Saturday, February 26, 2011


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Flexisexuals-Straight-women-who-kiss-girls-and-like-it-too/articleshow/7567660.cms
what a load of hooie .. i have always kissed my best girl friends on the lips - ok with mouths closed. it was a sign of affection beyond the vacuous cheek to cheek peck. and none of us thought we were going over into the dark side or changing teams.
but then again, this article comes from india. 'nuf said

i may be alone in this....

i think i may be alone in thinking this, but i really feel sorry for charlie sheen.
i met him casually when he was in his mid teens while visiting friends of mine, who were good friends of his father. he seemed nice enough at the time.
our lives sort of crossed again when the hollywood madam story broke. her father was my daughter's pediatrician when we lived in LA. i thought dr. fleiss was wonderful, and his pa, miriam was an incredible person.
i always enjoyed his show - one of the few that gave me laugh out loud moments. and at times it was boorish. but still i enjoyed watching.
now to watch him go into meltdown is just heartbreaking. i really pray he hits rock bottom and cries out to God.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

mr. peanut prepares for his trip to oz

When horror writer Steven King reviewed Mr Peanut and confessed it "induced nightmares" in him, the book was already en route to the top of the bestseller lists in the US and UK.

couriermail
my cousin
another shameless plug for my cousin, his book, and his trip to oz

news overload

i am suffering a meltdown due to news overload (as well as being exhausted physically and mentally) and as soon as i can get some rest and my thoughts together i will be posting - hopefully this weekend. i need to buy a new bed

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Researchers are punks


Bill Cuevas playing guitar with Conflict
Photo: Karen Walraven

Creativity, do-it-yourself individualism, anti-establishmentarianism, and attitude -- these are the central tenets of punk music. But to many scientists, they should sound very familiar.
"Punk ethos is typified by a passionate adherence to individualism, creativity and freedom of expression with no regard to established opinions," Bill Cuevas, biochemist at the biotech company Genencor and music director at the Stanford University radio station KZSU, tells The Scientist. "Good scientific discipline is also typified by such qualities, including inquisitiveness and curiosity, with no entrenchment to established beliefs."
Punk music became a force to be reckoned with by the late 1970s, embodied by bands such as The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, and The Clash. This new breed of musician questioned authority, rejected traditions, and stripped music down to its essential elements.
Importantly, punk is "about the freedom to express what you want to express," says Milo Aukerman, a plant researcher at DuPont and lead singer of legendary punk band The Descendents. In many ways, research is the same -- more so than in other professions, scientists can set their own schedules and decide what they want to study. "There is a certain freedom implied there," Aukerman adds.
Both punk and science also value individualism and are not always embraced by society, notes Lane Pederson, a clinical psychology researcher and drummer in the punk band Dillinger Four. "In that sense, I think both of them have a subcultural aspect to them."
Biology in particular values those who question conventional wisdom, trying to debunk what's accepted, according to Aukerman. "We're always looking for discoveries that challenge current thinking," he says. "Punk rock is like that, too."
And Pederson, Cuevas, and Aukerman aren't the only scientists who've cultivated a parallel passion for punk -- Dexter Holland, singer of The Offspring, studied molecular biology in graduate school; Gregg Gillis, the man behind the ultimate mash-up act Girl Talk, was a biomedical engineer; and Greg Graffin, a member of Bad Religion, is now a biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Aukerman has made a habit of hopping between the lab, the recording studio, and the tour bus. Music gave him a break from science, after which he could come back to the lab with more "creative oomph," he recalls. For instance, when his postdoc at the University of Wisconsin started to feel dreary, he took a year off to play with The Descendents. "I was just feeling stagnated. And it got rid of the stagnation."
Today, he identifies genes in Arabidopsis that might be used to improve maize. He's using his vacation time to do a couple of shows this year, in part to satisfy his 6-year-old daughter's request to see him live.
The truth is, more scientists would likely embrace punk than they may realize, says Cuevas, who engineers proteins that can be used to create carbon-neutral energy when he's not hosting a weekly radio show on KZSU. "Scientist or not, anyone with an open mind [and a] passion for life has the punk ethos."
Scientists who want to get a taste of punk for the first time could start with compilation records of the early 1980s, Cuevas suggests, which include a variety of bands and styles. "Also, anything by Minor Threat is essential." Aukerman recommends the band Nomeansno, which overlays complexity on punk's typically spartan style.
The best thing to do, says Pederson, is to visit a record store that carries punk and talk to the clerks about what topics (politics, sociology) and style (hard, soft, melodic) you prefer, and they will point you to something. Like science, punk is "really so much more diverse than people think."
Of course, even if punk music and science share many elements, the comparison can be taken too far, says Aukerman. For instance, you don't see many punk musicians singing about science. "I will probably never ever write a song about DNA," he says.
Read more: Researchers are punks - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/57984/#ixzz1E2b3cjVA

Saturday, February 12, 2011

ok one more song .. i already posted

all the songs i have just posted let you all into my soul, my heart, my life
this next one opens me raw
this is the most perfect video for the song.. the running, falling, looking back in despair and anger, stairs, mirror reflection what did i do wrong, trying to escape, more stairs, and the expressions of more fear and anger and of desperation, stairs, jumping into nothing, chaos, hanging on to nothing, and finally facing the fence without hope
.. it is a perfect video

update: the video wont post...

this is the song of my life

this song took me out of myself

">the animals
when i heard this song, the whole innocent beatles thing left me.. there was a world out there with misery for me to explore
'nuf said

more yardbirds

">with eric clapton

one of the best bands ever

">the train kept a rolling all night long

lets dance

yes it is a re-post..still one of my favourites (and learning how to post with a mac is different than a pc so i am practicing)

the star spangled banner


its a difficult song to sing.. even for a professional the best rendition i have heard was done by whitney houston, hands down. and she had a military band accompanying her. she also has a most amazing voice, and i bet she practiced.
i did not hear christina's rendition live .. i was watching poirot on pbs... until tonight on youtube. her mistakes were: one: not practicing, practicing, practicing and two, doing it a capella. even whitney didn't try THAT.
i dont know how the sound system sounded at the stadium, but it sounded like crap over the telly - even the half time show. someone doesn't know how to mix.
and that is my opinion

greedy bassas

preposterous
Connecticut and New Jersey residents with a Hamptons summer cottage or a Manhattan pied-a-terre are about to get a nasty surprise: New York state wants more taxes from them

i can remember when my father finally stopped travelling overseas as an army officer, my parents bought a house in potomac, md. the first house we owned.. i was 17. he had always used my maternal grandparents address as a stable address - they lived in bethesda. his father was also military (coast guard) and moving around a lot as well, so that option was out. everyone needs a stable address. the great socialist state of maryland charged him for 20+ years back taxes for the use of the address, even though we never lived here. i don't know if such states are still using such shenanigans against the military, but i was outraged at the time. i told him he should fight it.. what he did i will never know. that is just the way my father is.
when i lived in california, i moved alot as well (13 years - 13 times) and i would use my parents address when appropriate in my opinion. but then they kept moving as well. sometimes it is easier to go to the motor vehicle dept (great opportunity to get a better photo), the post office, the bank, etc.
ht: instapundit

my cousin is off to OZ

mr peanut
it is, in my opinion, a great book. a difficult read mainly because it is a bit dark
i dont know if any of my lurkers live near perth, but say hi if you decide to go see him. i have no idea when and where - his blog doesnt give specifics. i will try and find out. maybe you can talk some political sense into him ;)
update: he will be in perth march 1 - 13

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

tuesday night funny


i think i found this at maggie's farm

Friday, February 4, 2011

well, i have gone and done it now

while looking for photos - more up to date photos - for my last post, i clicked on one that destroyed my computer. so i will be getting a new one. in the next week or so....
i could probably remove the gazillion viruses i supposedly have, but hey the computer is over 6 years old, and i have been waiting for moments like this...
now, do i get a mac, or stick with the pc?

UPDATE: it's a mac!

shocking revelations from the superbowl






what? no cheerleaders? in Dallas?
One of the league's major marketing tools – the sideline sex appeal of women wearing revealing outfits and performing enticing dance routines – will be on hiatus Sunday in Super Bowl XLV. Sunday's game featuring the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers is believed to be the first Super Bowl without cheerleaders since Super Bowls II, said NFL Films president Steve Sabol
read the rest here