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.)
Thursday, October 31, 2013
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)