The Blog of Colin Davis
Ah, the burnt smell of an autoclave. The whir of the pipette gun motor. The soft, velvety wave of humity when you open the cell growth ovens. Most of all, I love the scientific method.
Jim sent this over to me yesterday; worth posting.
Immediately after the events of September 11th, Usama Bin Laden sits around talking to a stunned, but helpful, American Guy.
Dude: What happened?
UBL: I just flew some planes into a couple of buildings and killed a whole bunch of people.
Dude: What'd you do that for?
UBL: We want your country to be more like us. You know, an oppressive poor theocracy.
Dude: allright. What do you want us to do?
UBL: First of all, you guys could talk about god a little more. Just like we do. See if you can fit it in as often as possible.
Dude: Yeah, we can do that.
UBL: You probably need to pull some of that science out of school books and get some god in there, too.
Dude: So evolution?
UBL: please. That should go. And we don't buy that birth control thing. Abstinence is the ticket.
Dude: ok. Just asking. We can work that in.
UBL: You need that massive disparity between the rich and poor that we have. And you're not really a poor country until you get id of that big, ugly surplus.
Dude: Hey, we can do both of those at the same time if we just give tax breaks to the rich. Spend a little more and Bam, no more surplus.
UBL: That's good thinking. Now. You need to be hated. This makes it easier to deal with you.
Dude: We could invade a whole different country. Kill some kids. Do some bombing.
UBL: I don't know...
Dude: Check it out, dude, we'll make it someone you hate. How about the ONLY secular government in the Middle east right there.
UBL: I like it. Thanks. But you need to do something about that freedom. Freedom of speech, fair trial, search, that stuff's got to go.
Dude: We can pass a bunch of laws restricting all those freedoms. What do you think aboutt hat?
UBL: How will you get away with that?
Dude: Easy, we'll just say it's patriotic. People will buy it.
UBL: And how about your homos. We kill ours. Sometimes just chop off their weenies.
Dude: We'll get there. What if we just pass some laws restricting them for right now, see how that flies.
UBL: Meh. It's a start. I wish you could kill them.
Dude: If we degrade them enough, people will just do that themselves, just like in your countries.
UBL: I see your point. But you still treat your women too well.
Dude: We can get rid of the right to choose. Give us time to get some new judges in, then we'll go to town. At the very least, we can start cutting resources to prevent violence against women.
UBL: Ok. I approve. Just keep moving backwards and we'll be fine.
Dude: So you're not going to fly any more planes into stuff.
UBL: Nah. Old news. Hey, you're not checking those containers shipped into the country yet, are you?
Dude: What? ohhhh, you rascal, you (ruffles UBL's Hair)
End
Ok, this is the last one for the day. I remember reading a news bit a while ago about a study that tried to understand where a "conservative" mentality came from. After a fair bit of googling, I finally found it: a Berkeley Study about conservative psychology.
Four researchers who culled through 50 years of research literature about the psychology of conservatism report that at the core of political conservatism is the resistance to change and a tolerance for inequality, and that some of the common psychological factors linked to political conservatism include:
• Fear and aggression
• Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Need for cognitive closure
• Terror management
....
The avoidance of uncertainty, for example, as well as the striving for certainty, are particularly tied to one key dimension of conservative thought - the resistance to change or hanging onto the status quo, they said.
The terror management feature of conservatism can be seen in post-Sept. 11 America, where many people appear to shun and even punish outsiders and those who threaten the status of cherished world views, they wrote.
As my mind goes back and forth between work and the election, my mind can't help but come to the conclusion that American's don't like facts. We have never really liked them, but I always hold out the hope that empiracism and logic will somehow become sexy and compelling. (I can point to evidence like C.S.I as an example -- something as tedious as going inch by inch over a room of carpet for stray pubic hairs has never looked as sexy. But then again, they do use time-lapse techniques to speed up the most boring bits)
Symptoms: Listlessness alternating with frustrated rage. Moody with a general depressed outlook on life and the future. Normal short-term stimulus (food, sexual material or television, as examples) fail to rouse patients.
Funny, when I watched it, I thought, "Gee, that's how I feel about you too!"
Ok, I did my part and voted. Vote #5 in my precinct. As an added bonus, there was a hottie waiting in line in front of me (and one of the perks of the whole experience is that I know his name and address. Hi Mark!) Anyway, I thought I would be able to stay way from cnn.com but I gave in for the first time just a few minutes ago, and it was totally un-rewarding. I am nervous and sweaty (although that, sadly, doesn't distinguish my general demeanor from that of any other day -- but take my word that I am more nervous and sweaty than normal. Yuck.) as I alternate between working on projects for clients and mentally pacing back and forth worrying that we will have another 4 more years of W.
