Webcomics

So now you know that I'm a fan of graphic novels. I'll put in my two-cents worth on some series from time to time, but today I wanted to divert your attention to the sidebar of this blog with a list of webcomics that I find overly amusing. They are listed in no particular order, though truth be told PhD comics is probably my fave as it describes my life so perfectly. But today I'll give the Mad Beaker nod to xkcd. It's written by a physicist graduate, so many of the strips have a physic reference/joke. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to get most of the meaning, but you DO need to have a good level of sarcasm geek wit to understand the jokes. I first found this webcomic through a gaming forum I follow that posted this:



Now if you haven't participated or even followed an online forum, ANY online forum... well, I'm not sure exactly if that's a feather in your cap or not. Anyways, point being forum posting gets ugly often due to trolls and those lil' preteens who believe what they say is god-given and need to correct even syntax if applicable. The above comic sold me to bookmark xkcd and I've been a fan ever since.

The webcomic has been going on for years, so there's many to view. Take your time and truth be told, the more you become involved with web societies and geek things (science, gaming, random pondering), the MORE funny these comics will be. I'll also mention that there's a 2-for-1 joke with every comic posted. I won't tell you how to find the secondary joke. It's something specially hidden for inquiring minds. Here's a few more of my faves:

If you don't get this, you shouldn't be reading this blog.


This one is for CHAR!


This a more recent one but part of an ongoing inside joke:


Yesterday was the Stones, so I'll keep the classic rock buzz going with Queen. Here's one that folks over in Y!PP will understand coming from me. Yes this is also a nod to Dae and Zsu (even Hypnos with those pink bunny slippers), we are always wanting to "Break Free". (smirks)

No news is good news?

So no callback as of yet about the job. I'm thinking either they are interviewing more folks or making a tough choice on who will get the position. At least it's not a balatant NO! Thus, I'm still hopeful. I did find a position in Vancouver that sounds intriguing. It's with a biotech company on UBC campus. The pros of the job: more money (which would be absolutely essential if I was to move back to Vancouver), the chance to develop new DNA isolation techniques, and it's VANCOUVER (my self-proclaimed lil' piece of heaven on Earth). The cons: it's not microbiology related which is really my first love. I've been pondering more about what route I should take after the PhD. Normally as a "good lil grad" you're supposed to go do a post-doc then obtain a faculty position to own your own lab. Post-doc positions aren't something to envy. You're usually under MORE pressure to perform publishable science and seriously not paid nearly enough for your skills that have taken 10-odd years to perfect in university. However having a post-doc under your belt keeps some doors open for you and there's only a 3-4 year grace period after the PhD to do one. However for me, I'm not certain whether academia life is for me. On top of the pressure to pull scientific marvels out of your labcoat, there's always the issue of funding. You can be happily working in your lab one day and then POOF! Funding gone! Out of job! Move elsewhere. It's not a great "settle-down" lifestyle. I'm kinda yearning for moving only once or twice before settling down for good. So the debate rages on... time will tell.

It's seasonably warm and sunny today which always brightens my mood. Winter is nice. I don't mind snow and ice (ice meaning hockey, natch). But I do enjoy walking outside without a jacket and freezing my tush off.

It's Monday... so how 'bout some Stones to start off the week?

Great debate...

To the lab or NOT to the lab. That is always the question I ask myself these days. In theory I'm supposed to be done experiments and JUST writing. However my dear old advisor has other plans for me. For some reason I just CAN'T write and do expts at the same time. I find writing at the lab distracting and not much lab work gets done. So with me it's either one thing or another. Oh I can multi-task expts... just writing isn't one of those tasks.

Eh, I forgot my mouse at the lab, so that probably means I'll go in eventually.
Edit: I went to WalMart and just bought a new mouse. Wheeee!

Onto "normal" things. Update with owning a Wii Fit. It's going quite well actually. I've been working myself up to spending 35 min of workout time (not real time) on the machine everyday. I'm enjoying myself. There's lots of variation and so far some muscles are getting sore which indicates that it's working. No loss of weight, yet. I think it'll be a few weeks before any change will be noted. I'm aiming 3 months to decrease my BMI by 8 points. So stay tune for updates.

I've been enjoying Twittering. It's kinda neat to hear updates from people throughout the day. Kinda makes even famous people seem "normal". For example I'm following one of my favourite groups Collective Soul. It's interesting hearing their day to day updates on the road. I own all their albums and have seen them perform over a dozen times. I just love their music, it speaks my feelings so clearly at times that it's scary. Dean Roland asked on Twitter what was my fave song. Seriously I can't give just one. I've got two self-burned CD compilations of my faves. So you'll hear about my CS faves time to time. Today, I'll start off with the ballad that hits home the most: Needs.

There are a few reasons why "Needs" is special to me. The biggest one is there a repetitive chorus throughout the song "I don't need nobody". Which at face value, means, well... I don't need anyone. I lived most of my life as an outsider, fiercely independent, swearing not to need anyone. But "I don't need nobody", it's a subtle double negative. All this time swearing off people, you realize that you've been crying out for somebody. I think that's why there's a break in the song, almost a realization. And the chorus changes to "You're all that I need." Kinda a self-discovery song in which those are always the best.

Mad Geek Humour

Lil' unknown fact: I'm crazy.

Yes, if you haven't figured that out with the "Mad" in Mad Scientist. Then my question to you: WTF have you've been thinking? Yeah, that's me a few years back. No, it's not my normal daily attire (asides from the lab coat), but an example that I enjoy having fun being a Mad Scientist.

Anyways. I am a bona fide Mad Scientist as anyone who's worked with me in a lab knows that I have many "antics" to pass the day (not JUST dressing up). See, working in a lab 16h/day can become tedious (shocking, I know). So I spice things up every once in a awhile with either humour, jokes, swivel chair olympics, or the occasional parody song. Apparently I'm not alone. The biotech companies are also great cess-pools for wacky mad scientist activity. To demonstrate my point there are several ads for scientific products in which the creative team decided to have some fun.

The first one is "Scientists for a better PCR". Obviously a nod to "We are the World" song from the 80s. Best line: "PCR...when you need to find out who's the daddy!"

The next one came out last year: epMotion. Believe me, I feel the chick's pain with pipetting. You've heard of Nintendo thumb? There's also pipettor hand. Everyday I do that repetitive motion on average 100 times/day (somedays over 1K depending on the experiment). Though I doubt epMotion would solve my problems (in fact my first thought: Hey! That's my job being replaced with a robot!), the backstreet-nsync-boy-group was a good laugh.

The latest one that I've been made aware of: GTCA. Natch, it's to the classic tune of YMCA. I enjoyed the scenes shot in the lab because THAT my friends actually happens. If there's a good tune in my ear, I dance at my bench. And truth be told, others join in.

Okay... off to lab (humming "Geeee-Tee-Cee-A").

Alas poor Yorick...

Alrighty, as promised a lil' detailed info on graphic novels that appear on my bookshelves. One prominent is "Y: The Last Man" series by Brian K. Vaughan. I was drawn to it due to the science of the plot. There's been an outbreak that has killed all living mammals with the Y chromosome except for our hero Yorick Brown and his sidekick pet monkey, Ampersand. The story revolves around the adventures of Yorick, the women he meets, the aftermath of such a holocaust (just think, the entire world population drops by 50% in one day) and the long sought quest to discover the cause to the outbreak and why Yorick and the monkey were immune. I'll admit that I need to reread the series front to back (post-thesis though), as I've been reading along for the past 4 years and some side stories get forgotten. But truly, it's a good thought provoking series: what happens in a world with no men? Social norms become skewed, religion is polarized, propogation of the human species is threaten (the outbreak kills EVERY cell with the Y chromosome, so even sperm banks are toast), plus there's that exploration of the "Day after the Armageddon: what now?" storyline. Yes, it's all wrapped up with the "whodunnit" adventure of why/how? The series has now ended. I wasn't too impressed with all the finale answers, but the journey along the way to get there was a good one. I give it 4 Mad Beakers out of 5. Definitely flick quality, so expect to see it in a theater within the next 5 years.

In the ear, hmmm, talking about "Y" made me think about Leonard Cohen's "I'm your man". There's a recent flick of him with the said song title. I need to pick it up soon to watch. Lenny is an old time fave of mine. His sultry hypnotic baritone voice wins me over any day. Of course there's this "slight" memory of an ex and I listening to Lenny at night. (coughs) Anyways, enjoy. ;)