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January 30, 2009

thoughts

Our economy is going to pot. Still, it's not the Depression. Just, we haven't done anything significant to change the trend. I'd like to make a suggestion. Can we start owning up to the past and stop throwing money at the problem? Or, the only jobs we might have will be working for the government.

Posted by azileretsis at 06:48 PM | Comments (0)

January 28, 2009

tv

I was watching a good documentary about J. Robert Oppenheimer. SciAm's article about the documentary. My interest has peaked enough to put his biography on my reading list. From the book:

Asked in a closed Senate hearing room "whether three or four men couldn't smuggle units of an [atomic] bomb into New York and blow up the whole city", Oppenheimer responded, "Of course it could be done, and people could destroy New York." When a startled senator then followed by asking, "What instrument would you use to detect an atomic bomb hidden somewhere in a city?" Oppenheimer quipped, "A screwdriver" [to open each and every crate or suitcase]. There was no defense to nuclear terrorism and he felt there never would be. - 1946

Also, I have come onto the Vista bandwagon and it is an ugly view. My main problems with Vista are that my tabletpc does not come out of sleep mode and I have to do a manual shutoff. Then, out of the blue, my ctl-alt-del will stop working and then, I have to do a manual shutoff. On top of these Vista problems, it seems that Firefox might be having a conflict w/ Zonealarm since the problem also causes me to do a manual shutoff. Computers shouldn't cause this many problems. My research has lead to the same conclusions, reinstall Vista and give up on the firewall or the browser. Sigh.

Posted by azileretsis at 01:34 AM | Comments (0)

January 22, 2009

news

Many things I know about the Ireland, I learned from George Mitchell. His book, Making Peace, was a compassionate, rational, and thought-provoking take on the Ireland's problems. I'm glad to see he is back in the news.

Another sign of open science, PloS ONE.

BTW, etrade is definitely not doing well.

Posted by azileretsis at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2009

hope

This is how Google defines hope. It's not the best defined word. But, most definitions seem to involve the action of evoking.

I wish the markets were more hopeful.

Posted by azileretsis at 12:46 AM | Comments (0)

January 08, 2009

readings

The idea was to do research, find new avenues to conquer, new mountains to climb! - Gertrude B. Elion

I like Gertrude B. Elion

I read two articles on my vacation that made to think of Shelley's Frankenstein. Both articles had to do with construction of microbes. They started with yeasts and a new assembler was described. However, it's like saying that the Hindu god, Mahakali form of Kali, is human because she has a minimum of two arms. The articles did make me wonder about what creation means. Synthetic biology has the potential to allow scientists to indulge in their engineering and design interests.

Posted by azileretsis at 03:02 PM | Comments (0)

January 07, 2009

gifts

First, prayer for Gaza. No matter who started it, it's been and is becoming a more severe crisis. When will mercy be shown? Or, will both powers burn in each's hate?

While on my break from my books, I discovered that I find credit gift cards a very uninventive gift and I reamed my friend about it. Gifts should be a tortuous process where you go to the same place multiple times only to find it closed on Christmas Eve. Or, you should be placed in high anxiety to see if the postman will arrive on time with that gift from Amazon. Or, in the store, debating back and forth until you realize that the store has closed and you are one of the last customers and the cashiers are politely grinding their smile at you. It would have been easier to chicken out.

I also picked up a tablet finally! I got one of the last of HP's old tx2500z model. HP TouchSmart tx2z has taken its place. My laptop was about to die in every way possible and I couldn't resist buying a cheap tablet. I'm still not sure if I'm going to like the tablet format but I've committed to the idea.

Posted by azileretsis at 12:41 AM | Comments (0)