Papal bracketology and shoes, steampunk and derivatives

Today in lab, Holly informed us of "The Sweet Sistine", or the Pope brackets inspired by college basketball's March Madness. i think my favorite description included " Participants can narrow down the Sweet Sistine to the Ecumenical Eight, the Flagellant Four and the Diocese Duo. Those two finalists must duke it out for Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church. " from the Chicago Tribune.  It was discussed whether or not this is blasphemous. My lab's general consensus was it's fine, so long as you're not putting money on it. A second opinion came from Bryan:

Bryan:is it blasphemous to have a favorite cardinal?

  i don't think so

 Bryan: because you can have a favorite saint

 me: a patron, dear

6:34 PM Bryan: i rule it not blasphemous then, depending on your mindset

And honestly, anything that stimulates positive press for the Catholic Church, i support. The official word from the Vatican is that Pope Benedict will be referred to as Pope Emeritus, and "Likewise, the Press Office director announced that the Pope will no longer wear the red papal shoes". i can say this about the last two weeks, i certainly check the Vatican's website with frequency now.

A word or two on the Pope's shoes; he wears red loafer-style shoes. The Pontifex Maximus (King/High Priest) in Rome wore red boots; this continued when Rome became a republic, and then when Christianity became the state religion. JPII didn't wear them in his late pontificate, but Pope Benedict re-instated them.

And, a really interesting steampunk tumblr. The monthly adult night at the local children's museum (Adult Swim) features a Steampunk theme this month. i feel like costuming of  Steampunk and greater Victorian are genres not made for my body type; scrawny does not lend well to corsets, but i still appreciate the essense. Also, holy heck, there are a TON of general "-punk' types, stemming, as steampunk does, from cyberpunk. Teslapunk?! ("This narrative or style commonly imagines an alternate history where widely available cheap (or free), clean, and often highly portable electrical energy replaces all previous energy sources (such as wood, coal and oil, and the steam engines that were fueled by them), but has yet to be replaced (or is never replaced) by other energy sources itself (such as diesel or nuclear power).")

hair, postal service, abecedariums

Quick post;
Jack, this braided, purple faux-hawk?

Turns out, The (band) Postal Service has gotten back together and will be touring/releasing a new album. Whoa. A new single can be seen/heard here. Also, i didn't realize that the USPS website apparently once sold an EP of their Such Great Heights?

An abecedarium/abecedary is one of those books which feature the letters of the alphabet and a thing corresponding to a word beginning with the letter. (Edward Gorey's extraordinary one here) i did not know that book type had a real name.

Because... back at the ranch, quarks, and Ramble On

The thing, akin to Meanwhile in Russia, which i was trying to remember that Jack had mentioned, is Because China. i'm not too proud to admit that this Diesel Sweeties comic helped jog my brain. Curiously, if you type 'Meanwhile in Wisconsin' into google, you get pictures of some children playing beer pong and other, snow-related entries.

Also, the phrase 'Meanwhile, back at the ranch', is something super familiar. It's is a transitioner between scenes frequently encountered in Americana/Westerns, and the name of a book that appeared (starting sometime around 3 minutes) on the 90s-babies favorite Reading Rainbow.

Thing number two: the word Quark. Quark is both a soft cheese as well as an elementary particle. i was curious if the particle name stemmed from the cheese, but no. First, the cheese name Quark is Middle High German for curd. Basically, buttermilk is curdled and strained together overnight into a soft mass. Murray Gell-Mann named the elementary particle for a passage from James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake ("Then, in one of my occasional perusals of Finnegans Wake, by James Joyce, I came across the word "quark" in the phrase "Three quarks for Muster Mark". Since "quark" (meaning, for one thing, the cry of the gull) ...I argued, therefore, that perhaps one of the multiple sources of the cry "Three quarks for Muster Mark" might be "Three quarts for Mister Mark", in which case the pronunciation "kwork" would not be totally unjustified. In any case, the number three fitted perfectly the way quarks occur in nature " from Gell-Mann's The Quark and the Jaguar, via wikipedia). i do appreciate that the types of quarks and other elementary particles are referred to as flavors, and that the names themselves include top, down, up, bottom, strange and charm. Also from the wiki article, "In the past, bottom and top quarks were sometimes referred to as "beauty" and "truth" respectively, but these names have somewhat fallen out of use. While "truth" never did catch on, accelerator complexes devoted to massive production of bottom quarks are sometimes called "beauty factories"."

So, no, the particle is not named for the cheese, nor is the cheese named for an elementary particle, but i think it would have been very sweet (err) had someone just decided it was cheese all the way down.

Regarding a conversation i started with my labmate Ryan this afternoon, Led Zeppelin's Ramble On contains references to Tolkien's works. Robert Plant (and probably Jimmy Page) were Tolkien fans, though apparently Plant was embarrassed by the references. There are actually a ton of references to Tolkien in several Led Zeppelin songs, and they're pretty well threshed out in this article. As i mentioned to Ryan,  Led Zeppelin music is great for earphone listening because of it's occasional stereo sound effects (switching emphasis/vocals between ears). Anyway.

Meanwhile... snow bacteria and Madison pet ordinances

Two things i have heard referenced by prospective students during recent recruiting weekends:
>Meanwhile, in Russia If you google this one, Huffpost brings up this youtube clip. i think around 6:00 might be my favorite part. (Yeah, i know, i'm super late the the party here.)

>Instant artist Statement generator. Chris didn't mention a specific site, but described one where you check a couple boxes, like this one here. There's  also a mad-libs style one, as well as general one where it picks all of the variables for you. Of course, and i double checked, there's not one for science.

Asuka sent me an email today referencing  an article entitled Cold-weather running tips for beginners. She's anything but a beginner runner, but noticed:

Bonus: If you get snow where you are, you have all the water you need; just stop and eat some of the white stuff and go on your way."

Anyway, we were both surprised that it seemed to be a serious recommendation. Snow requires something to nucleate on, and frequently uses bacteria to do so (in addition to dust/pollution; anecdotal NPR article/backstory here). The one cited, Pseudomonas syringae, is a plant pathogen and so fine in small doses for most people. (Another Psuedomonas genus member can be a serious issue for folks with cystic fibrosis.) Digging around little more, it looks like the main issue with using snow for hydration purposes lies in the fact that it can drop your core temperature pretty quickly, plus it takes a lot of snow to get any appreciable amount of water. (The advice seems sound, though i didn't kick up any journal articles regarding this.)  Hmm. Eating snow on urban winter runs? No thanks.

At dinner with Jack the other night, the topic of a large wild (err) rabbit population in urban Madison came up. One of the hypotheses was that it's because cats have to be kept inside at night, so there's no population check. i called bs (hopefully politely), but realized that i hadn't seen a lot of cats (or dogs) outdoors at night here. Looking into city ordinances, there is a "regulation of Cats and Dogs running at large" as being in violation of the city public policy code (article 23.32 here), basically, that you have to keep control of your pets, restraining them as necessary. As cats don't respect fences, that tends to mean indoors. (Article 23.34 is the one that establishes Madison as nuclear-free zone. Organization of the policies seems to be a little random.)

This past Christmas, my 15-24 year-old female cousins had movie night. The choice was Pitch Perfect, which their mothers and i struggled to understand how it had a PG-13 rating (and get off my lawn!). The movie follows a fictional college a capella group. One of the actresses had apparently watched a youtube clip featuring Lulu and the Lampshades'You're Gonna Miss Me enough to learn it, and incorporated it into the movie at the behest of the director. And that's your random trivia for the day.

Montana Zombie attacks, Harlem shake, lightening strikes, puce.

In brief, zombie attacks were recently reported in Montana, etc. This is a cause for concern, of course, but fortunately it proved that someone had just hacked the emergency warning feed. While this may seem a little War Of The Worlds-esque, NPR's Monkey See blog put together a list to ascertain whether or not a zombie attach is truly happening.

Has anyone else heard of the dance Harlem Shake? It's becoming a thing, i guess, whereby someone stands pretty much spread-eagled and shakes, usually on a table; the base kicks in and everyone else joins. This article has complied quite a few various youtube clips. i dunno, the underwater one gets points for most (obviously) contrived?

In the spirit of pure sensationalism, on the day that Pope Benedict gave his resignation notice, St. Peter's Basilica apparently got hit by lightening. Twice? No word follows on how frequently it hits any other day.

Puce is a light purple-ish color. Apparently, the word is from the French for flea;. Why? According to wikipedia... "The color is said to be the color of the bloodstains remaining on linen or bedsheets, even after being laundered, from a flea's droppings or after a flea has been killed."

Finally, vinegar Valentines for your perusal here. And, what the what, here's another link.

chocolate mousse, pope, introductions.

For those vegan, gluten- or dairy-free, or chocoholic among us; i came across this recipe for two-ingredient chocolate mousse last year, and made it for a Valentines ladies' gathering. The NYTimes also posted a short, slightly cheesy how-to video this week. Fun tidbit, 'mousse' means foam in French (and a little about origins here).

Also, holy smokes, Pope Benedict is resigning? Only 4 popes have ever resigned, and the last was 600 years ago. i have no commentary, just trying to wrap my brain around this.


LZ gchatted me today that her PI has a habit of giving fairly unique, oddly-detailed introductions.

Lauren: Beth mentioned running and obstacles and getting shocked when she introduced me in student seminar, and said she's been trying to work shock incentive into the lab, since I paid for it and it could be effective

 me: (blinks)

  that sounds like quite the introduction

Lauren: She started today with my being from PA, talked about my undergrad, then transitioned into my being a runner and paying for electric shocks, we need to implement this in lab, and then my project

me: so, umm

 memorable is good, and you know what's coming. Does she make them up on the fly?

 Lauren: I don't know, she did check with me today to make sure she knew what my degrees were and what they were in

 She pointed out that grad students get precious little money and I spent mine on running through electric wires

 me: we had a groupon

cookies and Paul Harvey

My labmate Ryan linked this article regarding a stolen German cookie statue today. We were curious what the picture sent to the police looked like, so i tracked it down (the third picture). Interestingly/sadly, the ransom note specifies that all the children be given milk chocolate cookies, not dark chocolate. Why?! Monsters. We all had no idea that Sesame Street was a thing in other parts of the world, but apparently there are co-productions in Canada, Australia, Mexico, the Philippines, Japan, France, Germany, some Caribbean countries and Israel to start, and now it's in 140 countries total. Also, South Africa has their own version (including a muppet who is HIV positive). For reasons including that "it's too American", audiences in the UK simply do not seem to care for Sesame Street despite attempts.


In my opinion, and this is my blog so my opinion counts, the hands-down, not-even-a-question best commercial of last night's Superbowl was the Dodge one, featuring Paul Harvey's 1978 FFA National convention speech 'So God Made the Farmer'. i made the entire room shut up to watch it; i was quite frankly shocked to hear his voice. There have been commentary that it's a re-make of a pre-exsisting youtube clip, that it's playing on people's emotions, that it's stuck in the past, that it's actually selling something (c'mon, seriously? it's a COMMERCIAL). Whatever. The photography was stunning. It's actually a fundraiser for the National FFA Organization, so there's that (though i feel like Chrysler has enough money to donate one million dollars directly to the FFA). True, modern farmers are as facile with a computer as they are with a tractor, but Mr. Harvey's speech was a.) made in 1978, and b.) meant to evoke nostalgia. Regardless, Paul Harvey is an icon for those of us who grew up hearing his voice every single Saturday of our youth (and beyond), right before the farm report (and now you know the rest of the story.) He's beloved, and i appreciate that the message was actually a positive and inspiring one. Besides all that, i'm pretty sure he was talking directly about my family.

music, safety, and JPII's miracles.

Music tastes are a very interesting, dynamic thing. There are bands i cannot stand, despite frequent attempts and open-mindedness; i REALLY WANT to like them. i feel like the music style is not too far removed from bands who are my favorites, i've tried albums from various stages in their career, youtubed concerts, but i just don't. Ya can't force it, i guess. Of Montreal is one of these bands. Bright Eyes, really anything Conner Oberst, ugh. There are bands whom i dislike with the exception of a song or two; Arcade Fire, with the exception of their Rebellion. The Decemberists, with the exception of their June Hymn, though i like Colin Meloy's independent stuff. Also, done anyone else associate his voice with pirate shanties?


Let's talk about runner safety. Anyone have/use anything like a Road ID? As a single person who runs at odd hours (lately it's been at 10 pm, due to busy days and strange weather patterns).

Not too shabby bike commuting article here.

Had a lovely evening with Coral and Jack last night; we went out for dinner, dessert and drinks. Conversations range wide between us three, from pollination of apartment vegetable plants (tomatoes and jalapenos, in this instance) to holy water and the canonization process of the former Pope John Paul II (JPII; Coral and i are both very Catholic Polish/ Polish Catholic women, and as Poles, hold a particular devotion to JPII). Canonization is the process by which the Catholic church recognizes someone officially as a saint worldwide (for the local level, only beautification, step 3 of the 4 canonization process, is required). 5 years after the person-to-be-canonized dies, a formal investigation of that person's life/writings/etc is kicked off by the bishop local to where that person lived/died. When enough info has been gathered, the soon-sainted is given the title 'heroic in virtue', ("servant exhibited the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, to a heroic degree"). Around this point and probably before, people pray in the name of the the soon-sainted, and ask for their intercession (intercessory prayer is based on the idea that the deceased person is in Heaven, in the presence of God, and can obtain graces and blessings for others). Upon confirmation of one miracle (resolved by a board of doctors, the Consulta Medica, to be complete, instant, permanent, and without scientific explanation), the soon-sainted is declared beatified. When two miracles are confirmed, then that person can be declared a saint. There is currently 1 miracle attributed to John Paul II, a nun was cured of her Parkinson's (JPII himself had Parkinson's),  and others under investigation; for instance, a young boy was cured of his kidney cancer after visiting his tomb in St. Peter's Cathedral.