Category: Miscellaneous

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Anna is going to be leaving for Utah soon. I actually don’t know how long she will stay in Lethbridge before she actually leaves. School is almost done for me – and frankly I should be getting my last assignments done right now instead of writing on this blog. Anyway assuming I can find someone to cover me at work I will be leaving on about the 9th or 10th of December. I’m driving down to Utah, hanging out with Anna and her family for a couple of days and then… it’s off to Disneyland. I’m so – SO excited. REALLY.

Anna bought us 5 day hopper passes which for those of you that don’t know, means that we can go to either of the 2 parks as much as we want for 5 great days. Disneyland is just so much fun.

My cousin JP said we could stay at his place, so we’ll likely be staying there for the duration. I am still wondering if we should take in the sites at Universal and perhaps spend a day or two at the beach. California is so fun.

Ok, it turned out that it wasn’t really a fire. On Friday night while I was lifeguarding at the Y, the other guard and I smelled smoke so we evacuated the pool. The whole building was evacuated but after the firemen checked it out, it turned out to be nothing more than the motor in one of the vents short circuited itself (or something like that). We reopened and everyone was happy – except me and Phil of course, because we thought we might get to go home early.

In a major step towards developing nanoscale electronics, researchers have successfully coaxed DNA into acting as a self-assembling nanoscale transistors.

The key component in all modern electronics, transistors regulate current and act as switches or gates for electronic signals. The allure of DNA is that it can self-assemble into transistors far smaller than those used in conventional silicon-based chips.

Researcher Erez Braun and colleagues at Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa created the new nanotechnology “by coating a central part of a long DNA molecule with proteins from an E. coli bacterium. Next, graphite nanotubes coated with antibodies were added, which bound onto the protein.”

“But while DNA by itself is a very good self-assembling building block, it doesn’t conduct electrical current,” explains Braun.

“After this, a solution of silver ions was added. The ions chemically attach to the phosphate backbone of the DNA, but only where no protein has attached. Aldehyde then reduces the ions to silver metal, forming the foundation of a conducting wire.”

What to do if your Internet connection goes down.

Authorities issued a warrant yesterday for Michael Jackson’s arrest, based on multiple charges of molesting a child and asked the self declared King of Pop to surrender his passport and turn himself in.

Despite higher security with the arrival of Bush in London, or maybe because of it, reporter from the Daily Mirror yesterday revealed that using false credentials he got a job as a Palace Guard.

As conflicted as I feel about bringing attention to the Royal family (negative or positive) the details in this story are just too good to pass up.

On a semi-related note, George W. Bush just never ceases to amaze me. During his speech at the Banqueting House in Whitehall, Mr. Bush acknowledged that he is not a very popular visitor. “I’ve been here only a short time, but I’ve noticed the tradition of free speech, exercised with enthusiasm, is alive and well here in London. We have that at home, too.”

Need I say more?

It’s 2:00 AM. I’m sort of done my animation for the DVD I have to burn tomorrow. My hands feel like they are going to fall off at the wrists they are so sore from using the mouse and keyboard all day. I’m so tired.

So I put up my counter around 10:30 last night and I’ve already gotten over 30 unique visitors. I realize 30 isn’t much compared to what a lot of sites get, but still 30 people in less than 24 hours? I must say I’m pretty happy.

Update (November 2003): I just realized that all the hits I got last night on the stairway to heaven thing don’t mean I’m always averaging that many hits, it just means that most likely I got all those hits after I told Andrew, a student in one of my classes, about the site and he likely told all his friends.

Update (November 2005): Looking at this post now is kind of funny considering I am currently averaging about 5000 unique visitors to my site per day. It’s amazing the changes that can happen in just two years.