As a recent photograph of a Columbian womens' cycling team demonstrates, gold lycra does not photograph well. However, as the article outlines, resultant commentary is a little harsh.
i was poking around the other day with the hashtag #provax and found this article featuring Roald Dahl's pro-vaccination stance, given that his daughter died from (now-preventable) measles. He's been in the news lately, too, owning to the 50th anniversary of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book publication, and the issuing of a 'missing chapter'.
Jack and i have noted that it's officially Halloween season, and prime shopping season for folks who appreciate black and have a minor affinity for skeletons. We were reviewing World Market's stock online when i chanced upon these teatowels, and declared that from henceforth, all of my linens should be embroidered with calaveras. Jack googles 'calavera' and comes across with this swimsuit company based in California (their designs are appropriately funky, and i'm linking them here for future reference). Sidenote; 'calavera' is Spanish for 'skull', and also the name of the lake/water reservoir and a creek closest to the high school i attended; we would run around it during cross country practice. My weird affinity is partially nostalgic and cultural? Sure.
Had a conversation with my labmate yesterday regarding the origin of common use table salt. Hitting the Morton's website, it looks like they source their salt both from saltwater as well as mining it. Because i was cruising around the website anyway, here's a link to the history of the Morton salt girl design. And, turns out, the addition of salt to water only raises it's boiling point by two degrees Celsius.
As we're on the topic of 'recent things we've googled in lab', Nate B. stopped by the lab office yesterday. We were discussing the site of next year's (inter)national virology conference as being in London... Ontario, Canada. Ryan alluded to the London bridge being sold to a city in Arizona, and that required immediate research. Turns out, the city of London sold the 1831-1967 iteration of the London Bridge to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, as that version of the bridge couldn't support the increased London traffic. The bridge was dismantled, and " the original stonework was used to clad a concrete structure, so that
the bridge is no longer the original after which it is modeled. ", spurring conversation as to the amount of original bridge necessary before it could be considered the bridge or a separate construction. We decided on separate construction.
Apparently we missed National Roasted Marshmallow day, on August 30th. i learned this after stumbling upon a National Forest service blog entry entitled, " US Forest Service Asks How Does Your Marshmallow Roast? ", and aimed at people to make healthier s'mores by replacing some of the components with grilled fruit.
While watching the Chicago Bears/ SF 49ers game this Sunday, a few of us noticed that the referees wear black bands looped around their hands. We couldn't tell if it was every ref or just one making a weird fashion statement, but the placement of the bands seemed to alter. Upon researching it, it looks like refs commonly use these bands to keep track of the downs, and is listed on the wikipedia page as a Down indicator, " A specially designed wristband that is used to remind officials of the current down.
It has an elastic loop attached to it that is wrapped around the
fingers. Usually, officials put the loop around their index finger when
it is first down, the middle finger when it is second down, and so on.
Instead of the custom-designed indicator, some officials use two thick
rubber bands tied together as a down indicator: one rubber band is used
as the wristband and the other is looped over the fingers. Some
officials, especially umpires, may also use a second indicator to keep
track of where the ball was placed between the hash marks before the
play (i.e., the right hash marks, the left ones, or at the midpoint between the two) ". Interesting.
Lauren recently linked this scientific paper(?) entitled "The sound of mitosis (to the tune of “Do, Re, Mi” from the sound of music movie soundtrack) ". We've both agreed that while singing it to ourselves, we'd like to alter the words slightly, and acknowledge accents for changing pronunciation.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
the SEC as muppets, Parabens, ZMapp production, viking ladies, etc.
With the return of college football season, i would like to remind everyone of this truly hilarious description of the SEC schools as Muppets. i and several of my friends are alumi of various of these schools, and we all laughingly accept the Muppet indicated (the Swedish Chef for my alma mater, Gonzo for Bryan's, and Rowlf for Kelly AT's, which i think is a wide enough sample to generalize for all schools involved).
Many, many congratulations and wishes for happiness to the delightful couple Kate and Jeremy, who married this past weekend.
i am familiar with the word 'parabens' as the common name of parahydroxybenzoic acid, commonly used as preservatives in various make-ups and skin products, of dubious-but-USDA-approved safety. However, a Brazilian friend (Hi, Luisa!) recently celebrated a birthday, and her facebook wall filled up with posts of "Parabéns!" It does not appear to have a direct translation, but instead mean either 'Congratulations', 'Happy Birthday', or 'Way to Go!' (update, as Ryan points out, the literal translation is "For good things!")
My masters work was about half focused on optimization for expression of exogenous proteins in plants, so the experimental Ebola drug ZMapp was of particular interest to me. Tracking back various papers, it looks like they just used a transient Agrobacteria infiltration into N. benthamiana for which acouple native plant glycoslyation genes had been knocked down; the pooled 3 (highly purified) plant antibodies were based on optimized ones originally made in mice against Ebola. (In case you can't tell, i love being a scientist and looking stuff up.) Also, i appreciated the Mapp Bio's FAQ page opener question; " Does ZMappTM work?
We don’t know. ". Honest, if not necessarily encouraging.
This article regarding Viking skeletons, initially identified as males due to being buried with swords but now properly ID'd as women, is making the rounds on the internet. i'd like to think that if i were a Viking (when i was a Viking?), i'd have a sword and my own fast ship.
Few things annoy me as much as the use of infantile language by adults to adults, including phrases like "Yummy!", or tummy/belly. (Seriously, please just say 'Delicious!' or stomach, or abdomen like the adults that we are.) However, these are interesting origins, too. 'Belly' apparently derives from the Old English for 'bag'. 'Tummy' comes from the childish pronunciation of 'stomach', or, possibly-but-maybe-not, the Amazonian Indian word 'tum', for 'stomach'. There also might be a localization link; 'tummy' is possibly British, and 'belly' is possibly American, but maybe not.
My labmate Ryan linked this tshirt to me this afternoon; i would have immediately purchased it if somehow velociraptors were involved (we bandied about the modified state slogan "Velociraptors is for lovers"? or former slogan, "Almost heaven, West Velociraptors." Maybe not, and i seem to be on a John Denver reference kick?). i responded with this tshirt link.
i really enjoyed this article on being polite.
Many, many congratulations and wishes for happiness to the delightful couple Kate and Jeremy, who married this past weekend.
i am familiar with the word 'parabens' as the common name of parahydroxybenzoic acid, commonly used as preservatives in various make-ups and skin products, of dubious-but-USDA-approved safety. However, a Brazilian friend (Hi, Luisa!) recently celebrated a birthday, and her facebook wall filled up with posts of "Parabéns!" It does not appear to have a direct translation, but instead mean either 'Congratulations', 'Happy Birthday', or 'Way to Go!' (update, as Ryan points out, the literal translation is "For good things!")
My masters work was about half focused on optimization for expression of exogenous proteins in plants, so the experimental Ebola drug ZMapp was of particular interest to me. Tracking back various papers, it looks like they just used a transient Agrobacteria infiltration into N. benthamiana for which acouple native plant glycoslyation genes had been knocked down; the pooled 3 (highly purified) plant antibodies were based on optimized ones originally made in mice against Ebola. (In case you can't tell, i love being a scientist and looking stuff up.) Also, i appreciated the Mapp Bio's FAQ page opener question; " Does ZMappTM work?
We don’t know. ". Honest, if not necessarily encouraging.
This article regarding Viking skeletons, initially identified as males due to being buried with swords but now properly ID'd as women, is making the rounds on the internet. i'd like to think that if i were a Viking (when i was a Viking?), i'd have a sword and my own fast ship.
Few things annoy me as much as the use of infantile language by adults to adults, including phrases like "Yummy!", or tummy/belly. (Seriously, please just say 'Delicious!' or stomach, or abdomen like the adults that we are.) However, these are interesting origins, too. 'Belly' apparently derives from the Old English for 'bag'. 'Tummy' comes from the childish pronunciation of 'stomach', or, possibly-but-maybe-not, the Amazonian Indian word 'tum', for 'stomach'. There also might be a localization link; 'tummy' is possibly British, and 'belly' is possibly American, but maybe not.
My labmate Ryan linked this tshirt to me this afternoon; i would have immediately purchased it if somehow velociraptors were involved (we bandied about the modified state slogan "Velociraptors is for lovers"? or former slogan, "Almost heaven, West Velociraptors." Maybe not, and i seem to be on a John Denver reference kick?). i responded with this tshirt link.
i really enjoyed this article on being polite.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Words for people of Polish heritage, Polka, pollock, Pig-in-a-poke, dickens
i was recently in Montana, visiting the splendid Holly/Tyler/Arya group. Also present was Pirate Tom (so called due to the hat he was wearing when i first met him). Anyway, we were all having dinner out one evening when Tom looked at the menu and saw an order of pollock (the kind of whitefish) and chips on offer. He associated this with terminology for people of Polish heritage, of which my own is over 98%+. This sparked a bit of conversation - i prefer to be called 'Polish' or "jess", thank you, not a 'Polack' - the term has a negative connotation in the area where i grew up. Bits of this exchange continued, and i received an email the other day linking the wikipedia article for the cultural group 'Poles': " The Poles (Polish: Polacy, pronounced [pɔˈlat͡sɨ]; singular masculine: Polak, singular feminine: Polka) are a nation of predominantly West Slavic ethnic origin who are native to East-Central Europe, inhabiting mainly Poland. ". (shakes head.) Technically, i suppose that makes me a 'Polka'. This begs the question, like the dance? This seems to be a bit complicated, but yes. There is an origin story wherein a young Bohemian girl, made up a dance (called the Madera? one that she called the Madera?) to a traditional song called " "Strýček Nimra koupil šimla", or "Uncle Nimra Bought a White Horse"". This dance caught the attention of a man names Joseph Neruba, who took it to Prague in 1835 where it became famous. While that story is romantic, the dance has been documented as existing since at least 1822, the steps set by a Czech poet named Celakovsky to a song called "The Polish Maiden". Because of it's lively steps (and the fact that it's FUN, imho), the dance style became a internation phenomenon in the mid-late 1800s, and continues to this day (super common at country dance halls all over south Texas, at least, and i have also learned a hoppier Wisconsin beer garden version; weirdly, it's officially the WI state dance). Moreover, polka dots are just a pattern that became popular in the mid-1800s, attaching 'polka' to their name to capitalize on a popular dance of the time.
In looking at the wikipedia article for the fish Pollock, it turns out that most fish-and-chips fish is Pollock, as well as being " In the U.S. and worldwide, it is the primary fish used by the McDonald's chain in their Filet-O-Fish sandwich ". Continuing this strange fried-foods-wiki-arc is the chip butty, 'butty' being a conjunction of bread-and-butter, apparently, which lead to discovery of that french fry sandwich's mention in the official song for the Sheffield United football fans, sung the the tune of John Denver's 'Annie's Song'. That last part really struck me as odd - i don't associate soccer anthems with John Denver, but i suppose it IS a pretty and nostalgic tune. Finally, to complete the arc, the Australian dish Pie Floater, which is a meat pie upended into pea soup. And that's where i tap out.
Apparently, i was using all sorts of uncommon phrases while in Montana (according to Tom). One of these was 'pig in a poke'; this is usually used in reference to having purchased something without having seen exactly what it may be. i checked, and the phrase has been in use since the Middle Ages, and involves selling someone what they thought was a piglet in a closed bag. Upon opening the bag at a later time, the buyer would discover that the animal inside was in fact a cat, dog, etc. "Poke" is another word for bag, from the French poque. This phrase is related to "letting the cat out of the bag", or "buying a cat in a bag", and the wikipedia page has documented similar phrases in over 25 different languages.
Holly's family frequently says that a mischievous child is 'full of the Dickens'. (i adore Holly's family, and the use of that phrase completely suits them. Good old-fashioned intelligent trouble.) The origin of this phrase was called into question. Urban Dictionary, in true fashion, reports that it is to be " to have the spirit of a raging Charles Dickens through your blood stream ", which, while certainly capturing the spirit of the word, is probably incorrect. Weirdly, Dictionary.com reports it to date back to the mid-16th century, as a euphenism for the devil, as well as deriving from the name 'Dicken' (Richard). Holly herself concurred, offering up the devil -> devilkins -> dickens evolution of the phrase.
Linked from Ryan regarding literary descriptions of skin color is this slightly risque buzzfeed article.
In looking at the wikipedia article for the fish Pollock, it turns out that most fish-and-chips fish is Pollock, as well as being " In the U.S. and worldwide, it is the primary fish used by the McDonald's chain in their Filet-O-Fish sandwich ". Continuing this strange fried-foods-wiki-arc is the chip butty, 'butty' being a conjunction of bread-and-butter, apparently, which lead to discovery of that french fry sandwich's mention in the official song for the Sheffield United football fans, sung the the tune of John Denver's 'Annie's Song'. That last part really struck me as odd - i don't associate soccer anthems with John Denver, but i suppose it IS a pretty and nostalgic tune. Finally, to complete the arc, the Australian dish Pie Floater, which is a meat pie upended into pea soup. And that's where i tap out.
Apparently, i was using all sorts of uncommon phrases while in Montana (according to Tom). One of these was 'pig in a poke'; this is usually used in reference to having purchased something without having seen exactly what it may be. i checked, and the phrase has been in use since the Middle Ages, and involves selling someone what they thought was a piglet in a closed bag. Upon opening the bag at a later time, the buyer would discover that the animal inside was in fact a cat, dog, etc. "Poke" is another word for bag, from the French poque. This phrase is related to "letting the cat out of the bag", or "buying a cat in a bag", and the wikipedia page has documented similar phrases in over 25 different languages.
Holly's family frequently says that a mischievous child is 'full of the Dickens'. (i adore Holly's family, and the use of that phrase completely suits them. Good old-fashioned intelligent trouble.) The origin of this phrase was called into question. Urban Dictionary, in true fashion, reports that it is to be " to have the spirit of a raging Charles Dickens through your blood stream ", which, while certainly capturing the spirit of the word, is probably incorrect. Weirdly, Dictionary.com reports it to date back to the mid-16th century, as a euphenism for the devil, as well as deriving from the name 'Dicken' (Richard). Holly herself concurred, offering up the devil -> devilkins -> dickens evolution of the phrase.
Linked from Ryan regarding literary descriptions of skin color is this slightly risque buzzfeed article.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
honey colors, aromatic(ity), recent music, lexus ads, Baldwin
My labmate Ryan linked a Cracked article regarding surprisingly pretty effects of human pollution on nature for the interesting tidbit of French bees and their production of blue honey. i'd known about some Brooklyn red-honey-producing bees for a while, due to the proximity of a maraschino cherry factory, and read about bees also producing mint honey near a gum factory, but this is still pretty cool.
While enjoying a beverage or two with Kelly AT and her James the other night, Kelly waved her IPA in my direction with the intent that i appreciate the fine aromatics. She then inquired if there's any relation between the chemistry property for aromaticity (where chemical bonds are more stable when in conjugated, unsaturated pairs than might be expected, like a benzene ring) and the olfactory sense (scents?!). Turns out, according to wikipedia, not really: " The first known use of the word "aromatic" as a chemical term — namely, to apply to compounds that contain the phenyl radical— occurs in an article by August Wilhelm Hofmann in 1855.[1] If this is indeed the earliest introduction of the term, it is curious that Hofmann says nothing about why he introduced an adjective indicating olfactory character to apply to a group of chemical substances only some of which have notable aromas. Also, many of the most odoriferous organic substances known are terpenes, which are not aromatic in the chemical sense. But terpenes and benzenoid substances do have a chemical characteristic in common, namely higher unsaturation indices than many aliphatic compounds, and Hofmann may not have been making a distinction between the two categories. ". Interesting.
Been writing lately, and the easiest way of getting my brain to shut up and focus is via earphones and very loud music, preferably this-ish or something akin to this old favorite. NPR's recent Newport Folk Festival recording have worked very well towards this end. One of my favorite bands growing up, recently reformed (it was a trip to be working at the bench the other day and hear their distinctive sound on the radio), is the neo-bluegrass group Nickel Creek, and their concert was a lovely mix of very old loves and new stuff. Another bit of awesome comes from the group Ages and Ages - their concert is just too cheerful to not smile at. Finally, an NPR Tiny Desk Concert from the group Moon Hooch is like live electronica, and is such a weird equally foreign and familiar sound that it's gotten a lot of play, too. i descibed it to Kelly AT as sounds like something Calvin and Hobbes would play if they had a band. Anyway, another side-result of earphones and very loud music is getting hella startled when i don't see that someone has been standing behind me for a good 2 minutes before tapping me on the shoulder.
Regarding youtube ads, has anyone else really enjoyed the recent Lexus Amazing in Motion ad campaign? There's a cool statue/parkour thing happening on 'Strobe', and another with some highly personable little drones called 'Swarm' here.
i was talking about last names with a soon-to-be married female friend the other night, and she made the statement that she really likes hers, but was joking around about it's meaning. The surname is Baldwin, which is common enough that there's a wikipedia article, " The name Baldwin or Balduin is of Anglo-Saxon and Old German origin, from the Old English Bealdwine, or the Old German equivalent Baldavin, meaning "bold friend". ". i also mentioned that it's a variety of apple; " Baldwin Apples, unlike many apples, have long been prized for the making of hard cider. "
Kar (and Roommate): Roommate pointed out that Better Than Ezra, a favorite band from high school/early college, is putting out a new album (with a single, Crazy Lucky, currently released). Their music has gone from southern garage rock to something more pop, which is an interesting progression, but i was looking for the release date for the new album and came across an interesting bit of trivia: turns out, the 3-and-a-half-minutes song alluded to in A Lifetime is R.E.M.'s Perfect Circle. So, long standing mystery solved.
i came across a hilarious article regarding NYTimes wedding announcements and common themes.
While enjoying a beverage or two with Kelly AT and her James the other night, Kelly waved her IPA in my direction with the intent that i appreciate the fine aromatics. She then inquired if there's any relation between the chemistry property for aromaticity (where chemical bonds are more stable when in conjugated, unsaturated pairs than might be expected, like a benzene ring) and the olfactory sense (scents?!). Turns out, according to wikipedia, not really: " The first known use of the word "aromatic" as a chemical term — namely, to apply to compounds that contain the phenyl radical— occurs in an article by August Wilhelm Hofmann in 1855.[1] If this is indeed the earliest introduction of the term, it is curious that Hofmann says nothing about why he introduced an adjective indicating olfactory character to apply to a group of chemical substances only some of which have notable aromas. Also, many of the most odoriferous organic substances known are terpenes, which are not aromatic in the chemical sense. But terpenes and benzenoid substances do have a chemical characteristic in common, namely higher unsaturation indices than many aliphatic compounds, and Hofmann may not have been making a distinction between the two categories. ". Interesting.
Been writing lately, and the easiest way of getting my brain to shut up and focus is via earphones and very loud music, preferably this-ish or something akin to this old favorite. NPR's recent Newport Folk Festival recording have worked very well towards this end. One of my favorite bands growing up, recently reformed (it was a trip to be working at the bench the other day and hear their distinctive sound on the radio), is the neo-bluegrass group Nickel Creek, and their concert was a lovely mix of very old loves and new stuff. Another bit of awesome comes from the group Ages and Ages - their concert is just too cheerful to not smile at. Finally, an NPR Tiny Desk Concert from the group Moon Hooch is like live electronica, and is such a weird equally foreign and familiar sound that it's gotten a lot of play, too. i descibed it to Kelly AT as sounds like something Calvin and Hobbes would play if they had a band. Anyway, another side-result of earphones and very loud music is getting hella startled when i don't see that someone has been standing behind me for a good 2 minutes before tapping me on the shoulder.
Regarding youtube ads, has anyone else really enjoyed the recent Lexus Amazing in Motion ad campaign? There's a cool statue/parkour thing happening on 'Strobe', and another with some highly personable little drones called 'Swarm' here.
i was talking about last names with a soon-to-be married female friend the other night, and she made the statement that she really likes hers, but was joking around about it's meaning. The surname is Baldwin, which is common enough that there's a wikipedia article, " The name Baldwin or Balduin is of Anglo-Saxon and Old German origin, from the Old English Bealdwine, or the Old German equivalent Baldavin, meaning "bold friend". ". i also mentioned that it's a variety of apple; " Baldwin Apples, unlike many apples, have long been prized for the making of hard cider. "
Kar (and Roommate): Roommate pointed out that Better Than Ezra, a favorite band from high school/early college, is putting out a new album (with a single, Crazy Lucky, currently released). Their music has gone from southern garage rock to something more pop, which is an interesting progression, but i was looking for the release date for the new album and came across an interesting bit of trivia: turns out, the 3-and-a-half-minutes song alluded to in A Lifetime is R.E.M.'s Perfect Circle. So, long standing mystery solved.
me: #overlyhonestme
consistency is important
Lauren: 12 hrs were added between normally scheduled feedings 2 and 3 due to ordering 'issues'
me: who knows? maybe it'll stimulate some sort of stress response and they'll be doubly hardy
Lauren: this reagent order itself is $670
me: sweet monkeys.
Lauren: yeah
me: (it's probably made of sweet monkeys.)
i came across a hilarious article regarding NYTimes wedding announcements and common themes.
Monday, July 28, 2014
sulfur hexafluoride, cold Lake Michigan, female cycling, bubble wrap test tubes, yeast protein names.
So, in recent Jimmy-gold; Jimmy Fallon posted a clip wherein he and (a very hesitant) Morgan Freeman inhale helium then do a bit of an interview. Kicking this around with Bryan, who mentioned sulfur hexafluoride, which makes a person's voice super-deep, and that he'd like for Mr. Freeman to try that one, instead. This lead to me pricing Sulfur Hexafluoride - sticker shock at $389 for 227 grams from Sigma Aldrich, until Bryan quick-calculated it 1296.97 liters of gas at room temperature. Given that a standard sized bathtub is 270 liters, that's a lot of gas, and a lot of deep voices.
As recently documented, i learned that one actually CAN surf in Wisconsin, but that the water's pretty darn cold. My friend Kelly AT and her family took a trip north to Wisconsin's Door County, a very scenic peninsula that extends out into Lake Michigan, but they weren't able to go swimming due to the extremely cold water. We were wondering how cold the water truly is, and if the hard, extended winter has affected this year's water temperature at all. A quick internet toss yielded this Chicago Tribune graph for the Lake Michigan water temps in recent years, and it looks like, indeed, at the water's about 10-15 degrees colder this year, with a mid-July temp of 61 degrees F. Gosh.
Being a female who cycles, sometimes social dress situations call for wearing a skirt. i came across this legit bit of advice/videoclip for keeping properly covered while cycling in a skirt - apparently, taking a penny and rubberbanding the two layers of skirt together (around the penny) between yourknees. Also, saw this vintage article warning women about something called 'bicycle face', and this additional article regarding 'rules' from 1895 for women cyclists. Particularly relevant (err...) for Wisconsin women cyclists,
"
This report from NPR is pretty nifty - apparently, bubble wrap bubbles can be used in place of eppi tubes in lab? Even MORE interesting, is the statement " Whitesides' students filled the plastic bubbles with a solution of food for microorganisms and looked to see if bacteria grew inside. After four days, no microbes appeared. To their surprise, the air and plastic inside the bubbles were completely sterile ", which is where i would have thought there might be issues. They DO point out that to use bubble wrap, you need syringes, which are sometimes hard to source in developing countries where the bubble wrap might otherwise be perfect. Anyway, nifty idea.
This just in from dear Jack, a gif of a clever corvid attaining a drink of water from humans.
Spent a large chunk of time Thursday of last week reconciling what is know for nuclear pore proteins in Yeast versus what is known in vertebrate systems. There was a lot of e-whining:
Yeah. The problem is that yeast folks name their gene/proteins different names from the vertebrate orthologues, and so everything needs to be 'translated'. Every practical, Bryan pointed out that there is some recourse found at the Sacchromyces genome database people do name their stuff via chromosome position, but for direct vertebrate orthologues, it's kinda a cross-referencing situation.
As recently documented, i learned that one actually CAN surf in Wisconsin, but that the water's pretty darn cold. My friend Kelly AT and her family took a trip north to Wisconsin's Door County, a very scenic peninsula that extends out into Lake Michigan, but they weren't able to go swimming due to the extremely cold water. We were wondering how cold the water truly is, and if the hard, extended winter has affected this year's water temperature at all. A quick internet toss yielded this Chicago Tribune graph for the Lake Michigan water temps in recent years, and it looks like, indeed, at the water's about 10-15 degrees colder this year, with a mid-July temp of 61 degrees F. Gosh.
Being a female who cycles, sometimes social dress situations call for wearing a skirt. i came across this legit bit of advice/videoclip for keeping properly covered while cycling in a skirt - apparently, taking a penny and rubberbanding the two layers of skirt together (around the penny) between yourknees. Also, saw this vintage article warning women about something called 'bicycle face', and this additional article regarding 'rules' from 1895 for women cyclists. Particularly relevant (err...) for Wisconsin women cyclists,
"
- Don’t scream if you meet a cow. If she sees you first, she will run."
This report from NPR is pretty nifty - apparently, bubble wrap bubbles can be used in place of eppi tubes in lab? Even MORE interesting, is the statement " Whitesides' students filled the plastic bubbles with a solution of food for microorganisms and looked to see if bacteria grew inside. After four days, no microbes appeared. To their surprise, the air and plastic inside the bubbles were completely sterile ", which is where i would have thought there might be issues. They DO point out that to use bubble wrap, you need syringes, which are sometimes hard to source in developing countries where the bubble wrap might otherwise be perfect. Anyway, nifty idea.
This just in from dear Jack, a gif of a clever corvid attaining a drink of water from humans.
Spent a large chunk of time Thursday of last week reconciling what is know for nuclear pore proteins in Yeast versus what is known in vertebrate systems. There was a lot of e-whining:
me: blinking yeast people and their own naming systems
Sent at 1:18 PM on Thursday
Lauren: blinking yeast?
me: bleeping, flipping, friggin'
Lauren: ah
me: barking, blanking, etc
Lauren: i was thinking of really special yeast
me: ya know, the sort that blinks
Lauren: but yes, i agree
Yeah. The problem is that yeast folks name their gene/proteins different names from the vertebrate orthologues, and so everything needs to be 'translated'. Every practical, Bryan pointed out that there is some recourse found at the Sacchromyces genome database people do name their stuff via chromosome position, but for direct vertebrate orthologues, it's kinda a cross-referencing situation.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Chikungunya, etc; Word Crimes, Papal soccer neutrality, Texas and Wisconsin surfing, Titin protein.
So, various things in the virosphere. The first case of Chikungunya transmitted locally in the US (not travel-related) has been confirmed. (Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral illness, known to cause painful swelling in the joints and fever, among other symptoms. There have been notable outbreaks in the French Caribbean and into South America starting this part December, and 31 US states have previously reported travel-related cases). i was talking about this with Bryan this morning, and he suggested this article as being highly informative, and it is. Also, there seems to be a 5th type of Dengue, of which i was unaware. Upon mentioning the local Chikungunya transmission report to my labmates, Ryan mentioned that recently, a Republican congressman Phil Gingery (an MD?!) recently sent a letter to the CDC in which he suggested (entirely improbably) that Mexican immigrant children and families might be bringing with them Ebola as they cross the border. This Politifact article offers a very nice synopsis of the situation and response, but just so we're perfectly clear here, how is this physician suggesting that immigrants are crossing the border with a viral infection that has never been found outside of Africa? Seriously?! This is some piece of sensationalism right there.
Weird Al put out a new album, and posted one of the songs to his youtube page. Word Crimes is a very nice parody of last summer's Blurred Lines. Another recently shared music video is this clip of R2D2 dancing to MJ songs, via LZ.
Too much else since i last posted. Germany won the World Cup, and the final match was against Argentina. i had joked around earlier that with the (soccer-fan, native Argentine) Pope on their side, how could Argentina lose? But further checking this out, it looks like others (including Brazilian fans) were concerned about the Pope playing favorites, so he apparently promised no special prayers for his home team. Also, adorably, i came across this report of the Swiss Guard inviting Pope Francis to watch the Argentina-Swiss match with them, but he declined.
i've previously mentioned seeing Transformers 4, and that it features some gorgeous footage of the Texas Hill Country, being partially filmed there. One of the characters is a (Texan) surfer, and Jack asked if there is surfing in Texas. My response was that yes, there is, but only if there's a hurricane coming. Synchronicity being what it is, Slate featured an article last week about a Texas surfing photographer, and it backed me up, " He wanted to photograph a good hurricane swell for the book, which proved elusive until Hurricane Isaac in 2012. But that didn’t bother him too much. Like many Texas surfers, he’s used to waiting. “One has to watch the weather and water conditions in order to time out the best surf in Texas. And even though the surf gets quite good at times, it usually doesn’t last that long" ". Interestingly, that article also calls Sheboygan, WI, the 'Malibu of the Midwest', apparently with surfing occurring on Lake Michigan. Moreover, they host the largest lake surfing competition in the world, called the Dairyland Classic. Youtube has a few clips which document this, true, but those dudes are all wearing full body wetsuits - that water's cold, even in the summer.
Also, Jack and Leslie, it looks like henna tattoos 'develop'; " The color of your design will at first be a shade of orange (ranging from very light orange highlighter color to pumpkin orange). It will get darker over the course of the next 48 hours, turning anywhere from orange-brown to maroon or chocolate brown. Your design will be at its darkest after 1 or 2 days. ". Interesting.
It's looking like i might have to do some work with on a 358 kDa protein, which is kinda larger than the usual proteins i work with. Out of curiosity, further research indicates that the largest known protein is a muscle protein commonly called Titin, weighing in at ~3816 kDa. Whoa. Also, it's IUPAC name is also the longest word in the English language, as illustrated by this 3 and a half hour long youtube video of someone reading it. (i did not listen to all 3+ hours, but did skip around the youtube clip. Humorously, the flowers wilt, and the gentleman's facial hair lengthens.)
Weird Al put out a new album, and posted one of the songs to his youtube page. Word Crimes is a very nice parody of last summer's Blurred Lines. Another recently shared music video is this clip of R2D2 dancing to MJ songs, via LZ.
Too much else since i last posted. Germany won the World Cup, and the final match was against Argentina. i had joked around earlier that with the (soccer-fan, native Argentine) Pope on their side, how could Argentina lose? But further checking this out, it looks like others (including Brazilian fans) were concerned about the Pope playing favorites, so he apparently promised no special prayers for his home team. Also, adorably, i came across this report of the Swiss Guard inviting Pope Francis to watch the Argentina-Swiss match with them, but he declined.
i've previously mentioned seeing Transformers 4, and that it features some gorgeous footage of the Texas Hill Country, being partially filmed there. One of the characters is a (Texan) surfer, and Jack asked if there is surfing in Texas. My response was that yes, there is, but only if there's a hurricane coming. Synchronicity being what it is, Slate featured an article last week about a Texas surfing photographer, and it backed me up, " He wanted to photograph a good hurricane swell for the book, which proved elusive until Hurricane Isaac in 2012. But that didn’t bother him too much. Like many Texas surfers, he’s used to waiting. “One has to watch the weather and water conditions in order to time out the best surf in Texas. And even though the surf gets quite good at times, it usually doesn’t last that long" ". Interestingly, that article also calls Sheboygan, WI, the 'Malibu of the Midwest', apparently with surfing occurring on Lake Michigan. Moreover, they host the largest lake surfing competition in the world, called the Dairyland Classic. Youtube has a few clips which document this, true, but those dudes are all wearing full body wetsuits - that water's cold, even in the summer.
Also, Jack and Leslie, it looks like henna tattoos 'develop'; " The color of your design will at first be a shade of orange (ranging from very light orange highlighter color to pumpkin orange). It will get darker over the course of the next 48 hours, turning anywhere from orange-brown to maroon or chocolate brown. Your design will be at its darkest after 1 or 2 days. ". Interesting.
It's looking like i might have to do some work with on a 358 kDa protein, which is kinda larger than the usual proteins i work with. Out of curiosity, further research indicates that the largest known protein is a muscle protein commonly called Titin, weighing in at ~3816 kDa. Whoa. Also, it's IUPAC name is also the longest word in the English language, as illustrated by this 3 and a half hour long youtube video of someone reading it. (i did not listen to all 3+ hours, but did skip around the youtube clip. Humorously, the flowers wilt, and the gentleman's facial hair lengthens.)
Friday, July 4, 2014
boxer crabs, history tumblr, Tim Howard is a bad@ss, temporary tattoos
While this is not really safe for work due to severe language, i found this tumblr trail about boxer crabs hilarious (and i'm trying REALLY hard not to learn the words to the little ditty, just in case i accidentally start singing it in lab at some point, but it's super catchy. Also, 'that illustrates the diversity of that word').
While it is is currently the 4th of July, everyday is the Independence Day at this awesome tumblr, rally 'round the history. The woman in charge goes by the handle of Lady History, and does highly amusing things like caption portraits of George Washington to hilarious effect (and please note that there are 10 iterations of those by now, all stellar, also, ghost children). Also, apparently the exclamation 'Well, spangle my stars!' is a thing. i'm going to have to start working that into conversation.
So, the World Cup is ongoing, but the US team is out as of Monday. They made it out of the famed 'Group of Death' intact, but not the 16-team round. However, i know i'm not the only person who, when they see the team name USMNT, thinks for a splitsecond of the close acromyn TMNT, because i did a google search and came up with, notabe among other offerings, this page. Anyhow, yesterday's game was against Belgium, and the US goalie Tim Howard did a breathtaking job defending the goal at a record 16 saves. The best article covering this feat and the American response/appreciation can be found here, and please check out the collection of memes at the bottom. Also, here's another collection of T.H.-related memes. Since we're on the subject of World Cup coverage, i've been enjoying the humorous analysis of the ex-pat English dudes, Men In Blazers.
Every once in a while, i get a hankering for a bod mod not-the-result-of-injuring-myself. i usually end up with temporary tattoos, and was wandering around Etsy the other day when i found these rather sophisticated offerings. (Side-foray, i was curious why etsy is so named. From the wikipedia site, " Kalin said that he named the site Etsy because he "wanted a nonsense word because I wanted to build the brand from scratch. I was watching Fellini's 8 ½ and writing down what I was hearing. In Italian, you say 'etsi' a lot. It means 'oh, yes.'(actually it's "eh, si" And in Latin, it means 'and if.'" ")
This web comic concerning womens' roles in action films was linked to me this afternoon, and i feel like it's entirely too accurate. Went with Jack and Leslie last night to see Transformers 4, where it applied to a main female character, as well as in Godzilla, which we saw a week or two ago. It's pretty sad.
This ridiculous quiz result simply confirmed what we all knew. And while i was sad to read this article about Chikungunya edging it's way toward the US, the virologist part of me is super intrigued.
While it is is currently the 4th of July, everyday is the Independence Day at this awesome tumblr, rally 'round the history. The woman in charge goes by the handle of Lady History, and does highly amusing things like caption portraits of George Washington to hilarious effect (and please note that there are 10 iterations of those by now, all stellar, also, ghost children). Also, apparently the exclamation 'Well, spangle my stars!' is a thing. i'm going to have to start working that into conversation.
So, the World Cup is ongoing, but the US team is out as of Monday. They made it out of the famed 'Group of Death' intact, but not the 16-team round. However, i know i'm not the only person who, when they see the team name USMNT, thinks for a splitsecond of the close acromyn TMNT, because i did a google search and came up with, notabe among other offerings, this page. Anyhow, yesterday's game was against Belgium, and the US goalie Tim Howard did a breathtaking job defending the goal at a record 16 saves. The best article covering this feat and the American response/appreciation can be found here, and please check out the collection of memes at the bottom. Also, here's another collection of T.H.-related memes. Since we're on the subject of World Cup coverage, i've been enjoying the humorous analysis of the ex-pat English dudes, Men In Blazers.
Every once in a while, i get a hankering for a bod mod not-the-result-of-injuring-myself. i usually end up with temporary tattoos, and was wandering around Etsy the other day when i found these rather sophisticated offerings. (Side-foray, i was curious why etsy is so named. From the wikipedia site, " Kalin said that he named the site Etsy because he "wanted a nonsense word because I wanted to build the brand from scratch. I was watching Fellini's 8 ½ and writing down what I was hearing. In Italian, you say 'etsi' a lot. It means 'oh, yes.'(actually it's "eh, si" And in Latin, it means 'and if.'" ")
This web comic concerning womens' roles in action films was linked to me this afternoon, and i feel like it's entirely too accurate. Went with Jack and Leslie last night to see Transformers 4, where it applied to a main female character, as well as in Godzilla, which we saw a week or two ago. It's pretty sad.
This ridiculous quiz result simply confirmed what we all knew. And while i was sad to read this article about Chikungunya edging it's way toward the US, the virologist part of me is super intrigued.
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