A friend was walking through the lab and noticed some "legacy" (eg, belonging to previous generations of grad students) music cassette tapes, notably that of Black Sabbath, and somehow this evolved into a discussion of the tastes of present grad students (my own general preference for folk/americana) reconciled with the previous generations. This got spun into the similarities of Black Sabbath versus the Avett Brothers, and what viruses might be used to represent those. Would they share enough similarities that both might be positive sense RNA viruses? Is folk/americana positive sense RNA viruses and semi-metal negative sense RNA viruses? And would classical music be, like, DNA viruses? The discussion continues; feel free to weigh in.
People from the Isle of Man are referred to as 'Manx'. The 'Man' part probably refers to the fact that it's an island, rising up out of the sea, " The name is probably connected with the Welsh name of the island of Anglesey, Ynys Môn[14] and possibly with the Celtic root reflected in Welsh mynydd, Breton menez, and Scottish Gaelic monadh,[14] all of which mean "mountain" and probably derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *men-, "to tower" ", from wikipedia.
On a recent morning when the outside temperature was a single digit, we googled to determine if would be colder on the surface of the moon. The temperature of the moon surface when not facing the sun is minus 243 degrees F (though the poles can dip to minus 397 degrees F, and the coldest temperature ever recorded in the solar system was minus 413 degrees F in one of the norther craters), and 253 degrees F in full sun. We also learned that the Apollo moon landings occurred during the lunar 'dawn', so the surface wasn't super hot yet (and also, their suits were reflective and were not overly conducive to heat transfer). Okay, yeah, Wisconsin is not as cold as the moon can be.
Speaking of, it is the 25th anniversary of the Hubble telescope, and the Hubble folks are sponsoring a March Madness bracket type tournament whereby people can pick the best Hubble image by voting. This is pretty awesome.
NPR recently put up an article regarding the brewing of drinking tea
('Chemis-tea'), in which they account for all aspects of tea
(selection, cup choice, brew time, additions, etc). Something i didn't
consider was that, the thinner the porcelain, the less heat will leach
away from your tea. They also link directions for the perfect cup by
George Orwell (who gives 11 golden rules); also, " I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. ". Well stated.
Another thing i recently learned was that La Croix sparking water is a Wisconsin product, out of La Crosse (via this entertaining article); this is interesting, given that the most common local sparking beverage is Klarbrunn brand (out of Watertown, WI). Looking into the history of carbonated water, apparently English chemist and theologian Joseph Priestly (who is credited with discovering oxygen, due to his studies concerning air) came across carbonation; from wikipedia; "The air blanketing the fermenting beer—called 'fixed air'—was known to
kill mice suspended in it. Priestley found water thus treated had a
pleasant taste, and he offered it to friends as a cool, refreshing
drink. In 1772, Priestley published a paper entitled Impregnating Water with Fixed Air in which he describes dripping "oil of vitriol" (sulfuric acid) onto chalk to produce carbon dioxide gas, and encouraging the gas to dissolve into an agitated bowl of water.[15] ". (i find it amusing how, despite killing mice, he went ahead and infused water with 'fixed' air, anyway, then drank it. i guess the beer was fine, so...) Another wikipedia mention: "
In the United States, carbonated water was known as soda water
until World War II, due to the sodium salts it contained. These were
added as flavoring and acidity regulators with the intent of mimicking
the taste of natural mineral water." Alright.
Enjoyed a beverage last weekend with the eye-catching name of "The Lion's Tail". Honestly, though, they had me at the listed ingredient of 'allspice dram'; which is combined with
bourbon, lime, bitters and sugar. Interrogating the long-suffering
bartender, he mentioned that it was probably just some single grain
alcohol macerated with allspice berries, and that it was also called
'pimento dram'; apparently, allspice is more properly called pimento berries. For Bryan, here is an article called "DIY vs buy; should i make my own allspice dram". Also, apparently Google has launched a new cocktails platform that more easily describes what goes into each beverage (to a variety of responses).
The (documented) first person to die in an automobile accident was early scientist Mary Ward, who was expelled from a steam car and incurred a broken neck. She was well known for her microscopy drawings; her first publication garnered 8 reprints (!!), despite her initial limited self-publication.
This Onion article is something i occasionally worry about. Having clicked on that, i was linked over to this (serious) article titled "Why are creative women dismissed as 'quirky'?"
This is a rather striking/amusing take on body image. (i particularly like the advice about thighs.) Since we're on the topic of bodies, we'd discussed belly buttons a while back; in that they're basically scars; here's a somewhat graphic view of what one looks like once removed.
This is ridiculous. i don't even know what to say about that, other than a lot of things contain iron.
No comments:
Post a Comment