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Making the Pie Bigger

Sep 28th, 2009
by James.
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When zero sum games are played for fun they can be very entertaining (see: poker). When they’re played for survival they’re miserable (see: who do we throw off the lifeboat, which person gets this kidney, and poker  when you can’t afford to lose). All too often keeping people alive (whether with regards about health care or food production) is seen as a zero sum game. But it’s not. My favorite example is the green revolution, but But that gets into a whole separate fight about the green revolution, and takes attention away from the real point about bigger pies being better than fighting over the pieces of a small one. So I have a new example. One almost no one can find fault with:

Cooking (more…)

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Fish Farming

Jun 24th, 2009
by James.
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I’ve never been particularly partial to fish. I suppose I could blame it on growing up in Iowa but I know plenty of people back home who like them, even catch freshwater fish themselves. Regardless, the point I’m trying to make is that I don’t eat a lot of fish. But if I were looking for fish, my preference would be for tilapia. More below. (more…)

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Chinese New Year

Jan 26th, 2009
by James.
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Lots of new photos up on Flickr. On Saturday I went down into San Francisco to see Chinatown in the weekend before Chinese New Year (which is today:  新年快乐 ! <– I theorize this means happy new year, given it’s appearance on so many people’s facebook statuses over the past few days) Lots of pictures.

That night we decided we wanted cake, and took advantage of the fact that I keep buying boxes of cake mix, even though I never get around to mixing them. Resulting in so much cake. Just to clarify, there are FOUR pans of cake in this photo:
Four Cakes

Work is going well. Only two weeks left in this rotation and I’m racing to have something to show for my three months of effort.

This is the year of the ox. The second time it’s come around since the year of the ox when I was born (which for those doing the math means I’ll be turning 24 all too soon.)

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iPhones In Iowa

Jan 3rd, 2009
by James.
1 comment

One of the gifts I received for Christmas this year was an iPhone. Well, actually a gift card for an iPhone, apple has become very picky about allowing anyone to purchase an iPhone without signing up for the service contract right there on the spot. (There’s so much demand for them in foreign countries where it hasn’t be introduced yet, and from people in the US who want to use iPhones on other carriers.)

Anyway, I finally purchased said iPhone at a nearby apple store in Berkeley (located as it happens in an open-air mall which is a much better idea in California than it is here in Iowa (with months of freezing winters and more months of blazing hot heat) yet they’re currently in the process of constructing such a structure in my hometown because open air malls are the “in thing.”) And it’s a good thing I did. It was a lifesaver during my delayed and re-routed trip home. Air travel is a lot less stressful and a lot less boring when you’re able to check and respond to e-mail and surf the web. Plus with a free app called stanza the iPhone makes a quite passable e-book reader.

Getting back into Iowa has been a lot of fun. Hickory Park would never survive in California, but I love it:

And it really is winter here:

Did I mention that with my iPhone, I can now upload geotagged photos (click through to flickr on this photo, and it’ll tell you where it was taken along with a link to display the exact location on yahoo maps):
Matthew with Athena

I am now in complete awe of my friend Ben’s ability with infants. If I ever am in a position where I’m going to be expected to take care of one myself, he’s the guy I’ll call for advice. His little niece is tiny (less than a month old) and smelly…
Monty with Inara

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If you can do PCR, you can bake…

Nov 26th, 2008
by James.
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I’ve heard the reverse statement plenty of times in labs I’ve worked it. “If you can bake (/cook) you can do PCR.” I even used it once myself when I was training a girl at the Danforth Center. And it’s true. Today I performed rtPCR which required mixing a lot of different chemicals in little tubes, heating them to very specific temperatures for very specific lengths of time, and siting around bored while biology happened.

Today I also made the dough for my father’s thanksgiving rolls. I was fortunate in that he had the recipe written up in terms designed to make sense to molecular biologists (“reoil lightly, cover with plastic wrap and store in the 4°” <– what lab rat’s call a refrigerator). Once more, the process consisted of mixing ingredients in bowls*, storing at approximate temperatures, and feeling bored while yeast biology happened.

It looks like I might actually manage to pull these rolls off and they, along with Senator Russell Sweet Potatoes are my personal vital thanksgiving foods.

 Thanksgiving Roll Dough

*A cooking pot can stand in for a mixing bowl when all of my (1) bowls are already in use, as can the removable bowl of a rice cooker. My next fallback was going to be the crock pot, and I still may need to call it into service if the dough rises as much as the recipe suggests it will.

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