Robots

Entirely too much of my coursework in graduate school has been concerned with telling the difference between robots and humans.  This distinction may be relevant to discussions in Computational Modeling, but seems ridiculous when outlined in excruciating detail in Neuroanatomy.

Best Thing about Living in Centereach NY...

...Easy Access to broccoli rabe sausage from the Aiello Bros Pork Store.  Their sweet sausage with fennel and prosciutto wrapped mozzarella are also pretty great.

If they sold sandwiches they would make a kazillion dollars and I would probably have a heart attack.

The Office (UK)

The original version of The Office is now on Hulu.  Check it out, its great.

The Danger of Brain Pictures

As someone who does work involving brain images, I find this anecdote (from MindHacks) rather relevant.

 

Though this figure is humorous, it happens to be based on some real research.  Neuroimaging has yielded a huge amount of knowledge about the relationship between the brain and behavior but has also been used in poorly conceived or frivolous studies that gain attention simply because of accompanying pretty brain pictures.  

While we may be convinced by scientific sounding explanations and figures, poor methods are still poor methods and critical thinking skills are becoming increasingly important in evaluating neuroimaging studies (especially those discussed in the popular press).

80's

For whatever reason, I've been listenung to a lot of music from the 1980's.

Sonic Youth has been a bit of a revelation.