Monthly Archives: June 2011

Finally on Sunday I got the dataset I was looking for. I think. So far so good. I celebrated by buying groceries, for like the first time in a month.

It’s 11:30 PM on a Saturday night and I’m just finishing teardown on my experiment, which takes about an hour. It’s still not “working”, but every marathon measurement session like this seems to bring it an inch closer. I am … Continue reading →

I was raised to believe that Nicotine is “the most addictive substance on earth”. Maybe the meme flowed through this 1987 New York Times article: Nicotine: Harder to Kick … than Heroin. It was reinforced by authoritative quotes like “Nicotine … Continue reading →

Today was the summer solstice, and I made the most of it, biking home late in the bright evening light. I almost wish I could spend my whole life in high-latitude summer just for the long days. You can do … Continue reading →

Have you ever wanted to reproduce that bag of mass-manufactured food-like product but wondered where you could buy evaporated cane juice, yogurt powder, diastatic malt powder, palm oil, soy lecithin, or ammonium bicarbonate? Too bad I can’t find anyone who … Continue reading →

Attempted to make brown rice for the first time ever. Cooked it for over an hour and it was still wet and mushy … but tasty. Good enough for bachelor food, but it’s going to need some work before I … Continue reading →

Today is my 13th consecutive day in lab. This is actually sort of a good sign: it means I have something to work on, and I have the MRI scan time I need to make progress. It’s definitely getting old … Continue reading →

I felt pretty stupid wandering around all day on the brightest sunniest summeriest day of the year carrying my oversized doorman’s umbrella because of the stupid weather forecast. I felt pretty smart walking home through a thunderstorm though.

Around 150 AD (1860 years ago), Nicomachus conjectured that there are infinitely many perfect numbers, and that they are all even. In the interim new religions, civilizations, languages, maybe even species have formed. In every generation mathematicians and philosophers have … Continue reading →

All roommate swaps are finally complete now, for at least two whole months. The crew who moved out took most of the(ir) furniture. It looks like a much bigger apartment now.