Highly irregular blog

In case Tribe goes down again...

Neur0mancer — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:27:21 GMT

I now also have an account on Triberefugees, a Ning-based social network. http://triberefugees.ning.com/profile/Grisha

An essay on morality and political orientation

Neur0mancer — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:11:41 GMT

This is a fascinating read - the title sounds extremely condescending, but the actual essay does not sneer at conservatism. It tries to delve into why liberals don't "get" the moral vision of conservatives (to clarify, this is really about why people like the ideas of social conservatives), and what moral elements liberals fail to see in their political thinking. Enjoy: What Makes People Vote Republican http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/haidt08/haidt08_index.html Here's my followup question to this (the question won't make much sense until you've read the essay): It's well established, I believe, that ON AVERAGE, people with more education tend to lean more liberal politically. In light of the model proposed in the essay, why might that be? I can think of two possibilities, and would love to hear your thoughts. One is that somehow education tends to dial up the importance of the harm/care and the fairness/equality components of morality in people's minds, and to turn down the importance of the authority/respect, ingroup/identity, and purity/chastity components. Another is that people who are more educated just prefer the John Stuart Mill model of a moral society to the Emile Durkheim model (perhaps because with their greater education they feel more capable of functioning independently, and don't want to subjugate their individuality to the obligations of fixed social roles), and that the other stuff follows from that preference. Thoughts? ~G

A long-lasting source of sick inadvertent hilarity

Neur0mancer — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:29:07 GMT

(kind of like televangelists, or the Green Party) The Fail Blog. http://failblog.org Just one example I had to share:

For all my kinky friends

Neur0mancer — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:58:46 GMT

http://xkcd.com/468/

Finishing up a week of night float

Neur0mancer — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:54:38 GMT

This is part of my return to clinical radiology. All this week, I've been working from 8pm to 9am, interpreting all the imaging studies that happen in the hospital overnight. Some of these are connected to neat stories: - A 91 year old man tried to shoot a groundhog with a shotgun at close range. The gun jumped back and struck him in the eyeball with the stock. The globe was ruptured, but the ophthalmological surgery team got there in time to save the eye. He missed the groundhog. - A 20 year old black guy and two of his friends tried to hold up a Chinese grocery store with a gun and a couple of knives. I am not sure exactly what happened next, but it appears that the guys running the grocery store were not in the mood to be robbed. Our protagonist got a broken jaw and multiple minor injuries, the other two were taken down without any injuries worth a CT scan, and held until the cops got there. I have mental images of Jackie Chan and Rumble in the Bronx. Some incidents are just sad. - A pregnant 20-something year old woman got on a motorcycle behind her boyfriend without a helmet, and took the brunt of the damage when they plowed into a stanchion. She'll probably live. The baby won't. - A 40 year old woman with a disease affecting the blood vessels in her lungs died last night. She had massive bleeding into her lungs, but might have been saved if she could have been stabilized long enough to get her to the angiography suite. However, because she was a Jehovah's Witness she could not get a blood transfusion that would have given her the extra hour or so of life. I stay up all night and as these events (and countless others) happen, I advise the clinical teams on what imaging studies need to be done (Xrays, CT, ultrasound, MRI, angio, etc.), and HOW they must be done (there are a million technical details), and then look at the studies and tell them what the images mean. It's scary and edgy and sometimes requires that I go out on a limb and do things that aren't "textbook" at all. And it's FUN! It's exhilarating even while it's exhausting. Tonight is my last night (until next time). Fridays are always "special", I'm told. Tomorrow morning, I will get on a train for Boston, and head off to see my love's family and then mine. My brother has flown across the country, and he and my folks are hanging out on Cape Cod. I really wish that we could make it to the PEX Compression party tomorrow night... for god's sake, there's to be firespinning in the Shampoo parking lot!... but there will be other parties and other opportunities. Farewell my friends, 'tis not too late to seek a newer world (with apologies to Alfred, Lord Tennyson) GVG

another cautionary tale/request for advice

Neur0mancer — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:53:42 GMT

I have a car. It's a cherry red '99 Toyota Solara (the "sporty" coupe version of the Camry). Some of you, my friends and readers, have seen it. It's got a ton of miles on it, but it runs and gets me from point A to point B quite well. Some years ago, a former girlfriend used the car, and left it parked in a garage on a ramp, without setting the parking brake. The car rolled backwards and encountered a concrete post, which left a dent in the right rear quarter-panel. I've been driving around with this dent for several years. I went to a body shop at one point, and they told me they'd have to replace the quarter panel, at a cost of $1500 or so. Since it's an old car, I decided I'd just live with the dent. Two days ago, I was pulling into Home Depot to get some roller blinds for the new apartment. A guy in a pickup truck pulled up next to me and offered to fix the dent, right there on the spot, for $200. He said he works in a body shop, but when his boss is out of town he "borrows" some tools and makes money for himself. He would fix the dent, and then I'd go get the quarter panel painted (for another $200 or so, he said), and it would be fixed. I temporarily have the cash on hand to do such a thing, so I agreed. He drilled some holes, pulled out the metal, then did a couple of rounds of layering on fiberglass resin, letting it harden, sanding it down, then layering on more. He then sprayed primer on the area, so that part of the car is now a dull black color. This morning I went to a couple of body shops. They sneered at the guy's work, and said that the work has to be done over again to get the contour right, and gave me estimates ranging from $920 to $1100. At one place I was told that they'd paint the panel for $350, but that the fiberglass bodywork would fall off in a few months. At another, I was told by the shop owner that he would not just paint the panel because people would think he did the bodywork, and it would reflect badly upon him. I can see that the contour is not right. The thing is, I never intended for the car to look perfect. I just wanted to get rid of the major obvious dent. So, do I just drive the car with a patch that's black with primer? Do I get the thing painted for $350 (yes, there will still be a visible contour anomaly)? Do I get some paint from an auto store ($30 worth or so) and try to paint it myself? Do I shell out the big bucks and get it all fixed professionally? I am not planning on selling the car. I intend to drive it (and take reasonable care of it) until it dies. Will it harm the car and cost me more in the long run if I just ignore the issue now? It would be nice to have a shiny cool-looking car, but it's not tremendously important. On the other hand, I don't want to incur greater costs by doing nothing, or the wrong thing. OK, I should have stopped and thought longer before letting some shady character do the work in the first place. However, what's done is done. What should I do now? Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?

heh heh

Neur0mancer — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:28:46 GMT

Cautionary tale for those into improvised bondage: http://xkcd.com/443/ On another note, I started back into clinical radiology today, as a senior resident. First day case conference. The professor says "for the first day, we should do a low-stress didactic lecture [where he tells us about cases instead of putting us on the spot to interpret them], but we won't". He proceeds to pull up cases and call on the seniors who have been in the program for several years. After the first case, I take the laser pointer (meaning, I intend to take the next case). He looks at me and says "You want a case?" and I nod (he doesn't know who I am). Fortunately, the topic of the conference is neuro. Even more fortunately, I happen to get a stroke case. I've been doing nothing but stroke imaging for the last two years, at the forefront of the field (recently got a paper accepted to a major journal on the topic). Bottom line, by sheer chance I come out looking like a total whiz-kid. Wheee!

Moving this weekend...

Neur0mancer — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:36:10 GMT

Hello, folks. This weekend, I'm going to move to Philadelphia. I'm getting a U-Haul truck on Sunday, and I was hoping I could get a few friends to help me load it. I live in Needham. The loading will take place Sunday in the early evening (my boss is having a barbecue in my honor that will last until about 5pm). I'll provide beer/wine and snacks. Can anyone help?

Internet usage and attention span

Neur0mancer — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:39:55 GMT

Two articles on how we read online, and how this might affect us. http://www.slate.com/id/2193552/ http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google I have noticed signs in myself of the kind of effect the second article talks about. I still read books, but it's a bit harder to slog through something that does not offer frequent reinforcement of some sort (new information, entertaining ideas, etc.).

bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce

Neur0mancer — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:57:55 GMT

my love is coming home today (after a year in a distant and godawful place... the city where I was born) bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce

A major part of me

Neur0mancer — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:33:49 GMT

Vysotsky is the Russian equivalent of Elvis - Russians who grew up in the cultural influence sphere of the 1960-80's regard him as a minor deity. This, in my opinion, is the most heart-wrenching, gut-tearing (and politically rebellious) song this guy has ever publically performed. It's from a concert in Leningrad /St. Petersburg in 1980. Basically, a wolf hunted by traditional Russian methods - escape paths blocked by red flags (which wolves apparently won't jump over) decides to break out of his confinement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ2E4cf46nw I have heard, from non-Russian speakers, that it's almost physically difficult to listen to this song all the way through. If it pains you to listen, please don't. It's mostly just poetry set to simple music. Still, to my mind it is beautiful and violent and triumphant. Think Rage Against The Machine, done completely in metaphor, because to actually speak out against the government was impossible at that time, so veiled references, like escaping from the confinement of red flags, was as rebellious as it got.

More escrima

Neur0mancer — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:21:38 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1Cbb5ULkiA A good "garage video" demonstration of Serrada angles 1-12, with a nice range of counters (sometimes, though, only one counter per angle). If you're one of my stick- or swordfighter friends, enjoy. Otherwise, skip it. Because the grandmaster that I "grew up" under recently changed the angle system, I find myself grasping for familiar elements in the "old school" Serrada methods.

My martial arts grandmaster posts a video

Neur0mancer — Sat, 31 May 2008 20:30:25 GMT

Nate Defensor, the grandmaster of the style that I regard as the most significant influence on me as a martial artist, has reorganized the basic striking system (for those of you familiar with the Filipino martial arts, of course there are still 12 angles, and the variability is as always in the later angles; 1-5 are still the same ones everyone knows). He's posted the revised system as a video on YouTube, and I thought I'd share, because it shows many of the basic movements that underlie both my fighting style and my firespinning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyqgo5nN_vY PLEASE NOTE: Don't try to learn martial arts from videos. As anyone who has trained in any style extensively can tell you, there are all sorts of subtleties that you don't see on video with the untrained eye. This is for demonstration/entertainment purposes only (or for picking up new bits for those who already have an FMA background).

Evolution rap

Neur0mancer — Mon, 26 May 2008 05:53:55 GMT

No, this is not "MC" Stephen Hawking's "F%^k the Creationists" (that's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGNRYNdVT7g) This is an attempt by a talented rapper to make fun of hardcore Darwinist atheists. I think it backfires. Evolution is the greatest idea ever to arise in the mind of Man, and I say this with due consideration and with props to Daniel Dennett, who presented the revolutionary consequences remarkably well in "Darwin's Dangerous Idea". The political aspect of the video is, of course, the statement "He's smarter than you, he's got a science degree." I know that since I also have a PhD in a hard science I am somewhat inured to the emotional impact of someone claiming to be smarter than me in this regard, but more generally I respect and admire people who know more than I do. I know that the democratic aspect of our society sometimes makes us resistant to the idea that someone is smarter than we are, but this is an aspect of democracy that I dislike. Yes, there are people smarter than I am, and smarter than you are, and we should listen to them - not blindly, not worshipfully, but openly. They might have thought of something we missed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFXIALf9zDA Notes on the video: The "mover is unmoved" is a reference to an idea of Aristotle's. Everything that moves had to have something move it first, right? So, there's got to be an "unmoved mover" somewhere. This is an old idea referred to by creationists when trying to discredit evolution. The reference to Paley - William Paley is the most famous proponent of the "argument from design". If you find a watch on the beach, you have to acknowledge that it was designed by someone for a certain purpose, right? This is a great argument for people who don't understand that the whole point of evolution is that a stupid algorithmic process making tiny steps can, over long periods of time, come up with designs to shame any intelligent artificer. "Storming Wilber by force" is a reference to the debate between Samuel Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford, whose debate with Thomas Huxley in 1860 was a famous confrontation between Darwinism and the religious establishment. The reference to Darrow is a reference to the "Scopes Monkey Trial", where a Tennessee teacher named John Scopes was tried for teaching evolution. The defense attorney was Clarence Darrow, the prosecutor was William Jennings Bryan, and the setting was 1925, where disobedience to the exercises of authority, such as Prohibition, was a major concern for both the rebel and The Man. Evolution lost that round, but you can't stop truth effectively over long periods of time. The people shown in the cartoon are Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Eugenie Scott, Christopher Hitchens, and ... I don't know. Who's the guy with the squid on his baseball cap? Does anyone know?

What are the moral limits of biotechnology?

Neur0mancer — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:04:07 GMT

Check this out: http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/humannature/archive/2008/05/22/marrow-with-children.aspx OK, as background I have to say that I'm about as pro-biotechnology as they come. With suitable caution against unforseen consequences in the strictly biological sense, I believe that genetic engineering, reproductive technologies, cybernetic/tech prosthetics, etc. are a good thing. Better living through technology, pharmacology, advanced agriculture, and all that. However, the idea of "savior siblings", as discussed by Saletan towards the end of the article, is indeed a little creepy.

Yo mama

Neur0mancer — Wed, 21 May 2008 09:56:39 GMT

Here's a wonderful article about how to insult people in their native languages, all over the world: http://www.cracked.com/article_16275_9-most-devastating-insults-from-around-world.html It incorporates subtleties about cultural references, like the fact that in Arabic cultures the foot is considered the filthiest part of the body, so putting your shoe on someone is highly offensive, or the fact that references to green hats in China are really about male whores from the T'ang dynasty. It also has simple and obvious stuff from all over the place. The one thing I wish it had is a pronunciation guide. I'd hate to tell someone their mother blows bears and end up telling them something nice instead. Oh, and check out the comments from readers. They're often just as informative as the article itself. My friend Penny has learned just one insult in a large number of languages, but it's such a good one that it deserves recognition: "Does your mother still scream out my name when you f%&k her?"

Cuteness

Neur0mancer — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:32:05 GMT

Couldn't help posting this one too. This is a sort of swing set in the backyard of the house I lived in, and I played on it when I was 7 years old. If I had tried to get on it now, it would have broken. Thus, here is my light, lithe, little one on it. OK, I just like something about the framing of the picture.

Visiting Philly this weekend

Neur0mancer — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:06:04 GMT

To all my Philly friends: I'll be down in Philly this weekend to look at apartments (focused on the Northern Liberties area). If anyone has time to say hi, I'd be glad to meet up with people to get (re)acquainted.

Back

Neur0mancer — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:58:36 GMT

Moscow was both more and less than I expected. I'll write about it in a little while, when I've caught up on more mundane matters. However, in the meantime, check this out: http://www.tnr.com/story_print.html?id=d8731cf4-e87b-4d88-b7e7-f5059cd0bfbd It's another article by Steven Pinker, and it attacks the use of the standard of "human dignity" as a basis for reasoning in bioethics. His main point is that "dignity", as used by the Presidential Council on Bioethics, is a sneaky way for religious conservatives to push an agenda that ignores what medicine and biotechnology can do for people's lives. Definitely worth your time. G

Good enough to share

Neur0mancer — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:43:00 GMT

http://hahaha.tribe.net/thread/6bb0f566-e5c3-452a-968f-caa8bd47b6ae Wonderful quotations on government and other follies. And then, there are pictures of horrible failures: http://failblog.wordpress.com/

Bizarre

Neur0mancer — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:34:57 GMT

This is so weird that it borders on incredible: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080428/wl_nm/austria_abuse_dc I'm sorry, but how could the wife not know that her daughter was being held captive and used as a sex toy/breeder by her husband, in their basement, for 24 years?

Preaching to the choir

Neur0mancer — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:12:38 GMT

I know that most of the people who are reading this already understand the concept that drug prohibition is doing far more harm to society than drugs themselves do. Thus, this debate in the LA Times will touch on points that most of you will be familiar with already. Jacob Sullum, an editor of Reason, dukes it out with Charles "Cully" Stimson, a former DA and currently a legal analyst at the Heritage Foundation. In my opinion, reading Stimson's arguments is almost painful for anyone with an ounce of sense. His ass-backwards, cart-before-the-horse, circular reasoning is so shoddy that it's hard to believe that a major news outlet is publishing it. If you read this, and feel compelled to respond, the Media Awareness Project (http://www.mapinc.org) provides a simple way for you to join the effort to influence the media presentation of these issues. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-sullum-stimson21apr21,0,5775568.story http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-sullum-stimson22apr22,0,6234322.story http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-sullum-stimson23apr23,0,6693076.story http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-sullum-stimson23apr23,0,7722109,full.story http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-sullum-stimson24apr24,0,7151830.story http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-sullum-stimson25apr25,0,1688200,full.story

mmmm.... lab-grown meat

Neur0mancer — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:17:25 GMT

I am puzzled by something. I recently became aware of the fact that PETA has offered a prize for the successful creation of artificial meat, grown in a culture dish from stem cells, but indistinguishable by taste, texture, etc. from a chunk of flesh torn from a screaming dying Bambi (OK, the PETA contest specifies chicken... I just can't think of an equivalent iconically cute chicken; and BTW, the specification of chicken as the target meat to clone makes sense for several technical biological reasons that I won't get into here). Now, William Saletan has written an interesting piece for Slate (http://www.slate.com/id/2189676/) in which he says that morally pure vegetarian/vegan people oppose the growing of mindless meat for consumption because it takes away from the moral stigma of eating meat. "Purists see it as a moral surrender. 'It's our job to introduce the philosophy and hammer it home that animals are not ours to eat,' a dissident PETA official tells the Times." I really don't get this, and I am hoping that some of my friends, who are in touch with the earthy-crunchy subspecies of freaks (and among my freak friends I understand our consensus to be that I leave you alone to live as you want, and you grant me the same courtesy, assuming we're not ignoring harm to someone we perceive to be a conscious agent capable of moral choice). If you grow meat in a Petri dish, it's not an animal. There is no suffering being added to the world because of the creation and consumption of this chunk of organized macromolecules. How is the creation of meat from stem cells corrupting the moral purity of people who think eating animals is wrong? In the tradition of a classical philosopher, let's try a thought experiment. Here in Boston we have a restaurant called "Buddha's Delight", where they make somewhat convincing meat-like foods out of tofu. Let's say that I take a date out to dinner at this place, because I don't believe in snuffing out the life of a helpless cow just to get someone into the sack. She does not know that the "ginger beef" she's eating is made from soybeans (of course, how do you KNOW that they did not scream as they gave up their lives for your meal?). Aside from the moral wrongness of the deception, did I, by allowing someone to eat what they thought was meat but had never been meat, commit a sin against the cause of animal rights? Sex can cause harm, like unwanted pregnancy or STDs. Drugs can cause harm, like addiction or abandonment of other responsibilities. Guns can cause harm, like murders committed by psychos or children inadvertently shooting each other. In each case, it's the harm that we want to prevent, not the thing itself, right? So how can fake meat, rather than the suffering caused by the destruction and consumption of real animals, be wrong? I welcome any input. G

W00t

Neur0mancer — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:47:27 GMT

OK, it's official. I am moving down to Philadelphia in late June, and in early July I'm starting work at Hahnemann, finishing up some odds and ends left of residency training, and then moving right into a clinical fellowship in neuroradiology. I will remain in Philly for 2 years, after which I'll be a fully trained neuroradiologist, and can start real life as a physician. The time coming up now is going to be insanely busy. I have to get a PA medical license, finish up lots of projects at MGH, find a place to live in Philly, and move. Oh, and the day after tomorrow I'm flying to LA for a conference, then staying with my best friends (Blaze et al) over the weekend. I fly back to Boston early next week, and then almost immediately get back on a plane to fly to Moscow to visit my beloved, returning May 10th. And spring has sprung. There are little leaves breaking out everywhere, the weather is beautiful, and girls are starting to walk around in skimpy clothing, further enhancing the scenery. Life is good. --- P.S. because people have been asking - YES, I am definitely going to WildFire.

Philadelphia friends

Neur0mancer — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:29:28 GMT

I know that there are people among my fire family in Philly. Could you guys please get in touch with me via PM? I need to ask some locals for some advice. Warmest (hottest?) regards, G