wow.!!.. an n sci playing god in running shoes..

there was a HUGE article in the globe and mail yesterday discussing synthetic biology.. and it just so happened that n sci's very own Emanuel Nazareth is featured in a VERY LARGE picture as well as mentioned sporadically throughout.

Article - CLICK ME!

Great work Emanuel!.. I knew he was doing some crazy stuff with Davies but I didn't know he was doing this!.

I highly suggest reading it through. It's worth the some odd 10 minutes that you'll lose while studying.

fyi

I came across this in my reading of "the world is flat" (an overall great book recommended to me by PK) and something that I think all young people should know. I might be running into some copyright problems but here goes anyways.

How to ensure your future job doesn't get outsourced

There are four ways to accomplish this.

Firstly, be special (and I'm not talking about the special you hear about in elementary school). I'm talking about ur favorite tv star, sports star or artist. They have a special talent and no one can touch them. As this is sort of a rare thing, I'll move on.

Be geographically anchored. Have a job that requires you to be physically there. This could be a barber (I don't think a remote haircutting device will ever take off), a family doctor or any number of service jobs that require face to face contact. This is a shady category as it's true that these jobs will not get directly outsourced but productivity will be continually increased through it. So a family doctor will have people checking out x-rays, blood tests etc.. from halfway around the world, but in the end that face to face contact is necessary. Overall, still not extremely applicable to me.

Be specialized. How can they ever replace a chemical nanotube nanospecialist?.. as there are likely very few in the entire world. This just tells me to go to graduate school. There are millions of computer engineers graduating every year from india and china. It's not good enough to spend those four years and be done with it.

Lastly, be adaptable. This is where engineering science comes through. How many times have we been thrown a bunch of new stuff and forced to learn, make sense of it and apply on a super tough test or exam? As markets will shift quicker, todays technology will be tomorrows paper weight, being able to learn quickly and change roles will be a great asset for tomorrow's cutting edge company.

So overall, don't fret my eng sci friends, we're well positioned. Our acquired ability to learn quickly is an extremely useful asset today and will continue to grow in usefulness in the future. You've likely heard the line "Learning to learn" and never gave it a second thought. But I must say that this is ringing true nowadays especially after experiencing first hand how little school directly prepares for the work world. You learn on the job all the way.

I'll likely post a few more times as I continue through the book but that's all for now.

oh no.. I'm destined for research

You Should Get a PhD in Science (like chemistry, math, or engineering)

You're both smart and innovative when it comes to ideas. Maybe you'll find a cure for cancer - or develop the latest underground drug.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

I can't believe I'm so messed up that this mini-survey above is actually having an effect on me!!... ahh.. research or business?!?..... crap crap crap

and thanks for the link adeline.

more bitterness towards our cities finest

if you've read this previous post of mine you can already sense my dissatisfaction with our police and judicial system, now this has only come to grow.

Actually.. there was this one time a few months ago where I was doing 84 in a 60 zone and the cop let me get off with a 74 in a 60 zone so no demerrit points, but besides that, the experiences have not been great.

I don't want to go out and blame the police for their inability to do things but sometimes it's annoying that they don't even make the effort.

For instance, my sister and some of her friends had their wallets/purses stolen from their parked car last night. The hoodlums (as I will refer to them as), broke in and took everything. Now, I do see how this isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but an annoyance nevertheless. So, when calling up the credit card and phone companies, it was discovered the hoodlums had bought gas and made phone calls!.. You don't need to be Gill Grisham (CSI person), to catch these people. Find out who they called, find the gas station where they bought gas and check the video cameras for license plates. EASY!!... I do see how getting enough evidence for a conviction would be tough, but it wouldn't hurt just talking to these hoodlums and perhaps putting a scare into them. I doubt they would try to pull any of it off again. But.. the cops are indifferent.. it so happens that my sisters friend's boyfriend is a cop, he said in plain english "We can't do anything.. sorry"..

The natural counterargument is of course, "The cops have better things to do".. YES.. I agree.. totally agree. But does it not occur to anyone that the 50 cent wannabe gangsters shooting up Toronto started somewhere?.. perhaps breaking into cars and getting away without thinking twice?... stop it before it starts. So, instead of going on TV and claiming "50 cent encourages violence, let's stop him from coming to Canada", why don't you stupid MPs, stop coming up with bs excuses and get to work.. FIX the problem, stop complaining, stop promising useless crap like a 2% reduction in GST and DO SOMETHING USEFUL. Man.. makes me want to go into politics and fix some of this garbage.

k.. that was some hardcore ranting.. felt good.

bye for now.