The President’s State of the Union address [StateOfTheUnionEarly] was pretty boilerplate, at least for this President. He emphasized all the things we expect him to these days: war on terrror, exporting democracy, domestic security, etc. There were a few notable things that jumped out at me as a scientist, and […]
Life
481 posts
Minneapolis has a truly inspiring light rail system. It’s very plainly new, as all aspects of the light rail cars are still somewhat shiny and fresh. There is also only one route, spanning all the way from downtown Minneapolis to the Mall of America. It was on this light rail […]
Returning to SLAC after the winter break is *always* a stress-affirming experience. After several weeks of total research avoidance practices (TRAPs), I had the unenviable job of remembering what I’d been doing before the break. Thank goodness for logbooks! After a one-day “getting up to speed” period, I managed to […]
Need a swanky life? Is your life lacking macho business donkey wrestling? You **could** “check out Solid Gold Rold’s e-licious website”:http://www.solidgoldrold.com/, or you could just download “hot tunes from Grushenka”:http://www.cooleysekula.net/home/music/, the formerly hardest working blues band in the greater Middlesex county area.
I made a great number of observations about our nation during this Christmas break, which I’ll distill and write about over the coming weeks. Having family and friends scattered across the nation (with the former thankfully concentrated in key geographic locations), and having to travel great distances just to be […]
Finally, an airport with a proper, open, free, wireless internet system. Bradley International Airport, in Windsor Locks, CT, is the first airport I’ve been to which does WIFI correctly. No $10/day access fee, no “day pass” crap – just simple, open, WIFI. Jodi and I are heading back to California […]
Here’s something that ought to be of general interest: “the top 10 albums of the year”:http://www.ctnow.com/music/hce-sound1222.artdec22,0,5793551.column?coll=hce-utility-music, from the perspective of Eric Danton, the Hartford Courant’s music critic (and dear old friend of mine).
This vacation offered me the excellent opportunity to get together with my former band mates, Eric and Harold (find their music at “http://music.cooleysekula.net”:http://music.cooleysekula.net). We used to be in a band called Grushenka, which we started in 1995. Last night, we reviewed a bunch of early tapes we made (*never to […]
Jodi and I are in Connecticut with my parents now, getting ready for the new year. We went to Northampton, MA last night with my good pal Eric and several of his friends. We had the pleasure of a fine dinner and great music at the “Iron Horse Music Hall”:http://www.iheg.com/iron_horse_main.asp, […]
The vacation is half over. Christmas is done, and now Jodi and I are getting ready to leave Wisconsin and head to Connecticut. Today, we decided to divert to Madison to relax for one night. This is a great chance to just hit some of our old haunts, spend some […]
This was just about the strangest Chistmas ever. We didn’t open presents, or have a nice sitdown dinner as a family. Nope. Instead, we awoke rather late for Christmas, pastor’s Eve-service message still ringing in our ears, and piled in the car to drive to Green Bay. That’s right – […]
This was, from the public perspective, a difficult year for evolution. I am not saying this because it was challenged by a potentially new theory of biological diversity, nor because it made predictions that were contradicted in the lab or in nature. “In fact, scientifically this has been hailed as […]