Ponderings of a Scientist

Why are oceans important? We modern day Homo sapiens are products of the ocean. Most obviously, we are distant descendants of ocean dwelling organisms. Single celled organisms originally developed (3.7 bya) from inorganic molecules in (or above) the ocean over the course of billions of years. These prokaryotes evolved and branched into bacteria, fungus, plants, fish and amphibians. During this time terrestrial Earth lay barren. Not until 200-400 million years ago did life climb out of the oceans and onto land. Although humans are terrestrial beings, we keep inside of us relics of our wet evolutionary history. First, our blood is a mix of chemicals very similar in composition and salinity to that of the ocean. This is likely because the first organisms to develop circulatory systems had open systems that circulated ocean water in, through, and out their bodies. Eventually our ancestor closed off its circulatory system trapping in the ocean water. That fluid has hence evolved into our blood. Second, “Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny” (the embryonic development of an organism repeats the evolutionary history of it’s species). Embryonic and fetal humans develop in their own personal oceans and as they develop they pass through stages that are very similar to the embryonic and adult bodies of our aquatic ancestors.

Computer battery about to die.  One thing.  Flex-fuel cars
are the biggest public relations scam out there.  Oh yeah Ford,
Chevy, and Chrysler are making them but what good is that?  Where
do you get Ethanol fuel?  Make something useful!!!

Oh my god, I hate today! I’m sitting at Job 1
doing absolutely nothing, when there are so many productive, non-Job 1 related, things I could be doing. Here’s the skinny:

The Old Job (Job 1):
Really big important tasks coming up on Friday through July 27^th. Would very much inconvenience said employer if
I left for the new job before then (although I’m now past the obligatory 2 week
notice) so I’m here until July 27^th. However, this week my boss is on vacation and I have absolutely nothing
to do but wait for the excitement of the next two weeks. With that in mind I’m only working (if you can call it that) here today and Friday.

The New Job (Job 3):
My new co-worker is going to school me on the ways of the company this Wednesday and Thursday in preparation for my full-time employment come July 31^st.

The Other Job (Job 2): Busy, busy, busy. To bad it is illegal to do work for Job 2,
while at Job1, because that would solve my no work to do problem. Additionally, to bad that Job 2 has suddenly
pitted me against Job 1, in a sense, as Job 1 is the holder of information I need for Job 2 and they (Job 1) are less than forthcoming. Trying to keep my two roles as separate as possible and only conduct Job 2 business after hours.

Going to work solely for Job 2 tomorrow from home and/or the coffee shop. Although, I may have to go
do some free work for my former graduate adviser in the afternoon!

If only I understood better the ways of code, I could be working on formatting my new blog! I changed the background color and added some links and that took me somewhere around 30 minutes!!

About a week ago I found time to finish reading a book titled Politics Lost: How American Democracy was Trivialized by People who Think You’re Stupid. I thought the book was a nice break from the whining, partisan blame game that is most politically minded books. Mr Klein makes his moderate position known and does a pretty good job of sticking by it; ridiculing equally the pollster, adviser, and speech-writer driven campaigns of both the democrats and the republicans. He rather blatantly points out the problems, with little regard for any solutions, which was fine by me since 1) that was his stated intention and 2) I don’t want to read about another journalist’s idea on how to fix the political system. I found the book to be brief, perhaps missing some key examples, yet well-written and amazingly non-partisan. I recommend it, however click here to see what other readers thought, amazing all the republican’s hated it and all the democrats liked it - perhaps honestly is a bipartisan trait!

Okay so I should post something but……. I've already worked 6 hours
for Job B (see 2 posts ago) this weekend and I may need to do some more
later…. and its so nice outside….. that I think I will go lay in
the sun and read instead!

Ah the Boxfish. Looks akward, but actually has an amazingly aerodynamic design. Check out this article on cars built from the Boxfish design.

Busy, busy, busy.  Let take a look at the last few months:

Social Events:
    First Weekend in May – Cape Cod and
Southern Ma family stuff
    Third Weekend in May – Wentworth NH Camp via Concord
for dinner with in-laws
    Fifth Weekend May/First in June – Cape Cod
reunion of Freshman year dorm-mates
    Third Weekend in June 
- Bar Harbor Camping
    Fifth Weekend June/First in July – DC via NYC

 (Can you see a pattern here?)

Plus…..12 softball games, 4 hockey games, 1 road race

Work related Events:
    Tutoring once a week from April to the end of the school
year.
    Working 35-40 hours per week at current government job (Job
1)
    As of the end of June working ~10 hours per week for
additional part-time job             (which usually amounts 5 hours per month).  This should continue for another 2-3         weeks
and involved a down and back trip to DC yesterday! (Job 2)  
    As of next week: 
working at Jobs 1(limited hours) and 2 above, plus starting      
    preliminary work at new job
to begin full-time July 31^st. (Job 3)             

Other:
Just started the process for mortgage pre-approval today in
an attempt to purchase a house/condo/shanty closer to Job 3.

State of my Blog:

So many things I want to post about, however, I’m extremely
pressed for time at the moment.  Perhaps
if Job 2 doesn’t keep me too busy this weekend I will inform my readership
about the following:

The stupid guy who thought the Capital
Building was the White House (the
whole story highlights even more stupidity on his part)

The new hydraulic hybrid designed by the EPA and UPS

Zipy’s attempt to make me my very own blog site that we own.

And so much more….