utenzi

Last night I watched Mel Gibson's movie Apocalypto which is an adventure movie concerning itself with the epic survival experience of a young South American man, Jaguar Paw, set against the backdrop of the waning days of the Mayan Empire, as he desperately tries to save his wife, Seven. There's some trappings in the movie of maturity and spirituality, such as the sage advice that Jaguar Paw receives from his father, Flint Sky --seen there on the right-- while hunting, facing dangers never before encountered, and most of all, when facing death and ruin. Both roles are played quite well by Rudy Youngblood and Morris Birdyellowhead, respectively. In fact the acting in this movie is so good it's very easy to believe you're actually seeing live footage of actual events taking place in the 1500s. Very impressive. Unfortunately for Jaguar Paw and everyone in his village, the Mayans need sacrifices to appease the gods of their people. The Mayans have had a run of bad luck and ...

First you start with the toys 'cause every boy needs a few toys. Seriously, it's less expensive just buying this crap -- the whole point of woodworking is playing with potentially dangerous toys! Next up you draw up a plan. You gotta have the plan so you have something to blame when you end up with nothing but sawdust, a few small cuts, a bruise or two, and some misshapen and sad looking pieces of "gluey" wood. Finally toss in some wood and away we go. Well, once I stop procrastinating. Later this week I'll post pictures of my slow and painful progress on this project should I manage to actually get something done. Just don't hold your breath!

My girlfriend is off wandering the East Coast so I'm left to my own devices this weekend. While tomorrow I might be finally building a window seat that I bought the wood for nearly a year ago (Sad, I know. I do tend to procrastinate), tonight is being used for movies. So far I've watched The Dirty Dozen on cable and Dreamgirls on DVD. Of the two, I'll go with WW2. While I know virtually everyone loved Dreamgirls, I'm in that small group that dissents. Over at Rotten Tomatoes Dreamgirls got a 78% fresh rating but I found it to be boring. What I did like about it was Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce's wonderful singing and Jamie Foxx giving another great acting performance. There were also very good supporting roles by Eddie Murphy and Danny Glover. Yet, despite those "high notes" the movie struck me as an overly long docudrama which couldn't remember the correct names for the people. Should I blame the Broadway play for that or this movie? I don't know ...

Okay. Maybe not everyone would react the same way, but a researcher at Penn is waxing quite eloquent about some bacteria he and a team of other researchers found recently in the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park. According to him, "Finding a previously unknown, chlorophyll-producing microbe is the discovery of a lifetime for someone who has studied bacterial photosynthesis for as long as I have." Bryant went on to elaborate, "I wouldn't have been as excited if I had reached into that mat and pulled out a gold nugget the size of my fist!" [The picture there to the left is from the Penn press release linked above. It illustrates where the bacterial mats are found] The discovery of the chlorophyll-producing bacterium, Candidatus Chloracidobacterium (Cab.) thermophilum , was described in the 27 July 2007 issue of the journal Science in a paper led by Don Bryant, the Ernest C. Pollard Professor of Biotechnology in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecula...

A few weeks ago I started taking this dietary product called Align , marketed by Proctor and Gamble. I started taking the capsules on July 3 and posted about it at the time. You see, Align is supposed to help combat a number of annoying maladies such as diarrhea, constipation, gas and bloating. These are all symptoms of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) which unfortunately I'm afflicted with. So taking Align should help me, y'know? Unfortunately since I've started taking the Align I've had two of the my worst weeks of the past year. And you know what? Oddly enough that encourages me. I really wasn't expecting this stuff to have any effect at all. And while it might be coincidence that my symptoms have been really bad the past two weeks, I'm betting it's related to the Bifantis in Align . The reason I'm finding this encouraging is that there is an affect going on here . Sure, it's negative but I suspect that's just me adjusting to the new bact...

The July 25th issue of The Independent , often just referred to as "the Indy", has a story on biological research. It's titled in their inimitable way as "Biotech or Biohazard?" . The story is about the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, a new 520,000-square-foot federal laboratory designed to research and combat the world's deadliest germs and potential biological weapons. One of the short list of locations for the lab is in nearby Butner NC, around 30 miles from the RTP area. The reason I mention this is that in a sidebar article about local Biosafety Level 3 facilities, the building I work in gets mentioned! Eeek. There'll be crowds of protestors descending down upon us. Wonderful! By the way, if this sorta thing gets you worried--this list is so incomplete... there's dozens not listed on here. Fortunately I just have to deal with level one and two biohazards. DURHAM Duke University * Cancer Center Isolation Facility, Research Drive—Stu...

I finally got around to watching the final 6 episodes of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip this past weekend. I really loved the writing and acting on that show. I wish it hadn't been canceled. I'm sure, given the people associated with the show, that it was very expensive to create--and I guess the ratings just didn't warrant that kind of money. Damn shame. Last night I watched Hell's Kitchen from Monday night as well as the first two episodes of Burn Notice on USA. Jeffrey Donovan, the star of Burn Notice , is quite charismatic and perfectly cast in this quasi-spy drama. The show is quite entertaining in an almost tongue-in-cheek way. I wish I could say the same for Hell's Kitchen . None of the contestants are appealing so it's hard to have much interest in the goings on. Rock is plainly the best chef--but I can't find any enthusiasm for him. He's too much of a dick. None of the eliminated contestants were very likable either. It was just a season of pe...