Batman vs The Internet

Comic books are serious business.  To demonstrate this, here is Bruce Wayne (and his bat shaped eyebrows) fighting crime by trolling people on the internet while his former sidekick and former sidekick's current sidekick watch and drink coffee. 

From Batman Incorporated #6

By Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham

How Research Works: XXIX

THE LAB: FRIDAY

(Nobody is around)

(Undergrads are studying for finals)

(Grad students are working from home)

(Professors are doing whatever professors do when not in the lab)

(Seriously, what do they do when they aren't in the lab?)

(They do leave the lab... right?)

(...Right?)

Blogger Ate Some Posts

Things have been a bit screwy with Blogger for the last 36 hours or so.  Expect some craziness to continue as I try to haphazardly fix things.

How Research Works: XXVIII

THE LAB: 8AM

JUNIOR GRAD STUDENT
Ugh.  So I spent the night here...

SENIOR GRAD STUDENT
Congratulations!  Everyone should do it at least once.  The students here before me practically lived here.

JUNIOR GRAD STUDENT

I heard about that.  Is that why there is a recliner in the experiment room?

SENIOR GRAD STUDENT

I think that chair is just there to trick subjects into thinking our experiments aren't all incredibly torturous.  I think its full of asbestos or spiders or something actually.

SENIOR GRAD STUDENT

I prefer the lab couch whenever I spend the night here.

JUNIOR GRAD STUDENT

That explains why our PI mentioned that she need to get a longer couch now that she has taller graduate students.

SENIOR GRAD STUDENT

Yeah, she is always looking out for us...

Random Pictures of Food

I noticed there were a bunch of food pictures on my camera when I was uploading pictures of stuffed peppers.  Lets just say I'm even more excited for summer now that I am reminded that Summer means BBQ and BBQ means grilled meat for fajitas!

These pictures were taken over a year ago.  I think the delay in posting them means I need to start making grilled fajitas post haste. 

Recipe in Progress: Vaguely Turkish Stuffed Peppers

Despite not using a recipe and knowing next to nothing about Turkish cuisine, I thought these came out pretty well. I was worried that the rice was going to be undercooked, but aside from some al dente pieces here and there, that wasn't a problem.  The spices and everything really work well, though I think I'll add more cumin and parsley next time around.

The fragility of the peppers is an issue I wasn't really prepared for. Using tongs to get the peppers out of the pot caused a few of them to implode, which meant that a lot of the stuffing fell into the water. A more careful approach (spoons and patience) is probably necessary.

Since it is almost summer, I've been thinking about how to make these on the grill. I'm thinking that pre-cooking the filling (the night before maybe) then roasting some peppers on the BBQ would work well. It would certainly do more to preserve the spice flavor than boiling everything.  I saw a stuffed pepper recipe online that features grilled sausages, so I might get distracted and just make that.

Recipe behind the jump.

Research Tumble

I've decided to start cross posting the "How Research Works" posts to a Tumblr blog.  I'll be revising and updating the posts I've already made on here for awhile, but I'm sure posting will sync up eventually.

http://howresearchworks.tumblr.com/

How Research Works: XXVII

A SEMINAR ROOM: 10AM

FULLY TENURED PROFESSOR

Today I'll be talking about the future of academia...

SENIOR GRAD STUDENT

Oh good.  I have a bunch of questions.

FULLY TENURED PROFESSOR

...Specifically how there isn't one.

SENIOR GRAD STUDENT

Wait.  What?

FULLY TENURED PROFESSOR

There is no future in academia.  Not for any of you.  Not for this university.

SENIOR GRAD STUDENT

I think I'm going to go have an existential crisis in my lab.

Here Forever

The last "How Research Works" post is based on an actual conversation that occurs often in my lab.  I've participated in it multiple times, both as the junior grad student and more recently as the bitter senior grad student.  In a couple of months I'll be the senior-most student in the lab which means that bitterness and cynicism will be expected of me.

This week's mix is a bunch of stuff that has been kicking around my iTunes for awhile.  No real theme this week, I'm thinking that the next mix will have to be something a bit more light hearted.

Don't Forget. Here Forever

1. Astroid Exile- Screen Vinyl Image

2. Magnetic Moon- Crystal Stilts

3. Perfect Life- Belong

4. Breath the Fire- The Soft Moon

5. Keep Slipping Away- A Place to Bury Strangers

6. The Silence Ends- The Vera Violets

7. End Times- Weekend

8. Lovely Weather- The Vandelles