|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| Oooo, this looks to be exciting! I'm so going to commencement, if they let me...
---
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to Deliver Commencement Address at the University of Pennsylvania
March 21, 2005
PHILADELPHIA- Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations, will speak at the 249th Commencement of the University of Pennsylvania on May 16. He will also receive an honorary Doctor of Law degree.
"Secretary General Annan's commitment to international peace, human rights, and the universal values of equality, liberty, opportunity and human dignity make him the perfect speaker to address Penn students as they begin their journey as citizens and leaders of an increasingly complex and interconnected global society, "Penn President Amy Gutmann said.
Now serving his second term as secretary general, Annan received the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. In conferring the prize, the Nobel Committee said he "had been pre-eminent in bringing new life" to the UN.
Annan has been at the center of several delicate political situations. These included attempts to gain Iraq's compliance with Security Council resolutions, a mission in 1998 to help promote the transition to civilian rule in Nigeria, an agreement in 1999 to resolve a stalemate between Libya and the Security Council over the Lockerbie bombing, diplomacy in 1999 to forge an international response to violence in East Timor, the certification of Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in September 2000 and further efforts to encourage Israelis and Palestinians to resolve their differences through peaceful negotiations.
He has been at the forefront of the worldwide fight against HIV/AIDS and called for a "Global Compact" involving leaders of the world business community as well as labor and civil society organizations aimed at enabling all the world's people to share the benefits of globalization and embedding the global market in values and practices that are fundamental to meeting socioeconomic needs. | | |
| Neuroscientists are weird: (from my neuroscience texbook)
"These pillars of cytochrome oxidase-rich neurons, after some debate, eventually were given the name blobs. The blobs are in rows, with each blob centered on an ocular dominace stripe in layer IV. Between the blobs are 'interblob' regions."
I am highly amused.
---
I'm not doing so well in organic chemistry. On the last test, I got a 68/100, and the mean was 71/100, with a standard deviation of 11. Most of the scores fell in the 70's and low 80's, I think. I have no clue what the mean curves to, though the general consensus seems to be B-. So an A in orgo is out of the question now. I just have to work at getting an A-... | | |
| Well, I guess I haven't updated in a long, long time, but here goes an attempt to address some of the things that've been going on in my life lately.
I've had advising appointments out the wazoo these past couple of days - BFS advisor (my main advisor), pre-med advisor, study abroad advisor. I'm going to be declaring my major, biological basis of behavior, sometime before the end of this semester, or at the very least before I apply for study abroad. I'll also have to declare my French minor, though the chemistry minor, according to Linda, my BFS advisor, should wait until I've finished taking organic chemistry lab.
Speaking of organic chemistry lab, I'm currently planning to take it over the summer, since it has to be taken either 1) concurrently with orgo II or 2) the semester after orgo II. Since I also have to take a year of physics before taking the MCAT spring of junior year, I'll either have to take first semester physics or organic chemistry lab over the summer. I'm choosing the latter, since I'm of the opinion that it's better to take lecture courses during the actual school year. The only problem with lab during the summer is that it lasts through both summer sessions, i.e. I'll only be home for maybe a month at most during the summer, in August.
As for study abroad, I'm very excited about the possibility of spending a semester in Paris and working at the Institut Pasteur. The only speed bump so far is housing. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle my housing here at Penn, since I won't be here in the fall. If I were doing study abroad in the spring, I'd just apply for housing at the normal time, then vacate second semester. However, going to France in fall means that I won't be applying for housing at the same time as everyone else. So I won't get to live with people that I know, and I'm not even guaranteed housing when I come back. I'll have to apply while in France and just hope that someone somewhere will vacate their room. Hopefully a single, so that I won't have to deal with a random roommate or roommates.
I'm so behind on schoolwork right now. I thought I'd use fall break to catch up on stuff, but that didn't happen. I spent 5.5 hours at work today, trying to learn how to do a Western blot, but unfortunately, the gel didn't quite work for some reason.
I'm hoping to get my own room next year, also. Even if I weren't going to France, I'd either want a single or a 3-room triple or 2-room double or...well, you get the picture. Lucy and I get along all right, I think, but sometimes, I just wish that I had the room to myself. There's really a lot more to consider when I'm sharing my living space, though I guess it's slightly less lonely at times. I don't know. We're different in a number of ways. Lucy's very particular about her appearance, and she also likes TV a lot more than I do. She also studies a lot and makes me feel bad in general about procrastinating.
Nothing really seems to have changed from one year to the next. Theoretically, I have people that I can talk to, but a lot of times, when I feel bad, I just try to get over it. I guess I just still don't really feel that close to anyone here, and I don't see that changing too much in the near future, especially with my whole planned trip to France and all.
Also, no boyfriend prospects. Maybe I'm being too picky or too shy or too anti-social or whatever. Who knows. Anyway, I give up. If I don't stop to think about it, it doesn't bother me as much.
Looking forward to Christmas vacation in China. | | |
| LOL, this is from my neuroscience textbook. And all this time I thought the "Ragin' Cajuns" were just some sort of hokey rhyming mascot...
"For an unfortunate minority of mice, cows, dogs, horses, and people, however, life is a succession of exaggerated startle responses...Worse yet, these overdone responses don't adapt when the stimuli are repeated. The clinical term for startle disease is hyperekplexia, and the first recorded cases were in members of a community of French-Canadian lumberjacks in 1878. Hyperekplexia is an inherited condition, seen worldwide, and its sufferers are known by colorful local names: the 'Jumping Frenchmen of Maine' (Quebec), 'myriachit' (Siberia), 'latah' (Malaysia), and 'Ragin' Cajuns' (Louisinana)." | | |
|
