Tweaking my own blog and making other people’s themes work with what I want is some really tedious, boring, downright confusing, harrowing, fun stuff. As many of you may notice, bit by bit I’m adding features to this website to make it work and look the way I want it to. Maximum readability, uniqueness, pleasing layout, intuitive navigation, and usefulness for both myself and my readers. Last week, a weird bug popped up, which I promptly fixed, but this week, a similar one happened, and I had to dive into the code again. But then I realized that all this time, I had been checking the way it looked in the Firefox browser. And when I checked it in Internet Explorer… Oh hell. Everything was everywhere it wasn’t supposed to be. Read More…

I’ve been following the news this summer about people and their shiny new iPhones - how they were hacked almost overnight of being released, and people are doing all kinds of nifty things on them, especially, exercising their right to use their phones on any network. (You are allowed to do it by law) But Apple, not content to have the sweet exclusive AT&T deal they arranged, is fighting back. Are they going too far, what is too far? Read More…

Oh yeah. Not less than a week after I got back from California, it’s time to go on the road again. This time it’s Minneapolis, Minnesota - I’m heading to Speaking Science 2.0!

Hosted by Seed Magazine, and a whole host of others, it’s going to feature PZ Myers of Pharyngula, Greg Laden of Evolution… It’s not just a theory anymore, versus Chris Mooney of The Intersection, and Matt Nisbet of Framing Science. The main topic is, of course, Framing. As some of you may know, PZ, Chris, and Matt have been getting into frequent scuffles over the framing of evolution - in what context it is discussed and conveyed to the public. PZ presents the details: Read More…

Today I begin to dig into the wonderful world of bioinformatics. Bio (life) + information, the discipline concerned with organizing, annotating, compiling and comparing the hordes of genetic and genomic and proteomic data that we’ve unraveled so far. With whole genomes and bits of DNA from around the world at my fingertips, oh what will I be doing? Read More…

Previously, I mentioned that Halo 3 has come out, and I addressed some of the myths surrounding video games. Here’s an article from the BBC news, dispelling myths about antisocial behavior linked to video games, murderous tendencies (I’d like to kill whoever suggests that… umm, oops.), and getting in the way of people’s school work. Hey wait a second, you mean to tell me that moderate video game playing is linked to getting your homework done more often? Maybe I don’t have to wait until after midterms to buy Halo 3.

I’ll stick to the plan - hold out until I have more time to kill. October 22 marks the end of my second midterm - I have one month to go. Can I make it? Stay tuned.

Yesterday, I was browsing the news as per usual, and I came across this article about Acupuncture being twice as effective as conventional treatments for back pain. If you’ll read the article, you’ll notice that it contradicts itself. First, acupuncture is better than conventional treatments, then acupuncture is no better than “fake” acupuncture, and doesn’t work at all. Huh? I put in a comment, calling into question the contradictions in the article, and so far it has not seen the light of day. I also sent a message to Orac, and he’s now got a post up explaining just what’s wrong with this whole thing. Read More…

Today, Halo 3 comes out across the country. I’m a big fan of the Halo series, and I can’t wait to get the third and final installment (need an Xbox 360 first, not to mention a TV), which looks like a video game of epic proportions. The only other game I could get excited about coming out soon is Starcraft 2. In reading and watching all about Halo 3, the making of the game, and the viral marketing they used (and didn’t need to use) to advertise the game, I came a across a really good feature article about Halo 3 that shows that Bungie is taking video game entertainment to the next level - treating it as a science!

Seriously, if you find video games interesting (or why people are so into them), you should read this article. Read More…

Today is the 24th of September, 2007. Three years ago, today, a ceremony was held where KDRT-LP 101.5 FM, a low-power community radio station in Davis, CA, was switched on for the first time. The following week, I was one of the first programmers on the air, and almost every week until I left Davis this year, I did my show. At first, it was an hour long, and then I expanded to an hour and a half. Each year, I did an anniversary show, making fun of myself, and awarding “science fiction” and “science fact” awards to my guests (or subjects of debunkification and adulation).

Right now, since I don’t have my show going, I’m holding off any awards or celebration over how long I’ve been on the air. Instead, I’m focusing on how KDRT is still going strong after three years! Read More…

Oh boy, a four hour layover in the Minneapolis airport. I was tempted to go find the bathroom, but I should have looked it up beforehand. Alas, no free wireless internet (I miss Sacramento), and I didn’t feel like asking employees. Oh well, no political turmoil tourism for me in Minneapolis. In case you don’t know which bathroom I meant, click here. You can’t blame me for wanting to find it to have a laugh, just like you can’t blame Senator Larry Craig for cruising in a bathroom in the Minneapolis airport. It is boring there. Once you’ve seen, oh, three airports you’ve seen all they have to offer in terms of shopping or things to do while you wait for your plane.

Still, I got some organization done on my computer, cleaned up some space. I tell you, if you have to get things done that you don’t want to do, fly somewhere. The combination of the airport and the plane ride plus a laptop will get the job done. It’s like studying in a silent library - getting to work is all you can do to keep the voices in your head from driving you crazy.
After we got home from the trip to the wedding in California (which was great fun), I powered up Dreamweaver and hunted down the website glitches I was experiencing. Turns out, the person who made this neat looking yet functionally crappy wordpress theme forgot to put a “div” in the index page. And I also found out that I can’t use special formatting in my headlines if I want to avoid weird screwups with the social bookmarking buttons at the bottom of the posts.

I’m tired, I’m done working on stuff, and I’m hungry. Now to make our patented Salmon Salad. I’ll tell ya’ll how to make it sometime, it’s delicious.

(Hat tip to Pharyngula) According to this news story, there’s a guy opening a creationist museum in Wisconsin Dells. For those who are not familiar, that is like, one hour north of where I live in Madison, Wisconsin. A home for water parks and other touristy things like that, Wisconsin Dells is visted by 3 million people a year. Perfect for a flight of fancy. Read More…