Blog Roots III

Periodically, I like to return to my blog roots and give a general update, so here goes: (Previous Blog Roots I, II)

T$ Update:

School and research are proceeding quite nicely. The first semesters of my time in Kansas were mostly slow, my research and other involvement did not keep me extremely busy. But then data collection for my thesis, supervising the rat lab, coordinating a student’s convention and other things kept me very busy. The same pattern is beginning to emerge here in Texas.

I’m working on several projects in the Aging and Cognition Lab related to metacognition, social aspects of age differences in memory, and student’s use of study strategies. I’m also very excited about a new project in the Environmental Psychophysiology Laboratory. I’ve written about the ERN here before; the new study is also related to the ERN. The study has the potential to make real progress disentangling several issues that have plagued interpretation of the waveform. The principle investigator (PI) has high hopes for its publication in a high-impact journal.

As is necessary to receive my stipend, I also teach a lab section of PSYC203: Statistics for Psychology, today we talked about independent samples t-tests. So far, it has been a fine experience, but mostly a back-burner activity, if I were the teacher of record I would feel more responsibility for the course.

Other News:

Was in Houston and Rice University over the weekend for the ARMADILLO cognition conference. Friday and Saturday there were talks all day and a poster session Friday afternoon (I presented some of my work on stereotypes and aging). Unlike other conferences I’ve been to, there was only one event at a time, whether it was a talk or a poster session. Meagan and I also enjoyed the Rice Village district, we had tapas Friday evening and visited the Chocolate Bar Saturday afternoon.

One interesting thing about Rice University, a private university with what must be an enormous endowment, is that its often referred to as the Harvard of the south. To students and faculty at Rice though, Harvard is the Rice of the north. UPDATE: I checked, Rice’s endowment is 4.7 billion dollars as of 2007. (wiki)

Meagan and I are hosting a Halloween party this Saturday. We’re hoping we can have as good a party as we did our last year in Kansas, which will not be an easy task. I think our costumes are a secret but I’ll definitely post pictures after the party.

TX Update:

Who knew it would rain so damn much in Texas. In September we had 7.4 inches of rain, over three inches above average, and this month we’re already at 8 inches, 4 inches above average!

Home Brew by Thanksgiving

Meagan bought me a home brewing kit for my birthday. My birthday isn’t until end of November but we both figured that it would be nice to be able to drink the home brew on my birthday, and so I got my gift early. I got a Better Basic brewing equipment set (w/ glass carboy) and a Caribou Slobber beer kit all from Northern Brewer.

Last night I boiled the wort and put it into the primary fermenter. The original gravity was 1.052. This morning when I woke up, about 10 hours after sealing the carboy, my airlock is bubbling like crazy. I’m beginning to worry about blowing the seal and making a mess. I wonder if I should put a blow-off tube on the carboy for the next few days (see the air lock bubbling). UPDATE: I’m told that if the Krausen (the foam at the top of the fermenter) does not reach the airlock, I shouldn’t be worried. (p.s. thanks to Aaron @groundrocket for advice on steeping specialty grains).

My amber beer should be ready by Thanksgiving, just in time for my parents visit.

Intelligent Life

With the size of the universe as it is, I cannot believe there isn’t something else out there. There must be intelligent life somewhere else. Take for example the image below from NASA, it shows one galaxy, Andromeda, but there are more than 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe.

So what are the chances intelligent life will ever be discovered? Without an ansible or a better understanding of the quantum non-local connection, the chances are slim.

The galaxy, known as M31 in the constellation Andromeda, is the largest and closest spiral galaxy to our own. This mosaic of M31 merges 330 individual images taken by Swift’s Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope. The image shows a region 200,000 light-years wide and 100,000 light-years high (100 arcminutes by 50 arcminutes).

Andromeda Galaxy (NASA, Swift satellite)

Thank you NASA for doing what you do.

Tour de France 2010: Route announced today

The route for the Tour de France 2010 has been announced.

Surprising that the cyclists will have to first ascend the Alps then the Pyrenees before they finish in Paris. It seems like since I’ve started watching the Alps have always been positioned prominently at the end of the tour.

There is a nice summary of the route along with one author’s comments on what is IN and what is OUT of this years Tour route. I was definitely disappointed a Team Time Trial (TTT) will not be involved. Still again I was disappointed that Mike Kennedy’s TdF 2010 graphic was not incorporated.

Armstrong has been busy assembling his Radio Shack team to crush the opposition (i.e. Contador). At this point Armstrong has got to be the favorite (10:1). He’s also hobnobbing with French President Sarkozy which probably will help endearing himself to the French populace.

(From Armstrong’s Twitter feed)

Lots of ?’s about lunch convo w/ President Sarkozy. Topics included cycling, cancer, politics, America, and our kids. Very much enjoyed it.

Bon Appetit (II)!

Cabbage soup is not for the feint of cabbage or vegetables.

Cabbage Soup

p.s. Meagan and I shared that crusty bread.

p.p.s. planning to update more pictures of food as they happen, aren’t you excited? I’ve also added a new “Food” category to my blog’s sidebar!

Suspect Statistics and Political Double-Speak

Just listened to an Interview with Peter Galbraith on Democracy Now about Afghanistan elections. He was introduced on the radio program as the U.N. Ambassador who was fired from his position by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. When Galbraith was allowed to speak he corrected  the radio host saying he was recalled not fired. I wonder what the difference is, seems to be an instance of double-speak, or a euphemism for political discourse.  Then again, Galbraith says he was fired in his article yesterday for the Washington Post.

According to Galbraith, he was fired due to a policy disagreement with his boss, Kai Eide, about how to handle election fraud. Galbraith attempted to eliminate “ghost” polling stations prior to the election and eliminate possible fraud. When his boss told him to stop, he did.

Now, the U.N. and the people of Afghanistan are dealing with a fraudulent election. Afghanistan’s Electoral Complaints Commission has now started an audit of 10% of the 3,000 ballot boxes from suspect polling stations. If the 10% sample is considered fraudulent then all 3,000 boxes will be thrown out, which may initiate a run-off.

I wonder if examining 300 of 3,000 ballot boxes is enough. According to Galbraith, each polling station was given 600 ballots. So, is 180,000 ballots representative of 1,800,000? It’s hard to say, but it’s better than nothing.

Now only if it weren’t countries like the U.S.A. having to pick up the tab for the election, audit, and a possible run-off election.

Bon Appetit!

Thought I’d share my first experience with a hot roast-beef sandwich. It was pretty choice. If you want the recipe, email me…

Hot Roast Beef (Country Cooking)

Home Improvement on San Pedro

Meagan and I both agree, our recent home improvement landscaping project is not professional quality, but as a first try it’s pretty good. There are definitely things we would do differently, like adding edging or building up the base more.

Including the shovel, axe, tamper, brick pavers, paver base, paver sand, sandstone, mulch, flowers, potting soil, and patio furniture we spent around $500 (and many, many hours of labor).

You can't see the stump here.. But it WAS there.

Meagan Loves Leveling

Yes, we bought a tamper.

Our goal was entropy.

Searching for Entropy?

Ixora Flowers

Webster is not an LOL Cat.

Renee Zellweger’s Sami Ancestry

Tonight Renee Zellweger appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman while Courtney Cox appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Zellweger’s family is from Europe and her mother Kjellfried Irene (née Andreassen) is Norwegian-born and of Sami origins.

The Sami People are among the largest indigenous ethnic groups in Northern Europe, between 83,400-133,400 people still live there, mostly in Norway (Wiki). Their flag is awesome too.

Obama’s remarks to Congress on Health Care

I watch PBS’ coverage of political events for three reasons — David Brooks, Jim Lehrer, & Mark Shields. I just love their commentary. As Obama and his cabinet members walked in to the chamber all three commentators made hilarious remarks. At one point Brooks commented colorfully that the room was filled with “500 back slapping politicians” and Obama’s progress would be slow to get to the front, later he said it was a “mushroom of bon amie.”  A minute later he said “vote republican” if you want speeches to start on time. I was in stitches.

The Speech (9/09/09)
Obama mentioned several problems with the current system. For instance, Wall Street’s relentless expectations for profit. He also said “Our Healthcare problem IS our deficit problem, nothing else even comes close,” and that healthcare represents 1/6 of our economy.

He also referenced those who have supported Health Care Reform, like John McCain’s idea about catastrophic care for those who have been denied coverage, and John Dingell Sr. (D) Michigan who has made the case for health insurance reform at the beginning of each session for some time. While Dingell recieved a standing ovation, he lipped “thank you mister president.”

In the end, our president paid tribute to Ted Kennedy saying that Kennedy’s dream of health care as a basic right was not based on rigid ideology but on experience. He also read from a letter Kennedy had delivered after his death. Kennedy referred Health Care the “unfinished business of our past.”

The president referenced those who have opposed health care reform too, at times sounding paternalistic. He also attempted to clear up misconceptions about the bill. Regarding the supposed death panels, he said they “would be laughable if they weren’t so cynical.”

The New Bill

Obama also outlined features of the new bill. Some of the features include it being against the law to deny converage based on a pre-existing condition. Insurance companies won’t be able to “drop coverage, or water it down when you need it the most.” Insurance providers would also not be allowed to put caps on spending limits. Hopefully the bill will reform malpractice litigation too.

As for long-term aspects of the bill, he said they would decrease spending if the revenue they expect doesn’t materialize, and that they would form an independent commission to identify wasteful spending in the years ahead. The price-tag of the bill would be 900 billion dollars over 10 years, “less that we’ve spent on the Iraq war.”

As for the public option, Obama commented it was a means to end and that he would be open to other ideas.

My Analysis

I liked his speech, but I can be critical on at least one point. That point is that he spoke too much of “opponents.” By doing so he created artificial boundaries, which is very detrimental. At one point he even said to his opponents “We will call you out!” Perhaps the person he made the biggest opponent out of was George W. Bush, saying part of the reason there was a trillion dollar deficit was because many of the Bush policies weren’t paid for (e.g. tax cuts for the wealthy).

Not only did he reference some members of congress as opponents he also made an opponent out of the media, saying they were part of the problem. This is not a good idea, what if the media retaliates? (to be anthropomorphic…)

If Obama is serious about health care reform and bi-partisanship, which I think he is, he must drop the “opponent” rhetoric.