WSU 100K Relay

I just got a bunch of photos back from the WSU 100K relay. The WWAMI E06 team "WWAMI Speedwagon" rocked--we placed 6th in our class, much better than we were hoping for. Here are the pics:


Louis kicked things off. Here he is waiting for the start of the race in the WSU fieldhouse.

And here he is kicking his way to the first exchange. Louis was the first guy in!

Now I'm realizing I have a bunch of studying to do, so I'm just going to do a little pic dump with thumbs:


Sorry 'bout that. I'll try to come back and fix it later.

Flock: Good New Browser

Just got Flock a biatchin' new browser based on Firefox but with most of the cool Web 2.0 stuff (Flickr, blogging tools, etc) built-in. This is a test of the system; maybe I'll actually start blogging again now.

Back from faraway lands

Hey all--or all three of you who occasionally read this blog. I'm back from abroad, back from Germany, Czech, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, France, and Britain, where I investigated the usefulness of the English language and pantomime in conversing with bewildered people. My advice: when in doubt, just talk louder. They'll understand if you yell at them, after all.

Since I was out a full week longer than I had originally intended (I ahem... missed my flight home, in typical Nate style), I've jumped back into work and haven't really done much else. Now I've got a free day, so it's time to catch up on blogging and emails. Stay tuned.

Don't mess with molecular biologists.

First the Laura K. Pahl plagiarism thing, now this. Intellectual elitists of the world, unite!

Jasper Rine, a yeast geneticist at UC Berkeley, went all Dirty Harry at one of his lectures recently. It seems Prof. Rine's laptop was stolen, so he made it clear to the class that not only did he already know who the theif was, but that he was the wrong goddamn science geek to mess with:

Transcript from Blast Radius: A World of Pain:

"I'm not particularly concerned about the computer. But the thief, who thought he was only stealing an exam, is presently - we think - is probably still in possession of three kinds of data, any one of which can send this man, this young boy, actually, to federal prison. Not a good place for a young boy to be.

You are in possession of data from a hundred million dollar trial, sponsored by the NIH, for which I'm a consultant. This involves some of the largest companies on the planet, the NIH investigates these things through the FBI, they have been notified about this problem.

You are in possession of trade secrets from a Fortune 1000 biotech company, the largest one in the country, which I consult for. The Federal Trade Communication is very interested in this. Federal Marshals are the people who handle that."

The rest of the bitch slapping of the theif is excellent too. See Jasper get his cop on here torrent link
or just hear it here small mp3 link
or just read the transcript here

Project Annihilation

When her iTrip passed on to gadget heaven, this blogger requested (and received) a new one from the manufacturer. In return, they asked for photographic evidence that her defective original had been destroyed. So she build an iTrip detruction device from model rocket engines to incinerate her poor toy. See the "photographic evidence" (and videos)here.

[Via BoingBoing]

They blew up her scooter. Just because.

This is funny. I'd link to it, but it's just a sidebar item without its own page, so I'll quote it in its entirety. From Wired News:

Motor vehicle officials told Heidi Brown she could park her new scooter outside the vehicle registration office while she waited for her license plates. Then the army blew it up. Officials in Ipswich, England, confirmed they evacuated surrounding office buildings and closed off three roads before destroying the moped in a controlled explosion -- locals had 'raised concerns' it could be a bomb. 'The moped was chained to the perimeter fence outside the building,' said a Suffolk police representative. 'We weren't able to identify whose vehicle it was because there were no license plates on it.' If she'd only had those plates on.
-- Beverly Hanly

Sounds like the Ipswich bobbies were just a little frustrated with sissy little scooters running around town. They want to be more like the states, with a new H2 in every garage.

Things My Girlfriend And I Have Argued About

Few things have ever been this funny. That's all I'm gonna say. Things My Girlfriend And I Have Argued About

Clarification: Obviously this has nothing to do with me. "Things My Girlfriend And I Have Argued About" is the title of this guy's funny yakkity-yak. That is all.
[Via Screenhead]

My New Caribou

My new caribou head form arrived today. Check out those spooky blue human manniquin eyes. I've (tentatively) decided to cover him in extraordinarily fake-looking "fur"--possibly leopard print--in the spirit of this fine project (yeah, I know, I'm not that original after all, but the internet is a collection of collaborative ideas).

I also suppose that his (her?) future presence on the wall of my house could be seen as being in mourning for the newly-announced drilling in the ANWR, considering the timing. In that light, maybe I should make him look as close to a real caribou as possible, but with some sort of resinous black scum hanging off of him like oil sludge. Consider this an open solicitation for ideas on what to do to cover him with and what to name him. I'll blog the project and you'll get props.

[Original interest via BoingBoing]

Update: The ideas are coming in. The best so far is to incorporate a kegerator, run an insulated beer line up to the head, and serve Moose Drool out of his mouth. One antler could be articulated to function as a tap control. I like this! (Thanks, Gene!)

SETI Fiction: They're Made Out Of Meat

Great SETI fiction story from setileague.org, which (so far as I can tell) seems to be a site devoted to the creative imaginings of the SETI fan crowd: SETI Fiction: They're Made Out Of Meat

[Via Make Zine Blog]