Owen The Biologist

Three months

2008-08-01T18:30:00.004-03:00

Well, it's been three months. A lot has happened: I've graduated, I've moved, I've gotten one (possibly a second) job in retail, and I'm sitting around the house a lot with little to do outside of cooking and cleaning.

I have trouble reconciling all the self-help messages I'm faced with every day, all the signals that say "Now is the time to do something. This is your sign to make that major change in your life!" without feeling that I should be doing something safe and secure. I'm trying the safe and secure gambit now, and it doesn't seem to be helping that much. I'm hoping for a better job come September, but there's nothing secure promising that, either. Apparently the market tightens up when all the new grads come out of school, one life's little unfortunate coincidences, year after year.

So there we have it. A fresh-faced graduate with experience ready to go out in the world. With very little holding me down, this is when I'm supposed to take chances. With a pile of student debt, it's hard to take those chances; one would wait for s secure, well-paying job. I decided to wait, and thus far it has not gotten me far.

At least all this free time gives me time to cook. And read (which can now be called "obtaining product knowledge".)

So, Owen, what's new?

2008-04-30T20:27:00.003-03:00

Let's see.
I wrote up a paper of my work for class and submitted it. Last thing I ever have to do as an undergrad!

Had a job interview Tuesday, still waiting to see how it worked.

Booked a flight, I'm heading to Ottawa early June. Cue "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Farewell to Nova Scotia"

In just over a week, returning home for my graduation ceremony.

And, for whatever reason, I've been reading this cute comic: Catharsis. It's not superb writing, and the guest comics are a little...eh. But it's still cute. What can I say?

Oh, the people on the bus I ride with are throwing me a going-away party.

And I'm cooking dinner for the boss on Sunday.

Look what it's DOING here!

2008-04-24T22:54:00.003-03:00

I woke up this morning to the radio host: "For weather, expect rain, freezing rain, and wet snow this afternoon."

That wet snow is still going on.

Does EVERYTHING need a comment board

2008-04-24T17:31:00.003-03:00

The folks at Penny Arcade have come up with a law/theory that I think is quite true.
Bleeped out, it's "John Gabriel's Great Internet F***w*d Theory."
Essentially, Normal Person + Audience + Anonymity = Total F***w*d. Seeing comments on Youtube, IMDB, most message boards, you get the idea.

Comment boards are the new hot thing for a lot of sites. CBC.ca added one fairly recently, and as a result brought the average IQ of the site down several points. It, as well, gets lowered to a lot of name-calling and pointless never-ending debates about the seal hunt and Paul McCartney. Is it necessary? No. Really, it isn't. I doubt there's somebody who looks at the comment board, and says "Oh, they really don't like this. We better change it."
That being said, there was a fire in Halifax yesterday morning on Spring Garden Road. The comments are mediocre, sympathetic at best, except for this lovely one:

there was a lot of manly gear downtown this morning
and many manly men doing manly things
not to mention the womanly women doing manly things womanly
and there were lots of lights, too!
oh, all the flashing lights!!!

Your comments, please? (Ignore the possible irony)

On Mountain Dew and Science posters

2008-04-22T17:17:00.002-03:00

Last time I drank Mountain Dew was just before they rebranded it as Dew Fuel, an energy drink. I used to really like it, not for any particular reason, just because.
I just bought a bottle of it here (Not that many fancy energy drinks up here). Just regular old Mountain Dew (sans caffeine) in a glass bottle.

Blegh!

More those around Acadia who are interested in what I've done for the past four months, head down to the co-op office. Just inside the library, down the stairs, and through the door. My poster detailing my work should be up there. If not, let me know and I'll see if they can put it up. They may also be good-natured if you ask them as well.

I'll see about getting it up on this site.

Spring is here!

2008-04-15T17:42:00.002-03:00

I went into the Superstore today for a snack. Hoping to avoid the oft-luring bakery, I hit the produce section.

Oh, what do I see? Artichokes! Roots! Mushrooms! Fresh herbs! Endives! Plantains! Chilies!

Oh sweet and wonderful, SPRING IS HERE! Let the feasting begin!

I'm cooking supper for my boss on Saturday night. Seeing all this fresh produce, as well as the latest issue of Saveur, halted me. I may have to investigate the planned dinner, and incorporate some of these fresh ingredients.

2008-04-15T00:25:00.002-03:00

When I started this blog, I thought I'd write about what I'm feeling and my thoughts on certain aspects. I never thought I'd be writing so much about my faith.

I find that when I'm away from a lot of my Christian friends my faith can take a beating, and I tend to examine my beliefs more thoroughly.

This past week has strengthened many of my beliefs, both traditionally Christian as well as some more liberal points of view. Despite this, I still feel like I have taken a beating. I am aware that opening myself up on the web means opening myself up for attacks, as well as those near and dear to me.

I'm not intending for a break, but for a little while I'll be talking about biology, my work, my interests. This is just to change things up for a bit, and I hope that discussion will start again on other topics. I link to a lot of sites in my posts, and I hope that you guys find them interesting and are going out and exploring some more. For Example: 10 impossibilities conquered by Science. (Nothing controversial. I promise. Really!) and The Art of the Title Sequence

Pardon?

2008-04-12T00:30:00.004-03:00

I've never had my faith questioned before.

I've questioned my own faith before, but not in my memory since I became a Christian has another person questioned my faith or my Christian beliefs.

It started somewhat innocently enough. Somewhat, because I was asking a thought-provoking question: Heinz's dilemma, structured by the psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg.

A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to produce. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $ 1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.

-from Wikipedia

Should Heinz have broken into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?

I thought the answer was clear as day: Steal the damn drug. But the company present did not agree. When phrased in the form that they were Heinz, they maintained that they could not steal the drug, as God has written in the Bible that Thou Shalt Not Steal. They would have faith that God would either heal them, or take them away. "God's keeping them suffering for a reason," is how one person phrased it.
An interesting twist, I thought. When asked about it from looking at Heinz as a third person, they said that he did the wrong thing. Stealing is against a universal moral code, and also by putting his faith in science.
The idea of a Universal moral absolute (hereafter referred to as a UMA) always intrigues me. I think that there are rules and guidelines, but sometimes you break them to do the right thing. In my Ethics class in 2nd year we explored the idea of a UMA. Take "Do Not Lie." If you're hiding Jewish refugees from the Nazis and a stormtrooper comes knocking on your door, do you tell them the truth of the people hiding, or do you lie (persuasively) and tell them that you haven't seen anybody lately?

They said that they would tell the truth.

We're told not to lie, and that's that. Whatever happens to you or to them, well that's God's will.

I don't know how we got going from that, but we ended up discussing evolution. Now, I'm a scientist, and a Christian. (Note which one if capitalized). Long ago I settled out, for myself, any apparent contradictions the two have in each other, and I believe that I'm no less a Christian for agreeing with evolution (nor do I believe I'm no less a scientist for believing in Christ). Obviously, they were opposed to it, words were traded. At the end of it all, the other member of the company said "We'll pray for you that God will reveal Himself to you."

I felt my knees actually give out. I was stunned. I'm more liberal than many Christians, but at many other times more conservative. From a very young age, I was taught to question, and then to find out for myself. Question teachers, question government, question the rulemakers. The only people I wasn't allowed to question were my parents, paradoxically. Hence my curiosity, my demand of evidence, my insistence on reading for myself if I feel it is necessary. God and His Word are not out of bounds in my mind. I ask why. When I come across something I don't like in the Bible, God had better have a reason for it being there (He always does, by the way). I've never thought I've done wrong by this. The idea to read and interpret a text full of symbolism, metaphor, history and context with such single-minded literalism astounds me.

To have someone question my faith is still stunning. It's not affecting me or my behaviour, but it's still...wrenching.

I know it's been two long posts in two days, so here's some funny pictures to make up for it:

see more crazy cat pics
(and Schrodinger's cat)

and (source)

Dear Acadia,

2008-04-10T18:27:00.004-03:00

The best years in my life have been spent in your hallowed halls. I met my best friends on your green campus. For five years I have been proud to call you my school and my home.

I know that we've squabbled. You've always been asking me for my money, but you've made good on your promises, and soon you'll be delivering a paper denoting my accomplishments in your presence. You've had a couple of arguments with yourself, forcing me to sit idly on the sidelines until we could continue. Many others left after your first squabble. I felt that I could see through the faults and stay with you.

You've encouraged me to go out on my own in the world, and provided me with the support I needed to get started. You have indeed been a Nourishing Mother. Now I'm leaving, and in ten years or so you'll be phoning, wondering where I am and how I'm doing (and asking for some funds, natch).

Before I go, why the change? I know you couldn't stay 1.0 forever, nor would I want you to. But already you were so cautious with your computers, and now you're making us buy our own. Acadia, look at how Dell has treated you in the past. Their goods are fragile, cheap, sometimes dangerous. We've only had to replace drives and motherboards since the contract, and the new computers are only a single digit better than the one I'm writing with now. I fear that their salesman has seen a lonely empty-nester and sold her an overpriced product. Open your eyes! Do the research! There is no reason why you should be asking your children to be paying that much for a computer. Computers are much, much cheaper than that. You should have driven the cost down. Mr. Dell and Mr. Jobs would still make profit. There's free, open-source, versatile and compatible software out there.

Your 2.0 has promised to be the future. I'm sorry, but you're firmly stuck in the past and afraid to change. Your business mind is still firmly there. The Advantage, in the beginning, was daring and out there. That's why it won awards and honours. Now? Now it just feels like a newer model. Juggle the features and the price a little bit, but in the end it still costs the same as the last one (if we're lucky), and it has all the same features. Coming out of high school, we know how to use Microsoft Office. I've yet to use LoggerPro in a work setting.

Teach us, Acadia! Teach us how to be efficient with computers! Teach our teachers, and teach them how to pass it on. We have the technology, but why? Show us how to break the mold with our tools. Knowing Microsoft is no longer an advantage, it's merely expected. But knowing how to use Excel and Access to manage an experiment with hundreds of cultures (cough cough)? That is an Advantage. Teach us how computers work at their best, so that we can master our tools.

A good carpenter with a good hammer works better. An uneducated carpenter with a good hammer just bangs his thumb harder.

Don't razzle-dazzle us. Your scores are soon going to sag. There's many fifth-year students who are none too pleased at your treatment of us. Some see you mainly as a transaction. Pay $50 000 and four years, get degree.
I wear your crest, your signet and your spirit. Please don't make me change.

Your loving biologist son,
Owen

One of my favourite days of the year

2008-04-09T21:36:00.002-03:00

Today, for the first time all year, I was able to walk home without a jacket on. I stood outside my work, music in my ears. Crows, starlings and ducks in the flooded fields behind the station. A breeze, warmed by sunshine, blowing the leaves around. Not a hint of snow or cold weather in the air, nor on the ground.

Spring is here!

You know what would be good?

2008-04-06T14:51:00.003-03:00

I had lunch at a British Fish and Chips shop. For dessert I had a deep-fried Mars Bar. It was pretty good, but I just had a brainwave to make the ultimate deep-fried chocolate dish:

Deep-fried Cadbury Creme Eggs.

I'm a genius, non?

ETA: While finding links for the above words, I found that I'm not the first person to come up with this idea. Dash it all! Still, I came up with it on myself, and I'm satisfied with that.
By the way, one of the links I found claims that a DF'd Mars bar is " an excellent source of fat, sugar and calories."

Furthermore, ice is an excellent way to get your daily water quotient, and a bag of frozen vegetables is an excellent way to get your vegetables.

WTF?

2008-04-01T17:43:00.002-03:00

It snowed last night into tonight.
Seriously. A few centimetres of the white stuff all over, making a mess of many, many things.
On April Fool's, nonetheless.

I see stuff like this, say it's obvious that God has a sense of humour, and people call me blasphemous.

I went to Halifax this past weekend, scoring a free ride on the way down and the way back. Spent it with friends, ate some Ethiopian food (finally something good and spicy) and drank some wine with a dinosaur on the front of it. Good times were had by all.

I'm also planning on my trip down to Nova Scotia for grad weekend. I have the whole week off, so I can spend time with friends and family before heading back for a last couple of weeks at work. By the way, I've been extended (unofficially) until the end of May. I'm deciding on my grad ring, and I'm torn between the "Classic" and the "Crest." Let me know what you think.

Interesting

2008-03-26T22:17:00.002-03:00

100 Best First Lines of Novels

http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0934311.html

Shawarma-licious

2008-03-26T21:15:00.004-03:00

For those who do not know what shawarmas are, imagine donair meat, but instead of the sweet sauce replace with a garlic-tahini sauce. Add many vegetables, onions, pickled purple things, and it's grand. Yesterday I was thinking about supper, and decided I wanted a shawarma. I've not seen them outside Ontario yet, so it was decided that I would make one instead of hitchhiking to Ottawa to pick one up.
A quick Google gave me this site. Unfortunately, of all those ingredients for the sauce, we only had less than 1/2-cup tahini. So it was time to improvise:

Owen's Patented Trademarked Copyrighted Peanutty Shawarma Sauce Recipe

Fill a 1/2-cup measure about 2/3s full with tahini
Top up with natural, non-sweetened peanut butter (This is essential. Sweetened will really weird it up. Crunchy PB works well)
Put in bowl. Add 1 tbsp yogurt. (We only had vanilla yogurt, not plain. It didn't actually affect it that much)
Add ~1/2 tsp garlic powder (Real garlic, although possible, will be very, very strong)
Add juice of 1/2 of a lime
Mix all up. Add olive oil to decent sauce/paste-like consistency

It may sound a little strange, but it was quite good, approved by the whole family there. It's pretty healthy (I think) and mostly natural.

I'm now 2/3 of the way through my French course, and have finished setting up the next set of experiments. I'll be spending the next couple of days cleaning the lab and sorting all my samples. Also, I'll possibly be gathering new samples.

It's been a while

2008-03-24T21:32:00.003-03:00

It has. And Happy Easter (Monday) all!

So, I've been spending most of my online moments at The Comics Curmudgeon. I've gone back two years into the archive. I went home for Easter, took out some of the cartoon collections we have around the house, and realized that I've started viewing them in an appreciative and critical way. I'm enjoying the viewpoint too. I understand why Calvin & Hobbes was so good. I always liked it, but now seeing the expression in the drawings, the pacing of the panels, the grip of language. It's fantastic.

Random overheard question: Can having your house too hot cause your brain to scramble?

Back to the topic of what I've been doing. I'm taking a French course through Acadia. I'm mostly bilingual, but it's a credit, and I'm learning new things about grammar (rather, things I'd forgotten). I'll be wrapping it up soon. In more news, I may be staying here for a little while longer. I'll be in the Maritimes till at least the Grad date, so I might as well earn a little cash doing so. My boss has offered me the chance to do so.

I've been interrupted twice during this post, and am calling it a night. More to follow. Eventually.

Sweet Zombie Feynman!

2008-03-17T20:27:00.002-03:00

I love Mythbusters.

http://xkcd.com/397/

Make sure to read the roll-over text:
"Last week, we busted the myth that electroweak gauge symmetry is broken by the Higgs mechanism. We'll also examine the existence of God and whether true love exists."

Conference

2008-03-13T18:09:00.002-03:00

I did it!

I aced that presentation! Lots of people coming up afterwards saying I did a good job, lots of people asking questions about my work.

In case you didn't know (and maybe I didn't tell you) last night I gave a presentation on my research at the Northeast Potato Technology Forum called "Survey of post-harvest potato pathogens in Canada and their sensitivity to chemical treatments." For those so inclined, here is the abstract

Post-harvest diseases cause significant annual losses in potato yield and quality in Canada. Thiabendazole (TBZ) has been available for post-harvest application to potatoes in Canada for many years, but resistant strains of Fusarium sambucinum and Helminthosporium solani have been recovered since the mid-1990s. More recently, resistance to fludioxonil (FDL), a common seed-piece treatment, has been reported in some Fusarium spp. Azoxystrobin (AZO) has shown some promise as a post-harvest fungicide, but is not yet registered for this use in Canada. Dry rot, silver scurf and black dot (caused by Fusarium spp., Helminthosporium solani and Colletotrichum coccodes, respectively) were diseases under investigation as part of a national survey conducted in 2007 and 2008. Samples of tubers were collected from several provinces and sent to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Charlottetown. The identity of the predominant causal agents of disease was determined using morphological and molecular means. As well, the sensitivity of these pathogens to TBZ, FDL and AZO was ascertained using an amended agar assay. As these experiments are ongoing, only preliminary results will be presented.

If you're still here, you probably found it interesting. Post comments and questions-- I'd be glad to answer them.

This is not a retraction.

2008-03-11T01:05:00.004-03:00

I'm still mad.

Last night, when I first pounded out the previous message, I had walked in on a television show with a popular preacher condemning homosexuality. The people on the couch were watching and listening without question.

I posted with the intention to stir things up. I wrote my feelings out, siphoned some RealLivePreacher, edited, revised and sent away for approval from some of my nearest and dearest. I posted, and do not regret it.
To prepare myself for the onslaught that I felt was for sure to come, I went back to the Bible. I went to the Internet. I researched, I examined, I prayed.

I do not think that God hates homosexuals, nor do I believe that homosexuals should be forced to change. The idea that men in love with another man, or women in love with another woman, are not allowed to consummate their relationship the same, natural way that husbands and wives can seems cruel.
I've been taught by my family, by my school and by my experiences that if something doesn't seem right, to question it. Question authority. Question the government. Question your professors. Ask why- it's essential for learning. Get your answers. Maybe you won't like them, but at least you have them.
I can't question God the same way I question those above me. The most I can do, like a two-year-old child, is ask why. And like a two-year-old child, I usually don't stop. If I see something I don't like, I ask Him until I'm satisfied. Sometimes it's instant, sometimes it's a long, long time before I get a glimpse of the big picture.
When I pray, I ask "why?" Before I pray, I run to His Word to see if He wrote it down somewhere first.

"Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."
Matthew 19:11-12

The common clobber verse, the one that usually came to me during my research was in Romans.

21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Romans 1:21-32

The research I did falls into two categories, one very conservative, the other liberal. The conservative stance was that no matter how you slice it, these acts are perversions.

The more liberal viewpoint, and the one I agree with, looks at the context. Paul was writing about the local idol worshiping and temple prostitution happening in the city that he was writing from.

It's late, and I'm tired and I'm hungry. I have been reading and researching for over three hours now.

From my faith that God is Love, we cannot judge lest we be judged, and that God made us all, I cannot let another attack be made against my brother, against those like him, nor against those he loves.

Enough already.

2008-03-09T22:10:00.006-03:00

Alright.

You say I'm wrong because I think it's possible for all people to go to Heaven? Fine. It's a theological-heavy argument, one that I'm not comfortable with, and I'll deal with on my own terms.

You say I'm wrong because I think the Universe is 14 billion years old and that Earth, in its current state, came to be through the beautiful process known as Evolution? Fine; I'll beat you in a scientific arena any day of the week.

You say I'm wrong because I'm perfectly alright with the idea of gay marriage, and that I don't consider homosexuality an abomination? No. Sit down. Sit down and just be quiet.
The words you want to use against me have nothing. Throw the Bible at me. Throw the Letter of the Law at me. I'll stand firm in my faith.

I'll start: Those people, especially the leaders, are using the Bible to justify their own personal, homophobic opinions about homosexuality. If the passages they bring up weren't there, they'd find some others that they could twist to suit their meanings. The fact that these leaders, that these shepherds and these policy-makers are using the Word of God to suit their own agendas makes me sick. I know I'm supposed to be slow to anger, but boy, this has been stewing for a long time. It angers me how many have fallen into their fold too. I used to accuse all religions of simply being brainwashing operations. In some sects, I'm not sure I was wrong.

Don't yell at me. Don't use the same tired attacks that have always been used against them and us who love them. I'll say this once (It's text, feel free to re-read it):
It's not a choice
It's not a lifestyle decision
It's not a phase
They've met the right person. That person also happens to be of the same sex.

I'm not gay. I can testify to this last section, but you're going to have to get out of your narrow-minded world and learn from someone who is gay. Don't worry: you can't catch it. Talk to them, you'll find out how ridiculous these arguments are.

The next time you hear about "scared straight" or "re-alignment camps" or Ted Haggard's ridiculous claims of being "cured" please realize that this is all bullshit. What's worse is the theories, practices and operations behind them. Enough to, well, scare you.

Isn't it easier to believe and accept that God has made each of us? It's easier than trying to reconcile the idea that God made some men attracted to other men and then set up specific laws that prohibited that. There's no childhood trauma in their history, nothing that "switched" their minds. We are all human and all God's beloved children.

God love us all,
Owen the Biologist

PS. Don't say you have no problem with gay people, in fact some of your best friends/family are gay. It makes you sound defensive and scared.

Finally, despite some examples to the contrary, we'd all (yes, as in every mature person on the planet) like to be known by something other than the label of what we do in the bedroom. There's some straight people out there that lead far kinkier lives than one would imagine. I'm sure they would not appreciate being known as "gimp-o-sexual"

It's 8:30 on a Friday night...

2008-03-07T20:34:00.004-04:00

...and I'm sitting and enjoying an episode of Friends.

And now just realizing that this episode is about them getting ready to go out.

I'm sitting alone in a house watching a TV show about people who have friends who have plans on a Friday night.

No, this isn't a little sad at all.

I never watched Friends during its run. I've been catching episodes here and there in syndication, and enjoying them.

In summary: I just signed onto a website on a Friday night to post on a blog that I'm watching a TV episode about friends doing something on a Friday night.

...
No. I don't want your pity.

Cool link of the day: Scientists create a black hole

Yay for results!

2008-03-04T18:30:00.003-04:00

I'm back in Charlottetown, after a fun weekend at home. I had two choices: PEI shuttle or Acadian Lines. The timing of the shuttle was more convenient and cheaper, but it's rather a tight squeeze (four astride in the back of a van). The bus, on the other hand, has lousy timing but is a much more comfortable ride. Unless, like me, you're stranded in Amherst for an hour while another bus came back from the Island.

I had no idea how my experiments turned out. I was wondering if the results were inconclusive.

Turns out they're not! I've got some exciting things to present. By the way, I'm presenting at the Northeast Potato Technology Forum on the 13th of March. It's my first formal presentation to other scientists, and I'm both excited and nervous.

What the heck! I can do two in one day!

2008-02-29T20:04:00.003-04:00

I can do two posts in one day, right? Why not?

This is just to divert your attention to those men and women who protect our lives and freedoms here at home. Whether we're shopping, at the food court, or preparing to drive home, these brave, yet anonymous persons are watching over us. I will admit that I feel safer doing my errands, even something like going to the mall, knowing that my life is in the hands of the most capable.

I speak, of course, of Mall Ninjas.

Saving us from the Pirates in today's society.

New Book!

2008-02-29T19:32:00.003-04:00

Yes, it's been a week. A very busy week, but an interesting week. I got the results back from the experiment, and as I kind of expected they don't match up nicely. But I have them, that's the important thing. I also set up for a new one that'll be done a week from yesterday.
Tomorrow I hop on the shuttle and go home for some birthday celebrations. It'll be the first time off-Island in a couple of months, and I'm looking forward to it. The ride itself doesn't take long, only four hours. If I had taken Acadian Lines, it would be about 7 hours, because of a stop-over in Amherst.

I posted a little while ago about The Sandman series. Well Mr. Gaiman has a new book out, called American Gods. Also, as a side note, it's free online. On the publishers website. Really.

Also included is the option to post on your own website, which I am doing here. I'm going to start reading it, but I hope you'll join me.

Enjoy.

Jurassic Park! At a chicken farm near you!

2008-02-22T18:44:00.004-04:00

I like dinosaurs. I'm pretty sure most people know that.
I'm watching "Dinosaurs" on Discovery right now, and they're examining the DNA of modern birds. Currently, it is thought that birds are the descendants of dinosaurs, specifically the therapods like Velociraptor.
If birds are the closest relative to dinosaurs, they would have a lot of dinosaur DNA in them. (Take that, Michael Crichton!). The genes were modified and changed, some were shut down. By changing these genes back, and activating the original genes, we could theoretically create a proto-dinosaur.
An example shown is the tail. The tail in birds would grow indefinitely but there is a protein that inhibits that. By shutting off this protein, the tail will grow to the proper length. This was already performed in experiments. Ditto for chickens with teeth. They didn't add genes, they didn't mix up DNA with other animals. They simply changed the timing and the genes did the work themselves.

Is building a dinosaur possible today? No. Near future? No. Is it ethical? Probably not.

Cool? Heck, yes!

Now Randall really has something to worry about.

Doing Science

2008-02-21T20:50:00.005-04:00

Today I was a judge in the science fair at the local junior high school. Since I speak French, I was enlisted to judge the French-Immersion students. In the 5 years since I graduated high school, this is the first time speaking French has helped me land a job, albeit volunteer. However, if I did not speak French, they wouldn't have asked me to join the judges.
There were around 75 projects by Grade 7s and Grade 8s, and each one had to be judged by three different people. As you'd expect, many appeared to be done at the last minute, many obviously had parents in the background, but there were an exceptional few that made me think about the way science is taught.

I remember learning the scientific method in Grade 6. I grasped the basics of observation, hypothesis, experiment, observations, results and conclusion. After junior high, though, this all skipped away to the background as I had my nose put to the grindstone of sheer memorization of facts. I enjoyed it, certainly. It's necessary to do it, otherwise we'd repeat the same experiments throughout history. We have to learn what other people have tried and observed. Taking in as much information as possible is important, but by doing this you're also leaning away from the methods that gave us this knowledge in the first place.

Laboratory work is vital in science education. I've always enjoyed it, thought it should supplement the usual, but it isn't until today that I realized the role it plays in science education. Just as textbook learning teaches you a history of discoveries, lab classes teach you the skills to make you a better scientist. What observations are important (all of them), how to measure accurately, how to perform experiments with a minimum of error. When I set up a series of cultures, PCRs, or DNA extractions, I set everything up in repeatedly redundant orders. This way, if I lose track of something or space out I can retrace my steps and get back into order. Another thing to be taught is the importance of repetitions and controls. Even if the activity is a simple one, like mixing baking soda and vinegar, it should be repeated and have a control included (baking soda into water, cornstarch into vinegar for example).

Fast forward to university. For the first time, we're performing real experiments. Not laboratory activities like mixing acids and bases, but real result-not-known-until-you-do-the-bloody-thing experiments like the infamous Genesis Tank. In 2nd year Cell Biology we're writing lab reports that have large amounts of data, and we're learning how to mange this data efficiently, and also how to display it effectively. The display I was most impressed with today was a person who had used multiple experimental units, and had several graphs displaying them against each other. In one glance at her board, I was able to see her results clearly.

So many people think of science of fact-drilling. But doing science is a process that also has to be learned. Right now I'm looking after fifty sample groups, each with anywhere from 1 to 50 individual tubers in each. In less than a week, I'll be sitting on a mountain of numbers which will comprise the results of our first experiment. Two years ago, I could have learned everything there is to know about potatoes and fungi in a class, and easily pass the test. But I would've broken down if faced with the huge amount of data that I'm currently about to tackle. Since then I've learned so much about set-ups, controls, statistics and patience that I'm looking forward to it and seeing what surprises lay in store for me.

It's a long post, I know. I imagine you probably wanted to hear about the projects themselves. Most of them were pretty good. Some were excellent, and you could see the pure science behind them through their rough edges. I'm glad that this school had a fair, because it gave these kids an opportunity to practice their skills, and probably gave them their first taste of the insatiable curiosity that drives us to science.

EDIT: Apparently I'm not the only person that thinks these things: Dangerous Science, from Wired.

Watching the Ottawa game

2008-02-19T20:45:00.003-04:00

Kelly just scored 2:38 into the 1st, shorthanded and on a breakaway. With our front line back, it's fun to watch Ottawa games. Unfortunately, it shows that Ottawa can't rely on them, and should start working on their other players to encourage more scorers in their ranks.

For supper I cooked a lemon rice dish. Took 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp cumin and fried it up with some ginger. Mixed it with a couple of cups of cooked rice. Added lemon peel, some lemon juice, salt, coriander and green onions.

At work, I'm excited to be involved in the middle of a couple of experiments. Even more exciting, for the first time, I'll be judging a science fair on Thursday. It's at the local junior high school, and since I've got some French I was picked to help. I'll be paired with an experienced judge, and travel around the French-immersion students. I'm looking forward to it (I'm so pleased to see students of science) and looking forward to seeing what people come up with. I heard about one already, where a student has tested different egg substitutes by making chocolate chip cookies with different egg-type-things.

So, lots going on this week. I know there hasn't been a post in a while, but until now there's not been really much to say.

2008-02-13T20:31:00.002-04:00

I have finished "The Sandman" series by Neil Gaiman. I would suggest it to many people to read, but especially to those who consider themselves "literary."

Oops. As it turns out, I have to read one more in the library. I'll be pleased to. The story has been an adventure, a comedy, joyful and mournful. It's also incredibly humanizing.

The Sandman on Wikipedia

The Sandman on Amazon

Enjoy.

Somebody please put him in his place

2008-02-07T22:50:00.000-04:00

I don't like Richard Dawkins.
As a scientist and a Christian, I hate it when he speaks for "all scientists." He decries religion and faith as mere superstition, and that only science, with its infallible logic and pure reason provides a clear view of the world. This is from the website "Enemies of Reason," the TV show that he's currently on.

There are two ways of looking at the world – through faith and superstition or through the rigours of logic, observation and evidence – in other words, through reason. Reason and a respect for evidence are precious commodities, the source of human progress and our safeguard against fundamentalists and those who profit from obscuring the truth.

As a biologist, I find his views regarding biology, evolution and genetics intriguing. I'm not totally sold on The Selfish Gene, but it's still interesting. But having him talk about religion irks the same nerve as when well-known Christian orators try to disprove evolution. It's out of your jurisdiction, and your courses are always biased.
I was very pleased when I visited The Panda's Thumb and found Dawkins under attack with his own sword. I don't know anything about this Rupert Sheldrake, but it's this that I find best describes my feelings.

However, when Dawkins and people like him promote their views in the name of science, they commit labeling fraud. Dawkins may be a scientist by trade, but when he acts and argues as a fundamentalist believer in materialism, ignoring evidence that challenges his belief system, then he commands no more credibility and scientific authority than any other kind of religious believer.

The more attacks against his philosophy, demanding evidence for his viewpoints, the better.

Nothing to say

2008-02-05T20:29:00.000-04:00

It's true. I was expecting to have something to say by now, but it's been pretty routine at work, at home, at church and at play. It's snowing again, and people at work were hinting that there would be no work tomorrow. I have serious doubts. First, everybody was talking about how often they don't have work, yet I've seen some ferocious weather here and we still had to go to work. Second, the weather's not even due to be that bad. I'm sure the plows will have the snow off the road way before morning.
A slightly exciting bit of news is that I have a new laptop. I was unable to keep my Acadia laptop, and that made me...upset. A strike, I get no penny of the retribution they gave us, and then they're still not letting me have a computer. I was upset.
I now, from work, have a Dell Latitude D620. Acadia students, look at your laptop brand. Notice anything?
Speaking of laptops, how was that showcase that they put on? Anything good? Anybody made any decisions?

Maybe you heard...

2008-01-30T18:20:00.001-04:00

I'm one of the lucky ones.

PEI has been hit with an ice storm that's knocked out power to much of the Island, and at one point today about 96% of us were without power. Fortunately, I live between the airport and the hospital, so we were pretty quick to get the power back. I just watched the CBC news about it, and our power company (Maritime Electric) is really working hard. Really hard. This isn't Nova Scotia Power, where they say they're working hard, but they don't show it. These guys are doing 16-hour shifts, and are traveling across fields with snowmobiles and bulldozers to get to these poles. NSP could probably take a lesson from these guys.

The other major discussion on the news is the impact on communities. I saw it happen during Juan, White Juan, and those other major storms. All of a sudden, people start caring about other people. Volunteers show up at community centres, fire halls, legions. People go door to door to check on their neighbours. A lot of the Western part of the Island is still without power, and may remain that way till next week. But people are being looked after. Even the fire department is going around knocking on houses with no lights, checking on the residents.

I don't mean to be melodramatic. We had no power for a few hours, but it's mostly back on. I'm perfectly comfortable on the couch downstairs. I can smell tuna casserole cooking upstairs. I'm connected the the Internet on the laptop, and after this I'm probably going to check my favourite webcomics. But now I'm thankful for it all.

When you're bored on a Saturday afternoon

2008-01-26T18:26:00.000-04:00

In the past, during the school year, I would find that Saturdays were usually quite busy, with schoolwork, errands, cleaning, everything that needed to be done. But the first few weeks into a co-op work term can leave it rather...boring. I wanted to do something today, and I ended up on one of my favourite cooking sites, 101cookbooks.com. I made the olive oil crackers, with variations of sea salt and cracked pepper, herbes de Provence, sesame seed, plain and barbecue. The BBQ I did by spreading BBQ sauce them before baking them. Great fun, took up a few hours, plus they're great for dipping. A warning, though. These make a LOT. Each of the dozen balls of dough in the recipe easily makes a dozen large crackers. And since these are whole wheat and thick, a couple of crackers will do you nicely. Of course, since they're crackers they probably won't go bad for a long time. Enjoy.
Another interesting taste experience I've discovered: citrus fruit dipped in olive oil. Try it before you knock it.

Like staring into a flashlight

2008-01-23T17:51:00.000-04:00

I've been at a microscope all day. I've been isolating individual spores off tissue samples, all work that needs to be done under a dissecting scope. But I found some interesting fungi, and made a few slides and cultures to see what they are (My bet is Trichurus spirilis).

In even better news, I've got a laptop computer so I can do some work from home, including writing and preparing presentations. However, I'm still working on getting the Internet to work on a wireless network. If anybody has a ny ideas, here's the problem: I can connect (and ping) to the wireless network. However, MSN, IE and Firefox cannot browse the Internet with it. I have to be hooked directly into the router in order to browse the Internet (like I'm doing now) If anyone has any advice, please let me know!

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to make it to Digg In. I'm very sorry about this. I was looking forward to going, but getting off the Island is rather difficult, especially for the timing needed. Hopefully, if the Fates are kind, I'll see if I can go to CbtS.

I'm not weird...

2008-01-20T14:08:00.000-04:00

Perhaps you know a biologist. Perhaps you're even friends with one. In fact, if you're reading this you probably already are. Then you probably know that we find very strange things very interesting, and see beauty in the most disgusting things on the planet.
My case: I've gathered over 200 samples of fungus, and some of them are just beautiful. Nice colours of red and orange, and some even looking like a sunset. A very fuzzy sunset. Another, which really has nothing to do with my project, but I found it anyways, is a nice brown colour, strongly branched, with hints of other colours throughout the growth. The man that sits next to me in the prep room is studying a group of fungi that live in pond water. He's spent hours looking at branches under a dissecting scope. I asked him what it's like when he goes for a walk in the park, and he replied that his wife describes it like walking a bloodhound. He's all over the place, lifting things, looking at branches, insects, everything. I know what it's like. Yesterday I went into the Superstore, and identified Silver Scurf all over their potatoes.
For those wishing to do the same, here's what you do. Pick a couple of light-skinned potatoes. Look for dark patches on them. See if they're in tiny circles, or almost honeycombed. After spotting these, wet the potato and wipe the loose water away. There should be a silver gleam to darker areas, as opposed to a wet look on the rest of the potatoes. Congratulations! You have found either Silver Scurf or Black Dot.
If you'd like to tell the difference between the two, simply go to your local library and check out a book on fungal taxonomy. Don't be shy, be proud! You're performing Biology!

-Owen "gets lost in sunsets" the Fungal Pathologist

I love finishing books

2008-01-17T18:01:00.000-04:00

I just finished John LeCarre's The Mission Song. It's pretty good, pulls along nicely, then starts to crumble at the end. For anybody who wants a fantastic read, read The Constant Gardener. Story of absolutely devoted love, and pushes you deep into Africa, and all around the world. The movie is almost as good as the book, and in fact helps clear things up. Probably the only fault I find With J. LeC is that there's so many supporting characters and correspondents that it's hard to keep track of them all.

It's rare that I actually finish a book nowadays. I tend to get two-thirds of the way through them, then they're put to the side. But over the past two weeks, I've finished two, this one as well as Evolution by Carl Zimmer. For anybody interested in the topic, it's a great book. It especially provides insightful and interesting commentary on the origin of humans and human society. Sometimes I feel like a horrible biologist, not having read The Origin of Species, but I know I'll get around to it sometime. Maybe even this semester.

For any Acadia people reading this, I'd love to know what people think about Dr. Gail leaving. It's so sudden, yet the few I've talked to are still pretty pleased. I'm just mad that it leaves us less time to find someone, orient them, and then place them. Hopefully Acadia will enter back into a golden age.

Tomorrow I've got piles and piles of samples to do; it'll probably take up most of my day. But, in good news, I might be getting a laptop tomorrow. If so, hooray!

In which our protagonist is hungry

2008-01-16T17:49:00.000-04:00

I am. I'm writing this before supper, and my stomach is growling. I went to KFC and tried one of the L'il snacker sandwich things. For a snack, it's actually perfectly sized. If you're not hungry for lunch, try one of those. I had it for lunch, along with rice from home.

Last night I went to the College and Careers group at First Baptist Church, downtown. It's a large study group, and a mix of people from varying viewpoints. We started off the discussion with a short clip from "Twisted" a look at how the World has twisted a lot of the meaning of the Scriptures. That branched into a discussion about the existance of Satan, whether he is a real entity or someone made up to explain evil. From there, we explored the passage in Luke where Jesus is tempted by Satan:

5The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7So if you worship me, it will all be yours."

8Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"

-Luke 4: 5-8

The biggest disscussion: "for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to" The conclusion reached is that, like in Job, God has allowed the Devil to be the prince of Earth, but the only way he can work is through deception. He can fool people, lie, plot, but he can't control them. God has severly limited his power. To cut him off entirely, or to destroy him, would make it seem like Satan was a threat to God.

Instead, He protects us with one weapon: Truth.

Do I believe in Satan? Yes. Evil is not human nature. We're made in God's image, and He was perfectly happy with us. We fall short, sure. But we're still good. There is somebody (or something) that drives at our fears and our anger and takes advantage of them.

In interesting science news, there's some evidence that dinosaurs had teen sex. Just to show again, dinosaurs are cool. Rebels are cool, and dinosaurs rebelled against their parents and society. They sure showed them. On the other hand, if teen sex is as wrong as we say it is, maybe that's why the dinosaurs are extinct.

Today I learned about another type of fungus that could Be. On. Your. Potato. Right. Now. Late Blight, and it shows up as dark areas on your tuber's skin. *gasp* Not to be confused with Pink Rot, which turns your tater into a pink sponge. Sort of. You squeeze, water drips out.

By the way, it is now after supper. I have eaten a meal of leftovers, plus a slice of delicious blueberry coffee cake.

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Just in case you were worried about my wellbeing.

First Post...and to think I never thought I'd start one

2008-01-14T18:24:00.001-04:00

So...this is it. While I'm up and around PEI, I might was well write about what's going on here.

I'm working with Agri-Food Canada studying storage diseases of potatoes. It's pretty interesting, and stuff I've never done before. After this job, I'll never look at a potato the same way again. To think...I'm 22 years old, and have cooked plenty of times before. I always thought it was just dirt on those potatoes. Nope: it's fungus. Probably Helminthosporium. Yet, amazingly, after staring at mouldy potato after mouldy potato, I still will gladly eat french fries.

I'm staying with a nice family about forty minutes from work (an hour, if you take the bus). I live in the basement, between the computer room and the TV room. They feed me, and feed me well. They're also pleasant to talk with and sit down with for supper. The food's usually pretty good, and healthy.

A friend of Mary's (the woman of the house where I'm staying) took me to a church downtown. It's big, and there's a college study group there. I met one of the guys, and he lives nearby, as well as works full-time as well. It's good to finally meet someone close to my age here.

Hmm...I've got nothing else to say right now. This is the biggest update. I'll keep writing frequently. This could be fun.