Monthly Archives: June 2005

Brain Science

The brain is a bizarre little meat computer. As proof witness this current article from nature.com:

Quian Quiroga also found that a lone neuron in one subject responded selectively to various pictures of the actress Halle Berry – as well as drawings of her and her name written down. Other cells were found to respond to images of characters in The Simpsons or members of The Beatles.

I’ve long complained that my aging 40+ year old brain has a signficant portion of its volume dedicated to remembering quotes from The Simpsons, to the detriment of other topics of greater significance and/or utility. Perhaps the situation isn’t as dire as I would have thought.

Link courtesy of Craig.

Cell Phone Warning




Cell Phone Warning

Originally uploaded by brainwagon.

Sometimes the inspiration to blog something strikes me at odd moments. As I was gassing up my SUV this morning, I noticed that all the pumps at my local Shell station bore the warning stickers that you see at the right. I’d never really noticed them before, so I took a picture. Just to tempt fate, I did it with my cell phone.

What’s really curious about these warning messages is that there is actually no confirmed cases of a cell phone causing a fire in this way. There have been cases of gasoline fires caused by static discharge, but we don’t see warning labels telling us to be careful with polyester shirts (like the one I’m wearing today, thrill seeker that I am) or nylons (which I am not wearing today). It’s just another example about how we never really take appropriate steps to manage risk.

Cool photo…

While browsing the photo and print collection at the Library of Congress, I found this really cool photo of a telescope set up in New York City. I wish they had a higher resolution version: it’s very cool.

A Telescope in New York

You can find all sorts of cool stuff in the Library of Congress print collection, much of it public domain.

Call me a traditionalist…

BaseballWhen it comes to most things, I’m about as geeky and gonzo for gizmos as you could possibly imagine, but in some things, I’m a bit of a purist. It’s hard to argue with a charcoal fire for cooking salmon and steaks. It’s hard argue with roses and diamonds for an annivery gift. And baseball needs nothing to jazz it up.

That’s why I read this Kansas City Star article with genuine horror. The first two innings of the July 16th game between minor league teams the Kansas City T-Bones and the Schaumberg Flyers will be played on Xbox. Inning three will begin with the real teams taking the field to play the rest of the game.

Shudder.

The T-bones director of community relations:

“Everybody in the world is going to want to do this after us,” Williams said.

Truly, the Apocalypse cannot be far away.

Young Trekkie Persecuted

For those of you with a sense of humor, try reading this account of a young man who was suspended for reciting his own pledge of allegiance to the Federation of Planets.

On a more serious note, I wonder why exactly schools choose to force participation in these silly patriotic enterprises. It’s like when you toss Christmas parties at work: it doesn’t really inspire any new fondness for your coworkers. If you had any fondness for them, you probably welcome the chance to hang out with them. If you didn’t, the promise of a free dinner and booze is hardly likely to make any lasting change in your opinions.

If you’d like your children to have feelings of genuine patriotism for your country, here’s an idea: work to make sure your country is actually deserving of your respect. No country which promises freedom should require loyalty pledges.

From Thoreau’s CIvil Disobedience:

The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, and the militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus,(5) etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well. Such command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt. They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens. Others, as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders, serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men, serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it.

Return of Design – Individual Color

I’m not color saavy savvy enough to actually design a good color scheme for websites. What I did years ago was come up with a particular blue (#336699) and just chose to use it as the predominant color for my website. I keep thinking that it would be nice to add some different colors, but frankly, I never get around to it.

Today, I discovered that returnofdesign.com had a cool webpage which you can use to find nearby hues, variations in saturation, and complementary colors. For instance, here is the page for brainwagon blue. Very nifty!

More Food Thoughts…

While I was out touring wine country this last weekend, I began to think a bit more about something that I’ve only recently become to realize: that many of the foods which are handed down to us over the years are only edible because of the actions of other critters. Beer, bread, and wine all owe their existance to the operations of yeast. Many cheeses owe their flavors to the actions of molds. Yogurt only exists through the action of bacteria. It’s amazing actually how many of our classic foodstuffs rely on, rather than try to inhibit the action of these helpful critters. Now our food is increasingly sterile, homogenized and bereft of life.

Hey, this is what you think of while munching a loaf of bread and a hunk of good cheese while surrounded by beautiful vineyards.

If you need to ponder this mystery further, try reading How to Make San Francisco Sourdough Bread and make some loaves of bread.

JuiceBox Hacking

The Mattel Juicebox (mine is red, not green).I can’t really stop geeking even when on vacation with my wife. We stopped in at the Target in Napa to pick up some toothbrushes (I always forget to pack ’em) and found that they had the Mattel Juicebox on the clearance aisle. The Juicebox is a tiny little media player intended for kids, but they were expensive, incompatible, and didn’t sell too well. But I got one for $12 or so, and another $11 for a compatible SD card reader for it, so I snapped it up. I was hoping to be able to turn it into a simple little video player, but it seems like the video functionality is difficult/impossible to access. Still, it is a cheap little mp3 player, and you can convert it into a photo viewer, so it might be fun to play with. The eLinux.org Wiki has the most information about its internals that I have found so far. Stay tuned for internal photos and further reports.

My weekend

Yeah, my blog was a little sparse on the nerd front this weekend: Carmen and I were off for a short anniversary getaway in Napa, sampling some of the local food and wine and generally trying to relax. We give a hearty thumbs up to Julia’s restaurant in the Copia center in Napa. We began with salads: I ordered a beet salad which was very delicate, Carmen had an assortment of fresh vegetables including peas and beans. Both were perhaps a bit subtle for us, but delicious. I ordered a pork chop, and was pleased when the waiter said that the pork chop was brined and assured me despite its juice texture, it was fully cooked. Bravo! People fear undercooked pork to the extent of ruining perfectly delicious chops by cooking them to 180 or higher. The best pork chops are cooked until they are slightly pink on the first cut, but turn opaque white after a couple of seconds, more like 165 or so. And brining helps. But I digress. The pork chop was excellent quality, large, delicious, flavorful and tender. It came with a tart made from cream, onions, and bacon and a side of purple potato chips. Delicious. Carmen had the rib eye steak, which I sampled and gave it my seal of approval. Also delicious. Dessert for me was a sampler of three cherry desserts, while Carmen went with a sampler of three chocolate pot de creme with small cinnamon churros. Each chocolate was infused with a different aromatic herb. Delicious again, but perhaps a bit too refined for our more rustic tastes. Still, a great meal for our anniversary.

The next morning we decided to ride the Napa Wine Train from NAPA to Calistoga, and sample their gourmet breakfast/luncheon service. I am a huge fan of Eggs Benedict (which I sample very rarely now that I am trying to lose weight, but it was our anniversary), so I went with their variation which substituted beef tenderloin for ham. Carmen had a stuffed French Toast, filled with creme cheese, craberries and grapes. Both were good, but not likely to be classic recipes. The tartness of the cranberries tended to overwhelm all the other qualities of the French Toast, and I don’t really think that Eggs Benedict is improved by the expensive beef tenderloin. Give me the classic any day.

For dinner that evening, we went to Tuscany in downtown Napa. I had an interesting pasta dish which had chunks of stewed wild boar. It was a very rustic dish, with hand made pasta served al dente. I suspect that it is a dish which originally would have been made with venison, and I enjoyed it a great deal. Carmen had a roasted half chicken, which while competently done, was nothing very exciting. The ambience of the restaurant was nice though, with an open fireplace and lots of roasting chickens. We had fun.

The following morning: a picnic at the Clos du Val winery consisting of a loaf of bread and two kinds of cheese: one, a rustic Irish cheese and a softer mild cheese. Good stuff, and a beautiful setting.

A fun time. Happy fifth anniversary honey, and I’m looking to the next five, even as I rue the scale this morning (back on weight watchers for the rest of the week).

I can appreciate sarcasm…

If you can as well, try checking out this Open Letter to the Kansas school board who is struggling with the idea of teaching so-called “Intelligent Design Theory” in their science classes.

I am writing you with much concern after I read of your hearing to decide whether the alternative theory of Intelligent Design to be taught along with the theory of Evolution. I think we can all agree that it is important for students to hear multiple viewpoints so they can choose for themselves the theory that makes the most sense to them. I am concerned, however, that students will only hear one theory of Intelligent Design..

Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him.

Heh.