So I'm finally starting to feel better! Yesterday I slept in until 11:30am (12 hrs sleep) and was still a wreck all weekend, but feel like I've broken through this mad cold sickness. Still have a nagging cough, but nothing slowing me down too much. Got a grant submitted last Friday afternoon (with 3 mins to spare) - no fun having to work while sick all week. I did celebrate by seeing Ladysmith Black Mambazo - and even though I was sick, it was an amazing concert. Inspirational, fun and just a great site for the ears! But due to being sick, I also missed the Nebraska Democratic party caucus on Sat (I'm actually registered as independent, but I'm unsure if that would really stop me from participating). Was rare to have Obama here. Also Chelsea was here, too (wonder if she remembers me from Stanford? :-P ). I seriously think I've bruised one of my ribs from coughing so much...

I've been slow with my internet surfing of late. But here were a few highlights.

NYTimes business article on the effective (Red) campaign for charity.

So I was sick for the Superbowl, but I did laugh out loud for a few commercials. Here were a few of my favorites:
Talking Stain ad for Tide
Contest winner for Doritos
Will Ferrell - Jackie Moon - for Bud Light - original, and a longer different one
Pepsi Stuff (extended) with Justin Timberlake (ok, here's the Chris Kattan Pepsi one as well)
E-Trade w baby and clown

And for a mix, here's Hollywood physics - they didn't put on some of the more horrendous refutations of natural laws (The Core, Real Genius, and Back to the Future come to mind ), but still some bad ones (and credit to 1-2 for doing it well!).

A good friend of mine is looking to recruit fellow math-geeks for a 1-2 year adventure of teaching in Kenya. See here for more details. She says the recent violence is isolated and has not affected expats or this group at all.

Here's to being healthy again! (and not catching up with mail, email, work... ack!)

I've got the cold from hell. It first arrived a couple weeks ago, climaxed on Sunday and Monday, and then just got better. Here it is a week later and a new one hits very late on Saturday, and doesn't let go. At least today my head is clear enough that I can think (ie. work), though I'm avoiding work and spreading my lovely cough. Seems that every winter I get a brutal cold that lingers for 10 days or so, but this one has been much longer. Woe!

I decided against putting up techee geek links like The Holographic Principle and M-theory, The Science of Sex: Does the Nose Know?, and an editorial Beware the Child-Man. Oops, guess I did it again!

Actually, there is something to the scent of another. But never would have guessed it could be linked to genetic variety. The scientist in me is aware of these differences, which may be related to my taste in dating partners - they really have no factor in common. Once my nose is working more properly, I'll be extra sensitive to report my findings.

Speaking of Child-man, I finally beat Bioshock last week. Great game! Word is they'll make it into a movie. Definitely an interesting and unique story of man's ego/drive gone awry. Next up is the highly acclaimed Mass Effect. FOX news had a brief show highlighting it for "full digital nudity and sex". It was amazing at how bad this news program was. But what is of note is the heavy backlash FOX and the psychology expert they brought received online afterwards. Here's a NYTimes article that covers the whole story.

The 4th undersea Internet cable was cut in the Middle-East this week. Friends in the area say it's all media hype, whereas others are predicting something dire is about to happen. I'm not sure what's going on and the trusted news groups have been less than helpful, but it's more than suspicious. Here's a more detailed ABC article on it.

The primary vote tallies are almost done. Google maps and Twitter teamed up for this interesting "live" take on it all. Should be more interesting in an hour or two.

Back to work!