EvolutionKills

WSU 100K Relay

2007-04-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-11-07T15:19:00.000-08:00

Flock: Good New Browser

2005-10-21T16:39:00.000-07:00

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

2005-07-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

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.

2005-04-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

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

2005-03-24T17:03:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-03-21T10:22:00.000-08:00

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

2005-03-18T19:00:00.000-08:00

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

2005-03-18T13:08:00.000-08:00

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

2005-03-17T12:47:00.000-08:00

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]

2005-03-16T17:49:00.000-08:00

Last night I had to be in the lab at 3 AM (I was waiting for some cells to grow), so I was down in the pool hall really late. I happened to be there when a bunch of wannabe-hard High School kids (Cleevies?) came in to play. Not long thereafter, a couple of CSOs took the kids into custody (or detained them, so that the Portland 5-0 could take them, rather) because they had been spotted earlier tagging around campus. This got me thinking about the state of graffiti at Reed.

When I was a mere froshling, I was genuinely impressed by the graffiti at Reed. In high school, I repainted my room (kind of a diarrhea orange color that was supposed to look sandstone-ish) and wrote out passages from my favorite books in Sharpie on the walls, and the graffiti at Reed struck me as in the same vein but far more interesting and useful. There were real, well-reasoned and evolved conversations taking place above the urinal between people who, because they were in different academic departments, could hold vastly different but similarly intellectually-rich viewpoints on a topic. These people would probably never otherwise debate the points that were being raised on the bathroom wall because they operated in such different academic traditions. I also learned how to write YHWH in Hebrew on the wall above the urinal in the library bathroom, which sticks in my memory since at the time I was in the middle of reading the Old Testament.

Ever since my sophomore year, however, the graffiti has gone way downhill. From the idiotic limericks and 'your mom' jokes (not to mention the racist graffiti from some attention-whoring jerk whose mother apparently never hugged him enough), you'd think this was a Junior High School and we had all just discovered the f-bomb. If I were more charitable, I might think it actually was a bunch of 8th graders sneaking onto campus to write about the girl who once was from Nantucket, but it's much more likely that "New Reed" has corrupted and cheapened what was, in bygone days, an excellent mode of expression for a bunch of tower-bound intellectuals.

I think that graffiti--even apart from its capacity to provide for a debate experience that evolves and is frozen in time--is good for the Reed community. To hit an old cliche, it's yet another way to take control of what would otherwise be a fairly sterile and institutional environment. Like Renn Fayre, but in the bathroom. And like all such democratic technologies, graffiti will be a reflection of the people who use those bathrooms and take the time to write on the wall. But since the graf around here also reflects upon all of us, I wish it weren't just the dumbest shit a guy with a pen could think of. IMHO, it would brighten this place up if we made graffiti the norm again. That would also lessen the bad-boy appeal for throwing 'your mom was great last night' on the stall door, because you'd be exactly as cool and bad for doing so as the guy who just penned a short critique of US policy with regard to governmental oversight above the urinal.

In the same vein, here's a catalog of some MIT campus hacks. That is to say, here's how students at MIT have made the campus their own, and have shown how creative and classy people can be with access to the enormous resources of the ivory tower and the deep well of creativity of the smart people there.

[Via Hack-a-day, in a roundabout sort of way]

2005-03-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

Great anti-Big Radio rant on SF Gate:

"This is the problem with rock radio. It has become the last option, the thing you listen to only when all other options fail, when you're too tired to pop in a CD or too lazy to reach for the iPod or just a little too buzzed on premium tequila and postcoital nirvana to care about searching your glove box for that old AC/DC tape. In short, rock radio is for people who buy their Matchbox 20 CDs from Target."

My boss introduced me to a great San Francisco local radio station (KFOG, Thanks, J!) that streams broadcast over the internet with admirably low lag times. I frequently listen to it at work. If you're into that sort of thing, you should also check out We Funk Radio, a bitchin' all Hip Hop, Funk, and Soul streaming radio station with great variety, great DJs, no fees, and no advertising or commercials.

[Via The Red Ferret Journal]

2005-02-09T23:24:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder how common your name really is? Cruise on over to the The Baby Name Wizard and find out in a spiff GUI type experience.

[Via Lifehacker]

2005-01-13T17:26:00.000-08:00

Christ in a hairnet! Today appears to be a day devoted to whacked out geniuses/athletes. Next on the list is a nitrous-enhanced moped builder. Check out this video of the beast as it smokes a Trans Am in a quarter mile.

2005-01-13T17:23:00.000-08:00

The RIOT Wheel is this groovy one-wheeled vehicle (shown above). The inventor seems to be one of these here eccentric genius types. The FAQ and Technical sections on this site are not to be missed.

2005-01-13T17:20:00.000-08:00

This is unreal, and just about defies explanation. It appears to be an outgrowth of the extreme running/extreme jumping thing, and is extremely cool. Even if it is in WMV format. hopp hopp video

2005-01-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

What? I have a blog? JFC, and the last time I posted to it was nearly a month ago? Well, this is something we shall have to remedy, isn't it? Stay tuned...

2004-12-21T14:52:00.000-08:00

While just about everybody and his parakeet is offering some sort of "best of 2004" gift guide roundup, I thought I'd give you what you've really been aching for this Festivus. I mean when you wake up in the middle of the night and you can just feel that something's wrong--your life has a gaping hole the size of Anna Nicole Smith in it, and you don't know what to fill it with. You could wander the Earth like Kane in Kung Fu, or I could just tell you to stuff that void where your soul used to be with the...drum roll please...

Narcoleptic Dog Roundup:

An historical overview of narcolepsy research by Dr. Emmanuel Mignot of the Stanford School of Medicine Link

A cataplectic attack experienced by two narcoleptic dobermans playing AVI Video Link

A cataplectic attack experienced by a narcoleptic daschund AVI Video Link

Larger video of both the attacks above narrated by Mignot AVI Video Link

A narcoleptic weimaraner has an eating-induced attack AVI Video Link

Of course, no narcoleptic dog round up would be complete without the Rusty the Narcoleptic Dog Music Video

2004-12-13T13:15:00.000-08:00

If you've ever wondered what a conversation between Daffy Duck and President Lyndon Baines Johnson would sound like, give this 'un a listen. It's a real telephone conversation between LBJ and Sealab Commander Scott Carpenter, former astronaut, who is decompressing in a helium-atmosphere chamber.
[Via BoingBoing]

2004-12-09T15:28:00.000-08:00

In keeping with the beautiful boats thread, I give you Chesapeake Light Craft. Chesapeake makes the most popular boat kits in the world, including a whole mess of pulling/rowing rigs, a few sailboats, and some gorgeous kayaks (see Chesapeake 16, below). These kits come with everything you need to build your own boat in a reasonable amount of time. Most of these boats are fiberglass-covered okoume plywood construction, and look excellent finished bright. It's also remarkable to realize that you could build a wooden boat weighing much less than a comparably-sized plastic or fiberglass type would weigh, you can do it for half the price, and at the end you'll have put your sweat and blood into a remarkably fun vessel that will have everyone you encounter with it drooling with envy.

2004-12-08T15:57:00.000-08:00

If you didn't have internet access, you would miss a whole lot. For example, you would miss being able to read the text of John Stewart's Commencement address to William and Mary College. Just think how much poorer your life would be for it.

You would, of course, also miss Conan O'Brian's Harvard Commencement speech, and Will Farrell's Harvard Class Day speech, also at Harvard. Oh, and then there's Ali G's Harvard Class Day speech--starting to see a theme here? As in a "Harvard gets the dopest mothers around to give speeches (Stewart at W&M was a fluke--he went there, after all), while the rest of us get shafted" theme. Damn. Oh well--their school mascot is the cantab, so they've got to make up for that somehow.

2004-12-08T15:09:00.000-08:00

Boats rock. Well, that's not quite true--some boats don't rock. There are boats out there, like the Bayliner Buccaneer, that are so offensive to the eyes that they ought to be recycled into park benches, post haste. But for every ugly tupperware sail contraption and every stinkpot powerboat, there are dozens of beautiful wooden sailboats and historical wooden powerboats. Wait, maybe I got that ratio wrong--maybe it's one beauty for every dozen fuglies. Oh well, there are some amazing wooden boats out there.

I'm going to start collecting and posting pictures of those lovelies. I'll start today with links to Sam Devlin's Devlin Designing Boat Builders. Sam designs and builds absolutely gorgeous wooden boats with a Northwest flair to them; any of these boats would look right at home in the waterways of the pacific northwest--Puget Sound, the inside passage, Gray's and Willapa Harbor, etc. Just imagine Means of Grace (above) sailing at you out of the fog on a rainy day in the San Juans.

2004-12-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

Bibleman! Bibleman! That's all I can say--Bibleman! Okay, I'll say more: Bibleman is one of the more perverse aspects of ~~Hitler's~~ Jerry Falwell's propaganda machine--he engages in "spectacular battles against the flamboyant villains of Darkness" in his silver plasticised body suit, with what appears to be a Jedi light saber in his hand (^h^h^h Ripoff!). In one episode:

Young Kayla falls prey to the sinister Shadow of Doubt and becomes discouraged about her faith. Bibleman attempts to help but soon becomes the Shadow’s next target and is turned from Scripture shouter to Scripture doubter. Aided by his loyal sidekick Coats, and protected by the Helmet of Salvation, Bibleman turns the tables on the Shadow of Doubt by relying on the truths in God’s Word.

That's right folks, he's protected by his ~~tinfoil beanie~~ helmet of salvation! He also lives in a 'Biblecave' (I shit you not). Here's how to make a helmet of salvation for yourself, so that neither Doubting Thomases nor alien mind-control devices will be able to penetrate your unshakeable faith. Somehow teaching kids to ignore arguments that don't fit with an absurdly narrow interpretation of their religion just seems so predictable and transparent that it's got to shake some believer's head out of the sand.

Of course, when Bibleman can't pull your little rugrats out of the reality-based community, there's always Dance Dance Resurrection!

[Via Red Ferret Journal and BoingBoing]

2004-12-06T19:24:00.000-08:00

Of course, if you're going to be a sailor, you'll need to memorize a few things. First: Jimmy Buffet lyrics; memorize all you can. Makes for good humming too. Sometime I'll post some real chanties.

Second, learn to tie you some knots. To help with that, I reccomend a few resources:

The Ashley Book of Knots is the knot book. Ask anybody you see tying complex, beautiful knots were they learned them, and it's a good bet they'll say, "I saw 'em in Ashley's."
Peter Suber's Knots on the Web is a big repository of knotting information, combining ancient knot art and modern knot theory. Quite a lot of good stuff here.
Brion Toss's The Rigger's Apprentice is another classic book, but one which approaches knotwork from the larger context of traditional sail rigging.
Ropers Knots Page--I haven't really explored this one yet, but it looks to have a very very large number of knots and links to other knotwork sites.

Anyway, there's some starters and I'll update this post as I gather others.

2004-12-06T18:04:00.000-08:00

Methinks the wind hath spoke aloud at land;
A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements:
If it hath ruffian'd so upon the sea,
What ribs of oak, when mountains melt on them,
Can hold the mortise?
-Othello

Did you see Pirates of the Carribean? Like it? Why not ditch yer shit-kickers and Wranglers, don a period costume, and go sailing for yourself?

Arrrr!

Here are some links to get you started:

The American Sail Training Association (ASTA) is something of an umbrella organization of ~~all~~ most of the US-flag sailing vessels that do sail training as a large part of their mission. Yeah, there are a lot of 'em. You can learn to sail, become a weevil-eatin' salty sea dog on any of these girls, and some of 'em will let you do it for free.

Of the members of ASTA, I've got my favorite:

The tallship Lady Washington is the official tallship of Washington State. She's a working replica of the brig Lady Washington, which was built circa 1750 and lost circa 1799 in a river delta in the Phillippines (IIRC). The replica is 112' spar-to-spar, 68' on deck, has eleven sails (Coasties don't allow stunts'ls or royals because she's rated for passengers), and generally operates with twelve crew, all of whom live aboard. The original Lady Washington was, as one captain of this replica is fond of saying, "The UPS truck of its day," a common utilitarian design that was subject to minor-ish alterations. She likely took the name Washington in order to more swiftly gain a writ to be a privateer during the revolutionary war (if you named your vessel after the general of the American forces, or his wife, it was much easier to gain such a writ).

The Lady Washington (right) and Hawaiian Chieftan at dock.

Later the Lady Washington was purchased by the financiers of the first significant American voyage of discovery to what would eventually become the west coast of the United States. With her mother ship Columbia Rediviva ("Columbia Revived"), Lady Washington rounded Cape Horn and became the first American-flag vessel to make landfall on the west coast. The Lady Washington and Columbia Rediviva described and mapped much of the coast of the Pacific Northwest. The Columbia river is named after the Columbia Rediviva, and Gray's Harbor is named after the captain of that ship. The information gathered on this expedition was essential to Lewis and Clark when they set out to explore the Louisiana Purchase.

The Lady Washington later traveled east to Asia, to trade beaver furs gathered in the Northwest to the Japanese, who valued them very highly for hats. Her captain (Capt. Kendrick) was killed by an errant cannonball during this voyage, and she was sold to the cook for $1, as the story goes. Contact with the vessel was, for most purposes, lost and she is believed to have been sunk in the Phillippines.

Today, the Lady Washington is crewed by twelve volunteer men and women from a range of backgrounds and of various ages. Her primary mission is as an educational ambassador to preserve the lore, art, and romance of the age of tallships and the history of the tallships era. Her home port is verdant Aberdeen, Washington, though she has sailed as far north as Skagway, Alaska and routinely sails as far south as San Diego, California. Volunteer crew are generally invited to work a 2-week volunteer training stint, paying what amounts to the cost of food for that period (~$200 I think), in order to learn the ropes and see if the life of a square-rigger is for them. After that training stint, crew come back as often and as long as they like (when there's a berth available). To learn more about her, follow the link above, see where she is right now (maybe she's in your town!), or call 1-800-200-LADY. Sailing aboard this ship, should you choose to do it, may well be the highlight of your life.

2004-12-01T12:53:00.000-08:00

This is why I love Gizmodo, even more than Engadget:

"Did you know Choctaw was one of the few languages that had a tense to indicate the veracity of the statement being said? I read that on Slashdot yesterday. Did you know Slashdot was staffed entirely by elves, or men dressed like elves? I love their little shoe bells, which are known as 'Gawlowski' in their melodious language. Did you know this PaperHub, a combination USB 2.0 and FireWire hub that doubles as a paper tray, was shown to me by press contact David Gawlowski, who works for the creator-company Pressure Drop, which has an office on Choctaw Road in Bend, Oregon? What are the chances?

Everything is interconnected into life's tapestry, which is like a poster, but made out of cloth and not paper, and with kings and chicken banquets on it instead of glowing, black light mushroom unicorns or Lamborghinis."

2004-11-30T16:25:00.000-08:00

Schlep, Jane, Schlep. Learn yiddish with Dick and Jane. Make sure your headphones or speakers are on.

[Via Screenhead]

2004-11-30T14:11:00.000-08:00

Over thanksgiving break, I saw Alexander with my dad. It was quite possibly the worst movie I've ever seen--would've walked out, but it was so awful it made all my muscles seize. As we walked out into the mall that the theater is in, I felt a little like burning the mall down. If you watch Alexander yourself, you'll know my pain.

2004-11-29T12:38:00.000-08:00

Apologies to HA Rey (who also wrote one of the all-time great Constellation/Night Sky Books), but today on a Slashdot discussion, someone said something about "Isn't it curious that george bush..." and I haven't been able to get the Curious George/George Bush meme out of my head. It seems so obvious that it'd be a funny theme to explore (bumbling incompetent monkey in White House and all that), but all I could find in a cursory Googling was this:Curious GWB. Does anybody know of better Bush/Curious George mashups (preferably illustrated) online?

2004-11-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

I guess I'm not the only one who found the Bush with turkey picture funny. Obey
[Via BoingBoing]

2004-11-18T17:42:00.000-08:00

Travelers of the world beware. Or at least read the guide book before you visit the small asian nation Phaic Tan.
[Via Gadling]

2004-11-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

This has been going around for a while now (at least since Nov 2, which is, in Internet years, um...a lot), but in case you missed it, Sorry Everybody is a site where you can apologize to the rest of the world for America's latest youthful indescretion. In response, there is now Apologies Accepted, which should be self-explanatory. View the galleries at both sites for full effect.
[Via Devoter]

2004-11-18T14:56:00.000-08:00

Blame Bush, a site where you can post your latest gripe and blame it on Bush.

Excerpt:

My sister (MBA) has been unemployed for 2 years. My father (PHD) was forced into early retirement because the hospital pharmacy where he worked for 20 years had to cut jobs. My mother (ME) is a substitute teacher in a middle school because the University had to dissolve her department because they couldn't afford to keep it running. I'm the only one with a steady job, and I've already been laid off from 2 jobs in the last 4 years. Oh, and it's 70 degrees in November. I blame Bush.

[Via Condi Rice Is Angry]

2004-11-18T14:51:00.000-08:00

"Bet you won't vote Democrat next time, eh turkey? Heh heh heh."

2004-11-18T14:23:00.000-08:00

Oh goodie. President Bush plans on re-writing the tax code to eliminate the alternative minimum (which is an attempt to make rich people--who normally might shove their money into offshore tax shelters or use other loopholes to avoid paying their share--pay at least some tax). To pay for this, and other "tax yer income only oncet" measures, homeboy is gonna get rid of tax deductions for health care, amongst other horrors. Right now that peice in The Onion (see below) seems especially appropriate. Thanks, red states, for voting against your interests. If you use only simple words and stumble when you speak in public, maybe the mouth-breathers will elect you president. link

While I'm on the subject of taxes, has it ever bothered you that some of the selfsame nimrods who flaunt patriotism like it comes from a HappyMeal or free with the purchase of ten miniature American flags, and who deride as traitors those who disagree with the President on important issues like the war in Iraq, would gladly do virtually anything to avoid giving back to society in their share by using tax loopholes? Who are the real traitors? Who is putting their money where their mouth is?
[Via The Regular]

2004-11-18T13:27:00.000-08:00

I'm tempted to make this play in the background on the desktop of my computer until the end of time. Bit of a download (.mov link), but well worth it--and a great costume idea for Renn Fayre!
[via Screenhead]

2004-11-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

w00t. LMAO. ASCII movie of a war b/w LOL city and LMAO planes under WTF cloud skies. You'll enjoy it more if you like Rammstein, or liked them in Jr. High. And really, who didn't?
[Via Screenhead]

2004-11-17T17:43:00.000-08:00

Remixed Diebold ads. Pretty damned funny.link
[Via Screenhead]

2004-11-16T11:16:00.000-08:00

Glad that this could be the first post of the day. The kids who did this must have some sort of medical knowledge (or they just had a "big fancy words thesaurus" next to them as they wrote it), cause they use some really cool sounding big medical words. And not just words that sound big if you're from a red state (like "nuclear").
Jerry Garcia Autopsy - A Groovy Peek Inside Captain Trips - chickenhead.com
[Via Screenhead]

2004-11-15T13:33:00.000-08:00

The cartoon 'Get Your War On' is ~~always~~ usually pretty awesome, but the most recent one (which has, admittedly, been up for some time) is especially apt.

Get Your War On

Freebord

2004-11-12T15:45:00.000-08:00

This sounds stupid, but actually looks really cool and simple and seems to make skateboarding much better resemble snowboarding or surfing. Freebord. Be sure to check out the movie.
[Via

2004-11-12T10:51:00.000-08:00

Should've posted this yesterday. Funniest thing I saw all day--the dubya movie, starring Don Knotts as W. dubyamovie.com
[Via Screenhead]

2004-11-11T17:01:00.000-08:00

I'd like to share a letter to the editor in today's Oregonian that my boss brought to my attention:

Bush 'represents our values'
My wife and I voted for President Bush. We don't go to church. However, we don't want Roe vs. Wade overturned. We believe that the Iraq war was a mistake and lament the loss of jobs overseas. We believe access to affordable medical care is a right.

Why did we vote the way we did? We voted for Bush because we believe he represents our values and his opponent did not. Our values reject the hedonistic and materialistic values of popular culture.

To be specific, we reject the trash we see in the popular media and abhor the way it projects American culture to the rest of the world.

We dislike elitists from the large urban centers who demean simple people who believe in God and express their faith by going to church. We believe in God, and although we don't attend church, we believe the Ten Commandments and Christian teachings are an excellent basis for moral and ethical behavior. We suspect we are not alone.

Dale P. Henken Coquille

I was going to rip this one apart, urban elitist that I am, but if you can't see the folly in this one...god help us all.

2004-11-11T13:23:00.000-08:00

Here's a fantastic story in The Onion right now that hits it just dead on. Nation's Poor Win Election For Nation's Rich

Some excerpts:

"You have selflessly sacrificed your well-being and voted against your own economic interest. For this, we humbly thank you."

Added Rove: "You have acted beyond the call of duty—or, for that matter, good sense."

"My family's been suffering ever since I lost my job at the screen-door factory, and I haven't seen a doctor for well on four years now," said father of four Buddy Kaldrin of Eerie, CO. "Shit, I don't even remember what a dentist's chair looks like... Basically, I'd give up if it weren't for God's grace. So it's good to know we have a president who cares about religion, too."

Kaldrin added: "That's why I always vote straight-ticket Republican, just like my daddy did, before he lost the farm and shot himself in the head, and just like his daddy did, before he died of black-lung disease in the company coal mines."

Kaldrin was one of many who listed moral issues among their primary reasons for voting Republican.

"The alliance between the tiny fraction at the top of the pyramid and the teeming masses of mouth-breathers at its enormous base has never been stronger," a triumphant Bush said. "We have an understanding, them and us. They help us stay rich, and in return, we help them stay poor. See? No matter what naysayers may think, the system works."

Thanks J!

2004-11-11T13:12:00.000-08:00

The Columbia Journalism Review has an insightful article online about the difficulties of scientific journalism. Specifically, the article does a great job of actually recognizing the difference between social/moral/religious/other issue groups, like creationists, and scientists. When some editor tells his staff to cover both sides of an issue like evolution "equally," he's engineering into the article an absurd skew, becuase scientists and social advocacy groups are on fundamentally different footing. I'm really not sure how many people understand how science works, what with peer review and the interface between basic research and clinical practice (in the case of biomedical science) and all. I've talked to a whole lot of smart, but not scientifically-trained, people about my thesis and what I work on, and I'm continually surprised by how few of those people have an understanding that surpasses the 'DNA is the building blocks of life' level. I'm sure that those same people wouldn't be able to effectively distinguish between fringe science and good science except by instinct. And as the continued circulation of tabloids seems to demonstrate, it's easy to overcome the instinctive bullshit meter by making the reader/believer part of a privileged or outsider group.

This really worries me--bad science journalism-->bad science understanding in adults-->badly informed electorate-->bad policy decisions (especially decisions on education, medicine, the environment)-->bad results, poorly educated children {lather, rinse, repeat}. I think that an uninformed electorate is largely responsible for the fact that the bush administration was able to sack Elizabeth Blackburn, who is an extraordinarily respected scientist, from the presiden't council on bioethics. Not a whole lot of ire was raised by this, which is difficult for me to understand. But when you think of the way that science is being "balanced" around here, with scientists' findings being made to kowtow to issues groups when being presented in mainstream media, it makes sense.
[Via Slashdot]

2004-11-11T10:13:00.000-08:00

Awesome. This kid from CMU won the college edition of Jeopardy with a Final Jeopardy wager of $1337. And yes, he is a comp sci major.
[Via Boingboing]

2004-11-10T18:04:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I promised a friend I'd blog about this today, and I might as well share the love anyway, right? This is, bar-none, the bone-diddliest series of quicktime righteousness I've seen since...uh, since MC Hawking got his first pimp cup. Here is Chris Christmas Rodriguez, because you asked for it.
[Probably Via Screenhead, but I can't remember]

2004-11-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

Fuck the South. Hehe. This is great. Not that my predisposition for intellectual eliteism is noticable or anything, but..

"All those Federal taxes you love to hate? It all comes from us and goes to you, so shut up and enjoy your fucking Tennessee Valley Authority electricity and your fancy highways that we paid for. And the next time Florida gets hit by a hurricane you can come crying to us if you want to, but you're the ones who built on a fucking swamp. "Let the Spanish keep it, it’s a shithole," we said, but you had to have your fucking orange juice."

2004-11-10T15:49:00.000-08:00

Exactly what is needed--a flash cartoon remake of the Beastie Boys' classic No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn starring George W. and the gang (and Condi Rice's ass, apparently).
[Via Screenhead]

Short Film 'More'

2004-11-10T15:31:00.000-08:00

This is fantastic. I'm sure everybody who's anybody has seen it before, but previously it was only available (to my knowledge) on iFilm in a really half-assed ad-burdened version. Anyway, if you haven't seen it, um, you suck. And see it now, so you can stop sucking.
[Via Screenhead]

2004-11-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

So long as I'm yakking about John Ashcroft, here's the obligatory John Ashcroft sings "Let the Eagle Soar" video. Yes, he really did do that. Yes, he really did write that song himself. I'm pretty sure that's why he got sacked.

Condoleeza Rice: Good morning, sir, it's time for your daily security briefing. So if you'll just please...
George W. Bush: Get some briefs? Heh Heh Heh. That one gets 'em every time. You know what Condi?
Rice: What Mr. President?
GWB: You know what Condi? I was just poking around on the internets, like Dick showed me how, and I googled our boy John, and there's this video there, have you seen it?
Rice: I'm not sure what you're talking about, Mr. President.
GWB: Well, it's this video of John after his speech at a seminary in, I think, Georgia, and he's singing. Cheesy music from a boombox to accompany him and all.
Rice: I'm not sure I follow, sir.
GWB: My question is this, Condi: Why didn't this show up at our security briefings? I mean, what the fuck? Do we really have to keep giving ammunition to the Axis of Evil?
Rice: Umm...Mr. President, I thought we agreed that teenagers on the internet are not part of the Axis of Evi..
GWB (interrupting) You said that! You said it. I never agreed. Anyway, fool me once...shame on...liberals. Can't get fooled again, you see? Right after the re-coronation, we're dropping John like he's a hot armadilla on a cold tin roof, got it?

John Ashcroft Writes Like an Eighth Grader

2004-11-10T11:18:00.000-08:00

Have you read the text of Ashcroft's hand-written resignation letter to Bush? Although there aren't any glaring errors or malapropisms really, there is just a general laziness about his writing. It's just so sterile and stiff. He must have written this in short order after an unexpected request for his resignation and had to swallow his pride to make it respectful enough for eventual publication.

Jesusland

2004-11-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

You've probably seen this before, but in case you haven't...
This is a splendid idea--to let the left coast, New England, and some of the better upper mid-western states just secede and become part of Canada. The rest of the old USA (the Marching Morons part) could become, well, as you see.

2004-11-10T10:45:00.000-08:00

This is what voting should be like. A paper trail, verifiable, transparent, open-source. I want to be able to securely ensure that my vote is counted, while remaining anonymous. It isn't hard, and it isn't too much to ask.
[Via BoingBoing]

2004-11-09T17:25:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'm a-gonna wax a little self-indulgent here and talk out loud about how I think this blog is about to change, but that's my right, okay? Anyway, if a blog post is made in the depths of cyberspace and nobody's around to read it, does it make a sound?

So I think I'm about to get a little more topical and more commentary-based, though I know that's pretty overdone in the blogosphere. But topical--that means you get to apply me to your skin, doesn't it? That can't be done *all that often*, can it? Anyway, I just want the opportunity to force my opinion onto more people more often, that's all.

Speaking of which, in the time I was gone (read: had better things to do/was too lazy to post) a couple of things happened. First, and most importantly, 59M Americans done smoked theyselves retarded. Second, by way of explanation of the above, a new species of human was discovered. These new guys, as you no doubt already know, are tiny--the height of a toddler with a cranium 1/3 the size. The fossils that have thus far characterized the species date to c. 18,000 YA, meaning they may have cohabitated with H. sapiens on the island. I'm pretty sure they could have located new species of troglodyte pretty easily just by visiting polling booths in 'middle America', but scientists are generally smarter than to go there.

The third thing that happened was I graduated from ma fancy-pants caw-ledge. They gave me a nice ~~receipt~~ certificate and a carrying case and everything. I'm a little bummed that the carrying case doesn't seem to have a belt-clip on it, but I'm sure somebody has an aftermarked add-on for it. I haven't looked yet, though. Graduation was great--got to walk across a stage and shake El Presidente's hand, and some good friends came up to see it. The only disconcerting bit was when the Dean of Students made everybody drop trow and stamped us all "USDA certified SMART" on the left cheek. I guess all colleges do that these days, but it still seems a little excessive.

2004-11-09T16:33:00.000-08:00

Thank god. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Servant of ~~Satan~~ The Christian Right, has resigned his post. link

Or do we still have reason to fear? They couldn't really make him a Supreme Ct. Justice, could they? No, there may be 59M dumbasses in America, but there have to be enough smart people in the Senate to block such an absurd appointment, right? Right?

2004-11-09T14:23:00.000-08:00

Guddamn, it's been a long dry spell here at EvolutionKills. November-March=Lots of empty months of non-bloggage. Well, that's all about to change. I'd like to be able to claim that in the intervening time I had grown a social life from a seed in the lab (or hell, grown decent results from some seed in the lab), but that's just not the case. If my first post is any indication, I'd say I gave the blog thing the good ol' High School try. Now I've got a degree, I don't have a thesis, and I guess I'm going to skip over the good ol' College try and pass straight on to the good ol' Grad School try. I think that means that I'll get all tweaked out on coffee and beer and write until the wee hours of the morning. Oh wait, that's pretty much what my college experience was like, so maybe that should be the good ol' College try again. Now I'm confused. I guess I'll have to come up with some sort of criteria that describe a 'good ol' post-bac, pre-doc try'. Yeah, I'll get back to you on that one.

In the meantime, however, check out what I've been doing in the lab. Yes, that's right, it's my senior thesis--and you thought life couldn't get any better!

Also, I give you my solemn pledge that I'll post more often than twice a year from now on. And just because I've got my fingers crossed right now doesn't mean that I don't mean it.

2004-04-14T23:43:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to say about this. Um, yeah, this guy makes Songs to Wear Pants To. He'll take any email you send him and make a song out of it. Pretty great idea, if you ask me. You didn't, but you could.
link[via Gawker]

2004-04-07T22:26:00.000-07:00

Holy Frijoles, Batman! Just when you thought Friendster couldn't be more passe and useless, it becomes...wait for it....ever so slightly less passe and useless! Dodgeball allows you to integrate Friendster/Orkut/Tribe/generic YASNS into your cell phone--it'll tell you that the girl winking at you from the other side of the bar is Loose Lucy, to whom you're connected through Jimbo the Wino (your friend). Presumably you then call Jimbo *real quick* to get the lowdown on her favorite Beatle for conversational purposes and to make sure she doesn't have herpes before waltzing on over.
[Via Gawker]

2004-03-30T19:41:00.000-08:00

One more reason why the prevalence of cell phones can be useful and exceptionally cool: in Germany, you can rent a bike with one. Just dial up the Call a Bike service when you come across one of their bikes on the street and they'll give you the code to unlock it and bill you for as long as you're using it. Call them a second time when you're done with it and the bike will lock back up and they'll stop charging you. One might think this system would be pretty prone to security issues, but it's still a damn cool idea.
Call a Bike[via Red Ferret Journal]

2004-03-07T19:40:00.000-08:00

Just when you thought 8-bit plumbers couldn't get any cooler, you come across something like this on the internet.
Mario Bros. Web Opera:
Part I
Part II
Part III
[via BoingBoing]

2004-02-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

Word. Biggest danged diamond you can imagine--10 billion trillion trillion carats--found.Biggest diamond[via Best Week Ever Blog]

2004-02-11T14:52:00.000-08:00

Reed doesn't have this why? [looking around] Oh, yeah.Harvard's Student Porn Mag
[via Gawker]

2004-02-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

Cool new (ly discovered) blog. This guy (or gal, but I assume guy) can really write. Funny without the same tone of Gawker or Wonkette, which, though funny, is too often imitated some times.
why.i.hate.dc

2004-01-29T12:33:00.000-08:00

If you've often wondered what life is like for a molar, you've got to check out this guy's pinhole camera site. Not only is pinhole camera photography cool, but this guy's got it going on from inside his mouth.
Pinhole photography by Justin Quinnell [via BoingBoing]

2004-01-29T09:21:00.000-08:00

It must have been something he ate. A less-than-alive sperm whale exploded in Taiwan due to buildup of decomposition-related gases while it was being trucked through the city. Shops and bystanders--who were apparently on hand to "experience the size" of the whale's 5-foot penis--were drenched in blood and half-rotted entrails. That'll teach 'em. I'm pretty sure if we had dropped moldering whale corpses ready to pop on Iraq, we could have had Saddam's surrender in a matter of minutes.Thar she blows! Dead whale explodes.

2004-01-28T22:44:00.000-08:00

Finally, a site devoted to the good part of Kung Fu movies--the flippy, spinny, my-foot-up-yer-ass-when-I'm-just-a-whirling-blur type stuff. Tell me you don't want to be one of these guys.
Martial Arts TRICKZ

2004-01-28T09:48:00.000-08:00

Check out Qrio, the next step in the grand effort to replace children with robots. He can run, dance, and throw a baseball--three things that children do, but without the whining, pooping, screaming, and potential for future axe murders that children are prone to.Running, Pitching, and Dancing QRIO!!!!![via Kokoro]

2004-01-28T01:01:00.000-08:00

From Gossiping Bitches, a new study finds Britons Can't Rap:

"'in most facets of hip-hop, British people scored the lowest worldwide. In fact, in the areas of 'Respecting One's Gangsta' and 'Keeping It Real', the British subjects barely even registered...It doesn't mean that the United Kingdom is completely devoid of culture, though. England is still first in crumpets, cute slang terms for feces, and those nifty bowler derbies that I always see on BBC television."

This all despite Ali G and Dizzee Rascal (btw what the fuck kind of gangsta name is that anyway).

2004-01-27T23:00:00.000-08:00

Fantastically cool--who said biotech was only used for evil? Oh yeah, Bush. Take that you creationist ignoramus moroon.

Flower-Power Could Help Clear Land mines

2004-01-27T18:08:00.000-08:00

Interesting "well maybe its possssibbblle..." type story on how dem Ruskies determined that the parting of the Red Sea was possible, given a series of groovy coincidences.
Study: Red Sea parting was possible - (United Press International)[via whatevs]

2004-01-27T17:36:00.000-08:00

Wow, I just realized I blatantly ripped off Wonkette for that last post. Or at least I could be accused of doing so. In fact, I was on the Washington Post site after following the Wonkette link on Franken when I realized that LaRouche sounded familiar. Somehow I got to the same page after googling "LaRouche," thought the interview was notable and posted (below). So I only half ripped off Wonkette for cred. Oh well, I've gone that a lot, I suppose. Are there laws about that sort of thing?

2004-01-27T17:24:00.000-08:00

It's sort of passe to make fun of Lyndon LaRouche (I think I remember one of my history teachers making fun of him in High School), but I've got to link to this interview anyway. He claims that the Grateful Dead were both an offshoot of the MK-ULTRA operations and the brainchild of the Occult Bureau of Huxley for British intelligence. I don't suppose I can really refute those claims, but this guy seems just a bit off his gourd. No wonder Al Franken thought nobody would mind if he took out a LaRouchie.

2004-01-27T16:30:00.000-08:00

I had never really heard of this before, but the cluetrain manifesto seems like a no bullshit good idea. Or at least an excuse to keep blogging.

2004-01-27T13:11:00.000-08:00

Whew, that's a load off my mind. It would appear that Neaderthals were not a major contributor to the genetic makeup of modern Homo sapiens. It's still possible that they will be shown to be a major contributor to the Republican Party (damn, I'm on a roll today).
Neanderthal Study Press Release

2004-01-27T12:38:00.000-08:00

First Portland State's Open Source rocket design club, now this: a group of developers collaborating to make Open Source UAVs using R/C helicopters. Damn that's cool. Tell me again why we need NASA for a mission to Mars?

2004-01-27T12:32:00.000-08:00

Is it too late to put my two cents in? For the record, I think Joe Lieberman is a douche bag. If I had to choose between Joe and George, I'd write in Cretien. That's how bad I think the leader of the fascist wing of the Democratic Party would be for America.
Lieberman says he's got the 'Joementum'

2004-01-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

Somebody might actually buy this argument if they thought that anyone in the Bush administration knew what "evil biology" is. I'm pretty sure it's the sort of biology that results from plant survey transects carried out by pierced, goth socialists who don't have the nation's logging interests in mind. They probably even listen to Marilyn Manson or Jessica Simpson (whoops, that just slipped out). Why is it that calling biological warfare agents a hazard we've managed to stigmatize the biological sciences that work in related areas but haven't really cast blame on the military?
Evil Biology, Evil Chemistry

2004-01-27T12:05:00.000-08:00

Holy Shnikes! A report demonstrating that Fox News is just that--Faux News. If you watch news media that lies, you're more likely to have blatant misconceptions about the world around you (duh). Specifically, you're more likely to believe in a connection between al-Qaeda and Saddam, which even the White House has admitted doesn't exist. No word yet on if you're more likely to pronounce 'Saddam' like GB 41 or GB 43 when you're proselytizing to your better informed, NPR-listener acquaintances at cocktail parties.
Asia Times - Fox News Listeners Are Just Plain Dumb

2004-01-27T11:56:00.000-08:00

So it turns out that they don't just load up a SCUD, point it at Mars, press the button and go back to their day jobs while waiting the two years for the probe-age to begin. Here's a bunch of animations that those NASA guys made while twiddling their thumbs. I think Sean O'Keefe just had his guys make pretty movies to keep them from asking "Are we there yet?"; I also strongly suspect that these guys made all those "shock and awe" propaganda animations that showed us how we were gonna kick Iraqi ass PS2 style.
Mars Exploration: Multimedia

2004-01-27T10:53:00.000-08:00

It makes sense that this is out there, but I never really thought to look:
Chuck Palahniuk Online.

2004-01-27T10:44:00.000-08:00

Excellent political flash animation, starring Ben of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. Check it out:
TrueMajority

2004-01-27T00:49:00.000-08:00

Wow. Believe it or not, it appears as if the US has an ACTUAL TERRORIST in custody in Guantanamo Bay. It's a good thing this shmuck and the other 600 captives weren't able to avail themselves of the American Justice System, 'cause it sure sounds like a tough nut to crack.
Customs agent tells of stopping '20th hijacker'
What happened to America? What would it hurt for this guy to get an English-speaking lawyer? He'd still go down.

2004-01-26T17:45:00.000-08:00

Innuendo? There's a bird innuendo. How to talk like a redneck:
American Accent Training[Via Chica

2004-01-26T17:35:00.000-08:00

The Japanese are trying to out-do the Renn Fayre bouncy ball drop:
Ping-Pong Ball Avalanche

2004-01-26T17:33:00.000-08:00

Cool Idea of the Day:
Cambodian Wifi motorcycles

2004-01-26T17:32:00.000-08:00

Just in case you needed another excuse to not eat Avacados (besides the old standby, "they taste bad"):
Someone Is Stealing Avocados, and ’Guac Cops’ Are on the Case

2004-01-25T23:05:00.000-08:00

All right, now I just feel stupid. Thanks a lot, kid.12-year-old begins medical school at the University of Chicago

2004-01-25T14:22:00.000-08:00

Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice...
{or something along those lines--very funny flash anyway}End Of World

2004-01-25T13:11:00.000-08:00

What if God's a real dumbass? This group would like to see the Ohio Board of Indoctrination require teachers to present 3 different natural history viewpoints to their pupils:
1. Evolution: natural processes, all of which are scientifically verified and nearly impossible to deny, resulted in life as we know it.
2. Intelligent Creationism: some really badass ectoplamic divinity created the earth and all yo' peeps with a coherent design in mind.
3. Unintelligent Creationism: the universe was created by a fairly dumb, Cletus the Slack-jawed Yokel-type God, and the overall crappiness of the world reflects his failure. That's probably why you can't get a date.Unintelligent Design Network, Inc.

2004-01-25T12:56:00.000-08:00

Score cool free fonts from this place, which has a real retro fetish going on.Dinc!

2004-01-25T12:41:00.000-08:00

This is definitely one of my favoritesFUH2 | Fuck You And Your H2

2004-01-25T12:40:00.000-08:00

Just won the lottery and looking to buy me something? Check this out.Mptronix - Home of the Ultimate Muzic Player

2004-01-25T12:39:00.000-08:00

Everyone who might actually be reading this has probably already seen this site, but I'm gonna link to it just the same. Very cool.Stencil Revolution

2004-01-25T12:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was stunningly unproductive, so today I'm up at the L&C law library trying to get some workage done. So far, so good, but the jury's still out. In the meantime, I'll try to find something or other to post.

2004-01-24T23:28:00.000-08:00

Far and away the funniest thing I've seen todaySUPER MODEL MEAT SPORTS

2004-01-24T23:21:00.000-08:00

Supremely cool toy:
POPnetserver 1000 Network Attached Storage (NAS) Product - FIA

2004-01-24T22:19:00.000-08:00

Please forgive this for being the first post. Now, there's an ostentatious way to start a blog. I guess I'm not expecting to give it much more than a good ol' college try. According to the wisdom of Calvin & Hobbes, that means I'll take a half-assed crack at it and go have a beer. I'm not that ambitious; I'll probably give it a quarter-ass try and go work on my thesis instead. I call that my high school diploma try. As in, "If I don't get my thesis intro done, all I'll have to my name is a high school diploma." More to follow. Stay in touch....{Pshhhh...} End Transmission.