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as you may have guessed, i’m on another blogging hiatus. they’ve been happening all too frequently, i admit, so i probably won’t start writing again till i have a glut of accumulated posts and time. enjoy the holiday season!

many thanks and kudos to all of the people who helped avert disaster in the wildfires that ravaged greater san diego over the past week. in an attempt to save everything of value, the bohemian server was unplugged and packed to go. fortunately, none of the la jolla areas burned, but bohemian scientist was down for a few days… thanks for understanding!

alas, my month-long blogging break turned into an all-out two-and-a-half month sabbatical. but instead of reflecting on all of the advances in systems neuroscience and the interactions among science, faith, and culture since the ides of may, i’ll point to a nice post from the free geek. back in june, he sent me his do-it-yourself guide to becoming a cyborg (maybe i should take a hint?). it’s an entertaining write-up on some of the human-machine interface options, broadly conceived, that recently have come to market or are in the line-up. watch out especially for RFID implants to gain nightclub admission and nerve implants that record and input sensory signals (that’s right, you can now experience someone else’s peripheral sensations!).

in other news, the sloan-swartz center for theoretical neurobiology at ucsd is currently hosting its annual meeting, featuring a who’s who in neuroscience theory. drop by if you’re in the area.

be sure to stop back here tomorrow, when the twenty-eighth encephalon blog carnival will perform at the bohemian scientist’s shop. for the last encephalon edition, just so you know what neurific excellence to expect, see here.

{picture credits: free geek (1) and sloan-swartz (2)}

thanks to some pressing responsibilities previously shirked, i’ll be checking out of the bohemian shop for about a month. at the suggestion of a reader and close friend, here’s a “best-of” so you can wistfully pine for bygone days. i’ll be back on june 16!

remember the day when the great nyc,
curled into a fetus with no-trans decree?
or when the true godhead was thought to be three:
the mother, the child, and the womb died for me?
or when we found e-fields that drape the body?
why praying is good even for bourgeousie?
how brain drain can benefit any country?
the way to fix eggs broken by G.O.P.?
and tiffs among brain-geeks who cannot agree!?

i’ve changed over to a different theme; please bear with me as i work out technical details in the next few days. in the meantime, let me know if the new look improves your aesthetic, noetic, and frenetic experiences here at bohemian scientist.

after two decidedly academic posts (and an unexcused absence from blogging… forgive me), here’s a break.

interviews with students over this last week have reminded me of how important a good name is for being remembered… or forgotten. as an experiment i searched google images for pictures of people with the name “david matthews” (avid BoSci readers might know why). interestingly, virtually all of the “david matthews” listed on google images are musicians, criminals, or academicians. as far as i can tell, this isn’t just an artifact of online content, as searches for other names will demonstrate. below are some colorful examples.

of course:

a couple of first-degree murderers:

another musician, whose pic reminds me a bit too much of david lynch:

some scientists and profs:

and finally, a ton more musicians… perhaps with a few repeats. also note, neither of the boners claim the moniker… their producer does, though, and let them get away with this album cover.

totally irrelevant to science (but essential to bohemia): rage against the machine, one of the best and most essential bands of all time, is reuniting after nearly seven years apart. ratm will perform at coachella on 29 april here in southern california, and many scientists will be in the crowd (yours truly will be there for his first rage concert, first coachella… really, his first taste of live pop music culture). for more on the good news, see coverage by l.a. times, billboard, e! news, and wikipedia; click here for ticket info. stay tuned for possible posts (comments also welcome!) on the redemption, annunciation, transendence, and mystique achieved by the incomparable ratm.

my upcoming travel with the fam in southeast asia will be bloggified elsewhere while i avoid all topics scientific and spiritual. i’ll be back at it in mid january.

best wishes for a joyous and reflective holiday season.

many thanks to all those who’ve checked out this blog recently… we hit 2000 unique IPs (readers) a few days back, with no sign of abating. it’s been a pleasure wasting your time and mine over the past few months, and i look forward to more unproductive hours in the future…

…another blog. but this is really just a continuation of reflections on truth, hosted by the gracious people at blogspot and their clunky software. the short story on why i’m switching to wordpress is fourfold: 1) better content organization, as with categories, 2) straightforward creative license with html, 3) integration with my parent site bohemianscientist.org, and 4) a very kind host (hats off to you, lomak). though unlikely, the old files from my blogspot site may begin to trickle on, slowly. enjoy!

forgive my anticipated blogging hiatus; thanks to qualifying exams, i won’t be at it again till september 8 or so. but by then, i’ll be due for some lengthy entries. in the meantime, please meditate on and accept my ritual seppuku-styled (though, fortunately, transient) shaming as a small token of my self-induced retribution and sincere apologies (that’s me, with the ponytail).