Bush vs. Science

So I've been trying to give the blog a bit of respite from my rantings about US politics, after all it just gets old eventually.  But I have to revisit the topic yet again, if for nothing else than the fact that I am seeing a scary trend.

So I'm sure most of you heard that Bush vetoed the legislation allowing more stem cell research.  As a scientist this particularly pisses me off.  For those of you who may not be aware of the potential benefits of stem cell research, the belief is that they can be used to regrow organs and tissues.  Now this is a hell of a lot better than doing transplants that come with a lot of problems of rejection and the need to suppress your immune system; and even then the organ will likely be destroyed by your body over time.  So for scientists to learn how to unlock the potential power of these cells could have massive benefits to our collective health.

Now the controversy, as Bush sees it, is that scientists want to use embryonic stem cells.  The reason for this is because the cells are fresh, in that they haven't undergone years of reproduction and damage, as I understand it.  Admittedly these embryonic cells can only be obtained if the embryo is destroyed (i.e. aborted).  And this is where the religious fanatics seem to have a problem.  I suppose they feel that the scientists will be pressuring people to have abortions just so that they can get more stem cells...or something as stupid as that.

Now as far as Bush is concerned "It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect, so I vetoed it,".  I wonder how Bush feels about those rich bastards who will try to buy organs from the poor?  Isn't that morally wrong as well. Wouldn't it be better for them to just pay to have new ones grown for them in a dish?

On top of all this funding for the National Institute of Health, the body that funds more scientific research than any other, with the goal of improving health (duh!).   Now I wonder how much money went into research for new weapons.  You know, those things like MOAB which only tend to improve our lives.  I wonder how many fetuses have been killed in Iraq due to the war?  Then again, do non-Christian fetuses count?

I've been trying to figure this all out and I think I have a new understanding of the choices that Bush makes regarding scientific matters.  You see the secret is, Bush is afraid of science.  I wonder how many science classes he took?  Then again I can bet that there weren't too many, we all know how well he can pronounce "nuclear".  Not to mention his issues figuring out the reality of evolution and global warming.  See the other problem with science is that there are all these unavoidable FACTS that you have to deal with.  That and most of the answers aren't in the bible, the one book Bush may have actually read.

New levels of absurdity on the internet

Ok, by a show of hands how many of you have pets?

If you just physically raised your hand you may be type of person I'm about to make fun of, so keep reading at your own discretion. Now before we get started I should point out that I have owned pets; a dog, a couple of cats, a bird, a bunch of fish and a rabbit that I barely remember (and yes, his name was thumper). So I do love pets and was always saddened whenever one of them died. Particularly when I saw my dog get hit on the road, and when I removed the cats corpses from the road. Ah the happy childhood memories.

Anyway, on to the topic at hand. Now how many of you have heard of Friendster or MySpace or some other meaningless on-line community web page?

Yeah, you probably all have, they are popular. Actually they are more like popularity contests that are being won by fat middle-age guys posing as teenage nymphos, but I digress.

How many of you have heard of Dogster? Catster? Come on, someone must know about Petster?

That's right folks, there are websites dedicated to letting you present your pet to the world. You can post photos, share stories and even let your pet have a diary! Now ok, that's not so bad. Sure I kind of want to make fun of those people but hey, they care for their pets so that's all good. I mean these animals are probably living the high life so I'm sure they don't complain...well maybe about the stupid clothes they are made to wear. But some people take it to some pretty far out extremes, do we really need to know the daily routine of your cat? And should it really be written to us in a first-person narrative form? And why on earth are you having your cat get married? (Scroll down past the pictures to read the story, and yes, it's in the first person.) And don't get me started on the people who call themselves mommy and daddy in reference to their pets. How about this, if you insist on referring to yourself as your dogs mommy don't get offended if I call you a bitch.

What shocked me the most about the whole site though were the pages dedicated to dead pets! Admittedly some were set up for pets that had died recently, but do you really need to make a page for the dog your mother owned that you never saw? And should your pet die I would think it would suffice to say succinctly that they passed away. Maybe it's just me but I don't think writing another first-person narrative about their crossing the rainbow bridge (yeah, I had no clue what that was either) is a very healthy way to deal with the loss of a loved pet. In fact it's kind of creepy.

So yes, loving your pet is good, creating a quasi fictitious reality based around your pet, yet experienced almost entirely by you however is bordering on insanity in my mind. And yet there are almost 200,000 dogs on dogster.com, go figure. Though that also puts to rest the idea of the crazy cat people, there are less than 80,000 cats on there.

On second thought cat people are still a bit crazy.

...with cheese

Now I'm not too sure if this is a regional thing, a national cuisine style, or just due to my proximity to Wisconsin, but what the hell is up with the use of cheese on everything?

I've known this for a while but it's just been getting to me more and more lately. It's almost a universal truth that at any mid-priced bar/restaurant you will be unable to order an item off the menu without it including cheese. I should admit that I'm not the worlds biggest fan of cheese. It has it's place in a number of dishes, with moderation, but not on everything. It literally is like a treasure hunt to find items on any of these menus that don't contain cheese (even the fish items do!).

Anyone know what's under the cheese?

I've been trying to figure out why they use so much cheese at these places. I'm still not sure if it's simply because of the local desire to have cheese on everything. Alternately they may just be using it as a way to mask poor cooking skills. After all if people really enjoyed cheese you would think that they would be a bit more selective and want more variety than just Cheddar or Jack, and no, both at once does not constitute something special. But a quick trip through Wikipedia reminded me that maybe they just do want cheese in everything; the Twin Cities addition to the culinary delicacies of the world is the Juicy Lucy(and yes it's safe to click that link). So yeah, cuisine out here is really kind of sad...unless you adore cheese.

Let's make a deal.

Check this out, some guy managed to trade his way from a single, ordinary, red (ok, maybe it was special because it was red) paper clip all the way to a house!

One Red Paper Clip

Now I doubt that this will ever be duplicated and will be a feat of internet lore for years to come. But just in case it isn't a one-shot deal I'm willing to offer up for trade...what the hell don't I really need anymore...I know, a bound copy of my thesis, and hey, it's RED too! And no you don't have to read it to trade for it. So are there any takers out there? I'll even sign it for you if that will sweeten the deal!
* WARNING: This image does not represent the acutal thesis. Actual thesis is much more red and far less interesting than this image.

New student convocation ???

Yeah, it's been way too long since I had the time to write a blog, what are you going to do about? Anyway as it turns out this morning I have a bit more time on my hands. You see my ride to work no longer goes to work, she's done with her crap ass job and as a result can sleep in. This however does mean that I now have to find my own damn way to work. So unless I want to take the meandering route to the university, which incidentally has the most stops along the way, I will now be getting to work before 7:30 am...oh joy.

But maybe it is for the greater good, because now I feel that this advanced hour of my arrival entitles me to spend more of my time goofing off in the morning, hence the blog entry. Actually the blog entry was spurred on by the most asinine email I have seen in some time. See as a postdoc at the university I'm considered to be a "staff member" so I get random odd emails directed to what I would call the actual staff. I make a distinction, you see for me staff are people who care about their working environment and invest something into their place of work. I on the other hand am a contracted employee and I'm just doing this so I can get a better job elsewhere, so you can be pretty sure that I'm not going to be all fired up with staff pride...if there even is such a thing.

Well judging by the email there must be, because why else would I want to volunteer for "The New Student Convocation"? That's right people, they are doing a convocation celebration for the people who are STARTING university. Though seeing as they students just had a high school convocation (and a whole bunch of open house parties) I'm sure that they need more celebration, after all they just made it through a long hard summer. Though maybe this is all part of Bush's "No child left behind policy", thus ensuring that every student who enrolls in university gets to have a convocation. What's next, an annual drop-out convocation?* Please note, the above image is one of many found while searching Google images for: "new student convocation", it seems that this is not a rare phenomena in the US

But I suppose that this isn't all that surprising, it seems that the universities here coddle the incoming students like mad. All year long you can encounter these groups touring the university being lead by some backwards walking undergrad pointing out things like "This is the chemistry building, but don't worry you probably won't have to go in there unless you take chemistry". The really sad part about these tour groups is that I have seen some where the number of adults is greater than the number of incoming students. It seems that the parents really need to know where the cafeteria is in relation to the gym before they will decide if this is the right school for their adult child.

But maybe I'm just a cynical asshole because I don't feel the need to have an opening ceremony to my academic career. Nor did I ever even really look at my university before I started class, and somehow I don't think I missed out on much of the academic experience...well maybe the ridiculously expensive tuition of American universities (one year tuition here for an undergrad would have covered all of my undergrad tuition). I wonder how much money goes into paying for tour guides, visitor gifts and "The New Student Convocation"?