Overstimulated

I can't stop thinking about it, and I can't get over it. I am just in shock and awe over the events unfolding in New Orleans. A labmate described it as akin to a scene of civil war in a third world country without any kind of social order - accurate if not terrifying description.

I cognitively find it very difficult to fathom concepts of infinity (& growing), forever, and the beginning and ending of earth, humanity, and time. Every once in a while, when I hear about global warming, I am reminded that most people feel the same. They don't recycle because they refuse to acknowledge that some generation is going to have to face the end of human life. If not because of the destruction of the earth, then at the very least, the exstinguishing of the Sun (I doubt we'll make it that long). Mass extinction.

And I've always wondered, that generation that will have to face widespread devestation, how are they going to handle it? It's obvious that we're not going to just slowly die out. People don't become less greedy, they become more greedy, and their not going to stop until it's all gone. New Orleans is a prime example of this in action. Despite the Army Corps of Engineers citing a massive hurricane striking New Orleans as one of the top three most likely disasters to hit the US in a report issued last year, the Bush admin still pulled 44% of NO's flood funding in ordedr to fund the war in Iraq. I saw a documentary about 5 years ago about NO's levee system, and how the levees were only 18 feet but the city was 6 feet below sea level so that if there was ever a storm serge NO would act as a pool being filled up with water with no where for the water to recede, trapping it inside the city. No one can claim that they didn't know this was coming. Did NO make any plans to encouage it's residence to move elsewhere? Or discourage people from visiting the city? Of course not - bad for business.

And all of this is fodder for my thoughts of how and when the world will end. I think it's also provided some truly startling insight into how devastating disaster will be dealt with in the future.

We are such a bunch of dumb animals, just smart enough to really put ourselves in a pickle, but too lazy to get ourselves out again.

Somebody, give me an A!

I just submitted a paper to a prof for his approval and the addition of his name on the byline (meh, whattayagonna do?) before we submit for publication. He gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, and Rae lapped it up. In this world of rejected manuscripts and harsh reviews with never-ending rewrites, publication often seems anticlimatic because you never get positive feedback. I suppose we're supposed to have grown out of that phase, but it got me here gawddamnit! I didn't work my ass off in school because I always envisioned that I would go to grad school and become a happy little scientist in the pursuit of knowledge. That's what I turned out to be, but I have to admit: I did it all for the A.

I would be so much more productive if journals sumbitted grades along with their reviews and suggested revisions.