In the Movies

Our lab made it to the movies. Well, the outside of the lab made it to the movies. This is in reference to Hollowman II which I talked about previously. We found out that Laura was the scientist making the oh so top secret 'buffer' (hence the "they really are called buffers" comment). I watched this with my lab mates and we couldn't really figure out why a buffer? Being invisible gives you a pH imbalance? Oh well, its the movies (and a straight to DVD movie at that), you don't question the science.

The scene where the Hollow Man is running down our hallway is in the movie. You can see all our lab posters hanging up in the hallway, my protease poster makes a brief appearance and so does the cow. We stuck the cow on a recycling bin during shooting and sure enough, here it is.



On a pH scale of 0 to 14, this movie sinks at a 5.

Midsummer

It's the longest day, I feel like I should post. Here's a picture of Vancouver at sunset (taken the previous evening). Very nice.


I just finished another book (and more than just the title Chris...), the Time Traveller's Wife. It was a fantastic book, it's been a while since I've found a book moving. Entertaining, often, moving not so much. I guess the Amber Spyglass was another. The Time Traveller's Wife is a love story and it has time travel but don't look for it to be science fiction.

Eventful Weekend

It's been a full weekend. We had the house full with another party (what can I say, we make good use of having a big house and yard to ourselves). The rain held off, we had several BBQ's going and Clinton kept pouring me drinks. Then it was up early the next morning to go riding again. Here's yet another picture of me on the horse. I look kinda tired, you think the horse is doing all the work...


Plans were made at the party to go strawberry picking and Marco and I cycled out to Richmond. It's a long ways, especially after a party and trying to muscle around a thousand pound animal for an hour. We met up with people from the party the previous night, picked tons of berries and enjoyed the sunshine while it rained in Vancouver. It's amazing, I'm not used to the weather changing so much because you are close to the mountains. Here's a picture of the cake (and someone hiding behind).

An Inconvenient Truth

I really liked this movie even though it is rather depressing. Al Gore (introduced as the man who used to be the next president of the United States) is touring around the planet to present his slide show about global warming. This slide show has been put together as a film and is smart, engaging and obvious. If people liked the Da Vinci Code because it made them feel smart learning about all the history, then An Inconvenient Truth should really appeal. It also makes you feel smart, but kinda sad and it's at least true.

I particularly liked the part about the misinformation that's being spread about climate change. It is often stated that science is uncertain about climate change but a survey of the scientific literature (~900 articles) found not one article questioning that human impact has created global climate change. The misinformation comes from the lobbyists. Kind of like the 'smoking doesn't cause cancer' misinformation that was out there (and still is but the lawsuits are coming). Of course, works like State of Fear by Michael Crichton support this disinformation. It reminds me of a New of the Weird article:

"...according to an October Los Angeles Times report, the trade association Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America contracted to pay two writers a "six-figure" fee to write a novel about a national panic resulting from a fear that drug lobbyists had actually been trying to spread in Congress, specifically, that terrorists might poison lower-priced drug imports from Canada. (The Times reported that the association recently killed the project and blamed the whole idea on an unsupervised lower-level executive.) [Los Angeles Times, 10-27-05]"

That's interesting, people with an agenda funding popular books that support their cause. Just wondering out loud.

So, as the CO2 spike goes through the roof it's obvious change needs to be done and Al Gore is critical of the lack of political will. Approximately 3 000 people died in the attacks on the World Trade Centre. But in the summer of 2003, a heat wave killed ~30 000 people in Europe. One might almost say Al Gore is positioning himself, but will people vote on the mountain or the molehill?

Band Performance

I'm in a community band and we finished our first (and last) outdoor community performance. It went well enough, there were tons of kids around playing in the park. My chops were completely gone by the end of the performance. We've been in luck, good weather for the past week. It's about time what with Midsummers Eve upon us. We're planning a Midsummer BBQ but have nixed the mandatory fairy costume after my supervisor seemed too keen when I mentioned it in lab meeting....

Good weather, Poor mood

Well, it's weird. This time of year and I always seem to get a bit moody. This is because this is the season that marks the beginning of what was without a doubt the worst year and a half of my life (maybe we can stretch it out to two years). I made a great many friends and had some good times but the big events and the big people, well, were unpleasant. A time when I was the worst, and saw the worst, and went through the worst. It's a shame that period had to start with such nice weather. I'm also sad because I can't look forward to the hiking, and even cycling bothers my knee. Too bad I can't ride more, the stables are a beautiful place to spend time.

So anyway, if you see me being moody, either give me a smack or a hug. Both would be appropriate.

Ok, some happy posting.... saw Aeon Flux with the housemates recently. We weren't sure if it would be any good but by the end everyone who had drifted in was hooked. I know there were lots of people that didn't really like the film, maybe it's a girl thing?

And I have Skype up and running on my linux box, so if you want to get in contact, send me an e-mail and I can pass on my username.

Oh yeah, how can I forget: today is 06/06/06. Perhaps the Rapture is upon us. Even if it isn't, you can always Play the game.