Updated Contact Information

Since I’m not going to be able to check my work snail-mail box very often, I signed up for a P.O. Box here. I also am no longer able to receive faxes. All of my contact information has been updated accordingly on the contact page.

Mapping the Structural Core of Human Cerebral Cortex

A groundbreaking study has just come out that used various MRI techniques to map the structure and function of human brains. We are working with MRI experts to do similar things with the heart. Here’s a figure from the paper illustrating the process:
Brain Mapping

The study was done by an international team of scientists, with first author Patric Hagmann. Because it was published in the open-access PLoS Biology, you can get the whole article, online or in PDF form, here, regardless of your university affiliation or lack thereof.

This is really cool. It’s the first step in a new era of reverse-engineering the brain, and the body in general.

Back on the Wall

I finally got back to climbing today after a 6-week hiatus. I went and signed up for a membership at a local climbing gym and bought all of the necessary equipment. I climbed for about an hour, and actually it didn’t go too badly. One neat thing about the place is that they have auto-belay devices, eliminating the need for a climbing partner to belay you. There aren’t many, and it’s not as good as having an actual belayer, but it’s good enough for doing drills and in a pinch.

Now I just need to find a regular climbing partner.

Another company I won’t continue doing business with

Slashdot | GoDaddy VP Caught Bidding Against Customers

A GoDaddy Vice President has been caught bidding against customers in their own domain name auctions.

I had been pretty happy with GoDaddy, despite their annoyingly busy web site, as my domain name registrar. I’ve even recommended them to other people. Now they go on the list of companies I refuse to do business with, including but not limited to Citgo, AT&T, and Wal-Mart. I’d like to refuse to do business with Comcast, but they have me over a barrel in terms of alternative choices, natural monopoly and all that.

This sort of personal boycott follows from my realization that money has supplanted voting in our capitalist society (and I have no quarrel with capitalism), and that both with politicians and with corporations, it’s important to vote with your dollars. In the case of Citgo, the two are combined.