Messamore Blog

How to fix your computer

2010-09-03T09:26:00.001-07:00

Lifehacker.com has used this flow chart a few times in articles detailing fixes for your computer, but anyone who has grown up with computers or spent any significant time with them may already be using this method to solve their computer problems.

T Boone Pickens, I kinda like you now

2010-06-15T09:52:00.001-07:00

After seeing this video of Pickens talking about the Big 12 changes, I started to like the guy.

Three videos from last week

2010-06-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a few videos that I came across last week. The first I noticed because Evan Rosell posted it on his twitter. It shows an 8 Month Old infant having his cochlear implant turned on for the first time. The video is really incredible - check it out

The next is a video I first saw at this years Neuroscience Conference in Chicago at a nanosymposium. The work comes from Dr. Schwartz's lab at Pittsburgh. One thing that is not mentioned in the article on IEEE about this video is that the monkey was not lesioned and essentially has control over three arms when hooked up to this machine. I look forward to seeing the published results.

And the last video is one I just found entertaining. It is the new music video from OK Go, the group with the popular treadmill video. It apparently was quite the undertaking considering it is a massive Rube Goldberg machine timed to the music.

What motivates us.

2010-06-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

Talking with Big Rob at his birthday celebration reminded me that I used to keep this thing updated as a repository for my thoughts and information that I found interesting or funny. Considering it really doesn't take all that long to make a post and that I come across this stuff every week, here is something interesting to think about.

What motivates us

Harry Potter 6 Review

2009-07-15T09:05:00.001-07:00

It didn't suck.

The Onion Agrees With Me

2009-06-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

Here is what the satirist newspaper "The Onion", had today about Vaccinations

http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/vaccine_rejectors_put_kids_at_risk?utm_source=yahoowidget_rss_1

Autism and Vaccines

2009-06-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has asked me about the link between Autism and Vaccines knows that one of my biggest pet peeves is when Celebrities, like Jenny McCarthy, take on an issue like Autism and Vaccines and completely ignore what every expert is saying on the subject. What really gets me fired up is how one person on Oprah can say "vaccines cause autism" without showing any real correlation, and it seems to hold more weight in peoples thoughts than the hundreds of thousands of trials done, showing absolutely no link. Illustrating this point is an interview with Jenny McCarthy in TIME: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1888718,00.html. This is a year after TIME devoted a whole issue to this subject: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1808438,00.html.

I believe vaccines to be one of the greatest accomplishments in modern medicine. Vaccines have decreased the incidence of diseases like, Polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b, Measles, Mumps, Pertussis, Rubella by greater than 90%. We also have vaccines to stop the harmful effects of toxins like, tetanus, and diphtheria. And thanks to the gardasil vaccine, we even have a vaccine that prevents cancer. As science pushes forward there will be even more vaccines against a greater number of diseases, and yes we need to make sure they are safe, but we should trust the experts who do thousands of trials over years of study to come to that conclusion, not just anyone who can do five minute interviews on daytime talk shows.

Size Does Matter

2009-05-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

This is a remake of a video that went viral about 6 months ago. The information is still, for the most part the same, but the presentation is much better and the music is more dramatic.

I think this drives home the point that the way we learn is changing and the speed of technological and scientific advancement requires us to adapt. I think we need to learn how to educate ourselves dynamically, because text books and classical education is quickly falling behind. As someone who has always been fascinated in science and technology, this is also very exciting and I can't wait to see what the next 5, 10, or 25 years will bring.

I Love this List Every Year (Although I Am Absent Again)

2009-05-01T09:09:00.001-07:00

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1894410,00.html?iid=redirect-time100

I like that this list includes people that may be negatively influencing the world as well, like Joaquin Guzman and Bernie Madoff. Oh and Rush Limbaugh (kidding, his words only hurt people, not like those other guys, who actually hurt people)

Some of the ones I particularly enjoyed on my quick skim through were. Tina Fey, both the Obamas, Steven Chu, and the article written by Rick Astley about moot, which was more about himself than moot.

I look forward to reading the rest more in depth later.

Swine Flu

2009-04-29T14:26:00.001-07:00

So that's how you get it.

Everything is Better when Auto-Tuned

2009-04-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

Even the news

Two videos Check them out

2009-04-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

OK so I have a couple videos that I thought others may have missed and may like

First is from CollegeHumor.com and has some strong language, so do not watch with the volume up at work. These guys actually put out some really high quality and entertaining original work. Anyone who enjoys reading the comments left on blogs, youtube, etc. will appreciate this video.

Watch We Didnt Start the Flame War on CollegeHumor

The second is a link to a video for Britain's Got Talent, it is quickly going viral and Katie was the one who pointed me to it. Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Better Get My PhD Done Soon

2009-04-03T05:49:00.000-07:00

Looks like if I don't finish my PhD soon, I will not be needed anymore.

http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/402/1

Jon Stewart takes on Jim Cramer

2009-03-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many people are like me and record the Daily Show and Colbert Report every night, but I love watching those guys sift through the ridiculousness that is 24 hour news networks and calling people out on the stupid and irresponsible things they say on television. Earlier this week the Daily Show put together a montage of CNBC shows essentially ignorant to the coming financial crisis. One of their pundits in particular thought he was misrepresented, so the next episode of the Daily Show happened to have a montage of clips with only him making ignorant claims about the financial market. The back and forth continued and was blown out of proportion by previously mentioned 24 hour news networks. So last night Jon Stewart spent his entire show in a one on one interview with Jim Cramer.

This just shows how brilliant Jon Stewart is and how despite being labeled as a comedian, is in some respects acts as a political watchdog for America. I really liked what he had to say about the financial mistakes that were made and I think that he was able to convey the sense of distrust and anger that many people are feeling right now.

On a separate but related note, I think that the stimulus bill will do this country some good. It may not get us out of the mess we are in but, it should at least do something to improve our country in the end. I know that the lab I work in and a number of other research labs at KU will be applying for stimulus grants to continue and expand our research.

Here is the clips that lead up to the interview and the interview itself

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

In Cramer We Trust

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Moment of Zen - Jim Cramer's Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Basic Cable Personality Clash Skirmish '09

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Intro - Brawl Street: Get Ready to Buy Low! And Sell Die

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

And for the whole interview
http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=220533

I Love Beating Missouri

2009-03-02T12:16:00.001-08:00

I have to pay my respects to the fans that put this awesome poster together for yesterdays beat down of Misery (definition - a state of suffering and want that is the result of affliction - seems accurate). Katie said that "The kids who made it said that it took 172 pieces of computer paper." KUsports.com indicated this banner will be available for use as wallpaper by the end of the day! And will be my desktop shortly thereafter.

Also from kristenfromkansas's blog via whitneymathews.com:

I mean, at this point, it’s barely a rivalry. Some facts and figures to consider:

National Championships: KU- 5 Mizzou- 0
National Championship Appearances: KU- 8 Mizzou- 0
Final Fours: KU- 13 Mizzou- 0
Big 12 Championships: KU- 8 Mizzou- 0
BCS Bowl Wins: KU- 1 Mizzou- 0
All-time basketball records: 167-94 with KU leading
All-time football record: 55-53-9 with KU leading
All-time conference championships: KU- 51 Mizzou- 14
US News and World Report’s 2009 Best Public Universities: KU- 40 Mizzou- 45
Civil War: Kansas- 1 Missouri- 0

Nothing left to say except…Rock Chalk, it’s always great to be a Jayhawk!

Credit Crisis Explained

2009-02-22T19:04:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across this video explaining the credit and current economic crisis on one of the blogs I frequent. (lifehacker.com)

It does a fantastic job explaining the problem so people like myself, who have never taken a single economics class, can understand.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Pretty scary huh?

It's Not Brain Surgery...Well Sorta

2009-02-20T12:57:00.000-08:00

I went with Katie to work to day to participate in Liberty Junior High's "Breakfast with the Experts". I know that I am not technically and expert at anything, but I was there representing both physicians and medical researchers, as there were no others on the panel. It was a bit hard describing what it is I actually do, which it always seems to be, but the students were receptive and interested. The thing I think that they all thought was pretty cool was that I got to work with monkeys. A few asked why I didn't bring them (the vet brought her bunnies), and I had to tell them it was against not only hospital rules, but was also against the law.

I also got to see Katie's classroom, since I was unable to last time I was at the school due to it being part of the Haunted House. Just walking the halls with the multitude of tweens made me realize how much of a saint Katie and other Junior High teachers really are. Even though an hour or two later I was all scrubbed up doing brain surgery on a monkey, I know I would probably be way over my head trying to teach and help shape those kids.

Tetris, Why Can't I Quit You

2009-02-17T13:40:00.000-08:00

After logging on to facebook for the first time in a couple of days I saw that Jeff Morgan, who had been slowly creeping toward my all time best Tetris Sprint time and passed me by a couple tenths of a second. Not to be outdone I managed to move my all time best time down another 5 seconds to regain the top spot, at least for now. This got me to thinking about how many other people out there were playing this game. After a quick search of youtube, I found someone who is scary good and is a must see. After people questioned him about cheating at the game he took a video of himself, so that you could see his fingers pressing the keys. I don’t know if it is even possible for me to ever develop the hand eye coordination required to cut an additional 50 seconds off my best to compete with this guy.

Check it out

I would like to see more people give it a try, as most of the fun comes for the competitive nature of the game

Naval Wedding

2009-02-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

I said I would show some video I took of our friends Jake and Jenn’s Wedding, so here is the sword arch outside the church (it is like 15 degrees in this video, Jenn and her bridesmaids stood outside for a good 30min taking photos, pretty impressive)

People like the Super Bowl, Jack likes Puppy Bowl

2009-02-17T13:36:00.003-08:00

Weird Morning

2009-02-17T13:36:00.001-08:00

As I turned up Booth to head to the lab this morning, I came across a lady on her cell phone who was hysterically trying to figure out where she was. I explained where she was and asked if I could help her get somewhere, it is at that point she broke out into tears again and headed down the street. I noticed that she was headed for someone laying in the street. I rushed to what looked like a man not moving in the middle of the street. My first thought was that he either was hit by a car or had a heart attack and collapsed in the street, but as I approached I could see that he was conscious and smelled strongly of alcohol. At this point the lady was trying to drag him to the curb because she thought that he would get hit by a car. I calmed her down and told her that if we just stood there and waited for the ambulance that was already audible, he wouldn’t be run over. When the paramedics asked him what he had to drink he told them he wasn’t a drinker, nobody quite believed him, they got out a stretcher and I am sure took him to the hospital to give him fluids and monitor him a bit. I stayed the police arrived, told the officer my story and headed on my way. So, yeah a weird way to start my day.

Brian Butler

2009-02-17T13:35:00.000-08:00

An article came out today in the NY Times on Brian Butler and the wave of new “handlers” that are making money off high school football recruits. My dad was interviewed, but since he did a good job biting his tongue, he was not quoted. Needless to say he agrees with Coach Byers. Read it for yourself, I am interested in hearing your opinions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/sports/ncaafootball/04recruit.html?_r=1&ref=sports

Barats and Bereta

2009-02-17T13:33:00.002-08:00

These guys are hilarious and I highly suggest watching any and all videos that they make. Here is their latest.

Superhero Dunks - barats and bereta

That was not fun

2009-02-17T13:33:00.001-08:00

My computer was possessed for a couple hours, would only type 6 repeatedly. It was kinda funny at first then when I realized I couldn’t do anything about it and it was making impossible to back up my computer before a complete system restore, I no longer cared for it. But it is back and working, and hopefully by the end of tomorrow I will have it back to the way I like it.

Off to bed for me, I think Katie will be getting up in a couple hours.

66666666666666666

2009-02-17T13:32:00.001-08:00

666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666

2.5 years later and this is only the beginning

2009-02-17T13:31:00.001-08:00

Unless you have been living with your head in the ground (and maybe even then) you know that Obama is now our 44th president of the United States. Although I have already heard pundits criticize his inaugural address, I have to say that I liked it. It was not his usual lifting up and empowering speech, but I thought it had a toned down and workman like attitude, like someone who is faced with a tough task getting ready to take it on. I will be interested to hear what other people thought about it over the next couple of days. In case you missed it -

MLK and next Tuesday

2009-02-17T13:30:00.004-08:00

I got a great email today from my dad, who said “I think next week’s events will be a great reawakening in our country.” (emphasis mine) He also linked me the acceptance speech of Martin Luther King Jr. when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I like that my dad mentioned reawakening, as opposed to it being just an awakening. Because as monumentious as next Tuesday will be for our country, this was not something that began 2.5 years ago at a courthouse in Illinois. King in his acceptance speech paid homage to not only the leaders of the civil rights movement, but to those who played an important part and will never be known. “So you honor the dedicated pilots of our struggle who have sat at the controls as the freedom movement soared into orbit…. You honor the ground crew without whose labor and sacrifices the jet flights to freedom could never have left the earth. Most of these people will never make the headline and their names will not appear in Who’s Who. Yet when years have rolled past and when the blazing light of truth is focused on this marvelous age in which we live - men and women will know and children will be taught that we have a finer land, a better people, a more noble civilization - because these humble children of God were willing to suffer for righteousness’ sake.”

Thanks dad for sending me that, and for anyone else who is interested in reading the whole transcript of that speech http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-acceptance.html

Three Weddings and A Christmas

2009-02-17T13:30:00.003-08:00

Katie and I had quite a run before the holidays of weddings. First was the Ramseyer/Van Deever wedding in Wichita. Not only was the wedding beautiful, but it was fun to catch up with some friends that we hadn’t seen in quite some time. Despite the fact that I about passed out trying not to have a coughing fit during the ceremony, a big time was had by all. Next was a trip to the Navel Academy in Annapolis, MD to see my long time friend Jake Womble get married to Jenn Windstein. Katie had a great time going to her first military wedding (despite the fact she had quite the cold at the time), and whenever I get the files transfered over I will post the video we took of the sword arch following the ceremony. And to complete our wedding trifecta, Katie and I went to the Bell/Franco wedding shortly after coming home from Annapolis.

The whirlwind of events did not stop with weddings, as it was finally time for Christmas break. Katie and I first headed to Wichita to spend some time hanging with my sisters and parents. It was a blast to get the whole crew together and spend time playing games and watching movies. On Christmas after the traditional Christmas manicotti at the Larson’s we traveled back to our home in Kansas City, arriving about the same time the Hansens did. We opened presents with Katie’s parents and Grandparents before calling it a night. The next day as we prepared for our first Christmas dinner at our house, which was a bit overly stressful on my poor wife, I took the boys to Bestbuy while the girls went shopping on the plaza. The Basingers joined the rest of us for what turned out to be a great dinner.

I hopefully will have time this week to write about the trip to Tempe and the Insight.com bowl (spoiler alert: We Win)

I'm back

2009-02-17T13:30:00.001-08:00

Well, there were a number of things that happened that kept me from finding the time to post an update, so I will run down what has happened since then. Only a couple of days after posting about my setbacks in the lab, I was called early in the morning on Sunday and told that Fidel was not feeling well and was not eating. I got dressed and met the Vet and Heather (a fellow labmate, who worked with Fidel before me) at the Hospital. After cleaning Fidel’s chamber and giving him some fluids and glucose, he started looking like he was going to recover. We were just warming him up before we put him back in the cage, while giving him IV fluids, when he started to crash and within a matter of minutes and an unsuccessful CPR attempt, Fidel died.

This left me in an interesting situation, considering I was planning on doing half of my doctoral thesis on the research I was doing with Fidel. I now will be working with a different monkey and trying to get one of the new monkeys up to speed on the task so that I don’t get stuck working on a PhD for 6 years.

Long story short, things are going well with the new monkey so far and I am hopeful that this will not be too much of a delay. That is all for now, but I will post soon about the 3 weddings we went to, holidays with family, and watching KU win a second bowl game in 2008.

Setbacks

2009-02-17T13:29:00.001-08:00

Well if Fidel (the monkey I work with) tearing his head restraint out of his head causing a two month delay in recording was not enough, it seems like there are more forces at work trying to keep me from getting work done. I went up to put Fidel under anesthesia so that I could clean his skull chamber and Dr. Cheney could come take a look at how his head was healing up, and much to my surprise it appeared that he had been fed. I was surprised because last night I had marked not only a chart on the door entering the room with a DO NOT FEED sticker for Fidel and two of the younger monkeys that I was hoping to train today, but I also marked each of their individual cages with the same bright red DO NOT FEED stickers. So I went and found one of the ladies cleaning the cages and she informed me that they had replaced the cages today and that someone new was working who may not have known to look on the door before feeding. So not only can I not put Fidel to sleep, I can’t even work with the other two monkeys today.

Instead I will probably sit here and count the seconds until Katie comes to pick me up so that we can go finish our awesome craft project (a whole post and pictures to come).

I do want to share some holiday cheer with you, so go check out and watch the video all the way through, it may just make your day.

Sickness and Turkey

2009-02-17T13:28:00.005-08:00

Well Thanksgiving like always was a great time to be with friends and family. In less than a week I got to spend time with pretty much everyone I know. Highlights include a trip to the local watering hole in St. Louis to rendezvous with Katie’s crew, football victories from both Webster and KU (you suck, Missouri), seeing all of the immediate family, playing wii with the Gehrer’s (yeah Lucy), and a beautiful Ramseyer/Van Deever wedding with some long time friends.

Unfortunately, after all the fun was over I started to feel a bit sick and missed a couple days of work. I am feeling better now and am trying to get caught up on some work, while not getting distracted by gchatting and facebook chatting with other people who should be working.

I can’t wait until I get to spend more time with friends and family during the Womble Wedding in a couple weeks and when we all come home for Christmas.

DC Reflections

2009-02-17T13:28:00.003-08:00

Well, I am back from DC and trying to get back to work. It was a great experience getting to meet some the most brilliant researchers in the world. I was also struck by how these are the people who are changing the face of Science, Health Care, and Technology, but have very little say in the Policy Decisions made by Congress and our President (where less than 3% have any background in science). Overall the conference was a good learning experience and I will look forward to heading back next year in Chicago and presenting research myself.

There were some other things not science related that I thought were interesting about the trip. It was amazing to see some of the monuments and museums that celebrated the sacrifices and successes of our country, but while looking at the eerily frozen statues of the Korean War Memorial, I was struck by the number of freezing homeless on the streets in DC. There was an interesting dichotomy traveling through the Road to Freedom display at the Smithsonian, where photographs taken only 40 years ago showed African-Americans being beaten, jailed, and murdered for wanting equal rights, and just outside the museum they were building gigantic grandstands for an anticipated crowd that might near 4 million people for the inauguration of our country’s first African-American president.

It was a good reminder that it is the people in our country that have been the driving force to make it great. And despite what Bill O’Reilly thinks, our country has not been and will not be a moderately conservative country, we are a slowly(sometimes too slow) progressive country. I look forward to seeing what the near future holds for us.

Neuroscience 2008

2009-02-17T13:28:00.001-08:00

Well since the Neural Interface Symposium was putting all the old guys to sleep and the Voluntary Movement Posters being presented this afternoon were all about vocal control, so I decided to head back to the hotel and catch maybe a short nap before going to see some of the sights. So far the conference has gone well, there have definitely been a number of really interesting presentations which made me seriously question why some of this hasn’t been funded over the last 8 years. It is way bigger than I expected with thousands of people here, not to mention the at least eight thousand poster and research presentations that are being made, which doesn’t even include the hundreds of millions in research technology that is on display.

I hope to maybe post one more time from DC after seeing some sights. I miss my wife and my dog and will be excited to see them on Wednesday.

Nebraska, and Horror Movies

2009-02-17T13:22:00.001-08:00

So we took a trip to Lincoln to watch the Hawks lose to the Huskers, but what really sucked was that the people up there were so nice to us the whole time that I can’t even be that mad about it. (Besides when we win out and go to a BCS game, no one will remember it)

Much more exciting is that my sister Lauren has finally posted the first part of her Horror movie that she has been working on at Chapman. It promises to be a psychological thriller, so please check it out (warning the language and imagery may not be appropriate for work)

I am excited to have my other sister Holly and my Dad come into town for the next couple of days. (Holly is interviewing for Med School)

Be honest that warning about the video made you want to watch it more.

At Last...

2009-02-17T13:21:00.000-08:00

It is only the 7th day in November, but finally I have all of the financial aid, stipend, and billing for the semester taken care of. I can only hope that it will not take 5 months each semester.

Heading to Lincoln this weekend with almost everyone I know - see you all there.

What I do

2009-02-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

Watch CBS Videos Online

For those people who want a better idea of what I do everyday, we are working on the base research that goes into these technologies and projects. The work I do is with monkeys studying how the brain sends signals to the muscle to move and more specifically how the ipsilateral side of the brain controls muscle movement.