To cut a long story short, this is my second attempt at blogging. That’s why.

I started blogging sometime in 2005. It was an intensely personal blog to which few had access to. As it turned out, I used to write only when I was in the darkest of moods which, invariably, reflected in what I wrote. A year ago, when I was going through my old blog, I realized that, if anything, this blog was a repository of all the forgettable moments in my life!

Bam! Deleted it.

Circa 2009. Feel like blogging again. This time I’ve decided to make it a public blog. Let’s see how this goes.

“Easily Distracted”

Cause I obviously am. And not in that – OOO A BUTTERFLY OMIGOSH OMIGOSH THE LIGHT IS SHINING OFF ITS WINGS – kinda way, just how I start a topic and diverge a lot and by the end it’s a completely different subject. And just in life. My mom told me that my biggest problem when listening or working (COM100 class) was that I’m a distraction for myself and other people – like I’m naturally good at making people not focus on their work and get into a conversation or something, or making myself find something other than my work to do. I won’t let matters that float to my head drop, even if I’m supposed to be doing something important or chores or work. I can keep my sister awake at night for far longer than she wants to, and I have a couple of different tactics. The most obvious is talking about what she wants to talk about, then singing, then laughing cause it’s contagious, giving her opportunities to take jabs at me while I make lame jokes, making a statement for her to correct and then arguing against her correction and making a debate – we are a competitive family, I think, especially my sister and I. When we play board games or UNO we burn fat and faint from exhaustion. We also find it necessary to make lame catch phrases and puns (HAH, I’M 2 [+2 card] COOL [it's blue] FOR YOU [the number four...I don't know how this situation worked out, but I remember there being a lot of laughter because the pun was so amazing]) and and a good opportunity to give monologues….I think….you are all well aware that my rhetorical skills aren’t that great…and that these are all just train of thought blogs (oho, maybe this should be my headline thing)….But I promise, the suddenly bringing up UNO and board games wasn’t done to prove my point. Maybe it’s not that unbelievable (“yah, seriously, we know you’re not that good,” —”gee, thanks “).

Anyhoo. Yah, done. I’m trying to let this feeling that I forgot to mention something go without me trying to pursue it. I’M- no, no, let it be….

…

Ok here:

HUNTER/TRACKER-ME: *SNIFF SNIFF* I SENSE IT. IT’S NEAR! I SEE IT! WAAAAAAGH *running*

Thought: NOOOOOOOOOOO…..*runs faster*

TRACKER: AAAGH IT’S DISAPPEARING! NOO I’M LOSING IT!! AAAAGH….

Thought: BWAHAHHAHA YOU’LL NEVER SEE ME AGAIN!

TRACKER: AAAAAAGHHHH….

I hate mysteries. Gosh.

Welcome to Code for Life. I hope you get something out of my modest efforts to educate and entertain.

This blog is a mirror of sorts of my blog Code for Life the New Zealand Sciblogs website. At some point I’ll decide if I should syndicate this site to the other blog. The main difference to users are the commenting policy and the style of the blog. Commenting here doesn’t require registration and will remain open indefinitely.

The material below can also be found in the “About” page. I’m popping it in here by way of introduction.

What’s with the name of the blog?

Code4Life was a name I considered for my consultancy, BioinfoTools. It plays on a number of things related to my work. It plays on a whole lot of things relevant to my work and what I write about:

• My work involves programming (coding) for life sciences (molecular biology and genetics).
• The data I examine and write algorithms for are the sequences of bases in DNA (genes, genomes), the amino acid sequences of proteins (enzymes, hormone receptors, etc.) and the three-dimensional atomic structures of proteins. These are the codes in life, the “information base” of biology and life. (If readers are interested in an introduction to this, let me know.)
• It can mean moral codes and other “rules” people guide their lives with. I won’t be writing about this much about this in the sense of rules for life, but I may look at role of honest skepticism, logic and testing in science.
• You can stretch it to be about writing about life sciences, writing being a code of sorts.
• It has nothing to do with The Code for Life, an album by the heavy metal band Warrior. I am not a fan of heavy metal.

The banner photograph

My current banner may later be replaced with something reflecting the title of the blog… In the meantime it shows where I used to do my science. I work from a home office most of the time and until very recently I was based in a village in the Otago peninsula, near the Otago harbour. The village is near the right of the image. Science from a semi-rural, near maritime location! (The image is open source, obtained from wikimedia and edited using GraphicConverterv6.5.1.)

Topics

Most articles will target a general audience. I’ll try remember to let you know if I think an article is a bit geeky for general readers; once in a while I may write assuming a little basic background for those with deeper interests.

Likely topic areas include:

• Genetics, genomics and evolution. Stunning new findings pour out each week…
• Human biology, esp. cognitive neuroscience and rare diseases or disabilities. The workings of our minds is fascinating stuff and it’s intriguing to explore others’ lives.
• “What science is”, what the basic terms mean, how to read a report on science, sorting out the good stuff from the bad.
• Science and the media.
• “Natural remedies” vs. science-based medicine. The naïve presentation of some of the “woo” out there by various people (including, sadly, a considerable number of media reports) is appalling.
• Vaccinations. (No “flame wars”, please. Seriously.)
• Issues within science, especially within New Zealand. Science is a great enterprise, but there’s always room for improvement.
• Developments in computational biology (my profession).
• Computing & computers (the tools of my trade).
• Plain old ruminations. We all have our navel-gazing days…

Please feel free to ask questions and suggest topics you’d like covered. If possible, I’d like to try base a few posts every month on a subject that a reader has brought up.

I don’t claim to be some gifted philosopher or expert on matters far and wide, in fact I’m frequently embarrassed by my sheer stupidity… (Aren’t we all?) Some of my articles will be off my specialist expertise, in fact probably most will and I’ll let you know. Readers are most welcome to correct any errors but please substantiate your claims.

My background

By training I’m a computational biologist, a biologist who uses computers (algorithms, statistics, etc.) to explore biological problems, and who develops computer tools for biologists to explore data from genes, genomes and proteins. I work as an independent scientist through my consultancy, BioinfoTools, contracting to research groups and biotech companies.

A more commonly-known name for the field is ‘bioinformatics’ but “strictly-speaking” this originally referred to a subset of the field. Some of us who started before the “genome era” prefer the computational biology label, for reasons I’ll explain sometime… ‘BioinfoTools’ is a contraction of ‘bioinformatics tools’.

I have strong interests in science communication and am open to writing contracts or other work (e.g. editing) in this area.

Copyright

The material on my blog is copyright. Journalists, editors & publishers are welcome to contact me if you wish to use this material.

I’ve had a few questions lately about my user name, warhistorian, and the theme of this blog, especially since so little of the content on the blog is military-related.  I thought I would try to give an answer.

The name itself is simple.  It comes from my scholarly discipline, which is military history.  When I tell people this, they sometimes ask me why I study military history.  There are a few reasons.  First, I am a former military man myself, and I come from a military family.  The history of our nation’s armed forces has always interested me, even before I chose to pursue a career of studying it.  Secondly, I remember a teacher of mine who once said that history was everything that happened between wars.  That statement has always bothered me, as I feel that those wars, at least in part, shape history.  To discount them as historically unimportant just feels wrong.  Finally, it is my belief that in order to end war, we must come to understand it.  The only way to understand it is to study its history and to learn from the mistakes we’ve made in the past.

Insofar as the theme of this blog is concerned, I think it is self-explanatory.  My blog is full of revolutionary rhetoric.  I speak out often against the current administration.  Thus, my blog represents the revolutionary circumstances that mark the birth of this nation.

“A Continuation of Politics by Other Means” is borrowed from Carl von Clausewitz, in his treatise Vom Kriege (English: On War).  According to Clausewitz, war is simply a continuation of politics, or a duel on a larger scale.

The subtitle of the blog, concerning hanging together or separately, is attributed to Benjamin Franklin upon signing the Declaration of Independence.

I hope this clears up any confusion.

Huzzah!

I tossed and turned last night, wondering if I picked the right name for my blog.  I was torn between two names.

1. MuldoonSix

2. NuckleDragger

Based on the good books assigned in my social media class by my sage professors, I realized that it’s all about the conversation (Cluetrain Manifesto).  I also remember reading something about branding:

You are not what you say you are, you are what your customers say you are.  In this case, YOU are the customer, my readers.  So I will leave it to you to decide my Blog’s name.

Yes, “Nuckle” is spelled incorrectly; “Knuckle” was already taken.

Here we go!

This blog should be called “Behrend Business Writers 202D.”  It’s identifiable, accurate, and to the point… and a little catchy.

Kimberly Miles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBFeULHMO00&feature=PlayList&p=2EF46BC718EA8E82&index=12

First off, the blog name could be called The Cooler…Apparently that’s where a lot of random conversation goes around at work and so I guess its appropriate.

This commercial is for Airport Plaza Jewelers in Buffalo, New York. I live right outside of it so I get to see this commercial just about every time I watch TV. It is an absolutely rediculous low budget commercial. It is so stupid that I cannot believe they made it and air it…and create sequels to it. Yes, this is just the original. I don’t know how this advertisement is effective but it must be because this guy patented his “method” and does seminars on marketing. On the other hand, it is endearing in a way because it is just one of the many inside jokes regarding the stranger aspects of Buffalo culture. I’d be hard pressed to find someone who does not have an opinion on this commercial, always negative so far, but it has been said that any press is good press. So, maybe there is some quality in an advertisement that is so completely terrible to the point of  infinite remembrence, captivating an audience so large, that more than a few viewers on the market for jewelry say, “Why not, they buy it.” In short, as technically bad as it is, I did claim it to be my favorite commercial…I don’t know if I’d go there though. 

Jack D

What about PSU Pride Blog since we go to Penn State or Blue and White Blog. If not then lets go with the journal suggestion because it has a cool picture. 

Mario Victor

Favorite Television Commercial

So you think it should be a simple question – what’s your favorite commercial?  While watching TV, there have been many times I recall saying out loud or thinking to myself, “Hey that was a good one.” Surprisingly though, when asked outright for my favorite, I draw a blank.  Generally, I feel commercials are quite annoying.  You cannot even rent a simple movie without having it pre-empted by commercials.  But that not being the question at hand, I take the liberty of commenting on the commercial used in class as an example.  Click on Reebok commercial to view.  In this ad, a powerhouse CEO and a powerhouse football linebacker are working together to improve their corporate setting.  The class seemed to hone in on the commercial’s sports appeal making reference to sports analogies and the connection with the athletic and mighty football star running down a rival with the empowerment of his Reebok gear, of course.  I see a bit of different interpretation as well.  Not only did I think the commercial appealed to the sports fan, I think it also communicated to the business person as well.  The CEO opens up the commercial talking about improving productivity by hiring Terry Tate (football player).  First touch point noted immediately, productivity – a much talked about issue at many companies these days.    Terry Tate is then shown knocking down an Employee, much like a bully competitor or rival player.  This could relate to two ideals — taking out the weaker employee or taking out the non-productive or uncooperative employee.  Again, in today’s business climate of cutting back on headcount and weeding out what or those not needed, more hot topics to be addressing.  I think this Reebok commercial makes many arguments for its product and appeals to several audiences, those two main audiences that of the sports enthusiast and the business persons.  Of note, when looking into this commercial further, I found that Reebok, in fact, did a series of Terry Tate, office linebacker, commercials starting with “Sensitivity Training”.   Creating a series with the same characters and familiar setting, makes us keep watching for what’s next.  While this Reebok commercial may not be one of my most favorite, it stands out to me as a good example of a company making several great plays for its product and making that argument to a business-related audience and a sports-related audience both at the same time.  Not always an easy job to tackle.

My suggestion for a blog name would be “jay’s (pen)domonium.

J. Larsen

How about Business*Butter:  b/c hopefully all of this wonder business information will be absorbed nice and smooth, like butter. (idk…I’m not to creative sorry)

Erin Dyne

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPmfbhVGbIQ

I like this commercial because I am definitely a fan of playing basketball and sporty clothes, also because it has street basketball incorporated with dancing, tricks and stunts synced with a catchy beat. To me this commercial is trying to convince the audience that even the street players, while in their comfort zone doing what they love to do, can still do it comfortably, now just doing it comfortably in Nike footwear and apparel, hence buy Nike.

As for a blog name… umm… “English After Hours” because its my latest class, I guess.

Krystle Barrett

I chose the Behrend Journal as a name for the site, after the wall street journal, because the course is centered around business writing. Some of the most famous articles are put into journals before they are published. Perhaps the same will happen here.

Josh Havrda

 ”Six” Burgh Blog

Bud Light Commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mNjTO0agJ0

This is a hilarious bud light advertisement which argues that no matter what type of person you may seem to be, bud light will change the way you do certain things. In this commercial, for example, the workers of a certain business organize a jar of donations of twenty-five cents for every swear word said in the office. When the “professional” looking business people hear that this jar would be used to purchase bud light for the office they begin to swear a lot more frequently. The point of this commercial is the use of humor, as well as showing what people would do to be able to drink bud light.

1. Name of this Blog

I think that the name of this blog should be titled English Discussions because we’re all in English class and this is where we share our discussion between one another.

2. Product Commercial

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJHWJHYH_bk )

I chose a back to school shopping commercial for Wal-Mart.  In this commercial the mother sends her daughter off to school and says that the only thing she can do for her daughter is to make sure she feels comfortable in her skin without breaking her budget. You see her daughter in stylish clothes, smiling, and hanging out with her friends.  They then share certain brand name clothing that you can buy at Wal-Mart.  At the end of the commercial Wal-Mart’s logo appears and underneath it, it says “save money, live better.”  Wal-Mart’s argument in this commercial is that you can still buy name brand clothing at Wal-Mart because of its affordable prices.

Alexandra Dusckas

Honestly, Who doesn’t love a talking baby? They’re cute, they’re funny and even if I have no interest in actually selling or buying stocks on etrade, I’m still going to watch.  But, for those viewers who actually do have an interest in the stock world, the commercial’s message is that with etrade mobile pro, you can manage your stocks from anywhere, it’s fast, and it’s easy. Plus…it’s a talking baby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXromsE-S7g

I think that the blogs’ new name should be “The Watercooler”. Our class is a business writing class and watercoolers are commonly known as the one place in a business setting where employees communicate with eachother. (Even if most of the time it has nothing to do with actual business) Our blog should be a place where we can talk the watercooler talk  as well as a place that we can  “talk business” i.e. post homework and other requirements.

Eris Eells

I think the blog should be named homework blog and the only reason why i say something so simple is because when i see it in my bookmarks then I will remember to send in the assignment.  Nice and simple.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiOdCroJwx0&feature=channel

This commercial is for World of Warcraft and it features Verne Troyer explaining his chracter in the game.  He talks about playing as a mage gnome which is a small character.  This commercial targets the idea of having a sort of escape and I find it funny at the same time.  The commercial demonstrates that you can bring your personality online, and have a kind of second life.

Zack Smith

Assignment #1 – 8/26/09

Name for blog:

LaughDOTcom

Reason:

I’m going to have to admit that when I found out part of our assignment was to think of a name for the “funny commercial” blogs, I drew a blank, for about an hour. Obviously, this should be possible our easiest assignment all year, seeing it only involves coming up with a name. Finally, a thought popped in my head, LaughDOTcom. I know it is really corny and cheesy, but I think it describes the assignment/blog well. LaughDOTcom would be a good name for the blog because all of the student’s blogs consist of funny commercials (Laugh) and they are all found on the internet (DOTcom).

Sheena Kalchthaler

1. I believe that the name of our blog should be “Eclectic Business-Types.”  I think that this name speaks well for the various types of majors that are in our “Business Writing” class, not all of which are in the school of business. Of course, the “types” pun is provides a little comedic value in the “not really that funny” department.
2. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2602229974531953634 – This is a Reebok commercial that features Terry Tate as a linebacker who is hired by a business to raise the productivity of its employees by tackling a person who is not following the rules. The commercial uses shock value along with slap-stick comedy in an attempt to capture the viewer’s attention. Although it is almost impossible to draw a connection between shoes and the productivity of an office, I believe that the creators of the commercial are implying that Terry Tate’s speed and power are enhanced by the Reebok sneakers that he is wearing. This commercial is geared towards an audience who finds power and pain portrayed in this manner funny. This, along with the fact that the commercial first appeared in a super bowl broadcast, leads me to believe that it is geared more towards a male audience.

Jim Duberow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwlMHJE82Mk

The Colors Duke!  The Colors! This was my favorite commercial when I was a kid.  It’s pretty simple but just overwhelms your eyes with a flood-gate of color.  Honestly, I’m kinda surprised I didn’t have a seizure from watching it.   The Popsicle commercial obviously has a target market of younger children and teens.  It starts in black and white with a teenager standing in his room bored to death until he starts eating a popsicle that changes colors.  All of the sudden an excited expression beams off his face and vibrant colors flash rapidly.  He turns to his dog next to him not knowing who else to tell about his amazing discovery and yells “The colors Duke!  The colors!  . . . Then it cuts to the dog who is back in the old boring black and white world and the dog says “I’m color blind kid!”.   It cuts back to the kid who now too is back in black and white with a look of confusion, dissapointment and pure bewilderment that a dog even just talked.  The message?  If you’re bored or are looking for a fun thrill eat a color Popsicle and it will transport you to a world of fun, colorful, exciting, fast, delicious Popsicles.  Just don’t try talking to dogs when your there cuz it’s a huge buzz kill.

-As for the name.   Hmmm.  .  .  how about The Wall, b/c it’s a pretty simple metaphor for somewhere to post allot of things and because Floyd is legendary and we’re all really just another brick in the wall.

-Kyle Pfeffer

1. BLOG name: P.R.O.W. (P-preparation, R-research/revision, O-organization, W- writing, the 5 steps to successful writing)
2. As a Grandmother of 3 young grandsons, my television is generally being “flipped” between Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and The Disney Channel! The majority of commercials that are played center around the “latest and greatest” toys on the market. Commercials are definitely geared to captivate their audience! They entice children to want certain toys in order to “expand their imaginations and make them feel like they’re living the life of their favorite super heroes “. One toy that inevitably shows up on one of one of my Grandsons Birthday lists is any LEGO set that features their current idol which includes everyone from Batman to Luke Skywalker. Of course the commercial fails to reveal that the “set” displayed on TV is actually a combination of numerous sets that cost well over two or three hundred dollars. They also fail to show that the sets take numerous hours to build As if that wasn’t bad enough, even after completion, there’s no guarantee that the toy will even stay in one piece once a child attempts to fly or drive the newly built product across the floor! From a business perspective, I understand the toy manufacturer’s motives. Dealing with a child’s disappointment when they can only receive about a third of their request, however, is very frustrating. The only way I know how to deal with the issue is to try and utilize it as an opportunity to teach an early lesson to my Grandsons that “things aren’t always as good as they appear” on TV ! Hopefully this will also help them to understand both the value of money as well as ensuring the quality of the goods being purchased.

Jan Zillman

Tide Talking Stain Commercial
In this Commercial there is a man interviewing for a job and while doing so his stain on his shirt is talking at the same time. So instead of the employer listening to the interviewee he is more focused on the stain the whole time. I feel that the argument of this commercial is that if you have a very visible stain that it will tarnish your chances in a job interview or in any important one on one interaction. This ad definitely gets your attention because it is a possible scenario that could happen to anyone. The talking stain is a great way to grab the audience’s attention and keep them interested the whole thirty seconds that the commercial is on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmD7joJNE0c

I think the blog should be called cell block 202d because it sounds like a blog out of prison and it is kind of catchy (Not implying that the class feels like prison).

David Artuso

1. I think we should name the class blog Parallactic Pedagogy.

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA93vBjD4EU
I have to honest, the first time I saw this commercial, I actually cried. I thought it was so incredibly sweet and heart warming. I think this commercial, from a business stand point, was brilliant. Any adult watching can relate. Life seems to get taken over by responsibility and therefore people seem to drift apart. This commercial not only was selling it’s obvious product, Disney (specifically I think it’s selling a vacation, a chance to go back and re-live the parts of your life you miss) but it was also selling wholesome family values. It’s saying basically that we all let life get in the way sometimes, we’re all guilty. We have jobs and bills and we all lose sight of those special moments in life. But the Disney Company is always here to make light of things, bring you back to a place and time where life was good and fun.

Dixie Courtney