Generalizations

So last night Will, Torston, and I went to a small wine festival being held in Jülich, where we met up with 4 other guys. I've gotten used to being the only female in attendance at most of these things, but not so much to some of the baffling stuff that gets said. For example, I tried a Rose wine, and then a dry white wine (this is probably not the order you're supposed to go in; I know nothing about wine culture), and was talking about how the Rose was really a bit too sweet, and how I liked drier wines more. Robert then said "Huh, but I thought you would like sweet wines, because you're a girl."

"Sorry, what?"

"Because girls usually like sweeter wines."

"This is based on an n of what?"

There were several seconds of confusion as to what I was talking about, before he said this was based on two other girls he knew. We all had a laugh. Then I decided to go ahead and jump in all the way now I’d started. I said “Usually the variance within a gender is larger than the difference between the genders.” You know, which it is.
He seemed a little taken aback (my interpretation, of course), and said he wouldn’t generalize again, but I’m not sure whether this was just said for a laugh (“I’ll never generalize again! Haha! Never!”) or what.

What I really should have said was “Say the same thing you just said, but put “guys” in instead of girls. Does the statement make sense any more? ‘I would’ve thought you’d like that wine, because guys usually like sweeter (or whatever) wines.’ And it probably doesn’t make sense anymore, because you all recognize that guys are a pretty diverse group of people, and probably all have different tastes. If it doesn’t make sense to say for a guy, the same statement doesn’t make sense to say for a girl – we’re not all the same, weird, different being.”

But then, as they say, this is just how it works:

Why is the Hulk green?

You can thank Biochemistry for this lovely tidbit. Why is the Hulk green? How does he double in size in just a few seconds? How does he get stronger as he gets bigger?

My hypothesis is that, besides, you know, having extremely sped up cell replication from all the gamma rays (it'd have to be sped up at least 20,000x!) the Hulk must have evolved photosynthetic capabilities de novo from all the mutations he accumulated. Otherwise, there's no way the Hulk could ever increase so dramatically in mass! Absorbing carbon from the air would solve that problem. Plus, this would explain why the Hulk turns green when he gets angry. Chloroplasts are transcribed and assembled extremely speedily (first second), cells double (2nd second) then double in size (3rd second), the cells (just skin cells? acquire a super hard cell wall (again, like in plants - 4th second) and maybe the cells increase in size a little more (5th second?). Voila, a terrifying half-man half-plant hybrid arises. I knew this would happen when we started working on GMOs.

Worse, it seems Dr. Banner has lost all control of his cell replication mechanisms, at least when he gets angry - this is essentially a cancer (definition: loss of control of cell replication) of the worst sort, triggered by all sorts of different environmental factors.

The real problem is, of course, how the Hulk sheds all of this excess mass and these extra cells when he goes back to his alter ego. No wonder it takes so long to subdue the Hulk - how else can the Hulk have time to lose all the extra size he's gained?

And yes, I was asked a similar question on my Biochem exam today, so I do have an alibi for thinking about all this. Although perhaps not in such fine detail or for as long as I have done.

Don't even get me started on the physics of Iron Man and his suit. It won't be pretty. Although the Iron Man movie was absolutely fantastic.

Come On, Guys, Free Speech is Still OK

F**k Bush! (like this is really news)

Why is his resignation neccessary here? Why is it that, if someone spouts an opinion in a paper that the majority doesn't like, we suddenly get all of this clamoring for that person to resign from their post? Limiting what people are allowed to say simply because we don't like what they're saying is censorship. Soon we'll be editing old movies to remove people's cigarettes (:-P) and shortening Hamlet to a 10 word soliloquy simply because someone thinks it contains subversive material.

To be clear, if someone wrote an article stating F**k Gore! or F**k Obama! instead, I think I would be more angry about this. Still, they have a right to express this sentiment. It endangers no one (except, apparently, the writer themselves) and so, while offensive, it should be ALLOWED.

Scattered Thoughts

Here's hoping that this blog won't be as empty as the last! Although that seems relatively unlikely to me. Although perhaps not having a sketchy ex as the only regular reader of the blog will persuade me that I actually have something of substance to add to the internets.

Uninformed Opinions: I've changed my mind completely on organic food. And vegetarian food. Although I was cognizant at the time that I didn't really mean what I was spouting to Jamelle, that organic food was a waste of space and not very efficient, I now hold the complete opposite opinion.

General Complaints: I don't want to finish this paper (for my nanotech job over the summer). Hence the procrastination and blogging of this incohate mess. I'm terrible at finishing anything if I don't have a strict deadline for doing so, and this paper is a perfect example of that. True, I have to get it in to my PI well before the September 14th deadline, so he can proofread it. Also, I have to go back to school in less than a week, and that involves tiny details such as packing, last minute visits with all number of friends and family, the purchasing of fifteen different items I never knew I needed (and the forgetting of another few vital buys I should have made), etc (a wonderful English teacher told me to never use the word etc; instead, just add the few extra things being left out/forgotten to the list. Sound advice, but it's much too difficult to sit here and remember the other things I need to do. They'll come to me. Quite late, the night before I need to leave. I'm quite certain of this, actually.) Getting to the point, this week would be an excellent time to finish this paper - today, in fact, would be best, as no one is home and there are as yet no demands on my time (the M in fact thinks I am working on said paper - optimistic of her.) But try convincing my body of that. It'd rather read trashy magazines and kids books and bang out something which, in a former life, may have resembled piano music.

I'd much rather still be in California, with a bunch of science people who, apart from being a bit self conscious and critical, and thus somewhat dull, were actually LIKE me and actually seemed to, well, enjoy my company (LIKE me :-P). Which was great. CJ and Nikhil were awesome, and Syad and Derek were cool in their own slightly standoffish ways. I've never made friends so quickly. *sigh* Santa Barbara was gorgeous, and had the best weather I've ever experienced, outside of in New Zealand. In fact, it reminded me of New Zealand in a number of ways, which is perhaps why I liked it so much.