Minor update…

Not that anyone will notice, but my CV page has been updated to reflect the work that I’ve been doing for the past 11 months.

Pre-election Madness!

If you happen to define ‘madness’ as ‘weariness and disappointment’, that is. There was a time, way back when, when I was capable of getting fired up about a presidential election. With this election, I can’t even do the old ‘vote for the lesser of two evils’, because I don’t detect much evil emanating from either camp. What I do see are two candidates who give the illusion of strength, without much to back it up. The buzzwords are ‘hope’, ‘change’, and to a lesser extent ‘progress’, but they might as well be ‘polyester’, ‘Stonewall Jackson’, and ‘colony collapse disorder’. I simply don’t see any sweeping, significant changes occurring as a result of this election, no matter who the victor may be. This doesn’t mean that I won’t be voting on Tuesday; it just means that I may need to remember to bring a coin along with me as my political advisor. **Editor’s note: Kids, don’t try this in the voting booth. Using a coin toss to decide your candidate of choice is irresponsible and was likely suggested by the author while under the influence of cold medication and caffeine.**

Am I going to comment on the various propositions on California’s ballot? Yes, but in an extremely generic fashion (that sounds like a line of clothing found in Wal-Mart: Extremely Generic Fashions, now with 50% more spandex. Ewwww.) Most of the campaigning for the props has been pretty, well, blah, with one notable exception (if you’re in California, you know which one). I saw firsthand a confrontation between the two factions last Friday at a busy intersection, and it wasn’t pretty. What really bothered me, though, was the pure hatred and bile-spewing anger that was on display. Some of the tamer epithets used were ‘bigots’, ‘hatemongers’, ‘fascists’, and such kind phrases as ‘go to hell’ and ‘perform an anatomically impossible sexual act to yourself’ (I cleaned that last one up a bit). My question, which really applies to nearly all political protests like this, is this: why do people that oppose something on the grounds that it promotes hatred and closed-mindedness have no difficulty in spewing that same hatred and closed-mindedness towards their opponents? I mean, really, turning into a frothing mountain of rage whenever you’re confronted with an opposing viewpoint doesn’t help your image, and it certainly isn’t an enlightened way to deal with it. You might strengthen the resolve of your compatriots, but you’re not going to win any converts: ‘wow, those sign-bearers just called me a hate-filled, bigoted pus bucket! I guess I should do a complete 180 and join their side so that I can hurl the insults with impunity!’ For the record, I do plan on voting No on this particular prop, but not because of what any of the frothy types have been saying.

In lighter news, a new RiffTrax short was released on Friday, titled ‘Good Eating Habits’. The title is a bit misleading, as the counterexample character in the short doesn’t eat, so much as he rapidly assimilates with the ferocity of one those microscopic black holes that are going to destroy the Earth once that big particle accelerator in Switzerland goes online. **Editor’s Note: the Large Hadron Collider is a wonderful piece of scientific equipment that should shed new insights onto the inner workings of our universe. Please support science in all its myriad forms. And no, you misread it, it’s called the Large HADRON Collider. Get your minds out of the gutter.**

From Hell It Came…

Referencing the local weather, not the 1957 movie featuring a cheesy Killer Tree monster. The projected high temperature is 110F, with high levels of pollution (ozone and forest-fire smoke). We should get some relief by Saturday, as temperatures dip into the chilly upper 90’s (time to dig out that parka).

On a slightly cooler note, this marks the second week of RiffTrax’s “Eat Our Shorts” summer. For those not familiar with RiffTrax, the basic concept revolves around hilarious downloadable commentary tracks for movies, both great (Alien, Raiders of the Lost Ark) and not-so-great (Battlefield Earth, Crossroads). The jokes are provided by Mystery Science Theater 3000 alumni Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett, and various “guest stars”. For the aforementioned summer event, the RiffTrax crew are releasing two “shorts” a week: the shorts are generally public domain, insipid educational films from the 1950’s through the 70’s. Last week’s releases were “Down and Out” and “Patriotism”, while “Skipper Learns a Lesson” was just released today. I haven’t seen today’s new short, but “Down and Out” is easily one of my favorite RiffTrax offerings, based on both the hilarity of the commentary and the ineptness of the source material (why exactly is that workplace littered with sidewalk chalk and fecal material, anyway?).

Cute Photo of the Day: Ben in the pool, circa July 4 2008.

Too busy for a real post…

Work and family have kept me quite busy lately, so this will be brief. I added a link to my book collection, which is hosted at LibraryThing.com. It’s a great site if you have a sizeable book collection, and I’ve yet to find a book that they don’t have in their database. Give it a try; you can add up to 200 books without buying a subscription.

Back from hiatus…

Mood: cautiously optimistic
Productivity level: moderate
Pollen count: stratospheric

It’s the calm before the storm, so to speak. I have a two-hour pest management seminar to give next Tuesday, which is about one hour and forty-five minutes longer than the talks I’m accustomed to giving. If my vocal cords collapse under the strain, I may have to complete the presentation using pantomime (“beneficial insect trapped in an invisible shrinking box”). At any rate, it will be a great opportunity to teach ecologically and economically responsible pest management concepts to county agricultural staff.

Interesting geeky link of the day: Discovery of the “memristor”

Cute picture of the day: Ben making a typically goofy face

Back from Christmas visits

After much driving, gift exchanging, and diaper changing, we’re back in Sacramento. It was an exhausting trip: 200 miles on Sunday afternoon, 200 more on Tuesday morning, and another 60 on Wednesday afternoon. Traffic was horrendous on Wednesday: the 60-mile drive from Benicia to Sacramento took two hours! However, everyone we visited was happy, healthy, and delighted to see Ben, so it was all worth it. Presented below, without context, is a photo from Christmas morning:

Photo updates…

Just in time for Christmas! I added a few recent pictures of Ben with a holiday theme.

Return of the cat…

Well, after three days and approximately one thousand dollars, our cat “Zoo” has returned home from the hospital. The diagnosis: “fever of unknown origin”. It seems to me that anything that can cause fevers of over 106 degrees, extreme lethargy and some sort of hind leg dysfunction would have a more formal diagnosis, but alas… The important thing is that he’s home and feeling much better, much to the relief of his family.

Another photo update…

Added a new picture to Family Photos…

Added a new page…

I added my Cirriculum vitae to the site, just in case anyone is interested in my scientific resumé.