After I watched all 5 seasons of “The Office“, I embarked on a “Man vs Wild” marathon. It’s somewhat of a realistic count of the adventures of Bear Grylls, who was once the youngest guy to scale Mt. Everest. For most of the episodes, he shows the viewers survival tactics in some of the world’s most remote areas. While there are some rumors that on some episodes, he spends part of his time off the camera in luxury hotels rather than in the wild as portrayed, the majority of his adventures are impressive. Aside from being able to eat anything raw (Yak eyes, puff adders, spiders) and able to build rafts from fig vines, Bear Grylls is well-versed–these abilities have enabled him to produce five seasons of adventures.

Aside from the instinctual thrill of watching this survivorman dive into waterfalls, I enjoy analyzing the science behind all of his tactics. On one episode, he explains the Dakota fire pit as a means to sustain a fire in a windy environment and mask your tracks. While I may never actually build one of those myself, it’s interesting to learn about fundamental skills. Bear Grylls also comments much on the nutritional value of the insects, creatures, and animals he manages to stuff in his mouth. Yes, snails have high protein content. So do snakes.  From a scientific standpoint, this point is fundamental since the aforementioned animals are highly muscular. And muscle is built from amino acids (roughly). Nonetheless, I find it amusing to hear these correct statements from someone who didn’t go through years of college. I’ve finished three seasons so far…two more to go.

misc life

My previous entry reinvigorated my thoughts on the trite debate on whether genius stems from nature or nurture. Neurology is fascinating in that so much of it remains a black box. Highly functional people have been found on incidental imaging to have absent lobes of the brain, likely stemming from in utero infarctions. Given the plasticity of the brain, is it possible to nuture a genius? Such topics make great (lame) discussions on a Friday night around the campfire.

In pursuing the nurture argument, I’ve created a thought experiment that involves my experience compared with that of a “genius”. Consider this an experiment with N of 1 (Usually, a study with N=1 is not generalizable). All of the following statements are true to the extent of my knowledge.

There is a non-fiction text written several years ago entitled “Countdown” that documents the lives of a few teenagers/people who are extremely gifted in mathematics. For the sake of argument, these people are “geniuses”. While I haven’t read the book, I believe that I am familiar enough with the characters to make relatively accurate assumptions to compare one of them to me. The “genius” will be referred to as Genius.

As follows, in reverse chronological order:

1. As a freshman in college, Genius took graduate-level courses, doing well in all of them and mastering the material with more fluency than many graduate students.
   1. As a freshman in college, I struggled with freshman Chemistry. I almost considered dropping out when I discovered that elements in the periodic table could have quantifiable charges instead of simply “positive”, “neutral”, or “negative”. Apparently my pre-college education was lacking.
2. As a high school student in California, Genius participated in numerous academic scholarly activities, and was well-rounded in athletics. He won many medals and awards.
   1. As a high school student in rural Appalachia, I almost got electrocuted in my house-building class when my partner thought it to be funny to connect live power (220v) to the wall outlet I was building for a laundry dryer. The course was entitled “house-building” because it taught us not only how to wire switches on walls but also how to construct a frame for a house.
3. In grade school in Mississippi, Genius was considered to be too talented for his teachers, and they had trouble keeping him intellectually challenged. His teachers would struggle to create tasks for him.
   1. In grade school in rural Appalachia, I was not challenged by the school curriculum. My teachers thought I was a nuisance to ask questions, so they put me in the back of the room cutting paper ornaments for Christmas decorations.
4. (From an excerpt of Countdown) During grade school,  Genius was invited to a summer math camp. He was excited.
   1. During that summer, Genius had a roommate who was there for similar merit. He also lost a game a chess to his roommate. Guess who his roommate was?

I think nuture deserves a point for this case. In fairness, the statements above are not intended to offend anyone, nor should they be construed to be snide comparisons. They are simply meant to stimulate debate. And if you are this aforemented Genius, please contact me. I’d like to see how you’re doing. You’ve been a great inspiration for me to bootstrap out of a failing American educational system.

misc life

Last week, I initially planned to study for my USMLE Step 3, the two-day medical licensure exam I took yesterday. It was bad enough that I refused to buy any preparation book or practice questions for the test–maybe I should have–but I can’t believe I blew off studying to watch FIVE seasons of The Office.

Yes…not 1 or 2 episodes, but FIVE seasons of that satirical show set in Scranton, PA.  I had only seen one episode previously, and that was during one of my night float blocks.  Initially I didn’t think it was too captivating, but after blasting through 2 seasons, I couldn’t stop until I caught up to this season.  The scripting is well-written to encompass an overarching theme of the season while individualizing a plot for each episode.  It’s also neat that one of the show’s writers, BJ Novak (Harvard alum), also plays as Ryan the temp.

That said, I’m ashamed to admit that I spent over 60 hours in a week watching TV instead of preparing for an exam that I must pass in order to apply for my medical license. Scary.

That’s not all folks. I also recorded the theme song of The Office on piano. I used the built-in unidirectional mono microphone on my Thinkpad T42, while playing on my Casio CDP-100 keyboard. The Casio has Steinway sampled tones, but unfortunately the speakers are horrible (I do not have a passthrough audio cable). Enjoy!

misc life

I was surveying the kitchen utensil aisle at the local hispano supermercado, and came across a molcajete! One of those volcanic rock mortar and pestles that you see in Latino restaurants to grind up guacamole. This one is the classic shape: three legs with a pig face in the front. The accompanying pestle is called a, “tejolote”. It reminds me of the guacamole appetizer at Mama Mexico. It also looks like the one I saw at Crate & Barrel earlier in the year (see bottom picture). The appeal? Keep using it over the months and years, and the basalt crystals will slowly release an intense flavor that you otherwise wouldn’t get in a wooden or ceramic bowl. And you’ll never be able to get them 100% clean either. These cool little gadgets are also dangerously coarse, sort of like a pumice stone.

Are they worth it? This one at the Mexican store sells for $19.99. The one at C&B goes for $32. I initially thought they were similar, but don’t be fooled! This cute little piggy at the Mexican store feels a lot like concrete. It’s much smoother than the C&B one. It almost looks like they painted a concrete sealant over the mold (like on your garage floor).  While it may not necessarily be that crude, I think I’ll choke up an extra $12 for something that looks a little bit more like volcanic rock. That is, if I ever have the kitchen space to stock a piggy in my cabinets.

misc life

Nice pretty icy trees

I visited my family in Kentucky after I had heard what the hellish snowstorms brought over the last few months. Before all the ice melted, the streets were lined with a picturesque amount of snow.  Afterward, the streets look like a disaster zone. There are still branches strewn about the neighborhood. Ironically, the streets and homes in the area don’t look as devastated when compared to the post-tornado carnage we had two years ago.  Read more…

misc life