YATZEE MOTHERFUCKERS!!!

Holy Shit I'm EMPLOYED!!!!!!!!!111!!11!1!

Apparently I'll be working for Cornell, desperately trying to keep up with an idea-factory of a boss. Sweet Joy, my dreams have come true. 

Stream-of-Conciousness Rants are Immesely Theraputic.

NOTE: Currently, this is an incoherent, un-edited rant. I will streamline this later (hah hah hah). These are not my opinions. Yes, I wrote them, but right now, they're vague, and don't actually convey what I believe. Instead, what's written on this page is 10% what I believe, 60% what you think I believe and 30% pure bullshit. In fact, I might just leave this on-line as an example of spectacularly crappy writing. Not that the internet's lacking in examples, but still.


I just returned from Manhattan where I talked with a tutor about how to go about applying and getting into grad school. And, it turns out that he was worth every penny. A lot of his advice was quite different from the stuff I got from the career counseling office, and have heard from various contacts in other colleges. Now, this might mean that his methods are bologna; conversely, it might mean that he’s an actual professional. Since everything he talked about seemed a lot more organized and efficient then the advice I’d previously gotten, I’m going to be following his outline from here out.

So currently, I'm hanging out in this great little place called the "Tea Lounge". Decent music, young people, lots of caffeine, but it's still the anti-Starbucks. I think I'll be coming back here. Anyway, since it's a nice hangout, there's *free* wireless and it doesn't reek of pretension and overpriced, prepackaged yuppie bullcrap, I decided to settle down and check out www.anncoulter.com for my daily does of hypertension.

As always, that deranged Aryan lovechild delivers up deep-fried crazy with a touch of desperate paranoia and inchoate rage. I guess the reason I try to read her material is that if I can understand where she’s coming from, I can get into the mind of maybe 20% of the really virulent conservatives. Then again, she can’t stop going on about how liberals want to “surrender to the terrorists”. Does that even make sense? Does wanting to direct US resources towards rebuilding our infrastructure and education system mean surrender? After all, how the hell does invading Iraq help defend the US? Is it really possible for a pack of anti-modernist, fundamentalist twerps with a hard-on for the Apocalypse to destroy the US? I mean, Falwell took his best shot at sending us back to the 1700s, and while he assembled a significant following, he didn’t really manage much more then infringing Roe v Wade and getting Kansas to pass a few anti-evolution provisions which were struck down within a year.

That brings me to another tangent; everyone talks about how uninspired and inactive the American people are; how they never jump out of their chairs and storm the halls of power. I have an alternate theory: The American people are quite active; they’re just very focused on a limited set of goals. We like the idea of the future; we just don’t want it to arrive too soon. The Internet’s pretty amazing; let’s see what we can do with that for a while, the space station can wait. We like our kids knowing more about the world then we did. After all, if they don’t, they’re not going to get a very good job, and that’s just not acceptable. Also, if our kids don’t learn anything, they just aren’t going to turn out to be very interesting people, and while familiarity is nice, boring isn’t a quality we want to associate with our children. We also like knowing our daughters are going to live a life they enjoy. We like knowing that no matter how bad that boyfriend of hers is, if he ever thinks about hitting her, she can just leave him. And if the fucker lies about wearing a condom and gets her pregnant, she’s not going to be forced into a position she never wanted. Also, no matter how much people bash on materialism, owning a nice house and a fancy car is a pretty nice feeling, at least, it’s a damn sight better then owning a mud hovel and a grumpy camel. Anyway, enough about this, let’s go to something that’s actually a source of contention.

Back to Ann Coulter: She believes that the only way to stop the terrorists is to monitor Americans for treason, bomb brown people to punish them for their assumed sins, and make sure the entire world fears and respects us, because otherwise, they’ll tear us apart. Sadly, none of these ideas make us safer. Monitoring Americans for treason is, well… un-American. And this isn’t bad just because it violates our constitution; it’s bad because it stifles good ideas from flowing to the top. The perfect way for a group to stay in power is to destroy any ideas or movements that threaten the ruling junta’s position. However, if the opposition has ideas with merit, those in power will usually have to stand in opposition to the idea, simply to maintain the distinction between “us” and “them”. This leads to stagnation, and in this accelerating world, stagnation means death. Take this “Treaty of the Sea” thing. The basic idea is… wait, never mind. The CSM puts it best.

For the second time in three years, a Senate panel has given the nod to a treaty that governs the oceans. Last time, alarmist concerns about the loss of US sovereignty kept the treaty from a floor vote. This time, the Senate must steer past those criticisms, or America will be left high and dry.
The Law of the Sea Convention protects its members' navigation rights to the oceans. It establishes limits for marine boundaries and rules for extracting resources and preserving the health of the seas. And it sets up a way to resolve disputes about these issues.
The United States was the lead negotiator on this treaty, starting during the Nixon administration. President Reagan had some problems relating to deep-sea mining, but they were fixed in a second negotiation. It's in force for more than 150 nations – for almost all NATO members, and for four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, including Russia and China, but not the US.
Global warming has made US approval urgent. As the polar icecap melts, nations are steaming ahead to claim rights to Arctic sea-lanes and oil and gas reserves. Staying outside the treaty leaves the US with little say in this region, especially off Alaska.
The treaty has remarkably broad support in America: State Department and Pentagon chiefs from both parties; oil, gas, and fishing industries; and environmentalists. And yet, a few senators have the power to tangle this treaty in a kelp forest of myths:
The US is giving up sovereignty. Actually, the US gains sovereignty as never before. The treaty extends the nation's territorial waters from three miles to 12. It gains a marine "economic zone" that goes out at least 200 miles. The US would have exclusive rights to explore, conserve, manage, and exploit resources in this mammoth zone, about equal in size to the continental US.
The treaty also gives the US important new navigational rights. The key one allows warships and submarines to pass through straits and archipelagos.
The treaty is UN overreach. True, the agreement was negotiated under UN auspices, but the signatories created it. The three bodies to deal with disputes and issues are not UN bodies. And the US has opted out of an international tribunal to settle military disputes; for general disputes it's chosen arbitration.
The treaty hinders US ability to fight terrorism. Critics say rules restricting boarding of foreign ships and seizing their goods would prevent the US from intercepting weapons of mass destruction. But the treaty provides an exception for "military activities," and international law amply allows for self-defense.
The treaty restricts US intelligence by making subs surface in territorial waters. This provision is already binding law as part of a 1958 treaty. And does America really want Chinese subs lurking off its beaches?
What's going on is an attempt by a small, vocal group of think tanks to scare senators with the one-world-government specter. Let's remember that the US has negotiated this treaty (twice!) with its own interests at heart; that order on the oceans is preferable to chaos; and that the US cannot complain about violations when it is not party to the treaty, neither can it influence it.
-See for yourself

Because the UN negotiated it, some Republican are forced into the position of arguing against it, which makes no sense, because (except perhaps for the submarine clause) this does nothing but help us. So instead of supporting this boon to US industry and jumping on the bandwagon, these poor souls are reduced to screaming about One World Order and infringements on US sovereignty.

Now, jumping back to the terrorists. If you want to kill terrorists, launch more satellites, add funding to the CIA, and establish good-will with Muslim communities around the world. If we had had our army free to help out in Darfur, more Muslims would believe that America isn’t hell-bent on another Crusade. Instead, Muslims see OIF as just one more front in the war between dar al-Islam, and dar al-Harb, with George Bush leading the charge to kill, convert or subjugate every single Muslim he has power over.

On the job front, things are picking up again (finally). I got an e-mail from Cold Springs Harbor asking me to fill out a form so I could come in for an interview. And I also got an interview with a tutoring agency on Monday. So yay for employment, because if I don’t have a job by Christmas, I’m going for a government job, such as the Army.

Want Motivation? Interview for Retail!

Well, I just solved my motivation problem for the next few days. I took out a job app for a local B&N, started to fill it in, and then stopped. Under "previous work experience", I had just put the American Museum of Natural History and Cornell-Weill Medical Center. Under "previously held positions", I had put Assistant Data Analyst and Research Assistant. Now this may seem elitist, and it is, after all, those aren't very prestigious positions (they translate as Spreadsheet Janitor and Go-For boy). I'm just too fucking overqualified for working in this kind of place. However, I'm poor, bored, and running out of money, so I filled the rest of it out, and I'm going to drop it off tomarrow. On my way to drop it off though, I'm going to also submit the application I picked up for a local tutoring service. At least there, I'll be passing on some knowledge, and therefore, I'll be useful.

So in short; nothing motivates a knowledge worker like the thought of having to work retail.

Job Update, Again!

So, I’m trying to emerge from the 4-month slump that has been my job search. Since I’m just starting on this, I really can’t report anything; In fact, all I can say is that I’m obviously not very good at the entire “employment” thing. I mean, I’m trying, I’ve sent well over 100 job apps to various hiring departments around the city. It’s just that, every offer I’ve gotten has either required more experience then I have on paper, were already filled (and HR was just going though the legally-mandated motions), or were glassware-cleaning jobs.
The domestic side of my life isn’t going great either. Without a job, it’s been difficult holding up any semblance of an ego, and my self-esteem has flushed itself down the toilet, looking for better company then I can provide it. My parents are getting just of sick of this shit as I am, and to be totally honest, I can only do GRE review for so many weeks before I hit a wall. Not surprisingly, I’ve recently hit that wall; thus the introspection.
So I guess everything’s coming to a head. Hopefully, I can harness this, and boost myself out of the funk I’ve been in, and maybe get a job tutoring high-schoolers in the meantime. It’ll give me some money, a more concrete schedule, and it won’t interfere with the job search.
Looking at my situation from a more removed stance, have I really been doing anything at all? After all, while I know I've been working, I have nothing to show for it. Thus, without results, what proof do I have that anything of use has occured? Do my efforts matter? I've turned down jobs because I know I wouldn't be able to stand them, and they'd drain the time I spend studying and applying, but now that I really can't study andymore, and no job are coming, do I have any right to reject them? Am I turning into one of those lazy leeches on society and family that I so hate?
However it turns out, I know this: Other science majors have been having trouble getting jobs in their fields, and if I don't get a job sson, and get a stellar evaluation report, my grades from freshman and sophmore year will negate any chances I have of being accepted into a good graduate school.

--- On a Different Note ---

While trying to bring up my spirits after writing the last entry, I had a pretty good idea for a drink today. I call it, “Operation Iraqi Inebriation”

1) Mix 4 parts chilled rum and 4 parts chilled whiskey with 2 parts chilled grenadine (American brands only) in a clean highballer glass.

2) Next, carefully add 1 part vodka (Polish brands only) and 1 part gin (British brands only) to the highballer glass, making sure to keep layers separate. Both gin and vodka should be at room temp to increase separation from the American effort.

3) Consume by first sipping of the upper portion of the drink quickly, then enjoy the lower layer of the drink much more slowly.

4) For added fun, mix another glass, light the top layer of the drink on fire, and then throw it in face of nearest Arab. Finally, berate the Arab for making such a mess.

More Job Search

Didn't get the Sloan Kettering job, but I did get to meet Harold Varmus. Really cool guy, won the Noble for his work in cancer, and we got to talk for a good half-hour. Some laughs, and he was pretty happy with everything on my resume. However, he wasn't terribly impressed with my mouse experience (since I didn't actually have any), and since that's what the job required, I got a phone call two days later, telling me I was out of the running (it had been my thrid interview there, so i really had though I'd had the job). Ah well, I've got another two interviews, but one's for a piss-collecting job, while the other involves working with HIV. While the 2nd might be interesting, I'm simply a little wary about working with that particular pathogen. I mean, you spill cancer cells on yourself, and you're going to be fine. Spill HIV on the hand you just trimmed a hangnail off of, and you're going to die in the next 10 years and leave your family in poverty.

I know it's nessecary, but honectly, I don't plan on working with viruses, and since it's with a private company, I wouldn't be making many contacts in acedemia, which is what the job's supposed to be about.

On the other hand, I haven't gotten a job yet, and I need one soon, or else.

Job Search

So, I'm back from Europe (more on that later), and it's now time to do the job search momba. Wait, scratch that, momba's too much fun... how about the job search polka? That sounds better, and since I really have no clue on how to polka, it'll be doubly fitting! Perfect! Anyway, from my tone you can probably tell how well it's going. So Far, I've only got one hit, but it's a biggie. A prospective job at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. I went in for the 2nd round of interviews yesterday, and the post-docs there were great. I'm not sure if I'm up to their standards, but I know that if they hire me, I'll gladly work my ass off: They have about 7 differnt projects running at once, each studying a diferent kind of cancer. This means that the technician would have to learn to identify and work with 7 different kinds of cancer. In short, Dream Job.

Update: I didn't have the mouse experience they wanted. Damnit.

Dead Horse

I know that this quote has already had it's moment in the sun, but I felt that this should be shared again, in light of recent events. I'll speak on this more later on.

The following is an excerpt from the New York Times magazine by journalist Ron Suskind, from 2004.

In the summer of 2002, after I had written an article in Esquire that the White House didn't like about Bush's former communications director, Karen Hughes, I had a meeting with a senior adviser to Bush. He expressed the White House's displeasure, and then he told me something that at the time I didn't fully comprehend -- but which I now believe gets to the very heart of the Bush presidency.

The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''

I can almost hear the crazed Bond villan laughter in the background. But maybe I'm just looking at the wrong reality.

Vacation is teh aw5om3!!!1!!11

Ima goin' to Europe baby! June 27th flight outta JFK!! Aww Yeeeah!!!

Job Search

Well, finally, *someone* recognizes my genius. Heh, right... Anyway, after months of sending out applications (numbering somewhere between 30-50, I'm really not too sure) I've got a solid interview at Memorial Sloan Kettering. I know, it's about damn time. But my GPA isn't anything special (3.43 last semester, but everything before senior year was, well, utter shit of 2.86). I figure I'm a late bloomer type, but if I wait too long, I'll find myself in the middle of winter with nobody to pollinate. Hopefully, this is the break I've been waiting for, because if I can get into MSKCC, then I'm set for the next two years. And since they're starting up a graduate program... wow, just... wow. A Ph.D from MSK would probably be pure gold, and I've no doubt the experience would put me pretty far ahead of the competition. It's not exactly the bleeding edge for genetics research, but until Creig Venter starts teaching classes and mentoring grad-students, I really couldn't ask for too much better.

Speaking of Venter, there was an interesting peice about him the other day. Apparently, he's trying to copyright tailored organisms, and catching some flak over it. Now, normally, I'd probably agree with him; after all, tailored organisms are usually so heavily engineered that they simply can't be confused with "natural" organisms. They're creations of the mind, intellectual property. However, what does the ability to copyright an organism mean for the future? Also, if Venter's offering becomes universally used, then we would have another microsoft on our hands. My position is that any copyright issued to him would have a very short period of protection. 10 years, 15 max. But I'm not the one in control of issueing patents and copyrights, so I suppose we'll just have to wait and see how the current system manages to screw it up beyond our wildest and most cynical dreams.

Logic: Cold, calculating, utterly neccesary.

Hey, not the arguement I'd choose, but it's actually pretty neat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JnxtITOzug

The counter-arguments I've seen can be grouped into three categories.

- Global warming isn't happening.
Yes, it is. Average global temperature is increasing. The levels of temperature increase are not equal in all areas, and winters are not expect to get warmer in all areas (actually, in some areas, they're expected to get colder, as oceanic currents are disrupted). This has been proven beyond any doubt to the scientific community. Note that the scientific community does not include bloggers, oil execs, and right-wing think tanks. We're talking climatologists, meteorologists, biologists, chemists, physicists and other experts who entered the field because they were interested in the world around them. If they wanted money, they would have gone into a different field.

- Global warming isn't caused by humans.
While volcanoes and forest fires do put out a lot of CO2, they don't, in fact, contribute as much to atmospheric CO2 as humans do. And even if they did, the traditional carbons sinks (ie forests, the seas) are losing their capacity to hold CO2 (causes are deforestation and increased temperature, respectively), while humans are contributing a significant amount of CO2 that even a pristine ecosystem might not be equipped to handle.

- The consequences of responding the global warming might be worse then the consequences of global warming.

The "consequences" of responding the global warming are usually described as massive layoffs, economic downturn, huge amounts of regulation, overbearing government, and starvation due to said economic depression. While this is horrible, it does not threaten modern civilization. And while it might set us back 20-40 years, third-world countries will be the main victims.

In comparison, here's the worst-case consequences of global warming: Sea levels rise 20 feet or more. This wipes out the coastal regions of every major continent, and the rise in global temperature turns every major agricultural zone into a desert. This all happens over the span of 20-50 years, after the Antarctic sheet breaks up completely, and our albedo decreases accordingly. Billions are displaced, leading to widespread destabalization of established trade routes and resource war.

Also due to the change in climate, ecosystems are also disrupted, allowing non-native species to invade new ecosystems. Invaders include many species which are hostile to humans, such as disease-carrying insects and new brands of bacterial and other microscopic pathogens. This both decreases agricultural output, as well as expose non-resistant populations to novel pathogens, leading to massive plagues. In short, there becomes a serious possibility for the collapse of modern civilization. This is not Greenpeace and PeTA talking, this is a sizable portion of Earth's scientists talking, when asked to consider worst-case scenarios which could result from global warming.

So, which is worse? A really bad global depression? Or maybe the prospect of a nuclear exchange between several Eurasian nations as the drowning costal states invade the land-locked ones due to a catastrophic refugee crisis? How bad is another rust belt when compared to NYC, DC, Charleston, Baltimore, San Fran, Norfolk, Jackson, Providence and Miami underwater? Which would hurt the US more? The loss of several auto companies, or the displacement of our agricultural heartland into Canada?

I'll address the other objections later on, but for now, I need to go to sleep so I can continue the job search tomarrow. Sloan Kettering, oh how I lust for thee.

Elite

Am I an elite? I work my ass off to know as much as I can about my field as possible. I easily solve problems and handle concepts that are beyond the grasp of most well-educated Americans. I am smarter, better educated, and more capable of increasing the knowledge available to mankind then >95% of the human race. My dream is that my efforts - combined with the efforts of thousands of other Americans - will make the advancements of the past century seem pitiful when compared with the wonders my generation is destined to create. So yes, if this willful arrogance and belief in one's own ability to change the world are the hallmarks of an elite, then I am an elite, and I hope never to become anything less.

Why Al Gore Ain't Half-Bad.

So today (well, technically yesterday, now that it's past 12:00) David Brooks - usually an intelligent, if highly conservative, op-ed contributor - wrote a piece about Al Gore's newest book, "The Assault on Reason" which I recommend.
I haven't read the entire thing, because I don't really have the cash to spare for it, but I did chill in the B&N on 7th Ave for a few hours leafing through the publication. Not a world-shaker, but really good. Thus, when I read DB's Op-Ed, I thought he was full of shit. So, I sent the Op-Ed column a letter saying so.

To the Editor,

Mr. Brooks characterizes Mr. Gore as “bizarre” for believing that rationality, logic, and honest, detached analysis are efficient and useful tools for understanding the human condition. Mr. Brooks mocks Mr. Gore for believing that the tools we create change how we interact with the world. Mr. Brooks attempts to portray Mr. Gore as an emotionless robot for encouraging people to attempt to think with the parts of our brain that we don’t share with reptiles, before succumbing to the destructive tendencies of irrationality. Thank you, Mr. Brooks, for seeing Mr. Gore as nothing but an adversary. Thank you for seeing nothing of value in the argument of an opponent, except as an opportunity for condemnation. Thank you for your casual abandonment of rationality in favor of ad hominem denunciation, and in doing so, proving Mr. Gore’s point

Owen Parker
Brooklyn, NY


Since you can almost hear the "...you fucking idiot" ending the last sentence, I'm guessing it's not going to pass muster. But then again, maybe it will. However it goes down, David Brooks is still a mid-brow print version of a forum troll, and as such, I feel perfectly justified in saying that he's a pencil-dicked twerp whose genital shortcomings are only outdone in their spectacular inadequacy by his mental bankruptcy.

Crap, now what?

Whoo hoo! Hip-hip, horray! Praises to the alma mater! Huzzah! Etc!

I'm done with college, with a diploma and a hood to prove it. Now, if I could only get a job...

Baccalaureate Bacchanalia

Well, not quite, Baccalaureate's not till tomarrow (-ish?), but whatever you could call it, the last week and a half has been delicious insanity. I'm a bit hung over (I woke up an hour ago and the ibuprophen hasn't kicked in yet), I need to make an appointment for STD testing in the next few weeks, and since I woke up in my room in my room, I can't check for prescription meds to find out what the other half of the spontafuck's name was (couldn't find her card either, wasn't in pants), but I feel great. For anyone in college reading this; if you thought you went crazy freshman year, it ain't jack compared to senior week after exams are over and all that's left is the debauchery.

Yes, of course, there should be other thoughts in my head. I need to raise more money to go to on a trip, I need to get a job, I need to get more money for an apartment, etc, etc, etc. But whatever: For the moment, the work is finished for now, there's living to be done, and entropy has decided to take the week off. Peace out, I need to take a shower and put a name to a face.

End of the year whining and other forms of intensive bitchery.

So, it's the end of the year, I'm a senior, and I have one more exam. Here's a list of the high-quality crap I've had to do.

1) 2 Review of Literature articles. Each ~12-15 pages (1.5 spacing). Each containing bibliographies citing ~16-22 sources (yes, I've read each of those citations, the professors check those sorts of things here).
• "An examination of recent advances in phytoremediation, with speculation on future directions of research and implementation."
• "Untangling the causes of PCD in the interdigital zone of higher vertebrates: Protein hierarchy and interactions."

2) 3 Presentations. 2 Scientific, one for a philosophy & technology course (so more like 2.5 presentations).
• The Blue Revolution: Global GM Aquaculture and its Potential Ecological Impact.
• The Effect of BMP2 and FGF4 on Apoptosis and Chondrogenesis in the Chick Autopod
• The phil & tech was actually pretty cool. Two others and I started a pseudo-blog where we disguised our research as a secret government project that was meant to carry out genetic testing of the entire population, and then use this to promote security and help control the citizenry's environment for their own good. Standard dystopian stuff, but our ideas were much better thought out then your usual, "Shadowy government organizations/ziabatzus are taking over with evil voodoo science!!111" you can check it out here: http://signalcascade.blogspot.com/

3) A 12 page follow up paper to the Phli&Tech presentation titled, "Intrinsic Characteristics in an Age of Fluid Identity: The Genomic Revolution and its Impact on Society and Security". It was actually a lot of fun, and while I got a lot of help finishing it up, I really view the core of the paper as mostly novel ideas.

4) And finally, a 5-pager for a GenEd course I had to take called "Wellness". The assignment was to just let your fingers run free over the keyboard and type up whatever you felt like. Being the east-coaster cityboy I so proudly am, I talked about how mass-transit and mixing of social classes was absolutely necessary to democracy.

In terms of exams, I got off lucky, I've already taken my Developmental Bio final (Dev Bio is what Hell wants to be when it gets older and grows a pair), so now all I've got to do is finish up getting ready for my Plant Physiology final (non-cumulative! Fucking SWEET!!)

So yay, that's my whining quota for the week, back to work.

Haiku

Funny sign I saw on the F-Train route, complied in haiku:

Asphalt preacher’s drums,
A pair of cans, next to sign:
“Will thump Bach 4 cash”

Gods, how I love Brooklyn.

Rupert Murdoch is the Devil

I know this isn't big news anymore, what with Blair resigning, but I'm still freaked out about the idea of Rupert "My Opinions are Reality" Murdoch owning another highly influential media outlet. Of course, I'm not terribly angry at the idea of Murdoch owning a right-wing guilded broadsheet like the Wall Street Journal.

No, I'm worried about him owning Dow Jones & Co, which is a name that dribbles respectability and oozes gravitas. This man thinks that the world is his by right, and anyone who resists his opinions are simply quacks. What's worse, his belief in his own infallibility is supported by his impressive ability to aquire failing businesses and convert them into best-selling rabble-rousers. As such, he's not completely wrong when he thinks that he's one of the smartest men in business today.

However, his ideology is, well, terrifying, and his impatience towards dissenters is legendary. In short, he should scare the shit out of anyone who values freedom of thought and belief, and every outlet he controls only serves to further hamper rational national dialouge on the social and diplomatic issues of today's world.

I don't eat brocchli because it makes me rock out.

Here's the first post of Jump Up Ugly, my personal scientific/political/philosophical/whatever-the-hell's-got-my-blood-pressure-up-today blog. It'll be updated sporadically, and it purely for my own amusement. However, arguements are amusing, so if you oppose my viewpoints, please, I'd be happy to discuss them with you.

For a little background, I'm a biologist in my early 20's with an interest in genetics, ecology and politics. I want to eventually run my own lab, perhaps repurposing bacteria into more useful roles. Since bacteria are effectively small chemical factories capable of manipulating matter on the atomic scale, they can convert any organic compound into something useful. They can turn PCB's into ethylene, crude oil into sugars, poisons into cures. They are the next industrial revolution, a modern-day alchemy that works. if coupled with bioremediation, gold, uranium, cadmium and a hundred other useful heavy metals can be extracted from contaminated dirt, converting wastelands into short-term mines and long-term farms. The country that can exploit this technology the best can solve their pollution and population problems, freeing up resources for whatever suits thier needs best.

As for my politics, they are moderately liberal. I believe that we should keep the government's hands out of our homes, and focused on providing a scientifically strong and philosophically rational, secular education. Furthermore, I believe that the best way to keep us from being attacked is to minimize the number of people who view us as a negitive force in the world. A Marshall Plan for the middle east, starting with Darfur, would increase the respect and cooperation of arabic nations, and might help to expand our influence in the region. No matter how strong a wall is, it can be circumvented and defeated. The only way to stop attacks is to cut off the supplies available to the enemy. In this, we need to effectively sell ourselves to the people of the midle east. We have enough money to do this if we cut back on military operations, and still have plenty left over to greatly increase the quality of our education system.

However, our economics should be as free as possible, with the government only stepping in to prevent alignment of established interests, monopoly and other forces that promote stagnation. If Ford can only produce cars that can't compete in forgien markets, then our laws should not be changed to accomodate thier laziness. If energy manufacturers are not capable enough to switch to nuclear and renewable power, then thier interests should be ignored, and others should be found who can do the job.

I also believe that the long-term objecive of America should be to become the base upon which space exploitation is built. Our culture is one of the best on Earth, and a space-faring humanity whose culture base is mostly compiled from our nation would be much better off then many of the alternatives.

Whew... anyway, there it is. Have fun poking holes in my thinly-supported convictions and rose-colored sensibilities.

Mood: 50-67-9