Leftpedal

I feel like I’m stuck in that neverending (and odd) rasta song stuck in the middle of Pre-Milennium Tension. Literally and figuratively. The guy next to me on the subway had the exact same intonation and lilt and drawl, everything, from the song. And even post-2000, we have not reached the fin de siecle. Or are the cycles just becoming shorter?

Well, well, well… another list of stuff that you don’t care about.

And to think, I was just going to give you the Top 25 Articles from the Journal of Chromatography A…

Instead, I can give you the ScienceDirect Top 25 Articles across ALL subject areas, January to March 2011. Awesome!(?)

1. Encapsulation of polyphenols - a review • Review article
Trends in Food Science & Technology, Volume 21, Issue 10, October 2010, Pages 510-523
Fang, Z.; Bhandari, B.

2. The Hallmarks of Cancer • Review article
Cell, Volume 100, Issue 1, January 2000, Pages 57-70
Hanahan, D.; Weinberg, R.A.

3. Hallmarks of Cancer: The Next Generation • Review article
Cell, Volume 144, Issue 5, March 2011, Pages 646-674
Hanahan, D.; Weinberg, Robert A.

4. Intercellular Nanotubes Mediate Bacterial Communication • Article
Cell, Volume 144, Issue 4, February 2011, Pages 590-600
Dubey, G.P.; Ben-Yehuda, S.

5. Synthesis of multifractional Gaussian noises based on variable-order fractional operators • Article
Signal Processing, Volume 91, Issue 7, July 2011, Pages 1645-1650
Sheng, H.; Sun, H.; Chen, Y.; Qiu, T.

6. Robust FIR equalization for time-varying communication channels with intermittent observations via an LMI approach • Article
Signal Processing, Volume 91, Issue 7, July 2011, Pages 1651-1658
Zhang, H.; Shi, Y.; Saadat Mehr, A.; Huang, H.

7. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media • Article
Business Horizons, Volume 53, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 59-68
Kaplan, A.M.; Haenlein, M.

8. Reference Maps of Human ES and iPS Cell Variation Enable High-Throughput Characterization of Pluripotent Cell Lines • Article
Cell, Volume 144, Issue 3, February 2011, Pages 439-452
Bock, C.; Kiskinis, E.; Verstappen, G.; Gu, H.; Boulting, G.; Smith, Z.D.; Ziller, M.; Croft, G.F.; Amoroso, M.W.; Oakley, D.H.; Gnirke, A.; Eggan, K.; Meissner, A.

9. Induction of Pluripotent Stem Cells from Mouse Embryonic and Adult Fibroblast Cultures by Defined Factors • Article
Cell, Volume 126, Issue 4, August 2006, Pages 663-676
Takahashi, K.; Yamanaka, S.

10. Effect of daily aspirin on long-term risk of death due to cancer: analysis of individual patient data from randomised trials • Article
The Lancet, Volume 377, Issue 9759, January 2011, Pages 31-41
Rothwell, P.M.; Fowkes, F.G.R.; Belch, J.F.; Ogawa, H.; Warlow, C.P.; Meade, T.W.

11. IL-7 Engages Multiple Mechanisms to Overcome Chronic Viral Infection and Limit Organ Pathology • Article
Cell, Volume 144, Issue 4, February 2011, Pages 601-613
Pellegrini, M.; Calzascia, T.; Toe, J.G.; Preston, S.P.; Lin, A.E.; Elford, A.R.; Shahinian, A.; Lang, P.A.; Lang, K.S.; Morre, M.; Assouline, B.; Lahl, K.; Sparwasser, T.; Tedder, T.F.; Paik, J.h.; DePinho, R.A.; Basta, S.; Ohashi, P.S.; Mak, T.W.

12. Identification of Aneuploidy-Selective Antiproliferation Compounds • Article
Cell, Volume 144, Issue 4, February 2011, Pages 499-512
Tang, Y.C.; Williams, B.R.; Siegel, J.J.; Amon, A.

13. Effects of a restricted elimination diet on the behaviour of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (INCA study): a randomised controlled trial • Article
The Lancet, Volume 377, Issue 9764, February 2011, Pages 494-503
Pelsser, L.M.; Frankena, K.; Toorman, J.; Savelkoul, H.F.; Dubois, A.E.; Pereira, R.R.; Haagen, T.A.; Rommelse, N.N.; Buitelaar, J.K.

14. National, regional, and global trends in body-mass index since 1980: systematic analysis of health examination surveys and epidemiological studies with 960 country-years and 9.1 million participants • Article
The Lancet, Volume 377, Issue 9765, February 2011, Pages 557-567
Finucane, M.M.; Stevens, G.A.; Cowan, M.J.; Danaei, G.; Lin, J.K.; Paciorek, C.J.; Singh, G.M.; Gutierrez, H.R.; Lu, Y.; Bahalim, A.N.; Farzadfar, F.; Riley, L.M.; Ezzati, M.

15. Paternally Induced Transgenerational Environmental Reprogramming of Metabolic Gene Expression in Mammals • Article
Cell, Volume 143, Issue 7, December 2010, Pages 1084-1096
Carone, B.R.; Fauquier, L.; Habib, N.; Shea, J.M.; Hart, C.E.; Li, R.; Bock, C.; Li, C.; Gu, H.; Zamore, P.D.; Meissner, A.; Weng, Z.; Hofmann, H.A.; Friedman, N.; Rando, O.J.

16. Activation of Multiple Proto-oncogenic Tyrosine Kinases in Breast Cancer via Loss of the PTPN12 Phosphatase • Article
Cell, Volume 144, Issue 5, March 2011, Pages 703-718
Sun, T.; Aceto, N.; Meerbrey, Kristen L.; Kessler, Jessica D.; Zhou, C.; Migliaccio, I.; Nguyen, Don X.; Pavlova, Natalya N.; Botero, M.; Huang, J.; Bernardi, Ronald J.; Schmitt, E.; Hu, G.; Li, M.Z.; Dephoure, N.; Gygi, Steven P.; Rao, M.; Creighton, Cha

17. Skin Stem Cells Orchestrate Directional Migration by Regulating Microtubule-ACF7 Connections through GSK3¿ • Article
Cell, Volume 144, Issue 3, February 2011, Pages 341-352
Wu, X.; Shen, Q.T.; Oristian, D.S.; Lu, C.P.; Zheng, Q.; Wang, H.W.; Fuchs, E.

18. Epigenetics in Alternative Pre-mRNA Splicing • Review article
Cell, Volume 144, Issue 1, January 2011, Pages 16-26
Luco, R.F.; Allo, M.; Schor, I.E.; Kornblihtt, A.R.; Misteli, T.

19. Identification of Candidate IgG Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease via Combinatorial Library Screening • Article
Cell, Volume 144, Issue 1, January 2011, Pages 132-142
Reddy, M.M.; Wilson, R.; Wilson, J.; Connell, S.; Gocke, A.; Hynan, L.; German, D.; Kodadek, T.

20. Control of the Embryonic Stem Cell State • Review article
Cell, Volume 144, Issue 6, March 2011, Pages 940-954
Young, Richard A.

21. Wnt Signaling Requires Sequestration of Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 inside Multivesicular Endosomes • Article
Cell, Volume 143, Issue 7, December 2010, Pages 1136-1148
Taelman, V.F.; Dobrowolski, R.; Plouhinec, J.L.; Fuentealba, L.C.; Vorwald, P.P.; Gumper, I.; Sabatini, D.D.; De Robertis, E.M.

22. Astrocyte-Neuron Lactate Transport Is Required for Long-Term Memory Formation • Article
Cell, Volume 144, Issue 5, March 2011, Pages 810-823
Suzuki, A.; Stern, Sarah A.; Bozdagi, O.; Huntley, George W.; Walker, Ruth H.; Magistretti, Pierre J.; Alberini, Cristina M.

23. College students’social networking experiences on Facebook • Article
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Volume 30, Issue 3, May 2009, Pages 227-238
Pempek, T.A.; Yermolayeva, Y.A.; Calvert, S.L.

24. Endocrine Regulation of Male Fertility by the Skeleton • Article
Cell, Volume 144, Issue 5, March 2011, Pages 796-809
Oury, F.; Sumara, G.; Sumara, O.; Ferron, M.; Chang, H.; Smith, Charles E.; Hermo, L.; Suarez, S.; Roth, Bryan L.; Ducy, P.; Karsenty, G.

25. Personality and motivations associated with Facebook use • Article
Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 25, Issue 2, March 2009, Pages 578-586
Ross, C.; Orr, E.S.; Sisic, M.; Arseneault, J.M.; Simmering, M.G.; Orr, R.R.

Thanksgiving usually brings football and maybe The Godfather trilogy and turkey and apple pie. We’re gonna rock the turkey and apple pie. Our movie selection for the weekend, however: A Zed and Two Naughts The Killing Fields Badlands Velvet Goldmine Neighbors The Fountain Broken Contempt Grey Gardens Marina Abramovic documentaries

Lax as I may be, I would be remiss to not mention this.

Banned Books Week - September 25−October 2, 2010

…

According to the Office for Intellectual Freedom, at least 46 of the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century have been the target of ban attempts.

Number 19:

Golden Corral now has a Facebook Fan Page and Twitter page. (Golden Corral’s Noblesville, Indiana location has their OWN Facebook page.)

Company branding has now gone too far.

Both of these services are officially dead.

(Note: please do not construe the above comment in any way denigrating toward Golden Corral, however, this company has no reason whatsoever to have a Facebook page or a Twitter feed.

There are many companies like this, but when the Facebook and Twitter icons showed up on a commercial this morning for Golden Corral… it felt to me the last straw. Maybe the straw should have broken earlier, but this instance is what did it for me.

I am not “in advertising” nor do I watch “Mad Men,” but I do know “enough” about advertising as well as marketing - I am a consumer, among having other skills, natch - but the advertisers of today seem are getting pretty damned sloppy and I truly doubt that of the Internet had existed during the time frame of “Mad Men,” those guys would not rely on the truly lazy routes of “Web 2.0” Facebook and Twitter to “reach out to” or “track” consumer interest. Duh. This is what viral marketing is not. But Golden Corral could give my family some free buffet passes. I’ll take those and tell all my friends. Let’s get on that. Posthaste.)

Update: This post is also not intended to say something like Golden Corral is not “cool enough” for Facebook or Twitter. Quite the opposite. Golden Corral should be above that. It’s an advertising/marketing model that just does not seem to be the right direction (for almost anyone, IMHO). I’m probably wrong. Maybe the military appreciation they do/sponsor, etc. wasn’t building the sales they wanted. Maybe the marketing agency (or in-house team) wanted to experiment a bit or think outside the box or perhaps were even specifically tasked to explore this media zone. Or maybe someone at the top wanted to “connect” with a younger constituency/demographic/buffet eater. “Let’s drum up some business besides the repeat customer.”

But something rose up inside of me to protest this… this… abomination.

This advertising model sucks. Corporate Facebook Fan Pages? Corporate Twitter feeds? Golden Corral? I just don’t know how else to describe it. Yuck.

Update 2: Golden Corral also has their own page on Youtube. And local Golden Corrals can get their own Twitter feeds: http://twitter.com/goldencorral/local

As for stats: nearly 30,000 fans on Facebook, 800 followers on Twitter as of this posting. Weird.

Oh! Nothing like the overwhelming scent of goulash cooking at 8am at the senior center around the block!

I learned from Bobby D that “they say the darkest hour starts right before the dawn.”

Is the darkest hour now?

This is not what “Meet me in the morning” is about.

But maybe the goulash is good and just takes time to simmer and bake and the flavors are infused in a special way. Very special. I will grant the possibility. I must also be permitted to say that it’s a weird morning blast that no one can, or should, quite ever be ready for.

I am unsettled.

A faint whiff of fresh-cut watermelon (and not some weird watermelon-scented perfume or body lotion or spritz - or so I believe) on the subway platform (for a couple of very fleeting seconds) this morning was odd, but not unwelcome.