I know I have that paper here somewhere...

I got a question.

What do you use to organize your documents/papers?

Right now I have folders organized by topics and file names that contain author, year, journal and 4-9 word summary. It makes for some friggin loooong names and annoyingly inefficient searches. I was thinking of throwing everything behind EndNote, but before I do that, I want to be sure it will work as I wanted. Are there any alternatives (must run on Windows, but easy import/export to Mac or Linux would be nice). I also hate putting all my eggs in a proprietary basket. Case in point...

I recently found a disk with some very old journal entries (early high school) and even though they were in MS Word format (Word 5 for Mac), the latest version of Office wouldn't read them. I was a smart cookie though, and saved the documents in several formats, including good ole text. Apparently I had a huge crush on Michele Brinkerhoff my Sophomore year.

Any opinions on Zotero?

Jesus "OMFG WTF is wrong with you people!?!?!" Camp

Wow, just wow. I knew we had some real nuts in this country, but after watching Jesus Camp (on A&E right now) I've never felt so disgusted, disturbed and saddened by it. Ugh. I can't sleep now. If you read sites like Digg, you'll see some relatively extreme Athiest views. That used to bother me, but after watching this, I mean how do you reason with people so corrupted from childhood? They're the exact same as the Muslim extremists. There's is zero difference. Can't we add them to a terrorist watch list or something? Oh yeah, I forgot, they're advising the president. I mean you're a kid. You solve some math problem and finish your science project, and you feel pretty good, right? Sure, but you aren't crying and screaming to the point of seizures. Which experience is going to be more strongly imprinted? At least Ted Haggard (the preacher featured in the movie) was outed by his male lover and removed from his megachurch position.

I just needed to vent. Kthnx. Happy New Year's Eve? At least I'm enjoying the irony of this being on during the holiday season.

Most viewed YouTube clip of 2007

If you haven't seen this, you MUST watch it. All the way to the end.

All your research are belong to us!

I was going to mention this earlier (I think I have another link buried somewhere in my rss reader), but the US congress has just passed a bill requiring that all NIH funded research-based publications be made available on PubMed one year after publication. This is great news. I know that while I was out of academia, I found it almost impossible to keep up with the research world, since I couldn't access any journals.

Brought to my attention again by Slashdot.

On the season

So, first, I rarely wish Happy Hannukah because I never know when it is, even though I celebrate it. I think it was in April this year. But if you celebrate it as well, happy, cuddly wishes to you. Besides, we all know it's an excuse to keep the Jewish kids from feeling left out. Come on. No one really cares about a slight miscalculation in lamp oil volume. And what's the worst that would happen? Oh horrors! Going to bed at sundown. Woe is me!

Second, don't you Goys think you get off easy. Let's see what's in a nativity scene... hrmm wise men, baby, parents, animals... oh NO calendar. Shall we go by the Julian, Gregorian, perhaps Lunisolar? Guess what? There ain't no Santa, and Christmas is on Jesus's's'sssses's birthday (I always get that possessive form with a last name ending in 's' wrong, but I think that might be right this time). So, when you complain about Hannuuuukkahahahaah switching around, we're just being authentic. That, and it lets us take random days off be suddenly declaring that day some unknown holiday. Besides, Christmas is just a celebration taken from pre-Christian times (Yule and Saturnalia, and several others, I think), so it's just as arbitrary.

Yeah, so bah humbug, and have fun with your phony holidays! (Actually, I love this time of the year even as an Athiest, and just kidding around, so don't get all uppity about it. I can only stand to be back around the parents for so long before I go a little nutty. Plus, they don't drink coffee, so I'm going through major withdrawal.)

Hey, anyone get any good presents? (I got clothes, money, and a 3G iPhone when it is released.)

Yeah yeah...

Merry XMas, ya bastids! :)

Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs of 2007

Somehow my SfN poster was omitted from the list. (from Science Magazine, found on Slashdot)