Ron "yes there is a special tool" S.I.

About Me

A profanity-spewing, beer-drinking, cigarette-smoking, bicycle-riding hooligan from gun-waving new haven (via SLC, UT).
I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in biology (hah, I did not say "BS" degree, Sebastian) and attended graduate school in human genetics at the University of Utah. I am currently a PhD student at the University of Ferrara in Italy. My research interests are in human population and evolutionary genetics, as well as in the study of population variability in susceptibility to disease. Plus other academic interests too numerous to mention. For 5 months, I was a bioinformatician in a zebrafish developmental genetics lab. I wrote computer programs to analyze biological data (I study genetics and write computer programs, yes I am the uber-geek). I also program where I currently am (all our work is done on computers, which is fine because I HATE lab work) so I get to keep my geek cred. I write in perl and python, though I do prefer python.Also, I am a sociobiologist and Darwinist, but not a social Darwinist.
I am a cyclist and I miss riding fixed gear bicycles, but it is okay because I have a rockin' Colnago racing bike with campy components. So frankly these says I do not miss riding the fixed that much
I am quite opinionated, but that is because I am always right.
If anyone is curious about my screen name, S.I. means SomethingItalian. I was in a bike accident and my friend that was with me at the time had returned to the hospital to see if I had gotten a room yet. He could not remember my last name but knew is was something italian...and really, how many italians are there in slc anyway...so he said "Ron Something Italian" to the receiving nurse. At my going away party in salt lake a friend gave me a bicycle multi-tool that had engraved 'Ron "yes there is a special tool"... After I let him suffer trying to adjust his brakes just using his hands for a few moments, I let him in on a secret. We have special tools that will make brake adjustment easier. He asked how long I was I letting him suffer before I let him know. Not long enough apparently. Jonathan and I were saying we should get a sign that says "there is probably a special tool for the job, just ask" or something like that. Because in bike mechanics, there is usually a special tool that will make your job easier. But we have all learned how to work on bikes without those special tools, so doing it that hard way while learning is a rite of passage.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." Albert Einstein
"stupidity is not a way of knowing."
"Emotional capacities evolved to improve the Darwinian fitness of individuals as they seek resources and avoid dangers. The pursuit of emotion-associated goals tends to move organisms up a hedonic and adaptive gradient, but neurobehavioral systems are designed to maximize Darwinian fitness, not happiness, so our pleasures are often fleeting, and we experience much unnecessary suffering." --Neese and Berridge, Psychoactive drug use in evolutionary perspective

My Interests

Bicycling, rock climbing, backpacking, cross-country skiing, hiking, cooking vegan creole and cajun food, SCUBA diving, human population and evolutionary genetics, statistics, statistical genetics, biological anthropology, medical anthropology, fixed gear bicycles, skeptical thought, humanism, atheism, urban studies, ecology, animal behavior, New Orleans, history, science

I'd like to meet:

People that say evolution is just a theory since they obviously do not know what a theory really means in science and needs a wake up call to the side of their heads, oh, about the size of my shoe.

Music:

Genres: Punk rock, hardcore, rockabilly, celtic folk, jazz, some rap. There are other genres where I like particular artists but hate most of the genre itself (like Johnny Cash, hate country). That being said, I hate the majority of county and pop music, all dance music and techno. Bands: Aus Rotten, Broken, The Pist, Descendents, The Dickies, Judge, Gorilla Biscuits, Lorenna McKennit, Deanta, Kate Price, David Rovics, Anti-Flag, the Germs, Dresden Dolls, Mankind?, React, 3 Finger Demon, Blue Rose Liar, The Defcon Five, Conflct, C.R.A.S.S., Turbonegro, Adolescents, Avail, Bad Brains, the Vultures, 7 Seconds, The Accused, the Misfits, MDC, Black Flag, Chumbawumba (old stuff), Sick of it All, Shelter, Youth of Today, Dead Can Dance, The Year of out Lord, Sonic Youth, the Mooney Suzuki, Reverend Horton Heat, The Cult (old stuff), the Smiths, Pretty Girls Make Grave, Kimono Draggin', Public Enemy, Nation of Ulysses, the Deacons, Cro-Mags, Minor Threat, Fugazi, the Clash, Gil Scott-Heron, 108, Angry Samoans, Bad Religion, Way Up North, Joanne Shenandoah, billy joel (my guilty pleasure), berlin, behind enemy lines, caustic christ, turning point, 7 seconds, the accused, dead kennedys, All Systems Fail, the cure, flux of pink indians, fear, The Varukers, Nausea, Neurosis, Today is the Day, Dystopia, The exploited, against me!, coalesce, antischism, caustic christ, dead boys, discharge, guns n' roses, jerry's kids, guns n' roses, murphy's law, mankind?, oi polloi, propagandhi, R.A.M.B.O., rudimentary peni, subhumans, social distortion, the germs, underdog, warsaw, joy division, conflict, nausea, devotcka, napalm death, Russian Roulette (Italy), tragedy,

Movies:

Um, don't really watch movies. One should be a participant in life, not a spectator. Movies, like fiction, are for people who cannot handle reality.

Television:

Television is the opiate of the masses. That being said, I enjoy the Simpsons and British comedy, particularly The Young Ones, Absolutely Fabulous, and Coupling. In general, I prefer to experience life rather than living vicariously through the filtered lens of televison. Penn & Teller's Bullshit is another redeemable show, perhaps because it is a breath of skepticism in the mundane programming that is currently offered on television. I still rarely watch TV, though.

Books:

I tend to read textbooks since I am always in a state of learning. I have read, and enjoyed, Why Zebra's Don't Get Ulcers (Robert Sapolsky), Y: the Descent of Men and The Language of Genes (both by Steve Jones, not that Steve Jones), Mapping Human History (Steve Olson, no relation to Jimmy Olson), Our Stolen Future (Theo Colborn), Genes, People, and Language (Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza), The Origin of the Species (You know who), People's History of the United States (Howard Zinn), Guns, Germs, and Steel (Jared Diamond), The Third Chimpanzee (Jared Diamond), Mind of the Raven (Bernd Heinrich), The Myth of Repressed Memory (Elizabeth Loftus), The Blind Watchmker (Richard Dawkins), anything by Edward Abbey, Steal This Book (Abbie Hoffman), Soul on Ice (Eldridge Cleaver), Demonic Males (Dale Peterson, Richard Wrangham), Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television (Jerry Mander), Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America (Kalle Lasn), Phylogeography: The History and Formation of Species (John Avise), The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's Resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists, Where White Men Fear to Tread (Russel Means), Manufactoring Consent (Noam Chomsky), People's History of the Supreme Court, Confessions of an Eco-Warrior (Dave Foreman), Wilderness on the Rocks (Howie Wolke), Manufacturing Victims: What the Psychology Industry Is Doing to People (Tana Dineen), Beyond Hypocrisy: Decoding the News in an Age of Propaganda, The Flight from Science and Reason, Consanguinity, Inbreeding, and Genetic Drift in Italy.

Heroes:

We don't need not stinking heroes. Seriously, be your own hero--less disappointments that way. That being said...if I have any hero, and no one can tell him I said this, it would have to be my dad. He grew up poor and living in group homes and worked to ensure that his children have a better life. Let that be a lesson, there are people in out own families and communities that are much worth of reverement that all the celebrities out there combined. addendum to heroes: For the first time in my life I can truly say with certainty that my dad is my hero. He smoked for 50 years; this past december he went in for multiple bypass surgery. Since going into the hospital, he has not had one cigarette. I know it took a heart attack scare (docter basically said he was a day away from a heart attack) and suffering in the hospital to make him quit, but many people do not quit even after heart attacks and surgeries like that. I give him alot of credit for being able to quit after 50 years.