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March 30, 2009
research
Ethics of Stem Cell Research - This webpage has a good summary on the ethical concerns of stem cell research. It's be on my mind since President Obama signed the orders. I wonder how helpful this back and forth depending on the administration is doing to the debate about this research area. What does the America think?
Posted by azileretsis at 03:10 PM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2009
name
I like the One World Trade Center. I think it's a sign that America can move on. The lives lost will never be forgotten. For my generation, it was our Kennedy moment or like the Challenger moment. We will always remember how it happened and why it happened. We don't need a name to remember.
Jero doesn't look like he would be singing Japanese folk music. Oh, the impact of folk music on childhoods.
Posted by azileretsis at 02:16 PM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2009
friday
One of Science Friday's recent podcasts blasted the previous administration for choosing science over idealism. I don't think the argument should deter the conversation for ethics and morality in the scientific world. For those who are science worshipers, science should never be an idol that is worshiped alone. Scientists devote alot of their time and energy in what they do and are passionate voices for knowledge but tax payers should be able to designate and discuss the consequences to the community of their research.
I'm catching up on my Science Fridays. Also, though Galileo played in important part proving heliocentric theory, he was not originator. It was Copernicus. Let's not mix up our scientific history please. As it is, scientific history has too little part of our standard of knowledge.
Posted by azileretsis at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2009
layoffs
An ugly word. As long as layoffs continue, there is no long-term economical revival.
So, we are bailing the banks out... to the clang of $1 trillion. Corporate board of directors need to do their jobs in structuring how banking executives get paid. If you really want to be depressed... Point of reference, India's GDP crossed over the trillion mark in 2007.
Another article about China's economic power. We'll see if the Middle Kingdom has truly learned from its past. Lack of transparency and too much pride may slow its progress down.
Posted by azileretsis at 08:03 PM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2009
games
Let the games begin. Loving MD right now.
Hello friend, we need to stop immediately at a sports bar to finish watching this game.
Posted by azileretsis at 07:16 PM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2009
odd
In 1995, Swiss biologist Claus Wedekind determined MHC-dissimilar mate selection tendencies in humans. In the experiment, a group of female college students smelled t-shirts that had been worn by male students for two nights, without deodorant, cologne or scented soaps. Overwhelmingly, the women preferred the odors of men with dissimilar MHCs to their own. However, their preference was reversed if they were taking oral contraceptives. - Wiki
I wonder how this would affect marriages.
Posted by azileretsis at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2009
jobs
Oh wow. CAT lays off 2,454 workers in three states.
On a lighter topic, Wanna to know my winning NCAA bracket system? That's my method too!
In other news, interesting idea of using probiotics to deliver vaccines. It takes 24-72 hrs for food to clear the digestive system so it is a slower process than a needle.
Posted by azileretsis at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2009
backup
I am a little amazed at spending $100 yesterday for a TB hard drive. 4MB->1TB in fifteen years. How far the computer data storage has come! Backup is the song that never ends.
A sign that you are a geek or a nerd is defending the definition of the words to ESL (English as a Second Language) students. Or, you might just be dating or married to one...
Posted by azileretsis at 06:23 PM | Comments (0)
March 14, 2009
science
I found a connection b/w Johannes Kepler and recent episodes of Battlestar Galactica today. Someone on their team is a Kepler fan.
Posted by azileretsis at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)
March 13, 2009
2%
One month of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. (pdf)
17 million World Vision families for a year.
More than NY's budget for unemployment benefits.
578,000 college students for a year. Public. 55,000 less than in 2006.
Posted by azileretsis at 01:00 AM | Comments (0)
March 11, 2009
than fiction
Sometimes science is weirder than fiction. Genome transplantation. It's an old paper but new to me.
I think fiction cannot compare to the real-life weirdness. An example is Catherine de Medici's life. 15 years old husband that takes a 35 years old mistress. Hollywood tries to invent this stuff.
Posted by azileretsis at 06:03 PM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2009
kids
I'm blown away by Team Slovenia who seemed to have invented a vaccine for ulcers. What did I do as a undergraduate? I reorganized my teacher's lab and made lots and lots of slides. It does make me think what defines success are the potential ideas that people can generate rather than their experiences, education, or even their environment. They blew the competition away and some of the other projects were well-funded. Slovenia is pretty.
Posted by azileretsis at 06:43 PM | Comments (0)
March 03, 2009
low
The Dow is sinking like a rock. Interesting article about predictive value of Dow Jones and why it's so fun to guess.
Reading another company's annual report, it's so easy to see those companies who had been wise to make some strategic expansions are better off than though that tended to put all their eggs in one region. I doubt Asia, like China, will slow down much right now. They have the need to continue to build their infrastructure and have a talent influx. I ask Asian international students all the time why they don't go back, they answer there is too much competition.
About the banks:
Throwing yet more capital at them risks perpetuating what Paul Krugman, a Nobel prize-winning economist, calls “lemon socialism”, in which banks reap the gains but taxpayers eat the losses. It was handouts without proper workouts that led to Japan’s “lost decade”. - American Banks: A ghoulish prospect
Only, I don't believe in a wizard of oz.
Wizard of Oz: [speaking in a booming voice into microphone] I am the great and powerful...
[then, realizing that it is useless to continue his masquerade, moves away from microphone, speaks in a normal voice]
Wizard of Oz: ... Wizard of Oz.
Posted by azileretsis at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)