|
Thursday, January 31, 2008 Snowshoes Would Be Good About Now So I'm on campus, ready to head back home. Home? You might ask. It's not even nine in the morning! Well, the snow's pouring from the sky, students slipping about on the walkways, people getting about on snowshoes, cars bumping into each other, the visibility is about nil, and there's just so much snow that no one's bothered to plow anything. (It felt like swimming in jello just to get to campus.) Oh, and yeah, school is closed. Now that's a first. Universities usually never close, even if there's a blizzard going on. Urg. So in a minute or two, I'm heading back out. And it's going to suck getting blinded by cold cotton. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:57 AM : Memes Booking Through Thursday: Quirky What are some of the more outrageous characters you’ve read, and how do you feel about them? I'm not going to name any examples, but I will say that I will accept the existence of a quirky and outrageous character in a book that has quirky, outrageous, and comedic tones more easily than in a book that attempts to take things seriously. It's not to say that a serious book can't have an outrageous character but often it just becomes annoying. The Thursday Threesome: Long Ago and Far Away Onesome: Long ago-- I was sure I would become a _ _ _ _ _ _ when I grew up! Hmmm... The first job I thought I wanted was to become a teacher. It was in first grade and there was this assignment to draw a picture of what you wanted to do when you grew up. So I picked something. Twosome: and-- how did you end up where you are (currently) if that didn't happen? (Students, you can talk majors and changes and such!) Well, all I can say is, I'm most likely more suited to be a scientist than a teacher. I have mixed feelings about my experiences as a teaching assistant. Threesome: Far Away-- from any thoughts of the Super Bowl? Are you tuning in? No? Whatcha' doin' instead? Even if I had a TV, I would not be watching the Super Bowl. Sports bore me. I'm not sure what I'll be doing this weekend. Maybe catching up on some reading. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 7:41 AM : Tuesday, January 29, 2008 A Class, Canceled Hm. Well. The weather's bad and some students had their classes canceled but not the way I had my class canceled. The prof didn't show up even though we knew he/she was on campus. Somewhere. (The class I'm taking is of an interdisciplinary nature and it's team taught by professors from many different science departments. That is, a different prof gives lectures every week.) So after eighteen minutes after what was supposed to be the start of class (applying the fifteen minute rule plus three minutes "grace period"), all the students left. I also wanted to add that before we left, one of the students volunteered to hunt down the prof at his/her lab and office in case he/she had somehow "lost track of time". The student didn't find the prof so... One of the other students jokingly said that we might all be given Fs because we weren't in class. Grades are based partially on attendance so I suppose part of me isn't taking this lightly. But really, how fair is it to fail everyone if even the prof doesn't bother to attend class? [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 2:49 PM : Friday, January 25, 2008 A Link About Books Booksthatmakeyoudumb. It's a rough plot of popular books versus SAT score. The presumption is that the books at the lower score range are "dumb" while the ones at the high end are "smart". Well, if I wanted to get smarter, I'd read some non-fiction by an expert in that field. Everything else is entertainment (which doesn't relate to intelligence, just taste). [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 7:14 PM : Thursday, January 24, 2008 Watching the Rats Scurry By A little bit of ambition is not necessarily a bad thing. Overachievement isn't a sin. But some people don't have to be so blatant about it. A student was bragging loudly about his triple majors and completely unrelated minor. He does research. He helps kids with cancer (overseas!) in his spare time. He wants to go to med school. I kept waiting for him to stand up like a beauty queen to talk about world peace as a rousing denouement for his whole spiel. And if I were an interviewer, I'd be rolling my eyes--mentally, of course. It's not the accomplishments that have me dismissive, but the delivery. I can't decide whether this guy is too self-assured (really, there is such a thing) or trying to cover up an insecurity. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:55 PM : Memes Booking Through Thursday: Huh? What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller...whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?” The Poison Master by Liz Williams (my review is here). I first read about this book on a mailing list/Yahoo! group. I usually lurk on such things, if I don't have anything else to do or am bored--not that often, really--and the current thread at the time was a discussion about books people recently read and liked. Of course, there were plenty of well-known authors and books being bandied about, but one person mentioned The Poison Master. But other than that one mention, no one else on that mailing list ventured any opinion on whether they had also read the book or that they thought they might try it. I'm not sure what prompted me to note it down on one of my scattered lists for "books to find and read". The poster was rather vague about the book's premise and I never bothered to look elsewhere online for a synopsis or other people's reviews. The poster wasn't a regular and didn't have a track record for having similar tastes to mine. I just went straight to the library to find a copy. (Of course, after I read the book, I went to look for other reviews. They're rather mixed--which is understandable. I don't think Williams' literary style is for everyone.) In retrospect, I think I picked up this book because the title was similar to another, Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder, which I had been looking forward to for several months (because I happened to read the excerpt)--and, I think, publicized enough that a sizable number of people online were talking about it. I read Poison Study after The Poison Master and although it would be hard to compare the two (the former is fantasy, the latter is science fiction), there's something far more complex and satisfying about The Poison Master than Poison Study even though the endings were, in some respects, up in the air. I think surprise and randomness also plays a part in which books I grant "favorite" status to. Poison Study was good, but I had expected it to be that. I had absolutely no expectations about The Poison Master, and I think my surprise that I really liked this story that no one knew about helped contribute to labeling this as a "keeper". Hm. Now that I think about it, the majority of my favorite books were found serendipitously. And they all seem to be books that no one of my acquaintance has heard of--even the Pulitzer Prize winning ones. (Maybe I should get more book-knowledgeable acquaintances.) The Thursday Threesome: Harlem Globetrotters Basketball Onesome: Harlem-- Nights? The Apollo Theater? If we came to visit your area, where would you recommend we sightsee? Hell's Gate State Park. I took some photos here. Twosome: (The) Globetrotters-- can be quite a show! Have you ever seen them? Are there any "show" teams you like to watch perform? Pep competitions? Bands? I suppose it would be interesting to watch bands perform, but I don't have any particular preferences. Threesome: Basketball-- is in full swing, and March Madness isn't all that far away? Any opinions on either NBA or NCAA teams? ...or is it all downhill after the Packers lost? I do not pay attention to basketball. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:20 AM : Wednesday, January 23, 2008 Interesting... Tracking down a source. The New York Times and other news outlets are reporting on a study that links miscarriages to caffeine consumption. However, upon a cursory glance, the study doesn't seem to exist. I also tried combing through the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology website just as Adventures in Ethics and Science did and found nothing. A search on PubMed using the authors' names also does not reveal the paper. On Google Scholar, there's a "citation" to the work, although who cited it and exactly what that means on the search result is pretty much fuzzy to me. I also searched by DOI, and doi.org told me: "Error - DOI Not Found". Maybe the journalist got the journal title wrong? I noticed on the "lead" author's webpage that he had published an article in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Maybe it's in there--but nope. I also looked up Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research, and Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Reproductive Medicine. Nothing in all of them. Then I searched using keywords on PubMed, particularly "caffeine" and "miscarriage". I got this article by Savitz et al., published in January 2008 in Epidemiology. Definitely same subject, although completely opposite conclusions. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 5:08 PM : Get Your Latest Science Fix Tangled Bank #97 is up at The Inoculated Mind. Brains, cooking, and an interview with David Attenborough! [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:02 AM : Thursday, January 17, 2008 Memes Booking Through Thursday: Let's Review How much do reviews (good and bad) affect your choice of reading? If you see a bad review of a book you wanted to read, do you still read it? If you see a good review of a book you’re sure you won’t like, do you change your mind and give the book a try? When I'm in the mood to read reviews, I do not read just one review of a book--I read several. A single review usually doesn't sway me from reading or not reading a book. Bad reviews don't prevent me from reading a book that I've already decided to read. Non-gushing good reviews or well-reasoned bad reviews sometimes convince me to read a book--but only if I'm already aware of the book before I've read the review and am on the fence. The Thursday Threesome: Apple Pie Crust Onesome: Apple-- turnovers? Bear claws? Do you have a favorite pastry? You know, the one you can't pass up no matter what! I like variety. And I know there are times when I can pass on pastry. Like when I'm full. Twosome: Pie-- or cake? You're out to dinner and you get your choice: What do you go for? ...or do you simply have to have the creme brulee? Pie. Threesome: Crust--makes the pie, ya' think? Which pie absolutely has to have the proper crust or it just doesn't work for you? I like the crusts made out of flour. The stuff made out of cookies/graham crackers/what-have-you is not a crust. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 7:41 AM : Wednesday, January 16, 2008 Brief Musings *Still cold and snowy. Walking (or in my case, sliding) down steep hills covered in ice is treacherous business. *Thinking about redesigning this site. Except I'm not sure how I want to redesign it. Definitely not something flashy, gaudy, or cute. Maybe I'll just end up changing the colors. Move Over, 'Meerkat Manor'. The nature writer who got plagiarized by a romance author (see previous post) speaks out in Newsweek. I am amused by the variety of reactions this has garnered: a) People confirming their own stereotypes about a particular genre just because one author writes badly and behaved unethically. b) People angry at the nature writer for bashing romances. c) People forgiving the nature writer for this instance of bashing romances because, hey, he was plagiarized. d) The nature writer gains an army of fan girls. e) People start donating money to save the ferrets. f) People wondering why others are donating as an "apology" when it's supposed to be the plagiarizer who should be apologizing. g) Donors argue that it isn't an apology. They just want to save the ferrets. My reaction: Why are people only wanting to save the cute fuzzy animals? Where I live, there's a giant earthworm that needs help. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 12:25 PM : Saturday, January 12, 2008 More Links on the Cassie Edwards Case I usually don't follow internet generated news scandals for over a day or two, but somehow, I'm riveted to the one I noticed earlier this week. Maybe it's because the evidence is so meticulously documented. Maybe it's the outrageous commenters or the initial blasé response of one of the publishers. Maybe it's because people are having so many different reactions or that the novelist is "famous" and a "cash cow" (although I have never read any of her books). Well whatever it is, the New York Times has finally picked up the story. The publisher has back-peddled. And what is this--evidence that Edwards lifted passages from Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore? I've been cynical before about anything being done since the copyrights of the other sources have lapsed, but the copyright of The Fatal Shore* definitely hasn't. Hm... Addendum (1/13): Remarkable Similarities to Pulitzer-Winning Novel. There's now no more excuse that this was just confined to non-fiction. *One of my recommended reads on my bookrolling page. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 1:57 PM : Friday, January 11, 2008 I'm Not Hiding the Inkstone Asian American Students and School Stereotypes (via Angry Asian Man). I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I find it sad that these students feel a need to act "white" (i.e. not acting foreign or like a nerd) to fit in, yet I totally understand why they're doing it. Anyways, I see this more as Asian American students adopting western attitudes and lifestyles. Which sometimes seems just as well since everywhere is becoming "westernized". I was thinking about my own attitudes and I must admit, I'm pretty Americanized. But that doesn't mean that I want to start wearing Ralph Lauren, get a membership to a country club, and surround myself with only white friends. Heck, I'll run the other way. I'm not afraid to admit that I'm nerdy, grew up on rice, or that I've listened to Cantopop more than once. Maybe people tailor their behavior in order to be accepted. But I find myself much happier finding a balance between the cultures rather than denying one in favor of another in a misguided attempt to gain conditional approval. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 11:28 PM : Thursday, January 10, 2008 Memes Booking Through Thursday: May I Introduce 1. How did you come across your favorite author(s)? Recommended by a friend? Stumbled across at a bookstore? A book given to you as a gift? By accident at the library. Most of the books I borrow at the library are found on the shelves semi-randomly. 2. Was it love at first sight? Or did the love affair evolve over a long acquaintance? I have to really like the first book I read by that author. And like the subsequent books as well. If I only like some of the books, I would only say that those are my favorite books but that the author isn't necessarily my favorite author. The Thursday Threesome: Kidney stone and herbal remedies Onesome: Kidney--beans? Lima Beans? Pinto beans? Which legumes do you like to cook with? Hmmm... A hot pot of chili sounds good this week! I like lima beans. Although saying that is probably blasphemous since I live in lentil country. Twosome: Stones?-- Monoliths? Pebbles? Do you use any of these in decorating? Heck, we'll even count marbles in vases! No. Although I do pick up an odd rock or two if I'm out hiking somewhere interesting. Threesome: and herbal remedies-- Hey, there's a good one: do you have any herbal remedies for us to try? Anything? I'm betting this bunch will have a trick or two to work with! Not really. I'm of the opinion that if there's anything wrong, go see a medical doctor. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 7:28 AM : Wednesday, January 09, 2008 Um, Wow More on the plagiarism stuff that exploded on Monday: Cassie Edwards' Publisher: She's No Plagiarist. The more I read about it, I'm doubtful that she's going to be prosecuted on legal grounds since all the books she copied from look like they're so old that the copyright has expired. But it still doesn't mean that this is ethical. And it doesn't make it okay if the subject being copied is factual. Anyone who has read any non-fiction knows that it's written with a particular author's style and interpretation. If anything, it just looks like the author's been sneaky by lifting passages from the public domain. She doesn't even have the paltry excuse of even having acknowledgements--so an "Ian McEwan/Dan Brown defense" isn't plausible. There's a line between heavily borrowing ideas while writing it in your own words and blatantly copying. And in this case, it definitely looks like this author has crossed it. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 11:14 AM : This Morning Tangled Bank #96 is now up at Aardvarchaeology. Go read up on some science blog posts like ones on bioluminescent animals, barnacle evolution, and the biology of aging. A brief pet peeve--chatty people who stand around and take up space on the only non-icy part of the sidewalk. Maybe it's fun watching all the other pedestrians slide past like unbalanced cartoons, but let me tell you, it's not fun being that cartoon. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:30 AM : Tuesday, January 08, 2008 The Ol' Perforated Edges Yes, I know I'm late to the game. Vista is already old hat to the tech savvy. But I usually don't see why I have to bother myself with a new OS when the old OS is perfectly fine for the stuff I'm doing. I've been fiddling around with Windows Vista this evening--the first time I've had a looksee really--and for some reason, my mind went back to some of the older Windows operating systems that I've used. I remember that before I got into my double digits, my dad had attempted to teach me BASIC, but failed. I wasn't really interested in computers except for the occasional game of Pacman until I found the rudimentary word processing program in DOS. Then in high school, I got a desktop computer running on 3.1 (and later 3.11), but all I did was write and read educational CD-ROMS on it--I read Oedipus Rex and Antigone, my first e-books perhaps? Getting Windows 95 coincided with getting internet access and then a little after that, a bit of a fuzzy interlude when I had Windows 98 or Windows 2000 (or maybe even both). And then Windows NT. Maybe it was a step backward, but I actually kind of liked NT--I always knew where I stood with it. My first laptop was when I first got XP. And I'm planning on mostly sticking with XP until my laptop dies. As for Vista, well, I'm not quite sure what to think of it. It's like navigating a redesigned website at the moment. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:56 PM : Monday, January 07, 2008 Two Links Privilege has its rankness. What do they mean by privilege? I'm not deprived because I never had a TV in my room as a kid (I still don't have a TV) or that I remember many times when I had to beg my parents to buy a book (they didn't want me to become a total bookworm--ha!--but then again, they never bought video games for me either). I'm not disadvantaged because I never took test prep courses (didn't need them), went to a public high school, or shared a room with my sister for a couple of years. People can get by comfortably without the flashy bling, the expensive tutors, and the European vacations as long as they have food on the table and all their shots. Heck, just having food on the table and no abusive guardians is pretty privileged if you ask me. Cassie Edwards’ Books Bear Similar (okay Exact) Text to Previously Published Texts. (original exposé here) Oh man, this is so weird. A romance novelist plagiarizing a treatise on ferrets? Well, regardless of the subject matter, the writing quality (or lack of), or how many rabid fangirls rush to her defense, ripping off another person's work is wrong. But I'm afraid this is going to end like all other debacles involving badly behaving authors--no punishment of any substance is going to be exacted and Edwards will continue to publish. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:35 PM : Inertia That's the annoying thing about holidays. It's easy to let things slide when you're on vacation and then the new year starts. It's also why I never make any resolutions--I feel too lazy to actually start any. Much more sensible to sort of ease into things rather than jump into it with a shocking bang. Snow is nice, but it also compounds my sense of inertia. Once I'm in some place (home, lab, the grocery story, the library, etc.), I don't particularly want to go out. Driving sucks--and with gas prices these days, who wants to take to the wheel anyway?--but then walking also sucks. Because all the snow plow people have been really industrious, there's nothing to help gain traction. I've been skidding on ice, flapping my arms and genuflecting like zombie Elvis on speed. I'm not on the internet much during the holidays either, so I don't find out about some things until, well, later. My short story The Station Wagon is now up on the holiday edition of Written Word. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 11:20 AM : Thursday, January 03, 2008 Memes Well, I'm a bit late on this, but I suppose it's understandable since I've been in airplanes all day. I just wish there were more non-stop flights available. It's no fun flying to Chicago (heh, see below) and Salt Lake City when you have absolutely no desire to be in those places at that particular time. Booking Through Thursday: Anticipation What new books are you looking forward to most in 2008? Something new being published this year? Something you got as a gift for the holidays? Anything in particular that you’re planning to read in 2008 that you’re looking forward to? A classic, or maybe a best-seller from 2007 that you’re waiting to appear in paperback? I have a bunch of books in my "to be read" pile which I probably should get through sooner or later. Currently I'm in the middle of Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. There are some other Gaiman books on my shelf, Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley (I've mentioned her before), and a lot of other stuff. As for books published in 2008, I'm mostly oblivious to what's being published unless it's an author that I follow or I happen to go to the bookstore and library and examine the WHAT'S NEW shelves. So right now, I'm just aware of the books coming out by the authors that I have mentioned in previous memes. The Thursday Threesome: "Twenty-five or Six to Four" Onesome: Twenty-five?-- Good age to be? ...or bad age to survive? Can you look back at this time without cringing? ...or are you there yet? Age has nothing to do with how good or bad life is. It's experiences. Just because my twenty-fifth year was crap doesn't mean that other people also experienced crappy years when they were twenty-five. They could have had a brilliant year--depending on what happened to them. Twosome: or Six-- ways to help yourself out? ...or maybe just one? If you could send a piece of advice for yourself at twenty-five, what would it be? ...and if you are twenty-five? Well, can the gang here answer any questions for you? I'm not sure I would have listened to much advice when I was twenty-five. I'm not sure I would listen to certain advice now. I hate to be told how to do things, even if it's from myself. Threesome: to Four-- pounds of See's candy over the holidays? Did you survive 'growing season'? How's it looking out there? I've already seen the displays up for Valentine's Day! Can we survive the constant onslaught of the chocolatiers? How can we survive? By not buying the stuff in the first place. Actually, in a sort of twisted way, it's helpful that stores have holiday displays so far in advance. It annoys me enough that I ignore all of them when I'm out restocking on milk and bread. Bonus points: Who did this song and when? The band Chicago in 1970. I'm no song buff. I've never heard of this song until this meme. I just looked it up in Wikipedia. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:05 PM : Tuesday, January 01, 2008 And It Begins Again Let's just say that at midnight, I've been very geeky. I've ignored all the ball dropping and champagne swilling in favor of watching nature documentaries. Mmm, David Attenborough marathons... [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 12:20 PM : |
