Why Injecting Anti-Matter Into Your Brain is the Hip New Thing With the Kids These Days

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a Master’s Student in Medical Physics. Let me beat you to the punch: Medical Physics is a wide discipline, but deals largely with two distinct fields. The first is Medical Imaging or diagnostics, which uses different techniques to image the body and diagnose pathology, namely cancer. The second is Medical Treatment, which I happen to be interested in and, therefore, what the subject of my thesis. About 90% of what we as MedPhysicists deal with is cancer, and my side of things deals

What Are Some Books I Should Read?

1.) Non-Fiction

2.) Fiction

3.) Other

Sincerely, Joel

Age of the Essay: A Response

Paul Graham has good intentions.  He’s a computer guy—Cornell and Harvard educated, no less—who doesn’t understand why high school English teachers inflict a formulaic  structure (Intro + Support + Conclusion = Essay) on their students.  A fine question, except that his execution might be answer enough: the ambling, unfocused writing that ponders and pontificates without ever clearly articulating one’s point.  He’s convinced that such a simplistic structure is bad, without considering the

English Class Muck-raking

Paul Graham: The Age of the Essay So what do you say? Reform our education system? Teach our children how to actually write, instead of… whatever it is we were taught to do? When faced with the choice, what should we choose to produce: literature, or pretend discussions about “Marxist” interpretations of literature?

Radio Killed the Radio Star?

 

                          

 The Boomers have been pining for the days of Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones since shortly after Disco went they way of the Carter adminstration (translation: The great malaise of Disco is over! It’s MTV Morning in America!)  So why do I feel like this trend is accelerated in our generation?

Better Than Mr.Wizard!

 ”And with this, you can turn ordinary baking soda into heroin.”

 

Coming soon: Biophysicist-in-training Matt Goss brings us a post about science, and we actually learn something.

(He’ll also give us the post-experiment pat on the ass we so richly deserve, but never got from Mr.Wizard—the prude.)

Your Daily Poetry Fix: Keith Montesano

Keith Montensano’s excellent “Long After the Flames,” was recently published in Pebble Lake Review. See for yourself.  Keith thanks you in advance for being astounded by the force of his verse.

The Cartoon Controversy

A few days ago, I was right there with those defending the cartoons and denouncing extremists. Not all of the Jyllands-Postens’s cartoons were offensive; in fact, some of them were anything but. The reaction by European Muslims demonstrated a fundamental lack of respect for Western liberal ideas (which form the structure of the societies they live in). Moreover, the whole brouhaha was instigated by Islamic religious leaders and Middle Eastern governments looking to demagogue the issue and stir up anti-Western sentiment. We’re not going to do away with free speech because some people want to set fire to buildings when they feel offended.

NSA Wiretapping: The Debate

At the State of the Union, Bush put the NSA program squarely in the context of protecting Americans from terrorist threats.  Democrats have framed the issue as “domestic spying.”  Which is it?  Is this “circumevention” of the FISA court legal? (Fourteen legal scholars argue it is not.)

Seventh circuit judge Richard Posner asks “What if Wiretapping Works?” over at The New Republic, and has argued that we have a domestic intelligence crisis.

Is the President advocating an imperial presidency at the cost of American civil liberties and the consent of Congress?  Or is he doing what any American would demand: everything in his power to keep us safe from terrorism?