Want to abort? Ok, as long as you shred it first.

Silly decision of the US supreme court to ban a method of abortion. Not even particularly cruent.

The banned procedure, known medically as “intact dilation and extraction,” involves removing the fetus in an intact condition rather than dismembering it in the uterus.

so, what's wrong with this? I mean, I am no expert but may be those fetuses would have been 'useful' at least. don't know how, but asking for shredding them before extracting doesn't seem to me to expresses respect for the dignity of human life,” as Justice Kennedy said.

most likely, as someone else has put it:

"Those who support this law are trying to outlaw all abortions, one step at a time."

Aspirina!!!

only about one-hundred and thousand people in the world will appreciate this, but who cares.

Famous movies dubbed in my home dialect! They have been a years-long cult in my place.

Ulisse:

Almost Human, and Sometimes Smarter

I strongly feel about chimpanzees.

I believe they should be awarded almost-human rights, if not fully human altogether. They may not look exactly like us, but (starting from Jane Goodall onward) they have shown in many occasions to have an elaborate culture, tool-making and surprising cognitive abilities.

The latest discovery that made the news was the recent report of adult, mostly female chimpanzees fabricating and using spears to hunt bushbabies.

I've now come to know, reading this very nice piece in the NY Times, that chimps can actually outperform humans in some immediate memory-related tasks, computer version of the Kim's game we would play at the boyscouts.

Also, I read of the sad fact that in fifty years their number has gone from an already low million to 150 thousands, may be some more. By comparison, the very same continent contains 800 millions people. All this makes me sad.

If we humans were just able to get our act together forget the source of all diversity (also known as 'religion'), we would be better steward of this planet. And make sure that our siblings (and not only) survive.

anyway, just go, read the article and make up your mind by yourself.

Silly parodies

GSM killed Bees GPS...

Or so say scientists in Germany, Jochen Kuhn of Landau University.

I did already blog about Honeybees' Colony Collapsing Disorder. It seems like it's extending to other countries than the US, now.

GrrlScientist reports on this.

Dinosaurs!!! Yeay!!!

Dinobase has been launched, Sarda reports from Bristol!!!

I love dinosaurs. So I'll be definitely having a look.

And in a seemingly related subject, I have been looking for a good introductory book about the angiosperms' evolution, and more in general plants' evolution, but haven't found one yet.

Also, a book extensively detailing past climates of the Earth would be wellcome. Or both in one, a sort of Annals of Natural History of Planet Earth. Passers-by, any suggestions?

Blogs of note

Have a look: Healing Iraq

The Flying Spaghetti Monster is waiting for me...

Haven't had the time to even open the book. I just skim-read the back cover. It looks nice though, it's a pity that my nun aunts doesn't read english, or I'd give her one to keep side by side with her bible. I mean, I'm just returning a favour, right?

Update: Have a look at how the ITS DEITY THE FSM created the WORLD!!!



Edit II: an introductory video to pastafarianism:

Virginia Tech

Everybody must be aware of it right now.

Yet another shooting in an education institute in the US. I don't want to enter any discussion about gun control or else, tghis is my blog, not a newspaper. So, it better be personal. And in fact, I remember pondering on whether to apply to Virginia Tech, some years ago, when my PhD was nearing its end and I was looking around. The place did seem nice, and they had just received a 1000-G5 Apple cluster... So lots of cpus to crunch my numbers on...

Today, i found myself secretly thanking the decision to never apply there. Founded in part on my disliking of living and may be growing my (future) children in a place where guns are, like it or not, too easily available, and things like this do not seem to cause any reaction -be it because of de-sensitivisation of the people, be it because some lobbies instill a misplaced sense of security in those same people. as if having a gun were a deterrent for anybody to break in and enter your house. Quite the opposite, I'd say. The criminal will make sure he has superiori firepower, so that you'll be shot dead instead of punched in your face. Well, whatever you prefer.

I'm just sorry for those poor students, and their families.

See you later.

Six months to hit 1000 visitors...

Then, the following thousand went through in just two weeks! I am impressed. If the exponential progression continues, in less than one months the whole Erat population will be visiting my blog daily. May be I'll be able to leave work and blog full time - about science and movies and crap...

Well, here's to the 2000th visitor, expected today. :-)

To celebrate, I've added Google Analytics to the webpage :-)

I'll mostly be away from the PC today, heavy meeting and planning day, guys... and girls of course.

I'll post about a weird dream I've had today, if I get the chance.

See you in the af'noon.

Gundam, Gundam, Ho Ho!!!

a serious one...



and now a funny one!!!



no, two funny ones!!!

Another piece SPOT-ON, Mr Clarkson!!!

Jeremy tackles the nonsense meeting-people blurb out when they're... well, in a meeting.

His definition perfectly matches mine:

“places where nothing happens and nothing gets done”

corollary:

Later on in the day, you ring the person who called the meeting and in less than a minute decide on a course of action.

and what about the meetingese spoken:

“Well, we’re outside the box here with a new kind of hybrid venture and we can’t know what the result will be until we’ve run the flag up the flagpole and seen which way the wind’s blowing.”

and

“It’s mission critical that we use blue sky thinking and that we’re proactive, not reactive, if we’re to come up with a ballpark figure that we can bring to the table.”

to end up with:

“We must maintain a client focus so that we can incentivise the team and monetise the deliverables, and only then can we take it to the next level.”

Mr Clarkson, as usual, you're spot-on.

And yes, I'm sorry dear Boss, but sometimes you do it, too.

Mamma Mia!!!

Water Balloon, Popping

and

Shrivelling Tomato

Time-Lapse are a Youtube Favourite.


I plan on taking one too. As soon as I move into the new house, I'll put up my webcam somewhere. May be to observe a small plant growing.

Convert, or face extinction!!!

I've just had a revelation. Not, like San Paul (then Saulus) on the way to Damascus, but rather on my mailbox - the real one, not the electronical one.


I was walking by the corridor, and an indefinable light was shining through my pigeon hole. A padded envelope was inside, translucent with this divine light. Like in trance, I took it up, tore the seal apart, and a blast of light surrounded me, impressing an indelebile shadow of my silhouette (internal organs included) on my boss' closed door.

I should have been dead, instantly vapourised by the holy radiation emanating from the envelope, instead I felt like blessed, and reached with my hand inside it, extracting an orange hardcover but easily pocketable book, whose title read: "The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster".

Now, I am not the religious type of guy, but very much like Alessandro Manzoni after his onw late conversion, I feel compelled to drink from this wisedom fountain, to discover what the ONE I now accept as the real creator of the universe has to tell me.

I'll keep you posted ;-)

Welcome Back, to The Stage of History!!!

All together now!!!

Super deformed!!!

Friedman on Green America

Here's the guy who wrote "The World is Flat", columnist of the NY Times, writing on how the USofA should change their face (and hearts) to regain the position of leading nation of the world, morally, technologically and environmentally.



The article is quite long, so I'll print it out to read it, may be at my bedside. Cheers

Original Jap Macross Opening Theme

Beyond

Otherworldly Photos by Galileo, Voyager & Co.

from the NY Times, I've come to know that “Beyond,” a one-year exhibition of more than 30 large-format photographs of Earth’s planetary neighbors, opens this weekend in the museum’s Imax Gallery, a corridor by the theater that is also a pathway to the Rose Center for Earth and Space.

I can only incite you who can to go and visit it, and hope that'll come across the pond at sometime.

Study Identifies Dinosaur Protein

from the Science section of the NY Times, a piece by John Noble Wilford.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/science/13dino.html?ref=science

Global Warming Called Security Threat

from the NY Times: A report, scheduled to be published on Monday but distributed to some reporters yesterday, said issues usually associated with the environment — like rising ocean levels, droughts and violent weather caused by global warming — were also national security concerns.

--

The effects of global warming, the study said, could lead to large-scale migrations, increased border tensions, the spread of disease and conflicts over food and water. All could lead to direct involvement by the United States military.

--

“Just look at Somalia in the early 1990s,” Mr. Schwartz said. “You had disruption driven by drought, leading to the collapse of a society, humanitarian relief efforts, and then disastrous U.S. military intervention. That event is prototypical of the future.”

“Picture that in Central America or the Caribbean, which are just as likely,” he said. “This is not distant, this is now. And we need to be preparing.”

Other recent studies have shown that drought and scant water have already fueled civil conflicts in global hot spots like Afghanistan, Nepal, and Sudan, according to several recent studies.



follow the link to know more. registration required.

Why God killed the dinosaurs?

Hylarious Lyrics:

God sent the dinosaurs to protect Jesus
from the Jews
Sodomites, and black people too

Dinosaurs and people used to chill all day
When dinosaurs felt bad they'd call up people
And know everything was gonna be O.K.

But then a bunch of people were really really bad
And this made God really really mad

So he made a flood to kill all he could
And Noah couldn't help the dinosaurs
Because his boat was made of wood

And as the waters rose
The dinosaurs climbed Mr. T-Rex's nose

And everybody watched on deck
As the dinosaurs broke Mr. T-Rex's neck

And all the animals started to cry
As they watched all their
Dinosaurs friends die

God why'd you kill Mr. Dinosaur
I wanted him to live you wanted him to die more
And now Jesus is nailed to the cross
He can't get saved by Mr. Triceratops
And the Jews are gonna eat him
Because the Romans didn't feed them

And their claws are out and their teeth are bare and Mr. T-Rex would save him if he was there

God why'd you kill Mr. Dinosaur he was my best friend why couldn't you ignore

The fact he had big teeth
Or was it 'cos he was green?
Was it because he ate people?
Or because he was mean?
Was it because he had no soul?
Or that he lacked a heart?
Was it because it'd smell so bad everytime he'd fart?

Is that why you killed Mr. Dinosaur?
Is that why you killed Mr. Dinosaur?
Is that why you killed Mr. Dinosaur?
God why'd you kill Mr. Dinosaur?

Macross!!!

One of my all-time favourites

Planet Smasher

I feel rather destructive today...

Little blogging today

I'm in the middle of a work crisis, with just a few days left to complete a big work (pKa prediction assessment), and write it up in a decent form for an internal meeting. At the same time, I should also prepare my future work to be discussed at the very same meeting.

So, a big cut to my networks frequentations. Can't afford to mess up right now, especially not after the less-than-lacklustre brainstorming of last wednesday, which i completely forgot and to which I went completely unprepared - well, not completely. I did prepare myself to bullshit my way through it. Thankfully, I managed to introduce the subjects then left the conversation and sci-thinking to my supervirsors.

And now, I do have a vague idea of what I'll be spending my next months on.

Not killing rats, apparently, since the one needed to overcome my surgical inexperience are way too expensive... well, I don't know whether to be happy or sad for this. I would have loved to learn something completely new, it would have given me the kick... but at the same time... Would I be up to it? I don't sincerely know. That's it. Have a nice weekend.

Luca's out of the net.

What am I?

Or, gufo's fifteen days of desperation and self-pity.

I'm noI don't understand whether I at working properly these days. Not at all, in fact. I don't understand whether this may mean that I am an underachiever, i.e. a person which for some reason (mine would be laziness I guess) is not using all of his skills. Or an overachiever, which by the definition sounds to me like an educated way to tell you that your son is dumb. In my case, it may mean that my education is gone beyond my ability to understand it. Yep, dumb dumb dumb.

Else I am neither of them and am just bored and lazy. May be I should just get the ball rolling, and let inertia drive me away...

will try tomorrow/

see you then.

did I tell you I bought Clerks?

Worth all its 3 euros.

Two hours of my life wasted

Because Belgian government wants me to complete my tax return form. Which would be fine by me, if it were not that our glorious company affords us the help of DeLoitte, apparently the best people around the planet when it comes to filling these things. So everything, is OK, you'd guess? Nopt really, since these damn people are so picky they want to count you tiniest pubic hair. At this point, I wionder, wouldn't I be better off simply having to fill in the form myself? pah!

Rolling on the floor laughing.

At easter, I was relegated to sit with the boys, which was fine by me, since I get along better with them. We did talk about videogames, and all other things that matters in life, universe, and everything.

After lunch, we also kicked an air-filled pig gallbladder, in the old posrt once known as football.

And when we were too tired and it was too cold to stay outside, we went exploring youtube, and they introduced me to this:



and this:



and again, this:



there's more on the net, just check out the related of these three. enjoy.

New piccies

New piccies are online:

Pasqua07-Pranzo

I found back my digicam

so may be am not going to buy a new one. or may be I am. the one I already have I can keep for rugged experiences, like biking, diving (have the underwater shell) and so on. The new one I will use for serious things, like parties, but also photographically worth subjects. Woah, I know I'll end up using the new one most of the times. Mostly 'cause I'm interested in nature photography, and it's when I am in trekking or other kind of hiking that I can get nice shots. No?

Anyway, I'll have to buy a new compact flash since the old one got lost God knows where.

See? what did I tell you?

I went to the science tab of the NYTimes and was graced by this interesting article about speed-dating. And how picky people spend more time actually discarding people, than looking for the right one, just because there's so much choice.

I've experienced this myself, not with girls (ah!) but whenever I've had to buy a piece of electronic equipment online. The easy availability of informations online pushes you to consider things in a digicam which you would never, in a more normal state of mind. I mean, does it really matter if it does have that feature that you'll use may be once or twice in five years? and even so, since you never have, you will forget about? Better to focus, spend a minimum time to have an overview, and then go with what's good enough for you. The same thing is, I guess, true for dating. Certainly, there may be someone perfect waiting for you. But is it likely that you'll meet him? And if so, is it likely to come home with you? Are you really the right person for him? If he's so good, what are the chances that he'll be free?

Funny that, when scientist analysed speed dating, they saw that people were less picky then than online. Part because the choice was limited, 20 people instead of 20 Millions: and part because they could see the competition right there, so they had a spur to settle for someone good enough and compatible, rather than buying time and wait for better offers at the next round. I wonder what would happen if a (pretty) actress was mixed in the bunch. Would the other girls be less picky? and would the males be more picky, seeing a nicer-than-average example?

and on the same topic, I did buy my car in a rush, when I saw that the one I was eyeing out were quickly disappearing. To avoid having to wait for the next round, I got one which I liked, enough, not in a supreme way, and got it. I am happy with it, apart for minor gripes.

Like Sex? Move to a western country - not Italy though.

It looks like that from the Survey on enjoying sex published by the NY Times (click on it to get a higher resolution)

The other thing I noticed was that Italians gave very low scores to either physical and emotional pleasure, yet the perceived importance of sex is on the same level of France and South Africa, were satisfaction scores are much higher.

So, are italian lousy lovers, or more demanding ones? And how this vouches for our reputation abroad? Ahi ahi ahi...

It must also be noted, though, that the survey include only people aged 40-80. So, may be, italians view sex as something athletic, that younger people can get the most out of.

Top News of the week (for me)

The NY Times gracefully sends me the top ten news f the list - I don't know how they select them, I know that in their web page they have tabs for the most e-mailed, the most blogged, and so on. Anyway, here's my take on their selection:

It’s Not You, It’s Your Apartment.

Birds Do It. Bees Do It. People Seek the Keys to It.

Lessons of Heart Disease, Learned and Ignored.

A Great Year for Ivy League Schools, but Not So Good for Applicants to Them.

That's it. Enjoy. Once you're done with them, don't close the tab. Click on the parent directory link, i.e., Science, or Home & Garden, and discover other nice pieces. Well, Ok, you DON'T HAVE to click on Home & Garden :-| - unless you like ko. :-)

And now, for something completely different...

No, I am not going to post about the Monthy Pithon. Some of you may be shocked at the news, but I don't think too much of them actually. there's funnier things around, frankly. At least, in my personal opinion. Let's give some examples: I have been reading "Silent Bob Speaks", a collection of short assays and columns written by "Indie Filmaker Kevin Smith", as he's erroneously defined (by his own admission) by the movie press the world around. He's the guy between Clerks (both one and two), Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Oh, and Chasing Amy and Jersey Girl too - haven't seen the last two though.



Anyway, the book is funny, as are the movies. I mean, funny. Real funny, although not as funny as the movies are in some parts. I am not particularly fond of fart and dick jokes, but Kevin Smith doesn't overdo them. And he's wehther you like it or not, a clever guy. He just happens to drop oily stools. Yuk!

Anyway, check the book out. better yet, check the movies out, I found clerks on sale for 3 Euros yesterday, which is more or less how much is worth it - especially considering that I could DL'd it from the net for almost free. It's less than the rental price, yet you get to keep the thingy. Nifty uh? But really, check it out, you will not regret it.

And check out his website too. View Askew. Free reads and nice bits.

I know I should not

blog and read around, with all the things I've got to do today. But will just steal three minutes to pint you to an interesting bit:

Kerala Articles

It will end up in my blogroll as soon as I can. Cheers.

Tracking a meme as it multiplies.

Here's something I always wanted to do. You have an idea, write about it, or talk to your friends, then they write or talk to others, and your idea spread, at the same time changing, becoming more complex - this is the essence of memetics, as envisioned by Richard Dawkins. Until now, tracking a meme was a very hard thing to do, but not anymore. in the age of blog, memes can be tracked back to their origins, as long as persons who propagate it link back to the place wehere they first read. It would be nice to have an easy, automated way of checking the path of a meme. Well, it is possible. Here.

So, since Laelaps asked, "Why do I blog?"

Well, a mix of many things in fact. Down somewhere in my mind there's the dream of earning my bread (and butter) by writing about science, rather than helping it grow from within. I did realise my writing skills weren't up to scratch, yet, so I decided to try myself at a blog. Also, the blog works as a place where I can point out interesting ideas to my old friends, with whom I share many intellectual interests - also, it makes for an easy searchable virtual memory. Finally, there's the diary part. I do have good memory, but I believe that putting things down in writings will help me to better re-live those events, once some years have passed. I plan on blogging for my whole life, possibly changing ways with the evolving technology. May be some of my future children or nephew will enjoy reading my blurbs. who knows?

so, it's my time to help the meme spread now:

Darren, Ilalice, Gupy, Pac, Paolo?

Easter is gone.

And it was a nice one. I spent it up in Anthisnes, with my fiancee family, eating and talking and having fun in general. Yes ok sometimes I'd get crossed at the different way they do things compared to what I am used to, but all in all it has been a positive experience. I've met plenty of interesting people, like Desiree's sons, and desiree himself, who I hope I'll be able to talk to sometime soon. And the gorgeous tiny Adeline, who gave new colors to my "Dr Tatiana's" book. Literally, since during lunch she was put to sleep in my bedroom and took some pens from my gf's purse and started scribbling not only the book, but the floor and the walls too!!! but she's so cute...

And I also enjoyed riding by bike the countryside around, I went on saturday for a two-hour long tour in the small dusty and rocky roads (pictures to follow). Incredibly funny, I thought I'd be out of breath after a couple km but no, I kept going and having fun like I did not since... I don't know, many years - on a bike.

The food was good too, the dinner with Marie's friends and relatives wasn't exactly african-themed, except for the "Lake Victoria's capitain" fish she roasted in the oven - and oh, the rwandese-grown avocados. A bit of Sardinia was present in the shape of deep-fried aubergibne with tomato sauce and dried ricotta cheese. I think they liked them.

That's it, for the moment, I have to go back to work and today is going to be heavy, with a brainstorm supposed to decide what the hell I am going to spend my bext few months on. Meeting for which I feel (I am) terribly unprepared. Gosh!

See you soon, and thanks for stopping by.

To teach, or not to teach?

Strangemaps has a map (d'uh!) showing whether "Evilution" is taught decently or not in the states of the Union. Kind of depressing, I would say. especially if you consider that many of the states were teaching of the subject is deemed satisfactory/good then you discover that may be human evolution isn't spoken off, or the theory is marred by creationist notions, and so on...

Some of the comments then are just complete rubbish:

# Evolutionism is the tinfoil hat atheists wear to keep God out of their brainwaves.
--
# There is a junkyard acroos the street, I don’t see it turning into an airplane.

Explain: Love, Guilt, Happiness, Sadness, Passion, Self-Control to me. How did evolution create those things?
--
Morons...

Wow!!!

If the traffic to this website continues to grow this way, almost exponentially, in a couple of months I will be read by more people than are actually on the planet - Don't hold me on that, I haven't done any calculation, it is just a rough guesswork.


Anyway, I don't think it will keep going like this, especially since i don't have much to talk about.

Today is my last day before a very short Easter break, I am leaving work this af'noon to drive down to Mechelen, open a bank accoutn where to put the deposit for the new apartment I am going to move in by the begin of june. Then I'll head off to Dilbeek to wait the night, and my girlfreidn will come out of a night watch the morning after.

And off we go to Anthisnes, to spend Easter with her family. I've already dismantled (literally) her bike, and put it in my car, I'll stick mine inside as soon as I cycle it back home. Then I am officially on holiday.

I don't actually feel like it, there's so much to do here at work... not that I feel like doing it either, otherwise it would not have accumulated...

I really have to start properly writing that damn paper on cardiovascular safety, everybody seems so excited about the results, but I am very bad at writing down things. Uh... must... force... myself.

Luca Off.

Yesterday's TV

Been spending the last couple of evenings watching my new favourite TV show, 3rd rock from the Sun, alongside the old favourites Scrubs and Ally McBeal.

So funny!!! And it looks like he keeps going strong for most of its six seasons.

On the culinary side, I cooked two sausages in a pirex ovenplate, added vegetables and pasta "al dente" and that was it! The day before instead, the same vegetables, stir-fried in a wok, ricotta fresca, and pasta.

But do you care?

difficult to work...

...when a crane is being mounted, suspended above your head - it makes you wary of it coming down to meet you.


Anyway, I pledged that I will work more and blog less today. Too much time wasted yesterday. I better start then. Ok after I finish this.

Yesterday I tried to repair an inflatable plastic pillow, using those high-pressure can of foam which are known in Italy as "Fast". I wanted to make it from a permanently deflating to a permanently inflated pillow. Without much success I am afraid. The connection wasn't perfect, so I sprayed foam all over my bathroom. Then it started leaking air/gas from the little hole. the hole may have been closed, but this morning the pillow was severely deflated. I wonder if it's worth giving it another blast... I'll use a football needle this time, though.

cheery-oh!

Licensed to procreate

Stephen D Levitt makes the point on a recent study showing how anti-social behaviour of children can be significantly altered by training their parents to be better parents.

He concludes with a telling line:

This kind of study does make you wonder why, here in the U.S., where you must acquire a license to drive a car, sell real-estate, or hunt deer, there is no such license (or commensurate training) for raising children. I’m not saying there should be such a license.

Or maybe I am?

And this makes me think of a David Brin's short story in his collection "Otherness" (can't remember the novel title), where a woman goes to great lenghts to get a license-to-procreate, working while she attend a university level course - something I'd frankly make compulsory. I have seen enough children born by parents who just didn't know how to behave themselves.

Pareto's principle

And since I cited Sturgeon in the previous post, let me cite italian economist Pareto in this one (rip/mix/burn from Wikipedia):

He made several important contributions especially in the study of income distribution and in the analysis of individuals' choices. He introduced the concept of Pareto efficiency and helped develop the field of microeconomics.

Oh, why should I copysomeone else's words? Ok I don't have time just go there and have a look at it. You will not regret it - economist are actually fine people - and I am pretty sure Pareto would have enjoyed a conversation with Steven D. "Freakonomics" Levitt ;-)

The truth is...

I previously rambled and ranted about my insatisfaction with being a scientist. How I took the wrong field, how am not interested to what I am studying now, and so on... Blah blah blah...

Oh, please...

The truth is, I'd like to have a work place as fun as SCRUBS, with people giving me high five when they meet me in the corridors, something interesting and significative happens every day, people are crazy and either smile psychotically (men) or look at me lusciviously (girls).

Instead, I have to make do with - well, in fact a place which is even weirdier. Scientist who are very versed in their discipline, but almost nothing else. Don't take me wrong, some people I work with are absolutely brilliant in their own right, and as an environment where to work in this is OK. Challenges are there, for the willing mind, it just takes guts and will to tackle them. May be I miss those. But even in the best of cases, the work is for 90% frustration, and only 10% satisfaction. But I guess Sturgeon's Law holds for every thing: "Ninety percent of everything is crud. And it would apply to my next escape job too, I guess. Ouch! This sucks. I better get to grip with this. and life in general. Good evening.

Finally, Rhinogradenthians

I'm two days late in celebrating April's fool, but darren naish nailed it with a couple of post on these nose-deambulating mammals:

Rhinograndentians I

and
Rhinogradentians II

Thinking in time

Carl Zimmer has a new piece on the NY Times dealing with the ability of certain animals to remember episodes of their past, but also forecast their future needs and take steps towards this, much like we humans do. Some birds who cache food in various places are able to remember not only the location, but also the content of each one.

Others will store food for future use only if they think it's needed (that requires judgement), and they will restrict their choices depending on various factors. for example, squirrel monkeys will only eat one date instead of four, if they know that by eating four they will not get any water after.

The case for Unidentified Flying Objects

aka UFOs. I believe that we've been visited. I mean, let's face it. the evidence is all around us. Who would dare to challenge or deny this fact?

Tha Nazca figures, Martin Mystere's Atlantidean gun, the recently unearthed archeological findings from Putifigari, in the island of Sardinia, which seems to confirm that this island was Plato's Atlantis; the rocky altars of this island, bearing surfaces of syntherised rock, clear indication of vertical landing and takeoff of rocket-powered vehicles.

Also, dinosaurs still survive in the oldest and inacessible region of the island, Aspromonte: Su Scultone.

Do you have any doubts that the land I come from is special, not to say magical and central to the planet. Let me tell you, the world's belly button isn't Easter Island, but rather Sardinia, the mopst savage and beautiful of them all.


ps: yes, this article is written tongue-in-cheek, I am just curious to see how many people would link it. :-P

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

This has to be the funniet rockband name I have ever heard of.

It is (or rather, was?) the preferred rock band of my fiancee youngest sister, aka Cadette.

Apparently she's now into another band called !!! as in three excalamtion marks, pronounced Bang Bang Bang - can't find any internet website, though - sorry.

I know she has a blog somewhere. As soon as I find it I'll post it.

The asymptotyc PhD

I was good at school. I've always been. At the high school, I'd read my science book in the two or three days after receiving it, and then I'd be done. Probably, the understanding wasn't perfect, specially for physics, and chemistry, but biology would be a doodle. University wasn't much different, the time to pass the exams was spent mostly memorising the stuff the way the professors wanted it, not by grasping the concept - exception made for QM and StatMech.

So, why do I feel like I can't get to the damn PhD, which i started begin of 2001? I've spent now four years and a half, let's say five to account for the hours spent re-running things while I was writing up. Ok, since then I haven't been idle, I'm one year inside anm industrial postdoc and have learned so many new things at work, and outside. Still, i can't help but feel that I've lost the magic touch. May be I have reached my maximum potential? I don't think so. I still spend very little time on research... exactly like ten or fifteen years ago, I just do what's necessary, and devote the rest of my time to learn new things - things which are undeniably cool, but don't bring home the bread - other than to the amount to which my wide-spanning knowledge impresses people during job interviews, that is.

I sometimes thought that I am not really lin love with science, I just collect cool things to say to impress people - especially girls - almost all of my girlfriends I attracted this way... I'm kind of a sea urchin, coating myself with hard and shiny piece of science to show off myself... interesting idea uh? or may be not.

Fact is, I don';t think I am researcher material - not really. I know many of them and they have such a focus on their field which I can't simply match. I like to discover new theories, yes. I like to learn some new techniques. I even like playing with them for a while - But then my interest dries up. Sometimes, just before being able to wrap up what I have done in a publication of sort. Hence my sparsely populated publication list. may be I just haven't found my field, yet. May be I should really have gone into biology, discarding the concerns on the ability to find a job later on. As I used to say to my younger friendss, there's always a place for the best in the field: is the mediocre who has to recycle him/herself. Am I mediocre?

Or is this long tirade just another excuse to avoid having a look at my PhD Thesis correction, or even finally getting down to write the apparently insightful work on drugs' cardio vascular safety I spent my last year on? Cheery-o!!!

Laelaps has made it...

... to my blogroll. litle step I know. Anyway. Just wanted to let you know.

The lancet against the cluster bomb...

In 2005, editors and authours affiliated with the famous british journal "the Lancet" (it: Il bisturi) discovered that their publisher, Reed Elsevier, also organises and sponsors weapons expositions - a position that most of them consider inconsistent. I do agree.

More info and thoughts are expressed by Revere on his Effect Measure. Go and check it out.

And oh, check out also John Wilkins summary of France, Great britain and Germany strive to mantain biodiversity at Evolving Thoughts.

and one more.

Since I haven't worked at all today (almost nothing at the very least), here's one more blog I stumbled upon: Laelaps. Whatever this may means. Again, enjoy!

I am off to buy some food for my empty fridge.

No, not this one...

As I said before, I have been tinkering with the idea of getting a new digicam; my thoughts initially converged on the cool-looking nikon s10. The swiveling body is particularly attractive - but it has some things I don't like. mainly, the battery is a proprietary LiIon thingy, and this means that I'll have to use their own charger rather than carry with me my AA/AAA charger - one more charger and so on. I am nitpicking I know.

Anyway, I love the idea of having a "real" SLR, with interchangeable objectives if possible - although this will make it less cumbersome, therefore less likely to be lugged around when on a bike trip or such.

mah... I'll check some more p/review before taking a plunge. Anyway, I can survive without. Especially since I haven't noticed that my digicam was missing until now, one month and more after using it. And that i do not plan to go anywhere particularly interesting before some months. It's not like the price of these things is going to spike - ah ah.

Sarda, I envy you...

Hi there again. slow pick-up today, after browsing the net this morning and updating this blog with ont or two posts haven't managed to do much else - bad since I'm supposed to fruitfully use this time :-|

Anyway,. I already cited the Fish Feet blog, right? Sarda has managed to do what I did not, despite all my passion for dinosaurs, have the courage to do: become a palaeontologist. Or at the very least, she's on her way to it. Her study encompass, in her own words, "the evolution of terrestrial communities". That is, everything above the shoreline. well, not exactly, i believe she focuses on terrestrial vertebrates, aka tetrapods (four feet) - which bizarrely include also humans and chickens.

Anyway, she surely has an interesting blog (differently from this one ah ah), so go and check it out!!! ;-)

by the way, "Sarda" is her real name and not an indication of her geographic origins. She's not from Sardinia (again, differently from me), rather from India. Where she is right now, the reason why her friend janine is filling in.

An unexplainable surge in popularity...

My blog has been visited by more then 40 people on sunday - strange since I did not post for two full days. Why? may be I ended up in the trackback of some heavily visited blog.

mah? they seem to come mostly through image searches in google.

Am I going to hit big time? I don't think so. I'll keep the victory flag for my soon to come Nobel Prize cerimony

Again on my digital camera

Let's go back to The Imaging Resource to select my new camera. I used this website three years ago, and was thouroughly satisfied with my CoolPix 2100.

And since Nikon kept me happy, I may go for this one:



It looks snappy, has a big zoom and the swiveling body will let me overcome troubles I had with my previous, when trying to snap piccies in awkward positions. Hopefully, when taking macros the flash will tune down, differently from the 2100 whose dark macro shot were mostly overexposed.

Volcanoes!!!

Go and pay a visit to Sarda and Janine at FishFeet, they're running a contest/poll to decide which is the most beautiful strato-volcano around the planet.


The picture here is of a spectacular Mount Etna, unfortunately not shortlisted by them, but I feel it's worth a look. Hopefully, I'll go to see it one day... Oh, little fairy, make my wish come true!!! This one, and the one about winning the lottery - no wait, let's say the Nobel Prize. :-D

Good. some more blog for you to look at: Hairy Museum of natural history
Raptor's Nest

(all thanks FishFeet for letting me steal her blogroll)

More of my life...

The spider has reappared. I wonder where it (she?) spends the nights. the small one seem gome though. too bad for them.

Didn't see them for some time though. I have spent the weekend in Anthisnes, with my girlfriend and family. Saturday did suck a bit, rainy anjd cold, and was wandering on my own through Liege's mall. In the evening rwandese-populated dinner at an indian restaurant in Namur - the Taj Mahal - Bleagh. Frankly, my colleague Vikash cooks much better than that, and it's cheaper and more fcheerful too. We left very disappointed. Although I have to say, rwandese really do bitch when they have chosen the wrong place. Quite embarassing for me.

Sunday was wonderful though, sunny and may be a bit windy but nonetheless enjoyed a long walk in the countryside with Marie, while her mum dozed off after arriving from Africa. then I cooked lunch for everybody and the girls planned Easter and talked about... weddings as usual. boooooriiing, so I left to sleep.

That's it. Ah, no, on saturday I also bought a new set of speakers for my laptop. Wanted to buy those fancy ones with power through the USB port, but they came at a price, 1W RMS for 25EUR min (Samsung, 30 EUR for Trust, Logitech came at 50).
For 30 EUR I got a 2.1 set-up, mains-powered, 2 5W speaker plus a 7W subwoofer - and it's Logitech, a brand that's never disappointed me. I also started looking for a new digital camera, since i seem to have misplaced my old one. Pity, since if I really have lost it I will not be able to use the underwater shell any longer. It's very much camera-specific. Anyway, it was well time for me to change it, I have been longing for a decent zoom (at least 10x) for two years now, since I realised that 3x is barely noticeable and not at all useful for naturalistic pictures.

Couldn't find my old favourite though, the Konica Minolta Z-3 (or the Z-5). I am also wondering whether i should rather buy a 'proper' one, with interchangeable objectives - nothing too fancy, again, 5MP is fine for me, the important thing is to get a good generalist objective, plus one with serious punch in the occasions I am going to use it most - whatever they may be. mah?

Today's post... all in one...

Lots of things I wanted to post about, today...

The fact that a pair of male spiders were fighting each other in my bedroom's ceiling, yesterday - to conquer the heart of a big female sitting in the corner... It must be tough to menace themselves with big sharp venomous fangs while hanging upside down three meters up. they weren't there this morning, when I woke up. Possibly one of them won, and the newly married couple headed off to another room to consume their mating - and soon after, the female to consume the male, most likely. It sucks to be a male spider.

Again. Vlaaivis is available for free on the net. This is a neat piece of software from J&J, which shows complex data in a extensively customisable pie-chart: have a look at it!

Finally, I am going to meet Stephen Hawking on May the 20th!!! Isn't this great? My GF also hinted me the possibility of meeting Eddy Merckx, a living legend of cyclism!!! Don't know when though...

Other than that, I spent the day analysing the diversity of a bunch of molecules, and selecting some of them to show to the Chemist who head the CNS projects to see if he likes them. All within the scope of a Blood/Brain Barrier study I am going to work on in the following month or two. Oh, and I bought a couple of books and a t-shirt from play.com. And no, I don't know who this guy HIM is, just thought it would be nice to have a pentagram T-shirt for 5 EUR.

Enough for today I believe!!! See you tomorrow!

GOD itself is on Pharyngula!!!

Answering a critical post of our dear PZ Myers (by the way nice signature piccie) regarding this crankpot Kenneth Poppe, GOD itself posted a comment!!!

I listened out for him for 25 years and never heard a peep.

I was busy chewing on a parallel universe. It's rude to talk with my mouth full. Now I have the Internets.

So ... what's your prob? And I hope it's not another sob story about a pet with cancer or some crap.

back to the crankpot, however, he published a book titled: Reclaiming Science from Darwinism

But can you believe he couldn't even manage to get a correct picture for the cover? Look at that DNA coil!!! LOL... what an idiot!!!

Color Blindness

I came to this wikipedia page on color blindness while I was reading Carl Zimmer (yes, again)
talking about rats with human vision.

Both pages are quite interesting, with the wikipedia finally clarifying my ideas on daltonism (from John Dalton, famous chemist who (first?) described his own condition. Zimmer's piece, instead, focuses on the evolution of our very special color vision - special since apes, differently from most mammals, do have three receptors (RGB) rather than just two (GB). So scientist added the missing Red pigment genes, which in our case is just a duplicated and mutated version of the green pigment. But how about the brain? we have specialised structure to make sense of the added information - could mice do the same? apparently so. Come on, check it out in the original piece.

(piccie stolen from the loom)

That's not a monkey...

it's two monkeys!!!


Carl Zimmer writes:

Marmoset chimeras. These cute little monkeys pose a serious philosophical quandary. Each individual marmoset is an amalgam of cells from two different marmosets. That's because marmosets are generally conceived as fraternal twins and then trade stem cells like mad. Even eggs and sperm can belong to siblings. It may look as if a male marmoset is fathering baby marmosets, but he may actually just be their uncle. (Here's the paper.)

Isn't this incredible?!? I never suspected such weird things could happen in mammals...

3rd rock from the sun

e in tema di telefilms, mi permetto di segnalare: 3rd rock from the sun, spassosissima sit-com di argomento fantascientifico: quattro alieni atterrano sul pianeta in missione esplorativa, travestendosi da 'famiglia suburbana tipica'.



ho visto una manciata di episodi e son davvero incredibili!!! le battute scientifiche son sempre azzeccate, si vede che chi ha scritto gli episodi ha una certa conoscenza - un po' come Futurama.

se siete interessati, ve li posso passare la prox volta che scendo. senno' acccatatevilli in dvd, o se preferite su tvtorrents.com

I am tempted to learn it, almost

After a week spent reading Absorption and Drug Development
Solubility, Permeability, and Charge State by pION's Alex Avdeef, I'm now reading Clinical Pharmacokinetics: Concepts and Applications by Malcolm Rowland and Thomas N. Tozer. Pretty interesting read, but I need a break from time to time.

I've found the wikipedia page about sardinian, the language spoken in my birthplace. Well, not exactly in my birthplace since we have a mixed italian/sardinian/corsican dialect up there.

Anyway, it's quite interesting to read. Have a go! Or, you can read one of the books above - how about that? Now, back to the exercises :-P

And, once again, where are you?

A small partial map of the Internet. Each line is drawn between two nodes, representing two IP addresses. This graph contains over 40,000 nodes, which represents about 2% of the Class C network address space.

from wikipedia.

We were like this, once...

Only, we weren't ectopic. the picture comes from Wikimedia, the image/audio/movie part of wikipedia. Original page is linked, just click the picture.

the embryo in the image is seven weeks old, 10mm long, and implanted itself in the wrong place, in one of the ovarian tubes connecting the ovaries to the womb. In the upper part, the placenta's willi are forming, although I guess they would not be able to complete their development as normal, not being in the proper place.

It's fascinating to think that we were like that, once. You can see the eyes, the limbs and the brain, and all little parts which would grow up to male up one of us. Incredible, isn't it?

Ieri ho visto...

The last king of Scotland...

che dire? tosto. purtroppo la storia si conclude in maniera un po' Hollywoodiana, il che e' un peccato. e il personaggio principale non ha un granche' d'evoluzione durante tutta la storia. almeno a mio parere, reagisce piutttosto che agire. Chi domina la scena e' Forest Whittaker nei panni del generale Idi Amin. Impressionante e terrificante a tratti.

Le scene son molto crude, meno violente di Blood Diamond, ma psicologicamente piu' incisive. O forse io son particolarmente reattivo al vedere una ragazza nera tagliata in pezzi e ricucita a casaccio. ma tant'e`. di certo non il film cui volete portare la vostra ragazza. ah, e non pianificate di mangiare la sera. dopo non avrete voglia. se anticipate, correte il rischio di riveder la cena durante il film. urgh.

Feeling Romantic?

Tell your significant other I love you in all the language of the world!!!

from http://www.freelang.com/expressions/jetaime.html

AFRIKAANS	ek het jou lief / ek is lief vir jou
ALBANAIS	të dua
ALLEMAND	ich liebe Dich
ALSACIEN	ich hab die lieb
ANGLAIS	I love you
ARABE DIALECTAL (maghrébin)	n'bghick
ARABE DIALECTAL (oriental)	bahebbak (à un homme) / bahebbik (à une femme)
ARABE LITTÉRAIRE	ouhibbouka (à un homme) / ouhibbouki (à une femme)
ARMÉNIEN	yes kez siroumem
ASTURIEN	quiérote
ATTIÉ	min bou la yé
AZERI	men seni sevirem
BAMBARA	né bi fè
BAS-ALLEMAND	ik heef di leev
BAS-SAXON	ik hou van ju
BASQUE	maite zaitut
BAOULE	mi klôa
BENGALI	aami tomakey bhalo basi
BERBÈRE	righ kem
BIÉLORUSSE	Кахаю цябе (kahaju ciabie)
BIRMAN	nga nin ko chit te
BOBO	ma kia bé nà
BOSNIAQUE	volim te
BRETON	karout a ran ac'hanout / da garout a ran / me az kar
BULGARE	обичам те
CATALAN	t'estimo
CHEYENNE	ne'mehotatse
CH'TI	j't'aquiers
CHINOIS	wo ai ni
CORÉEN	saranghe
CORSE	amu tè / ti tengu caru
CRÉOLE ANTILLAIS	mwen enmen
CRÉOLE GUADELOUPÉEN	mwen enméw
CRÉOLE GUYANAIS	mo contan to
CRÉOLE HAITIEN	mwen renmen'w / mouin rinmin'w
CRÉOLE MARTINIQUAIS	mwen inmin'w
CRÉOLE MAURICIEN	mo content toi
CRÉOLE RÉUNIONNAIS	mi aime a ou
CROATE	volim te
DANOIS	jeg elsker dig
DIOULA	mi fê
ESPAGNOL	te amo / te quiero
ESPÉRANTO	mi amas vin
ESTONIEN	ma armastan sind
FÉROÏEN	eg elski teg
FINNOIS	minä rakastan sinua
FLAMAND	ik hou van jou / ik heb je lief
FRANCIQUE LORRAIN	ich lìwe dich
FRANCIQUE RHÉNAN	ich honn dich gäer
FRIOULAN	o ti vuei ben
FRISON	ik hâld fan dy
GAÉLIQUE D'ÉCOSSE	tha gaol agam ort / tha gaol agam oirbh
GAÉLIQUE D'IRLANDE	tá grá agam duit
GALICIEN	amo-te / ámote / quero-te / quérote
GALLOIS	rydw i'n dy garu di
GÉORGIEN	me shen mikvarkhar
GREC	s'agapo
GUARANÍ	rojhayhû
GUJARATI	hun tane prem karun chhun
HAWAÏEN	aloha wau iā 'oe
HÉBREU	ani ohev otakh (homme > femme) ani ohevet otkha (femme > homme)
HINDI	main tumse pyar karta hoo
HMONG	kuv hlub koj
HONGROIS	szeretlek
INDONÉSIEN	saya cinta padamu / saya cinta kamu
ISLANDAIS	ég elska þig
ITALIEN	ti amo
JAPONAIS	aishitemasu / aishiteru (peu utilisé) anata ga daisuki desu (plus "mignon")
KABYLE	hamlagh-kem (homme > femme) hamlaghk (femme > homme)
KANNADA	naanu ninnanna pritisutteney
KHMER	bang srolaïgn ôn (homme > femme) ôn srolaïgn bang (femme > homme)
KINYARWANDA	ndagukunda
KURDE	ez te hez dikim
LANGUEDOCIEN (OCCITAN)	t'aimi
LAO	khoi hak tchao lai
LATIN	te amo
LETTON	es tevi mīlu
LIBANAIS	b'hibik (homme > femme) b'hibak (femme > homme)
LIGURE	mi te amu
LINGALA	na lingi yo
LITUANIEN	aš tave myliu
LUXEMBOURGEOIS	ech hunn dech gär
MACÉDONIEN	te sakam
MALAIS	aku cinta padamu
MALAYALAM	enikku ninné ishtamaanu
MALGACHE	tiako ianao / tia anao aho (plus fort)
MALTAIS	inħobbok
MANXOIS	ta graih aym ort
MAORI	kei te aroha au i a koe
MONGOL	Би чамд хайртай (bi chamd khairtai)
MORÉ	mam nong-a fo
NAPOLITAIN	t'ammo
NDEBELE	niya ku tanda
NÉERLANDAIS	ik hou van jou
NEPALI	ma timilai prem garchhu
NORVÉGIEN	jeg elsker deg
OCCITAN	t'aimi
OURDOU	mein tumse mohabbat karta hoon (locuteur M) main tumse mohabbat karti hoon (locuteur F) mujhe tum se pyar heh
OUZBEK	men seni sevaman / men seni yahshi ko'raman (moins formel)
PAPIAMENTO	mi ta stima bo
PERSAN	dustat dâram (formel) / duset dâram (courant)
PICARD	ej t'a kèr
POLONAIS	kocham cię
PORTUGAIS	amo-te / eu te amo (portugais brésilien)
PROVENÇAL	t'aimi
PUNJABI	mein tenu pyar karda han (locuteur M) mein tenu pyar kardi han (locuteur F)
QUECHUA de CUZCO	munakuyki
RAPA NUI	hanga rahi au kia koe
ROMANI	kamaù tut
ROUMAIN	te iubesc
RUSSE	Я тебя люблю (ia tibia lioubliou)
SAMOAN	ou te alofa ia te oe
SANGO	mbi yé mô
SARDE	deo t'amo (logudorois) / deu t'amu (campidanois)
SAVOYARD	jhe t'âmo
SERBE	volim te
SESOTHO	ke ya ho rata
SHONA	ndinokuda
SINDHI	moon khay tu saan piyar aahay
SINHALA	mama oyata aadareyi (spoken) / mama obata aadareyi (formal)
SIOUX	wastewalake
SLOVAQUE	ľúbim ťa / milujem ťa
SLOVÈNE	ljubim te / rad te imam (locuteur M) / rada te imam (locuteur F)
SOBOTA	volim te (courant) / se te volime (littéraire)
SOMALI	waan ku jecelahay
SONINKÉ	na moula
SOUSSOU	ira fan ma
SUÉDOIS	jag älskar dig
SWAHILI	nakupenda
TAGALOG	mahal kita
TAHITIEN	ua here vau ia oe
TAJIKI	jigarata bihrum duhtari hola (homme > femme) tra lav dorum (femme > homme)
TAMOUL	naan unnai kaadhalikkarn
TATAR	min sine yaratam
TCHÈQUE	miluji tě
TELUGU	nenu ninnu premisthunnanu
THAI	ผมรักคุณ (phom rak khun) - locuteur M ฉันรักคุณ (chan rak khun) - locuteur F
TIBÉTAIN	na kirinla gaguidou
TURC	seni seviyorum
TURKMÈNE	seni söýärin
UDMURT	mon tone jaratiśko
UKRAINIEN	Я тебе кохаю (ia tebe kohaiu)
VÉNÈTE	t'amo
VIETNAMIEN	anh yêu em (homme > femme) em yêu anh (femme > homme)
WALLON (orthographe à betchfessîs)	dji vs voe voltî
WOLOF	nob nala
XHOSA	ndiyakuthanda
YIDDISH	ich hob dir lib
YORUBA	moni ife e
ZULU	ngiyakuthanda

Darren Naish has lots of goodies

Have been missing its his new posts, since he moved to scienceblogs.

So, go and check them out!!!

Big cats
(these are two posts)

Seriously big squirrels: check out the piccie.

a post on Rhynos used during wars (fact or fiction?)

Narwhal's Sonic Lance (no it's not something out of sci-fi)

weekend preparations...

As preparation for the weekend, it's started to rain again, as usual...

Well, luckily I didn't wash the car, and most certainly will not wash it tomorrow, unless the sun shines so strong when i wake up that I need sun glasses. ah! not a chance, I'd say...

let's see how it turns out...

plus, my machine today is sluggish like never, there must be something (firefox with 141MB of RAM?) which is dragging it down... Memory leak? who knows? but even so, having 1GB of RAM I should have more than enough juice left to run the house, no? Nope: windows task manager says: mem usage 1411248K/2502016K. So I'm crunching on Virtual memory only. pants!

Ok, may be it's also my fault for keeping firefox + excel + word it open for one or two weeks at a time, before being forced to reboot.

But why, ho why, does this only happen on windows?

I have a new address

So, it's done. I signed the contract (co-signed, since Marie signed with me) and from the first of june we'll be living together. Woah! Big move uh?

Lots of things to do now, organise for the utilities contracts to be moved, which one to keep out of the various ones, when exactly move and so many tiny little things. I guess I am becoming adult. Finally. It was well time...

Back to work now, it's going to be hectic today, and plenty of things to do before leaving. tomorrow, I am off with some friends and colleagues at Durbuy, for the chocolate festival - although it sounds like just a market, on the net. mah...

Sunday at home cleaning, resting, watching movies, unless saturday evening I head off to BXL to catch my GF coming out of work. We'll see.

By all means, have a nice weekend you too!!!