Pictures taken at just the right angle.

Alright, I know I've been seriously slacking in my postings but with school starting up and all of the work that accompanies my graduate project I've been pretty busy. I promise I'll post something this weekend. In the meantime, here's something that will wet your appetite. I thought some of these pictures were pretty great. Enjoy!

To drill or not to drill

Today during lunch I was watching the Colbert Report and came across this clip where Stephen discusses the pros and cons of offshore drilling with himself. I thought it was hilarious. I hope you enjoy!

A paper a day keeps brain rot away

When I first started my graduate program in Genetics my adviser wisely counseled me to read one scientific paper each day. This would not only help me become comfortable with scientific literature or build a knowledge base about subjects pertaining to my project, but would create a habit of life learning and allow me to understand and be able to discuss the cutting edge aspects of my field. The problem is, I've been busy enough that I let it slip through the cracks. In an effort to improve my track record as an avid journal reader, I will begin posting once a week about an interesting or otherwise noteworthy piece of scientific news. Admittedly, this is a selfish endeavor but hopefully we'll all learn some interesting stuff along the way (at least I will, even if nobody chooses to read it).

You can do it!!!!

Football season is fast approaching and registration has begun for the Fox Fantasy Football League. Anyone interested is invited to join. First make an account on Fox Sports. Once you have an account, follow this link. The League ID is 75921 and the password is 'manblog'. Once you've created a team you can set up your draft order. The draft is set for Wednesday, September 3rd. Everyone is welcome!



In honor of the inauguration of the Man Blog League, I've selected some interesting football quotesfor your enjoyment.

Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
- Vince Lombardi

Football isn't a contact sport, it's a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport.
- Duffy Daugherty

I wouldn't ever set out to hurt anyone deliberately unless it was, you know, important -like a league game or something.
- Dick Butkus

Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.
- Joe Theismann

Football is, after all, a wonderful way to get rid of your aggressions without going to jail for it.
- Heywood Hale Broun

American football makes rugby look like a Tupperware party.
- Sue Lawley

College football is a sport that bears the same relation to education that bullfighting does to agriculture.
- Elbert Hubbard

Let's face it, you have to have a slightly recessive gene that has a little something to do with the brain to go out on the football field and beat your head against other human beings on a daily basis.
-Tim Green

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.
-Erma Bombeck

Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?
-Jim Bouton

When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team.
-George Raveling

The reason women don't play football is because eleven of them would never wear the same outfit in public.
-Phyllis Diller

There are several differences between a football game and a revolution. For one thing, a football game usually lasts longer and the participants wear uniforms. Also, there are usually more casualties in a football game. The object of the game is to move a ball past the other team's goal line. This counts as six points. No points are given for lacerations, contusions, or abrasions, but then no points are deducted, either. Kicking is very important in football. In fact, some of the more enthusiastic players even kick the ball, occasionally.
-Alfred Hitchcock

For more quotes follow this link.

Paintball Game Tuesday, July 15th

On Tuesday, July 15th we'll be playing paintball at a field by the Provo Airport (see pic). The address is 810 South 3110 West. People start playing at 5pm but I won't be there until 6:15 (in case anyone wants to carpool). It is free to play and you can bring your own equipment and paint. There will also be air if you need to refill and paint available for purchase. If you don't have a gun but still want to play you can rent a gun at JTPaintball Rentals in Provo ($10 for gun, mask, and tank) and they'll bring it to the field for you. Just call the a day or two in advance. The phone number is 801-376-5276. I also have a gun if anyone wants to borrow it (you'll need to rent a mask for $2). If you have any other questions feel free to post a comment or email me. See you there!

Steep and Cheap

In the spirit of summer fun and outdoor enjoyment, I wanted to share a website my brother-in-law told me about called Steep and Cheap. It has massive quantities of one item which allows them so sell the item very cheap (usually 60-70% off). Once that item is sold another is posted. Items sold includecycling gear, hiking gear, camping gear, backpacks, etc. They even have an add-on to Internet Explorer and Firefox that allows you to see what item is being sold, very convenient if you don't want to keep checking their site throughout the day.

There is also a website that is exclusively for bike gear called chainlove.com which has some pretty good deals.

Other websites similar to this include WhiskeyMilitia.com, GearEngine.com, and woot.com

If you know of any other websites like this feel free to post a comment to let everyone else know. Have some fun this summer!

I love paintball!

This week has been pretty exciting. I was able to buy a new paintball gun and took it out for a spin yesterday. The gun is an Autococker select fire with all kinds of upgrades including a black magic regulator, new bolt, drop forward and clamping feedneck (see pic). I also got a high pressure air system to keep up with the rapid fire and I had an electronic hopper to feed paintballs to the gun faster. The guns shoots amazing too. Even in semi-auto mode it shoots very fast and is pretty accurate. I'd like to buy a new barrel that is a little more quiet and accurate. It was a lot of fun playing though.

There is a new paintball company in Provo now called JT Paintball Rentals. They have pretty good prices for rental guns (as cheap as $10/day) and the owner organizes FREE paintball games and has on-site air fills. Every other Tuesday he hosts a free game across the street from the Provo Airport. It starts at 5:30pm and we usually play until about 8:00pm. The next time we play is July 1st, anyone who wants to play is invited. The owner will also help us host a game if we can get a group together.

If you are interested in playing on Tuesday's or want to set up a group game on a Saturday, post a comment and I'll let you know when we have something set up. Also, if you want to be added to an email list of local games you can email the owner at jtpaintballrentals@gmail.com and he’ll email you when games are planned. If you haven’t played paintball, give it a try. If nothing else, you’ll have some fun war stories to tell.