I need to get out more. Though I have a degree that requires me to be within sight of the ocean or risk being irrelevant, I really don't spend as much time as I should on the beach or in the ocean. I could blame the land-based job, the abiologist friends, or the lack of Ariels actually in the sea.

    But it's probably due to the certain complacency that comes with coasting after a long slog in Academia. Unfortunately, like the French and the Maginot Line, complacency ultimately leads to Enigma Nazis trampling through your Ardennes Forest of Hubris until the Allied Powers of Science storm the beaches to rub your face in your own failure. OK, so the analogy isn't perfect, but here is the story of how a simple question circumvented traditional defenses and laid waste to a presumptuous front-line of scientific stagnation.