Baa Baa Black Sheep

Got referred to this movie by my friend. Have no intentions of watching it, but the concept is just too absurd.

Sheeps gone wild!

I WAS JUST LIKE HIM

My niece is better anyways

Yeah, another article to respond to.

Here's the article first.
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Two-year-old 'Matilda' becomes youngest ever girl in Mensa

Her parents knew Georgia Brown was bright. After all, she could count to ten, recognised her colours and was even starting to dabble with French.

But it was only when their bubbly little two-year-old took an IQ test that her towering intellect was confirmed.

Georgia has become the youngest female member of Mensa after scoring a genius-rated IQ of 152.

This puts her in the same intellectual league, proportionate to her age, as physicist Stephen Hawking.

According to an expert in gifted children, Georgia is the brightest two-year-old she has ever met.

Parents Martin and Lucy Brown have always regarded their youngest child as a remarkably quick learner.....

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The rest of the article is here if you're interested.

Alright here is my take

According to my psych AP class in HS, IQ is expressed the following way

IQ = Age of Intellectual Equivalent/Actual Age X 100.

Basically, if you're 10 years old, but is as smart as a 12-year-old, you're at an IQ of 120.

So this little girl here is as smart as a 3 year old.

So really, its' all relative. As a reminder, most 3 year olds pick their nose and eat their boogers.

My niece is smarter. She knows how to insult me where it hurts most - by telling me I'm fat. Can "Matilda" do that? I think not!

In conclusion, my niece can kick your ass. She may even double-team with my new future niece/nephew. So bring it, Matilda!

But it's so yummy!

There are times where I will cannot say no to good food while fully aware that it may be bad for me.

There's a paper published in PNAS, a scientific journal, titled "Amyloidogenic potential of foie gras". For those who don't know, amyloid aggregates are a hallmark of Alzheimer's and Mad Cow Disease. In short, this article suggests that there are proteins within foie gras that has the potential to seed these amyloid aggregates.

I guess I'll be taking my chances

Some people should just not mate

Found the following article on Yahoo News.

There are times where I am in full support of full government control over reproductive rights. Some people are just too wreckless/poor/completely and utterly unfit to have children. Here's one of these couples

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N.Z. couple can't name their son '4real'

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - New Zealand authorities have blocked a couple's bid to officially name their new son "4real," saying numerals are not allowed. Pat and Sheena Wheaton said they decided to name their new baby "4real" shortly after having an ultrasound and being struck by the reality of his impending arrival.

"For most of us, when we try to figure out what our names mean, we have to look it up in a babies book and ... there's no direct link between the meaning and the name," Pat Wheaton told TV One on Wednesday. "With this name, everyone knows what it means."

But when the parents filed the name with New Zealand's Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, they were told names beginning with a number were against the rules.

The government office has opened negotiations with the parents about the name under a policy that says all unusual names must be given case-by-case consideration.

"The name has not at this stage been rejected," Registrar-General Brian Clarke said in a statement Thursday. "We are currently in discussions with the parents ... to clarify the situation."

Clarke said the rules are designed to prevent names that are "likely to cause offense to a reasonable person." Satan and Adolf Hitler were proposed names that have been declined, he said.

If no compromise has been reached by July 9, the baby will be registered as "real," officials say.

New Zealand law requires all children born in the South Pacific nation to be registered with the Births, Deaths and Marriages registry within two months of birth.

1408

I'm not a big fan of horror movies.

It's not that I don't like jumps and thrills.

It's just that most horror movies are not well made.
(Caveat: I enjoyed The Evil Dead Trilogy for sake of its sheer absurdity)

Most movies bank on decapitation and blood and gore. I much perfer suspense. See, that's why I liked Ju-On. It scared the living daylights out of me, without any knives, chainsaw, or icepicks.

That's why I'm looking forward to 1408. The trailer looks amazing.

Anyone else game?

I bought this the other day

It's a boat shelf.

Walk Along the Esplanade

I was going to sail today.

Actually I did. Except that I hit the islands. No damage was done. Just needed the ppl at CBI to take me back to the docks. The winds happened to pick up when I was there. While putting the sails away, there were several glorious capsizes. Thankfully, none of them were me.

Look at how tippy the boats are




With my beautiful day on the river cut short, I decided to walk along the esplanade. Here are some pics








I call this one "Left Behind"

Dogs of the Esplanade









Some Random flowers I saw on the way home



Beacon Hill - Where the most classy 7-11 is

Why Ed is Awesome: Reason 412,452

Because he is able to find stuff like this online.



Human Tetris - The funniest movie is here. Find it

The PC term should have been "SUP my ride"

This angry letter to Nature makes me shake my head and give up. Just the fact that this letter has to be written....and pubished. Valid point though.
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Slang's not so slick when you remember its origins

SIR — As African-Americans and as scientists, we are appalled and disappointed in your News Feature 'Pimp my antibody' (Nature 446, 964–966; 2007), which summarizes recent developments in antibody therapy. Despite your misguided attempt to be humorous and socially 'hip', we are dismayed at the cavalier use of the word 'pimp' in a scientific journal, especially one as reputable as Nature.

A pimp is defined as a person who controls and exploits a prostitute. Unfortunately, urban/hip-hop culture (and increasingly, mainstream American culture) has embraced the flamboyant, vulgar and misogynistic pimp lifestyle. This has led to a new, related meaning of the term 'to pimp'. However, no amount of manipulation can remove this term from its immoral origins. That such a headline appeared in Nature indicates the extent to which our society has become desensitized to such imagery. Use of this term in a scientific context is highly inappropriate, because it could be seen as endorsing such a lifestyle.

Although most scientists desire their work to be understood and appreciated by the average non-scientist, inclusion of such offensive slang only degrades the article and the science it describes.

We are especially concerned about the use of such language in an international journal. The United States' multifaceted culture has global influence, but this is one aspect that should not be spread and legitimized. Nature should continue to inspire scientific discovery and inform the international scientific community of noteworthy progress, without promoting disrespectful and demeaning imagery.

Singaporean Fried Noodles and Honey Walnut Shrimp

Yesterday, I woke up and thought to myself, "What am I going to do today?" Now that classes are over, I have a lot of disposable time. So much that I don't know what to do with. Ironically, this is exactly what I've been waiting for since classes started - time where I do not have to think about work once I'm done with it.

Recently, I've been very lazy with cooking. So I decided to spend this weekend cooking. Yesterday, after going into work for a little bit, I went to the supermarket to get some ingredients. Might as well work on self-cultivation, you know!

I finally set my epicurean ambitions into motion today. Here's what I've made

Singaporean Fried Noodles


This dish still needs some work. Mainly, there's very little flavor unless you add some soy sauce. That's all perfectly okay, but it masks the light hint of curry flavoring and spiciness this dish calls for. Also, will use less vermicilli next time. There's too much of it and I'm not able to make it as flavorful. Also, cook onions longer before adding everything else into the mix

Honey Walnut Shrimp



One of the more staple dishes in Chinese restaurants, especially when it comes to 10+ - people family dinners. Aside from the deep frying of the shrimp, it is also surprisingly easy to make. Yes, my apartment smells like oil

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So after making all this food, I'm actually not that hungry and I'm eating this for dinner




Irony....*sigh*

I'm boycotting Dreamworks

Here's a headline that I found just a moment ago
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Film Producer Says More Shreks to Come

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Seriously, people need to stop making shitty sequels that AREN'T funny. The first one was good. But then it spawned several knockoffs (Hoodwinks) and two really bad sequels. Just like how some people should never be allowed to have kids, it's time the studio stop.

This is the reason why Dreamworks sucks and is always gonna be behind Pixar. Everything Pixar makes is gold because it has heart. They've made a string of awesome movies. Even the more mediocre ones in Pixar standards (ie A Bug's Life and Cars) are winners if they were put out by any other studio. The key is that they make movies with GOOD STORIES. And they don't kill it with no-plot, single note sequels. Remember Toy Story 2? Yes it was a sequel, but it was DAMN good!

So here's my plea

1) Studios, please have some innovation. I know there's a business imperative, yadi yadi yada.

2) Steven Spielberg, STEP UP! You didn't make a ET2 because you had a backbone. Somethings are just better as a one shot deal. Dreamworks bears your name (the S in Dreamworks SKG). Give it something, even if that backbone is ridden with scoliosis.

3) Parents, please be a bit more discriminating audience. Your three-year-old is not going to give a damn what movie they see, as long as there are talking animals and some song. So don't be the moron that takes them to those movies just because it's released in theaters. You're the ones that's going to suffer through 2 hours of really lame plots and ho-hum drama. Put The Incredibles on loop. Or make them watch more Dora the Explorer. At least they'll learn something valuable.

So there is a god

Paris is no longer on house arrest. She's back to the big house. This was prompted by 400+ angry emails/phone calls.

It feels like my job

I'm reading the classics on the discover of estrogen. This little bit reminded me of what I do when i collect urine from my mice.
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...Doisy isolated the female sex hormones, estrone (Theelin) and estriol (Theelol), from hundreds of gallons of human pregnancy urine. The first two JBC Classics in this set represent this work. Doisy told the following story about collecting the urine.

One driver, while making collections of urine, committed a traffic violation, and the policeman who glanced in the back of the car and saw the bottles with amber fluid thought he had caught a bootlegger. He would not believe the driver so he was invited to get in to sample the amber fluid. After pulling the cork (summertime and the preservative had evaporated) and sniffing, the cop said, "My God it is urine! Your job is bad enough without getting pinched for it—drive on."

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Life as a Grad Student: 1. How to Kill Time

One of the smaller things that I love about science is that the hours are your own. For the most part, no one cares when you come or when you go, as long as you have results. Unless you have a very demanding/anal-retentive boss, of course. None of this 9-5 nonsense, even though I voluntarily put in 9 to 7 or even later hours.

With that said, even though I am, more or less, finished with everything I intend to do today, I am reluctant to just go home. For one, it's only 3p, and I should sit here for another two hours. Second, I signed up for a sailing class at 6p today and it's 2 blocks from work.

So what do I do with all this extra time. Those who chat with me at work (that's you Diana and Shana) know that I run through a list of usual suspects for procrastination.
In no particular order, this included crosswork puzzles, check out Drudgereport and Perez, and blogging.

With these options exhausted, I've decided to move on to something useful. I'm reading scientific papers that appear interesting. I've intentionally avoided papers within my field, mostly because that would constitute being productive, and god forbid that from happening.

Today, I stumbled upon Journal of Biological Chemistry's classics section. This is a section where they feature the seminal papers that establish the field of biology as we know it today. The coolest part about it is the overview and the summaries of the paper chosen. With the luxury of hindsight vision, the authors of these highlights put these classic papers into context, both discussing the career development of the legendary scientists involved, as well as some of the quirkier parts of the papers (ie experimental pitfalls, hubristic claims, etc)

Today, papers published 6-7 years ago are considered as ancient relics, banished to those claustrophobic journal stacks, never to be revisited since they're not on Pubmed. These classics highlight a nice departure from this attitude, allowing us newbies appreciate the historical development of biology as we recognize it today

I bet it's just a broken nail

I was so enjoying how Paris Hilton is jail. Until this morning, when she was released for "medical reasons". WTF, did her super mutant cesspool of VDs flair up? Now she's on house arrest. Celebrities are completely getting away with all kinds of crimes.

Harkening back to some awesome old school Daily Show

Grey's Anatomy is holding down the fort

I'm seeing a slow seeping change with my TV taste.

Today, I stumbled upon "The Deadliest Catch" marathon on the Discovery Channel. The show chronicles several teams that are capturing crabs in the Bering Sea. The swells are huge, the temperature cold, but the payout is HUGE. It's pretty amazing to consider all those crablegs I ate in Vegas came from these guys risking their lives. Altogether, it's pretty awesome.

The point of this is that my taste in TV is skewing towards a dude-like disposition. Man vs. Wild looks AMAZING to me. I would love to watch that show. I already love Mythbusters, and I can't wait until Planet Earth goes on DVD.

Meanwhile, the only girly show that I watch is Grey's Anatomy. And that's getting lame. I'm no longer connecting to the characters anymore. Izzie gets on my nerves every episode with her whining. Meredith was always on my nerves because she's self-centered and immature. Christina, I like her zestiness...but for some reason I dont care for her a lot. Cally is the only girl that I like on that show. She's down-to-earth, and actually sane. Of course, there's McDreamy who always holds down the fort for me.

I'm simply feeling this imbalance. I think Project Runway needs to come back on soon! Otherwise, I may not be able to flip the channel when UFC comes on.

I Tacked!

I did it. I made a turn upwind. I'm no longer an ambi-turner.

So Sad, but so true

An old labmate once said that we laugh at PhD comics because otherwise, we'd cry over their incredibly accurate depiction of grad student life.

The latest issue hits the mark again.

I'd like my meat to bleed and moo.

I found this article from Reuters about making meat in a lab. The motivation behind these efforts argues that this approch would be more eco-friendly and can feed more people.

It's difficult for me to fathom how this can possibly be both eco-friendly and feed more people. I dont have any numbers to back up my argument, but taking into consideration all the technology that must go into a meat-producing laboratory, I'm fairly certain that it is more wasteful than letting the cows roam and eat whatever grass they can find. The amount of humans hours to be put into developing, maintaining, and assuring the quality of these lab-produced meats also calls the method into question.

To think that my next slab juicy steak will come from a petri dish is not that appetizing
Just let my cows roam free and let me eat them as they are.

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Dutch try to grow enviro-friendly meat in lab

By Reed Stevenson

UTRECHT, The Netherlands (Reuters) - Dutch researchers are trying to grow pork meat in a laboratory with the goal of feeding millions without the need to raise and slaughter animals.

"We're trying to make meat without having to kill animals," Bernard Roelen, a veterinary science professor at Utrecht University, said in an interview.

Although it is in its early stages, the idea is to replace harvesting meat from livestock with a process that eliminates the need for animal feed, transport, land use and the methane expelled by animals, which all hurt the environment, he said.

"Keeping animals just to eat them is in fact not so good for the environment," said Roelen. "Animals need to grow, and animals produce many things that you do not eat."

Developed nations are expected to consume an average of 43 kg per capita of poultry, beef, pork and other meats this year, an amount that rises around 2 percent annually, data from the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation shows.

Asked whether people would be repulsed by lab-grown meat, Roelen said he believed there would be enough demand, as much of what people eat today is already extensively processed, from the feed that animals consume to the conditions under which they are raised and the preparation of meat after slaughter.

"I can imagine that some people will have problems with it," he said. "People might think it is artificial. But some people might not realize that some part of the meat they eat is artificial."

Research is also under way in the United States, including one experiment funded by U.S. space agency NASA to see whether meat can be grown for astronauts during long space missions.

But it will take years before meat grown in labs and eventually factories reaches supermarket shelves. And so far, Roelen and his team have managed to grow only thin layers of cells that bear no resemblance to pork chops.

Under the process, researchers first isolate muscle stem cells, which have the ability to grow and multiply into muscle cells. Then they stimulate the cells to develop, give them nutrients and exercise them with electric current to build bulk.

After perfecting that process, scientists will then need to figure out how to layer tissues to add more bulk, since meat grown in petri dishes lacks the blood vessels needed to deliver nutrients through thick muscle fibers.

And then there is the question of fat, to add flavor.