I'm researching cars, and I just read this sentence in a user-review:

I had this Ford since I bought it.

...Ok, yeah. Next...

Just heard this on the radio, and thought of you, Greg. Hope your blood pressure's good.

I can post this no where else but here. A good read.

First day back at the office.

*sigh*

I usually get a burst of energy before a new semester. I don't seem to have any this time...

Pardon me for a moment...

So Dr. King's dream has been realized because Obama's been elected president? (I heard someone on TV say that today.) I thought King's dream was that we would be judged not by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character.

Anyone who believes that Obama would have been elected if he had been white, with the same policy positions, voting record, "eloquence", etc, are smoking something.

Sigh. This is really the only place I can vent this stuff. As you were.

Well--the polygenetic mutation finding is something that I've been predicting for some time. There are well over 100 neurological or genetic conditions that result in deafness. I predict that stuttering is the same; stuttering is not a pathology, but rather then end result (symptom) of any number of conditions. It was just kind of weird getting a call confirming this.

When I interviewed for the job down here, the dean of the graduate school inerupted me at least 3 times to say that stuttering was a nervous condition. And since this predjuce and negative stereotype is accepted as fact by society, one sole voice isn't going to change the world's ignorant opinion. The fundamental attribution error is a powerful thing. But it's findings such as these that can have a significant impact on millions of people. Not so much regarding a "cure", but at least in a sense of peace that illudes so many other people who stutter that I've run across. So it's just interesting to be in the initial 21 that will ultimately result in changing world opinion.

Oh, and congrats, by the way... ;-)

Greg, that is pretty cool (I think). Are you #21?

And now, I bring you Enlow's First Law of Home Ownership:

The probability p that when you try to fix one problem, you create another, is modeled by the function

p(t) = 2^-t

where t is the number of years of home-ownership.

Right now I'm at about t = 0.125, which makes my p about 91.7%.

That feels about right.

Hey Guys,

I got a call from NIH. Dennis Drayna called me and basically informed me that I'm one of 21 people having a unique genetic mutational signature that may account for at least one variant (or sub-type) of the stuttering phenomenon. Of interest, the genetic mutation is very similar to that of two fatal childhood diseases, so that was kind of a double-take on their end. They know that 20 of 21 of us are all healthy; it's just that they may not know why. They want me to fly up there for more testing, and I'll accept.

So Tim, if you all want to try and get together--let me know; I'd love to meet your son and read him a book. I know that Bethesda is BFE relative to Woodbridge. Not to mention how baby's can alter travel and time limitations! But I know the city pretty well, and I'm happy to take a train or two. I've yet to schedule the trip until I get back, but email me if you're interested.

Ok--thinking of breaking down and doing the FaceBook thing. *sigh* I'm working on a new project, and it might be for the betterment of the project. (Site is still very much in Alpha)

So--if any of you guys are in debt and times are tight, is your best plan of attack to increase credit card spending?

*sigh* Liberalism baffles me.

This was a funny headline (and decent quick read): Friended by Mom and Dad on Facebook. As an aside, there's someone from our past that keeps on trying to "friend" Court. She's ignored the request twice now; we'll see what happens.

Hope you guys had a good set of holidays. The break down here has been fun, but I brought tons of work with me. I picked up this new watch that sets itself according to the atomic clock in Fort Collins. It's not the most fashionable, but my inner-geek is glowing. It *syncs*itself*with*an*atomic*clock* up to 6 times a day. [Update: I know what time it is today, because my watched synced with the atomic clock at 7:46 am this morning. Yup, still glowing.]

I've decided to apply to another university--not because I want to relocate per-se, but because it's much, much closer to the extended family. (The school's in NC.) I'm not even 100% sure why I'm doing it though: (a) I really hate the idea of moving; (b) they'd have to make me one heckuva offer, which includes tenure; (c) my dad's kind of an asshole anyway. But we'll see. They need someone with exactly my skill set, so they have sufficient motivation to make an aggressive offer.