My father has a lot of faith in me; he called to ask if i knew anything about maroon bluebonnets recently 'found' growing around the bell tower at UT-Austin. (i didn't, of course, outside of knowing that the maroon bonnets existed since before i got to A&M).
Kelly AT was sent a picture of internet phenom Venus cat, showed it to me, and this immediately launched a discussion about photoshop possibilities and genetics. i looked further into it, and both Snopes and National Geographic report that it's not a photo-shopped image; the cat indeed exists.She's not a chimera, but instead probably has different 'x' chromosomes expressed in different parts of her body - Barr bodies refer to when where one of the two 'x' chromosomes must be silenced (by supercoiling, and the process is called lyonization), and this contributes to fur color in cats ( notably displayed in calico cats). The eye color is something else ('odd-eyed cat' has it's own wikipedia page, and some crazy pictures), and attributed to heterochromia iridum. In true synchronical tradition, a picture came up on Humans Of New York of a dog with this same genetic situation within 24 hours of the discussion. Heterochromia is a pretty common thing, and you can either have the full, two different colored eyes, or parts of the eye differently colored (for instance, a ring around the iris is central heterochromia).
Because of the excellent Alt-J song Breezeblocks, i learned that cinder blocks are called 'breeze blocks' in the UK and New Zealand, due to 'breeze' being what they call cinders (fly ash). Moreover, they're called 'besser blocks' in the Philippines.
This article in the Atlantic, titled "The Confidence Gap", addresses the disparity in confidence between men and women and how it affects their actions in the workplace. This is something i have observed and discussed with several peers; it's a well written and researched piece. Have confidence, female friends; we are all worthy.
i've been eating a lot of soup lately, and a favorite has become Trader Joe's tomato and roasted pepper, dressed with jalapeno sauce, lime and salt. i was heating some up the other day when Shelly West's song Jose Cuervo got stuck in my head, and i had to sing the chorus ("... did i dance on the bar/ did i start any fights?") to my baffled but indulgent flatmate. For a 31 year old song, it's held up pretty well.
And then this exchange with my labmate Ryan happened this morning via gchat:
ryan: http://www.boredpanda.com/
me: but, i want bats
https://www.flickr.com/groups/
No comments:
Post a Comment