Following up on the previous post, Misattribution of Arousal. Aron and Dutton showed when you feel aroused, you naturally look for context, an explanation as to why you feel so alive. This search for meaning happens automatically and unconsciously, and whatever answer you come up with is rarely questioned because you don’t realize you are asking ( Read more... )

Friday night I finished Tales of the City. Whoever suggested I was Mary Ann Singleton: good call!

If you're ever looking up lyrics, "Karma Killer" is Robbie Williams. "Karma Police" is Radiohead. Don't mix these up ( Read more... )

Being employed is awesome, but I welcomed the weekend with open arms and a silenced alarm clock. Failure to instantly master multiple new instruments, a new lab layout and organization system, as well as new protocols run on those machines, in that new-to-me lab, is disappointing, but a reasonable expectation. Tonight I'm adopting the attitude that ( Read more... )

In the category of Not Going in the Dining Room: Math Pop Quiz Wall Clock.

Signs you're procrastinating on finals studying -
- your room hasn't been this clean since midterms.
- neglected LJ is getting updated.
- suddenly, holiday shopping is appealing.

This one goes to R. The "things I won't work with" tag. Two words: chlorine trifluoride. Have fun, kids!

Hey, anyone recognize this character? Cough. I'm pretty sure I haven't met Richard Thompson.

( Comic strip behind the cut. Fair use! )

This weekend was partially consumed by Rachel Manija Brown's memoir All the Fishes Come Home to Roost. Since then I have been backspacing, typing, and backspacing again on how many of my reactions I need to overshare. You don't have to drag your child from LA, USA, to an ashram in an Indian backwater to demonstrate poor parenting skills. In the ( Read more... )

The Dell Mini touchscreen hack means that for less than $500 and labor, I could have that touchscreen I have been lusting after since I graduated high school.

I love modern technology.

Q: What happens when you wake up at 5:30 AM and can't get back to sleep?

A: By 7 PM you're dragging, and at 9:30 you don't know why you're still in front of the PC, reading depressing articles about your limited employability in a competitive field. What a downer! What a great excuse to hit the "hibernate" button and go to bed! Have a good night,

Okay, this is awesome. Taunting people through negative reinforcement is wrong, yes, but how often do you see "cleavage for science!" blog posts? Outside of geology blogs, that is ( Read more... )