i was youtubing songs to remind Jack of The Punch Brothers, and the brief commercial that queued up before the song featured, rather astonishingly, David Bowie playing the harpiscord while serenading/attending what appears to be a Venetian Masquerade. i was, again, astonished, and had to track down the ad: please watch this. Further backtracking indicates that it made Adweek's Ad Of The Day last week, and it's by a director better known for music videos. Hmm. Anyway, i think it would be epic to arrive somewhere by hot air balloon, despite the commentary that they're difficult to actually steer.
Came across this 'Ultimate Guide to Biking and cycling' today. There's actually quite a bit of information there.
This picture of a cow photography shoot on the university's website today. Unlike pictured Brown Swiss, my family's Brahman cattle are so darn curious that they will track you down and be in your picture, just to see what you're doing. (This can be terrifying when they're across the pasture and they decide, as a herd, that they need to be in your immediate vicinity. The result is an entire herd basically stampeding at you. Eesh.)
Highly interestingly; i knew there was once a ski jump on campus, built on what is now John Muir knoll. However, i saw a picture today taken from the top of the jump, looking down it. Terrifying. The accompanying article reports the original one was built in the 1910s by Norwegian students over the Christmas break. i gchatted the article to Bryan, who responded that ski jumps ARE terrifying, as he'd seen one in Oslo. Holey Smokes. And the he went on to look up the k-spot, or critical point of the hill, and determined that the record for that ski jump is over the hill size, meaning that people attempting to break the record might also break their legs. That lead us to looking up the world record jumps, and finally on to ski flying. Ladies and gentlemen, we have finally found a sport which i will probably refuse to attempt: sky flying (also, only two wipe-outs in that video. Personally, i think that's remarkable. Also, the music loops. You've been warned. )
Another thing i saw recently was the movie Warm Bodies. i realized, halfway through with the help of a balcony scene, that it's a version of Romeo and Juliet, set in a post-apocalyptic zombie situation, and it turns out, i'm not crazy (at least about the reference). However, it's cute and certainly has moments of cleverness. Also, Jack, it put me in mind of Josh Ritter's The Curse; can you share that with Leslie? Earlier that evening, Leslie was very kindly preparing dinner and asked Jack to get something out of the cabinet, which sounded like poison (turned out, it was hoison sauce. not it), and we joked about Leslie only serving poison to her favorite guests. i referenced Better Than Ezra's lovely/creepy song Porcelain as precedent for wanting to destroy a favorite thing so no one else can have it, so here's a link to that song, too.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Miss Universe National Costume commentary, mascara, blood donations
The Miss Universe beauty pageant recently occurred, and it was brought to my attention via NPR that the National Costume portion of the contest is really something to see (all of the costumes found here, and a youtube 'highlights' clip format). Bryan and i were reviewing these, and he picked Sweden as the winner, mostly because with her sword, she might just resort to force. Neither of us understood Germany or Belgium, and i speculated that Denmark's was in homage to their mermaid statue. Quite a few of the ladies relied on large feather headdresses/props; man, weight training might be a good idea just wearing those things. America's is a little odd.
This article regarding advertising and the claims made by mascara ads popped up on the NYTimes. i recently bought a tube of mascara (my prior tube was used up in drawing a mustache on a female impersonating the lead character of Breaking Bad), and was a little overwhelmed with the choices (even just those present at Target), so it was interesting to read that some companies have been forced to change their claims, as eyelash inserts or photoshop had been used in some circumstances/models. Hmm.
Another NYTimes article recently featured selfies taken by Franz Ferdinand bassist Bob Hardy, of himself, face obscured by a book, in every hotel room he's visited. i find this fascinating, because despite all being hotel rooms, one can get pretty close to guessing the general location (city/country) by the furnishings.
Some friends and i had dinner this evening, and on the way back we saw ads for a campus blood drive. Someone made the comment that the blood just gets sold, and i took exception to that; the blood is not called a donation for nothing. According to the Red Cross FAQs for blood donations, "There is never a fee for the blood itself. The Red Cross charges for expenses incurred in recruiting and educating donors, keeping accurate donor records, collecting blood by trained staff, processing and testing blood in a state of the art laboratory, and storing and distributing blood ". Further investigation turned up a Slate article reporting that blood is sold, indeed, and can vary from region to region based on overhead costs as well as general supply. That article also included the anecdote that " Until the 1970s, a major portion of the nation's blood supply came from paid donors. But a government study found that volunteered blood was much less prone to hepatitis contamination. From then on, blood banks had to label their packages "paid" or "volunteer," which had the effect of eliminating paid-donor blood from the national supply. (Pharmaceutical companies still purchase blood plasma from for-profit firms that hire paid donors. The nonprofits also sell off surplus plasma to the drug companies at market rate.) ", which i had heard before. Interesting. Anyhow, we still do not artificially generate blood (no matter what the Southern Vampire Mysteries would have you think), and i'd rather there be blood available for those who need it than not. Also, i would probably not participate if they paid me.
Because i have been living under a rock, i did not realize John Mayer has a new album out. It's decent (and yeah, i'm a fan).
This article regarding advertising and the claims made by mascara ads popped up on the NYTimes. i recently bought a tube of mascara (my prior tube was used up in drawing a mustache on a female impersonating the lead character of Breaking Bad), and was a little overwhelmed with the choices (even just those present at Target), so it was interesting to read that some companies have been forced to change their claims, as eyelash inserts or photoshop had been used in some circumstances/models. Hmm.
Another NYTimes article recently featured selfies taken by Franz Ferdinand bassist Bob Hardy, of himself, face obscured by a book, in every hotel room he's visited. i find this fascinating, because despite all being hotel rooms, one can get pretty close to guessing the general location (city/country) by the furnishings.
Some friends and i had dinner this evening, and on the way back we saw ads for a campus blood drive. Someone made the comment that the blood just gets sold, and i took exception to that; the blood is not called a donation for nothing. According to the Red Cross FAQs for blood donations, "There is never a fee for the blood itself. The Red Cross charges for expenses incurred in recruiting and educating donors, keeping accurate donor records, collecting blood by trained staff, processing and testing blood in a state of the art laboratory, and storing and distributing blood ". Further investigation turned up a Slate article reporting that blood is sold, indeed, and can vary from region to region based on overhead costs as well as general supply. That article also included the anecdote that " Until the 1970s, a major portion of the nation's blood supply came from paid donors. But a government study found that volunteered blood was much less prone to hepatitis contamination. From then on, blood banks had to label their packages "paid" or "volunteer," which had the effect of eliminating paid-donor blood from the national supply. (Pharmaceutical companies still purchase blood plasma from for-profit firms that hire paid donors. The nonprofits also sell off surplus plasma to the drug companies at market rate.) ", which i had heard before. Interesting. Anyhow, we still do not artificially generate blood (no matter what the Southern Vampire Mysteries would have you think), and i'd rather there be blood available for those who need it than not. Also, i would probably not participate if they paid me.
Because i have been living under a rock, i did not realize John Mayer has a new album out. It's decent (and yeah, i'm a fan).
Monday, November 11, 2013
oven temperatures, space animals, Harrison Ford and earrings, organisms named for famous people
Oh, gosh; where to begin?
A dear friend has started a tumblr account featuring recipes prepared from a cookbook from 1903. i was recently accused of making a 'wild guess' regarding oven temperature equivalents: the recipe called for a 'slow oven', and i recommended 300 degrees Fahrenheit; this was not a wild guess. One of my favorite cookie recipes is for tea cakes (basically sugar cookies) from a 1910s cookbook that belonged to my great-grandmother (my dad's mom's mom), and i once looked up what a 'very hot oven' is (450-500 degrees F, which ranks up there with Dobos tortes as being the hottest oven requirement i've used). Anyhow, here is a listing of oven equivalencies, and, somewhat surprisingly, a poem.
My labmate linked this picture of a dog seemingly floating in space today; my immediate response was, 'Is that photoshopped?' Looking around, there were quite a number of Soviet space dogs, but the most recent space animals have not included canines. The picture at the very start of the wikipedia article features a small monkey ( known as Miss Baker, who, interestingly, became the longest lived squirrel monkey at 27) sitting on a small rocket. It seems possible but unlikely that the rocket was the size featured in the picture, as the monkey would be crammed in there ('screaming monkey tube in space!'), but it turns out, the actual rocket was big enough for multiple monkeys.
Jack delightfully linked this collection of photographs of women painted as skeletons. Yes!
Which brings us to ear piercings and Harrison Ford. The ever-excellent Jimmy Fallon recently had his ear pierced on set by Harrison Ford (who was probably there promoting Ender's Game? Then the ear thing just... happened?) Anyhow, within that clip, Jimmy states that Mr. Ford has had his ear pierced for a long time now, and i had to google that to confirm. Yup (and apparently he DOES have a stance on tattoos). As recounted in a few different places, supposedly Mr. Ford was out at a birthday lunch in 1997 with Jimmy Buffet and Ed Bradley, both of whom have their ear(s) pierced, and was so inspired to dash by the girls' accessory store Claire's after lunch to have his own done.
Also from Mr. Ford's wikipedia page, he has two organisms named for him (a spider and an ant, due to his work in conservation). Splashing over to the wikipedia page List of Organisms Named for Famous People is highly amusing due to the side-by-side pictures of famous humans and their namesakes. That page arced over to a very detailed compilation of organisms-named-for-humans page, which has some fascinating entries and is arranged by the occupation of the famous person, though the best entries might be found in the 'other' category.
A dear friend has started a tumblr account featuring recipes prepared from a cookbook from 1903. i was recently accused of making a 'wild guess' regarding oven temperature equivalents: the recipe called for a 'slow oven', and i recommended 300 degrees Fahrenheit; this was not a wild guess. One of my favorite cookie recipes is for tea cakes (basically sugar cookies) from a 1910s cookbook that belonged to my great-grandmother (my dad's mom's mom), and i once looked up what a 'very hot oven' is (450-500 degrees F, which ranks up there with Dobos tortes as being the hottest oven requirement i've used). Anyhow, here is a listing of oven equivalencies, and, somewhat surprisingly, a poem.
My labmate linked this picture of a dog seemingly floating in space today; my immediate response was, 'Is that photoshopped?' Looking around, there were quite a number of Soviet space dogs, but the most recent space animals have not included canines. The picture at the very start of the wikipedia article features a small monkey ( known as Miss Baker, who, interestingly, became the longest lived squirrel monkey at 27) sitting on a small rocket. It seems possible but unlikely that the rocket was the size featured in the picture, as the monkey would be crammed in there ('screaming monkey tube in space!'), but it turns out, the actual rocket was big enough for multiple monkeys.
Jack delightfully linked this collection of photographs of women painted as skeletons. Yes!
Which brings us to ear piercings and Harrison Ford. The ever-excellent Jimmy Fallon recently had his ear pierced on set by Harrison Ford (who was probably there promoting Ender's Game? Then the ear thing just... happened?) Anyhow, within that clip, Jimmy states that Mr. Ford has had his ear pierced for a long time now, and i had to google that to confirm. Yup (and apparently he DOES have a stance on tattoos). As recounted in a few different places, supposedly Mr. Ford was out at a birthday lunch in 1997 with Jimmy Buffet and Ed Bradley, both of whom have their ear(s) pierced, and was so inspired to dash by the girls' accessory store Claire's after lunch to have his own done.
Also from Mr. Ford's wikipedia page, he has two organisms named for him (a spider and an ant, due to his work in conservation). Splashing over to the wikipedia page List of Organisms Named for Famous People is highly amusing due to the side-by-side pictures of famous humans and their namesakes. That page arced over to a very detailed compilation of organisms-named-for-humans page, which has some fascinating entries and is arranged by the occupation of the famous person, though the best entries might be found in the 'other' category.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Goodnight Dune, bats, etc; fried food centrifugation degreasing, flyting
Stumbled across this smashup called Goodnight Dune via facebook the other day. Awesome and creepy.
i've had a brain full of bats lately (things have been a little batty?); i came across these impossibly cute collections of bat gifs. Part one, and part two (mostly baby bats). Also awesome is this winged lizard.
Bryan was kind enough to prepare fried chicken for a large group of people on Halloween. It was delicious. In his honor, i present this insightful review of a paper (from The Annals of Improbable Research) wherein a centrifuge is used to remove grease from schnitzel. Best line? " Two freshly deep-fried schnitzels were purchased from the cafeteria at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. The schnitzels weighed 128.46 and 129.67 grams, suggesting that a highly precise manufacturing process produces these schnitzels. "
i'm certain you saw this on various other media platforms, but some folks synched up their Halloween-decorated house to Ylvis' tune, What Does The Fox Say. Apparently, most of the lights are LED-based and they estimate their electric bill for the Halloween season to be $25-35 for the display. No word on what the neighbors say.
(sigh.)
Turns out, mostly between the 5th and 16th centuries there were ritual poetic insult matches termed 'flyting' (not to be confused with 'flirting, 4th grade style'), with plenty of references in Norse and Anglo-Saxon literature. Additionally, wikipedia states that , "The Flyting of Dumbar and Kennedie records a contest between William Dunbar and Walter Kennedy in front of James IV, which includes the earliest recorded use of the word shit as a personal insult".
Moreover, a 'thing' can officially refer to a governing assembly in Germanic societies, both in per-Christianity as well as today. i'm pretty amused by the idea of a 'legislative thing' being it's proper title.
from Jack, regarding the helmet-cam mountain biking video i blogged about a week or two ago:
i've had a brain full of bats lately (things have been a little batty?); i came across these impossibly cute collections of bat gifs. Part one, and part two (mostly baby bats). Also awesome is this winged lizard.
Bryan was kind enough to prepare fried chicken for a large group of people on Halloween. It was delicious. In his honor, i present this insightful review of a paper (from The Annals of Improbable Research) wherein a centrifuge is used to remove grease from schnitzel. Best line? " Two freshly deep-fried schnitzels were purchased from the cafeteria at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. The schnitzels weighed 128.46 and 129.67 grams, suggesting that a highly precise manufacturing process produces these schnitzels. "
i'm certain you saw this on various other media platforms, but some folks synched up their Halloween-decorated house to Ylvis' tune, What Does The Fox Say. Apparently, most of the lights are LED-based and they estimate their electric bill for the Halloween season to be $25-35 for the display. No word on what the neighbors say.
(sigh.)
Turns out, mostly between the 5th and 16th centuries there were ritual poetic insult matches termed 'flyting' (not to be confused with 'flirting, 4th grade style'), with plenty of references in Norse and Anglo-Saxon literature. Additionally, wikipedia states that , "The Flyting of Dumbar and Kennedie records a contest between William Dunbar and Walter Kennedy in front of James IV, which includes the earliest recorded use of the word shit as a personal insult".
Moreover, a 'thing' can officially refer to a governing assembly in Germanic societies, both in per-Christianity as well as today. i'm pretty amused by the idea of a 'legislative thing' being it's proper title.
from Jack, regarding the helmet-cam mountain biking video i blogged about a week or two ago:
J: I think I just crapped my pants watching that mt bike video
I am 99% sure that individuals up to the intense of experiences that often have that D4DR mutation thing
The mutation to which she refers is the Dopamine receptor D4, and mutations to this receptor can be insertions/repetitions, amino acid mutations, and other mutations of sections, though perhaps the "novelty-seeking behavior is probably mediated by several genes, and the
variance attributable to DRD4 by itself is not particularly large". Interesting.Thursday, October 31, 2013
bats, Super-Pope, grad student Barbie and Shrinking Women
This morning at lab meeting, we were treated to a presentation regarding the generation of vaccines for bats (specifically to white nose syndrome, a fungal disease common/tolerated in Europeans bats, which has recently been introduced into the naive American bat population, where it's been problematic ). Anyhow, they're sourcing bats from TAMU, apparently gathered from the stadium there. (i can personally attest that there are also bats in the upper reaches of at least one library). There are guys at A&M and tu studying batsong (yeah, like birdsong), and i offer this documentation of a bat courtship song in honor of Halloween. Also of note; the statement was made in lab meeting this morning that bats don't get cancer; this is not true, but bats ARE able to tolerate a staggering contingent of lethal-to-other-mammals-viruses without succumbing, and a recent Science paper attributes this to "an unexpected concentration of positively selected genes in the DNA damage checkpoint and nuclear factor κB pathways that may be related to the origin of flight, as well as expansion and contraction of important gene families", which may provide protection against disease.
This buzzfeed article of a young man who, during a papal audience, wandered on to the stage to hang out with Pope Francis, is fantastic. The kid even gets to sit on the Papal chair! Jack pointed out a picture appearing at the end of the article, depicting the Pope with his robe billowing in the wind like a cape. Awesome!
And now, grad student Barbie.
Via the Blogess, this post regarding 'Shrinking Women', featuring a taped recitation of a poem by the same name by Lily Myers. It's very striking (and there's certainly truth there). (And no, not the movie.)
This buzzfeed article of a young man who, during a papal audience, wandered on to the stage to hang out with Pope Francis, is fantastic. The kid even gets to sit on the Papal chair! Jack pointed out a picture appearing at the end of the article, depicting the Pope with his robe billowing in the wind like a cape. Awesome!
And now, grad student Barbie.
Via the Blogess, this post regarding 'Shrinking Women', featuring a taped recitation of a poem by the same name by Lily Myers. It's very striking (and there's certainly truth there). (And no, not the movie.)
Thursday, October 24, 2013
mountain bike jump, kitchen sink phrase, chili yogurt
This clip of a guy on a mountain bike doing a backwards somersault over a rather steep drop is highly engaging; it was filmed using a helmet camera during Red Bull's invitational-only mountain bike competition in Zion National Park. And the dude got second; this dude took first (going no-handed for a jump). Crazy.
Today in lab meeting the phrase 'kitchen sink' came up, as in, 'you've thrown everything including the kitchen sink at this project', indicating everything has been attempted. i was curious about the origin of this phrase (despite being the one who popped out with it). In short, it seems to be traced to the early 1900s. A few sites cite the WWII homefront scrap metal drives as a source, in that they would recycle all metals thus excluding porcelain kitchen sinks, so that was all you'd be left with. However, other folks have found evidence of this phrase in earlier literature; they link it to references of women having on (wearing?) everything but the kitchen range, which is a lovely bit of wordplay.
The lovely Holly recently posted a link to loaded nacho grilled cheese recipe, which in turn reminded me of this NPR Sandwich Monday post of a 32-layer dip. While looking for that article, i turned up a Sandwich Monday review of a yogurt marketed for guys; a 'brogurt'. i gchatted this to Bryan, who commented that the flavors displayed there (mango, apple cinnamon, strawberry, blueberry acai) weren't particularly manly, so we brainstormed for a few minutes regarding more 'manly' flavors. Barbecue, bourbon caramel, and chili were the resultant top picks (with the chili using whole wheat oyster crackers in place of granola, of course). Bryan brilliantly looked into this, and it turns out that yogurt can be cultured from the stems of India chilis.
i suggested that we pilot this some point during Sunday football, but neither of us has a crockpot (that can hold temperature) or yogurt incubator.
Today in lab meeting the phrase 'kitchen sink' came up, as in, 'you've thrown everything including the kitchen sink at this project', indicating everything has been attempted. i was curious about the origin of this phrase (despite being the one who popped out with it). In short, it seems to be traced to the early 1900s. A few sites cite the WWII homefront scrap metal drives as a source, in that they would recycle all metals thus excluding porcelain kitchen sinks, so that was all you'd be left with. However, other folks have found evidence of this phrase in earlier literature; they link it to references of women having on (wearing?) everything but the kitchen range, which is a lovely bit of wordplay.
The lovely Holly recently posted a link to loaded nacho grilled cheese recipe, which in turn reminded me of this NPR Sandwich Monday post of a 32-layer dip. While looking for that article, i turned up a Sandwich Monday review of a yogurt marketed for guys; a 'brogurt'. i gchatted this to Bryan, who commented that the flavors displayed there (mango, apple cinnamon, strawberry, blueberry acai) weren't particularly manly, so we brainstormed for a few minutes regarding more 'manly' flavors. Barbecue, bourbon caramel, and chili were the resultant top picks (with the chili using whole wheat oyster crackers in place of granola, of course). Bryan brilliantly looked into this, and it turns out that yogurt can be cultured from the stems of India chilis.
Bryan: apparently using chili peppers to start yogurt cultures is a thing
God intended them to be together
Sent at 12:49 PM on Thursday
Bryan: "You mentioned a great deal of possible natural sources for yogurt cultures, some of which, like ant eggs, I was not keen on trying. However, you did mention that in India chili-pepper stems may be used as a source for yogurt cultures. This was something I was willing to try. So, I bought a package of red chili peppers from the store. I heated one liter of whole milk to 180F, and let it cool gradually to 110F (I let it cool slowly, over 2-3 hours). I briefly rinsed the chili peppers, and cut the stems off a dozen. I place the stems in a container, and added the milk. I placed that in my yogurt incubator. After 10 hours, nothing had happened. I decided to let it continue fermenting. After about 13 hours, the magic happened, and the milk had gelled! In fact, it had over-fermented a bit, and split. I had a layer of whey at the bottom, on top of which floated a very thick curd. I cooled it in the fridge, and it tasted like spicy, chili-flavored yogurt. I used one teaspoon of this yogurt to inoculate a fresh batch of milk."
i suggested that we pilot this some point during Sunday football, but neither of us has a crockpot (that can hold temperature) or yogurt incubator.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
more composites, pie v/s cake, wildling and competency links, Radhastami, Half-drag, ass-over-teakettle
As a follow-up to the last post concerning facial composites, Holly linked this article about how a composite US male compares (rather literally) to a Japanese, French, and Dutch male composite.
i rather enjoyed this old-school-style debate featuring two Southern women defending either pie or cake as the official dessert of the (US) South. There are a few rather telling truths to the article, including " For Southern women, the better the cake, the higher the social status." and " As we all know, in the South, there is perhaps no currency more vaunted and valuable than having a recipe with an ingredient that no one else can figure out. ".
Linked via my lovely roommate, this rather astonishing graphic tribute to HBO's version of Game Of Thrones entitled Where Have All The Wildings Gone. It's surprisingly not as spoiler-y as might be anticipated. The roommate also posted a fb link to the wikipedia page of something called the Dunning-Kruger effect, which states that " unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than average ".
Rup reports that the largest festival in Kolkata, India, in celebration of Radhastami, or the anniversary of the first appearance of Srimati Radharani, who is, among many other things, regarded by devotees as 'the feminine aspect of the Absolute Truth' . i tripped over a link today which elaborated a little more regarding her 25 primary attributes.
i've seen some of these before, but PetaPixel did an overview/interview of Leland Bobbe's impeccable, fascinating portraits of Drag Queens with only half of their faces made up, entitled Half-Drag.
In the pool today, the phrase 'ass-over-teakettle' was mentioned. It means end-over-end. Urban dictionary reports that it's said " frequently by weird Canadian mother-in-laws. ". Apparently, "the common "teakettle" variation is first found in a 1946 book about fighter pilots in WWII, in a euphemized form: "He displayed a rump-over-tea-kettle aggressiveness in seeking dog-fights." " as found in this highly informative definition.
i rather enjoyed this old-school-style debate featuring two Southern women defending either pie or cake as the official dessert of the (US) South. There are a few rather telling truths to the article, including " For Southern women, the better the cake, the higher the social status." and " As we all know, in the South, there is perhaps no currency more vaunted and valuable than having a recipe with an ingredient that no one else can figure out. ".
Linked via my lovely roommate, this rather astonishing graphic tribute to HBO's version of Game Of Thrones entitled Where Have All The Wildings Gone. It's surprisingly not as spoiler-y as might be anticipated. The roommate also posted a fb link to the wikipedia page of something called the Dunning-Kruger effect, which states that " unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than average ".
Rup reports that the largest festival in Kolkata, India, in celebration of Radhastami, or the anniversary of the first appearance of Srimati Radharani, who is, among many other things, regarded by devotees as 'the feminine aspect of the Absolute Truth' . i tripped over a link today which elaborated a little more regarding her 25 primary attributes.
i've seen some of these before, but PetaPixel did an overview/interview of Leland Bobbe's impeccable, fascinating portraits of Drag Queens with only half of their faces made up, entitled Half-Drag.
In the pool today, the phrase 'ass-over-teakettle' was mentioned. It means end-over-end. Urban dictionary reports that it's said " frequently by weird Canadian mother-in-laws. ". Apparently, "the common "teakettle" variation is first found in a 1946 book about fighter pilots in WWII, in a euphemized form: "He displayed a rump-over-tea-kettle aggressiveness in seeking dog-fights." " as found in this highly informative definition.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Slavic facial composite, job termination dance clip, garter throwing discussion, moose corridors, eating alone
i was reading something about the Slavic peoples the other day and came across this chart of the facial composites of European soccer players by country. Fascinating. Also interesting (and i don't know if i posted this?) is this chart of female facial composites from various countries (via reddit and google)
As mentioned, Jack, here is youtube clip of a woman who created a dance video to a Kanye West song to quit her job (and that clip has subsequently, rightly, gone viral. i appreciate the dance break in the middle). Happily, she seems to be doing well and considering job offers (documented here, as well as a parody response from her former co-workers, who are supportive).
This, called @satiregram, is a very pointed social commentary consisting of pictures of descriptions for pictures that appear on instragram. i think it's equal parts funny and sad. (Other associated social media accounts include a facebook feed and a rather honest astrological instragram, all found linked on this blog account.)
The topic of garters in regard to weddings came up this morning. The tumblr 'Brides Throwing Cats' is Time's blog of the week, and has been making the rounds on various media, featuring mid-air cats photoshopped in for a tossed bouquet (also worth mentioning is the account of a woman whose boyfriend is asking for 300 sandwiches before proposing). Anyway, Bryan mentioned that it's less awkward than a garter direct-from-the-leg-of-your-sister, i speculated that it would be particularly embarrassing to be the bride from whom the garter is being taken, and why the heck is this even a tradition anyway?! To the internet; there are several theories here. From the garter entry on wikipedia: " Historically, this tradition relates to the belief that taking an article of the bride's clothing would bring good luck.[1] In the Middle Ages, the groom's men would rush at the new bride to take her garters off her as a prize.[2] As this often resulted in the destruction of the bride's dress, the tradition arose for the bride to surrender articles of her clothing, which were tossed to the guests, including the garter. ". There's also the theory that " The garter toss is thought to be an early English custom that evolved from "flinging the stocking." Guests would follow the couple to their bedroom on their wedding night, steal their stockings while they were "distracted," then fling them at the couple. It was thought that the first person to hit either the bride or the groom on the head would be the next to marry." from this article, but it lacks references. Yikes. Also, stocking are expensive.
One of my best friends has been having an argument with her mother regarding amber baby teething necklaces; namely, that they're dangerous for the child in posing both choking and suffocation hazards. A recent NYTimes article recapitulates this.
More on the moose brainworms front, there's a project afoot in Canada whereby a strip of land will be purchased to prevent isolate of the moose populations between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, which have been given the moniker 'The Moose Sex Project".
A friend is batcheloretting it up as her significant other is out of town for a week or two, and we were discussing how difficult it can be to feed oneself in a nutritious manner (without eating the same thing every night for a week, which is how i roll). i mentioned the book Alone in the kitchen with an eggplant as being a particularly good compilation of eating-alone essays written by various authors. A lot of the essays feature a nostalgic feel, in that they are remembrances of a period or favorite meal that the author now doesn't eat as frequently due to changed circumstances, be it a guilty pleasure food or now-demanding family situation. One that gets a particular mention is Haruki Murakami's The Spaghetti Chronicles.
As mentioned, Jack, here is youtube clip of a woman who created a dance video to a Kanye West song to quit her job (and that clip has subsequently, rightly, gone viral. i appreciate the dance break in the middle). Happily, she seems to be doing well and considering job offers (documented here, as well as a parody response from her former co-workers, who are supportive).
This, called @satiregram, is a very pointed social commentary consisting of pictures of descriptions for pictures that appear on instragram. i think it's equal parts funny and sad. (Other associated social media accounts include a facebook feed and a rather honest astrological instragram, all found linked on this blog account.)
The topic of garters in regard to weddings came up this morning. The tumblr 'Brides Throwing Cats' is Time's blog of the week, and has been making the rounds on various media, featuring mid-air cats photoshopped in for a tossed bouquet (also worth mentioning is the account of a woman whose boyfriend is asking for 300 sandwiches before proposing). Anyway, Bryan mentioned that it's less awkward than a garter direct-from-the-leg-of-your-sister, i speculated that it would be particularly embarrassing to be the bride from whom the garter is being taken, and why the heck is this even a tradition anyway?! To the internet; there are several theories here. From the garter entry on wikipedia: " Historically, this tradition relates to the belief that taking an article of the bride's clothing would bring good luck.[1] In the Middle Ages, the groom's men would rush at the new bride to take her garters off her as a prize.[2] As this often resulted in the destruction of the bride's dress, the tradition arose for the bride to surrender articles of her clothing, which were tossed to the guests, including the garter. ". There's also the theory that " The garter toss is thought to be an early English custom that evolved from "flinging the stocking." Guests would follow the couple to their bedroom on their wedding night, steal their stockings while they were "distracted," then fling them at the couple. It was thought that the first person to hit either the bride or the groom on the head would be the next to marry." from this article, but it lacks references. Yikes. Also, stocking are expensive.
One of my best friends has been having an argument with her mother regarding amber baby teething necklaces; namely, that they're dangerous for the child in posing both choking and suffocation hazards. A recent NYTimes article recapitulates this.
More on the moose brainworms front, there's a project afoot in Canada whereby a strip of land will be purchased to prevent isolate of the moose populations between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, which have been given the moniker 'The Moose Sex Project".
A friend is batcheloretting it up as her significant other is out of town for a week or two, and we were discussing how difficult it can be to feed oneself in a nutritious manner (without eating the same thing every night for a week, which is how i roll). i mentioned the book Alone in the kitchen with an eggplant as being a particularly good compilation of eating-alone essays written by various authors. A lot of the essays feature a nostalgic feel, in that they are remembrances of a period or favorite meal that the author now doesn't eat as frequently due to changed circumstances, be it a guilty pleasure food or now-demanding family situation. One that gets a particular mention is Haruki Murakami's The Spaghetti Chronicles.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
blue candy flavor, breaded cats, poo-purri advertisement, shotgun hulls and their uses, and apple butter protocol
Of primary importance is the announcement that the Avett Brothers have a new album being released on Oct. 15th, and you can hear it over on NPR's First Listen.
Several bags of rainbow Twizzlers were left on the table in the break room this week. Some of the Twizzlers were blue. This lead to the inquiry, when you see a blue candy, what flavor do you personally immediately think of? Luisa, who grew up in southern Brazil, said tutti fruitti, which jives with the popular blue moon flavor of various desserts. i've heard a lot of people say blue raspberry, which is a completely artificial construct (raspberries are not blue), as well as a vote or two for 'sour berry'. i've heard people say blueberry. That one absolutely fits. i personally think coconut, from a childhood in south Texas heavily influenced by the local culture and the fact that raspberries and blueberries do NOT grow in south Texas (and i killed many in youthful optimism).
Breaded cats?!
With apologies, gentle readers... in conversation over ice cream/coffee today, the topic of poo-pourri came up. It's apparently a odor-eliminating product used before defecating in a public place. Lily had seen the admittedly hilarious youtube advertisement for it, and had questioned whether or not it was an actual product or just a parody. i remember reading something on the Pioneer Woman's blog regarding a product made by that company a while back, and could confirm that it was, in fact, a real product.
Bryan and i had a conversation regarding shotgun hulls (the spent shells) and how to reload them. You can recycle both the brass as well as the hulls, and lots of places sell equipment and supplies for reloading them yourself. There are also associated craft projects, as seen here.
i made apple butter this weekend. Ultimately, it ended up being about 8-10lbs of apples, cored and quartered but not peeled, which i placed in a large stock pot, just covered the apples in water (some folks use cider), and boiled until the apples were soft. i then cooled them, pureed the apples in a blender (the one that came with a complementary pimp hat from my friend LZ, and has been riding around in my truck for about 2 years), put the puree through a mesh sieve, and boiled down. About 3/4 c of brown sugar and a tablespoon (probably more, i have a bad habit of not measuring) of cinnamon was added to the puree, too. This was boiled until reduced in volume by about half, and thick enough to not slide around on a tilted plate. Hot water processed it in half-pint jars for 5 minutes according to the guidelines from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Hmm. Not terrible, and was left with 5 half pints.
How is it October?
(an exchange with the beautiful, clever Holly)
me: i have tied up two small paper bats in the center of my apartment
Several bags of rainbow Twizzlers were left on the table in the break room this week. Some of the Twizzlers were blue. This lead to the inquiry, when you see a blue candy, what flavor do you personally immediately think of? Luisa, who grew up in southern Brazil, said tutti fruitti, which jives with the popular blue moon flavor of various desserts. i've heard a lot of people say blue raspberry, which is a completely artificial construct (raspberries are not blue), as well as a vote or two for 'sour berry'. i've heard people say blueberry. That one absolutely fits. i personally think coconut, from a childhood in south Texas heavily influenced by the local culture and the fact that raspberries and blueberries do NOT grow in south Texas (and i killed many in youthful optimism).
Breaded cats?!
With apologies, gentle readers... in conversation over ice cream/coffee today, the topic of poo-pourri came up. It's apparently a odor-eliminating product used before defecating in a public place. Lily had seen the admittedly hilarious youtube advertisement for it, and had questioned whether or not it was an actual product or just a parody. i remember reading something on the Pioneer Woman's blog regarding a product made by that company a while back, and could confirm that it was, in fact, a real product.
Bryan and i had a conversation regarding shotgun hulls (the spent shells) and how to reload them. You can recycle both the brass as well as the hulls, and lots of places sell equipment and supplies for reloading them yourself. There are also associated craft projects, as seen here.
i made apple butter this weekend. Ultimately, it ended up being about 8-10lbs of apples, cored and quartered but not peeled, which i placed in a large stock pot, just covered the apples in water (some folks use cider), and boiled until the apples were soft. i then cooled them, pureed the apples in a blender (the one that came with a complementary pimp hat from my friend LZ, and has been riding around in my truck for about 2 years), put the puree through a mesh sieve, and boiled down. About 3/4 c of brown sugar and a tablespoon (probably more, i have a bad habit of not measuring) of cinnamon was added to the puree, too. This was boiled until reduced in volume by about half, and thick enough to not slide around on a tilted plate. Hot water processed it in half-pint jars for 5 minutes according to the guidelines from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Hmm. Not terrible, and was left with 5 half pints.
How is it October?
(an exchange with the beautiful, clever Holly)
me: i have tied up two small paper bats in the center of my apartment
and am referring to it as my bat-mobile
Holly: is your apartment rushing to the scene of a crime?
me: if the crime is being awesome and cluttered, then yes
Monday, September 30, 2013
maternal immunosuppression, stolen doorknobs, Oktoberfest and St. Fridolin
i made the statement in lab a few days ago that pregnant women are slightly immunosuppressed; as reviewed in this article by the CDC, " An evolving model of pregnancy-associated immune changes suggests that the hormonal environment of pregnancy contributes to local suppression of cell-mediated immunity at the maternal-fetal interface while mediating a systemic change toward Th2 dominance. ... Systemic suppression of cell-mediated immunity may contribute to increased susceptibility to some intracellular pathogens—including viruses, bacteria, and parasites—during pregnancy. ", so in pregnant ladies, the humoral (antibody-mediated) responses remain intact, but the immediate/non-specific innate response is likely suppressed (so as prevent the mother's body from rejecting paternally-derived antigens).
i laughed much harder at this image of a formerly stolen doorknob than i should have (originally seen on fb, but also covered in this huff post article).
Jack! Shoes! a little much, but appreciated.
This past weekend, a few friends and i attended Oktoberfest in New Glarus. The naming was throwing me for a loop; historically speaking, the first Oktoberfest was held in honor of the wedding of (then) Crown Prince Ludwig to Therese of Saxe-Hildbughausen (on October 12th, 1810), but has since been celebrated at the end of September due to better weather (according to wikipedia), with occasional cancellations due to cholera epidemics and war. Gleaned from the wikipedia article, " There are many problems every year with young people who overestimate their ability to handle large amounts of alcohol. Many forget that Oktoberfest beer has 5.8 to 6.3% alcohol and high sugar content (compared to an average of 5.2% of alcohol and low sugar content in German beer), and they pass out due to intoxication. These drunk patrons are often called "Bierleichen" (German for "beer corpses"). ". i find it fascinating that there is an actual term for folks who drink 'til they pass out.
Anyway, the New Glarus festival was delightful, and Sunday included an antique tractor pull (Hannah and i were both immediately interested). Interestingly, New Glarus here is featured as a Swiss destination, named after the Canton of Glarus in Switzerland. A few of the shops feature what appears to be the sigil of a saint, and i had to track down whom; turns out, the Canton of Glarus was settled by St. Fridolin, an Irish missionary who was inspired by Saint Hilarius in a dream to travel to an island on the Rhine and found a few churches. St. Fridolin traveled until he found an island that looked like the one in his dream. Interestingly, St. Fridolin converted a wealthy landowner named Urso, who left his land to St. Fridolin in his will. As wikipedia puts it " Urso's brother Landolf refused to accept the legitimacy of the gift and brought Fridolin before a court at Rankweil to prove his title. Fridolin did so by summoning Urso from the dead to confirm the gift in person, so terrifying Landolf that he gave his lands to Fridolin as well ". Wow. These lands eventually became the Canton of Glarus. Also, apparently when St. Fridolin first found the island that Hilarius showed him in his dream, "At last reaching the island of Säckingen in the Rhine, Fridolin recognized in it the island indicated in the dream, and prepared to build a church there. The inhabitants of the banks of the Rhine, however, who used the island as pasture for their cattle, mistook Fridolin for a cattle-robber and expelled him. ", but the inhabitants relented after being shown the deed. And so a picture of Fridolin is now used on the coat of arms of the Canton of Glarus in Switzerland, and displayed in New Glarus, WI. 'Glarus' is derived from 'Hilarius'.
i laughed much harder at this image of a formerly stolen doorknob than i should have (originally seen on fb, but also covered in this huff post article).
Jack! Shoes! a little much, but appreciated.
This past weekend, a few friends and i attended Oktoberfest in New Glarus. The naming was throwing me for a loop; historically speaking, the first Oktoberfest was held in honor of the wedding of (then) Crown Prince Ludwig to Therese of Saxe-Hildbughausen (on October 12th, 1810), but has since been celebrated at the end of September due to better weather (according to wikipedia), with occasional cancellations due to cholera epidemics and war. Gleaned from the wikipedia article, " There are many problems every year with young people who overestimate their ability to handle large amounts of alcohol. Many forget that Oktoberfest beer has 5.8 to 6.3% alcohol and high sugar content (compared to an average of 5.2% of alcohol and low sugar content in German beer), and they pass out due to intoxication. These drunk patrons are often called "Bierleichen" (German for "beer corpses"). ". i find it fascinating that there is an actual term for folks who drink 'til they pass out.
Anyway, the New Glarus festival was delightful, and Sunday included an antique tractor pull (Hannah and i were both immediately interested). Interestingly, New Glarus here is featured as a Swiss destination, named after the Canton of Glarus in Switzerland. A few of the shops feature what appears to be the sigil of a saint, and i had to track down whom; turns out, the Canton of Glarus was settled by St. Fridolin, an Irish missionary who was inspired by Saint Hilarius in a dream to travel to an island on the Rhine and found a few churches. St. Fridolin traveled until he found an island that looked like the one in his dream. Interestingly, St. Fridolin converted a wealthy landowner named Urso, who left his land to St. Fridolin in his will. As wikipedia puts it " Urso's brother Landolf refused to accept the legitimacy of the gift and brought Fridolin before a court at Rankweil to prove his title. Fridolin did so by summoning Urso from the dead to confirm the gift in person, so terrifying Landolf that he gave his lands to Fridolin as well ". Wow. These lands eventually became the Canton of Glarus. Also, apparently when St. Fridolin first found the island that Hilarius showed him in his dream, "At last reaching the island of Säckingen in the Rhine, Fridolin recognized in it the island indicated in the dream, and prepared to build a church there. The inhabitants of the banks of the Rhine, however, who used the island as pasture for their cattle, mistook Fridolin for a cattle-robber and expelled him. ", but the inhabitants relented after being shown the deed. And so a picture of Fridolin is now used on the coat of arms of the Canton of Glarus in Switzerland, and displayed in New Glarus, WI. 'Glarus' is derived from 'Hilarius'.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Pope's interview, beard song and championship, yoyos, and Kvothe memes
Pope Francis gave an interview to America Magazine in which he discusses how he became a Jesuit, some of his organizational methods, and how he views the church, etc., and it's a gorgeous and inspiring thing.
Regarding beards: i have a ukulele, and frequent the excellent Ukulele Hunter for various bits of uke news and chords, which lead to the discovery of Sophie Madeleine and the Beard Song. Please listen to that while looking at this album of the 2013 Beard and Mustache Championships by photographer Greg Anderson.
In a collision of photography, beards and pink camo (which i still don't understand), there was recently a Duck Dynasty photo shoot, of which a description and pictures can be found here.
Speaking of Championships, you really ought to watch this video of the gentleman who wan this year's World Yo-yo Contest. Holey smokes. i also super appreciate the fact that he's performing in neon blue socks, the fact that crowd is audibly wowed the entire time, and that Mr. Karancz seems a little embarrassed by the applause at the end. 2nd place and 3rd place are also completely worth watching.
i am a HUGE fan of Patrick Rothfuss' first two books of the Kingkiller Chronicles (the third isn't out out, *spoiler alert*), a fantasy series centered around a musician/scholar-alchemist/adventurer named Kvothe. While attempting to determine if there's any news regarding the publication date for the third book (not yet, sigh), i came across these terrific Kvothe memes (which google is terming 'advice'). My favorite? This one. Also good are this one, this one, and this one.
Regarding beards: i have a ukulele, and frequent the excellent Ukulele Hunter for various bits of uke news and chords, which lead to the discovery of Sophie Madeleine and the Beard Song. Please listen to that while looking at this album of the 2013 Beard and Mustache Championships by photographer Greg Anderson.
In a collision of photography, beards and pink camo (which i still don't understand), there was recently a Duck Dynasty photo shoot, of which a description and pictures can be found here.
Speaking of Championships, you really ought to watch this video of the gentleman who wan this year's World Yo-yo Contest. Holey smokes. i also super appreciate the fact that he's performing in neon blue socks, the fact that crowd is audibly wowed the entire time, and that Mr. Karancz seems a little embarrassed by the applause at the end. 2nd place and 3rd place are also completely worth watching.
i am a HUGE fan of Patrick Rothfuss' first two books of the Kingkiller Chronicles (the third isn't out out, *spoiler alert*), a fantasy series centered around a musician/scholar-alchemist/adventurer named Kvothe. While attempting to determine if there's any news regarding the publication date for the third book (not yet, sigh), i came across these terrific Kvothe memes (which google is terming 'advice'). My favorite? This one. Also good are this one, this one, and this one.
Friday, September 20, 2013
allergies developement, tyrosinases, 2 seperate rants, and hurling
In a delightful collision of two of my favoritest cultural references, here's a link to a Calvin and Hobbes and Dune smash-up tumblr (and props to Ryan for linking it). i'd initially described it as a pop-culture reference smash-up, but was called out on the 'pop' part. Fair enough.
So i was conversing with my 5 months pregnant friend Katherine this afternoon, and the topic of conversation came around to how she has a beloved cat (Artemis Turkey), and is vaguely concerned that her child may have a cat allergy (as her mom and brother do). Based on various studies (reviewed slightly here), i made the statement that her having a cat while the child's immune system is developing is a great thing to prevent future allergies from occurring (and really, if she could drag the kid around to places with a lot of animals while it's still under the protection of her own antibodies/breast feeding, that would be even better). However, the fact that her kid's born in January means there's not a lot of easily accessible wildlife... So that brought around me musing as to whether or not there's a correlation between the month/season in which a child is born and subsequent allergy issues. Cue the google search. Turns out, there's some interesting data regarding food allergies and season in which a child is born (kids born in November/December tend to have greater food allergies than those born in the spring/summer, as illustrated in this Japanese study). i also turned up some interesting German studies stating that increased exposure to pollen in one's first 6 months might increase the risk for asthma and hayfever. Long story short, while there might be some trends, the exact causes are not known yet.
Mini-rant: as a fairly ardent runner, i get a lot of running spam (mostly gear discounts/sales and upcoming event notifications). In my inbox this morning, i had a notice for something called a 'skirt chaser 5k'. "Surely that can't be what i think is meant by 'skirt chaser'", i thought, and read the little description. It is; 'Skirts' (women is explicitly stated) are started in a first wave, and 'Chasers' (men are stated) are started in a wave after them. If you're single 'and looking for love', you wear a sign saying so. I am surprised by how super-offended i am by this whole concept. i have no problem with people finding creative ways to meet other people, but this is everything i hate about the gym culture; people only showing up (dressed in a fashion in which they wouldn't typically work out) with the intent of picking up a significant other, AND gender stereotyping much, anyone? Also, for those who aren't female runners, running skirts are basically skorts made of technical material. (i don't understand them, but i'm not the most girly of females.) At least everyone is exercising?
The wikipedia page for skorts references the Irish sport camogie, in which the "rules are almost identical to hurling ". That's not something i usually encounter; to my untrained eyes, it sort of looks like golf mixed with basketball, played on a football field? Cracked has a humorous and informative article here.
Apple browning is caused by a tyrosinase (an oxidation enzyme), specifically one called catechol oxidase. Basically, two hydroxyl groups attached to a benzene ring are oxidized, resulting in the formation of water and a yellow compound called benzoquinone. This substance, when further oxidized, form plant melanin; the reaction is similar to that used in mammals (though other starting materials are used). As we all know, catechol oxidase can be inhibited with a dilute solution of acid as it denatures the enzyme (also, if i taught this to middle school kids, i'd totally use this cool project).
Finally, this rant regarding the fb group 'i f#cking love science', has been making the rounds. It has valid points; if people really love science so much, can they please make it a point to petition the US government to stop cutting funding for basic research (research focused on gaining fundamental knowledge)? Private industry rarely funds it, as it's not directly profitable, but frequently, amazing things come from it that we would otherwise never find out (which then have direct application).
So i was conversing with my 5 months pregnant friend Katherine this afternoon, and the topic of conversation came around to how she has a beloved cat (Artemis Turkey), and is vaguely concerned that her child may have a cat allergy (as her mom and brother do). Based on various studies (reviewed slightly here), i made the statement that her having a cat while the child's immune system is developing is a great thing to prevent future allergies from occurring (and really, if she could drag the kid around to places with a lot of animals while it's still under the protection of her own antibodies/breast feeding, that would be even better). However, the fact that her kid's born in January means there's not a lot of easily accessible wildlife... So that brought around me musing as to whether or not there's a correlation between the month/season in which a child is born and subsequent allergy issues. Cue the google search. Turns out, there's some interesting data regarding food allergies and season in which a child is born (kids born in November/December tend to have greater food allergies than those born in the spring/summer, as illustrated in this Japanese study). i also turned up some interesting German studies stating that increased exposure to pollen in one's first 6 months might increase the risk for asthma and hayfever. Long story short, while there might be some trends, the exact causes are not known yet.
Mini-rant: as a fairly ardent runner, i get a lot of running spam (mostly gear discounts/sales and upcoming event notifications). In my inbox this morning, i had a notice for something called a 'skirt chaser 5k'. "Surely that can't be what i think is meant by 'skirt chaser'", i thought, and read the little description. It is; 'Skirts' (women is explicitly stated) are started in a first wave, and 'Chasers' (men are stated) are started in a wave after them. If you're single 'and looking for love', you wear a sign saying so. I am surprised by how super-offended i am by this whole concept. i have no problem with people finding creative ways to meet other people, but this is everything i hate about the gym culture; people only showing up (dressed in a fashion in which they wouldn't typically work out) with the intent of picking up a significant other, AND gender stereotyping much, anyone? Also, for those who aren't female runners, running skirts are basically skorts made of technical material. (i don't understand them, but i'm not the most girly of females.) At least everyone is exercising?
The wikipedia page for skorts references the Irish sport camogie, in which the "rules are almost identical to hurling ". That's not something i usually encounter; to my untrained eyes, it sort of looks like golf mixed with basketball, played on a football field? Cracked has a humorous and informative article here.
Apple browning is caused by a tyrosinase (an oxidation enzyme), specifically one called catechol oxidase. Basically, two hydroxyl groups attached to a benzene ring are oxidized, resulting in the formation of water and a yellow compound called benzoquinone. This substance, when further oxidized, form plant melanin; the reaction is similar to that used in mammals (though other starting materials are used). As we all know, catechol oxidase can be inhibited with a dilute solution of acid as it denatures the enzyme (also, if i taught this to middle school kids, i'd totally use this cool project).
Finally, this rant regarding the fb group 'i f#cking love science', has been making the rounds. It has valid points; if people really love science so much, can they please make it a point to petition the US government to stop cutting funding for basic research (research focused on gaining fundamental knowledge)? Private industry rarely funds it, as it's not directly profitable, but frequently, amazing things come from it that we would otherwise never find out (which then have direct application).
Friday, September 13, 2013
Open Letter To Bill Nye Regarding Dancing (shirtless) with The Stars
An open letter to Bill Nye, concerning a recent discussion about going shirtless on Dancing With The Stars.
Dear Mr. Nye;
Recently, USA Today published a statement saying that you are "aiming to whip (your) shirt off" in an upcoming episode of Dancing with the Stars.
Sir, with all due respect, you do not need to do this. You do not need to make a ratings grab by appearing partially clothed on television.
It is not that you are not in good physical condition, nor is this any sort of commentary on your attractiveness. You are a role model for millions of young (and not-so-young) nerds across the nation, many of us who grew up watching hours upon hours of "Bill Nye The Science Guy", have stood in ridiculously long lines and waited hours to hear you speak, and subsequently mob you for pictures. (Err..) You are beloved and so *incredibly* cool for promoting science, and standing up for what you feel your viewers need to hear. You deserve more than having to resort to removing garments to gain attention for yourself.
If you DO plan on appearing only partially clothed and cannot be dissuaded from this, you might make the choice to offer initiative/ inspire youth to get in shape and take better care of themselves, as that same article reports that you are also working with a personal trainer and perhaps making healthier nutritional choices. As a current graduate student in a biology lab, i know many career scientists who are notable athletes (runners, cyclists, triathletes, dancers, hockey players, fencers, the whole athletic spectrum); being a nerd is no longer nearly the stereotype it once was, and you yourself are also a pioneer in and example of this. However, unless you directly plan on stating that fitness is important to human health, your actions might only disappoint your fans who feel you are being a little exploited/manipulated/over-sensationalized.
Regardless, thank you again for being a role model for budding scientists world-wide. Break a leg (in the theatrical-well-wishing sense) on Dancing With The Stars this season.
All the best,
jess C
Dear Mr. Nye;
Recently, USA Today published a statement saying that you are "aiming to whip (your) shirt off" in an upcoming episode of Dancing with the Stars.
Sir, with all due respect, you do not need to do this. You do not need to make a ratings grab by appearing partially clothed on television.
It is not that you are not in good physical condition, nor is this any sort of commentary on your attractiveness. You are a role model for millions of young (and not-so-young) nerds across the nation, many of us who grew up watching hours upon hours of "Bill Nye The Science Guy", have stood in ridiculously long lines and waited hours to hear you speak, and subsequently mob you for pictures. (Err..) You are beloved and so *incredibly* cool for promoting science, and standing up for what you feel your viewers need to hear. You deserve more than having to resort to removing garments to gain attention for yourself.
If you DO plan on appearing only partially clothed and cannot be dissuaded from this, you might make the choice to offer initiative/ inspire youth to get in shape and take better care of themselves, as that same article reports that you are also working with a personal trainer and perhaps making healthier nutritional choices. As a current graduate student in a biology lab, i know many career scientists who are notable athletes (runners, cyclists, triathletes, dancers, hockey players, fencers, the whole athletic spectrum); being a nerd is no longer nearly the stereotype it once was, and you yourself are also a pioneer in and example of this. However, unless you directly plan on stating that fitness is important to human health, your actions might only disappoint your fans who feel you are being a little exploited/manipulated/over-sensationalized.
Regardless, thank you again for being a role model for budding scientists world-wide. Break a leg (in the theatrical-well-wishing sense) on Dancing With The Stars this season.
All the best,
jess C
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Patriot(s) Day, Ylvis and Elvis
Yesterday was 9/11, which is the anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks (and probably the defining American moment in my lifetime, possibly along with the first Obama election). Subsequently, it as been established as Patriot Day. My labmate mentioned this to me, and i was utterly baffled, 'Wait, isn't that in April? The Boston Marathon is on Patriots' Day.' Turns out, this is a holiday where punctuation matters. Patriot Day (the singular) commemorates 9/11/01. Patriots' Day, celebrated on April 19 or thereabouts in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and as Patriot's Day in Maine, commemorates the first battles in the American Revolutionary war (those at Concorde and Lexington). The Boston Marathon is indeed always held on Patriots' Day. Sheesh, America. Also, more random information that i know because of running.
From the photography perspective; this guy's instagram account features pictures of his girlfriend dragging him around various exotic locations. As described here, Murad Osmann travels a lot for work, and sometimes is able to take in the locales with his girlfriend. Common to most photographers, who won't stop with the picture-taking already, his girl " became annoyed that Osmann was so occupied with his camera and started pulling him by the hand… but it didn’t stop Osmann from snagging a shot. That shot would spark a project ", and now we have a really interesting perspective of his travels. i can think of several fellow shutterbugs who's family and friends feel the same.
Finally, in the recent theme of foxes which my blog/brain has been plagued, there's a musical group, Ylvis (is this pronounced 'Elvis'?), who released a trippy musical video inquiring as to the specifics of the vocalizations of Foxes. Shirt.woot had a supercute tribute shirt today. Also, listening to the song a second time, i realized that the drop-beat sounds a lot like that of LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem (somewhere around 2 minutes in), enough to have a strange overlap in my brain's playlist. The group Ylvis also released another song inquiring as to the origins of Stonehenge (not entirely safe-for-work), also worth a watch (and an article from Slate has hand-picked even more songs). They're very inquisitive.
Short answer, the group's name is a truncation of their last name, Ylvisåker and i don't speak Norwegian. Google translations are also not helping here. Anyway, interesting coincidence. On the topic of the name Elvis, wikipedia reports that it is an Anglicization of the name of Saint Ailbe of Emly, a 6th century Irish Bishop. Hmm.
From the photography perspective; this guy's instagram account features pictures of his girlfriend dragging him around various exotic locations. As described here, Murad Osmann travels a lot for work, and sometimes is able to take in the locales with his girlfriend. Common to most photographers, who won't stop with the picture-taking already, his girl " became annoyed that Osmann was so occupied with his camera and started pulling him by the hand… but it didn’t stop Osmann from snagging a shot. That shot would spark a project ", and now we have a really interesting perspective of his travels. i can think of several fellow shutterbugs who's family and friends feel the same.
Finally, in the recent theme of foxes which my blog/brain has been plagued, there's a musical group, Ylvis (is this pronounced 'Elvis'?), who released a trippy musical video inquiring as to the specifics of the vocalizations of Foxes. Shirt.woot had a supercute tribute shirt today. Also, listening to the song a second time, i realized that the drop-beat sounds a lot like that of LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem (somewhere around 2 minutes in), enough to have a strange overlap in my brain's playlist. The group Ylvis also released another song inquiring as to the origins of Stonehenge (not entirely safe-for-work), also worth a watch (and an article from Slate has hand-picked even more songs). They're very inquisitive.
me: also, you think it's pronounced 'Elvis'?
Ryan: yes
it is
me: nice.
and was Elvis so named in honor of the race?
(and perhaps that's why he did so well for himself, he had the blessing of the elves?)
(also, i should stop reading so much fiction)
Short answer, the group's name is a truncation of their last name, Ylvisåker and i don't speak Norwegian. Google translations are also not helping here. Anyway, interesting coincidence. On the topic of the name Elvis, wikipedia reports that it is an Anglicization of the name of Saint Ailbe of Emly, a 6th century Irish Bishop. Hmm.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
non-human mayors and pearl coloration.
So my labmate linked the sad news today that the mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska, who happens to be a cat, was badly injured in a dog attack last Saturday; he's receiving vet care and we all send him well-wishes for his recovery (of course, standard jokes regarding the dog not appreciating his politics notwithstanding). As usual, this raised the rather curious question of how common are non-human mayors? Wikipedia to the rescue; there have been a broad range of non-human mayors and other electoral candidates beginning with a horse of the Roman Emperor Caligula. Cats, dogs, goats, and primates seem to be super common. There have also been inanimate electoral candidates; Pulvapies ('footpowder'), an Ecuadorian footpowder, won a mayor election in 1967 by reportedly a large margin, and a Canadian sock puppet named Ed represented the Fed-Up party in 2011. (Sidenote, Ed is is listed as a 'fictional sock puppet'. i polled a small population of highly educated people [my good-sport labmates] regarding whether a sock puppet could be non-fictional, and the general consensus was that sock puppets are fictional when they're impersonating a non-fictional character, or do not actually physically exist [for instance, are only a cartoon of a sock puppet]. They exist when they are an actual modified sock, accomplishing various tasks, like running for mayor. Anyway). Apparently, there is an actual 'Inanimate Objects (political) Party' at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; the party figure is a 7 foot tall inflatable whale named Arthur Galpin who runs for the highest student-elected office on campus (Grand Marshal). (As the proud alumni of an institution where the highest ranking member of the oldest student organization on campus is a dog who can adjourn classes, i can respect that.)
i was asked today what contributes to the color variation in pearls. i couldn't remember whether it's water temperature, mineral availability, or oyster species. Upon researching this further, it seems to be mostly oyster species and water temperature; warmer water seems to give darker coloration.
i was asked today what contributes to the color variation in pearls. i couldn't remember whether it's water temperature, mineral availability, or oyster species. Upon researching this further, it seems to be mostly oyster species and water temperature; warmer water seems to give darker coloration.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
bullriding, dogies, cow tipping and chupacabras, personal moons
i was hanging out yesterday evening with a friend, and the topic of bull riding came up; specifically, the Professional Bull Rider bucking bull called Bushwacker. Bushwacker was, for 3 years, unridable; he had a 100% buckoff rate, meaning no one could stay on him for the full 8 seconds required for a successful ride. This 56-ride long streak was broken on August 17th by a bull rider named J.B. Mauney (who'd actually attempted it several times before, at various points), and here's a clip of the qualifying ride. Why is 8 seconds the length of a qualified ride in bullriding? Ask.com's Rodeo section reports that "The 8 second length of a qualified ride was devised purely for
the safety and well-being of the animals involved. After 8 seconds the
horse or bulls bucking ability decreases because of fatigue, adrenaline
loss, etc. ". Other sources state that before the 8 second rule was set, that bulls were rode until they stopped bucking. The NBR handbook doesn't give any reasoning.
Another facet of that conversation involved why cattle are referred to as 'doggies' on occasion. i guessed that was because of their stature from the back of a horse, they might sort of look like dogs. The internet has several potential answers. One is that it's a corruption of the African word kidogo, or 'something small'. Another possibility mentions that orphaned calves, due to poor nutrition (in some instances, the orphan calves were fed a mixture of flour and water?!), were called 'dough-guts', which got shortened to 'dogies'. i favor the latter explanation.
In interesting synchronicity (as typically happens), a link to this highly informative article regarding cow-tipping showed up on the twitter feed of the highly enjoyable Daily Coyote's Shreve. (i was once subjected to hilarious rant from my mother where she, after hearing about it for the first time 3 or 4 years ago, went off on why cow tipping is impossible as well as the dumbest thing she's ever heard of.) Mentioned within that article was how the urban legend of cow-tipping is along the same vein as snipe hunting.The south Texas version, basically a reason to go stomping around outside after dark and scaring your friends, is Chupacabra hunting. It's a lot of fun, actually. Humorously, there's a pretty deadpan wiki how-to article on how to 'properly' hunt chupas (note; the outings i've been on have never involved blood nor guns. Perhaps that explains our 0% success rate).
So there's a Russian artist, Leonid Tishkov, who has a man-made crescent moon light-up sculpture thing which he takes various places; a recent interview explains it as, " Like a character out of some ancient fairy tale, Russian artist Leonid Tishkov can't seem to go anywhere without a human-sized crescent moon by his side.". And the work is lovely.
As posted on Flavorwire, a collection of the last words of 15 different writers. i appreciate the Bukowski one, "Don't Try."
Another facet of that conversation involved why cattle are referred to as 'doggies' on occasion. i guessed that was because of their stature from the back of a horse, they might sort of look like dogs. The internet has several potential answers. One is that it's a corruption of the African word kidogo, or 'something small'. Another possibility mentions that orphaned calves, due to poor nutrition (in some instances, the orphan calves were fed a mixture of flour and water?!), were called 'dough-guts', which got shortened to 'dogies'. i favor the latter explanation.
In interesting synchronicity (as typically happens), a link to this highly informative article regarding cow-tipping showed up on the twitter feed of the highly enjoyable Daily Coyote's Shreve. (i was once subjected to hilarious rant from my mother where she, after hearing about it for the first time 3 or 4 years ago, went off on why cow tipping is impossible as well as the dumbest thing she's ever heard of.) Mentioned within that article was how the urban legend of cow-tipping is along the same vein as snipe hunting.The south Texas version, basically a reason to go stomping around outside after dark and scaring your friends, is Chupacabra hunting. It's a lot of fun, actually. Humorously, there's a pretty deadpan wiki how-to article on how to 'properly' hunt chupas (note; the outings i've been on have never involved blood nor guns. Perhaps that explains our 0% success rate).
So there's a Russian artist, Leonid Tishkov, who has a man-made crescent moon light-up sculpture thing which he takes various places; a recent interview explains it as, " Like a character out of some ancient fairy tale, Russian artist Leonid Tishkov can't seem to go anywhere without a human-sized crescent moon by his side.". And the work is lovely.
As posted on Flavorwire, a collection of the last words of 15 different writers. i appreciate the Bukowski one, "Don't Try."
Monday, September 2, 2013
plurality of virus, ballet dancers, Ghost Shark, and a rouge cuddling fox.
As a budding virologist (ah HA!) talking today with peers, the question emerged: what's the appropriate plural form of the word 'virus'?
To the google! Basically, 'virus' used within the context of being self-replicating, (eventually) infectious genetic material in a protein shell (to paraphrase the esteemed Peter Medawar's timeless quote; "a piece of bad news wrapped in a protein coat") or a bit of self-propagating computer code, is a Latin loanword. In the original Latin, it meant "poison", and there was no need to to make that plural. However, while virus might mean an amount of virions (the accepted singular form, meaning a single particle of protein-covered RNA or DNA ), there can be a collection of several different sorts, thus the need to pluraize. The most common, and turns out correct, pluralization is to add an '-es' suffix, making it viruses. Occasionally, the terms 'viri' or 'virii' are used; these have been defined/documented as incorrect; it's a second declension (entry in a pattern of grammatical inflection based on use) of an irregular Latin word, so things get a little complicated.'Vira' might be semi-accurate, though not used.So. 'Viruses' is it.
Is it just me or has photography of ballet dancers in-real-life become a thing lately? i've come across mentions of Jordan Matter's work in a couple different places. Also bearing mention is the work of Benjamin Von Wong.
In keeping with a recent shark cinema theme, the SyFy channel recently released Ghost Shark, the OTHER mega blockbuster theatrical masterpiece. This was recently reviewed (including GIFS) in highly entertaining fashion here (warning, spoilers). Also, a toss in google indicates that there might be a sequel in the works.
Having been talked down from catching a young fox to keep as a pet, i was delighted to read account of one sneaking in a cat door and snuggling with an English guy while he was asleep. Upon realizing it wasn't his girlfriend nuzzling his neck, the guy was pretty startled and even got a picture before the fox left. See? They WOULD make good pets!
To the google! Basically, 'virus' used within the context of being self-replicating, (eventually) infectious genetic material in a protein shell (to paraphrase the esteemed Peter Medawar's timeless quote; "a piece of bad news wrapped in a protein coat") or a bit of self-propagating computer code, is a Latin loanword. In the original Latin, it meant "poison", and there was no need to to make that plural. However, while virus might mean an amount of virions (the accepted singular form, meaning a single particle of protein-covered RNA or DNA ), there can be a collection of several different sorts, thus the need to pluraize. The most common, and turns out correct, pluralization is to add an '-es' suffix, making it viruses. Occasionally, the terms 'viri' or 'virii' are used; these have been defined/documented as incorrect; it's a second declension (entry in a pattern of grammatical inflection based on use) of an irregular Latin word, so things get a little complicated.'Vira' might be semi-accurate, though not used.So. 'Viruses' is it.
Is it just me or has photography of ballet dancers in-real-life become a thing lately? i've come across mentions of Jordan Matter's work in a couple different places. Also bearing mention is the work of Benjamin Von Wong.
In keeping with a recent shark cinema theme, the SyFy channel recently released Ghost Shark, the OTHER mega blockbuster theatrical masterpiece. This was recently reviewed (including GIFS) in highly entertaining fashion here (warning, spoilers). Also, a toss in google indicates that there might be a sequel in the works.
Having been talked down from catching a young fox to keep as a pet, i was delighted to read account of one sneaking in a cat door and snuggling with an English guy while he was asleep. Upon realizing it wasn't his girlfriend nuzzling his neck, the guy was pretty startled and even got a picture before the fox left. See? They WOULD make good pets!
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Soul Train/Daft Punk, Superman, billionaires, brainworms and Tycho Brahe
As linked by LZ, this clip entitled "How To Dance Properly To Daft Punk's Get Lucky". And then we both mourned the lack of 70s fashion in our daily lives (though i do wear pretty hefty flares in the winter). Watching this, of course, kicked off a spate of Soul Train youtube viewing. Those folks were seriously impressive.
It's sort of been all over the internet that Ben Affleck has been confirmed to play Batman in the upcoming Batman v/s Superman movie. i had a discussion with my labmate Ryan about this; he linked a Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal online comic about Batman. i immediately insisted that he look up whether or not anyone's photo-shopped Affleck's jaw under the Batman mask (nope), and what he turned up, instead, was a collection of various reactions (including speculation of Matt Damon as Robin. i happen to have an appreciation for the fine Mr. Damon, and this was met with a pretty loud, high-pitched 'squee'; i apologize to those within earshot, as it was).
Holly linked this excellent folk story map on gchat which immediately had me yelling "Pecos Bill!!", and then having to explain to the native-WI-born labmates that Pecos Bill is sort of like a cowboy version of Paul Bunyan. Kinda.
Something i learned today is that the US has 442 billionaires, as of 2012. That is an astonishing number; the countries with the next most are Russia (110) and China (122). Bryan linked an article concerning whether or not mammals can choose the progeny of their gender (it is suggested that mammals, including humans, seem to be able to do this based on statistics, but the mechanism isn't known), and i saw the comment, " And a study of 400 U.S. billionaires, published in 2013, found that they were more likely to have sons than daughters — presumably, the scientists hypothesized, because sons tend to retain the family's wealth. ", which made me do a bit of a mental double-take. This was following a comment on Toxoplasmosis, " In 2006, a Czech research team discovered women with high levels of toxoplasmosis antibodies were significantly more likely to have baby boys than baby girls. In most populations, the birth rate is around 51% boys, but women infected with T. gondii had up to a 72% chance of a boy", which is a very striking statistic. How did we get to Toxo in the first place? Brainworms, of course.
It's sort of been all over the internet that Ben Affleck has been confirmed to play Batman in the upcoming Batman v/s Superman movie. i had a discussion with my labmate Ryan about this; he linked a Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal online comic about Batman. i immediately insisted that he look up whether or not anyone's photo-shopped Affleck's jaw under the Batman mask (nope), and what he turned up, instead, was a collection of various reactions (including speculation of Matt Damon as Robin. i happen to have an appreciation for the fine Mr. Damon, and this was met with a pretty loud, high-pitched 'squee'; i apologize to those within earshot, as it was).
Holly linked this excellent folk story map on gchat which immediately had me yelling "Pecos Bill!!", and then having to explain to the native-WI-born labmates that Pecos Bill is sort of like a cowboy version of Paul Bunyan. Kinda.
Something i learned today is that the US has 442 billionaires, as of 2012. That is an astonishing number; the countries with the next most are Russia (110) and China (122). Bryan linked an article concerning whether or not mammals can choose the progeny of their gender (it is suggested that mammals, including humans, seem to be able to do this based on statistics, but the mechanism isn't known), and i saw the comment, " And a study of 400 U.S. billionaires, published in 2013, found that they were more likely to have sons than daughters — presumably, the scientists hypothesized, because sons tend to retain the family's wealth. ", which made me do a bit of a mental double-take. This was following a comment on Toxoplasmosis, " In 2006, a Czech research team discovered women with high levels of toxoplasmosis antibodies were significantly more likely to have baby boys than baby girls. In most populations, the birth rate is around 51% boys, but women infected with T. gondii had up to a 72% chance of a boy", which is a very striking statistic. How did we get to Toxo in the first place? Brainworms, of course.
me: i was asked today if i'd heard of Tycho Brahe before (he's on my scientists shirt), and while i have, it was because of Penny Arcade
which isn't very scientific
Bryan: astronomer?
me: dude's an astronomer, yeah
Bryan: that's about all i know about him
i believe he also had some wicked facial hair
me: he's got a pretty cool story; his uncle kidnapped him when he was two (he was childless and Tycho's parents agreed to hand him over then didn't), Tycho had a prosthetic nose bridge resulting from a dueling incident
and also a pet elk.
and yeah, memorable facial hair
Bryan: we should get us an elk
as soon as i find a place to put him
me: (laughs)
the penthouse; we can let it wander around on the deck part during the day
we might be able to keep it for part of the year in the area near picnic point
Bryan: they like it cold
i think all year
me: elk can't be too much more trouble than cattle
doesn't the cold keep the brain parasites at bay?
(okay, that might be the oddest thing i've typed all day)
Bryan: very gross
me: i apologize for bringing up meningeal worms and linking something with a picture
Bryan: it's very interesting though
it is microbiology
me: yes. happily, " The worm is of no public health significance since it is not infective to humans, and meat of infected animals is safe for human consumption. "
Bryan: so it does need a suitable climate
but it doesn't say (they don't know?) what that is.
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