First semester, I had a physics class with Professor Melissa Franklin (the first female physicist to receive tenure at Harvard) who taught a class on Life at Low Reynold’s Number, or essentially life on the micro-scale as low Reynold’s number describes what happens when your mass is small in scale relative to viscosity (ie imagine trying to swim in a vat of tar and that gives you somewhat of an approximation of what your cells and bacteria experience). She was a very quirky professor, prone to making jokes about the French and was very laid back — it helped that our class was a very small size, and while in all honesty, the class was very disorganized, the interesting subject material and the fact that the class was so small and she was able to get to know most of us made the class kind of fun.

Well, courtesy of this link that Eric provided for me, I discovered just how quirky she is. While I had known she had been a successful high-energy physicist, I had no idea that:

The story behind this seems to be that particle theorist John Ellis and experimentalist Melissa Franklin were playing darts one evening at CERN in 1977, and a bet was made that would require Ellis to insert the word “penguin” somehow into his next research paper if he lost. He did lose, and was having a lot of trouble working out how he would do this. Finally, ‘the answer came to him when one evening, leaving CERN, he dropped by to visit some friends where he smoked an illegal substance’. While working on his paper later that night ‘in a moment of revelation he saw that the diagrams looked like penguins’.

Now, Eric, who knows more about high-energy physics than I do (which is not very hard) explains to me that these penguin diagrams are actually a special case of Feynman Diagrams, but regardless — very very very strange.

I use a lot of Google products/services.

Not all of them are equally worthwhile, to be frank. But, there are several that I use regularly. One which many of you are already aware of is my Blogger account, which yes, is now owned by Google (what better way to search people’s blogs than to start a blog service?).

One that I’ve been particularly impressed with is Google Reader. It, like all other google services, requires a google account (but lets face it, how many of you DON’T have one?). Up until recently, I’ve been using Sage, the RSS reader extension for Firefox to aggregate my RSS feeds. One of the reasons that I really liked Sage was that it used my Firefox browser history to point out which feed items I’ve already read (ie if I visited Jane’s LJ, Sage would know, and it wouldn’t tell me that Jane had a new post that I hadn’t seen before). The problem with that, of course, is that if I visit Jane’s LJ while I was waiting for my next class at the computer lab (and come on, who doesn’t visit Jane’s page like… every chance they get?) and I read her latest post about wine glasses, then my Sage extension at home wouldn’t know, because — well, its at home.

Enter Google Reader. It is, like Sage, a RSS feed aggregator. It is also, like my.yahoo and livejournal friends page, completely online. But, it has a few distinguishing features. Not only does it aggregate feeds for me, so that I can read the latest posts on Jane’s LJ and Greg Mankiw’s blog, but unlike my.yahoo and Sage, it does not separate them into separate lists or groups of articles, but groups them all together in one big list for me to read. Moreover, it also notes which posts I’ve already read and since its online, it means that the stuff I read when away from my laptop is still marked as read!

You can also attach tags/labels to different feeds and even different posts. For instance, I put the Sinfest, Dilbert, and PhD Comics feeds under a label called “humor” and, if all I want to do is look at humorous stuff, I use Google Reader to show me only all feeds tagged “humor”.

Google Reader also lets you publicize your feeds. If anyone’s interested, I can give the feed URLs for some of my tags so that, if you wanted, you could be reading the same stuff I’m reading when I’m on break. On the sidebar of this site, for example, is a list of articles that I’ve found and clipped as “noteworthy”.

The thing I like the most about Google Reader’s interface, however, is the keyboard shortcuts. I’m not really a big mouse guy — blame my old HP laptop for having mouse buttons which didn’t work properly, so its good to be able to navigate the interface without having to use the mouse (even though I’m now a proud owner of a VAIO with functioning mousepad). On any article that I find to be interesting, I hit “L” and I can label it as “noteworthy”. If I want to read a specific feed, I hit “g” and then “u” and it takes me to a menu of the feeds that I subscribe to, and I can then choose it. If I want to read a specific label, I hit “g” and then “l” and then I get to a menu of labels that I’ve defined. On the main interface, I can move forward and backwards through any list I’m reading by hitting “j” or “k”, and if I want view the original website where the article came from, I only have to hit “v”. And, the interface is pretty mouse-intuitive as well (scrolling on your mousewheel does what you would expect it to), for those of you who are more into the mouse thing.

About the only complaint I have is that there is no way (at least not yet) to search all the feeds that I have read for stuff. I can only search for new feeds.

Anyways, if you started getting into the whole blogosphere/feed thing, I’d definitely recommend Google Reader as a way to keep track of things. And, if someone from Google is reading this, I’d like to get paid commission .

Every now and then, I see something that beats the crap out of my perennial cynicism, kicks my perpetual skepticism in the groin, and bitch-slaps my pessimism silly. I don’t even know why this moves me so much, but I recently read an article by Mary Lou Jepsen, a woman who gave up her job in the high-tech industry to pioneer the development of a $100 laptop with the aim that it would be deployed all around the world as an educational aid.

Its a very uplifting story, as it describes how many industry executives thought it couldn’t be done, and even laughed at her idea to her face. And, lo and behold, they succeeded!

The details of the product are at laptop.org (does anyone else think its odd that it hadn’t been registered already?). Its not the next hardcore gaming machine, but it features some remarkably smart design innovations which make it cheap, energy-efficient, and very functional. It runs with an AMD processor (cheap, light, etc) and Red Hat Linux (total OS size: 100 Mb) and the key thing, it seems to me, which makes it so cheap and energy efficient is the new LCD display design that theyr’e using. It’s a 7.5″ screen with a 200 dpi black and white resolution, one can turn it into color mode with a backlight with 800 x 600 resolution, and consumes much less power, while retaining readability in direct light even without the backlight. They’re designed to connect and work well with adhoc networks (peer-to-peer as opposed to with some central hub, which is unlikely to exist in many places), automatic ebook functionality, are designed to survive abuse (ie being dropped, dirty conditions, etc), and have batteries that are designed to last longer, recharge more times, and be able to be recharged by more power sources. Seriously — I want some of these features on mine…

And (to chime in with some Taiwan pride) it’s made by Quanta Computer (a large Taiwanese ODM manufacturer of electronics, and the ODM manufacturer of Apple’s new Intel-based Powerbooks)!

OLPC’s (One Laptop Per Child) hope is to ship it directly to education ministries around the world and plan on doing so as soon as they get confirmed and paid orders for several million units.

In honor of my having watched and enjoyed Superman Returns in IMAX Saturday night (thank you Eric’s parents!), some comic book recommendations — b/c we all know that sequels to comic book movies (which will be and have already been pouring out) 90% of the time suck a lot more than their predecessors and that those of you who are interested may want to find things that are actually good reads:

From Marvel, the so-called “House of Ideas”:

1. Astonishing X-Men (Joss Whedon & John Cassaday) – From the creator of Buffy, Angel, and Firefly/Serenity, comes the core X-Men book. Whedon (who has grown greatly since his Buffy and Angel years) knows these characters well and is just in the middle of his third story arc where he has completely ripped the team apart from the inside. This is one of the best books Marvel has right now, and the only downside is that until September, Whedon was only able to get one issue out every two months — that sadistic bastard. One other tidbit, Whedon’s favorite character is Kitty Pryde (the girl who walks through walls) and his inspiration for Buffy and a good many of the female characters that he writes is her.
2. Daredevil (Ed Brubaker & Michael Lark/Stefano Gaudiano) – For those out of comics, Brubaker’s name probably doesn’t sound very famous, but he started as an indy-comic writer — and a good one at that. Brubaker crafts excellent noir-ish stories. For that reason, I’m not as big a fan of his X-Men work, but I loved his work on Gotham Central (see below) and now he’s doing Daredevil justice. Not Ben Affleck-injustice, but Daredevil as he’s meant to be — bad ass, kicking ninja ass, surrounded by hot, scantily clad femme fatales. In terms of the story, I recommend you pick up the few issues just leading into the current story arc written by Brian Bendis (see below) which introduces you to more or less everything you need to know about the current one.
3. New Avengers (Brian Bendis) – I have mixed feelings about Bendis. On the one hand, he can do very good work. His run on Daredevil was long and also very good, but mainly, I think, because Daredevil is not a talking-type of guy. Bendis tends to write very long, awkwardly long dialogue. But, he crafts very interesting plots. And New Avengers is currently Marvel’s flagship work. It starts the most popular Marvel heroes – Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine, Spiderman, Luke Cage, Spiderwoman (no relation to Spiderman), and the Sentry. I think the work is a good you-don’t-need-to-know-crap introduction to the Marvel world, easy to read, and for the most part is pretty solid.

From DC:

1. Checkmate (Greg Rucka) – Greg Rucka is, in my humble opinion, hands down the BEST comic book writer who’s working in the mainstream today. He does real justice to his characters, to his plotlines — and he even writes Wonder Woman well, which is actually quite hard to do if you think about it. He crafted this one to help show off the new DC universe to be a bit more realistic. Sure, there have been plenty of spyfics before, and stories about corrupt governments — but really, what would the world be like in a world where Superman and Green Lantern fly the skies? Enter Checkmate, an international spy organization that was created by the United Nations to deal with these issues. But, as we all know, the UN sucks — and the very interesting combination of heroes and villains which lead Checkmate (the individuals are named after Chess pieces, with the Black King and Queen and White King and Queen as the ruling members) have to deal with each other, with diplomatic niceties, and with a super-powered world. Ok, I’ve been rambling on enough, but I do think this book is solid and I encourage anyone who wants to give comics a try to read it.
2. Fables (Bill Willngham & Mark Buckingham & James Jean on covers) – The only reason I mention James Jean is that his covers are absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Its one of the first reasons I picked it up. Fables isn’t DC per se, its under the Vertigo imprint, which some of you will recognize as the publisher of V for Vendetta and The Sandman and Watchmen. These are non-mainstream stories and typically deal with more adult themes/ideas (ohhh nooo.. its SEX!!! DRUGS! AHHHHHH). The premise behind Fables is that an evil empire run by the villainous Adversary has taken over the magical lands where our favorite fables (ie Jack and Jill, Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf, King Cole, Prince Charming, etc) lived. They are then forced to immigrate to our world — the “Mundy world” where they have lived for hundreds of years. Now, it sounds cheesy, but these aren’t your old bedtime story fables — Prince Charming is an adulterous, scheming man. The Big Bad Wolf, is Bigby the Wolf, a very talented detective, and Snow White is an administrative woman who absolutely detests Prince Charming, her ex-husband, and Goldilocks is an animal fable rights extremist. Throw in gratuitous amounts of sex, violence, politicking, and magic, and you have one of my favorite books ever. The art is nice, and the same team has been on the book since Issue 1 — which I encourage everyone to take a look at. If you’re not into superheroes, but want to read something good, I’d recommend starting with the first story arc and going from there.
3. 52 (Greg Rucka, Geoff Johns, Mark Waid, Grant Morrison) – I’ve written a little too much about the books above, mainly because I feel the main comic lines that people are familiar with (the mainstream ones, ie Superman or Batman) are difficult to follow and have decayed in quality at least for now. One of the reasons, is because their best talent are busy at work on this book, 52, which comes out ONCE A WEEK. The four authors listed are some of the best talent in the business and are collaborating on a story which is supposed to redefine the universe that DC’s comics operate in. These are written well, they come out every week (so it gives you a reason to go into the comic store weekly), and are easy to understand. ’nuff said

Those were the things that are currently ongoing series that I’d recommend. Here’s 3 more books that I’d recommend from a comic store’s “backfiles” — old issues or trade paperbacks (collections of comics w/o the ads) that are great:

1. Identity Crisis (Brad Meltzer & Rags Morales & covers by Michael Turner) – Again I mention the coverist, because Turner is draws very nice covers (although his women look somewhat anorexic). Anyways, this story got national press attention for the way it took the biggest heroes from DC (the Justice League) and completely undermined how everyone saw them. It was a murder mystery. A love story. It had intense fight scenes. Brought in major players. And… on top of that, it is fairly approachable and its fairly important to understanding the DC Universe today.
2. 1602 (Neil Gaiman & Andy Kubert) – This is a Marvel Neil Gaiman work which is a re-imagining of the Marvel universe if it took place in the 1600s. The reader gets to see very “period” art (including covers that look like they were etched in wood) and a crash course through the Marvel universe.
3. Sandman (Neil Gaiman) – Gaiman’s very famous and very acclaimed series. He was originally asked to make stories from a Golden Age character named the Sandman — clearly, Gaiman did not do what he was asked. Instead, he crafted a very intricate set of stories involving Dream of the Endless. While I don’t like the interior art so much, Gaiman’s writing and the beautiful covers grealty make up for it.

There are of course other books that I would recommend, but I think these 9 make a good start for anyone who’s interested .

The past two summers I’ve had mentors who have essentially scared me away from ever getting married.

Last summer, my mentor from Roche, Doug, told me horror stories about the married life — specifically with regards to having kids. He said to me, “I used to have hobbies… then I got married… and there went a few, and then I started having kids… and now, I don’t really have much of a life.” Doug described to me in agonizing detail how little time he has to talk to his wife one-on-one, how little sleep he got (he’s had three children in four years, one of whom had just started her terrible two’s while I was at Roche), etc. Granted, I’m only telling one side of the story (although … he never really mentioned the upsides…), but … I’m definitely going to hold off on children for the foreseeable future …

Flash forward to this summer: I mentioned before that the postdoc I’m working with recently got engaged. From him, a grad student who got engaged earlier this year, and a grad student who got married last year, I am hearing a great deal about the “joys” of wedding planning.

And by “joy”, I mean “agony.” Painful, throw-salt-on-my-wounds, kick-me-in-the-groin agony.

Not only does it seem that you have to deal with your fiancee, who almost invariably wants this to be some sort of royal ball from her girlhood fantasies (despite the Bill Gates himself would probably go bankrupt from the ceremony she has planned), you have to deal with her parents (who want to invite all humans three degrees removed from them), you have to deal with endless lines of photographers who all seem to shoot the same way but are desperately trying to convince you that they’re better than their competitors, you have to deal with innumerable overpriced caterers, droves of crappy bands, AND — worse of all — you can’t say a word about any of that or you’re sleeping on the couch. In fact, you have to pretend to enjoy it — and you have to pretend that you had a say in it (even though you don’t — b/c you don’t give a damn about these details).

And of course, your fiancee is still going to cry about every little thing. Her parents are going to be insulted at how you’re restricting the invite list to less than 10000 people. Your fiancee is going to bitch about how you don’t care about xyz little detail (and face it, you don’t). Your friends are going to wonder why your face goes sour whenever the topic of the wedding comes up.

Ben (my postdoc)’s advice to me: “Ben, don’t get married. Trust me. It’s not worth it.”

Now… I hope his fiancee doesn’t read this…

From In the Pipeline, a very amusing (and also very true) request on behalf of all scientists to all professional photographers responsible for taking photos of scientists:

After seeing a recent in-house promotional brochure, I’d like to issue a brief request on behalf of my fellow researchers. This is addressed to all professional photographers: please, no more colored spotlights.

I know that you see this as a deficiency, but scientists do not work with purple radiance coming from the walls behind them. Not if we can help it, we don’t, and if we notice that sort of thing going on, we head for the exits. In the same manner, our instruments do not, regrettably, emit orange glows that light our faces up from beneath, not for the most part, and if they start doing that we generally don’t bend closer so as to emphasize the thoughtful contours of our faces. When we hold up Erlenmeyer flasks to eye level to see the future of research in them, which we try not to do too often because we usually don’t want to know, rarely is this accompanied by an eerie red light coming from the general direction of our pockets. It’s a bad sign when that happens, actually.

I know that your photos have lots more zing and pop the way you do them. And I’m sorry, for you and for the art department, that our labs are all well lit (with boring old fluorescent lights, yet), and that we all wear plain white lab coats (which tend to take over the picture), and that our instrument housings are mostly beige and blue and white. It would be a lot easier on you guys if these things weren’t so.

But that’s how it is. And when you get right down to it, you’re actually us a disservice by trying to pretend that there’s all sorts of dramatic stuff going on, that discoveries are happening every single minute of the day and that they’re accompanied by dawn-of-a-new-era lighting and sound effects. We’d rather that people didn’t get those ideas, because the really big discoveries aren’t like that at all. It doesn’t make for much of a cover shot, but if one of us ever does manage to change the world, it’ll start with a puzzled glance at a computer screen, or a raised eyebrow while looking at a piece of paper. Instead of getting noisier, everything will get a lot quieter. And if there are any purple spotlights to be seen, we won’t even notice them. . .

Wild vs Lab Rodent Comparison Supports Hygiene Hypothesis

For those of you who don’t know, the hygiene hypothesis is the claim that autoimmune diseases and allergies and other immune problems are caused b/c people in more clean environments lack exposure to the “real world.” This study shows that lab mice, the ones in those sterile environments, have messed up immune systems compared to mice from the real world — who face real pathogens and real dirt, among other things.

So… think twice before you triple HEPA-filter your kid’s breathing room.

And if your spouse/sibling/parent tells you that your room is dirty, explain to them how it contributes to your healthy immune system