Warthog


I'm having a hard time motivating to scan in all my slides from my safari adventure. So here's one of the batch that I did. It's not exactly in focus cause the sun had gone down. But with the colors it almost looks like a drawing. These guys were cool. But extremely skittish. Usually you only saw them as they were high-tailing it outta there. Like literally, often you would only see their little tails stuck straight up in the air in the high grass speeding away.

He's losing it.

Last week the "Iraq-Pakistan border"
This week just making up more shit, then actually trying to explain it away later with some first class diarrhea of the mouth.
He constantly fucks up, which is inevitable to happen in the course of a campaign, but not all the time, and in this case not just having trouble with words and self-confidence like the president, but seriously getting some shit wrong, and then literally making up crazy shit to try and cover it up. I mean, you just can't do that and expect people to believe you. He seems to be really in over his head, but in a very different way than our current president.

To his credit he is taking questions in front of the cheese section. Hey, I shop for cheese in the grocery store. He's like me, a good ol' cheese-shopper, not some jet-set "change-the-world" elitist.

Live-blogging Obama Berlin speech

Okay Live blogging Barack’s speech
Try this out.
I’ve got CNN, BBC, SKYnews, and Al Jazeera to switch between here.
Quotes guaranteed not to be accurate

SKY: Somebody just said that this is being compared to JFK’s speech at the Brandenburg Gate, which is partly why he wasn’t allowed to speak there. Which is just wrong. Even I know that. JFK didn’t speak at the Brandenburg Gate.

19:20 No Barack yet

On sky news the commentator just referred to Obama as a “black JFK”. WTF? Why they gotta bring up black?

BBC and Sky have gone to continuous live shots of the crowd

19:21 Here he COMES!!!!

Al Jazeera is not covering it.

19:23 Okay he brings up being black right off the bat. So shut my mouth.
“I don’t look like the other Americans that spoke here before"

Said he's here “Not hereas a candidate for president, but as a citizen of the world.”
Yeah, RIGHT.

Brings up the airlift.
“soviet shadow”. Hmmm bringing up the evil Russians kinda.

Okay some good Berliner ass kissing. Yes yes

Okay Al Jazeera is on board.


19:30 still talking bout berlin and the wall.

Side note to self: Get piece of wall next time in Berlin (there’s still sections left! Is that illegal?)

19:32 laundry list of bad things happening in the world

Do the press have American flags?!?

Talks shit about soviet union again

Okay now coming out of general terrorism and into talking about Afghanistan specifically.
Taliban Al Qaeda, taking them down. Rebuilding the nation.
Note: NO mention of Iraq here. Word.

19:42

Now comes out strong on nuclear weapons. Prevention and disarmament
No mention Iran specifically.

Brings up cold war again more then into we need to “Work with Russia when we can” still linking Russia with old Soviet Union as evil foes, IMO.

19:43 Now talks about Iran.

And now brings up Iraq, but in terms of bringing the war to a close, not a front line on the war against terrorism. Stark contrast to Afghanistan.

Kisses some german ass on Carbon emission, says US should be better.
Yah!
Well, could have said more about this actually.

“The moment to give children BACK their future”

19:45 "US planes over Berlin did not bring BOMBS to defeat the oppression, brought food and candy, won hearts and trust and people." Yes. Nice contrast to our bombing all over now.
nice one.


"Will we reject torture?"
Yes, I see that as thinking about US torturing and criticisms of this admin.

"We’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality.
made mistakes, etc."
ouch, there will be criticism of this statement by the right. Reminds me of Michelle’s line about ‘first time I’m proud.'
But his statement was completely correct.
Tries to bring it home with how much I love America.
Not gonna do it for naysayers.

19:49 Yeah, yeah, talking up America. It’ s getting emotional. The REAL American dream.
Oh came down too soon.

This is TOTALLY a campaign speech. Of course.
And then ends it.

Post analysis:
CNN: Good point about comparing this reception to how it is when Bush goes abroad. He speaks to little groups if US troops. It would be a disaster of he tried to speak in Berlin.


Well, yeah, I think I coulda missed that. Watching in TV gets the message across.
Nice speech. But of course he's preaching to the choir. Nobody in the US is going to be watching this at 1pm on Thursday. but the coverage did capture the excitement of the giant crowd. Hopefully they can play that up.

Before I go while I'm writing this up, on CNN they just said this, no joke:
"Not to be out done, John McCain ate at a German restaurant in Columbus."

Obamamania in Berlin

At 7pm tonight Obama will deliver a super-hyped speech in the middle of Berlin, the same place that held the "fan mile" of madness during the world cup. I thought about going up to check it out, but then again, it may just be frustrating dealing with that many people. Plus I'm thinking of heading up to Berlin Saturday anyway.

I do want this t-shirt though.

I crave corn on the cob

This is what I get for corn here. Look at this. This is typical. God, I would kill for a big fresh crispy ear of corn. If anybody in Dresden knows something, please let me know.

Strange times

This short AP article really sums up the madness of the Pope’s visit to Australia.
And when you step back to look at these things, it’s a little weird. The term 'cult' even comes to mind.
For example, take the 12.5 foot wooden cross that has been hauled all over Australia of the last year, with people reacting to it like like they’ve gone mad, lunging though crowds to touch it. With people weeping. And even shouting, to the tune of the famous Aussie cry, “Holy Holy Holy! Spirit Spirit Spirit!”

…said Wilkins, 55, of Sydney. "To touch it makes me feel I was an integral part of it."
Hundreds lined up to kneel before the cross, place their hands on it and pray.

Where else can an 18 year old from Texas come all the way to Sydney, Australia, then say the day after she arrived, with ‘tears streaming down her face' no less, “We’re homesick..but it’s a sacrifice” Homesick? In Australia? After one day? A sacrifice? AHHHHHHHH!!!!! open your eyes.

And then for all the crazy cultish madness the Pope will come out and as a main topic tell all these people how sorry he is that his church has been responsible for endless cases of child sexual assault.
And the people will weep and kiss everything.

And then and THEN, the article references a LAW that was placed that ‘prevents people from doing anything considered ‘annoying’ to World Youth Day Pilgrims. Annoying to world youth day pilgrims? Anything annoying? So suspend some freedoms for these guys? What about the rest of the residents of Sydney? Think they are a bit ‘annoyed’ by anything the "World Youth Day Pilgrims" are doing? I’m SURE NONE of the 200,000 of them are doing anything annoying AT ALL.
Goodness. Well.
Maybe I'm a little extra wound up since I just watched “There Will be Blood".

Cover Madness

The Rude Pundit has the best reaction I've read yet to the insanity over the friggin cover of the New Yorker with the Obamas.
The more often than not entertaining Jon Swift post has some good parts, but not up to standard. I guess he had to get it out quick to be topical.

Mike and the Maasai

Someday I will post pictures of my recent trip to East Africa with stories and what not. But until that day, here is one video from the trip that made me laugh out loud. Mike in Kenya with the Maasai.

I can blog from my phone. Berlin. Plenary talk on calcium vesicle signaling in neurons. Not my thing.

Back (sort of)

Got back last night to Germany from Dar Es Salaam. Exhausted. But now I'm hanging around Berlin for a few days for an HFSP awardeees conference. I haven't thought about science for nearly 3 weeks.
And I feel like I need to relax and have a vacation.
There will be posts and photos from Africa - but it may take a while as I took half my pictures with that ancient stuff called film and I'll need to get it developed and maybe even scan in the slides myself.

Trip log:
Nairobi - Masai Mara Reserve - Nairobi - Stone Town (Unguja Isl., Zanzibar) - Nungwi (Unguja Isl., Zanzibar) - Wete, (Pemba Isl., Zanzibar) - near Makangale (Pemba Isl., Zanzibar) - Pujini (Pemba Isl., Zanzibar)- Pangani - Dar

Mr. Lake visits

Today if all goes well Mike will arrive in Dresden. And then next week we'll leave for Africa. The plan is to fly into Nairobi, do a 3 day safari, and then figure it out from there. Probably head to the coast of Tanzania and out to the islands there and hopefully get in some diving.
I have a history of traveling with Mike,

from scaring away monkeys in Ecuador

to acquiring black-market rice liquor in predominantly Muslim Indonesia

To getting lost in a jungle in Malaysia

To generally acting a fool in the back of a pickup cruising through Thailand

Fox News is so transparent.

I didn't know if it was just me, but a couple of times I thought Fox news was loading their Obama headlines with subtle references to stereotypical "black" culture items. For example when he clinched the nomination, and I can't exactly remember the headline or find it, it was something like "Historic Performance in Crunch Time" or something. Basically it was a sports headline. Something reserved for an athlete. But today I saw this on some blogs. Fox news referring to Michelle Obama in a headline as "Obama's baby mama". I mean, are you kidding me? Not even "Obama's baby's mama", but "Obama's baby mama." It just kind of leaves you speechless.

And on a related side note, I feel sorry for the normal people of West Virginia and Appalachia, cause we've been hearing a lot of absurdly idiotic, racist, and ignorant comments coming out of there. You can only conclude the press (and often foreign press) is sifting through hundreds of hours of taped interviews for these "gems", and it's not putting the region in a good light.
For example, the guy that said :

'We'll end up slaves. We'll be made slaves just like they was once slaves,' he said. Telvor, a white Democrat who supported Hillary Clinton in West Virginia's primary, said he planned to vote for Republican John McCain in November. 'At least he's an American,' he added with a disarmingly friendly smile.

Or the women featured in this Daily Show clip, on why Obama didn't do so well in West Virginia.

Trabi kaufen

Today we (Tony, Cliff, and I) went and had a look at some Trabis for sale.


On the left is a 1968 Trabant 601 "Kombi" (Station wagon). On the right is a 1989 Trabant 601 Limousine.

Cliff and Tony discuss the rewards of a 2-stroke engine.

I WILL vote this time!

Mailed the paper work out today to do all I can to get a ballot for the presidential election.
Last year it took a mailing, several emails, and THEN several phone calls to Virginia to get the people there to realize they were supposed to be sending me a ballot. And then, THEN, after my third conversation with the nice lady in Virginia she acknowledged that they "found" my application and would be sending me a ballot - it never actually came. (Which later I found out happened to thousands of people overseas - makes you wonder when you think about how VA was considered nearly a swing state last election and that it goes without question that most non-military overseas voters are going to vote Democratic...)

Now it seems VA could really be a key state - so I think I'll raise hell to make sure my vote is counted - at least for peace of mind.

Obama signals Republicans face fierce fight in Va.

Yellow Fever Virus Kicking My Ass

Well, a live attenuated version of the virus called 17D. Know the difference between the one that causes Yellow Fever and kills people and the one that is used for vaccinations? Well, scientists don't either. They only really know it works. Every time somebody is given the attenuated live virus they become resistant to the really bad virus. And most of the time they do not die.

Real virus, or 17D version currently kicking my ass?

The virus I got 3 weeks ago was the same as the one discovered/isolated in 1937. They got it then by taking virus from a man infected with Yellow Fever from Ghana, infecting some monkeys with it, accidentally killing some lab workers with it, and eventually passing it through mouse brain and chick embryo tissue over and over until it seemed to be benign.
Today ongoing research is still conducted to try to find out the difference between this "attenuated" virus and the real one, and why it seems to be so good as a vaccination.

When I got the vaccination the doctors just told me not to exercise for a week. For a week I had no ill affects. Then about 10 days after the vaccination I suddenly got some flu-like symptoms: cold sweats, headache, sore muscles over the entire body, exhaustion. Then 24 hours later they were completely gone. The internet confirmed this was most likely from the vaccination. In 2-10% of cases, patients experience flu like symptoms 7-10 days after vaccination for 24 hours. That seemed pretty cut and dry. Even interesting after it was over, thinking this live virus was running around eliciting an immune response, but one that my body nicked fast.

But then 3 days ago, 17 days after vaccination, I started to get symptoms again. Started with lightheadedness and dizziness all day Friday. Then Saturday the whole-body muscle aches, fatigue, etc came again. Spent the whole weekend on the couch.

This morning (Monday) I was still immobilized so I dragged myself to the doctor. He was rather unimpressed, and relatively convinced it's my immune system still dealing with the vaccination. Peracetamol (Acetaminophen) was his answer. So I just have to wait and try to fight the pain with Acetaminophen and hope for the best. Thing is, things I found on the internet only have side affects of vaccination lasting under 2 weeks. It's been three weeks for me now. The only evidence of those are where people end up in the hospital fighting for their lives!
Like these guys:

Case 3. On September 17, 2001, a man aged 36 years received YEL in preparation for travel to Brazil. He had diaphoresis, fever of 102.2º F (39.0º C), rigors, and headache 13 days after vaccination; 16 days after vaccination, he lost consciousness and was hospitalized with severe headache and fever of 106.0º F (41.1º C)

...

Case 5. On February 7, 2002, a man aged 41 years received YEL and hepatitis A vaccine in preparation for travel to Venezuela. Six days after vaccination, he had low-grade fever, headache, and myalgia, which worsened over several days; 16 days after vaccination, he was hospitalized with fever of 104.0º F (40.0º C), headache, and rigors.

The main lesson from this is probably to not read the internet.
But I'm waiting for that super-high fever to kick in.


references:
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/324/7335/439
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5144a1.htm

Summer is here. I'm blogging this from my cell phone. See how it works. The color me my hefeweizen seemed to attract flies, which would get stuck there since it was sweating profusely.

Good Weekend (!)

This weekend my first first-author paper of my postdoc was accepted for publication (in the Journal of Cell Biology) This is work I've been doing for 3+ years, and a manuscript I started writing up 9 months ago. The basic focus of the research is on how cells build and regulate the transient apparatus (shown below in purple) needed when the cells divide to accurately segregate their DNA (green) perfectly and equally into the two new cells.



In addition, this weekend our MPI-CBG Ultimate (frisbee) team "Ring of Fire" competed in a two-day tournament in Jena against teams from around Germany, and took home 5th place! out of 20 teams. (photos and video to follow...)

New Blog Name

I decided to change the name of this blog on the 1st blogiversary, and I finally did. Something now that references my hometown, my name, and my current residence. We'll see if it sticks. I think I'll start playing around with some photos on the title too.

Oh O'Reilly.

update: Link is down, try to watch it here.
And definitely check out the dance remix.

I saw this on Talking Points Memo. This is awesome.



The calmness with which the crew handles him and gets him to finish suggests this wasn't his first tantrum. But it doesn't make me dislike O'Reilly any more. Actually it makes me want to watch the spectacle that is his show. I used to watch it semi-regularly for the entertainment value.

Dreams - edition one

For several years I've been trying to write down my dreams as soon as I wake up from them. It's actually amazingly difficult. I really have to fight myself so that I don't convince myself in my sleepy daze that a) they are not interesting enough to write down, b) I won't remember the good parts, and/or c) I'm just too tired to be bothered with it all. So I'd say I only end up writing down 10-20% of the dreams I actually awake from, which is likely only a fraction of all dreams.
Anyway, they are interesting to go back and read. Often I don't even remember them when I go back and read them. I thought I would just post them on here.
I figured I would scan in what I wrote - sometimes seeing the chicken scratch is interesting in itself - and then transcribe it word for word - without interpretations or explanations.
Here's the last one recorded in my book by my bed - appropriately including science and German.

(click to enlarge)

Transcription:

26/4/08 3:45am

Somewhere unknown. Some bldg or complex.
developing Western. machine taken down. Must do manually.
woman shows me trays of chemicals. she hands me my sheet from developer ->
but now I don't know which tray. to go to next. I guess. and put it in. then kinda hold it up to my nose. At some point she looks and sees I've gone to wrong tray, and worse it's very toxic & I've inhaled it. We may need to get to doctor. Somebody needs to help us. We are walking thru building looking for help. I think I see a young woman, turn corner & she is not there. Like a ghost. Finally I run around the corner & she is there. "Entschuldigung, konnen Sie uns bitte helfen?" I say. She seems annoyed. Not helping. I see another woman. Then I see a third woman, but it is the same as the 1st. There are 2 of the first there. I start panicking. The chemical is making me crazy. Then I see 2 of the second. I tell the original woman we have to hurry to the doctor., I'm going crazy, I'm seeing two people (& not like double vision, like independently being, but identical replicates of people walking around). I'm panicking.