Let us learn to dream, Gentlemen, then perhaps we shall discover the truth; but let us beware of publishing our dreams abroad before they have been scrutinized by our vigilant intellect…let us always allow the fruit to hang until it is ripe. Unripe fruit brings even the grower but little profit; it damages the health of those who consume it; it endangers particularly the youth who cannot yet distinguish between ripe and unripe fruit. « Imposter Syndrome « F. A. Kekul&eacut;, 1890

Sorry for the lack of updates. Summer marks the high time for research season and its concomitant demands on time have been pressing. That, and the neighbor who’s been kindly providing unsecured wireless service decided to turn it off.

Personal news: Read a few books I had checked out from the library. Will write about them when I find the time. I burnt my finger yesterday, stupidly trying to jam a mispositioned hot plate back into place, having just taken a stew off it five minutes ago. My mortgage got approved on Monday. And I’ve finally decided to go to CRCE (sir-cee) to use the cardio cycle on a regular basis. I definitely need to go today, after munching down two charbroiled burgers at the department barbeque. And I can’t wait for the pool to be back up next week!

Work news: Most of the machines are finally up and my jobs have been running smoothly for the most part. Pet Monkey has gone home for a week or so; I’m relishing the prospect of having a few days without him breathing down my neck and looking over my shoulder every five minutes. Installing Gentoo on my work computer so that I can have a Linux environment for my jobs. Amazingly enough, except for the absurdly long compile times, everything seems to be working just fine so far!

Got hanging files for my drawer and spent an hour organizing and filing away the piles of paper stacked on my desk all semester. It’s been somewhat depressing to go through the papers, thinking “Oh yeah, I saw these before. I have to read them soon. Oh wait, I told myself that months ago, didn’t I? Gah.” That, and all the false starts and

American news: Woman sells 8″ (20 cm) french fry for $200 on eBay.
« Girl in Bionic Suit. And federal regulators have discovered a drug smuggling ring in Chicago’s Water Department. Tell me again, what is dehydrated water all about? « Metroblogging Chicago « driftglass.

Science news: Voters give thumbs-down to baby-faced politicians. Apparently, people exposed to candidates’ faces for less than a second were able to predict the outcome of elections 70% of the time. Says a lot, doesn’t it. Also, scientists discover a hydrocarbon volcano on Titan. That’s right, it’s a huge planetary pimple spewing crude oil into the alien atmosphere. And engineers at UC Irvine discover nanotube interconnects that can run faster than conventional copper or aluminum wires: AC tests up to 10 GHz show no degradation of current transport characteristics. « Nano. Lett., in press « ScienceBlog.

To sleep; perchance, to dream. Aye, there’s the rub. Hamlet knew it all too well. Too bad I haven’t been enjoying it more; I keep waking up at the crack of dawn.