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So three months later…

…I finally scored a Wii… I got up at 5:30 am Sunday morning, headed out to a Target north of Saint Louis in Jennings, MO, and read a book for a few hours until the store opened at 8:00. Only one other car showed up early (around 6:30 am), and otherwise, other people showed up within 15 min of the store opening. Anyway, I “easily” got one…that Target was only alotted 8 units, while the Florissant one was given 14 (and the people who couldn’t get one at Florissant had to come to Jennings…). So I grabbed an extra controller while I was there and headed home… They were sold out by 8:08 am… One per minute…

Sadly, however, this week is rapidly getting crazy and I have no clue when I’ll really get to spend “quality time” with the Wii… We got to play for a good 2 hrs yesterday, but I won’t get to play much tonight ’cause I have a brief presentation tomorrow (that I’m not prepared for…), and I have an exam next Monday…but since Mardi Gras is this weekend in Soulard, I’m not going to get much studying done over the weekend, so I’ll have to get it all done this week…

Anyway, I’m glad I finally got my new toy… Pity I suck horribly at Wii Golf and Wii Tennis… 😛

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Meet Edie

Meet Edie!

So, we’ve been looking for a dog for a little while now…  Preferably, a somewhat older one so it would be more mellow, yet energetic enough to go out on walks, etc.  Also, a breed that wouldn’t bark too much and that would get along with a kitty cat…  We’ve checked out various on-line venues, including the pound, and various groups around the state.

Well, we found Edith Ann at the Humane Society here in St. Louis yesterday…”Edie” for short…  She’s a 5 year old 13″ Beagle that was owned by an older lady who had to give her up to enter a nursing home.  We brought her home today and all is well so far!  She’s a sweetie…haven’t heard her bark yet…although she does whine a bit…  She’s a little overweight, so we’ve gotta limit her food for awhile and be sure to take her on frequent walks, but that was the plan, anyway…

So far, Sam isn’t a fan of his new roommate…  He spent most of the day hiding under the bed, but finally came out around 8:30 to see what the deal is…  He’s checked Edie out a few times, but has yet to really “make friends”…  I’m sure it’ll work out, though…

Anyway, there are more pictures on my Google Photos page…check ’em out…and come visit if you want!

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Oh no! A bomb!

Mooninite

Seriously. Please, Boston. Tell me how exactly a Lite-Brite image of the Mooninites depicted above in any way says “bomb threat” to you.

I’m all ears…

(By the way, for those of you who know not what “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” i.e. Mom and Dad, it’s a cartoon on Cartoon Network that features a talking milk shake, french fries and meat ball. Yes. Very scary.)

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Disturbing-ness…

“Has any human being always been there? As any scientist always been there? Who’s always been there? God! Who should you always trust first, God or the scientist? God!”

The quote above came from a guy speaking to a stadium full of young children, asking the kids questions and having them yell responses back. And yes, they were the responses you expect.

So, Crooks and Liars, an admittedly left-wing blog, highlighted a documentary on HBO called “Friends of God.” Sadly, as I don’t get HBO, I haven’t seen the documentary, but Crooks and Liars linked to a downloadable video (“right-click” and choose “Save Link As…”) of a 7 min section of it that is a bit disturbing to me. I mean, these are things that I knew were going on, but to actually hear and see it is…well…”disturbing” is the only word…

The scary part is, and as this video highlights, what the kids are being taught, and how they’re being taught to think. One kid says he wants to get a Nobel Prize becoming a Biochemist and working for the Institute for Creation Science. Sure, a noble pursuit (hah! so “punny”…), but at the same time, the blindness that I see in the next generation is frightening. Another teenager referred to how “one-sided” public education is, and there is some definite truth to that…but at the same time, if the sides were reversed, would it be any different? Shouldn’t the separation of church and state be protected?

I guess I’ve tried telling myself that “things will change” once the current generation in power ages on, and once my generation and later ones take over…but things like this make me think it’ll be more of the same. And it’s not something I look forward to…

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The Varieties of Scientific Experience

So, I know it’s crazy, but I’m reading a book: The Varieties of Scientific Experience, by Carl Sagan. The book is edited by his wife, Ann Druyan, who ran across the transcripts of some lectures he gave in 1985 in Scotland (he passed away in December, 1996). The subtitle to the book is “A personal view of the search for God,” which is what drew me to reading it… There have been plenty of books out there trying to reconcile or compare “science” and “God,” but I figured that Carl Sagan, of all people, would yield an interesting take on the ideas.

I’m already half-way through and I wanted to quote a few excerpts from the book here.

On the origins of life on Earth:

“They say it is no more likely that the origin of life could occur spontaneously by molecular interaction in the primitive ocean than that a Boeing 747 would be spontaneously assembled when a whirlwind passed over a junkyard. That’s a vivid image. It’s also a very useful image, because, of course, the Boeing 747 did not spring full-blown into the world of aviation; it is the end product of a long evolutionary sequence, which, as you know, goes back to the DC-3 and so on until you get to the Wright bi-plane. Now, the Wright biplane does look as if it were spontaneously assembled by a whirlwind in a junkyard. And while I don’t mean to criticize the brilliant achievement of the Wright brothers, as long as you remember that there is this evolutionary history, it’s a lot easier to understand the origin of the first example.”

On science in general:

“My deeply held belief is that if a god of anything like the traditional sort exists, then our curiosity and intelligence are provided by such a god. We would be unappreciative of those gifts if we suppressed our passion to explore the universe and ourselves. On the other hand, if such a traditional god does not exist, then our curiosity and our intelligence are the essential tools for managing our survival in an extremely dangerous time. In either case, the enterprise of knowledge is consistent surely with science; it should be with religion, and it is essential for the welfare of the human species.”

Indeed…

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Busy, busy…

The past few weeks have been rather hectic… I start up class (finally…) this coming Monday, so I’ve been trying to get quite a few experiments done between Xmas and now… On the plus side, we’re going to be learning some hardcore neuroscience in the last half of the semester, and I’m all about that…

The rather frightening part is that I’ve reached a point in my career thus far where I don’t want to go to class…not because I don’t want to learn, but because I’d rather spend time in the lab working on new science. I really don’t mind going to class, but it takes two hours out of my day, four days a week…time that could be better spent starting an experiment that has a six hour incubation time… I still see the need to learn more, in order to become a better physiologist, but at the same time, I guess I’d rather investigate my own avenues and interest…

I guess it’s just kinda weird having experienced true lab work over the past few months, and wanting to continue it, rather than go to class…as opposed to sitting on my ass watching TV, rather than go to class…

I hate growing up…sigh…

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Mallory’s First Beer

I’ve been transferring all of the home videos my parents took when we were little from VHS to DVD and came across this once, which is hIlarious (yeah, I meant to capitalize the I). To watch the video, you have to right click on the link and then “Save As” – it won’t just play if you click on the link. Enjoy!
Mallory Video

Edit: The file should work now!!!  Try it again!!!

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Mallory's First Beer

I’ve been transferring all of the home videos my parents took when we were little from VHS to DVD and came across this once, which is hIlarious (yeah, I meant to capitalize the I). To watch the video, you have to right click on the link and then “Save As” – it won’t just play if you click on the link. Enjoy!
Mallory Video

Edit: The file should work now!!!  Try it again!!!

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Chekov for Majority Whip!

From tonight’s episode of “The Daily Show”:

“This President has listened to some people, the so-called “Vulcans” in the White House, the ideologues. But you know, unlike the Vulcans of Star Trek who made decisions based on logic and fact, these guys make it based on ideology. These aren’t Vulcans; there are Klingons in the White House…But unlike the real Klingons of Star Trek, these Klingons have never fought a battle of their own. Don’t let faux Klingons send real Americans to war!”

— Rep. David Wu, (D) – Oregon

You know, I very much enjoy Star Trek analogies, but seriously…this is the floor of the House of Representatives. Even I wouldn’t try that…and to come from a Democrat, no less…not helping us keep the majority, yo…

For the record, Jon Stewart then followed up the blurb by interviewing Leonard Nimoy (“Spock”) and George Takei (“Sulu”) about it, and it was quite hilarious…

You can watch the video here!

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MLK for today’s world…and for whom?

So, I regularly listen to the On Point radio broadcast on NPR (yeah, I’m that dorky…) via podcast, and yesterday, they were talking about Martin Luther King, Jr…  More specifically, they were discussing whether he would be with today’s Republicans or today’s Democrats.  From the summary:

“King personified Christian activism in politics, they say — and so do we. King said judge not by the color of skin but by the quality of character, they say — when they oppose affirmative action. King did not speak up for gay marriage, they say — and conservatives don’t either.  Progressives are appalled”

The idea is that both sides want to claim him for themselves.  For example, the Conservatives say that because King was a preacher, he’d be against gay marriage.  Liberals say that because he was for equality in all things, he would be more sympathetic to their cause.  The Conservatives also use his classic “I Have A Dream” speech to say that King wanted full equality in the workplace, so he would be against Affirmative Action (because that entire program goes against equality), while the Liberals say that sure, King was for equality, but he would want Affirmative Action to stay in place until equality was assured (which it obviously isn’t, yet).

At the link above, you can find quotes from the show from the people interviewed, as well as a recording of the 40 min. broadcast.  Rather interesting to hear…

The thing that really got me, though, is the parallels I see with Christianity in general.  These people were basing arguments on his singular speech.  What do we, as Christians, do with Jesus?  Don’t we try to fit our faiths, no matter what they are, on reported events and sayings from 2000 years ago?  I mean, Dr. King died less than a century ago and people are already claiming that he believed things to suit their needs!

Perhaps we need to step back and take a different perspective on fitting our idols into a proverbial “box.”  If we can’t figure out what a person would believe in today’s context, when they’ve only been gone for 50 years, how can we fit something from 2000 years ago into today’s world?