Sometimes, simple is best.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Long time, no post.
Folks, sorry for the lack of recent posts. Here's some stuff for you, really briefly.
Have you ever been to Salt Lake City? If not, don't bother. Decent beer, clean air, but nothing super awesome. I went to the ACS meeting, and heard the following 100% true story, which is perhaps the most blatant example of arrogance among scientists I've ever heard. (And that takes some doing; scientists spend all their time trying to be right, which makes some of us into jerks.)
At a major American University, an Assistant Professor asked a Postdoc from another research group to go have cup of coffee with him. Both the Professor and the Postdoc work in computational chemistry, but not on the same projects/areas. Postdoc goes to the Professor's office, and the Professor says what he needs to talk about is too important to discuss there, so they go out to a coffee shop. At this point, the Postdoc is becoming a bit trepidatious. They get their coffee, and the Professor begins speaking. Basically, the Postdoc had recently begun a project that was related to or bordered on something the Professor considered his field. As gently as he could, the Professor told him to work on something else. If the Postdoc did not, this would lead to direct scientific competition between the two scientists. The Professor then states vis-a-vis this competition, "I will crush you." The best part is that the Professor honestly believed he was being nice, and truly helping a Postdoc avoid being shattered into a billion pieces by the sheer weight of the Professor's godlike intellect.
We bought a bunch of blik stickers for Henry's room. They look really awesome.
Further proof H. Stockton's childhood will be a bit different than mine.
There are going to be literally dozens of pictures like this one by the time Henry starts school. Smiling, mustachioed Arab gentleman? Check. Semi-exotic background? Check. (In this case, the fabric souq.) Henry mugging for the camera? Check.
Also, a quick Henry story for you: Apparently children can grasp slapstick comedy at 9 months. Nicole was was standing up from the bed in Henry's room, slipped and then fell, landing directly on her rear end in a sitting position at the end of the bed. I was holding Henry, and we were looking in her directions. Before I could react, Henry burst out laughing. Great big guffaws of laughter. Neat, eh?
Have you ever been to Salt Lake City? If not, don't bother. Decent beer, clean air, but nothing super awesome. I went to the ACS meeting, and heard the following 100% true story, which is perhaps the most blatant example of arrogance among scientists I've ever heard. (And that takes some doing; scientists spend all their time trying to be right, which makes some of us into jerks.)
At a major American University, an Assistant Professor asked a Postdoc from another research group to go have cup of coffee with him. Both the Professor and the Postdoc work in computational chemistry, but not on the same projects/areas. Postdoc goes to the Professor's office, and the Professor says what he needs to talk about is too important to discuss there, so they go out to a coffee shop. At this point, the Postdoc is becoming a bit trepidatious. They get their coffee, and the Professor begins speaking. Basically, the Postdoc had recently begun a project that was related to or bordered on something the Professor considered his field. As gently as he could, the Professor told him to work on something else. If the Postdoc did not, this would lead to direct scientific competition between the two scientists. The Professor then states vis-a-vis this competition, "I will crush you." The best part is that the Professor honestly believed he was being nice, and truly helping a Postdoc avoid being shattered into a billion pieces by the sheer weight of the Professor's godlike intellect.
And now, the reason you read my blog, pictures of Henry.
We bought a bunch of blik stickers for Henry's room. They look really awesome.
Further proof H. Stockton's childhood will be a bit different than mine.
There are going to be literally dozens of pictures like this one by the time Henry starts school. Smiling, mustachioed Arab gentleman? Check. Semi-exotic background? Check. (In this case, the fabric souq.) Henry mugging for the camera? Check.
Also, a quick Henry story for you: Apparently children can grasp slapstick comedy at 9 months. Nicole was was standing up from the bed in Henry's room, slipped and then fell, landing directly on her rear end in a sitting position at the end of the bed. I was holding Henry, and we were looking in her directions. Before I could react, Henry burst out laughing. Great big guffaws of laughter. Neat, eh?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
