Why do I note that this is our 101st post? Well, just to point out that last night the Tar Heels scored 101 points against Duke to continue their domination at Cameron for yet another year... GO HEELS!
In other news...
In the past few weeks, a chain letter called "25 Random Things About Me" has wormed its way through Facebook at an alarming speed and Slate wrote an interesting article about it (as well as The Post and The Times and many others) trying to track its origin and why THIS trend has spread so quickly. If you've been involved in this "25 things" craze go to their website: http://www.slate.com/id/2210697/ and fill out their survey.
I've decided to post my 25 things for those of you who aren't on facebook:
1. I wrote 20 random things then my Firefox shut down and I lost them...
2. I am a procrastinator, so I am writing them again.
3. We adopted a dog named Pancake. Could he have come with a better name?
4. I met Nathan at a free CAKE concert on 8th and G in DC.
5. I will NOT eat mayonnaise, American cheese, or drink milk. I believe I can trace this back to a traumatic experience in day-care, but who would want to eat those nasty things anyways?
6. Thank God for the red underlines in Word and Firefox, because I can't for the life of me spell.
7. I have been focusing on Genetics for over 7 years (grad school + pre-grad school), but I still don't know what the heck I want to do with my life. Maybe open a tea shop? Maybe I'm afraid of making a decision? Maybe I will always be looking?
8. There is nothing better than a brunch of tamales, eggs (with cheese, cilantro, and jalapenos of course), tortillas, beans, rice, and coffee at Don Jaime's in Mt. Pleasant.
9. I am in love with This American Life and more specifically Ira Glass. I have joked that I would marry Ira if we were both single (and he wanted to, of course). My "joke" was broadcasted on the NPR station for over a year on their My Source soundbites.
10. While studying abroad in Denmark, I went to a crazy week long rock festival, The Roskilde Festival. In order to pay for my ticket I drove a cherry picker and took down the electrical wiring afterward. You evidently don't need a permit to drive one of those things in Denmark.
11. I will be going to New Zealand in February. I hope to do an extreme sport - maybe skydiving? bungee jumping? or luge down the side of a mountain? Only if Nathan is up to it and well, let's just say, he's not too enthused by my eagerness.
12. I love documenting events with pictures and posting them on the web for everyone to see - I wish everyone did the same so I could see all the pictures from events where I didn't have my camera!
13. My legs are disproportionally long, and I have a hard time buying pants. I went through the first few years of adolescence wearing high-waters.
14. I have always dreamt of running 400 meters in less than 60 seconds. I once ran it in 60.1 (seriously! ) and have now resolved that I will never be able to obtain this dream. At 27 years old, I am way past my prime...
15. I cannot resist a sliced fresh picked tomato with a dash of salt and pepper. The best is if it is from my parent's garden.
16. I am a nerd, and I'm proud of it.
17. I had a belly button ring for almost 10 years... to top it off my mom was the one to initially pierced it - I had it redone a few years later with my friend Kim at a computer science conference in Pigeon Forge, TN. I'm a nerd as established in #16.
18. I have never broken a bone, but I have dislocated my shoulder on multiple occasions and tore my ACL to shreds. I think I would have much rather broken a bone than had two surgeries with extremely long recoveries.
19. I am addicted to the internet. I know that an iPhone or Blackberry would be detrimental to my health.
20. As a freshman in college, I drop-kicked a guy who was trying to pick me up and broke his nose. I could have killed him with my ninja moves.
21. When I find a song I like for the first time, I will listen to it over and over on repeat (up to several hours at a time). Is this crazy?
22. I am the handy-(wo)man around the house.
23. I thrive on doing things with other people and could easily do something every night of the week if given the opportunity. So if you are doing something, let me know. If I'm free, I'll join you!
24. I've swam with penguins and sharks in the Galapagos Islands.
25. I love Durham, and want to live here for a long time! My dream is to buy a historic home in downtown and renovate it.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
This week's edition of MarvelleHD
We've gotten to babysit Camden every other Monday for the past few weeks. During this time we have been able to see him progress from a little scooting to a full on crawl. Here is our documentation of him learning to crawl.
Camden Learning to Crawl from Nathan Marvelle on Vimeo.
Camden Learning to Crawl from Nathan Marvelle on Vimeo.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Poor Mr. Pooch
This weekend Pancake had an accident and cut himself on his snout. He had to have multiple stitches and is wearing an Elizabethan collar. He is not at all excited by this and we think that he actually might have doggie depression. Here is a pitiful picture of him with his collar on.
Friday, February 6, 2009
How do I leave my individuality on the world?
As I was listening to Radio Lab, an NPR podcast that delves into a variety of scientific topics in an interesting way, I was exposed to an insight about science that I had never really thought about. Everyday I’m reading papers, doing research, and learning about science in general. However, this was above and beyond the actual day-to-day science; it was more of a philosophical take on science.
The set-up: Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich are interviewing Alan Lightman, an ex-theoretical physicist. Alan was working on the problem of how globular clusters (a glob of stars) hang together - the gravity that links them. He thought he had found something so unique, but as he was in the process of writing up his research, he began to look at papers of other people who did simlar work. He was flipping thorugh some current journals and stumbled upon a title that look alarmingly like it could have been the title to the paper he was working on. After reading the paper, Alan realized that two guys from Japan had found exactly what he had found...
Below is my attempt at a transcript from the interview:
Jad Abumrad: So what they had found was exactly what you had found?
Alan: Well they would have had to find exactly what I had found, because this is the world of science. And the world of science has this terrible precision.
I was crest-fallen. I was so disappointed. I felt humiliated. I felt stupid.
And then another sensation went through me and that was a felling of amazement. That these two guys on the other side of the planet with no communication with me, sitting at their desk, worked on the same problem, and had gotten the same results.
Jad: The exact same results ...
Alan: Any scientist anywhere in the universe solving this problem would have gotten that answer. There really IS something outside of our bodies and independent of our minds. This is both a wonderful thing and a terrible thing.
It’s a wonderful thing because there is a beauty to it, there is a feeling of power and control.
But the tragedy of this, which I felt at the same time, is that, what is the relevance of me as an individual person if anybody else could have solved the same problem? Then why was I needed? What was the meaning of my life? How do I leave my individuality on the world? Certainly not through - science.
Jad: Here is what happened. Alan gave up the practice of bench science and became a novelist. Einstein’s Dreams won the Pulitzer Prize. (great book) That’s his work. It couldn’t have happened without him.
Alan: And that is a profound difference between the sciences and the arts.
Jad: If the Ode to Joy had not been in Beethoven's head it might not necessarily been come around.
Alan: The Tempest would not have been written by anyone but Shakespeare.
You can listen to a stream of the podcast "here" under Thrill of Discovery.
So here's the question... When a scientist makes a discovery, is it their brilliant work, the product of a beautiful mind, or is it just out there in the world, waiting for whomever happens to get there first?
This whole concept is weird to think about. It's not that I am not fulfilled in making discoveries that others could make if they were working on the same problem. It is just something that I have never thought about before.
The set-up: Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich are interviewing Alan Lightman, an ex-theoretical physicist. Alan was working on the problem of how globular clusters (a glob of stars) hang together - the gravity that links them. He thought he had found something so unique, but as he was in the process of writing up his research, he began to look at papers of other people who did simlar work. He was flipping thorugh some current journals and stumbled upon a title that look alarmingly like it could have been the title to the paper he was working on. After reading the paper, Alan realized that two guys from Japan had found exactly what he had found...
Below is my attempt at a transcript from the interview:
Jad Abumrad: So what they had found was exactly what you had found?
Alan: Well they would have had to find exactly what I had found, because this is the world of science. And the world of science has this terrible precision.
I was crest-fallen. I was so disappointed. I felt humiliated. I felt stupid.
And then another sensation went through me and that was a felling of amazement. That these two guys on the other side of the planet with no communication with me, sitting at their desk, worked on the same problem, and had gotten the same results.
Jad: The exact same results ...
Alan: Any scientist anywhere in the universe solving this problem would have gotten that answer. There really IS something outside of our bodies and independent of our minds. This is both a wonderful thing and a terrible thing.
It’s a wonderful thing because there is a beauty to it, there is a feeling of power and control.
But the tragedy of this, which I felt at the same time, is that, what is the relevance of me as an individual person if anybody else could have solved the same problem? Then why was I needed? What was the meaning of my life? How do I leave my individuality on the world? Certainly not through - science.
Jad: Here is what happened. Alan gave up the practice of bench science and became a novelist. Einstein’s Dreams won the Pulitzer Prize. (great book) That’s his work. It couldn’t have happened without him.
Alan: And that is a profound difference between the sciences and the arts.
Jad: If the Ode to Joy had not been in Beethoven's head it might not necessarily been come around.
Alan: The Tempest would not have been written by anyone but Shakespeare.
You can listen to a stream of the podcast "here" under Thrill of Discovery.
So here's the question... When a scientist makes a discovery, is it their brilliant work, the product of a beautiful mind, or is it just out there in the world, waiting for whomever happens to get there first?
This whole concept is weird to think about. It's not that I am not fulfilled in making discoveries that others could make if they were working on the same problem. It is just something that I have never thought about before.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)