The Cult of Genius | Cosmic Variance

Julianne over at Cosmic Variance posts The Cult of Genius, and it hits pretty close to home. Everybody should go read it, but the gist is this: since very few people are Feynman-Einstein-Hawking smart, most students who grow up thinking (perhaps correctly) that they're smart will eventually hit a wall in college. Before, they could coast through anything; after, they actually have to work to pick up the material, and may still not really get it.

I say the post hits close to home because I grew up thinking I was pretty damn smart. Even after deciding on a career change and heading back to school at 35, I was sailing through the preparatory courses. Then Bam! Wall. I've spent the last two semesters adjusting my attitude, and preparing myself to admit that I may be smart, but I'm no Feynman. Hopefully, this adjustment will keep me from falling into the drop-out group mentioned in the CV post.

Last week, while defending myself against charges of being intimidated by a very intelligent, very young professor, I popped out this gem: "I don't want to be the smartest person in the room. Then there's nobody to talk to." I hope that's a sign that my adjustment is going well.

This is where I was supposed to be living by now

Via Paleo-Future comes this vision of life aboard a space station.

I believe I first saw this around the time it was made in the 70s. Back then, to a kid with a big imagination, it was a dream of the future. Now, it feels more like a broken promise. Oh well... There's still time.

Where Else

The SciExpress media empire is just getting started.

I can also be found here: http://www.myspace.com/sciexpress

Oh, and over here too: http://sciexpress.livejournal.com/

I doubt I'll do much at either of them, really, but I wanted to snag the name.

Smug Alert

Even a few months ago, I wouldn't have believed it possible.

I am now officially a Mac Person.

I can feel myself becoming insufferable already. This is my first post from my shiny new MacBook, and to borrow a phrase from Ferris Bueller, it is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

Can't post more now. Must. Keep. Tweaking.

No Accounting for Taste

How can the crabs / ice chest thing be rated the best ad by USA Today poll. It wasn't funny, wasn't touching, wasn't much of anything but a swing-and-a-miss.

My vote for top is a 3-way tie. The Bud Light Hitchhiker, the Blockbuster Mouse, and finding out Robert Goulet is a Suliban. Yes I'm a geek -- this will become painfully apparent.

First!

Interesting that Blogger doesn't let you upload a photo to use as a background. Anyway, that's why it's in this post, so I can use it there.