LTE 2.0

[windsor]

Ordered parts for my '68 Firebird convertible project's engine. Also took the cylinder heads and intake manifold to a guy who has been doing this type of work since the mid-70's.

I do so miss my 69 Firebird Convertible...someday perhaps I will have another.

[Very Duke Blue]

Requesting vibes for my uncle. He underwent a very lengthy surgery yesterday at Mayo Clinic to clear out an infection in his brain and in the bone in his forehead. The infection is in the area where he had a tumor removed a couple of years ago. Sounds like he has a long road to recovery ahead of him.

I hope his recovery goes well.

[CathyCA]

I am so proud of myself! My computer had some malware on it, and I was able to uninstall the malware all by myself today!

I don't know how it got past my Norton 360, but it did.

I am not a computer geek at all, but I figured this one out on my own.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I am so proud of myself! My computer had some malware on it, and I was able to uninstall the malware all by myself today!

I don't know how it got past my Norton 360, but it did.

I am not a computer geek at all, but I figured this one out on my own.

[bjornolf]

I am so proud of myself! My computer had some malware on it, and I was able to uninstall the malware all by myself today!

I don't know how it got past my Norton 360, but it did.

I am not a computer geek at all, but I figured this one out on my own.

Yay! You can do mine this weekend!

[windsor]

I think I mentioned that Wile E. Coyote had a paper rejected by the top journal in our field. He asked a colleague who is also a friend of mine (I'll call him Doogie - he's a youngster and he's brilliant) for his opinion on the paper; WEC wanted to include Doogie as a coauthor on the paper. Doogie is the colleague who asked him why he didn't submit to the #2 journal and was told that the #2 journal is crap.

As requested by Wile E. Coyote, Doogie read over the paper and gave WEC his honest opinion: the paper is not publishable in its current form. So, the response? WEC re-submitted it to the exact same journal with minimal changes. WEC basically told the reviewers they were wrong. It was bounced within 4 hours, reportedly due to a minor issue of some form that WEC forgot to include. So, WEC resubmitted, yet again, today. WEC was in a huge rush to resubmit because he's traveling this week to attend a professional meeting/mini-symposium being hosted by the editor who is handling his paper (and, no, WEC was not invited). This person also happens to be WEC's postdoctoral advisor. So, WEC is crashing a meeting he was not invited to in order to have face-to-face conversations about his paper with several members of the journal's editorial staff. WEC is convinced that he can convince them to publish his work as-is. In other words, he's delusional.

I ask you, if you were in the editor's shoes, would you appreciate someone tracking you down to strong-arm you into publishing a manuscript that you have already rejected three times? Also, if the editor handling your manuscript, also your former advisor, rejects said manuscript repeatedly, shouldn't that be a sign to you that you might want to think about addressing the reviewer criticisms and/or submitting to a completely different journal? Does WEC think they're going to get tired of his ass and accept his crappy manuscript just to make him shut up and go away? I do not know the editor personally, but from what I've heard, this will pretty much have the opposite effect. WEC will likely be black-balled from the journal if he keeps it up.

Funny follow-up: The Boss said in a meeting yesterday that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing, over and over, and expecting a different outcome. Fortunately I did not have any water in my mouth; I might've spewed it across the room otherwise. One wonders if The Boss knows that his golden boy is insane according to his definition.

Inquiring minds want to know...how did WEC's crashing of the meeting go? One can only hope that they did not cave and publish his just to get him to

[ArkieDukie]

Inquiring minds want to know...how did WEC's crashing of the meeting go? One can only hope that they did not cave and publish his just to get him to

I got a second hand report on WEC's trip to the "symphony" from Doogie. Apparently none of the editors mentioned his paper to him at all. WEC was hoping they'd bring it up so he could point out how great his work is, but that didn't happen. As relayed by Doogie, something even more interesting happened: WEC realized that he is WAY behind the times. (Gee, I could've told him that... ) He told Doogie that all of the talks were from people doing cutting-edge work that hasn't been published yet, and he could only follow about half of what they were talking about. If this experience gave him a much-needed wake-up call, then that could be a very good thing.

I found out something VERY disturbing yesterday. Apparently the collaborators down the road are working on "the definitive paper" for all of the cell lines our group has been working with - we're talking something the caliber of Nature. Unless MacGyver's source was misinformed, their paper includes a facet of the work Natasha and I have been doing (and that BarMinion's husband did for her). The kicker is, none of us have heard anything about this paper. The obvious conclusion is that, despite Road Runner's statements about not trusting BM's (husband's) work, that's what the collaborators are putting in their paper - and it makes any subsequent papers from Natasha and me completely superfluous. It makes the most sense, since the "Chinese Mafia" that BM works with includes a postdoc for the person who is to be corresponding author on the paper. As always, we all have the same problem with this scenario: if the collaborators want to use BM's work, and RR is siding with them to keep them happy, then why the hell is she keeping this from those most impacted by her decision (Natasha and me)? Does she think it will somehow make things better if she doesn't let us in on what's going on? Sorry, but lying makes it worse.

I'm really trying not to get too far ahead of myself on this one, but it makes too much sense. Both Natasha and I have repeatedly asked the collaborator for information that we need for our work, and he has yet to answer any of our requests. We had a manuscript meeting a week ago Friday ("we" being RR, BGS, Boris and Natasha) to talk about spinning my work into a paper. Road Runner was supportive of my paper up to the meeting, and then at the meeting she did a complete 180. She wouldn't allow us to use resources to do validation assays, and then she had the nerve to suggest submitting to a lower impact factor journal that does not require validation assays. I found one, and she wouldn't pay publication costs. (Fortunately I found another source for the publication costs. I refuse to trash 1000+ hours of work so she can keep BM happy.)

This time I'm really, really fed up. I have a meeting with another very prominent researcher on campus this Thursday to discuss a possible collaboration. The ultimate goal is to completely remove myself from Road Runner's group. I wanted to get the ball rolling while Road Runner is out of the country (she's in Europe this week); so far so good. Relating to the trip: I humbly request that you all send volcanic eruption vibes toward Iceland. Boris, Natasha, BGS, MacGyver and I are all hoping that volcanic ash will shut down air travel to/from Europe, effectively trapping RR there for longer than her scheduled week. This will also allow me to get the ball rolling without her interference. Only one other person knows what I'm up to, and I want to keep it that way for as long as possible. Making my plan a fait accompli before RR finds out would be the best possible outcome.

[bjornolf]

[ArkieDukie]

That's just perfect!!!!!

[bjornolf]

That's just perfect!!!!!

I try.

[bjornolf]

Hey, I had a question for the meat smokers out there. I was at a stop light today and a pickup pulled up next to me. There were signs on the truck that said BBQ IN MOTION. On the back was a big wire mesh trailer. On that trailer was a huge smoker that looked like it was about three 55 gallon oil drums laid horizontally, welded together, and painted black. Here's the thing. The guy was driving down the road at 45 mph... with the smoker blasting away smoking meat. It looked like a choo choo train. So, is this advisable/legal? I was thinking if he got in an accident, flaming materials would be spewed all over the road. I was thinking if he crashed into a fuel tanker, we could all die.

[ArkieDukie]

Update on my uncle: he went through a marathon 14 hr surgery last Tuesday. Doctors had to take part of his frontal lobe due to infection, and even at that they didn't get it all (the neurosurgeon says it's not in a region that would visibly affect his personality). They had to take a part of his forehead; they replaced it with a piece of titanium mesh covered with a piece of muscle from his back. He didn't really come to until this past weekend. Apparently one of his antibiotics was making him drowsy and keeping him from completely waking up. In any event, he can correctly answer questions about the year and things of that nature, but he still thinks he's at home and not at Mayo. Got his first solid food today. He's ready to put on his clothes and go home! In any event, recovery is going well, and he'll be moving out of neuro ICU and into a regular room later this week. It's going to be a long road to recovery, but so far so good. I am thankful for the skills of the medical staff at Mayo. From all accounts, they have been phenomenal.

My understanding is that all of this is due to a sinus infection gone bad. He had surgery and radiation (also at Mayo) 4 years ago to remove an olfactory neuroblastoma; the infection got into the surgical site and traveled into his brain. Ended up getting into the bone in his forehead; I think that was the site where he had radiation before. Everyone has been begging him for months to go back to Mayo since the doctors in AR were not finding the source of his problems. He has been sick since last spring. It will be a long time before he's feeling 100%, but hopefully this will fix things.

Please keep those prayers and vibes coming! Stuff like this puts other things like backstabbing coworkers into perspective.

[ArkieDukie]

Hey, I had a question for the meat smokers out there. I was at a stop light today and a pickup pulled up next to me. There were signs on the truck that said BBQ IN MOTION. On the back was a big wire mesh trailer. On that trailer was a huge smoker that looked like it was about three 55 gallon oil drums laid horizontally, welded together, and painted black. Here's the thing. The guy was driving down the road at 45 mph... with the smoker blasting away smoking meat. It looked like a choo choo train. So, is this advisable/legal? I was thinking if he got in an accident, flaming materials would be spewed all over the road. I was thinking if he crashed into a fuel tanker, we could all die.

That really doesn't sound very wise to me. Hopefully you stayed far, far away from him.

[lawgrad91]

Hey, I had a question for the meat smokers out there. I was at a stop light today and a pickup pulled up next to me. There were signs on the truck that said BBQ IN MOTION. On the back was a big wire mesh trailer. On that trailer was a huge smoker that looked like it was about three 55 gallon oil drums laid horizontally, welded together, and painted black. Here's the thing. The guy was driving down the road at 45 mph... with the smoker blasting away smoking meat. It looked like a choo choo train. So, is this advisable/legal? I was thinking if he got in an accident, flaming materials would be spewed all over the road. I was thinking if he crashed into a fuel tanker, we could all die.

I don't think it is illegal in Virginia, probably because no one has thought to make it illegal it certainly doesn't sound safe.

[lawgrad91]

AD, continued vibes and prayers for your uncle.

[shereec]

AD, continued vibes and prayers for your uncle.

What LG said!

but still sending volcanic ash vibes, as well...

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Hey, I had a question for the meat smokers out there. I was at a stop light today and a pickup pulled up next to me. There were signs on the truck that said BBQ IN MOTION. On the back was a big wire mesh trailer. On that trailer was a huge smoker that looked like it was about three 55 gallon oil drums laid horizontally, welded together, and painted black. Here's the thing. The guy was driving down the road at 45 mph... with the smoker blasting away smoking meat. It looked like a choo choo train. So, is this advisable/legal? I was thinking if he got in an accident, flaming materials would be spewed all over the road. I was thinking if he crashed into a fuel tanker, we could all die.

Sounds like an insurance company commercial to me. A little mayhem, anyone?

[bjornolf]

AD, continued vibes and prayers for your uncle.

What LG said!

but still sending volcanic ash vibes, as well...

Definitely.

[bjornolf]

Hey, I had a question for the meat smokers out there. I was at a stop light today and a pickup pulled up next to me. There were signs on the truck that said BBQ IN MOTION. On the back was a big wire mesh trailer. On that trailer was a huge smoker that looked like it was about three 55 gallon oil drums laid horizontally, welded together, and painted black. Here's the thing. The guy was driving down the road at 45 mph... with the smoker blasting away smoking meat. It looked like a choo choo train. So, is this advisable/legal? I was thinking if he got in an accident, flaming materials would be spewed all over the road. I was thinking if he crashed into a fuel tanker, we could all die.

Sounds like an insurance company commercial to me. A little mayhem, anyone?

Oh my gosh. I could totally see Dean Winters as a flaming coal exploding your tires on the interstate! How awesome would that be?! I found a website dedicated to smokers that said it is definitely illegal in states like California and Colorado with dry brush problems. One guy said he tried it with a pig on the way to the beach once, and the problem was they didn't take into account increased air intake on the road, causing high temps and charcoaling of said piggy. Other problem another mentioned was gray ash all over the inside of the grill. Luckily, he was pre-heating, not cooking, while driving.

[windsor]

AD, continued vibes and prayers for your uncle.

What LG said!

but still sending volcanic ash vibes, as well...

Uncle Vibes


Volcano vibes