soapbox

So, after checking out, leaving our luggage with the hotel desk until we catch the train to the airport this afternoon, and grabbing some breakfast, I was going to go to the invited talk by Pierre-Gilles de Gennes on “The Nature of Memory Objects in the Brain”. I’m no theoretical biophysicst, but I became pretty familiar with some of his previous work on soft condensed matter theory as part of my undergraduate thesis, and I’ve been told before that he’s a very good speaker, so I thought the experience would be worthwhile. Unfortunately, the session was scheduled in one of the smaller rooms at the convention center and already looked to be a standing-room-only affair when I dropped by a few minutes ago. Rather than fight the crowd of biophysics theorists, I decided to do something that better suits my level of intellectual fatigue and general information saturation.

Anyways, by way of making this post more than a general little ramble, I’ll conclude with a few final observations. Read on after the jump, if you dare.
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