timewaster

But it makes me laugh so hard!
http://whatshouldwecallgradschool.tumblr.com/

In honor of Johnnie, the graduate

From XKCD:

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/every_majors_terrible.png

I'm memorizing this poem at the beach this summer!

Felis Catus is your taxonomic nomenclature,
an endothermic quadruped carnivorous by nature.
Your visual, olfactory and auditory senses
contribute to your hunting skills, and natural defenses.

I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
a singular development of cat communications
that obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
for a rhythmic stroking of your fur, to demonstrate affection.

A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
you would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aide in locomotion,
it often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.

O Spot, the complex levels of behaviour you display
connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.

Data, "Ode to Spot"

this is for annie

Ok Its been a while but....

So I was grading today when I realized a paradox.  It is possible to give your students a paradoxical grade!  This is how it works:


The week before your final exam ask your student to guess what grade they will receive in your class.  If they guess correctly promise you will give them 'X' points.  If a student has an 89% and guess a 'B' You give them the ten points which bumps them up to an 'A' meaning they did not guess their final grade in the class correctly which means the deserve a 'B' which means they get points for guessing correctly and have an 'A'.  You have effectively given them a paradoxical grade that is neither 'A', 'B', in between or both.  This is a real world application of something like Russel's paradox (see: "a set of all sets that do not contain themselves").  

I would think it would be funny to put a 'P' on their transcript for paradoxical but then I realized it would look like a 'pass' so instead they get an Ouroboros (see below).  The Ouroborus is how alchemists expressed one of there paradox and I think it is fitting.  What do you think?
  




I think I am the worlds worst TA and I would hate me if I were my own student...wait what?

Day 1: Grad School

If you know everything in this video you know more about plants then a college freshman...

Finally a Unifying theory

So I have been a nerd for a long time. And during this time I have found myself getting in discussions (more like being talked at) about nerd girls and how hot they are. This ranges from fictitious comic
book super ladies to real life Angelina Joe Lee as tomb raider. I now have my own theory on the matter. And it is summed up by one word...Redheads. For some reason they keep popping up in different sci-fi and fantasy based nerd stuff. Here is my proof.

It started in the 90's with star treks Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden).

But more recently we have seen an explosion of redheads in Nerd-land. I have no explanation except it is an empirical law of nerds....We like redheads.

Examples: Cristina Hendricks-Fire Fly, Kari Byron-Mythbusters, Felicia Day- The guild

A punty

A pontil

Behold, the new abode

We have a contract to purchase a home! How adult! We saw it for the first time yesterday!

4001 Windom Street, Fort Collins; here is a link for some pictures! Especially check out the dinosaur-style carpets.

If all goes well we'll move in April 1st. No fooling.

Its been a while....

Thought we could come back strong...

This is for Elizabeth (and other Flemings)

So I have been playing a new video game that I believe is perfect for Elizabeth (and maybe the rest of you. You might have heard of it but it is still fun to check out I suggest you do. It is a program called FoldIt. It is a protein folding video game that is very addicting and rather competitive. The use people who play the game as protein folders to determine he 3D structure of proteins. Some people even get published from it (See attached link). Anyway it turns out humans are way better at this then computers and therefor I suggest you all give it a try. Let me know if you do

Link to article:
http://techland.time.com/2011/09/19/foldit-gamers-solve-aids-puzzle-that-baffled-scientists-for-decade/

Link to FoldIt:
http://fold.it/portal/

Oh Charlie

Lets be honest

Margaret and I are only together because we share in the dream of immortality. So, you know, long term relationships get us a little bit closer to that vision.

Portals...

Does anyone else see an 80 year old Margaret in this video?

The ghosts of music: past, present, future

Past

Present

Future