Redundancy

Do I really need to say anything? Just one question though - how do you tell the difference between "hearing voices" and religious "conversations/messages"? Don't get me wrong, I know that schizophrenia is a serious illness! Still, what would be the difference and how would you know?

Redundancy

Do I really need to say anything?

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Redundancy

Isn't the second part a given?

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cats!!!

I found this link at Skepchick and for all you cat lovers, just on more reason to like them I guess and now you can get therapy for free although I think this just shows how evil cats are and that they are just manipulating all of you into loving them in the first place (evil evil things!!!)

“The regulation of hypnotherapists in the UK is so lax that even a cat can become accredited, the BBC has found.” From Madfishmonger

Is this still porn-O-graphic if it has science?

I found a link at Skepchick to a picture at College Humor and thought I would share: is it still nerdy or is it just hot?

In my opinion it's event better with the formula's LOL

Update

OK so I had a great Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend and got a little work in while I could. It has been getting colder (-7C) at times and the days are getting shorter: sucks! My comprehensive exams start soon which means 4 weeks of hell but at least it will be over with. Up till now this semester I have been primarily working on getting my DNA sequencing to work and extracting DNA from the blood samples so lots of time in the lab which won;t end for another oh... 8 months!

Couple interesting links for your entertainment:

for those that think all morality and good deeds come form a god (i.e. all morality, empathy, altruism has a divine origin etc.,) I would like to know why this dog does this (Warning - a dog gets hit by a truck):

for those that think including religious ideas about the origin on life (intelligent design being a main one), you have to realize that ALL stories of origin without any real evidence would also have to be included in school curriculum such as the Norse story and this summary over at Pharyngula provides a good description which is entertaining, and no crazier than Genesis by the way!

OK I am off for a meeting....

A little Cat-ertainment

Quick note and a picture

So I am slaving away at dna crap and wanted to just post a quick note: My buddy Rusty was kind enough to send a little reminder of "good times" that I thought I would post on this blog. You may have seen the scar but this is the day I took off the stitches!

OUCH - try to "hand, reef and steer" with that!

there is actually a video of us taking the stitches (24 total) out which I will post if I can get it

Some Random Points

Alrighty, so after a few days off I am back now at school and ready to get back to it. I do have lots of things to start writing about and will get on that a.s.a. p. I am also starting my comprehensive exams soon so wish me luck!

A couple cool things I have found lately:

There was a good piece in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, Man vs God with essays by Karen Armstrong and Richard Dawkins (for a great detailed write up go see Jason's at EvolutionBlog. Dawkins says it much better but basically evolution leaves the gods nowhere, with nothing to do - or gives them their pink slip and explains how the world trundles along according to the laws of physics without ANY violations, and god has become irrelevant. Armstrong argues that religion is [was] not supposed to provide "explanations that lay within the competence of reason but to help us live creatively with realities for which there are no easy solutions and find an interior heaven of peace" or as PZ puts it "ignorance is bliss". She even argues that religions explains nothing and isn't supposed to which means what exactly? I have no idea. And, I don't know where she gets this from because throughout history religion was used to explain what we didn't know (where we came from, how it all got here etc.) and still is for many; just look up anything on Intelligent Design - it will end with something we can''t explain so "god-did-it" because we need SOME explanation) and I'm pretty sure that if you go into any major church service they won't like being told that "god is just a symbol" - even though she argues many have thought that before. Do you know anyone or any religion that that professes this.......

"many of the most influential Jewish, Christian and Muslim thinkers understood that what we call "God" is merely a symbol that points beyond itself to an indescribable transcendence, whose existence cannot be proved but is only intuited by means of spiritual exercises and a compassionate lifestyle that enable us to cultivate new capacities of mind and heart."

A close relative to my study species, the great tit apparently will go into caves and attack bats! This is a tiny bird that normally eats seeds, insects and fruits but when it goes through tough winters it becomes "a ruthless killer" which I think is really cool.

Just for my Canadian friends: states which do well educationally can blame, well... Canada! Razib Khan over at Gene Expression has a few blogs on how being close to Canada also prevents murder and increases life expectancy.

And finally, I liked this video and I think it's a good way to make a point -

Kentucky Watch Out!

I am finally back in the lab, working away and will start to write again more often now but wanted to throw out a warning to watch for god to strike down Kentucky who had the audacity to think that the motto of Homeland Security should probably not rely on the almighty! So watch: the next disaster in that state (and statistically we know there will be) will probably be attributed to god being pissed they took away his responsibility in the safety and security of the commonwealth! Oh but maybe if they have a long stretch disaster-free they will claim something like Florida: Prayer Saves Florida from Hurricanes apparently it is due to the Governor praying extra super duper hard.

Texas may redeem themselves a little but don't hold your breath. The Institute for Creation Research which if you will remember is an "outfit" that provides advanced degrees in science has appealed to the state board for being denied the ability to just make up what they think should be science degree requirements. The original appeal was 67 single-spaced pages of rambling that the courts told them had to be whittled down to 20 double-spaced which they did and filled it with:

"the word “herein” is sprinkled randomly throughout, rather like the way Miss Teen South Carolina sprinkles “such as.”It occurs four times on page 2 alone–including “venue herein,” whatever the heck that means. There are italics,boldface, ALLCAPS, and all sorts of different combinations herein, of course. There are delightful spelling errors (“advertizes”), rhetorical flourishes (“as if with a ‘scarlet letter’”), and neologisms (I can’t decide if “favoritistically” or “applicational bounds” is my favorite). Of course it quotes the Bible. It even has rhetorical questions! In a complaint!"

Quote the Bible in a legal complaint??? WTF??? For those of you interested, click on the link above for a much better summary at Panda's Thumb

Basically their argument is that the Master of Science Degree is like a title such as deacon or pastor and that the state can't regulate it. So basically they think watching Barney should allow an "institution" to give out advanced degrees in paleontology if they so desire!

Another note - A study reported that the reason for McCain's loss was not the economy and his break from the campaign but rather his announcement of Palin as running-mate. Apparently as soon as that was announced it was all downhill in the stats, which gives me a little hope that the general public has at least some common sense if they could identify her as a moron.

Update Aug 3

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am still around! Finishing up in Colorado then off to Montana for a few days to catch gray jays, but then I get to go home. I have been taking notes and will have a lot to write about as soon as I get back to civilization and a regular internet connection so look for more creationism in the classroom (Texas just can't stop trying to be idiots), generators and ATV's at campgrounds, religion as a guide for morality why that is really a joke (yes you can be moral without religion and in fact most religious people do not use religion as their guide) , science blogging, great evolutions songs, some explanations of common fallacies given by religious apologetics etc... all coming soon!

People who make a difference

Everyone has that one influential person who opened their eyes to something new: that math teacher who showed you so much more about a cue ball and the 8 ball bouncing off each other and how you would use that later in life (maybe for more that just calculating how to throw a tangerine bomb at the correct angle to bounce off the peppertree limb to effectively hit your best friend – or maybe that was just me); maybe that history teacher that helped you envision a civil war battle or the signing of the Declaration in exquisite detail that brought history to the present and in doing so instilled a passion for the past; or that English teacher (in my case it was Mr. Kohler) who “forced” everyone to read, anything just read, yet at the same time found a way to share a vast ocean of literature (good and bad) that finally opened my eyes to why everyone I knew enjoyed a good book once in a while (in the case of my mom and dad all the time during my childhood it seemed); or the music/vocal/art teacher who played/hummed a tune, or gave a monolog that moved you to do want to do the same (that didn’t happen to me but I hear it does). Everyone has one of them, or more and listening to someone’s story about why they chose their career, or why they volunteer at the library, or just what they read recently and their opinions/thoughts has always been somewhat fascinating to me, and while I have been in the field this summer I have come to realize how much fun it is to listen to some of the people I meet talk about some of this.

For the longest time, when people have asked me why I didn’t become a medical doctor (for some reason, when you are a biology major that question comes up a lot), I have been touting that the main reason is I don’t like people! Which is partially true and besides the fact that I wasn’t great at chemistry, nor did I love it, and especially I didn’t do very well at physiology and I am pretty sure there is a lot of chemistry and physiology in the medical field – although if I had actually cared about those classes as much as most of my other required courses I may have tried a little harder…. I still think people are like cats (and little dogs for that matter – all dogs should really be bigger): individually there are many cats that are actually enjoyable and at times I have found myself particularly drawn to one that has a pleasing personality, rare but it happens, but as a group, I don’t like em! This is not just because they kill birds and I study birds (they do an NO it is not natural – no birds in North America evolved with the pet-type of cats as predators), which actually has nothing to do with it, and I had a few wonderful cats growing up (tabby, ben and seymore were all pretty good cats). This stems more from the fact that you don’t really ever have a pet cat, rather you have a cat that puts up with you I think, and that bugs me. But back to the main topic, people are like cats; as a whole I don’t really like them. As such, I have never been drawn to spending years of my life to get a couple degrees, which costs thousands of dollars and years of my time only to help a few ungrateful ignorant rude SOB’s….. just kidding but still, I would rather do all of that to watch birds instead!

I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up and I still don’t really know which is somewhat ironic seeing that I am back in grad school at 36, but it is the truth. Granted, the only thing I ever get really excited about is science (and the occasional fundamental religious display of idiocy that permeates the American culture), and I truly enjoyed teaching both during my master’s and after. So, after spending a few years as a consultant and realizing how much I missed learning something new about biology, here I am.

Now the whole point of this blog is to blame the right person for this situation that brings us back to how everyone has that one person. Well, mine started way back in the spring of 1994. I originally applied to Chico State because an ex-girlfriend was accepted to Humboldt, applications for Humboldt were no longer accepted and Chico was close by (only 150 miles or so of winding mountain roads - haaa it looked close on the map at least). Primarily Chico had a pre-forestry major at the time and all I knew was that I wanted to work outside and not at a desk for the rest of my life. Of course Jeanene and Phil were nearby so it wasn’t like I would have nowhere to go. The funny thing is that the relationship ended way before I ever heard back from Chico State; eventually I still moved away. The first class I had to take was botany and I almost quit the biology major right then and there(the whole class seemed like all we did was look at a slide and draw what we saw – and I am not a good artist). That all changed in the spring though when I got to take zoology. The lecture part was interesting but it was the lab that clinched it for me. Jay was my lab instructor and at the time I didn’t know much about him but would later come to the educated conclusion that he and Dr. Thomas (the vertebrate physiologist) were the best instructors not only in biology but out of all the instructors I was forced to, err had the pleasure from which I received instruction. Jay alone is to blame! If it wasn’t for the fact that Jay showed in all transparency how much he enjoyed teaching, his passion for pretty much everything biological and his ability to relate all of his knowledge to the student in the lab, I probably would have switched majors and who knows where I would be. Eventually, I became good friends with Jay and learned a lot more about the big guy like how great he is at the banjo, his hunting and fishing prowess (he taught me how to hunt actually and I don’t think I ever beat him at Eagle Lake fishing), his ability to hold on to fantastic colloquial sayings over years and bring out new ones again and again –which I won’t repeat but they are fantastic and personally if I know a good line I use it a.s.a.p. so I don’t know how he saves them), his overall breadth of knowledge in both biology and other areas which always presented a welcome challenge during discussions with him but I did get to correct him once in ornithology class about cuckoos, hehe (and I am ignoring his ability to assign nicknames or descriptors such as ”shrew-like”), and finally the fact that the big guy was single-handedly responsible for my current usual aversion to Hecho en Mexico (Cuervo negro). As a matter of fact, I finished my B.S. with a complete distaste for birds until I talked with Jay about grad work and he convinced me to take his ornithology, then waterfowl classes.

In fact, now that I think of it, if it wasn’t for Jay I would have never been interested in these GD birds, and suffering through mosquitoes, thunderstorms, snakes, bugs, ticks (I hate ticks), below freezing temperatures, claw marks, bill stabbings, leaky tents etc., and I wouldn’t be sitting here at a campsite in the mountains of Utah, after 6 weeks in Montana and Colorado, writing this dumb blog on people who have impacted out lives! So thanks a lot Jay! If it wasn’t for you I would probably be sitting back at my desk in the City typing away in a comfortable chair with temperature control, fresh coffee, vending machine, maybe some nice art on the wall and dreaming of being somewhere like the mountains of Utah instead! Thanks Jay.