So, how did we get here??

Sam trembled at Susan’s actions.  The body laid on the floor twitching. Sam muttered to himself, “Not in my house, not in my house…” It was too late.  Susan had tasted blood.  She knew how to kill now. Beginning lines of one of Brook’s uncompleted stories (circa unknown.  It was years ago.) How did we [...]

Saturday: Bureau of Labor Statistics Completely Misses Meltdown in R&D

Last week, my lab partner and I sat in on a webinar from the American Chemical Society (ACS) discussing employment and employment trends of its members.  Now, the fact that the ACS is even having a webinar like this is significant.  It’s because so many chemists are out of work.  In previous recessions, this bloc [...]

Tuesday: Wisconsin has more cows than people

Or so the NYTimes would have us believe. This comment is from clueless Wisconsinite in the NYTimes: But others suggested that unions had perhaps had outlived their usefulness. Carrie Fox, who works at a billboard advertising company, said she hoped that the battle would encourage other governors to rein in public- and private-sector unions. “I [...]

The Elephant’s Child

The day after the SOTU address, after the President of the United States pretty much told American scientists that we were not up to Chinese standards, it snowed in New Jersey.  I looked out the window at the snow falling thick and fast and gauged my chances of getting to work with my malfunctioning power [...]

Announcement coming soon

If you’re wondering where I am, RL has intervened in a major way.  I’ve had to put this blog on the back burner.  But I’ll let you know what’s going on in a couple of days.  With President’s Day coming up, there may be a good opportunity to evaluate how THIS president is affecting the [...]

Back to the Pipe and the Pole

Here is a letter I received a few days ago from the President of my University. Last summer, I formed an advisory task force to assist the University in developing a plan to prepare for probable reductions in state funding for higher education and to assist the University in developing a new instructional resource model. [...]

Obama is the worst president of my lifetime

Hyperbolic?  You be the judge.  Administration calls for cutting aid to homebuyers: The Obama administration’s much-anticipated report on redesigning the government’s role in housing finance, published Friday, is not solely a proposal to dissolve the unpopular finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said closing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac might take five [...]

Joy to the World

I walked into the cafeteria a few minutes ago to see the TVs tuned to Egypt. I was watching with a big smile on my face when someone asked me, “Are you Egyptian?”, to which I replied: “We’re all Egyptian today.” The story of Egypt 2011 is all about people, determined and with solidarity, not [...]

Versailles

Brooke is studying the French Revolution this month.  I told her that Charlotte Corday and the death of Marat would make a pretty good essay topic.  Then I realized that the guy was essentially a blogger who was murdered in his bathtub.  Ok, he was a nasty blogger who let things get out of control. [...]

Twilight’s Last Reaming?

Who writes the ads for the superbowl these days? What happened to all of those clever people? The good thing is they seem to have realized that women also watch the game so there were fewer stupid looking young guys being presented with beautiful, scantily clad women who normally wouldn’t give the time of day [...]