| Behold the awesome! |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|07:28 pm] |
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and
and no, don't expect a real update anytime soon :) |
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| You'll be missed Bruschi! |
[Aug. 30th, 2009|11:48 pm] |
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Tedy Bruschi to retire tomorrow
My guess was it wasn't going to make the cut and with the 4-3 defense he just didn't fit in. But alas he will be missed, he was my favorite player and he was a class act! Enjoy retirement and maybe you'll show up at a tailgate or two :) |
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| Guys...seriously |
[Aug. 30th, 2009|04:41 pm] |
So every year the Green Chemistry awards comes out for people who make chemistry less toxic (or 'green' as they put it) I'm all for it, it's good to find ways of making chemistry cause less pollution in the world, but I do have one problem, their award:
Seriously? You're talking about "green" chemistry, and this is what you come up with? It's like total cool, man, but, like, maybe you should change it or something. |
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| Anyone else have this problem with health care? |
[Aug. 4th, 2009|03:25 pm] |
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| |  confused | ] |
So I got a "explanation of payments" from Harvard Pilgrim which says I owe $800 because of a code 85 violation "Due to lack of response this file closed" with a following message "Please submit how, when & where injury occurred" The injury being when I slipped on my stairs and almost damaged a kidney (and no, I did not hit my eye on a doorknob too)
Isn't the hospital supposed to do that when they submit the claim? I went to Harvard Pilgrim's website and their appeal forms says I need an EOP, but doesn't say what the fuck an EOP is. Is there anyone who has had this problem too? |
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| *snort* |
[Jul. 31st, 2009|10:39 pm] |
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| | amused | ] |
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| I guess she's amped up for pre-season too. |
[Jul. 25th, 2009|02:05 pm] |
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| | confused | ] |
I wonder what her thoughts are on whether the Pats should go with a 3-4 or a 4-3 defense.
(FYI the pic was taken in Alaska) |
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| RIP MJ |
[Jun. 26th, 2009|01:04 am] |
Yeah, you got freaky later in life, but you made my childhood awesome.
I'd embed a youtube clip of "Thriller" but it wouldn't let me so here's the link |
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| In the home strech! |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|10:42 pm] |
So I did the second run through of my proposal and I PASSED!!!111 There is the condition that I run a few more computer models to show my idea would work, but that's a minor thing. My advisor was super harsh, but the other two thought I did a good job overall (one of my committee didn't even show up today) But it means that I'm officially, honest-to-god a Ph.D. candidate, and it's all research, meetings, and thesis from here on out!
Ok, I sleep now! |
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Just for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kajivar |
[Jun. 18th, 2009|09:16 pm] |
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| | amused | ] |
All your disaster porn movies rolled into one:
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| Iran revolt update |
[Jun. 17th, 2009|11:56 am] |
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| |  hopeful | ] |
Rare mid-day update from me:
Just throwing out some links for people on where to get good information:
The Lede from the NY Times has up-to-date information as well as the Huffington Post
The Pirate Bay has got into the mix and is making sure torrents for videos from Iran are getting out.
Some twitter pics that are getting out. (some NSFW/NSF people who can't stand the sight of blood)
and of course the Big Picture has great photos as well. |
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| Back from DC, and revolution |
[Jun. 15th, 2009|11:06 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | hopeful | ] |
Had a good time, had much fun (will spare details), saw "Up" (most depressing Pixar movie evar) and been following the Iranian (hopefully) revolution.
On the last point, I'm real hoping the moderates overthrow their regime, there's a huge divide between the Iranian regime and its people. The regime is hostile, belligerent, and sponsors terrorism, while the people want to be more moderate, open, and not assholes. I understand why Obama hasn't said anything yet, it needs to be the Iranian people's revolution, if the US government says anything the Iranian regime will use it against us and their own people. If the uprising succeeds we may have a really good chance of normalizing relations Iran, and a reduction in hostilities, and a stabilization of the region, win-win for everyone!
If you are interested in learning more, all of the major news sites are carrying stuff pretty much live. But also
There is a large amount of live twitter feeds
You can check out a ton of pictures on Flickr
and the Big Picture has many great pictures. |
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| Ponderings |
[May. 25th, 2009|09:42 pm] |
Being Memorial day, I've been doing some introspection and whatnot, mostly about my great uncle who died in the Batann Death March. Though I never knew him, the thing I remember is that every time my grandmother would talk about her brother she'd always start crying. Even 60 years on it was clear that pain never went away. For me it really drove home the cost of any war, no matter how noble the cause.
Other than that, I've been still up to my eyes in work. My previous research proposal went badly and now I'm re-working it. The first time through I had to much stuff and not a narrow focus, so I have to cut things down and re-present everything in a few weeks. Getting kind of sick of it, but hopefully the 2nd time is a charm. Starting to get a bit annoyed at all the hoops I have to jump through but I'm getting closer to the end, however if I start acting like this guy please come over to my place and beat me with a wiffle-ball bat until I get some common sense back.
Also on the chemistry side, I've been kinda following a story about Sheri Sangji, a 23-year-old organic chemistry grad student from UCLA who was killed in a lab fire a few months ago. Recently details have come out from the LA Times and things are pretty scary. The paragraphs that really jumped out at me was:
Sangji was transferring up to two ounces of t-butyl lithium from one sealed container to another when a plastic syringe came apart in her hands, spewing the chemical compound, which ignites instantly when exposed to air.
Now two ounces could mean either fluid or weight, but either way it comes out to over 50 mL of t-butyl lithium solution which is a massive amount. Years ago I had a small stream of this stuff shoot out of a syringe, maybe 0.1 mL at most, and it made a scary stream of fire, so I can't imagine how 50 mL was. Also, why would you try and transfer that much in one go of it which such a huge potential for a fire? She should have done multiple run of say 5 mL using a 10 mL syringe. My guess was she was trying to get it all 50 mL in one 50 mL syringe, and pulled it to far and it popped open. *shudder*
and
A week before Sangji's injury, a graduate student in another lab suffered cuts and burns to his face and neck when an experiment went awry, another accident report stated.
The unidentified student, who was treated at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center's emergency room, told a university investigator that the explosion caused "glass, hot oil and chemical to fly toward my face, torso" and the surrounding area.
"When the incident occurred, I had my prescription glasses on, but not lab coat, gloves or safety glasses/goggles," he said, adding that he had been trained in safety measures.
Seriously, WTF? If you are running anything that has the potential to do that, you should be wearing all safety equipment. It seems UCLA really dropped the ball on lab safety, I'm glad UNH likes to crack the whip on us. |
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exhausted
contemplative