mach numbers, beauty noir, lobster trafficking, wine and the Packers, Mt. Dew and vitamin C

At the family T's the other night, the subject of Mach numbers arose, which are those corresponding to the ratio of speed of something relative to the 'local' speed of sound (in a fluid). Turns out, Ernst Mach was an Austrian physicist and philosopher who, among other things, photographed bullets breaking the sound barrier (and compressing the air in front of them).

I came across this facebook page with some amusing noir beauty tips (credited to H.P.Lovecraft). I like it a lot.

Speaking of strange artist mash-ups, here's one of Taylor Swift and Aphex Twin (via NPR). Don't listen to the first one (it sounded like the remnants of concussion feel). i think maybe To Cure A Weaking McGraw might be the most reasonable one, but honestly, they work surprisingly well. Kudos to the creator. Miss Swift has been in the media a lot lately given her recently released album and decision to pull her music from webstreaming player Spotify.

Last week, Woot.com was offering a deal via wine.woot there you would be shipped, among other things, 4 live lobsters. How does one ship lobsters? Carefully, apparently, in a cooler. There are a host of websites to answer this question in remarkable detailed fashion, " Keeping lobsters moist doesn't mean that they have to be submerged. In fact, lobsters are much better off being out of water during shipment. Therefore, do not pack them directly on ice because the melted ice can become a problem. A lobster in fresh water swell ups and can burst. Dry ice should not be used either because it produces large amounts of carbon dioxide that can asphyxiate the lobsters. " and " It is also best not to feed lobsters for two or three days before shipping. Full stomachs result in lobsters using more oxygen and increase the incidence of vomiting. No need for messy lobsters. " No need for messy lobsters, indeed.

Since we're on the subject of wine, i was in a car with some friends this weekend and we saw a sign for a wine to be enjoyed while tailgating. (This is a thing?!) We're in WI, that's probably not what folks are drinking at a tailgate, but i looked to see if the Green Bay Packers have an official wine. They don't seem to, but i did kick up an article stating " What wine would you pour for a Green Bay Packers fan, perhaps at a pre-game tailgate party? ". Hmm. They go on to recommend a vintage by former player Charles Woodson for the big spender ($250 for an autographed bottle), or vintages from local label Titletown wine, which "features a football and the motto "Sweet Taste of Victory."" ($15 for a bottle a white blend), and a few other local vineyard wares. Also, weird thing that i didn't know: "The Packers do not have official cheerleaders; they discontinued the cheerleading program in 1998 and use cheerleaders from nearby St. Norbert College and University of Wisconsin Green Bay " (and that can be confirmed on the wiki page).

My labmate and i recently discussed the benefits of imbibing Mountain Dew for medicinal purposes. It contains both orange juice and citric acid. That brought about the question of whether or not it provides vitamin C. Turns out (yahoo fail), citric acid differs from ascorbic acid by only one oxygen molecule, but it's ascorbic acid that provides vitamin C. Also, the orange juice amount is apparently negligible. And here is an article in which scientists are polled for their opinions as to whether Mountain Dew can dissolve a mouse carcass.

A friend who is recently left the state FOREVER (cue melodramatic music) had a cold, but we still wanted to hang out, i was tracking down the length of time someone with a rhinovirus is actively shedding virus (ie. infectious): "RV is shed in large amounts, with as many as 1 million infectious virions present per milliliter of nasal washings. Viral shedding can occur a few days before cold symptoms are recognized by the patient, peaks on days 2-7 of the illness, and may last as long as 3-4 weeks." It was surprisingly difficult to find, and i study picornas for a living.
*update, i was chatting with KellyAT, who mentioned 'shedding rhinos'; and that brought to mind a whole 'nother mental image. Awesome.

A friend tweets for an oncampus entity, and another mutual friend commented that there was a tweet  featuring a shirtless Jeff Goldblum.

Bryan: i just went to the page

and there's something about shirtless jeff goldblum

i'm so very confused

 me:  i don't need to even consider imaging that, so i'm going to pretend you didn't type it

So i googled around to determine why this might be in the news, and came across this lightbulb ad. Then, i tracked down the twitter feed and applicable tweet. Ah, makes slightly more sense.