My beautiful, kind, intelligent, and highly patient labmate Holly walked into lab this afternoon from the very cold/damp outside. Her shoes make a distinctive squeak-thump pattern, and even she commented on my hearing her coming. It reminded me of one of my brother's favorite childhood poem about a bouncing mouse; the refrain is literally 'Boing Boing Squeak/ a bouncing mouse is in my house/ he's been there for a week." (He even treated me to a rendition of it this Christmas. Aww.)
This article in the NY Times features some worthwhile descriptions of cheese, and the comments are also completely fantastic.
i managed to vacuum up my very delicate star necklace yesterday morning, unwound it in 3 pieces from the vacuum rotary and then spent a good half hour with pins and needles, literally, re-shaping the links. It still fits, but very much as a choker. Can 28 year-old women wear chokers? Is there an age limit?
i spent a large part of the day looking up the MSDS sheets of several fairly harsh chemicals. Hydrochloric acid is also called muriatic acid, "of or pertaining to brine or salt". Apparently, one of it's uses is for pickling metal, which removes oxidation and other impurities from the surface (by running it through HCl, called pickling liquor during this process).
Monday, January 28, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
graupel, avidin, basements and their lack.
Winter is no longer coming; Winter is here.
i learned a new word last night. A friend and i were talking about frozen precipitation (the sort that falls from the sky, not the sort that falls from your buffer), and he mentioned graupel. It's apparently the sort of of snowflake upon which water has condensed to form a ball of the super-cool rime. Reading through the official precipitation wikipedia page, there's also virga, which is apparently rain that evaporates before it hits the ground, and thundersnow, which happened this Christmas in Madison and i was totally bummed to miss (wait for it...).
Something half-remembered that i brought up in conversation with Jack, Holly and Tyler the other day was the fact that consuming large amounts of raw eggs will strip out biotin (vitamin B7, also called vitamin H for haar and haut, German for hair and skin) due to the large amounts of avidin found in the egg whites. This can and has been studied by inducing the deficiency in lab animals, referred to as egg white injury in those early papers. Anyway, KateB and i looked this all up when we were discussing streptavidin, the bacterial version, as used as a tag in biochemistry.
i very much am enjoying The Head and The Heart's music video for Lost in My Mind, partially because i like the song (and feel like i get bogged down in my own brain a lot), as well as for the scenery for the latter half of the song. Puddles of lamp(light) on what i take to be a frozen lake (based on the emptiness and surrounding trees)?. i doubt it's live, but who cares? Love.
Another note in the long standing update regarding running and proper form, a notice in the NYTimes today. It's pretty well done, discussing why running shoes traditionally have a cushioned heel (it's thought to lessen the impact when you DO heel strike), and that about 70 percent of adults assayed from a previously unshod tribe landed with their heels first while running a comfortable pace, but a large precentage then mid- and fore-foot struck when asked to sprint. This is kinda common sense (in my personal experience), but it's nice to see it documented.
Also, i'm from a place without basements. i have never questioned why there are not basements, because that's just how it is. i have answered off-the-cuff several times, mostly to the effect that there are high water tables and shallow bedrock. Wikipedia provides a semi-official answer, "Structurally, for houses, the basement walls typically form the foundation. In warmer climates, some houses do not have basements because they are not necessary (although many still prefer them). In colder climates, the foundation must be below the frost line. Unless constructed in very cold climates, the frost line is not so deep as to justify an entire level below the ground, although it is usually deep enough that a basement is the assumed standard. In places with oddly stratified soil substrata or high water tables, such as most of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and areas within 50 miles (80 km) of the Gulf of Mexico, basements are usually not financially feasible unless the building is a large apartment or commercial structure."
i learned a new word last night. A friend and i were talking about frozen precipitation (the sort that falls from the sky, not the sort that falls from your buffer), and he mentioned graupel. It's apparently the sort of of snowflake upon which water has condensed to form a ball of the super-cool rime. Reading through the official precipitation wikipedia page, there's also virga, which is apparently rain that evaporates before it hits the ground, and thundersnow, which happened this Christmas in Madison and i was totally bummed to miss (wait for it...).
Something half-remembered that i brought up in conversation with Jack, Holly and Tyler the other day was the fact that consuming large amounts of raw eggs will strip out biotin (vitamin B7, also called vitamin H for haar and haut, German for hair and skin) due to the large amounts of avidin found in the egg whites. This can and has been studied by inducing the deficiency in lab animals, referred to as egg white injury in those early papers. Anyway, KateB and i looked this all up when we were discussing streptavidin, the bacterial version, as used as a tag in biochemistry.
i very much am enjoying The Head and The Heart's music video for Lost in My Mind, partially because i like the song (and feel like i get bogged down in my own brain a lot), as well as for the scenery for the latter half of the song. Puddles of lamp(light) on what i take to be a frozen lake (based on the emptiness and surrounding trees)?. i doubt it's live, but who cares? Love.
Another note in the long standing update regarding running and proper form, a notice in the NYTimes today. It's pretty well done, discussing why running shoes traditionally have a cushioned heel (it's thought to lessen the impact when you DO heel strike), and that about 70 percent of adults assayed from a previously unshod tribe landed with their heels first while running a comfortable pace, but a large precentage then mid- and fore-foot struck when asked to sprint. This is kinda common sense (in my personal experience), but it's nice to see it documented.
Also, i'm from a place without basements. i have never questioned why there are not basements, because that's just how it is. i have answered off-the-cuff several times, mostly to the effect that there are high water tables and shallow bedrock. Wikipedia provides a semi-official answer, "Structurally, for houses, the basement walls typically form the foundation. In warmer climates, some houses do not have basements because they are not necessary (although many still prefer them). In colder climates, the foundation must be below the frost line. Unless constructed in very cold climates, the frost line is not so deep as to justify an entire level below the ground, although it is usually deep enough that a basement is the assumed standard. In places with oddly stratified soil substrata or high water tables, such as most of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and areas within 50 miles (80 km) of the Gulf of Mexico, basements are usually not financially feasible unless the building is a large apartment or commercial structure."
Thursday, January 17, 2013
bike notice, sotol, and Mrs. Robinson
This notice, regarding someone who may have drunkenly stolen a bike in Dublin, is both hilarious and sincere.
i have recently learned that a native Texas plant , to which i have been referring to as yucca my entire life, is actually called sotol. There's also a ton of yucca around, so not all of my namings were incorrect.
The other day in lab, the Simon and Garfunkel song Mrs. Robinson came on the lab radio. i was singing along, badly, and Holly asked if i knew whether the song or the movie The Graduate came first. As tracked back, Simon was asked to write three songs for the movie, but was touring and didn't have time, and so re-worked a song involving Mrs. Roosevelt. The version appearing on the movie and the later radio single are not the same; only part of the chorus survives, and the actual verses never appeared in the movie.
i have recently learned that a native Texas plant , to which i have been referring to as yucca my entire life, is actually called sotol. There's also a ton of yucca around, so not all of my namings were incorrect.
The other day in lab, the Simon and Garfunkel song Mrs. Robinson came on the lab radio. i was singing along, badly, and Holly asked if i knew whether the song or the movie The Graduate came first. As tracked back, Simon was asked to write three songs for the movie, but was touring and didn't have time, and so re-worked a song involving Mrs. Roosevelt. The version appearing on the movie and the later radio single are not the same; only part of the chorus survives, and the actual verses never appeared in the movie.
Friday, January 11, 2013
memes, blanket coats, Icelandic names
In case you missed it, #overlyhonestmethods has joined whatshouldwecallgradschool as the most recent "for grad students, by grad students" meme. (Okay, yeah, i just spent 15 minutes clicking through those. Gosh.)
i really, really love the coats from Pendelton, but am pretty sure i won't be able to pull them off. However similar styles pop up from time to time, like recently on the Sartorialist, to tempt me.
i got my flu shot today. There was a question as to whether or not the highly prevalent circulating strains was covered under this year's vaccine. i doublechecked the CDC FluView website this morning, and it looks like roughly half of the flu cases they've tested are an H3 variety, which is covered in the vaccine.
Amazing eye makeup (and please note that there are several pages) for Roommate, and anyone else who's curious. (Tracked by from the MarySue post.)
i spent part of Christmas break quilting a blanket for a niece-of-my-heart, and ended up listening to quite a bit of Of Monsters and Men. i'm still on the fence about their stuff (i like most of it), but this brought up further curiosity about the naming system of humans in Iceland (and traditionally Scandinavia); "Icelandic names differ from most current Western family name systems by being patronymic (occasionally matronymic) in that they reflect the immediate father (or mother) of the child and not the historic family lineage." to quote the wikipedia article. People are listed by their first names in directories, and to further clarify, short descriptors are usually added. Iceland also has a naming committee, and baby names have to meet criteria (like, characters already found in the alphabet, etc). i wouldn't mind having the surname Michaelsdaughter, but arguably my actual last name is slightly shorter.
A recent post on Bad Catholic is called "Why aren't you naked?" and summed up with the interesting thought, " then the simple fact of pulling on a pair of pants in the morning expresses a truth illustrated in the creation myths of every religion the world has ever put up with: The Fall, that bold and obvious proclamation that things are not as they should be, and that there is a better world to be attained.".
i really, really love the coats from Pendelton, but am pretty sure i won't be able to pull them off. However similar styles pop up from time to time, like recently on the Sartorialist, to tempt me.
i got my flu shot today. There was a question as to whether or not the highly prevalent circulating strains was covered under this year's vaccine. i doublechecked the CDC FluView website this morning, and it looks like roughly half of the flu cases they've tested are an H3 variety, which is covered in the vaccine.
Amazing eye makeup (and please note that there are several pages) for Roommate, and anyone else who's curious. (Tracked by from the MarySue post.)
i spent part of Christmas break quilting a blanket for a niece-of-my-heart, and ended up listening to quite a bit of Of Monsters and Men. i'm still on the fence about their stuff (i like most of it), but this brought up further curiosity about the naming system of humans in Iceland (and traditionally Scandinavia); "Icelandic names differ from most current Western family name systems by being patronymic (occasionally matronymic) in that they reflect the immediate father (or mother) of the child and not the historic family lineage." to quote the wikipedia article. People are listed by their first names in directories, and to further clarify, short descriptors are usually added. Iceland also has a naming committee, and baby names have to meet criteria (like, characters already found in the alphabet, etc). i wouldn't mind having the surname Michaelsdaughter, but arguably my actual last name is slightly shorter.
A recent post on Bad Catholic is called "Why aren't you naked?" and summed up with the interesting thought, " then the simple fact of pulling on a pair of pants in the morning expresses a truth illustrated in the creation myths of every religion the world has ever put up with: The Fall, that bold and obvious proclamation that things are not as they should be, and that there is a better world to be attained.".
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Civil war underwear and Indiana Jones
This article regarding Civil war undies is both interesting and informative.
Regarding Indiana Jones. As can be documented, he attended the University of Chicago. A few weeks ago, a package turned up at the University of Chicago, addressed to Henry Jones Jr. Long story short, it's a replica available on Ebay, which, while in route to it's buyer in Italy, fell out of the package and ended up at the University of Chicago. Both the NYTimes and HuffPost have pretty entertaining articles on it.
Also topical and worth a read is Dr. Jones' tenure rejection letter.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
finger jello
This post is concerns finger jello.
i'd never heard of such a thing, but tripped over it yesterday via a Pioneer Woman blog post. (Look, one of the pictures features cattle vaccines stored in the kitchen fridge, which makes me homesick. )
Anyway, finger jello is a very pretty layered dessert, different flavors/colors of jello (including a condensed milk-based white layer) that you cut into shapes or small cubes and eat with your fingers (presumably the reason for the name). There's also stained glass or broken glass jello?!
i'd heard of jigglers, but never finger jello, and did some asking around. My good friend LZ hadn't heard of it, so it's not a upper northeast thing. i also received this gchat this morning:
Lauren: maybe finger jello is indigenous to the 40s?
KateB, a Chicagoan-by-upbringing, associated the name with jello to be eaten with fingers.
Which means that either Kate's brilliant (which she is), had heard of it before, or invented it in a former life. She had never heard of the Jello easter egg molds, which i referenced as a jello-based dessert popular when i was a 'tween. (Our mold leaked. Ugh.) That lead to us both finding a blog post for a gorgeous layered easter egg do-it-yourself thing, and also includes a drill. i personally love recipes that involve actual tools.
The origin of the name is still illusive. The Jello wikipedia page is no help, but did kick up some interesting tidbits. Apparently, there were once savory jello flavors, including Italian salad, celery, and tomato flavors for use in jello molds? There's also the awesome line, "In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jello's reputation as family-friendly was slightly tarnished by Jello shots and Jello wrestling."
i'd never heard of such a thing, but tripped over it yesterday via a Pioneer Woman blog post. (Look, one of the pictures features cattle vaccines stored in the kitchen fridge, which makes me homesick. )
Anyway, finger jello is a very pretty layered dessert, different flavors/colors of jello (including a condensed milk-based white layer) that you cut into shapes or small cubes and eat with your fingers (presumably the reason for the name). There's also stained glass or broken glass jello?!
i'd heard of jigglers, but never finger jello, and did some asking around. My good friend LZ hadn't heard of it, so it's not a upper northeast thing. i also received this gchat this morning:
Lauren: maybe finger jello is indigenous to the 40s?
me: on what are you basing this supposition?
Lauren: it just seems like it fits in with those savory jello sides with meat, and looks like tiny finger sandwiches
KateB, a Chicagoan-by-upbringing, associated the name with jello to be eaten with fingers.
Katherine: Finger jello? Oh, Jello Jigglers. Extra gelatin, right?
me: you are amazing Katherine: Jello shots!
Which means that either Kate's brilliant (which she is), had heard of it before, or invented it in a former life. She had never heard of the Jello easter egg molds, which i referenced as a jello-based dessert popular when i was a 'tween. (Our mold leaked. Ugh.) That lead to us both finding a blog post for a gorgeous layered easter egg do-it-yourself thing, and also includes a drill. i personally love recipes that involve actual tools.
The origin of the name is still illusive. The Jello wikipedia page is no help, but did kick up some interesting tidbits. Apparently, there were once savory jello flavors, including Italian salad, celery, and tomato flavors for use in jello molds? There's also the awesome line, "In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jello's reputation as family-friendly was slightly tarnished by Jello shots and Jello wrestling."
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
shaving, badger hair, and edible armadillos.
i was checking the Sartorialist blog today, like i usually do with lunch, and a recent post concerned shaving brushes as a Secret Santa gift. The brush in question was F.S.C. Barber Horn Shave Brush with Best Badger, and being a student at UW-Madison, the Best Badger part caught my attention.
It turns out, there are several grades of badger used in shaving brushes as outlined in wikipedia; good badger is from the underbelly of th badger, and comprises 60% of the hair on a badger. Best or pure badger is the finer hair from about 25% of the rest of the total badger hair, and Super badger is a graded/sorted version of this. The ne plus ultra is Silvertip badger, which have naturally silver tips. These apparently hold a lot more water, and as such, produce a superior lather.
This was mentioned directly to my labmates Ryan and Holly via gchat, with hilarious results.
In answer to your question, Ryan, apparently badger hair available commercially comes from mainland China, where badgers are a crop nuisance.
Holly: dare i ask why you're looking at this site in the first place?
According to a brief search, the Florida Public Media cites" the 1975 edition of the Joy of Cooking describes armadillo meat as light and “porklike in flavor.” Also in that article regarding armadillos as a food source, they can carry leprosy, you should prolly cook your armadillo to 160 degrees before ingesting.
This was mentioned directly to my labmates Ryan and Holly via gchat, with hilarious results.
Ryan: yeah, apparently badger hair is the only thing people use with straight razors
but I dunno where they got these best ones from
yeah, you want that PURE badger too
none of those badger/horse hybrids
me: (shakes head)
amazing.
Ryan: I wonder if there are badger farms like there are with sheep
they just come and shave the badgers every now and then
me: Ryan, you should start one
also, make sure you get good health insurance
Ryan: more like life insurance
me: (my grandfather swears he's seen a badger attack a truck, so yeah)
Ryan: honey badger don't care
THAT'S the brush I want
In answer to your question, Ryan, apparently badger hair available commercially comes from mainland China, where badgers are a crop nuisance.
Holly: dare i ask why you're looking at this site in the first place?
me: yes, terrible shaving problems
Sent at 1:58 PM on Tuesday
Holly: i can see you going for the straight razor over the electric
me: (what? i have a dad and brother who shave. Granted, the dad and brother are blond and barely need to shave, but whatevs)
like, yeah. straight edge forevah
Holly: seems like a pretty fancy gentleman store for that group (no offense)
me: entirely too true
they'd all be like; 'You spent how much on WHAT?!'
Holly: i'd prefer $50 worth of beef jerky!
me: that has my vote, too
(and is much, much more likely)
even though it'll last, what, an hour?
me: and yeah, as i'll be in Amarillo; jerky for all, and to all a proteinacious night!
Sent at 2:06 PM on Tuesday
Holly: (i read Armadillo, and wondered how armadillo jerky would taste...)
Sent at 2:09 PM on Tuesday
me: mmm, leoprosy.
According to a brief search, the Florida Public Media cites" the 1975 edition of the Joy of Cooking describes armadillo meat as light and “porklike in flavor.” Also in that article regarding armadillos as a food source, they can carry leprosy, you should prolly cook your armadillo to 160 degrees before ingesting.
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