Anyone remember when I stated what feels like ages ago that I was studying benzene for a stat mech class? No? Well, I did, and I forgot to post the results!
Like all scientific endeavors, the results are a mixed bag of learned lessons in parallel computing, fighting other computer users for precious computational time, and the most inconvenient random occurrences of downtime. Basically, aiming high resulted in striking very, very low. Embarrassingly low, indeed.
So, without further ado, I present for your reading my results.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Penguins and Chemistry
What do penguins and chemistry have in common? Nothing, really [1]. But why did I put them together in a title? Because I just glanced at the most awesomest book cover I have ever seen [2]. Behold, Foundations of College Chemistry by Morris Hein and Susan Arena [3].
I found the 12th edition (pictured above) on my colleagues desk. I have found other edition covers using Google. It appears that the cover art team has a penguin-fetish, just like me. Awesome. I do want. Now.
Now, as a caveat, the book is a bit on the thinner side for a chemistry book. I wonder if my colleague will let me borrow the book for the evening to give it a glancing review? I already sneaked a peak at the index, and sadly penguins are not listed. This injustice is quite unforgiveable.
-----
[1] Penguin science tells me otherwise.
[2] I may be biased from my penguin-fetish
[3] Not to be confused with the Springer journal, Foundations of Chemistry.
Monday, July 14, 2008
It's a fucking wafer, people
Here's a strange story to ponder on.
A student of the University of Central Florida stole a blessed communion wafer (aka the Eucharist) from a Catholic Mass recently. Instead of putting it in his mouth, he allegedly attempted to bring the wafer back to his seat to show his friend who was curious about the Catholic faith, but was met with physical force to consume the wafer.
His claimed goal, though, was to inform other student senators of the activities involved in the Catholic Campus Ministry which receives about $40,000 from the SGA, money paid with student fees. Essentially, he is bringing up issues about using the fees paid by students to fund non-secular, and essentially non-public activities.
To add more interesting tidbits to the story, he has been threatened with physical violence, death, and the hopes of burning forever in the afterlife. Students have filed various complaints with the university and the SGA asking for disciplinary action and impeachment. The student has also filed a complaint with the university, claiming that the CCM is violating hazing policies by forcing participants to consume food.
Here is some more fascinating tidbits. PZ Myers, a professor of biology at the University of Minnesota Morris, recently commented on the whole ordeal at his blog, Pharyngula. In his commentary, he offered to desecrate a wafer and post images on the web. This had upset Bill Donohue of the Catholic League not once, but twice. Also in response to the initial blog post, Myers has been threatened several times by email from those claiming or implying to be Catholics (first email dump; second email dump).
So....my commentary...
We have a complete over-reaction of the Catholic community. Yes, I understand they value the 'Body of Christ' very much. Host desecration has been usedas an excuse as the reason to burn "witches" and entire Jewish populations before during the 13th through the 17th century. The Catholics and other orthodoxically-oriented sects of Christianity have shown to call for blood when someone does harm to a wafer the Eucharist.
But at the end of the day, it's still a wafer and a cup of wine. Saying a couple of magical words does not make this piece of unleavened flour anything special. Especially not when it comes in a bag the size of dog food and stored away in the church's chambers until later consumption. Or, for those Catholics who travel a lot and may miss Mass on those business trips, convenient travel packs.
Was it wrong for the student to take the Eucharist in the first place? If he had foresight, he may have avoided the action due to the harassment after. But the action itself does not warrant physical violence done unto him, or even threats for physical violence. Devaluing the humanity of an individual to be equivalent to a piece of cooked gluten is perhaps the strangest mental exercise ever.
And it is ironic. The Eucharist is supposed to make those who take it to remember Jesus and honor his teachings and the supposed new covenant. I'm guessing all his talk about loving neighbors, doing unto others, and turning the other cheek and Paul's scorn to the Corinthians for greed and abuse of the symbolism got lost in keeping our sacred crows sacred. Nay, it is the human condition to still maintain esteemed materialism (eg. valuing a material object over humanity) even in a faith built by one who desired his followers to shed such earthly ties for Providence.
It's a fucking wafer, people. Get over yourselves.
A student of the University of Central Florida stole a blessed communion wafer (aka the Eucharist) from a Catholic Mass recently. Instead of putting it in his mouth, he allegedly attempted to bring the wafer back to his seat to show his friend who was curious about the Catholic faith, but was met with physical force to consume the wafer.
His claimed goal, though, was to inform other student senators of the activities involved in the Catholic Campus Ministry which receives about $40,000 from the SGA, money paid with student fees. Essentially, he is bringing up issues about using the fees paid by students to fund non-secular, and essentially non-public activities.
To add more interesting tidbits to the story, he has been threatened with physical violence, death, and the hopes of burning forever in the afterlife. Students have filed various complaints with the university and the SGA asking for disciplinary action and impeachment. The student has also filed a complaint with the university, claiming that the CCM is violating hazing policies by forcing participants to consume food.
Here is some more fascinating tidbits. PZ Myers, a professor of biology at the University of Minnesota Morris, recently commented on the whole ordeal at his blog, Pharyngula. In his commentary, he offered to desecrate a wafer and post images on the web. This had upset Bill Donohue of the Catholic League not once, but twice. Also in response to the initial blog post, Myers has been threatened several times by email from those claiming or implying to be Catholics (first email dump; second email dump).
So....my commentary...
We have a complete over-reaction of the Catholic community. Yes, I understand they value the 'Body of Christ' very much. Host desecration has been used
But at the end of the day, it's still a wafer and a cup of wine. Saying a couple of magical words does not make this piece of unleavened flour anything special. Especially not when it comes in a bag the size of dog food and stored away in the church's chambers until later consumption. Or, for those Catholics who travel a lot and may miss Mass on those business trips, convenient travel packs.
Was it wrong for the student to take the Eucharist in the first place? If he had foresight, he may have avoided the action due to the harassment after. But the action itself does not warrant physical violence done unto him, or even threats for physical violence. Devaluing the humanity of an individual to be equivalent to a piece of cooked gluten is perhaps the strangest mental exercise ever.
And it is ironic. The Eucharist is supposed to make those who take it to remember Jesus and honor his teachings and the supposed new covenant. I'm guessing all his talk about loving neighbors, doing unto others, and turning the other cheek and Paul's scorn to the Corinthians for greed and abuse of the symbolism got lost in keeping our sacred crows sacred. Nay, it is the human condition to still maintain esteemed materialism (eg. valuing a material object over humanity) even in a faith built by one who desired his followers to shed such earthly ties for Providence.
It's a fucking wafer, people. Get over yourselves.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
LOLgoogle cache
Google cache pulls through. Quickly, before their spiders cache the fixed version, go gander at the most glorious mistake in website design found this week.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Green Shit
This post is for my organic buddies and their recent adventure with colorful things.
Behold, the formation of green shit upon the introduction of UV light[1]:
Photochromism for the win!
[1] I am not clever enough to have come up with the name of this compound. Instead, I derived it from the YouTube page.
[Hat tip: The Sceptical Chymist]
Behold, the formation of green shit upon the introduction of UV light[1]:
Photochromism for the win!
[1] I am not clever enough to have come up with the name of this compound. Instead, I derived it from the YouTube page.
[Hat tip: The Sceptical Chymist]
Time for a Proposal
A summer without school and intense studying or research has given me loads of extra time to pursue other avenues. Baton Rouge is a small city, and New Orleans isn't that much bigger to justify the gas expenditure. So, I've run out of museums and parks to visit. What now should I do to pass the time?
Other than pining over my lack of a sexy PlayStation 3, I offer a proposal. In my capacity as caretaker of this web log, I hereby declare the month of July science month. Every day I shall write about science. You know, what I am supposed to be using this outlet for.
Oh, and I'm trying to convince my friend to join my blog as a collaborator. That way, I can justify my lack of updating. "It's her turn!!!" and all other such excuses.
If I succeed in this goal, I expect cookies to be delivered to me promptly on August 1, 2008. Do not deny me my right to those delictables!!!
Other than pining over my lack of a sexy PlayStation 3, I offer a proposal. In my capacity as caretaker of this web log, I hereby declare the month of July science month. Every day I shall write about science. You know, what I am supposed to be using this outlet for.
Oh, and I'm trying to convince my friend to join my blog as a collaborator. That way, I can justify my lack of updating. "It's her turn!!!" and all other such excuses.
If I succeed in this goal, I expect cookies to be delivered to me promptly on August 1, 2008. Do not deny me my right to those delictables!!!
Choose Your Words Carefully
Yet again, I'm the last person to discover the day's internet humor. No biggie, since it's still very funny.
The American Family Association's news outlet, OneNewsNow, has a nifty auto-replacement script that changes the word "gay" found in Associated Press streams to "homosexual". I guess it's all part of the delusion of believing sexual orientation and attraction to be directed only toward the opposite sex and believing it is the individual's behavior and choice to participate in same-sex relationships.
Whatever the reason, what happens when someone's name is Gay? Well, this is what happens:
The American Family Association's news outlet, OneNewsNow, has a nifty auto-replacement script that changes the word "gay" found in Associated Press streams to "homosexual". I guess it's all part of the delusion of believing sexual orientation and attraction to be directed only toward the opposite sex and believing it is the individual's behavior and choice to participate in same-sex relationships.
Whatever the reason, what happens when someone's name is Gay? Well, this is what happens:
If you read the original AP article and imagine the word 'homosexual' being replaced with 'gay' (or if you lack imagination, copy and paste into word and run find/replace), you'll find some very humorous and nearly scandalous phrases. Go on and search for 'Tyson Homosexual' on the site, and be entertained during your mid-afternoon break.
Chemistry Research Areas in a Few Words
The parents of a friend of mine challenged me to reduce the fields of chemistry into a few words. This was mostly to give them the idea of the difference between the organic chemistry which my friend studies and (the far superior) physical chemistry which I study. So, here's my shot in the dark for the (anymore, just academic) fields of chemistry:
- Analytical Chemistry - The art of finding and measuring chemical species.
- Organic Chemistry - The art of making carbon-based chemical species.
- Inorganic Chemistry - The art of making non-carbon-based chemical species.
- Physical Chemistry - The art of studying the physical properties of chemical species.
- Biochemistry - The art of frustrating pre-meds with chemical species.
Am I missing any others, or do I have the basics down?
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Compare and Contrast
Time to dust off the blog with a politically charged post. Yes, indeed.
This will be an excercise for the reader. Compare and contrast the following two videos. Both are on religion's role for the country. One is McCain's view, and the other is obama's view. My comments follow.
Though I've always been a Mike Gravel fan myself for the true Democratic nomination, when forced back to reality about the majority of Americans being moderate to right-leaning moderate, I was always more partial to Obama's nomination. If he maintains his position in the video of this speech, then he is perhaps the better of the two major-party candidates.
Why? It is quite clear that a government built from a background of reason and not the authoritarian eddicts of religion would desire to remain as seperate as possible from religion. The typical religion represents a sort of anti-thetical thinking of our government model. That is, a central figure or figures are in charge of developing the rules and way. This figure was not typically elected or chosen as leader according to the generalized mythology, but was born into or simply present at the beginning of the process. This figure or figures are thus simply tyrrants: a monarchy sitting upon the throne of the universe dictating its whims.
It is precisely the whims of the monarch compounded by the malice of Parliament which drove the colonists to rebel against their motherland. Thus, a new government, built from the idea of proper representation and arguing for the interests of the State over the interests of the Individual emerged. This new system did away with a unitary rule in favor of the bicameral legislature with judicial and executive counterparts for a complete picture. Our government represents our ability to choose whom we wish to represent us, and thus we have the ability to elect or remove representatives and other elected officials as we please. And in the spirit of choice, of freedom, we are able to decide for ourselves whom we wish to govern our spirituality, if we even believe it to exist or be important.
But if you don't agree with my perspective and odd analogy, the driving point of Obama's position is clear and more correct than the disaster of McCain's pseudo-history. It isn't fair for those of faith to have their religion used as a tool to obtian means, and it isn't fair to those who lack faith to be subjected to abide by a foreign morality. Matters of state ought to be framed within the perspective of the people, and as such must address the concerns and consequences developed in that frame. Adding religion spins the perspective into a frame particular to a specific individual's preferance and ultimately not the desire of the people.
I like Obama. Not as much as Gravel, but Obama is leagues ahead of McCain in understanding the role of religion in polticis, it seems.
This will be an excercise for the reader. Compare and contrast the following two videos. Both are on religion's role for the country. One is McCain's view, and the other is obama's view. My comments follow.
Though I've always been a Mike Gravel fan myself for the true Democratic nomination, when forced back to reality about the majority of Americans being moderate to right-leaning moderate, I was always more partial to Obama's nomination. If he maintains his position in the video of this speech, then he is perhaps the better of the two major-party candidates.
Why? It is quite clear that a government built from a background of reason and not the authoritarian eddicts of religion would desire to remain as seperate as possible from religion. The typical religion represents a sort of anti-thetical thinking of our government model. That is, a central figure or figures are in charge of developing the rules and way. This figure was not typically elected or chosen as leader according to the generalized mythology, but was born into or simply present at the beginning of the process. This figure or figures are thus simply tyrrants: a monarchy sitting upon the throne of the universe dictating its whims.
It is precisely the whims of the monarch compounded by the malice of Parliament which drove the colonists to rebel against their motherland. Thus, a new government, built from the idea of proper representation and arguing for the interests of the State over the interests of the Individual emerged. This new system did away with a unitary rule in favor of the bicameral legislature with judicial and executive counterparts for a complete picture. Our government represents our ability to choose whom we wish to represent us, and thus we have the ability to elect or remove representatives and other elected officials as we please. And in the spirit of choice, of freedom, we are able to decide for ourselves whom we wish to govern our spirituality, if we even believe it to exist or be important.
But if you don't agree with my perspective and odd analogy, the driving point of Obama's position is clear and more correct than the disaster of McCain's pseudo-history. It isn't fair for those of faith to have their religion used as a tool to obtian means, and it isn't fair to those who lack faith to be subjected to abide by a foreign morality. Matters of state ought to be framed within the perspective of the people, and as such must address the concerns and consequences developed in that frame. Adding religion spins the perspective into a frame particular to a specific individual's preferance and ultimately not the desire of the people.
I like Obama. Not as much as Gravel, but Obama is leagues ahead of McCain in understanding the role of religion in polticis, it seems.
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