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This is the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research at the University of Toronto.

That's a nice-looking building. It was built in 2006 and really captures a particularly minimalist glass-and-color-burst aesthetic (the building reminds me of a larger, more technical Pompidou Center at least, and that building has been around since 1977). I'm curious about how energy-efficient all that glass is.

I think I just like labs with plenty of window space. It may be that the natural light cycles provide a constant reminder of the power of omnipresent natural processes. Or, it may be symbolic of the open exchange and transparent review characteristic of an ideal scientific process. The colors are nice, too. They're always a great way to find your way around a building and orient yourself.* Little details like that can really make the process of science much more enjoyable and efficient.


*In the absence of colorblindness, of course. Perhaps each area of a building could have a corresponding color and pattern.
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I felt very caffeinated today. For me, the line between "fairly awake" and "very caffeine-stimulated" mostly appears to be a function of when I'm drinking it rather than a function of coffee volume consumed. Late afternoon seems like the time when caffeine is most effective (or maybe a little too effective, depending upon the level of focus the day requires). A few recent papers and at least one science blogger explain this effect in terms of cortisol levels and the circadian rhythm. See also: the concept of the zeitgeber.

I'm also reducing the level of anonymity for this blog, as you may have already noticed. This trend will continue. The person writing this is the same person who does everything else that person does every day.

Distant roses and yoga poses

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Today I read about Sarcopoterium spinosum, a species of flowering plant common to the Mediterranean and Middle East. It's not an especially interesting plant - at least not to me. I'm not entirely certain why I focused on it. Perhaps it was the idea that this plant is quite common in some areas yet poorly studies. Some folks seem to think it's a potential source for an antidiabetic agent (but that's in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology; I neither have access to this journal nor can read the linked abstract without raising an eyebrow to the point of strain).

Unrelated: I'm been trying to take moments to be present lately, i.e. stopping to breathe and focus. I'm skeptical of most things which would look ideal on pamphlets for yoga classes but hey, meditating is really nice and much-maligned. Most notably, it pays to notice what's going on around you or perhaps even because of you. It's nice to notice when you're happy, too. Somehow that often appears to be treated as a separate idea (noticing you're happy, that is).

Dang, that guy is quotable.
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I was trying to batch-rotate a whole bunch of photos today in Ubuntu 12.04 (it's 2014; maybe it's time to try out Trusty Tahr) but my usual solutions just weren't cutting it. Shotwell doesn't even have batch options, as far as I can tell. I've used digiKam before for batch editing but it doesn't even appear to import files anymore. Luckily, I found the Nautilus Image Converter. It can rotate and resize images right from the file manager, just like in, um, most recent versions of Windows. Anyway, problem solved.