training, transdermal caffeine, lake monsters

Oh, gosh, stuff from all over the place today:

Awesome, with finders' credit to Jack, a list of 27 things your training partner will never tell you. Hilarious.

From Neil Gaiman's wonderful tumblr, a post of the happily unnecessary contiengency plan for NASA if Apollo 11 failed. That's a bit of a stunner.


Turns out, application of caffeine transdermally isn't very efficient. Logical, but necessary to double check after LZ mentioned caffeinated makeup today. Also, caffeine is a DNA repair machinery inhibitor, so... bad makeup decision.

Kate B shared these engagement pictures/zombie attack this evening, then mentioned considerations for a lake-monster twist. Any takers for moonlighting as a lake monster?

Also, there's now a Hey Girl Paul Ryan meme circling the internet, in the Ryan Gosling-style. It's quite a mix of funny and sad.

blinded by the light?

Mad props to Jack's Coral, as she remembered that i meant to look this up (for what's probably the 4th time). We three went see The Dark Knight Rises last night, and i drove. For whatever reason, the song Blinded By the Light (originally a Springsteen song, made popular by Manfred Mann's Earth Band) was badly stuck in my head, and i was singing it at Jack. The question concerned the second verse of the chorus: "revved up like a deuce/ another runner in the night"; exactly what IS that that's said, deuce or douche? Wikipedia and other sources report that this is deuce, possibly a reference to a Ford Deuce Coupe. Curiously, in the Springsteen version, it's "cut loose like a deuce".

Also, bumbershoot (umbrella) is American in origin afterall.

Finally, a NYTimes article regarding Call Me Maybe, including a link to a cookie monster version.

hat tricks, etc

For those who somehow missed it, the USA Olympic Swim team's version of Call Me Maybe. They look like they're having a pretty darn good time. i made a statement to Jack this morning about the apparent machismo of certain swimmers, in that they apparently didn't want to play along with the rest of the team and only contributed a ridiculous bit (reference around 1:00 of the clip).

Phrase of the day: hat-trick. To describe doing something successfully three times in a row, most recently in my hearing at the conference i recently attended, by the presenter introducing my labmates and me as we presented consecutively. The part i appreciate is the phrase's origins; " the term "came into use after HH Stephenson took three wickets in three balls for the all-England eleven against the twenty-two of Hallam at the Hyde Park ground, Sheffield in 1858. A collection was held for Stephenson (as was customary for outstanding feats by professionals) and he was presented with a cap or hat bought with the proceeds.""
At a recent Italian-food themed potluck (An Italian Affair) arranged by my cohort (with thanks to Miss Lily), a few of us enjoyed Campari, that bitter orange apertif. i was trying to describe how much i really like their ads: the striking red, black and white color scheme, the pretty stellar glam photography, so i'll link a few things here: Campari's 2012 Calendar, a pinterest page,  and one that i have ripped out a a magazine personally and put in my kitchen. My parents aren't quite sure what to make of that, okay. i'm also a massive fan of Annie Leibovitz's ads for Louis Vuitton, including another that i've ripped out of a magazine and put in my bathroom. Okay, perhaps i should look into replacing those with actual posters?

Jimmy Fallon

i've posted on the epicness that are the musical stylings of Jimmy Fallon before; awesome. In conversation today with Jack, Willow Smith's Whip My Hair Back And Forth was mentioned, and i brought up the Jimmy-Fallon-as-Neil-Young and Bruce Springsteen version ("Whip yer hair"). Awesome. That same duo also covered LMAFO.

Have i linked Jimmy-as-Jim-Morrison's version of the show Reading Rainbow's theme?? Just for good measure.

Wunderkammer

Wunderkammer might be the word of the night, meaning "Wonder Room" in German, is the name given to various early cabinets of curiosities/collections of flora, fauna, minerals, and other oddities.  i was in the Chazen Museum last night and one of the most stunning displays is that of a glass Cabinet of Curiosities by the Danish artist Steffen Dam. It very much appears to be organic specimens suspended in glass. Further digging indicates that all of the gorgeous 'specimens' are fully glass, and a really cool interview given by the artist indicates that it's all glass exploited for inherent qualities, "homage to the ‘negative” qualities of hot glass that many people try to hide, such as bubbles or ash marks".

Googling wunderkammer brought me to this awesome website by a woman with the fabulous last name of Polka. She crochets amazing things, like tRNA and tarigrades.While we're on the subject, tarigrades are pretty adorable.

Others of my favorites are pieces by a guy named Roszak; for instance, this one's called Flying Fish.

Strolling around on the internet today, i tripped over a meme regarding a NASA mission control member's hair. Dude's name is Bobak, he's got a mohawk, and within an hour of the Curiosity's landing on Mars, his own F-yeah site.

Today, argh. Both of my feet have been in my mouth all morning, and this early afternoon was pretty much all experiment glitches. However, explodingdog comics are usually encouraging and today is no different.

cyclists' quads and influenza

Took a gander at the NYTimes website today over lunch, and the front page featured an article regarding the incredible size that the thighs of sprint cyclists attain. Contained within that article was the link to a hilarious (seriously, this is incredibly funny but does include pictures of her upper thighs/underwear'd self, just be forewarned) blog post from a cyclist entitled Q&A: quads.

**Update. My own quads are a very puny 52cm.

Also, Asuka, a quote from the NYTimes article:  "“Cyclists have strange shapes: big quads, small waists and big butts. It’s hard to find pants.” and "Sharp said a Brazilian jeans store in Philadelphia, now defunct, used to cater to cyclists, who would descend on it from all over the world." It looks like we might have a viable business after all; jeans for athletic women?

Also, long story short, i was at the fabric store yesterday, trading small talk with the lady cutting my fabric from the bolt (for purchase). She was an interesting character, and somehow talk turned to effigy mounds and then viruses (what, you don't talk with random folks about viruses?). There are apparently pigs infected with H3N2 influenza at the Indiana State fair (12 assayed, all positive), with a few reported cases in humans. The NYTimes and various others have also reported influenza at state fairs (including Minnesota); for the Wisconsin State fair, it has simply been recommended that people wash their hands.

Apparently, there's a marmite shortage happening in New Zealand due to earthquake damage to a factory, and some NZ Olympians are being honored by a supermarket chain with some of the remaining quantities. That's kinda fitting; i've certainly been talked into running miles for coffee. i wonder what America would give out to it's athletes if a similar situation occurred? Oreos?

As the topic of amazing former Olympians has been broached, how about Emil Zapotek? The man was a tremendous runner, and quite a guy, based on all descriptions, "As Peters had discovered, Zatopek was an excellent conversationalist. One British athlete complained that he "never shut up". He spoke six languages, and made more friends actually during races than most athletes did when socialising."

This article regarding the State Street candy shop Campus Candy is amusing if only for the description of candy as, "The variety of sweets represents the broad spectrum of formats modern science has devised for the sugar molecule, from gummies to sours to chocolate-dipped whatever-you-can-think-of. There are chocolate rocks suitable for a Willy Wonka landscape. There is salty licorice for sophisticates. There are Pixy Stix for those sophisticates to hork down when nobody’s looking. There is an entire Linnean taxonomy of gummy animals, from invertebrates on up. There are even Necco wafers for masochists."

Finally, a music video that's been floating around FB / going viral for a while, featuring the PBS painter Bob Ross. Apparently, Mr. Rogers has a similar music video as well.