Integrity in Science

As many of us participating in or reading this blog are involved in and interested in the sciences, I thought I'd share this link with everyone. It was written by Dr. Richard Feynman, one of the most respected scientists and thinkers of the modern era. He discusses science and its perception in modern culture, and points out certain, "cargo cult sciences" which do not meet the standards of true science, yet claim to be as legitimate. It was an interesting read. I came across it while reading about cargo cults, which is another thing I found interesting and have decided to share. Enjoy yourselves.

Fold or bunch?

I know our group of friends has often discussed the merits of folding vs. bunching when it comes to toilet paper. If I recall, Bryan is firmly on the folding team, while Andy once summed up his position with the statement, "I'm not happy unless that ball of toilet paper is like a rubber band ball."

Regardless of your position on the argument, I think we can all agree that this lego creation is pretty awesome, and perhaps it would convert a few bunchers with its ease of use and novelty value.

-Yoshi

Updates to PIITJ

Google has required that we update the blog - it might be necessary to change your login to a gmail address now. Sorry if it's any problem for anyone, let me know also if anything is working incorrectly and I can fix it.

Greatest Pranks

From the article "10 of the greatest college pranks of all time:"

4. The Olympic underwear relay, Sydney University

In 1956, the Olympics were to be held in Sydney, Australia. On the final leg of the torch run into Sydney, cross-country champion Harry Dillon was supposed to bring the Olympic flame to the mayor of Sydney. The mayor would then make a short speech and pass the flame on to another runner to finish the run.

Thousands of people lined the streets waiting for the Olympic runner to appear and finally he did. The crowd began cheering and reporters began recording with their cameras as the police escort quickly surrounded the runner to help him reach his destination safely. The runner went through the streets all the way to the Sydney Town Hall. He ran up the steps and handed the torch to the waiting mayor who turned to begin his prepared speech. About that time the mayor realized that he was not holding the impressive Olympic flame, but instead it was a wooden stick with a can of plum pudding on the top and a pair of kerosene-soaked underwear burning inside the can. When the mayor looked around for the runner, it was too late, and the runner had disappeared into the surrounding crowd.

The real Olympic runner showed up minutes later, but it was years later when the underwear-burning runner was revealed as Barry Larkin, a student of Sydney University. It takes some real guts to prance your way through the crowded streets of Sydney with police escort, as you proudly hold your flaming underwear above you head.

Menial Tasks=Books/Movies/Music

I recently found out about this website www.mturk.com which is associated with Amazon.com. I have yet to use it myself, but apparently you complete menial tasks for Amazon credit. The amount you make per task seems to range from $0.05 to $0.50 or so. Many of the tasks involve writing a paragraph, answering a question, or identifying an object in a picture - the basic idea is that there are some things that people can do much better/faster than computers. Serena told me about this site, and said that in 2 weeks her supervisor has built up nearly $100 in credit at Amazon.

Anyways, it seemed like the type of site that all of you might be interested in, at least conceptually. Also, "free" books are always good.

-Yoshi

Achewood-O-Rama

I'm obsessed with Achewood, and found an interview with Chris Onstad (the comic's author). He highlighted a few comics that he likes in particular, and I've started to really get into one of them. It's called Slow Wave - it's a collective dream diary. As I understand it, people from around the world send this guy Jesse Reklaw transcriptions of their dreams, and once a week he chooses one to illustrate. It's very surreal, and really enjoyable.

I've never really even thought of the possibility of collective authorship before, at least not for a comic. It's a really interesting idea and one that works surprisingly well, because dreams are such a universal (or at least close to it) type of interest. Nearly everyone has them, they're more or less completely strange and divorced from reality, so the humor tends to both appeal to and stem from a widespread audience, even though each comic is clearly rooted in an individual's head. And since it's drawn by only one person, there is still a consistend and identifiable style. Anyway, here are two of my favorites:


... and:


Enjoy!

Jack Bauer vs. The Mooninites

Sorry for the double post guys, but here is Jack Bauer vs. The Mooninites

C=0

My dad sent me this link to a NYT article about how scientists have managed to not only stop light in its tracks, but also replicate the frozen pulse in a separate location. It's a pretty interesting phenomenon and it's amazing where physicists are going these days. I've already sent the link to several of you, but Bevan suggested I put it on the blog. Enjoy!

-Yoshi

Also, I'll eventually be posting about where I am and what I'm doing when things settle down for me, but the short answer is Boston and working.