Via ferventsquirrel, whose internet carpet I will now vacuum free of charge in perpetuity, I bring you:

NCBI ROFL

NCBI is the major database for biology/medicine papers, just by way of a bit of explanation. I love science. Though I clearly need to change the focus of my research.

I gave a talk at department seminar today. I was more nervous than I expected, which in turn made me annoyed at myself, which made me more anxious. But the talk went pretty well-- I didn't feel super great about it, but then, I didn't feel super great about it when I won the very prestigious (hah) award at our tri-lab retreat in April. Feeling competent is typically sufficient for me, so that's good. Sal thinks I need to "sell" the work better-- I'm sort of an advocate of letting data speak for itself unless you're begging for funding, in which case you kind of have no choice but to become Dr. Billy Mays. Anyway, that may be something I have to work on. It's not like I don't think the work is interesting or useful, I just don't want to overdo it, you know? Anyway...

What made today kind of special for me was the audience. Technically, last friday was supposed to be the last department seminar of the year, but my Advisor and one other prof had forgotten to sign up 10 months ago, so the department went ahead and had another one. But it wasn't highly advertised (usually we get 4-5 emails about these things, but not this time) so there weren't many people there. Hell, there were only two from my lab there, counting Advisor! But it was the people who came that mattered-- a handful of classmates and friends (who all sacrificed a full hour of their friday to come support me!), a postdoc I'd chatted with about my project while using equipment in her lab, the PI of the other speaker (who asked a great question for which I had specifically prepared a great answer for!) and, best of all, my parents were able to come.

Now, I know it's no Charger game, but this is what I do, and the work I present is good (IMHO) so to have them there watching was incredibly cool. I think a little of my extra nerves were due to wanting to show off for them, but the payoff was well worth it. Made me realize exactly how exciting my (eventual) thesis defense will be! That, coupled with the two or three defenses I've been to recently are actually pretty motivating!

I learned a lot about nematodes today. Also I got a new icon.

This little guy's name is C. elegans and he's my new bestest buddy in the whole world. When I don't accidentally smash him or slice him in half. Adults are about 1mm long to give you a sense of scale.

Today I set up a cross to make a background strain for the cross I actually want to do. Having never worked with any animals, it feels a little odd to be encouraging little critters to mate. But I persevere. It was fun to learn a totally new protocol, and I feel like I learned a LOT on the first go-- the mechanics of picking worms from one plate to another, as well as basic stuff like identifying genders, growth stages and mutant phenotypes. Dunno if this project will go anywhere, but at the very least it's good for me!

Though it also meant that I *just* got back to lab to eat lunch, so I'm a little dizzy. Water and sodium time for me.

Also, I got a new icon ;)

My lovely and romantic husband made me a new lj icon! And it's awesome! He took the images from one of our favorite bits of phd comics history, then changed the base color to suit my needs (i.e. everything must be green) and the hair colors to look more like me (yes, though only a few of you have actually seen it, my hair was at one point brown). WAY better than stinky flowers, and a close second to anything involving chocolate.

Now, off to Dittmers to grab reubens, then to Spamalot! It's a rough life, lemme tell you.

Last weekend, I referred to NIF as a Magic Kingdom in which Dad is Goofy. However, Stephen Colbert has won the analogy olympics:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
We Have a Death Star!
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Keyboard Cat

H/T to... well, Dad, actually

Or at least the Goofy of the Magic Kingdom that is NIF. We were there for family day today (even got our picture taken with Niffy the mammoth) and everyone working there knew him and wanted to say hi. It was pretty cool. Well, so's NIF, actually. In addition to the mammoth pic (which I'm hoping to post when they upload it) we also got a great souvenir photo (seriously, NIF was like a Disneyland attraction) of us with Mom and Dad next to the target chamber. It's pretty badass.

After the tour we even stopped by one of the little wineries out there-- El Sol. I think my tastes might be changing since I enjoyed all five reds we tasted-- four right out of the barrel. And we got to meet the guard kitty of the barrel room since we trekked out there for two of the tastings. It was a very nice afternoon for a glass of wine too. Then we came home and demolished an entire bag of potato chips.

We're home now, and it's time for some co-op Halo. Maybe some Ben & Jerry's later (Americone Dream, mmmm). Not a bad Saturday, even if not terribly restful ;)

From Em, with the subject line: "*that's* my problem!"

I love Jon Oliver, and I love when the Daily Show talks to (most) scientists. But what made me keel over with debilitating laughter was Mr. Wagner's explanation of why there's a 1-in-2 chance the LHC will end the world. As long as you can force the thought that this man teaches high school science out of your head, it's frakking hilarious. It still makes me laugh. I made a funny about it but I don't want to ruin the joke on the clip, so, see below the cut so I don't ruin Mr. Wagner's unintended punchline. (Isn't it great how Jon Oliver doesn't even need to say anything?)



( lol your childish scribbles below )

"As I reflect on the scientific careers of the people I have known these last thirty years, it seems to me more and more that these career decisions hinge on character. Some people will happily jump on the next big thing, give it all they've got, and in this way make important contributions to fast-moving fields. Others just don't have the temperament to do this. Some people need to think through everything very carefully, and this takes time, as they get easily confused. It's not hard to feel superior to such people, until you remember that Einstein was one of them. In my experience, the truly shocking new ideas and innovations tend to come from such people. Still others - and I belong to this third group - just have to go their own way, and will flee fields for no better reason than that it offends them that some people are joining in because it feels good to be on the winning side. So I no longer get bothered when I disagree with what other people are doing, because I see that temperament pretty much determines what kind of science they will do. Luckily for science, the contributions of the whole range of types are needed. Those who do good science, I've come to think, do so because they choose problems that are suited to them."

- Lee Smolin

H/T to tdj

( Musings on the quote below )