A Word On The Oslo Bombings

It was horrible. Most of the people that died were children and teenagers. And people are using this sad, sick day to further their religious and political agendas. Not cool, Faux News. Not cool.

"Norway’s Prime Minister is a liberal atheist, they have one of the best economies in the world, they have universal health care, and subsidized education, it has had the highest Human Development Index 7 years in a row, and it’s never started a pointless war, given tax breaks to the richest, and created Jersey Shore — yet it’sAmerica that knows best."

— Matthew Trevithick, responding to this story, “Former Bush Official Places Blame For Oslo Attack On Norwegians For Not Being ‘Serious’ About Terrorism,” with a comment that wins the universe. (via cognitivedissonance)

Once again, from the wonderful blog of abaldwin. 

Plans? We Don't Need No Steenkin' Plans!

I totally stole this from Activate the Mechanism. By the way, go read his blog. He is awesome and sexy and hilarious. Enjoy.

Thanks, Tyler. This was too perfect not to share!

Summertime In The City

I very much want to dust off my blog and get back into the swing of things. The last several months have been both extremely busy and rather hard, and now that the dust and cat hair has settled I'd like to pick up where I left off. I know I owe you two further discussions on action potentials, and I'd like to do a regular reaction/debunking of the Dr. Oz show.

But let's catch up a bit, shall we? Have some wine and some cheese, get comfy. This is going to be a sweet, smooth return to being friends.

We'll only go as far as you're comfortable, baby. ;)

I finished my last semester at State in May. In a way, I'm a little maudlin. State gave me so much: new goals, new aspirations, departmental and faculty contacts, opportunities that I certainly lacked previously. I am deeply grateful to my friends and professors. I am so happy and excited about where my life is going next.

And boy is it going! I got into a graduate program at CSU East Bay, in the Biology Department. I have a whole field of research to look forward to, a TA position, possible papers that I can publish. It is a whirlwind and so thrilling. I get to do 2 years of bench research, and that is just precisely where I want my life to be.

And it opens up options. In a year I can decide whether or not to push on through to med school or find a program to obtain my PhD. If I get my PhD I will probably go get my PA license so that I can do clinical neurology research and I can still get my hands on patients. If I get my MD I won't need a PhD to do clinical research, just permission from the ethics and humanities board at my hospital. That is the norm for all clinical research.

And I am still looking at what the military can offer me in terms of benefits. The Air Force or Navy look very appealing, and not only are the medical and housing benefits nice, so is retirement. In addition, I can get my hands on the types of patients that I want to: patients suffering from percussion neuropathy or patients with phantom limb or other types of odd pain. I still want to look at the modulation of the nervous system by the endocrine systems, and I would still love to be a surgeon.

And what is most exciting about my acceptance by this program is that all of these options are laid out for me on the table. I just have to grab for them.

My completing GPA at State was 3.3. That is not half bad for all upper division pre-medical science courses.

I know I haven't been around much lately. But I'm hoping to change that.

Keep watching. There will be more new stuff coming up. Also, as I get into research and teaching, there will be more for me to talk about.

Stay reasonable,
-Reading Frame