I started my 1.5 page paper for this week just after 2pm.

I finished it about 10 minutes ago.

I hate comparing authors.

This is a random question, but I was wondering: what sorts of tips, tricks, and programs do you use in order to organize collections of journal article PDFs? I'm undertaking a rather large undergraduate thesis this year, and I'm already gathering a rather large collection of literature to refer to as I'm working for that. Right now what I'm doing is tagging stuff in the file name along with a brief description of the title (example: [ecdysone][fat]inducible-functions), but that's still missing stuff like authors and years which would be useful, but I find when I use file names like that I end up opening a lot more files to find what I need. Even the system I'm using now I usually end up opening more files than I'd like to find what I want. And I hate going through and renaming files after I go on an article downloading spree...

I just downloaded Mendeley Desktop and it seems rather nice, but almost a little too overpowered for what I want to do right now. I want to be able to find the articles I need at a given moment, but I don't really need to annotate them digitally, as I print out the articles I want to take deeper notes on, and I don't need an online backup of them or anything as I have multiple backups on my own external drives. Are there any other programs of a similar sort that are OS X compatible?


Also, another random question but I figured I'd tack it on. I'm planning on applying to graduate school while taking a year off next year. It would be for a Ph.D in some sort of molecular biology program; I'm particularly interested in epigenetics (and I'm aware of all the silliness that undertaking a Ph.D entails, what with lack of employment and misery). I've started talking to my advisors here about possible schools, but I was wondering how all of you who have gone through the graduate admissions process have approached making that list? My grades are quite good, I haven't taken the GREs yet but I will be studying my ass off for them during winter break, and I'll have a solid two years of continuous research on the same project complete by the time I graduate along with the aforementioned thesis. The professor who I do research with suggested I could probably get into a top tier school, and I know a lot of the schools doing research in epigenetics are top tier or very close to it. How did you manage to balance your own interests and institutional reputation?

(If this isn't an appropriate place to ask such a question, tell me and I'll edit it out of the entry. I was going to try applyingtograd but they seem to be much more humanities driven.)

I was recently tasked with hanging some posters to help promote an upcoming show. For the most part, in the city, this was a cumbersome but straightforward process: many places in close proximity, some let you post in the window, most that don't (and some that do) also have a community events posting board of some sort, and for those that say no (usually show venues themselves) become easy to spot and and, again, there's the proximity thing offering other places to try nearby.

But then, there are the suburbs.

I was told: "Of course, there's the obvious places in the city, but we draw a lot of audience from the suburbs, to try to post there."

This is nearly impossible, for a number of reasons.

a)     As you enter the suburbs, one-off business leave off, and corporate-run chains take over. Nobody in corporate run businesses will take the responsibility to say "yes", and often enough the corporations have already said "no", as their presentation has been carefully crafted for them by another (ad/design) corporation.

2)     Even those businesses that are 'one-off' are for the most part, pretentious enough to be 'above' such postings. Realize here this isn't a function of bing a high-end establishment, as plenty of those *in* the city are perfectly OK with posting, or having a designated posting area.

Really, in the suburbs even the mention of having a 'community events posting board' results in being given a look of non-comprehension, as if you're speaking some foreign language - either that or a look combining pity and disdain as if you're some sort of semi-retarded urbanite, unworthy of their ultra-fabricated pre-processed world. It's this absolute lack of community that gets me. Really, at the risk of turning this into a 'Red/Blue' thing, community values (you know, valuing a sense of community) strikes me as a core conservative American value. How then is it that we have more of a coherent sense of, and support for, community in the blue inner ring of the city (and, presumably, the bluer trending rural regions) than the red suburban/exurban donut? Yes, I know why, and the dynamics of the suburb that promote isolation, fear, xenophobia, and cultural retardation, are well documented elsewhere. That said, it hit me full in the face during the course of this promotional effort . . . consider this post part of my recovery effort.

So, yeah, glad I live in the city. Remind me not to bother with the 'burbs next time.

From TPM.


Credo Action Pro-Choice Petition Website

This isn't for the squeamish. It's about as hardball and brutal as it gets.

The liberal group CREDO Action will soon ask over 1,000,000 members to sign a petition condemning the Stupak amendment...and with each signature, CREDO will send a coat hanger to the 20 supposedly pro-choice members of Congress who voted for it.

"We know what happens when women are denied access to reproductive health care including abortion," the petition reads. "And we can't go back to an era of coat hangers and back alley abortions. Reconsider your vote on the Stupak Amendment. Tell House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that the final health care bill that emerges from the conference committee can't turn the clock back on women's rights."

The email hasn't been sent yet, but you can read the language below the fold.
( Read more... )

• 19:55 any good bars in the city showing pacquaio-cotto? i don't wanna pay a $20 cover... or go to queens. #

via loudtwitter

I'm new to this community. I'm studying to become an RN, and oxfordmuse is my academic journal. I will be posting information about answering chemistry questions as well as anatomy help- so if you'd like to take a look, please do! :)

I am interested in learning about as many different beliefs related to text/script/written language and to tattoos as possible.  One person has recommended to me John Rush's Spiritual Tattoo: A Cultural History of Tatooing, Piercing, Scarification, Branding, and Implants.  I haven't checked it just yet, and no one's yet recommended anything about text.  I'm specifically looking mostly for religious and magical beliefs about text itself or about particular magical texts, as opposed to generic beliefs such that a particular text is sacred or the like.

I'd like similar information about tattoos, but broader information about cultural notions of the form and function of tattoos is good.  I'm also looking mostly for noncontemporary beliefs, though contemporary beliefs that have roots in or are revivals of older beliefs would be good (such as the recent Maori revival of tattoo traditions that had more or less died for a century or so).

Can anyone make any recommendations?

I am no longer in academia and have lost my journal access abilities. However, I still like to keep up on scientific progress. So, I was wondering what your favorite scientific news sites are? I recently stumbled upon Science Daily. / I like how it references articles so I can grovel from my friends who have journal access. Any other suggestions?

Does anyone know how to obtain this book:

Lectures on Wastewater Analysis and Interpretation by R. K. Smith
ISBN 1-890911-10-0

Amazon has one used copy for 149.95 and I was hoping to get it cheaper. Thanks in advance.

http://www.muruch.com/2009/11/mp3-menagerie-ox-acres-and-acres-john-wort-hannam.html

http://www.muruch.com/?p=2150

Ox – Burnout (mp3) *

Title track from Ox’s new album. Languid, atmospheric Americana akin to The Low Anthem and Grant Lee Buffalo.

Buy @ Amazon

*********************************************

Acres and Acres – Money (mp3) *

Dusty, melodic folk reminiscent of Neil Young from Acres and Acres’ new album All Nations.

Buy @ Amazon (not yet available)

*********************************************

John Wort Hannam – Two Bit Suit (mp3) *

Simple Canadian folk from John Wort Hannam’s new album Queen’s Hotel.

Buy @ Amazon

*all mp3s hosted by & posted w/ permission of PR reps

http://james.freehoster.co.cc/is.html

I will listen carefully to all your comments.

Abstract: Some inexplicable statistical variations in Nobel Prize laureates natal data are reported and discussed, and additional data is examined afterward. The observed strong correlation with Quaoar position (+5.69 standard deviations) is probably caused by correlation of Quaoar position with an unknown non-trivial solar, lunar or terrestrial cycle. It is well known that some space weather conditions influence human health, but the possibility of influence on long-term physiological and/or psychological characteristics since birth is still under question. If observed on other similar data, e.g. Wolf Prize laureates or Ramon Magsaysay awardees, the effect can be considered astroanthropological. Otherwise this study will help to better understand the reasons of astrological and similar beliefs, and to prevent circulation of such anti-scientific beliefs in future.

Comments: All databases and the source code are included.

I know that the majority of physicists and astronomers would say that these data don't make sense and therefore can't be correct. Though other examples of inexplicable data are well known, e.g. Pioneer anomaly, the Kuiper cliff, the Eridanus Supervoid.

Where could this article be published? If you have any idea, please share.

Odds are I am not going to know all there is to know about the cardiovascular, sensory and endocrine systems before my comparative physiology exam tomorrow. So...

PARTY WITH ME

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/very-sekrit-passphrase.html

There were 38 independent bookshops around the land who had Graveyard Book parties. The people at Harpers somehow got it down to 11, and they sent them to me to judge the winner. The winner gets me for a signing in December. I watched the 11 videos/descriptions/ photos. I watched them again. I watched them yet again, this time with Lorraine, my assistant, watching too and saying helpful things like, "They are all so good. Whoo. Don't know how you'll make a decision. Look at that! They're line dancing to Monster Mash! And that Death is on stilts, isn't he. Is that a horse? A horse in a store? These are amazing." The fourth time, Woodsman Hans wandered in from the deep woods (where he is making a pond) and watched them too.Here is Doug Jones and some strange man it said.
Hi Neil,

I am a long-time fan, and have even met you backstage at a Tori show (though that was many years ago!). I am writing to ask a bit of a favor.

About 10 years ago, I appeared on 20/20 with Tori, speaking about sexual violence. Since then, I've stayed close with Tori whose been a mentor of the best kind. I also started a nonprofit, Pandora's Project, that provides support, information, and resources to rape and sexual abuse survivors and their supporters. We operate Pandora's Aquarium, an online support group with more than 20,000 registered members.

Recently, I was named a 2009 L'Oreal Woman of Worth for my volunteer work with Pandora's. I was chosen for this honor from more than 2,500 applicants.

Now, one of the ten 2009 Honorees will be selected as the national honoree through a public online vote. Her cause will get an additional $25,000, and a lot of media exposure. This is the first time L'Oreal has recognized a sexual violence organization, and becoming the national honoree would allow me to shine a spotlight on this issue that affects so many women and women.

Voting is easy - people just need to go to the url below, enter their email address in the box on the right, and click the "submit vote" button. Each email address is allowed one vote, and voting ends November 24.

http://www.womenofworth.com/Honorees/Honoree2009Detail.aspx?nomid=5657c940-425b-47a2-879d-ed3c2d82b56f

I am wondering if you might be willing to send people to this voting link via your (infinitely popular) twitter or blog. I understand if it's not something you can do, but my experience running a small-budget nonprofit tells me it's always wise to ask!

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Shannon Lambert

I'll plug it happily.

Your correspondent asks "Will you be reading the original version where the wolf actually is killed, and not the 'oh my goodness our kids can't hear about death' version in which they bring him to the zoo?"

I fear she's in error; in the original version, written by Prokofiev, Peter snares the wolf, then convinces the hunters NOT to kill it, but to take it to the zoo.

I've been researching, and that's what I found out too. Wikipedia has a list of changes made in various versions of the story (Disney, for example, had the wolf not eat the duck). But the wolf was always taken to the zoo...

http://www.muruch.com/2009/11/rykarda-parasol-for-blood-and-wine.html

http://www.muruch.com/?p=2141

Rykarda Parasol just released For Blood and Wine at the end of October. Much like her debut Our Hearts First Meet (one of my Top 2006 albums), the new song set delves into a noirish rock sound with lyrics that alternate between whiskey-splashed cabaret and blood-soaked Gothic poetry. In addition to writing and producing the new disc, Parasol has also independently released it as she searches for a new label.

the ivory lace was woven as a crawler’s web
the dress be bone, though my sash was rose-ed red
white henry in my hair and sapporo lily in my hand
at twenty and one hope is plenty – unrest hard to fathom 

From the eerie opening wails of “The Road is Long” through the gritty rock of “A Drinking Song,” For Blood and Wine is propelled by the dusky power of Rykarda’s voice.

Delicate piano winds through the beautiful and menacing “Widow in White,” which calls to mind Nick Cave’s murder ballad “Where the Wild Roses Grow.” Militant drum and a backing choir of male voices help shape the stunning “One For Joy!” into an ominous sea chantey. The two songs are my personal favorites on the album.

Just when tracks like “Oh My Blood” push the album to the edge of the blackest abyss, the sweet tones of “My Spirit Lives in Shadows” and “Je Suis Une Fleur” bring it back into murky light. Then the finale “Kindness, You’re Killing Me” breaks free of the album’s prevailing darkness with a gentle, melancholic folk strum.

I was not granted permission to share a full mp3 from the album, but Rykarda did provide the following mp3 clip and video. You can also hear more samples at the links below.

Rykarda Parasol – A Drinking Song (mp3) *

Rykarda Parasol – Je Suis Une Fleur (YouTube Video)

*mp3 hosted by & posted w/ permission of artist

Buy @ Amazon

Rykarda Parasol Official Site
Rykarda Parasol MySpace

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/radio-books-violin-lessons-also-haircut.html

Went in to KNOW radio station in ST Paul today and recorded an introduction to the NPR MORNING EDITION "Open Mike" piece I've been recording on audiobooks, and heard the edit. Asked them to see if they could find a bit more time in the piece for Audible founder Don Katz, who did an amazing interview and was pared down to about a sentence in the current edit. It'll go out in the next ten days, and as soon as I know when it goes out I'll put it up here. I talk to David Sedaris, Martin Jarvis, Don Katz and veteran audio producer/director Rick Harris in it.
Hi Neil,

I just read about your event in January, where in you will be narrating Peter and the Wolf. My husband and I are over joyed by this. We will hopefully be bringing our three girls up to see the performance. We did have one question though. Will you be reading the original version where the wolf actually is killed, and not the "oh my goodness our kids can't hear about death" version in which they bring him to the zoo? We are both, obviously, really hopeful that being you, and not afraid to scare children (thank you for that btw) will be speaking the true to the story version in which Peter shoots the wolf and then his dead body is paraded through the town as a trophy.

Thanks for your time,
~Cecily

PS- Do you know if there will be tickets for the event or the reception afterwards? It will be a long drive, and it would be nice to be prepared for either staking out seats all day or having tickets in hand. (We could not find any reservation information on the website)

I'd forgotten - or never knew - that there was an alternative version. The script I was sent is the Zoo version. I'll investigate...

And no, I do not know about tickets. I will find out.

Dear Neil,

Your Web Goblin offered to post photos of Coraline pumpkins, and when they were told this, my 8 and 11-year old daughters decided to make some. Here they are, along with 2 emoticon pumpkins and a turnip.

http://www.steampunkfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/IMG_01521-300x225.jpg

I used them to illustrate a ghost story: http://www.steampunkfamily.com/2009/10/philomenas-fright/

Three of the four of us were Coraline characters for Halloween. (The 11-year old went her own way as Susan Sto-Helit.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37435081@N03/4077708519/sizes/l/in/set-72157622616148613/

The Other Mother is the scariest thing I've ever been for Halloween. All the children (even the 4-year olds!) knew who I was, and I elicited much nervous laughter when I offered to sew buttons in their eyes.

Thank you for being VERY SCARY INDEED

I love how many families were Coraline families, this year.

If, like me, anybody else was intrigued by your mention of Kenneth Grahame's other works and wants to read them with a minimum of searching, they'll be happy to know both 'The Golden Age' and 'Dream Days' are available for free on the always invaluable Project Gutenberg:

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/291
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/270

Thanks for mentioning them in the first place; I'm always interested in children's lit of that time that has managed to slip through my net.

- B. Bolander

What a good idea. Two very beautiful, gently funny books by the author of The Wind in the Willows. I really enjoyed them, but stylistically they are, well, out of fashion, and will not be everybody's cup of Edwardian tea. Here's a passage that describes the illustration I put up yesterday, as small children steal through the house on a midnight expedition to obtain biscuits (ie cookies, if you are American):

The Blue Room had in prehistoric times been added to by taking in a superfluous passage, and so not only had the advantage of two doors, but enabled us to get to the head of the stairs without passing the chamber wherein our dragon-aunt lay couched. It was rarely occupied, except when a casual uncle came down for the night. We entered in noiseless file, the room being plunged in darkness, except for a bright strip of moonlight on the floor, across which we must pass for our exit. On this our leading lady chose to pause, seizing the opportunity to study the hang of her new dressing-gown. Greatly satisfied thereat, she proceeded, after the feminine fashion, to peacock and to pose, pacing a minuet down the moonlit patch with an imaginary partner. This was too much for Edward's histrionic instincts, and after a moment's pause he drew his single-stick, and with flourishes meet for the occasion, strode onto the stage. A struggle ensued on approved lines, at the end of which Selina was stabbed slowly and with unction, and her corpse borne from the chamber by the ruthless cavalier. The rest of us rushed after in a clump, with capers and gesticulations of delight; the special charm of the performance lying in the necessity for its being carried out with the dumbest of dumb shows.

Once out on the dark landing, the noise of the storm without told us that we had exaggerated the necessity for silence; so, grasping the tails of each other's nightgowns even as Alpine climbers rope themselves together in perilous places, we fared stoutly down the staircase-moraine, and across the grim glacier of the hall, to where a faint glimmer from the half-open door of the drawing-room beckoned to us like friendly hostel-lights. Entering, we found that our thriftless seniors had left the sound red heart of a fire, easily coaxed into a cheerful blaze; and biscuits—a plateful—smiled at us in an encouraging sort of way, together with the halves of a lemon, already once squeezed but still suckable. The biscuits were righteously shared, the lemon segments passed from mouth to mouth; and as we squatted round the fire, its genial warmth consoling our unclad limbs, we realised that so many nocturnal perils had not been braved in vain.

"It's a funny thing," said Edward, as we chatted, "how I hate this room in the daytime. It always means having your face washed, and your hair brushed, and talking silly company talk. But to-night it's really quite jolly. Looks different, somehow."

"I never can make out," I said, "what people come here to tea for. They can have their own tea at home if they like,—they're not poor people,—with jam and things, and drink out of their saucer, and suck their fingers and enjoy themselves; but they come here from a long way off, and sit up straight with their feet off the bars of their chairs, and have one cup, and talk the same sort of stuff every time."

Selina sniffed disdainfully. "You don't know anything about it," she said. "In society you have to call on each other. It's the proper thing to do."

"Pooh! YOU'RE not in society," said Edward, politely; "and, what's more, you never will be."

"Yes, I shall, some day," retorted Selina; "but I shan't ask you to come and see me, so there!"

"Wouldn't come if you did," growled Edward.

( Being pretentious literary bastard under cut... )

I want to be madly, madly, madly in love. I want to write madly.

I am mostly still writing letters... I will come back soon or someday.

From NARAL:

Hi -

I'm pretty angry that the House passed an anti-choice measure that would essentially eliminate insurance coverage for abortion in the new system. Health reform is important, but no one should lose coverage in the new system.

I just signed a petition to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asking him to stand strong against a similar attack in the Senate. Will you add your name? The deadline is 12 noon (EST) on Friday, November 13.

http://action.prochoiceamerica.org/site/Advocacy?id=4013&pagename=homepage

Thanks for standing up for women!
To take action on this issue, click on the link below:
https://secure.prochoiceamerica.org/site/Advocacy?s_oo=69gKKTAtN0Ip7I8GYO_WVQ..&id=4013
If the text above does not appear as a link or it wraps across multiple lines, then copy and paste it into the address area of your browser.

From NARAL and the House:

Attention Michigan residents: Rep. Stupak, he of the anti-choice Stupak-Pitts amendment "fame," is holding a townhall today.

Here are the details:

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM (EST)
Bay de Noc Community College
Besse Center
2001 North Lincoln Rd
Escanaba, MI
(Map It)
From Rep. Stupak's press release:

U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) will host a town hall meeting in Escanaba on Wednesday, November 11, from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. (EST) at Bay de Noc Community College's Besse Center. The meeting is open to the public and will provide an opportunity for constituents to ask Stupak questions on a range of issues, including health care and the economy. Stupak will also provide an update on his work in Congress.

The Besse Center is located at 2001 North Lincoln Rd, Escanaba, Mich.

"This is an opportunity to speak with constituents, answer their questions, and address their concerns about the critical issues currently impacting Northern Michigan, including the health care bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives this past weekend," Stupak said. "I look forward to engaging in a respectful, civil dialogue on a broad range of issues. I enjoy hearing from constituents and the ideas and feedback I receive at town hall meetings, and through the letters, emails, faxes and telephone calls to my offices is valuable to me personally and is critical to the work I do in Congress."

Out of respect for all those wishing to attend the town hall meeting only credentialed media will be permitted to record the event. Signs, banners and posters will not be allowed inside the center.
If you live near Escanaba, Michigan... this would be a good opportunity for you to tell Rep. Stupak what you think about his anti-choice amendment.

And might I also suggest you sign our petition calling on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to stand firm against a ban on abortion coverage for women in the new health system? Thanks!

Whether or not it's mere coincidence, Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story appears to have capped the resurgence of socialism in America. (Thank Smith!) That is a superficial irony, though, as Moore's toothless movie is a merely critique of capitalism, and does not actually posit another system of economic organization as superior.

That is where the entire world finds itself now -- shrugging.

Capitalism, which accompanied a rise in political liberalism in western Europe in the mid-19th century, has proven itself as an efficient engine of innovation, but capitalism's rough edges (corporate corruption, income disparities) are an irresistible target for compassionate people, which has led to regulations that have ruined the whole point of laissez faire.

Whereas capitalism has been a mitigated failure, socialism's failure is unmitigated. The Soviet Union is an anomaly whose collapse can be credited to its geopolitical aspirations and oppressive domestic policies, rather than to the inherent problems with socialism. But even those surviving socialisms -- China and Cuba -- are clearly relics. Obsolete. The former is transitioning to a form of managed capitalism; the latter continues to be an impoverished morass, many of whose citizens flee. The leaders of neither China nor Cuba even bother to denigrate capitalism anymore, or ballyhoo the merits of socialism. Even they know who lost this contest of ideas.

But who won?

Despite the grousing of economic conservatives about liberals' flirtations with socialism, there isn't a single capitalism left in the world to defend. America is about as close as one may come to finding an actual capitalism, but an inexorable march of regulations since the 1930s has wrought something beastly and beyond categorization.

Pragmatism, like knowledge and food, can be a wonderful thing when consumed in small doses. But a century of pragmatic solution after pragmatic solution has poisoned the purposefulness of both capitalism and socialism. What we are left with are complex, confusing, and internally contradictory messes.

This won't change unless we encounter a compelling reason to rewrite our nations' laws. A prolonged recession isn't enough -- those are inevitable.

It's been over 100 years since an economist or philosopher proposed a serious new model for economic regulation (or self-regulation). Capitalism and socialism are old. We are overdue the next Big Idea.

http://www.muruch.com/2009/11/recommend-books.html

I recently began compiling my best of the year lists and realized that I’ve only read three new books this year (the rest were classics). So I need your help!

Comment to this post with new book (published in 2009) recommendations. Please include the title, author, and a brief plot summary.

I prefer fiction, but I’ll also consider non-fiction if the topic interests me enough. I’m not into detective mysteries, horror, so-called “chick lit” or romance, but otherwise I’m open to anything.