so this is what it means to be a scientist

sometimes i can’t believe that i’m actually doing real science.

at other times, i can’t believe that the majority of my time is spent debugging my programs…

i really want to do something productive with my life. i want create things. i want to be innovative. and i want to start while i’m still young. this doesn’t seem to bode well with scientific research.

the problem with science is… 6 years of grad school. >.< i’m looking at four years of college, six years of grad school, and another decade of my life mired in institutionalism. i sit at a desk all day, straining my eyes at a computer screen. science is a world where smarts are all that matter, and your efforts get… swallowed up. poof. you constantly get judged by your merit, but it’s so tiring because others’ perception of you is immaterial to the rest of society.

i could simply get a science education and… figure out what i want to do next?

tofu

i made my first tofu purchase today.

$2. organic, firm korean-labeled tofu. the package was so remarkably well-sealed that i uprooted the strip of corner around the plastic while the plastic remained attached to the tofu square. thus, i pulled out the cheese knife. i didn’t know if i was supposed to was the tofu, but it’s something i vaguely recall my mother doing, so i washed it. it felt so cute between my hands. it was squishy! like a brain! when i squeezed it, water came out.

more abortion b.s., if you care about shit like women’s rights

an outrageous attempt by the bush administration to undermine women’s rights

woot patty murray (washington senator).

there’s a pretty simple petition at the bottom of the article. the submit button doesn’t seem to work, but i tried anyway.

thanks to haeda/heather for the link.

finally, comments that caught my eye:

there’s veracity, who compares the authoritarianism over birth control to slavery

Today some of the above mentioned preachers, are trying to use the identical themes of “moral righteousness” and “defense of civilization” used to justify slavery, to justify a modern version of the authoritarian demands of submission to a cruel, authoritarian elite – and no one in the “major media” is calling them on it!

there’s voice4theunborn, who reminds us that an embryo has the potential to be a person, but spews the usual bible-thumping misogyny:

You think slavery is cruel, and inhuman and often sadistic… What do you call abortion. Maybe women should keep their panties on and the problem with birth control, and abortion wouldn’t be such a problem…

(maybe if men could keep their dicks in their pants… )

you’d think that ‘teralou’ sounds reasonable and sane in comparison…

Read a little more about the proposed bill. It is NOT about banning birth control pills! It is an antidiscrimination bill that would protect the right of healthcare workers who do not want to take part in abortions.

but then ‘pleeezzze’ says:

I propose a bill that anyone who decides to work in the health industry , keep their “beliefs” to themselves and do what they were hired to do , or CHANGE JOBS .

but then mairs takes it to the source: viagra:

I propose a bill that would allow anyone in the health care industry to refuse to dispense Viagra. Since every sperm is sacred, making sex easier to have could lead to abusing our procreative abilities and cause more sperm to be wasted on non-reproductive sex.

lol.

lists are good. (‘LunaNik’)

Those who claim a religious belief in the sanctity of life need to prove it. Here’s how:

1. Immediately cease using insecticides and mousetraps in your homes. Insect and rodents are forms of life you claim your god created. Make sure you don’t step on any ants or swat mosquitoes. Allow cockroaches full access to your food supply.

2. When you become ill owing to bacterial or viral infection, suffer the illness without medication. You claim your god created all life, which includes bacteria and viruses.

3. Immediately rush to your nearest fertility clinic and demand that any “leftover” embryos which would otherwise be destroyed be implanted into your uterus.

4. Adopt all parent-less children.

5. Adopt all homeless dogs and cats presently scheduled to be euthanized.

6. Immediately cease eating all meat.

7. Be against the death penalty.

Until all these steps are taken, those of us who believe that life does NOT begin at conception will continue to consider you hypocritical at best, blasphemous at worst.

a while later…

Chad53916: Could we see a day when the GOP will try to outlaw condoms, masturbation, oral sex and the act of “pulling out” too?

Axolot1: we know from Iraq that that last technique is definitely banned by the government