment of someone’s life, frozen in time for all to see. The entire collection is well worth looking at, because in the end, it’s not contrived- it’s all about noticing the little joys that come every day.
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I’ve toyed with the thought of doing this in my own life, solely for personal curiosity- though given my refusal to buy a modern cell phone, I’ve quickly realized that just having a camera handy is sometimes a challenge in itself. That’s particularly true when I travel (ZOMG! No photographing the security checkpoint- we don’t want the terrorists to know we have metal detectors!!)… so if you think you’ll be out in public often, the handy portable Guide to Photographer’s rights might be worth packing in your camera bag.
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06.26.08
Posted in Such People at 10:56 pm by CMonster
Overheard on a college campus
Dude: I’m bored- let’s go streaking!
Dudette: Ok! But we need a reason.
(long pause. Then, inspiration strikes)
Dude: For OBAMA!
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06.14.08
Posted in Adventure, Biology, Critters, behind the curtain at 4:23 pm by CMonster
It was a beautiful morning, and I took the opportunity to go kayaking with a friend today. The route took us through some fantastic scenery, past several species of birds that I’ve never seen before…
And, rather unexpectedly, I learned how dragonflies mate. (Hint: they’re talented little critters)
It took me a little bit to realize what the head-to-tail position meant, but I suppose it would offer a few advantages for mates that want to fly together.
But, there you have it: half a dozen pairs of dragonflies had sex on my leg today. Witty remarks fail me.
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06.12.08
Posted in Politics, Turtles all the way down at 10:41 am by CMonster
From the Wall Street Journal’s health blog comes this shining gem:
FDA Budget Swells as Administration Bows to Congress
In a nutshell, the FDA is the federal agency responsible for regulating the quality and safety of a variety of products. As more manufacturing of drugs has moved overseas, this job has become harder- and a few notable disasters (like the issue with contaminated heparin from China) have highlighted the issues with regulating plants in another country.
One of those issues is simply financial- it’s hard to project a government agency’s influence onto another continent without establishing a real presence there. Yet until now, the FDA hasn’t asked for more money in congressional testimony.
And that’s when the story came out: OMB rules forbid officials from doing so.
“Witnesses will avoid volunteering personal opinions that reflect positions inconsistent with the President’s program or appropriation request.”
There’s been a lot of talk about government officials being muzzled before, but in some ways, this is worse- partly because it’s an explicit rule, and partly because the normal process of debate is losing the feedback of the people in the best position to assess their own needs.
Hence if the administration screws up getting out of bed in the morning the budget, that’s too bad- we’re out more more cog in the system of checks and balances. Ugh.
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Posted in behind the curtain at 10:20 am by CMonster
While resting from Thursday’s 25-hour laser marathon, I spent the weekend doing some catchup on reading, cooking, and cleaning: I made truffles, and pancakes, and a carrot cake for a friend whose birthday was Saturday.
It was a bit warm, but overall pleasant, and I got some needed rest.
I say it this way, because what followed next makes almost no sense in that- or any- context. At some point in the evening, I turned on the computer to check email- and learned that sometime over the weekend, a coworker from my lab’s California contingent had passed away in his sleep. We’re not sure why, and although this is hardly the first (or fourth) acquaintance my age to pass away since I began grad school, it’s perhaps the most inexplicable. Far from being a party animal, he was one of the most soft-spoken people I’ve ever met: I once spent ten minutes coaxing him to admit his guilty secret, which turned out to involve watching HBO series on DVD during the weekends (instead of working).
His roommate is also from our lab, as they’d recently moved out there when the advisor did. We’re not sure what happened, but it’s hard- both to find words to fit this situation, and to do anything tangible from such a distance. We’ll have to see what happens from here.
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06.06.08
Posted in Not just a theorist, Turtles all the way down at 2:50 am by CMonster
I like Flickr. It’s a wonderful photo hosting service, and a few of the semi-pro photographers that I know use it to show off their latest work.
One of the features that the site offers, unfortunately, is a way to prevent people from saving a picture (for example, if you’re planning to sell your photos, and want to keep people from stealing).
That sounds like a good thing, but it’s really pretty awful, because it lulls people into a false sense of security. Just as Flickr warns their users, the web was designed to be open: you can download any “protected” flickr photo in less than ten seconds. Here’s how: (Directions are for people using the Firefox web browser)
First, you should know that the web was designed so that any time you look at a web site, it’s easy to find all the parts that make it up. That’s not a good start for locking something down, especially when you’re dangling the item in question in front of someone!
So to get at that protected photo:
1. Click the “view” menu, and select the option near the bottom (”Page source”)
2. A new window full of gibberish comes up. Search for the word “reflect“- this will come at the end of a chunk of text enclosed in < > symbols. In that same block is a bit labeled “src=http://site.flickr.com/URLofthephoto”- copy the part starting with http into your browser address bar.
3. There’s the photo! Save it as you normally would.
Read the rest of this entry »
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06.05.08
Posted in Looking Snazzy, Not just a theorist, technology at 10:40 pm by CMonster
I’ve always had fun with sites like the CIA world factbook, which has all sorts of interesting tidbits about different countries.
(For example, did you know that Aruba has no military? Someday, I’m going to conquer the world- and it’s places like that where I’ll look to start. Thanks, CIA!)
On the other hand, collections of statistics aren’t the best way to visualize complex things at one go. While looking at the new “firefox download campaign” (a bid to set a world record for the most downloads of a program in one day), I noticed the map of pledges by region. It’s early in the campaign, but already really instructive: if you assume that more pledges = more tech-savvy users with computers and free time, it’s pretty clear which countries are better off financially. Africa was particularly stunning- more people from South Africa have pledged to download than in their closest dozen neighbors combined.
It’s one thing to hear about the difference in wealth in abstract terms, but I work in a place that’s saturated with information technology- sometimes it helps to be reminded of the things I take for granted.
For even more fun with graphics, the NY Times ran a fantastic graphic last month on where our money goes. I eyeballed the little slices on the chart, and found some unexpected differences:
- Gasoline makes up more of consumer spending than car purchases
- So does eating out
- More money is spent on phone service or cable television than on water, sewage, and garbage collection combined- this is especially relevant, given that water treatment and recycling are often vetoed for reasons of cost. Instead, we prefer to tear through dwindling supplies of scarce resources.
- More money is spent on carbonated drinks than on fresh fruit and vegetables
The common link for all these discrepancies? The items that surprised me were all things that came in small increments, but they add up fast. It says something about the power of instant gratification (chocolate- now!), and also explains why so many charities and organizations pitch their pleas in terms of a daily amount… if we looked at the cost of something like recycling the same way we treated cable, it might be a very different world.
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06.04.08
Posted in Looking Snazzy at 7:50 pm by CMonster
I’m having trouble deciding which is more brilliant:
Freudian slippers, or Tickle Me Freud?
It’s coming into birthday season, and as you can probably tell, most of my friends are nerds.
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