alma [mutter]

i’m going to give you two different opinions from two different sources as to why john mccain decided to use my old middle school as the backdrop to his acceptance speech at the 2008 republican national convention, seen here:

reason #1:

“McCain messed up. He was talking about Walter Reed hospital, and he used our picture by mistake,”

-Joshua, 11-year-old student currently at Walter Reed Middle School

reason #2:

“[it was]…a way of illustrating the candidate’s call ‘for public education reforms that empower parents and students before bureaucrats and labor unions,’”

-GOP spokesman, Tucker Bounds (LA Times)

….

this is difficult:

on the one hand; we have the speculation of a pretty astute prepubescent kid in jr. high…

on the other hand, we have the man whose sole job it is to represent the republican campaign.

huh.

oil? slick.

nothing could have given me a cheaper thrill than seeing a gas station with unleaded at less than 4 dollars a gallon. really. it’s come to this.

not to be entirely complacent, i of course tried to rationalize how this could be: the war in iraq had not ended; our economy on a whole was not seeing a drastic revitalization; we did not discover an oil fountain hidden inOscar Wyatts’ garage…how could…oh jesus: it’s the GOP.*

of course big oil would be looking out for it’s favorite little sugar daddy (or would it be the other way around?…too early for effective metaphor) by strategically lowering gas prices during election season in order to make the fanciful yet otherwise futile suggested economic policies that McCain keeps sputtering look increasingly attractive to the gullible little herd out there, and especially to swing voters.  behold: the power of subliminal messaging. behold: the awesomeness of the word ’subliminal’. …sorry.

increasing consumption is NOT how we battle our own fuel crisis.  it’s hitting two birds with one stone as far as the highway trust fund and oil lobbyists are concerned.  business as usuall…but they can only keep it up for so long.
AAAAAAAUGH, so aggrevating to watch the oil industry push as hard as they do in lieu of depleting oil reserves.  picture a 90-year-old who’s in denial/too proud to admit not being able to drive safely anymore; you know it’s only a matter of time before they plow straight into a store window.  think about it.

*brilliant tagline

look both ways

uhm, rad. probably gonna go myself, this month.

PROBLEM:
bad-assness aside; while i AM excited and enjoy the idea of biking along side (and past) los angeles traffic to stress the point of fuel and economic efficiency; i’m not keen on the idea of weaving in and out of lanes like asshole motorcyclists NOR getting into the fast lane when traffic is moving at a relatively fast clip. why encourage road rage (or at least moderate annoyance) in the drivers we’re supposed to be winning over? more importantly, why is it the ORGANIZERS who usually take the overly-zealous road (punn har har). this fact makes sense, but it is - again - disconcerting.

in retrospect i’ve seen this in a lot of activist societies - left or right leaning - where members or followers forget to take into account the mindset of the general public who aren’t privvy or - in most cases - have NO IDEA what it is you’re trying to get across. in my experience, you can’t expect someone to sympathize with a concept they’re not used to immediately (probably not just my experience).

in light of this, it’s my belief that many participants (again, most often the organizers) of these events easily psyche themselves up and become too absorbed in the moment, forgetting about relating the message to the public and instead coming off as alienating…something i’d term as ‘abrasive activism.’ not to be interpreted that i’m opposed to activism or feeling passionate…i just worry that too many well-meaning and sometimes even philanthropic movements/activities fail in getting the message across and instead come off as rude and insulting for this reason.

then again, it’s always possible that some of the people who support good causes can very well be…yanno….jerks from the start.

getting back to the freeway ride:
i like the idea of handing lollipops to motorists as we pass by. thanks natalie!

did i mention, ‘drunk’?

stress breeds brilliance. take notes.

The Mockhattan

• 3 parts bourbon whiskey

• 0.5 parts sweet vermouth

• 0.5 parts apricot brandy

• a few dashes angostura bitters

pour all ingredients into old-fashioned glass filled with ice. stir gently and garnish with a maraschino cherry and/or orange peel.

Fix-push: The evolution of the fixie

I stole this from Tom (the heterocyclic radical)’s myspace.

I don’t know what I love more: the video or the fact that I recognize all these parts of San Francisco.

Homosexuality: the toe cancer of our great nation*

“[she’s] not anti…[she’s] not gay bashing,” mind you. [as i scream into a pillow of paranoid delusion].

ahem…

i’m also not as considerate of others’ privacy; especially when ignorance this dangerous is supposed to be representative of us.please be responsible if you write, though. (voice informative, critical disappointment; not a counter-hate tirade):

sally kern

sallykern@okhouse.gov

help in the long term by trying to elect RATIONAL officials into government positions (the bush admin has done a hell of a job with the judicial branch…but that’s another story).

*thanks to h-buck for the link AND the the montage (to take away from the otherwise wearing audio).

this is mainly for my grandpa…

there’s usually a pessimistic if not altogether mocking tone attributed to most news-reels associated with alternative energy. especially solar power. i was delighted not to be upset at this one, however (barring the self satisfied “you can’t think about silica chips…you have to think about potATO chips!” quip from dr. born-in-the-30’s-humor at caltech…har har).

gives a brief yet easily understandable perspective on solar power and the reality behind making it work, both scientifically, and within our fossil fuel-driven economy.

I want this software

using an incomprehensible amount of UN data, Hans Rosling - a professor of international health and the karolinsk institutet in sweden - provides an amazing perspective of the changes in world health and economy between the 1960s and today (or 2003, when this was made, rather), as well as correlating these changes with the social and political history of each area.

on that note: the attention to detail is extraordinary, yet Rosling’s software (which he, himself developed along with his son and daughter) as well as his enthusiastic and engaging speaking makes the unimaginable complexity of each country’s socio-economic breakdown tangible enough for anyone to realize that world aid and development must be micro-managed…

…yeah, i’m getting ahead of myself. and using run-ons. crapnuts.

in any case, Hans is the most adorable, inspiring speaker/researcher i’ve ever seen. so i urge you to watch and enjoy.

it’s 20 minutes long so…get a juice box or something.

thanks to Yael for the link!

Triplet states and bullhorns

TEST: when you think of a ‘heterocyclic radical, which of these pops into your head, first?

or

?

Take your time.

Relative-activism

“It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs.”
-Albert Einstein

the amount of latent or non-existent activism there is amongst the chemistry student body has always bothered me. you’ll be hard-pressed to find a chemistry grad student picketing at a human rights march. i can name a a few people who are actually intimidated by the teaching assistant student union recruiters.

i refuse to believe - however - that this aversion to activism is an inherent quality you will find in the minds of any scientist. i’ve been pondering over this behavior and came up with a theory (scientific process…it works, bitches): that this reluctance to take part in humanist endeavors outside of academia stems from preexisting stigma revolving around the scientific community and it’s past involvement in what can only be considered “anti”-humanistic projects. after all, in an otherwise altruistic endeavor to probe the correlation between time, matter and energy, Einstein’s discoveries were ultimately used (and - to quite a few people - remembered solely) as a tool of war rather than a key to understanding. in light of this, i think it’s popular for most students (and professors) to disregard the repercussions of their work. or the fact that there is a market for such work in the first place. after all, Einstein was fully aware of the horrors his research ultimately saw through, and it haunted him until his dying day. that’s not to say that all academic thought is purely philanthropic; some would gladly turn a blind eye to the rest of the world in lieu of a six-figure sum (corporate mentality).

but about those of us who aren’t vain, inconsiderate assholes (bitter)… are we scared? are we scared of being labeled as hypocrites? can a synthetic chemist who works for big pharma be an active proponent of universal health care? (answer: yes…and yes…..and also, yes).

throughout history, significant scientific discoveries have either been vehemently shunned or shamelessly exploited. i - myself - saw this pattern as a caveat and to get myself involved in research that would be the least likely to make me ashamed of my field (organic photovoltaics can be used to power soldiers’ tents in iraq, sure, but my guess is that it will benefit modern society much more significantly). for all other chemists, engineers, biologists, etc. i think it’s imperative that they not stifle their moral beliefs; otherwise i fear that the process of discovery will always allow itself to be dictated by the greed of investors instead of the passion for knowledge.
activism is about change; science is about change. i know an effin’ creationist biologist with the chutzpah to continue their research in lieu of their moral beliefs; but at least it provides a different perspective. to hell with being a hypocrite. think like you wanna.

as a reminder: i still plan on starting a bar with my PhD. (haaaaaaa).