July Scientiae: Fantasy Institute

This month's July Scientiae is from JaneB:"You have been selected as the Director of a newly endowed research institute. It is your job to decide where the institute will be based, its codes of conduct, its structure, and who you will hire. Dream away! Tell us what would make your institute a haven for scientists." Photo by GlisglisLocation:- Based in warm climate with fantastic...

the great thing about stripes...

is that they look fantastic no matter what the settings....*images courtesy bippity boppity boo, plush palate, oh happy day, luxe and lilies, tiny white daisies, coco and kelly, lucky boy sun...

Err on the side of "Doctor"

DrugMonkey's post on academic titles reminded me of something I wanted to mention.Photo by CybertoadWhen addressing someone in an academic context whose gender and/or academic ranking is unknown, it's generally best to err on the side of "Doctor". The worst that happens is you're wrong and they're flattered.Recently a colleague (C1) invited another colleague (C2) to review a paper....

what's a girl....

gotta do to sport a cute outfit like this one??! i think it needs to magically appear in my closet. it would be a lot cuter then the t-shirt and gym shorts i am currently living in these days. it's that elastic band that keeps me coming back for more....*images courtesy of house and home, urban electric, the zh...

Mendeley news

Few months ago I posted about Mendeley, the reference management system. I've been using it all the time and I am really satisfied. It is much more convenient to have your papers on a server than on a flash drive. Also keeping meta-information about the papers makes dealing with them (exploring, reading, citing etc.) more pleasant.In this month a major update was released and a monetizing scheme was introduced. There are now 3 tariff plans in addition...

Mobile Scholar: Part I

Image by Mike LichtI am trying to turn my iPad into a laptop in order to lighten my load while traveling (and save my poor neck). It will never replace a proper computer from a software development perspective, but from a scholarly reading and writing perspective I am almost there.The Chronicle had a nice post in ProfHacker regarding PDF annotation and organization, and Christopher Long...

"But you don't look like a computer scientist!"

Joe McCarthy has an interesting post about the Boopsie Effect, "wherin women in upper-level positions in historically male-dominated professions find that 'attractiveness suggests less competence and intellectual ability'". He discusses some female computer science researchers he knows who have felt compelled to conceal their attractiveness in order to be taken seriously by their colleagues.This is...

Interview with Jimmy Moore

About two months ago, I did an interview with Jimmy Moore of the Livin' la Vida Low Carb internet empire. I hardly remember what we talked about, but I think it went well. I enjoyed Jimmy's pleasant and open-minded attitude. Head over to Jimmy's website and listen to the interview here. I do recall making at least one mistake. When discussing heart attacks,I said "atrial fibrillation" when I meant "ventricular fibrillatio...

work with what you've got...

i am blown away by the sweet comments about walker and his room. thank y'all so much! i thought i would be here sooner but its amazing how time consuming staring at a newborn can be! he totally has me wrapped around his finger....i wanted to answer some questions about the nursery and show how w/ baby #2, you've got to work with what you've got. which was basically zero $$ and tweaking taylor's super...

Gandarusa, Potensial untuk KB PriaKamis, 24 Juni 2010 | 08:50 WIBJAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Tumbuhan sejenis perdu ini sudah lama dikenal sebagai campuran obat luar untuk mengatasi berbagai keluhan. Belakangan manfaat lebih gandarusa makin tersingkap, terutama sebagai kontrasepsi alami untuk pria. Beberapa penelitian telah dilakukan guna membuktikan khasiatnya.Sejak dulu orang mengenal gandarusa sebagai...

Cloudy with a chance of iPhones

I was ... the first full-time woman faculty member in my department.There really was difficulty among my male colleagues in associatingwith a woman as a colleague. I think they literally did not know howto talk to me, and as a consequence often just did not talk to me.They would ignore me. They would not invite me to have lunch withthem, which was a very ordinary experience there ... they would...

In Search of Traditional Asian Diets

It's been difficult for me to find good information on Asian diets prior to modernization. Traditional Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese diets are sometimes portrayed as consisting mostly of white rice, with vegetables and a bit of meat and soy, but I find that implausible. Rice doesn't grow everywhere, and removing all the bran was prohibitively labor-intensive before the introduction of modern machine milling. One hundred years ago, bran was partially...

"Can I call you 'babe'?"

Recently I was chatting with some colleagues, and we were discussing a researcher joining our group. One person started to say, "And this new girl-,"  looks at me, "-Oh, or should I say, 'woman'?"All the men in the room turned to look at me."Definitely 'woman'. I would only say 'girl' if I was speaking about a child."This question actually sparked a good, productive conversation....

the little man....

is finally here.....and i can't get enough of him :)we thought we had the perfect baby...the first night home from the hospital, he barely woke up to eat....the second night, a completely different story. we are a little sleep deprived (warren just made a grill cheese and forgot to put the top piece of bread on). here are some pictures of walker's room; promise to be more bright eyed later this...

KOPI Herbal - Kopi kaya dengan kandungan herbal

Kopi Herbal merupakan salah satu produk minuman untuk meningkatkan stamina dan kesehatan. Kopi ini mengandung berbagai macam herbal berkhasiat diantaranya: 1. Mesoyi, Kapulaga, serimpi, dan secang untuk mencegah masuk angin. 2. Jahe Merah dan Lengkuas merah untuk kebugaran tubuh. 3. Daun Dewa untuk melancarkan aliran darah. 4. Ginseng, dan Euricoma Radix (pasak Bumi) untuk stamina, 5. Pegagan untuk...

Object detection vs. Semantic segmentation

Recently I realized that object class detection and semantic segmentation are the two different ways to solve the recognition task. Although the approaches look very similar, methods vary significantly on the higher level (and sometimes on the lower level too). Let me first state the problem formulations.Semantic segmentation (or pixel classification) associates one of the pre-defined class labels...

Communication Styles and Skin Thickness

I've started this blog, mainly, because of some recent articles in the NY Times by John Tierney regarding the reasons why their are so few women in STEM. While some of his writing contained bits of truth, mostly it was a thinly veiled opinion piece that the editors should never have put in the 'science' section.But I have no desire to attack Tierney or the Times editorial staff beyond voicing my displeasure...

Low Micronutrient Intake may Contribute to Obesity

[2013 update: I'm skeptical of the idea that micronutrient insufficiency/deficiency promotes obesity.  Although the trial discussed below suggested it might be a factor, it has not been a general finding that micronutrient supplementation causes fat loss, and the result needs to be repeated to be believable in my opinion.  Also, conditions of frank micronutrient deficiency are not usually associated with fat gain]Lower Micronutrient Status...

pardon me....

while i pause for a week to add one more to our family :)*image courtesy of misty bliss/ wide open spa...

10 things....

paloma was sweet enough to ask me to participate in her series 10 things i can't live without....if your interested, check them out on la dolce vita! thanks again paloma :) it was a lot of fun!*image courtesy of bippity boppity ...

New Layout

I thought I'd spruce the place up a bit! Let me know what you think in the commen...

blog = amazing opportunity....

this blog has been a blessing for me for so many reasons and one of those was having the opportunity to be contacted by a magazine scout from BHG/ Meredith Group. i was beyond shocked when i received the email last summer asking if she could go see some of my projects. and luckily for me, the sweet team at BHG Kitchen and Baths Ideas liked what they saw. back in oct. i was able to go behind the...