What kind of cat am I?

Take the quiz:
What kind of cat are you?

Alcoholic Cat
You like beer and bars. Maybe you should calm it down before you get a beer belly, if you don't already have one.

Quizzes by myYearbook.com -- the World's Biggest Yearbook!

Vaguely fitting

For my next trick

I just found this cartoon by Garrick Tremain on Stuff dated from April 22nd.

Friday random 10

Don't think of me	Dido	No angel
Low	Coldplay	X&Y
Come away with me	Norah Jones	Come away with me
Shot in the head	Shihad	Love is the new hate
What's this life for	Creed	My own prison
Black and white people	Matchtbox 20	Mad season
The number of the beast	Iron Maiden	Edward the great: Greatest hits
Listen to her heart	Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers	Greatest hits
Dyin' aint much of a livin'	Jon Bon Jovi	Young guns II: Blaze of glory
The stronger the tree	Jigzag	Jigzag Live

Politically Incorrect Fringe Rangers

Sinfest recently had a funny cartoon Politically Incorrect Fringe Rangers. This one just rocks.

Rachel Papo: Serial No. 3817131

This is an amazing photo essay consisting of pictures of women in the Israeli Army, taken by a veteran from their airforce, Rachel Papo.

The life of an eighteen-year-old girl in Israel is interrupted when she is plucked out of her environment at an age when sexual, educational, and family values are at their highest exploration point. She is then placed in a rigorous institution, where individuality becomes a secondary matter, making room for nationalism. “I solemnly swear…to devote all of my strength and to sacrifice my life to protect the land and the liberty of Israel,” repeats the newly recruited soldier during her swearing-in ceremony. She enters the two-year period in which she will change from a girl to a woman, a teenager to an adult, all under a militaristic, masculine environment, and in the confines of an army that is engaged in daily war and conflict.

viaMajikthise

Ways to tell I'm an ecologist (I)

On Saturday night I found myslef heading out to a club in Durham, Ringside. It was the second time that I've been there, and this time it was pretty full. It's actually a pretty neat place, there are four levels to it, although one of those was closed off both times I've been there. The stairs are narrow and it's a little bit like a warren in there. However, the atmosphere is great, although I imagine going there during daylight hours would remove some of that. It reminded me of a hybrid of Arc Cafe and Bath St, both located in Dunedin, NZ.

I digress a little. On Saturday was a Black and White party, so a large numbe rof the punters were there fressed up. A few had fairly elaborate costumes (well not so elaborate in one case). Of the group I was with, one person (out of six) did dress up in theme (and looked very good). Nevertheless two of us were ecologists. How could we be picked?

We were the only one's wearing Tevas.

Flickr

Well I just started an account with Flickr for putting my photo's online, my first batch are placed, so have a look and tell me what you think. Some old, some relatively new.

What kind of coffee are you?

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

How American am I?

You Are 18% American

You're as American as Key Lime Tofu Pie Otherwise known as un-American! You belong in Cairo or Paris... Get out fast - before you end up in Gitmo!

How American Are You?

Not much of a surprise there.

Theme song

Your Theme Song is Back in Black by AC/DC

"Back in black, I hit the sack, I've been too long, I'm glad to be back" Things sometimes get really crazy for you, and sometimes you have to get away from all the chaos. But each time you stage your comeback, it's even better than the last!

What's Your Theme Song?

Friday random 10

Good morning baby	Runga/Dobbyn/Finn	Together in concert: Live
Politik	Coldplay	A rush of blood to the head
When I come around	Green Day	International superhits
The sailor's hornpipe	Mike Oldfield	Tubular bells 2003
Love you like I should	Dave Dobbyn	Overnight success
One flight down	Norah Jones	Come away with me
Waste another day	Brooke Fraser	What to do with daylight
The prophet's song	Queen	A night at the opera
Running free	Iron Maiden	The essential Iron Maiden
After all	Delerium	Chimera

Piled higher and deeper

Piled higher and deeper an online comic about the perils and pitfalls of graduate school.


Newton's three Laws of graduation are well worth checking out.

Peer review

Peer review is one of the responsibilities of doing science, similar to jury duty for the wider community. When we want to publish a paper then the manuscript is submitted to the desired journal. The first hurdle is that one of the journal editors will read the manuscript and decide whether it is relevant to the journal or not. If the editor decides that the manuscript is relevant, then it will be sent out to reviewers, the number of which will depend on the journal, usually two or three. The editor will identify likely reviewers and ask them if they are willing to read and comment on the manuscript. Once they've received all the reviews back the editor will make the final decision as to whether to publish or not. Unlike jury duty, reviewing manuscripts is strictly voluntary.

I recently found myself reviewing a paper for PLoS (Public Library of Science). It was an interesting paper, although there were some important omissions (standard errors). I think the main reason the paper appealed to me was because they used a statistical method that I am familiar with to address a different question than what it was originally designed to address. I think it was all good, which was why I liked it, although they should have included standard errors in there and they'd screwed up their interpretation of an interaction effect in the paper.

Unfortunately for the authors one of the other reviewers did not like the paper and as there were some issues with the manuscript it was rejected. In my opinion the main reason for this was somewhat specious, since apparently, their conclusions were limited by the quantity of data that they had rejected. Now given that they were working on a long lived, non human species, I'm not overly worried about this. Admittedly it does affect the strength of inference from the analyses, but this is indicated by the standard errors, unfortunately omitted by the authors. In an ideal world we’d all have lots of data, but it’s far from an ideal world, and often times we must make do with what we have.

Still the authors of this particular manuscript shouldn't be discouraged, since one of the three reviewers had major concerns that the other reviewers echoed to a lesser extent, it's probably right that the manuscript is rejected. What is a little irritating is that had they put more effort into the manuscript initially, it may have made it through.

Top 20

Complicated	Gramsci	Permanence
Guts and the glory	Shihad	Love is the new hate
Don't leave home	Dido	Life for rent
As good as it gets	The Feelers	Communicate
Home again	Pacifier	Live
World on Fire	Sarah Mclachlan	Afterglow (Live)
Building a mystery	Sarah Mclachlan	Afterglow (Live)
A poem for Byzantium	Delerium	Poem
Fallen	Sarah Mclachlan	Afterglow (Live)
Sweet Surrender	Sarah Mclachlan	Afterglow (Live)
Orgasmatron	Sepultura	Arise
I will remember you	Sarah Mclachlan	Afterglow (Live)
Whaling	Runga/Dobbyn/Finn	Together in concert: Live
Good morning baby	Runga/Dobbyn/Finn	Together in concert: Live
Won't give in	Finn Brothers	Everyone is here
Time	Sarah Mclachlan	Afterglow
The parting glass	?	Waking Ned Divine
Loyal	Runga/Dobbyn/Finn	Together in concert: Live
Beside you	Runga/Dobbyn/Finn	Together in concert: Live
Superman (It's not easy)	Five for fighting	America Town

I just thought I'd have a look at my top twenty songs play count wise, it seems somewhat obvious what my favourite albums are from the list but there are also a sprinkling of songs from elsewhere across my music collection. A few kiwi songs feature in here as well, which is good.
Now all I need is to find some time to write some stuff of consequence!

Friday random 10

Sweet basil	Jigzag	Jigzag Live
Whaling	DD Smash	Nature's Best
You're my best friend	Queen	Greatest Hits I
Ambush	Sepultura	Roots
Pokarekare Ana	Hayley Westenra	Pure
All over you	Live	Throwing Copper
Sway	Runga/Dobbyn/Finn	Together in Concert: Live
Beside you	Dave Dobbyn	Nature's best
Juice	Headless Chickens	Body Blow
Silence	Delerium	Karma

The Atheist test

The Ardent Atheist The results are in, and it appears that you have scored 76%...

You are an atheist, pure and simple. You think God is just one big lie, and consider religious people to be both annoying and beneath you. Ardent atheists will argue tooth and claw for their position, and have no truck with people that won't listen. You think being an atheist is the only way to lead an honest life, and see no reason to accept the pleas of faith. Ardent atheists are the backbone of atheism. Be proud.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on pentagrams

Link: The Atheist Test written by chi_the_cynic on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test