It's Good to Be Back

pic i snagged in the quad on my way back from class

Black Browsing: Does it help??

Treehugger has a good article explaining the details.

Stay Strapped

Is This the Greenest City in the World

My German home gets a write up in the Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/23/freiburg.germany.greenest.city

A More Perfect Union

Slightly behind the rest of the world with this post, but I couldn't let this one fall through the cracks.

How anybody could watch such a speech, and then question whether he is the best candidate completely dumbfounds me.

In Defense of Food

Some weirdo lent me the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan a few weeks ago. I read it with moderate interest as I began the book, but more and more I realized Pollan was making sense. The first words and main premise of the book are "Eat Food. Mostly Plants. Not Too Much." Pretty simple, but sadly in today's world the word food needs clarification. Cheetos don't count (but whyyyy they taste so good!!!). Bananas do count. The produce section counts, the cereal section doesn't count with maybe an exception or two among the hundreds of brands of cereal. In Defense of Food explains how our food became invaded by imitators and why it's bad news bears for us. I was pleasantly surprised by the insightfulness of the book, but I was most surprised by how well it was written. I LOL'ed several times as I was reading it. He actually has a lot to work with because the situation is so ironic in so many ways, I mean we strip all of the nutrients out of wheat when me make flour and then add all sorts of nutrients back into it to try to make it healthy again, we have ice creams and potato chips that make health claims, while the produce sections at grocery stores remain largely unnoticed by shoppers. This book is a must read for anyone who agrees that eating food is a good thing.

Amsterdam

Before I made it back to Seattle I spent 5 days in Amsterdam. I've never seen anything like it, and it was a ridiculously cool experience. I wasn't expecting any culture shock at all after having lived in Germany for in total a year now, but almost every time I went to a cashier to buy something it took a solid 5 minutes of standing there before the person would even recognize my existence. Other than that, the dutch freaking rock. Highlights were the Van Gogh Museum, water everywhere, Brouwerij 't Ij, the Bij Ons Bistro, Pancake Bakery, and losing in beer pong.

WA Super Del Petition

For my fellow Washingtonians

As you know, the Democratic race at this point will likely depend on Superdelegates. Superdelegates in "Obama Country" who originally supported Clinton have began switching over to Obama's side after seeing their constituents' votes.

Currently, our senators (and superdelegates) Maria Cantwell and Patty Murry support Clinton. However, since Washington was a sizable victory for Obama, with a little work, we should be able to get them to change their mind.

All you need to do is follow this link, click "sign petition", and provide your name, county, and email address.
http://www.petitiononline.com/wasprdel/petition.html

Money Ain't a Thang

Obama raises $55 MILLION in February alone

The people have spoken

Bombing Berlin

Very cool article about graffiti in Berlin.

Laminar Flow

Einstein of the day

A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive. (Albert Einstein, 1954)

There is No Better Form of Entertainment...

... than watching W make a complete ass of himself. I was literally laughing hysterically at another precious presidential moment.

McCain <3 Hagee

I think I just threw up a little

Einstein of the day

It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.

AFRICAN american culture

Watch this and tell me you don't see a piece of Africa... I see strange, foreign beauty. I love it.

Wins for Hill but few Dels

Clinton's wins yesterday were impressive. Now I believe what everybody has been saying all along about her, that she's tough, resilient and a good fighter (if not afraid to give some low blows). This is honestly the first time I've seen true strength from her, and it honestly scares me a little. It's not the kind of strength I really admire. Despite her big wins, she wasn't able to chip at the delegate gap by double digits. Given the number of states left it really is mathematically impossible for her to finish with a delegate lead. Now we find out if the country cares about math... why do I have a horrible feeling about this.

Simple Shoes

I love this company...

Words Do Matter

Bias Against Science

I'm reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan which I really like so far, but something popped up to me as interesting, and something I've seen several time before. What I'm referring to is a bias against science.

The quote

"Science has much of value to teach us about food, and perhaps someday scientists will 'solve' the problem of diet, creating the nutritionally optimal meal in a pill, but for now and the foreseeable future, letting the scientists decide the menu would be a mistake. They simply do not know enough."

It's true they don't know enough, which is why I rarely listen to what I read about food, and try to use common sense. But apparently scientists solving the issue of food, would mean the invention of a pill that fulfills all of our dietary needs. I don't know about you, but to me that sounds pretty horrible, and would create a lot of problems. There is a strong bias against science in American culture, assuming that "Science" means weird nerds in lab coats inventing synthesized materials and man made nutrients in an attempt to replace nature's creations. That has nothing to do with "doing" science, but rather manipulating it. Science is the study, and understanding of nature. I study physics because I love nature, and because I want to appreciate it with all its nuances and subtleties. When I have a permanent residence I would love to have my own garden where I grow at least a good portion of my food on my own. That sounds like a really cool thing to do. How those plants would grow is dependent upon chemistry and biology. There is science involved in picking a good spot of land, picking how much sunlight the plants need, how much water they need etc. The practice of doing that is called farming, but science explains why those decisions actually work.