Archive for June, 2008
An Unlikely Thank You
Posted by jim in Monday open discussion on June 30, 2008
This past weekend was high school graduation weekend for most of the schools in our area. At times like these, I sometimes hear folks waxing nostalgic about certain teachers who made an impact on them. I never had a chance to thank a couple of teachers who taught me extremely valuable lessons that served me well over the years, so here goes.
First, there was my fourth grade teacher. She introduced to me to an idea which has always stuck with me, and which has served me well in my many years as a college professor: Adults, and teachers in particular, can be wrong. Up until this time I had always assumed that adults were always right. They knew more than kids did because they had been around a lot longer and had already gone through school. Teachers in particular were always right because, well, they’re teachers.
An Unlikely Thank You
Posted by jim in Monday open discussion on June 30, 2008
This past weekend was high school graduation weekend for most of the schools in our area. At times like these, I sometimes hear folks waxing nostalgic about certain teachers who made an impact on them. I never had a chance to thank a couple of teachers who taught me extremely valuable lessons that served me well over the years, so here goes.
First, there was my fourth grade teacher. She introduced to me to an idea which has always stuck with me, and which has served me well in my many years as a college professor: Adults, and teachers in particular, can be wrong. Up until this time I had always assumed that adults were always right. They knew more than kids did because they had been around a lot longer and had already gone through school. Teachers in particular were always right because, well, they’re teachers.
Energy Equivalence
Posted by jim in Bio-bizarre, Health and Society on June 23, 2008
Two things that seem to be in the headlines of late: oil prices and overweight Americans. How do these things go together? Time for a fun “back of the envelope” calculation.
According to the CDC about two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese (a BMI over 25 tags you as overweight while a BMI over 30 defines obese). Currently, nearly a third of US adults are obese. If we ignore the obese children for a moment (and that’s getting harder and harder to do), that means there’s somewhere around 165 million Americans who are at least overweight. Let’s be really generous (kind of like current trends in clothing), and assume that the average individual in this group is 15 pounds overweight. That’s about what you get for a person 5’10″ tall with a BMI of 27. I suspect the average is far more, but this is good enough for our quick-and-dirty calculation. If we multiply the number of adults by the average excess poundage, and assuming that each pound is indeed fat with an energy content of about 3500 kcals per pound, and convert the total to kilojoules, we wind up with around 3.7E13 kjoules total excess energy stored in the bodies of American citizens.
Here’s the fun part. A barrel of crude oil contains about 6.1E6 kjoules. Further, we import about 1.5 million barrels of crude per day from Saudi Arabia (our second largest source, Canada being first at about 2 million). If you put these together and assuming we could transform all of the excess weight hanging from our collective bodies into a useful form, we’d have about four days worth of crude imports from the Saudis. The really fun part is that, depending on how you look at it, it shows not only how fat we are as a nation, but also, just how huge is our appetite for petroleum.
Fun with Resistive Position Sensors
Posted by jim in Audio Island, More Art, Then Science, Pattern Juggling, Techies & Technology, What The Heck Is That Thing? on June 19, 2008
As part of my continuing adventures in drumming symmetry, I have been working on a dual electronic hi-hat pedal. The idea is to have a single hi-hat pad respond equally well to either a left or a right foot pedal. It is similar to having both left and right kick drum pedals. For the hi-hat, this effect is sometimes realized through the use of a switch, but that requires some extra motion and it’s not possible to use both pedals at the same time. These pedals (both an FD-7 and an FD-8) are used with a Roland TD20 drum controller. The hi-hat pedal uses a resistive position sensor to indicate the location of the hi-hat pedal, be it fully up, fully down, or somewhere in between, to the TD20.
So, how do these sensors work? Well, let’s go back to some basics. The electrical resistance of a material depends on the inherent characteristics of that material (its resistivity) and its physical layout:
resistance = resistivity * length / cross-sectional area
In other words, if you take a certain amount of stuff and make it very long and skinny in shape, it will have a much higher resistance than if you shape it short and stout. Below is a photo of the sensor used in the Roland FD-7 (the FD-8 sensor is very similar).
Congressman Jordan’s Greatest Document
Posted by jim in We're Doomed on June 18, 2008
If you happened to be watching C-SPAN last night you got to see a parade of conservative Republicans prattling on about House Resolution 284 (AKA National Year of the Bible) and related concerns. It’s gotten to the point that a showing of middle-aged and older conservative white guys from Texas, in all their doughy glory, has become a caricature of itself. You know what they’re going to say and you know it’s usually full-tilt crazy. But Texas isn’t alone and folks sometimes forget that. Take Ohio. Last night, representative Jim Jordan had the floor for a few minutes and spoke about his admiration for the Declaration of Independence. He said it was a great document, perhaps “the second greatest document” ever written. What is Jim Jordan’s greatest document? Why “Scripture” of course! And by “Scripture” it was very clear that he was referring to the Christian Bible. As an elected member of Congress, a writer of our nation’s laws, I would’ve thought, oh I don’t know, The Constitution perhaps? After all, it is the core document of this country and he did swear to defend it.
Now I don’t care how much comfort Congressman Jordan gets from the Bible in his personal life, but as a member of Congress I expect him to always remember that we are a nation of secular law and not a theocracy. I have no desire for the people who run our country to look for guidance in a text that says it’s perfectly OK and proper for children to suffer punishment for their parent’s transgressions, that we can’t eat shellfish or wear clothes made of two different kinds of thread, and that an acceptable means of punishing kids for taunting an elder’s baldness is to have two bears come out of the nearby woods and kill 42 of them.
Call me crazy.
FFRF Convention
Posted by jim in Hootworthy on June 17, 2008
The Freedom From Religion Foundation will hold its 31st annual convention in Chicago, October 10-12. Speakers include journalist Eleanor Clift and Daniel Dennett. Clift has been a contributing editor at Newsweek for a number of years and appears regularly on some of the “political pundits” shows. Professor Dennett is well known for his books, including Breaking the Spell and Darwin’s Dangerous Idea. He will receive the Foundation’s Emperor Has No Clothes Award.
Check out the FFRF website and be sure to take their Bible quiz. It’s an absolute hoot!
FFRF Convention
Posted by jim in Hootworthy on June 17, 2008
The Freedom From Religion Foundation will hold its 31st annual convention in Chicago, October 10-12. Speakers include journalist Eleanor Clift and Daniel Dennett. Clift has been a contributing editor at Newsweek for a number of years and appears regularly on some of the “political pundits” shows. Professor Dennett is well known for his books, including Breaking the Spell and Darwin’s Dangerous Idea. He will receive the Foundation’s Emperor Has No Clothes Award.
Check out the FFRF website and be sure to take their Bible quiz. It’s an absolute hoot!
Friday Flippancy: Immanuel Kant – Wrong for America!
Posted by docbushwell in Hootworthy on June 13, 2008
Speaking of procrastination, from LOLtheorists:
The Art of the Time Sink
Posted by in Sheer Procrastination on June 13, 2008
Even though my e-mail address in buried amongst the piles of banana peels and dried bonobo scat that litter the Refuge, I receive various “you might want to blog about this” tips from the media and commercial interests. Don’t interpret this as self-importance on my part since all of my dear, dear sweet SciBlings receive these.
One (via MSN) in particular caught my attention before I jettisoned it from the Inbox:
Great Moments in Procrastination
The site “encourages you to take a break and watch posted videos of people doing what many of them do best: procrastinating. The site just launched yesterday [June 9th] and already there are some great examples up there – one of them involves office chairs and rubber balls…”
I was quite impressed by the shirt-folding contest.
As tempting as it is to be contemptuous of the nerdery so rampantly displayed in these clips and sneer that this is why America is spinning gleefully down the toilet, I remind myself of my own moments of procrastination when I was a post-doc.
Late at night, we would play a hybrid of hockey and “chicken” in the long corridor bisecting the labs. A player, armed with a two liter plastic graduated cylinder, would be seated in a wheeled office chair and pushed by a fellow scientist toward another pair (seated player with graduated cylinder and chair pusher). In the center of the corridor was a large ball of aluminum foil. The object of the game was to reach the ball first and whack it with the plastic cylinder into the respective goal (a wastebasket on its side) at either end of the corridor. This game invariably took place late at night when the principal investigators were away.
Another activity involved hooking up Tygon tubing to a compressed air spigot and shooting blue plastic pipet tips into the ceiling tiles. Fortunately, no one put out an eye.
If only we had compact and affordable video cameras back in the day…
A little shout-out of appreciation
Posted by docbushwell in Catablogic Blathering on June 6, 2008
So AfterElton: News, Reviews and Commentary on Gay and Bisexual Men in Entertainment and the Media just released their choices for the Hot 100 Men List. Granted, this may smack of exploitation a la Maxim’s list of “hot women,” but it prompts me to offer a short list of Guys Who Hang Out (Figuratively) at the Refuge Whom I Appreciate:
The Right Reverend Big Dumb Chimp. Sheer animal magnetism.
The incomparable Warren of The Indigestible. More than a delicious mouthful!
Saint Gasoline. Hot. Inflammatory. Don’t pull his finger.
The luscious SDC a.k.a. mistaSteve of Words of Advice for Young People. Don’t let that droll Hoosier humor lull you into thinking this guy is harmless.
Although they are not bloggers (as far as I know), I give honorable mention and the empty promise of a grooming session to the following fellas who often comment here:
hopper
J-Dog
Bill from Dover
Dr. Eye
gingerbaker
Although no one will ever replace the dudes of the erstwhile FrinkTank in my heart, the fellows above regularly put a smile on my wizened old face.
A little shout-out of appreciation
Posted by in Catablogic Blathering on June 6, 2008
So AfterElton: News, Reviews and Commentary on Gay and Bisexual Men in Entertainment and the Media just released their choices for the Hot 100 Men List. Granted, this may smack of exploitation a la Maxim’s list of “hot women,” but it prompts me to offer a short list of Guys Who Hang Out (Figuratively) at the Refuge Whom I Appreciate:
The Right Reverend Big Dumb Chimp. Sheer animal magnetism.
The incomparable Warren of The Indigestible. More than a delicious mouthful!
Saint Gasoline. Hot. Inflammatory. Don’t pull his finger.
The luscious SDC a.k.a. mistaSteve of Words of Advice for Young People. Don’t let that droll Hoosier humor lull you into thinking this guy is harmless.
Although they are not bloggers (as far as I know), I give honorable mention and the empty promise of a grooming session to the following fellas who often comment here:
hopper
J-Dog
Bill from Dover
Dr. Eye
gingerbaker
Although no one will ever replace the dudes of the erstwhile FrinkTank in my heart, the fellows above regularly put a smile on my wizened old face.
Dana Rohrabacher: Congressional Embarrassment
Posted by jim in We're Doomed on June 6, 2008
Congressman Rohrabacher (R-California) gave a presentation yesterday concerning global warming which was carried live on C-SPAN. I have not been able to find either video or a transcript but here’s the gist of it: Rohrabacher resides firmly in the lunatic fringe. He’s a global warming denier and a conspiracy theorist. He plays fast and loose with the facts and apparently has no problem with misrepresenting them. In layman’s terms, he’s bat-shit crazy.
Friday Flower Porn: The V-Word
Posted by docbushwell in Botanical Pornography on June 6, 2008
Courtesy of S.T., intrepid Chimp Refuge photographer on assignment, I offer a cast member of the V Monologues for your consideration.
Wild Turkey Nest
Posted by jim in Habitats and Humanity, What The Heck Is That Thing? on June 5, 2008
What could’ve been the national symbol of the USA if Ben Franklin had his way, the wild turkey (meleagris gallopavo) is having a bit of a resurgence as of late. In our neck of the woods (central New York state) they have become a common sight and small bands of them are often seen crossing the country roads during the day.
But we had a lovely surprise these past few weeks. Recently, I had begun clearing some trails through the woods behind our house. This project included building three bridges across a couple of small creeks (the construction of which may be the topic of a future blog post). While working on one of them, I came across what at first appeared to be a dead turkey plopped amid some branches and twigs at the crest of a small cliff that overlooks the main creek. It blended in so beautifully that in spite of walking past the same spot several times in the course of the previous hour, I had missed it completely. Upon further inspection from a distance, it was apparent that this was a live turkey. I assumed that it had been injured or was sick, and let it be.
So girth does matter!
Posted by in Bio-bizarre, Brains and Behavior on June 3, 2008
“”The Great Wall of China’s attractive, but he’s too thick – my husband is sexier.”
So says Eija-Riitta Berliner-Mauer, whose surname translates to English as “Berlin Wall.”
The Telegraph resurrected Frau Berliner-Mauer’s fascinating case of objectum-sexual in a news of the weird article: Woman “married” to Berlin Wall for 29 years. Overall, this is an article worthy of The Onion, but apparently the Wall’s spouse widow occasionally makes the rounds discussing her fetish.
Having recently polished off Mary Roach’s Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (I’ll review this marvelous book soon – I promise!), my scientific-spidey sense was set off by this article and the condition known as objectophilia.
Insatiably curious bonobo that I am, I brachiated around a bit in Google and found this thread (WARNING – no graphic photos but proceed with caution) I am OBJECTUM-SEXUAL with the very first post originating from Frau Berliner-Mauer who also provides a link to her home page. She thus exposes this psychological condition to the harsh prurient light of day. Another woman has come out and discussed her relationship with the Eiffel Tower, which is the subject of a documentary to be broadcast in the UK tomorrow (June 4).
Human sexuality is — to the least — complex, but one wonders what sort of neural-behavioral crosstalk has been affected so that someone is sexually aroused by an object? Those with objectophilia believe in animism, that is, inanimate objects have feelings and are able to communicate. I am reminded here of Paul Bloom’s hypothesis that belief in the supernatural — and possibly by extension, animism — is an accident of cognitive function (see Is God an Accident?). Is such a cognitive accident responsible for lusting after a kitchen appliance or an imposing architectural feature?
Shoe festishists are pretty mundane compared to some of those who are classified as having objectum-sexual. Although the veracity of the aforementioned thread’s content is up for grabs, objectum-sexual is a real condition. The love objects mentioned in the thread are rather varied: hockey sticks, a laminated wood floor, a piccolo, and a toaster (maybe) among them.
Maybe my Bosch dishwasher really is flirting with me!
**A pant-hoot to Ms. Myxomycetes for calling the Telegraph article to my attention.
How long is it? No, really. How long is it?
Posted by in Ninnytechnology on June 2, 2008
From one of my favorite “Oh, my! Isn’t that quirky?” sites, technovelgy, comes Useful Body Modifications (submitted by Bill Christensen). Here we find a dude who has a ruler tattooed on the underside of his forearm…
…others who have small magnets implanted under the skin to attain a “sixth sense” (WTF?) and finally, pierced glasses. The latter take the Pince-nez to the twenty-first century.
And here are the instructions from James Sooy and Oliver Gibson who have come up with this innovation:
Get pierced – an internally-threaded barbell that goes through the skin above the bridge of your nose. Use a tabletop mill to cut the L-shaped metal pieces that screw onto the barbell. Attach rare earth magnets to the glasses; these hold the glasses on. Don’t get rid of the bridge pieces; they let the lenses sit on your nose and take the actual weight of the lenses.
Technovelgy’s byline is “where science meets fiction,” that is, scientific and technological innovations and oddities that reflect concepts introduced in science fiction. In this case, some of the body mods in William Gibson’s Neuromancer and Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age come to mind.
No word if the rulered forearm is NIST approvable.
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- Doc Bushwell is a biochemist and a medical writer who serves as a slavering minion of the dark lords of Big and Little Pharma; Jim is an engineering professor with a fondness for running shoes and drumsticks; and Kevin Beck is a self-exiled member of the clan who refuses to stay gone.
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