So I watched the debate this morning (that’s “last night” for all of you folks in the US). No knockout blows and Biden looked like he was really holding back against Palin. He never really attacked her- which makes sense because his job is just to attack McCain. Unfortunately, because he had so many opportunities to ridicule Palin’s non-answers and her folksy ramblings, his failure to put her away goes as a negative in my book.
Of course, the strategy of “let her hang herself while I look more presidential than she can ever hope to be” didn’t necessarily fail. At least according to this CNN poll.
I guess that the idea of somebody as unqualified as Gov. Palin even running for Vice President is so offensive to me that I want the floor wiped with her at every opportunity. I mean, look at what our last unqualified candidate got us into.
On to other things…
Last night also saw the Ig Nobel Award ceremonies at Harvard University. These are so much fun and I love to attend them. An organization called The Annals of Improbable Research puts on this parody of the Nobel Prizes every October to highlight scientific research that “first makes people laugh, and then makes them think.”
Past winners have included:
1991 - Biology: Robert Klark Graham, selector of seeds and prophet of propagation, for his pioneering development of the Repository for Germinao Choise, a sperm bank that accepts donations only from Nobel laureates and Olympians.
1996 - Art: Don Featherstone of Fitchburg, MA for his “ornamentally evolutionary” invention, the plastic pink flamingo.
2001 - Astrophysics: Dr. Jack Van Impe & Rexella Van Impe of Jack Van Impe Ministries, for their discovery that black holes fulfill all of the technical requirements for the location of Hell.
2006 - Acoustics: D. Lynn Halpern of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, and Brandeis University, and Northwestern University, Randolph Blake of Vanderbilt University and Northwestern University and James Hillenbrand of Western Michigan University and Northwestern University for conducting experiments to learn why people dislike the sound of fingernails scraping chalkboard.
The ceremony is always fun and includes presentations by actual Nobel Prize winners. A lecture series usually follows during the weekend where winner have a chance to explain their research. What started as a way to critisize bad science has turned into a notable event within the scientific community and the number of people submitting their work for consideration has jumped from none to over 10,000 per year. Scientists, it seems, are almost as eager to get this prize -which has no financial reward- as they are the Nobel Prize itself.
Anyway, this is just another one of the events taking place in Boston during this, my favorite time of year in the city. Attending funky, genre-bending music festivals is all well and good, but sometimes I just want to watch the Sox beat the Angles at The Good Life, go apple picking and head on over to Harvard for some good clean scientific fun.
October 4th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
If watching McCain/Palin’s sorry excuse for a campaign somehow makes you homesick for America, things must be really bad! I, however, may be joining you in China if these Yokels win the election.
October 27th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Hey Mike, just checking in on your online presence
I must say I’m impressed by the professionalism of this blog and the eloquence of your writing style in the places I’ve read it. I guess you were a journalist after all. I’ve always been envious of someone able to express what’s in their head succinctly and without sounding staid. Keep it up! I’ll see you soon.