Let's say there are two people at your work who emit, as Charles Barkley once said in an Old Spice commercial, malodorous emanations. The emanations are different - one is a pungent body odor, and the other is an amazingly powerful bad breath. You can smell either of the odors as soon as you enter the office (it's a big office), and the smells remain long after each offender leaves. Thankfully these people aren't actually in the same office as you, so you only have to deal with this every so often, but each time it happens you wonder whether you should pull the fire alarm so everyone can go outside and get some fresh air.
What would you do? Do you quietly ask the person with the bad breath if they would like a piece of gum? Do you ask the person with really bad b.o. if they would like a bar of soap?
It turns out that the 'press' at this press conference were FEMA employees. The press conference was announced only 15 minutes before it began, so the real press didn't have enough time to attend. FEMA's solution was to have their own staff ask questions, rather than wait for the actual press to show up.
This isn't the first time FEMA has been in the news for behaving badly. Their handling of Hurricane Katrina has been widely criticized. Last August, on the anniversary of Katrina, I posted this entry about a guy who drove a replica FEMA trailer to D.C. to thank President Bush for the "millions of FEMA trailers", which smelled terribly like a publicity stunt.
It's clear that FEMA is aware of their shortcomings, but rather than address them, they seem to prefer setting up smokescreens to make it seem like they're doing a great job. Unfortunately, we're not judged by the one guy who thinks we're doing great, and we can't ask our friends to be our straight-men in professional situations.
But wouldn't it be great if we could do just that? I wonder what the reviews for my next paper would look like in The World According to FEMA...
The manuscript by Jaffe et al., addresses the role of Rho GTPase signaling pathways in epithelial morphogenesis, a fundamental biological process. This paper reports the establishment of a novel model of epithelial morphogenesis, and provides data defining the role of specific Rho GTPase signaling pathways in distinct aspects of this process.
Overall, this paper was written extremely clearly and logically. There are many unique and revolutionary aspects of this study. The originality of the approaches used by Jaffe et al., are only superseded by the clarity of the data.
Major Concerns:
1) Figure 1 has too much data and should be either separated into 2 figures, or 50% of it should be 'data not shown' (although it would be a shame to leave such beautiful images to the imagination of the reader).
2) The Methods section should be expanded so everyone will be able to produce the quality of data presented in this manuscript.
3) Although this paper is clearly suitable for publication, this reviewer is left worrying that the Journal won't be setting the bar too high for other groups attempting to publish their work.
This Sunday the Miami Dolphins will play the New York Giants at London's Wembley Stadium in the first regular season NFL (American football) game outside of North America. Although NFL players have no problem affording to vacation in Europe, it's possible that a lot of them are among the many Americans who don't even have a passport.
Certainly Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder's tongue-in-cheek comments published yesterday in this article in the Palm Beach Post sound like they come from a guy making his first trip across the pond:
I couldn't find London on a map if they didn't have the names of the countries. I swear to God. I don't know what nothing is. I know Italy looks like a boot. I learned that. I know London Fletcher. We did a football camp together. So I know him. That's the closest thing I know to London. He's black, so I'm sure he's not from London. I'm sure that's a coincidental name.
Nice one, Channing. Why do you think you aren't able to locate London on a map? Anyway, I'm sure you could find the US on a world map, right?
In an interview with The Sunday Times (UK), published on October 14, Nobel laureate Dr. James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, expressed his concern about the future of Africa, saying that "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really". He went on to say that although his hope is that everyone is equal, "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true". You can read the full article here.
The reaction to Dr. Watson's statements was swift. He was forced to cancel his UK tour to promote his new book after many of his speaking engagements were canceled by organizers, and the Board of Trustees of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York issued this statement regarding his comments. A day later, they suspended Dr. Watson of 'administrative responsibilities pending further deliberation by the Board'.
Since they were published, Dr. Watson has apologized and retracted his statements, admitting that "there is no scientific basis for such a belief." The problem is, the damage has been done. When a scientist with the clout of Jim Watson makes a statement, no matter how outrageous or unfounded, it gives someone with similar beliefs the feeling of credibility. The beauty of scientific method is that it is designed to test hypotheses by collecting measurable evidence or data. Making a blanket statement like 'black people are less intelligent than white people' is inherently untestable. How can 'intelligence' be measured?
In an ironic twist, this paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America four days after the Times article, reported that "gossip has a strong influence on the resulting behavior even when participants have access to the original information (i.e., direct observation) as well as gossip about the same information." So, even if quantitative data existed that showed black people and white people had equal levels of intelligence, many would still choose to believe Watson's statements.
This past Sunday I went to the park, rolled out my blanket, took my shirt off, and laid down in the sun to spend a relaxing couple of hours reading a book. Although this is a normal way to spend a Sunday afternoon in New York, it's hardly a normal thing to do at the end of October.
Then again, I found this post from last year... so maybe this weather is normal!
The last time I went to a dentist was just before moving to London (almost 7 years ago). At the time, I thought it was likely that I wouldn't go again until I returned to the States. I was right. Although I don't yet look like Austin Powers, I knew it was time.
I chose to go to a dental practice about 20 minutes walking from work, which was recommended by Alan (he and his wife have both been, and as far as I know they still have all of their teeth). The founder of Quickbleach Dental Spa has been in various magazines and TV shows, and you can even see a video clip from The Today Show that mentions Quickbleach. I don't know how prevalent it is in other cities, but public relations seems to be a big part of having any kind of business here in New York City, even if it's a medical or dental practice. In fact, the sports medicine doctor I went to a few months ago mentions that he is a regular columnist for Triathlete magazine (I chose him over another doctor who is the associate team physician for the New York Giants).
No matter what kind of good publicity a dentist receives, this is what goes through my mind just before an appointment. Enjoy.
A lot of famous people live, or at least spend time, in New York City. I've had friends tell me they've run into everyone from Uma Thurman (hanging out in the Village) to Bill Clinton (coming out of Serendipity, not McDonald's).
I've also seen a couple of celebrities, but there's one I keep running into - on the street, in the grocery store - Abe Vigoda. That's right, Abe Vigoda. You know, Detective Phil Fish from Barney Miller, Sal Tessio from The Godfather ("Tom, can you get me off the hook? For old times' sake?" "Can't do it Sally.").
Abe Vigoda
The first time I saw Abe, we were both doing our grocery shopping in Food Emporium. As soon as I left the store I called my father:
Dude, Abe Vigoda shops in my Food Emporium!
Aron, Abe Vigoda is dead.
My father was wrong then, and he's wrong as of 4:10pm EST today.
Why not? There are already severalwebsitesdedicated to raising money and building support for the Gore campaign, which hasn't officially been launched. The Nobel Peace Prize comes a few months after winning the Academy Award for Documentary Feature for An Inconvenient Truth, and his popularity has never been greater. On the news this morning, former President (and fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner) Jimmy Carter repeated his support for Al Gore as a Presidential candidate, support that he made clear at least as early as February of this year:
With well over 100 posts, I thought it was time to add a custom search engine, which you can after the Archive section in the sidebar. Now Jaffe readers can easily find their favorite posts.
Not to mention it will help me remember what I've written!
A few days ago I was chatting with a friend about the Cubs when I realized that the team from every US city I've lived in since I was 3 had a team still in the playoffs:
Today, there's only one. Am I bitter? Not really. There was a time where I would yell and scream during a game, and get really upset when I team I was rooting for lost. Now, I appreciate a good game no matter who the teams are.
That being said, I'd still love to see the Cubs win one... and my brother says '08 is our year.
According to Benjamin Franklin, these are the only certain things in the world. I don't like to disagree with Ben, but I would like to add a third certain thing:
The Chicago Cubs will never win the World Series as long as they are owned by the Chicago Tribune.
Fortunately, the Chicago Tribune will sell the Cubs after this season. Maybe someone who actually cares about winning will buy the team. Until then, we'll just have to sit back and continue to watch the Cubs find a way to lose.
When I was golfing with my Grandpa on the par 3 course in my grandparents' retirement community this past weekend, I remembered the response my friend Len gave at dinner a few weeks ago, when someone asked him if he played golf. Len's father-in-law immediately replied that Len could hit the ball a ton. Len then clarified:
That's true, but I don't play golf.
Unfortunately, not only don't I play golf, I don't hit the ball a ton. Fortunately, neither does Grandpa, and when we're golfing together in Leisure Village, neither of us cares.
According to 123Greetings, that day is August 26. When I was younger, we used to refer to these made-up days as Hallmark holidays, since they were clearly started for commercial purposes, and there was almost always a special Hallmark card for the occasion. I don't remember there being many of them, but now there are days for everything. In fact, next week is packed with important days:
Sunday, October 7: Bathtub Day Bubbles or no bubbles, it's sure to be a great celebration!
Monday, October 8: Tube Top Day Please take a good look in the mirror before you decide to celebrate this day.
Tuesday, October 9: Leif Erikson Day A very important day for the 280,000 people who live in St. Paul, Minnesota - probably the only people in the U.S. who know who Leif Erikson is.
Wednesday, October 10: Bring Your Teddy Bear To Work And School Day In my lab, this day is celebrated year round by a couple of people who have teddy bears at their desk. No lie.
Thursday, October 11: Sausage Pizza Day Definitely a day not celebrated in the kosher pizza places in New York.
Friday, October 12: Change Your Life Day Funny enough, it's also Look Back On Your Life Day. How appropriate.
Saturday, October 13: Shampoo Day For those of you who've been waiting all week to wash your hair, today is your day!
This is unlikely to be a weekly post, but I thought it would be nice to acknowledge the true geniuses out there. Unsung heroes who, despite being overlooked, have contributed something to society that has the potential to positively affect our lives. This week's geniuses are the designers of the Denver International Airport. They realized that if a tornado struck, a lot of people would be so scared they would soil themselves. Not a problem if you're in their airport.
For thinking outside the box, the designers of the Denver International Airport are the geniuses of the week.
