Made caramels and chili with Jack and Leslie yesterday (and yes, their house smelled just as amazing as you'd imagine it). Various phrases were bandied about, including the term 'earmark' and its origins. i referenced the action of identifying domesticated animals by marking their ears (with a cut or a tag), while Leslie called to mind the political definition (to designate funds, etc). Yes, the latter gained it's roots in the former (and let's not confuse them with dog-earing, the act of folding over a page in a manner in which some dogs' ears flop down). 'Hairy eyeball' is North American (North, Jack, ya Yankee) slang for looking at someone in a disapproving manner. Curiously, wikionary also reports a secondary slang meaning of looking at someone through batted eyelashes, which would connote the entirely opposite meaning (and let's not confuse either of these with the Lagunitas beer, " Especially formulated for when you wake up feelin’ like you need to shave your eyeballs to see the new day. " Okay, that too.)
i mentioned earlier to Bryan that out of my 4 attempted batches of caramel, only 2 turned out. The other two simply overheated (like, hit a temperature plateau, then suddenly surged before i could remove the pan from the stove burner), and turned out more like hard candy. He said that he and Sarah had a heat problem brewing beer this weekend; temperatures are difficult to keep constant while the mash steeps. They semi-successfully used a cooler, but we were curious what people did in ancient times (like, before thermometers). i looked up the oldest known beer recipe (via wikipedia, which feels a little like cheating), and jars are cited. We took this to mean clay jars, which can hold heat fairly well, but maybe also some sort of heatbox (proto-crockpot)?.
Regarding beverages in Sochi, it appears that Canada's Molson beer has set up a beer fridge at the Olympic village, and lets Canadian passport holders have free, unlimited access to the content. Talk about ambassadorship! Moreover, NBC has set up a private Starbucks for its journalists, with the alternative being McDonalds. Perks!
Kelly AT, sharing ardent runner/cyclist/athlete woes of not being able to find jeans that fit due to musculature, sent this NYTimes article my way. This clothing issue isn't uncommon, my cycling partner Asuka and i have considered this as a possible business opportunity, but the article focuses on skiers. Favorite part? Upon hulk-smashing open/ripping a pair of jeans, " “ I drive them across town and my mother sews them for me,” said Hudec, who, it is worth noting, is 32."" Good for you, man, and it's nice to be so close to one's family.
In honor of a recent holiday, i offer up this excellent art project called Life Once Removed by Suzanna Heintz, who staged traditional family portraits with herself and a mannequin husband and child.
And because, darn it, i'm a virologist: this music video details the unlikely event that a.) there is ever a 'cure' for the cold virus(es), and b.) it anthropomorphically falls in love with the scientist who cured it.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Monday, February 10, 2014
surplus Giraffe, fish mobility, chili and frito pie, Russian Police Choir
Foremost (with particular notice to Brandon and Anne): bluegrass band Nickel Creek is re-forming, at least for a little while. Of course, by the time i figured this out, their shows are completely sold out.
i'm sure you've all seen this in recent news; a kerfuffle is being made over a Danish zoo deciding that a young giraffe is surplus (well represented from the genetics standpoint), and harvesting him for meat. i personally don't see any problem with this (giraffes are probably expensive to feed [and lets note that 'cost of feeding a giraffe' will yield a completely different result than you'd think], and serve as part of the food chain outside of zoos all the time), but now can't get Disney's Lion King Circle of Life theme out of my head.
i have had at least one betta (B. splendens) fish at a time since early college. They have all had distinct, delightful personalities (yes, fish have personalities), and i've spoiled them as much as one can spoil a fish (in the non-senescence sense). My current betta is a red-and-teal veil-tailed male named Atreides of Wisconsin, and i think my PI just realized last week that i keep a pet fish in a jar on my desk (Atreides has been there for the last year, and a male red-and-blue betta named Atlas Ramses of Wisconsin lived there for about 4 years before him). Oops? He's pretty contained, and my desk is in an office and not the lab proper, so it's okay. It was suggested today that we make Atreides mobile via this nifty set-up, and i'd be sorely tempted if it wasn't quite so technical. Honestly, i'd like a version of that myself, for walking around outside this winter.
The NYTimes recently did an article on chili. As a native San Antonian, this is a topic very dear to my heart. For the record, chili does NOT contain beans, contains very specific brands of chili powder, and is occasionally served on rice (mashed potatoes or a slice of white bread also work in a pinch). i've also recently had Frito Pie on the brain; it's a common concession stand snack consisting of (Fritos) corn chips with chili, shredded cheddar cheese, onions, and (ftw) jalapenos. Ah!
Finally, let's talk for a minute about the Daft Punk's Get Lucky cover by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Choir (better known as the Russian Police Choir), as performed at the Olympic opening games in Sochi: please watch this. Kelly AT and i were curious as to how this came into being. Apparently, the group released a music video version in November, " most likely prepared for a Kremlin concert on November 10". Remarkable. Also, this Today article is hilarious and has a few embedded clips that are worth watching. Finally, from the biography portion of their official website, " By the prestige and the eclectism of its conductor, who mixes with great panache during the shows, the traditional melodies of the Russian folklore, the songs of the Patriotic War and the most famous classic airs or international varities (the Ensemble plays Bizet, Wagner, Mozart but also Michel Legrand, Francis Lai…) " . So, perhaps we can credit conductor Major-General Victor Eliseev for this spectacular rendition.
i'm sure you've all seen this in recent news; a kerfuffle is being made over a Danish zoo deciding that a young giraffe is surplus (well represented from the genetics standpoint), and harvesting him for meat. i personally don't see any problem with this (giraffes are probably expensive to feed [and lets note that 'cost of feeding a giraffe' will yield a completely different result than you'd think], and serve as part of the food chain outside of zoos all the time), but now can't get Disney's Lion King Circle of Life theme out of my head.
i have had at least one betta (B. splendens) fish at a time since early college. They have all had distinct, delightful personalities (yes, fish have personalities), and i've spoiled them as much as one can spoil a fish (in the non-senescence sense). My current betta is a red-and-teal veil-tailed male named Atreides of Wisconsin, and i think my PI just realized last week that i keep a pet fish in a jar on my desk (Atreides has been there for the last year, and a male red-and-blue betta named Atlas Ramses of Wisconsin lived there for about 4 years before him). Oops? He's pretty contained, and my desk is in an office and not the lab proper, so it's okay. It was suggested today that we make Atreides mobile via this nifty set-up, and i'd be sorely tempted if it wasn't quite so technical. Honestly, i'd like a version of that myself, for walking around outside this winter.
The NYTimes recently did an article on chili. As a native San Antonian, this is a topic very dear to my heart. For the record, chili does NOT contain beans, contains very specific brands of chili powder, and is occasionally served on rice (mashed potatoes or a slice of white bread also work in a pinch). i've also recently had Frito Pie on the brain; it's a common concession stand snack consisting of (Fritos) corn chips with chili, shredded cheddar cheese, onions, and (ftw) jalapenos. Ah!
Finally, let's talk for a minute about the Daft Punk's Get Lucky cover by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Choir (better known as the Russian Police Choir), as performed at the Olympic opening games in Sochi: please watch this. Kelly AT and i were curious as to how this came into being. Apparently, the group released a music video version in November, " most likely prepared for a Kremlin concert on November 10". Remarkable. Also, this Today article is hilarious and has a few embedded clips that are worth watching. Finally, from the biography portion of their official website, " By the prestige and the eclectism of its conductor, who mixes with great panache during the shows, the traditional melodies of the Russian folklore, the songs of the Patriotic War and the most famous classic airs or international varities (the Ensemble plays Bizet, Wagner, Mozart but also Michel Legrand, Francis Lai…) " . So, perhaps we can credit conductor Major-General Victor Eliseev for this spectacular rendition.
Friday, February 7, 2014
broken in jeans, polar bear pictures, cards against science, negative zero
Briefly;
i was strolling around a favorite photography blog the other day and came across a link for this business, where you can purchase pre-worn(-in) jeans. It seems to work like this; a person purchases new jeans, wears them until they're of a particular state, then (with approval), the place buys them back and sells them as 'Butler' jeans. Ladies and gentlemen, i am impressed with the entrepreneurship on display here, and a little more than mildly astonished that this is a thing; i don't know that i will ever understand fashion of this manner. Granted, i frequently acquire my own jeans while thrifting, but that's pretty much entirely due to frugality. Also, by the time i have a pair of jeans in the worn-in state, they're about 3 washes away from disintegrating and i'm bummed 'cause i have to replace them.
Speaking of photography, what does it mean that upon viewing this photo series of an adorable polar bear family, my first thought was, 'What sort of zoom lens was that guy using?' (Or, alternately, what sort of invisibility cloak does he have and where did he get it? The fb page noted reports that "our indigenous guides bring us as close as 100 meters to the bears". Whoa.)
A labmate recently linked this article reporting a science version of Cards Against Humanity. For the record, while i appreciate the creativity/personality that CaH allows players to display, it frequently seems to devolve into an outrageous(ness)-escalation, which i appreciate far less. i had brief hope that the science version might be slightly cleaner, but then KateB noticed that one of the sample cards was "Watson and Crick slash/fic ". Yikes. i suppose Apples-to-Apples is it, then.
While walking through the Student Union the other day, i noticed this:
(i didn't get the chance to walk through later and see if it had warmed up to positive zero?)
i was strolling around a favorite photography blog the other day and came across a link for this business, where you can purchase pre-worn(-in) jeans. It seems to work like this; a person purchases new jeans, wears them until they're of a particular state, then (with approval), the place buys them back and sells them as 'Butler' jeans. Ladies and gentlemen, i am impressed with the entrepreneurship on display here, and a little more than mildly astonished that this is a thing; i don't know that i will ever understand fashion of this manner. Granted, i frequently acquire my own jeans while thrifting, but that's pretty much entirely due to frugality. Also, by the time i have a pair of jeans in the worn-in state, they're about 3 washes away from disintegrating and i'm bummed 'cause i have to replace them.
Speaking of photography, what does it mean that upon viewing this photo series of an adorable polar bear family, my first thought was, 'What sort of zoom lens was that guy using?' (Or, alternately, what sort of invisibility cloak does he have and where did he get it? The fb page noted reports that "our indigenous guides bring us as close as 100 meters to the bears". Whoa.)
A labmate recently linked this article reporting a science version of Cards Against Humanity. For the record, while i appreciate the creativity/personality that CaH allows players to display, it frequently seems to devolve into an outrageous(ness)-escalation, which i appreciate far less. i had brief hope that the science version might be slightly cleaner, but then KateB noticed that one of the sample cards was "Watson and Crick slash/fic ". Yikes. i suppose Apples-to-Apples is it, then.
While walking through the Student Union the other day, i noticed this:
(i didn't get the chance to walk through later and see if it had warmed up to positive zero?)
Monday, February 3, 2014
trucks, vehicle thermometers, 12th man, and shoes
NPR's Linda Holmes posted this amusing article entitled, "I Like Big Trucks And I Cannot Lie: Cars, Trucks, and The Lady Brain" today. It's a humorous reaction to fluffy piece set out about a recent online survey where males and females rated the attractiveness of automotive drivers with regard to their ride. Best line from Ms. Holmes' response? Perhaps " Women do not actually mean "hot" when they say "hot." They don't mean lusty hot, or symmetrical-face hot, or big-shoulders hot. They mean "transported a bar cabinet to my door on his back" hot. They mean "carried a couch" hot. They mean "oiled my hinges" hot. (Hey. HINGES AT THE IMAGINARY CONDO. Don't be gross. This is for science.) ". Tracking the actual survey took a bit of googling, and i only came up with the press release, but it was done by Insure.com, "Insure.com
surveyed 2,000 licensed drivers age 18 and over, split evenly between
men and women and divided across age groups and regions. The
online-panel survey was fielded in December 2013. ", and the whole reporting method is a bit informal. The commentary on the Holmes piece is hilarious, and yielded this even further response. Also, this is not permission for anyone to ever call me Captain Pickup.
Slightly related, had a conversation last night regarding automotive thermometers (the sort that display the outside temperature). We didn't know where on a vehicle the thermometer would be placed that neither the heat of the vehicle nor sun/shade would affect it's measurement. The best hypothesis, in my opinion, goes to Rup with placement on the antenna. Doing some research, it sounds like somewhere near the front bumper is the most popular place possibly, around/behind the front grill. This has variability with make and model of the vehicle in question (for my beloved truck, possibly in front of the radiator. For Bryan's Toyota Corolla, it seems to be inside the grill, under the hood [and for that one, i found the replacement part long before the location]).
During the Superbowl last night, i was reminded that the Seattle Seahawks fans use the term 12th Man. This references the 11 players allowed per team on the field during a football game, and the fans being enough of a force to actually have an impact (a 12th man). The term is officially licensed to/trademarked by Texas A&M University; in 1922, a student player by the name of E.K. Gill suited up and stood at the ready during a incredibly injury-filled game - a '12th man' ready to play at any time. To this day, all Aggies stand the entirety of football games, ready to be sent in. Anyway, while other NFL franchises have used the term fleetingly (and been called off by TAMU lawyers), the Seahawks settled out-of-court with A&M and are officially licensed to use the term.
This NYTimes article documents the incredibly long names of some Brazilians.
Kelly AT sent me this link today about recycling skateboards, one of which being to turn the decks into high heeled shoes?! Something to keep in mind if mine ever gets beyond repair, i guess. Also, KateB and Jack, this shoes+ design company has the most distractingly colorful website i've ever encountered (and Kate! Unicorn shoes!!)
Slightly related, had a conversation last night regarding automotive thermometers (the sort that display the outside temperature). We didn't know where on a vehicle the thermometer would be placed that neither the heat of the vehicle nor sun/shade would affect it's measurement. The best hypothesis, in my opinion, goes to Rup with placement on the antenna. Doing some research, it sounds like somewhere near the front bumper is the most popular place possibly, around/behind the front grill. This has variability with make and model of the vehicle in question (for my beloved truck, possibly in front of the radiator. For Bryan's Toyota Corolla, it seems to be inside the grill, under the hood [and for that one, i found the replacement part long before the location]).
During the Superbowl last night, i was reminded that the Seattle Seahawks fans use the term 12th Man. This references the 11 players allowed per team on the field during a football game, and the fans being enough of a force to actually have an impact (a 12th man). The term is officially licensed to/trademarked by Texas A&M University; in 1922, a student player by the name of E.K. Gill suited up and stood at the ready during a incredibly injury-filled game - a '12th man' ready to play at any time. To this day, all Aggies stand the entirety of football games, ready to be sent in. Anyway, while other NFL franchises have used the term fleetingly (and been called off by TAMU lawyers), the Seahawks settled out-of-court with A&M and are officially licensed to use the term.
This NYTimes article documents the incredibly long names of some Brazilians.
Kelly AT sent me this link today about recycling skateboards, one of which being to turn the decks into high heeled shoes?! Something to keep in mind if mine ever gets beyond repair, i guess. Also, KateB and Jack, this shoes+ design company has the most distractingly colorful website i've ever encountered (and Kate! Unicorn shoes!!)
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