Some Stanford research profs are working on producing mice that have brains made up of 100% human cells. Fascinating work, but some of the potential ramifications are a wee bit creepy.

There is growing unease over whether human stem cells could migrate to other parts of the animals, creating human sperm or eggs in their reproductive systems. Should two such "chimera mice" mate, it could lead to the nightmarish scenario of a human embryo trapped in a mouse's womb.

Useful Latin phrases for everyday life. (via Geekpress) Magister mundi sum!

Soon, they'll change the name from "Afghanistan" to "Arrakis," and from "heroin" to "spice." (Referring to Frank Herbert's Dune, wherein a planet called Arrakis is the source of a potent drug (spice) used throughout the universe, supplying great power to whomever controls Arrakis. Like Afghanistan, only with no competitors. And magic. And interstellar space travel. And giant sand worms.)

"Excuse me, Mr. Bolton, but we're not taking your picture for the new Got Milk? ad until after the press conference..."

Hehe. Dinosaurs have problems, too.

Trying to schedule my candidacy exam. I have 75% of my committee members on board... getting so close. Currently it looks like April 4-10. Wish me luck in herding four cats.

Update: Zero hour: April 6th, 3:30pm.

Hey...how'd my cat get to New York?

Crazy Jennifer Government inspired game.

Corphish, power pinchers!

People who play games like these must not have actual employment.

Things you might say about the Bush administration if it were a sitcom or other weekly tv show.

Hamster music. Actually sounds pretty interesting. Begins to resemble an Elizabethan folk song, or something, towards the end.

Stupid hurts.

Holy floating berg, Batman! (via Geekpress)

#1 public enemy: the Canada goose. #1 public defender: the falconer.

Burninating the cocktail sauce!

Google just keeps getting cooler. Now you can get movie showtimes by entering the movie title and zip code.

Vivienne the virtual girlfriend, huh? With this system, men pay real money to woo a virtual girl via their cellphones. Sure, the language translation feature might be handy, but the rest of it is just a little too creepy for me.

Got God?

Andrew Sullivan is a dumb jerk. But he can write fairly well. I agree about 30% with his thesis, but enjoyed the piece.

Who knew there was so much history behind the song on that annoying Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper commercial?

Remembering Lenny, with tidbits about the new L&O spinoff.

Gone for good
The Shins

Untie me, I've said no vows
The train is getting way too loud
I gotta leave here my girl
Get on with my lonely life

Just leave the ring on the rail
For the wheels to nullify

Until this turn in my head
I let you stay and you paid no rent
I spent twelve long months on the lam

That's enough sitting on the fence
For the fear of breaking dams

I find a fatal flaw
In the logic of love
And go out of my head

You love a sinking stone
That'll never elope
So get used to the lonesome
Girl, you must atone some
Don't leave me no phone number there

It took me all of a year
To put the poison pill to your ear
But now I stand on honest ground, on honest ground

You want to fight for this love
But honey you cannot wrestle a dove
So baby it's clear

You want to jump and dance
But you sat on your hands
And lost your only chance

Go back to your hometown
Get your feet on the ground
And stop floating around

I find a fatal flaw
In the logic of love
And go out of my head

You love a sinking stone
That'll never elope
So get used to used to the lonesome
Girl, you must atone some
Don't leave me no phone number there

It's sort of erudite isn't it, what with the whole poison in the ear reference?

NYT article from a few days ago, about the anti-Christo. I'm amused. I'll have to check out this guy's website when I don't have evil work firewalls blocking me.

More RFID. This story is more interesting than I initially thought. I'll write more, later.

A most heartstrings-tugging short piece from the New Yorker. Abstemiously, anyone? Watch out for the last two lines; it gets sad at the end.

There is something decidedly Gattaca-esque about screening all newborns for genetic disorders. I think if the medical community wants to go ahead with this, they'd better be sure the tests are accurate and the proposed treatments are effective; sounds like neither is the case at the moment, though.

Whoa. This is messed up.

Soooo sore. And tired. That was tough. We got a swank couch at the Salvation Army, though. Pictures of the place are located here. Further pictures to follow.

Moving, tomorrow. See our destination? Lets hope it doesn't rain too much.

For those who can't get enough Homestar Runner, it's the HSR Wiki! Hey, at least now I finally know the parts of the HSR theme song that sounded like gibberish to me. ;)

Dang it, neil5280, how many times do I have to tell you to keep your shoes on when you go listen to politicians debate?

Nice! Postal Service has a new track out.

Religious boosterism is, inch by inch, getting wrapped around the throats of school-children. The result?

One mother, who herself teaches Sunday school but nevertheless opted out of the program, explains it better than I ever could: "I asked them whether Jesus was a Christian and they said 'yes.' When I said, 'Jesus was a Jew,' one girl said, 'But Jesus was a good person.' "

The Onion Infographic:

Vows to drive one another into the sea must be downgraded to vows to drive one another to the beach for a nice weekend.

Great, just what I needed...another reason to hate Shrub.

"This new game is sure to be one of the biggest blockbuster hits of 2005..."

"What is, Can You Beat Ken?"

Fafblog! strikes again.

"Keep your half-octopus females to yourself!" says Giblets. "All they wanna do is digest Giblets and turn him into ink."

"A good woman is like a fine cheese," says me. 
"Or a large hat. Or an aggrieved sasquatch. Or an elephant made outta trees an ropes an lotsa smaller elephants."

"Giblets never wants to see another elephant again!" says Giblets. 
"He is done with them and their cheating hearts! He is burning all pianos!"

"But you love the elephants," says me. "You can't live with em an you can't live without em."

"Cause they tear out your liver an brains an replace em with the fungal herbs of the undead," says Giblets.

Yet another example of airport (in)security.

Here's a word I learned from NPR: melisma.

Hmm. Well I guess I was curious to know if Abe Vigoda was still alive. But I can't imagine having it constantly indicated in my browser.

Band name: Palm Frond Hierarchy

Crazy song...

One More Robot
-Flaming Lips

Unit three thousand twenty one is warming.
Makes a huming sound.
When it circuits duplicates emotion.
And a sense of coldness detaches
As it tries to comfort your sadness.
One more robot learns to be
Something more than a machine

I've been thinking that maybe I've given too much worry to the prominence of Faux News. After all, nobody complains that The Weekly World News, or The National Enquirer isn't really Fair and Balanced © . I mean, they don't exactly interview the Wolfman's supporters when he impregnates a random trailer-dweller, do they?

Eugh...creepy.

That Christo is sure weird. Likes to wrap things?

Middle schoolers....livestock...what's the difference?

So Americans think that foreign aid is one of the largest areas of the federal government budget. What the hell? Washington monthly has a post and link for ya. A table, even.

Scientists have selectively bred tame foxes. I want one. Check it out: Cute! Via Geekpress.

People should be free to raise their children how they see fit? Sounds great! Wonder if anyone will do a bad job? Oh, never mind- the free market will see to it that badly performing parents will not retain their customers children.

Band name: Flap of Jackson. (came up in conversation at work, about solving a physics problem)

Did you know the Disney Co. established a town in Florida called Celebration? I didn't.

Apparently Lynne Cheney's Secret Service codename is SLOTUS. Sounds dirty.

Here's an amusing NYT article: Cook and Tell - Confessions of a Kitchen Romeo

Huh. I didn't know Hilary Swank was The Next Karate Kid.

Quantifying evil.

Off caffeine as of Saturday. Blech. Not gonna be fun.

The convenience of internet check-in for airline flights is nice but at what cost?

Some cool stuff on Geekpress today:

Moss in space
En garde! (avec parapluie) - Part 1 and Part 2 - The drawings alone are enough reason to check these out. ;)
Last but not least, some Super Bowl Super Bull

Baby cheetahs are cute, with their fluffy little heads. (Another photo here.)

Maybe I'm too hard on Shrub sometimes. The poor guy's just a little ronery...

When life imitates art...

This is totally crazy. I am awestruck. What will they think of next?

There is something distinctly X-Filean about this:

"The FAA Web site says the plane was registered to a company called 448 Alliance LLC, and gave an address in Dallas. Directory assistance has no company with that name, but does show a DDH Aviation at the same address. No one answered the phone there."

Full article here.

Ugh. I'm sorry, what century is this, again? You know, I'm glad we live in a (supposedly) free society and all, wherein everyone (who yells loud enough) can have an opinion heard and considered, but how is it that a theory almost universally accepted within the international scientific community doesn't get taught in public schools because teachers fear backlash from the fundamentalist (Christian) community? That is just not okay. If people want to believe that the Bible trumps physical evidence, well fine. Their faith should be strong enough that they won't get their knickers in a twist if their kids are exposed to alternative ideas.

Don't get me wrong. I do see their point; they feel like it's a waste of time for their kids to be learning these "untruths" of science and history. Their tax dollars should go toward "meaningful" education. I still say buck up. It's not as though a high school biology class spends the entire year covering evolution. And when has a good debate ever been a waste of time? I think these people should be happy to have their kids involved in evolution discussions at school; if, when presented with all the information available, the kids still decide the Bible's account of human creation is the only real truth, at least now they've had the opportunity to hear the other argument. Their faith will be solidified, and they'll be able to fling more informed barbs at those nasty secularists.

Has Tony Blair lost his mind?! Ah no, don't worry, those scribblings actually are the work of Bill Gates...buh?

This is incredibly geeky. You must listen to the American flag image... read the post to see what that means.

I seem to be reading a lot about Bright Eyes these days. Well, this is the second article I've seen this week, anyway...

Ha!

So yesterday I just about got run down in a crosswalk. There's a stop sign, and I was about 1/3 of the way through the thing and this guy just came cruising right past the sign and line! He was looking the other way to see if he could turn, likely planning on a California rolling stop. Fortunately for me, he slowed down as he penetrated the crosswalk. I used some quick goat thinking and leaped out of the way, but he really made me mad. I pounded on his hood a bit and yelled at him. Really put me out, almost being killed despite the presence of stop sign and well marked crosswalk.

Yep, that's our fearless leader, "advancing history" and "firmly plant[ing] the flag of liberty." Thank heavens he's also found the time to "lay out the math" for Social Security reform and figure out how to combat those "twin deficits" we've got going...

I almost feel like this article was written specifically to piss me off.

Funny article in The Onion.

"Kirk generally keeps a tight rein on his interpersonal expenditures," Herman's longtime friend Ken Klein said. "Contributions of affection rarely exceed his own yearnings. Also, there was an exchange of liquid assets on the first date, which is suicide in this dating market. It's not the sort of thing that generally leads to a permanent merger."

I'm going to go ahead and say that people should check out the Flaming Lips. Sonically dense, as they say. Some of you might like.

Awesome story about a dude in the mailroom of a publishing company... getting a book deal. Via Ezra Klein (and then he found it via someone else ;))

The debate continues - Why do men score much higher than women (in most countries) on math and science exams? Personally, I'm inclined toward the "cultural differences and social conditioning" argument.

Yum. Mouse serum and stuff: stem cell lines approved for federal funding are delicious and nutritious tainted with animal products.

Check it out, my peeps. Bunch o' pictures - my gallery is on bottom. Susan's got a big one full o' cat pictures. More to come.

Maureen Dowd is crazy. I'm pretty sure that she watched the inauguration^* and cracked. Maybe I should say that she saw it coming and cracked.

^*Inauguration n.- the ceremonial insertion of a large corkscrew into an orifice of the democratic party.

u: iwannaread p:thisbook

This afternoon I went to the post office to join in on a wee lil' protest against the inauguration. It was pretty cool but at the this old guy came up to me and asked me if I wanted to be in a movie he was making because of my 'interesting look'. I asked him what kind of movie, because he was probably a pervert, and he said that it is about a female assasin. I thought that was pretty cool, but I doubt I will do it, due to my lack of acting skills, and the fact that I don't know him and he lives out in Williams.

Why Hail to the Chief? Because he's the chief. And he needs hailing. Duh.

Would you pay $150 (or more) to see yourself as you truly are? I guess it's cheaper than a video camera and monitor...

Check out the stuff about the "hair part theory"...pretty funny. (via Geekpress)

Stay in your pineapple under the sea! We don't want your filthy ideals of tolerance and understanding anywhere near our children!

I'm not so sure what this is supposed to mean. It's rather confusing.

NYT review of the book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (about "the science of split-second decisions"):

"If you want to trust my snap judgment, buy this book: you'll be delighted. If you want to trust my more reflective second judgment, buy it: you'll be delighted but frustrated, troubled and left wanting more.

Or just go to the bookstore, look at the cover and let your neurons make up their own damn mind.

Bush admits his intelligence needs work. At last ;)

Boy, howdy, they sure got them some winners down there in Memphis.

Yesterday afternoon, Tom & I went for a walk in old town and stopped by the Apple Store, hoping to gawk at and drool over the new Mac offerings. Sadly, they didn't seem to have either the new Mac mini or iPod shuffle. Ah well. Here's an interesting chart/graphic/thing showing how freaking smart the folks at Apple have been in building their little empire. (via Geekpress)

I know I've been bemoaning our lack of true winter weather lately, but this is just too much. Huaaaagh!

Ouch!

I'm sorry, Pootie-Poot? I mean...huh???

Wow... maybe women should act all helpless if they want to snare a man:

A second study, which was by researchers at four British universities and reported last week, suggested that smart men with demanding jobs would rather have old-fashioned wives, like their mums, than equals. The study found that a high I.Q. hampers a woman's chance to get married, while it is a plus for men. The prospect for marriage increased by 35 percent for guys for each 16-point increase in I.Q.; for women, there is a 40 percent drop for each 16-point rise.

u: iwannaread p: thisbook

Check out the secrets of the masters, mate.

Stockpiles, my arse.

Okay- the critics aren't impressed, but I think that the Mac mini and the iPod shuffle are dead sexy. Especially that Mac mini. The shuffle is a bit gimmicky, and the mini maybe a little underpowered, but I started salivating when I saw it, so take from that what you will.

Thank goodness we can always count on Slate to ask the important questions.

It's still raining! Wow. Something like 14" in the month of January. Pasadena apparently averages 20" in a year...

Sorry to break it to you, TJ, but Listerine just ain't the same as flossing...

Band name gleaned from Jared Diamond's book, Collapse: Goat Scorn

Brief Respite from Serious Discussion

Here's a cool article about the aerial, "video game angle" cameras used at football games.

Dude, where's my cohort?

I'm glad that my post below started some discussion, but I'm not done railing against the man. This time, I'm taking issue with the practice of advancing kids through school by age, rather than ability or accomplishment. Now, I must grant that advancement by age is a well established practice- in the sense that it's done nearly everywhere, and has been done for a long time. There seems to be very little else to recommend age-advancement, however. What arguments can be advanced in support of it?

Probably the first argument most will give relates to socialization. The idea is that kids of a given age will be better able to interact with each other. What supports this idea? It seems that children are certainly not of an age with their parents, and yet during childhood, they interact very well. Frequently they relate with their older or younger siblings, or even other family members of similar age. Children are so malleable that they can fit into nearly any situation- that's what they're made to do. What's more, when, outside of school as currently implemented, are people formed into groups solely on the basis of their ages? The idea that kids should be socialized in groups of homogeneous age seems like poor instruction for the future!

Another argument sometimes advanced regards the teachers: it is easier for teachers to deal with groups composed by age. Children of a particular age tend to be at a given developmental stage. There is certainly truth to that. However, a group of students of any age will have many individuals of differing development- teachers must still cope with the outliers! Also, remember that children are develping intellectually, emotionally, and physically- all at once. Should physical development- the most directly tied to age- be the factor setting the clock? Unless school really is to be glorified daycare, then the teachers ought to primarily be intellectual resources for their students. Hence, students' intellectual development should be paramount in advancing them.

This is not to say that school plays no role in instructing children in acceptable behavior. It's just that for the system of education to be at all effective in its mission- producing citizens capable of contributing to society and participating in our democracy- they must already have the rudiments of acceptable behavior upon entering. If they do not, and parents instead rely on the schools to instill their children with this essential knowledge, we end up with todays mess- teacher as babysitter/disciplinarian/instructor.

Digression: In the previous paragraph, I wrote that the mission of our education system is to produce productive citizens. The more cynical (read: realistic) among you will object that this was not the intent behind establishing said system. Rather, you'll say that the intent was to keep kids busy learning to accept authority until they reach their physical peak, at which point they'd be put to work. Or, you'll say that the point was to produce young adults with just enough education to participate in the manufacturing economy. That's all well and good (and probably true; I can also be cynical), but for the good of our world, those things can't be the mission of the education system (any more). Instead, it must be that we endeavor to give each citizen the tools to be productive and able to discharge their civic duty. It is not possible to stay a democracy if the people cannot understand the actions of their government (and the consequences of said).End Digression

It does not follow that education cannot be fun. While the acquisition of some of the skills can be dreary (reading, basic math), the exercise of those skills can be wonderful fun. The exercise of those skills- developing an appreciation of literature, music, art, science, film -whatever!- can even teach people about who they are, enabling them to express and create.