cavities, beer cocktails, lucky iron fish, honey bee development, mountain lodge candles, job automation

i've had some dental work done lately, and recalled briefly having read something about whether dental cavities have a genetic component (my mother, despite excellent dental hygiene, also has had a lot of fillings). Back-tracking that study to a 2001 review, " Dental caries incidence is affected by host factors that may be related to the structure of dental enamel, immunologic response to cariogenic bacteria, or the composition of saliva. Genetic variation of the host factors may contribute to increased risks for dental caries. ", though " the evidence supporting an inherited susceptibility to dental caries is limited. Genetic linkage approaches on well-characterized populations with clearly defined dental caries incidence will be required to further analyze the relationship between inheritance and dental caries". A more recent though less peer-reviewed article is here. In brief, there may be a genetic component, but it's difficult to confirm and might be due to a variety of factors. i also came across the excellent word armamentarium, which is the complement of tools used by a (medical) professional.

The boys and i were talking about bloody marys (the beverage) the other day, and i mentioned that a Michelada is a bloody mary made with beer (and weirdly, a bloody ceasar is a bloody mary with the inclusion of clam juice specific to Canada). Looking further into things, cervesa preparadas are a broad category of cocktails prepared with beer, usually with tomato juice. These share a common base with the Shandy (usually beer and lemonade, at least in the States, though apparently other softdrinks count). The other day, some friends and i tried a tasty grapefruit Radler, which is apparently 50:50 sparkling lemonade and beer (and interestingly, 'radler' means 'cyclist' in German). Also, a diesel is beer and cola, at least in western Europe. They lost me with that last one.

My dad used to raise birds in large format to sell to local pet stores, and to supplement the iron in their diets, would leave iron nails in their water dishes. This apparently worked, and i had forgotten about it until coming across an article the other day for "Lucky Iron Fish", or iron ingots shaped as such being given as a dietary aid in Cambodia against anemia. These are boiled in water, with lemon juice to increase absorbance.

i really enjoyed this article about the source of mysterious radio wave bursts.

Honey is flower nectar that has been partially-digested-then-regurgitated by bees, then evaporated to consistency. Yes? (Technically, "Honey is nectar that has been enzymatically converted via the addition of enzymes from the hypopharyngeal gland, mainly diastase, sucrase and glucose oxidase.") Also, here is a cool 6 minute youtube clip about a guy who partnered with some Cali scientists to get really neat photographs of bee development, specifically regarding the impact of a parasitic mite (appropriately named Varroa destructor), including a one minute clip where you can actually watch them develop.

Some folks wrote a flattering collaborative fanfic for a Yankee Candle company scent called "Mountain Lodge", including the line "The Yankee Candle Company has effectively replaced the need for contact with the male half of our species with a compact and clean-burning candle in a jar", and that company posted it as a bit of advertising to their tumblr. i think it gets better every time i read it, and nearly makes me want to track down the scent just to determine the veracity.

Today, Ryan linked this article about making one's computer screen into a playable nintendo level.

And this happened:

 me:  https://graphics.cs.wisc.edu/Papers/2014/CG14/Preprint.pdf

strictly for the first part of that title

 Bryan:  indeed

 Bryan:  http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/05/21/408234543/will-your-job-be-done-by-a-machine

1.2% chance of microbiologists being automated, here's hoping

 me:  it's weird to consider being a microbiologist

i mean, technically we are

 Bryan:  well, at the very least we almost are

 me:  ha

 Bryan:  as long as you don't walk around saying, "as a microbiologist" i think we're OK

 me:  "Do you need to come up with clever solutions"  the second part of that is 'but only seem to generate more questions'

 me:  are we human, or are we dancer?

 Bryan:  the world may never know

MV, Fantasia, monkey gland sauce, paper airplanes, cheese curd pride, WD-40, 'basic'-ness

This recent study ties getting the measles vaccine to a drop in overall childhood illnesses, as speculated, " These results provide population evidence for a generalized prolonged (roughly 2- to 3-year) impact of measles infection on subsequent mortality from other infectious diseases. Fluctuations in childhood mortality in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Denmark are explained by a simple weighted integral that describes the prevalence of measles immune memory loss and thus captures the impact of measles infection and immune depletion. " In brief, a measles infection may wipe out already established immunity present in an individual, and getting the vaccine ensures that a person doesn't get measles, and their immune system retains the immune 'memory', recognizing pathogens it has previously fought. Virology is really, really cool sometimes. (Okay, biased opinion, virology is cool ALL the time, even when we'd rather not be dealing with that cold, thankyouverymuch.)

A very good friend (Hi, LZ!) recently celebrated a birthday, and decided to show the 1940s classic Disney's Fantasia in the background while we all played board games. i and several others in attendance had not seen the entirety of this movie before, and was quite frankly astonished by the sheer trippiness of the content. While looking into it, the back story (as documented by wikipedia, granted) is really interesting, " Disney considered using a well-known conductor to record the music for added prestige. He happened to meet Leopold Stokowski, conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1912, at Chasen's restaurant in Hollywood, and talked about his plans for the short. Stokowski recalled that he did "like the music"; was happy to collaborate on the project, and offered to conduct the piece at no cost.^[18] Following their meeting, Disney's New York representative ran into Stokowski on a train headed for the East Coast. In writing to Disney, he reported that Stokowski was "really serious in his offer to do the music for nothing. He had some very interesting ideas on instrumental coloring, which would be perfect for an animation medium".^[18]  ". i like the idea of these two huge names getting so excited about bringing classical music to Americans, and resultant dancing ballet-gators.

Monkey gland sauce, a sauce that sounds reminiscent of American BBQ sauce, does not contain monkey glands, despite the provocative name. i was reading about the South African  meat dish biltong (courtesy of seeing an item featured here), which is like a thick cut beef jerky, and came across the name.

John Collins is responsible for folding a paper airplane (called Suzanne?!) that has flown the Guinness World Record recognized greatest distance in the world, and will show you how.

NPR's Sandwich Mondays has finally gotten around to reviewing a Wisconsin tradition, Fried Cheese Curds. Best line? " In the Midwestern version of the Bible, the serpent tempts Eve with cheese curds. It's called Wiscon-Original-Sin. ". Exactly. In other news, Sandwich Mondays is no longer a thing.

We were talking about repairing a squeaky piece of lab equipment last week in lab when i (incorrectly) stated that WD-40 is corrosive. Because it's under patent, they don't list the 'ingredients' on the side, but someone did mass spec to determine them. Turns out, mostly hydrocarbons.

This is a buzzfeed article concerning the term 'basic', as applied to American white female consumers, defined by urban dictionary as "An adjective used to describe any person, place, activity involving obscenely obvious behavior, dress, action. ". i was not familiar with the term, which is why i read the entire thing, but it makes a salient point, "Unique taste — and the capacity to avoid the basic — is a privilege. A privilege of location (usually urban), of education (exposure to other cultures and locales), and of parentage (who would introduce and exalt other tastes). To summarize the groundbreaking work of theorist Pierre Bourdieu: We don’t choose our tastes so much as the micro-specifics of our class determine them. To consume and perform online in a basic way is thus to reflect a highly American, capitalist upbringing. Basic girls love the things they do because nearly every part of American commercial media has told them that they should. ". It's interesting commentary on the concept of choice and availability.

As i linked to James and Kelly AT earlier this week, here are incredibly detailed images taken by a highly talented non-professional astronomer. i particularly like the solar ones.

Kermit and glass frog, Hamlet sources, DCFC, peeps and the speed of light, duolingo

Despite the stated partisanship, it's nice to see this piece entitled "Double the NIH Budget".

Someone recently discovered a variety of frog that bears a strong resemblance to the famous frog muppet Kermit. The real frog is a species of glass frog, so named because the skin is translucent, and the organs can be viewed. Kermit, whose mythos includes origins in a swamp in Louisiana, was made from creator Jim Henson's mom's old coat and two halves of a pingpong ball.

The other day in lab, Ryan P., Nate B and i were discussing how the children's movie The Lion King and not-childrens-movie Sons of Anarchy are versions of Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, which brought about the question of from whom did Shakespeare take inspiration? Happily, other people have done this research, and it is thought that it stems from old Icelandic poems (Amleth), which, in turn, might have originated in Celtic legends (outlined in detail here).

i have really been enjoying the new (thrownback) Death Cab for Cutie album, Kintsugi, which is named after the Japanese technique of mending a piece of broken pottery with gold, yielding a unique and even more valuable piece of art (and appropriately, the album deals with the breakup of a marriage, among other things). The band recently promoted the album with a rather brilliant (and possibly among my top 10 favorites) NPR tiny desk concert, and i've had various DCFC works playing for the past two weeks. The other day, their song 'I Will Possess Your Heart' came across, and i've forgotten how pretty, and pretty darn creepy it is. The band apparently openly acknowledges the creepiness, stating, " Nick Harmer told MassLive.com how he came up with the song's bass line. "I immediately gravitated to the creepy, stalker-ish theme that Ben created with the lyrics and the piano chords," he explained. "I cued in on repetitive stalker mood. I liked the idea that once a stalker gets obsessed with an idea, it just keeps repeating in his head, so I wanted the bass line to have a repetitive, incessant theme. The original demo was just a stripped down piano version, so I had a lot of freedom. Once they heard the bass line, everybody said let's really build on this thing in the beginning of the song." ". Anyway.

Speaking of music, i spent about an hour last Friday night watching youtube clips from SpikeTV's Lip Synch Battle. The Ann Hathaway version of Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball is hugely scandalous, but John Krasinski does a remarkable Tina Turner. The Rock's Shake It Off turn was inevitable though not terrible.

Other things i've been enjoying for a while is this really neat (free) app that loads a Flickr picture when you open a new tab in Google Chrome. i will confess to sometimes opening new tabs to just see what pops up.

Here is a highly informative youtube clip entitled "Finding the Speed of Light with Peeps", featuring everyone's favorite (ahem) Easter (ahem) candy. Since we're on the topic of candy, i came across this fascinating review candy review blog. She seems to update it once a week, but there are YEARS in backposts. To paraphrase Steve Almond, 'the only thing better than reading about candy is eating candy.'

Another thing that i've been enjoying is Duolingo, a free online language-learning program. Each 5-ish minute lesson is about 20 questions framed as translation of a word or phrase, either written or oral/audible, and the user/student can set lesson goals for each day as incentive.  i've been brushing up my Spanish for an upcoming, long-planned family trip, but also took a few German lessons - pretty solid. Their Polish lessons are still forthcoming, unfortunately.

hubble images coloration, WI stadium food, pennyfarthings, adult coloring books, Nigel's words

My siblings (and others) really enjoy the terrible game Cards Against Humanity (previously mentioned here). It looks like the manufacturers are releasing a Science pack (benefiting women's STEM education), and some of the cards are pretty entertaining.

KATE AND JAMES! This is a really cool documentation of how the Hubble telescope images are colored (and please note that the guy's name is Zolt, which apparently means 'life' in Hungarian). (Also, hat-tip/still shots here.)

My labmate Ryan linked this ESPN notice that Miller Park (home of the Milwaukee Brewers) are going to be featuring 'Nachos-on-a-stick' ("a stick of beef, loaded with refried beans, rolled in Doritos, and then deep fried and drizzled with sour cream and cheese") this upcoming season. It is noted that people might want to split it, but there are some who probably will eat the entire thing. Also mentioned are the Lambeau Field Brat'chos; " Sliced bratwurst, potato chips, sauerkraut, jalapenos, sour cream with beer cheese sauce are served up in a bucket". Hopefully, one would share those as well.

i seem to take a lot of headshots/portraits for friends to use on things like seminar announcements and passport/greencard pictures. While looking at the specifications for this the other day, it turns out that on the US passport site is a widget that lets you crop pictures to their specifications (go here, widget link on the lower right). That's pretty nifty.

Bryan linked this penny farthing bike race/festival the other day. Penny-farthings are those bicycles with a much larger front wheels, so called because " from the British penny and farthing coins, one much larger than the other, so that the side view resembles a penny leading a farthing" as based on the wikipedia article, and the front wheel is directly connected to the pedals. From the looks of things, there is a small step to help mount it. Moreover, it looks like some of the modern ones have a brake, and here is a youtube clip of a (modern) race. While that all looks like fun, i'll stick to my modern "safety" bike.

A few of us were watching westerns on television a few weeks ago, and an infomercial aired several times about coloring books for adults. There was a definite discussion about the purported 'stress alleviation' one might attain, as claimed, and about the popularity of such an item. Last week and much to our surprise, a NYTimes article featured these same coloring books. From the article; " Since its release in spring 2013, “Secret Garden” has sold more than 1.4 million copies in 22 languages. It shot to the top of Amazon’s best-seller list this month, overtaking books by authors like Harper Lee, Anthony Doerr and Paula Hawkins. Her follow-up, “Enchanted Forest,” which came out in February, is briskly selling through its first print run of nearly 226,000 copies. ". Huh.

SXSW happened, and happily, NPR provides amazing coverage for those of us not in attendance. Austin always has a happening musical scene, and i've been to concerts at several of the venues, particularly Stubbs (which is a remarkable mash-up of barbecue joint and concert venue, not to be confused with an Alaskan mayoral cat), so seeing footage filmed there has a very familiar feel. The Belgium artist/rapper Stromae (covered in this blog post) had a set there, and i was super curious to see what those present would make of a very fashionable dude rapping in French; looks like the crowd was receptive if not outright thrilled.

March Madness is nearly through (spilling into April for the final four), and the mens' UW-Madison Badger basketball team is doing very well. They are a generally decent and entertaining bunch of guys, but i think my favorite 'oh, this crazy kids' story has been the arc where Nigel Hayes (and teammates) has been fascinated by and challenging the stenographers present; here is a compiled list of his recent terms, and a recent UW article has suggested a few more, should he run out. Go, Badgers!

auto-antonym, Bye Felicia, Alan Turing and running, Swedish Fish, hide-n-seek, cumin

Lots of stuff.


Directly after posting last, Kate B. was reading the post and kindly noted that 'factoid' is one of those words with two opposite meanings (a sort of auto-antonym); a common use of factoid is to mean a small bit of usually trivial information, and the other being an invented fact that has the illusion of truth. Another example of this as denoted by Kate is peruse; it can mean either to scan briefly, or to examine something very carefully. Look, the English language confuses everyone.

A few months ago, i was taking a shortcut through one of the undergrad areas in town, and someone had placed a mattress by the curb, spray painted in red the with the words "Bye Felicia".  Because i was in a hurry and it was cold, i didn't take a picture, but i made up all sorts of stories in my head about why someone would spray paint that on a mattress to discard it (for instance, the mattress belonged to a ex-flatmate who moved on but left a mattress, or it was the name of someone with whom the painter had a particularly acrimonious breakup, or someone just named their old mattress... the list goes on for a while). Anyway, i was reading something online the other day that featured the same words in a dismissive fashion, which reminded me of the mattress, and googled it. It's a meme referencing a line from the movie Friday, turns out. i liked my elaborate stories WAY better.

Recently saw The Imitation Game, about the English mathematician and 'father of the computer' etc, Alan Turing. Something i didn't realize was that he was a highly competitive distance runner. As wikipedia notes, " While working at Bletchley, Turing, who was a talented long-distance runner, occasionally ran the 40 miles (64 km) to London when he was needed for high-level meetings,^[54] and he was capable of world-class marathon standards.^[55][56] Turing tried out for the 1948 British Olympic team, hampered by an injury. His tryout time for the marathon was only 11 minutes slower than British silver medalist Thomas Richards' Olympic race time of 2 hours 35 minutes. He was Walton Athletic Club's best runner, a fact discovered when he passed the group while running alone". The part about running to London for a meeting is my favorite.

It must be noted here, i've been really, really enjoying the excellent mock-horror podcast series Welcome To Night Vale, about the supernatural goings-on of a small desert town. Because there are only 60-something episodes at time of writing, i've been rationing them pretty carefully.

Speaking of rationing, i have very little discipline regarding the candy Swedish Fish, and usually can only stop eating them when the bag is empty.The original variety seem to be a completely artificial flavor that i can only describe by red; i googled around to see if anyone can historically pin a flavor to them with little success (and it should be noted that the assorted sort are listed on the website as "just like the red ones. only with more colors."). However, i did come across this Brief History of Swedish Fish article.

It was 'Pi Day' (3/14/2015, corresponding to 3.1415) last weekend, and here is an article about how many digits of pi one needs to memorize to be considered 'special' (more than 9, apparently - i've only got 5 memorized).

My brother and i used to play hide and go seek in the clothing departments of various chain stores (much to our mother's dismay);  this article recently surfaced about IKEA banning games of hide and seek in stores after a group of 32000 signed up for a game on Facebook in the Netherlands and a woman arranged a game played by about 500 in Belgium. This is AMAZING.

This recent NPR article tracks the spice cumin (comino, as it appears in my spice cupboard:) ) through history, into various cultures. Something i don't know that i believe, but can offer no alternative is this, " In English, at least, cumin has a singular distinction – it is the only word that can be traced directly back to Sumerian, the first written language. So when we talk about cumin, we are harkening back to the Sumerian word gamun, first written in the cuneiform script more than 4,000 years ago.". Surely there's another word...?

What's remarkable to me is that this article about a person supposedly scanning their cat on the photocopy in Steenbock library made it to Time.com, despite being fake - the campus newspaper tracked down the picture on a 2008 website (and posted a correction that someone was just pranking the library). How is someone photocopying their cat worthy of national attention?

And in the spirit of faux personal statements/job descriptors (created using this bogus job description engine);

jess ardent is a resident pontificator who uses differential calculus to create unorthodox paradoxes of mansplaining in post-zombie invasion societies

viruses and music genre, Manx, moon temperatures, Hubble images, drinks, Mary Ward

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.

math terms, neckties, auto tunes, morton's toe, feral hogs

While walking across campus earlier this week, had a bit of a philosophical conversation that turned to, "what is the opposite of a sum?" Obviously, it's parts, but what are those called? Wikipedia to the rescue. For addition, the subjects to be added are called 'addends', 'terms' or summands', with the first addend sometimes/historically referred to as the 'augend'. In subtraction, the subjects to be subtracted are the 'subtrahends', which are taken from the 'minuend', to yield a 'difference'.

Here are, according to this website, at least 30 ways to tie a necktie. Some of them look a little too close for difference to me, and some of them call to mind ascots.

Jack and Leslie, i am compelled to call to your attention this music video of a German family in a car covering an LL Cool J song. And for Logan, we've discussed a theme song for (milk)shakes; another song by this guy is somewhat closer than others. Finally, honorable mention, because it's the first Friday of Lent.


Kelly AT and James, here's an article about taking astronomy pictures with a smartphone through a telescope.

Kate B (and everyone else), here are links regarding super cute squirrels; a photoshot of Russian squirrels having a photoshoot, and Canadian squirrels doing human things.

So i was comparing feet with a few female runner friends last night, and i was the only one in the group whose middle toe was longer than their big toe. See below. This is not terribly uncommon (mine is a kind genetic gift from my mother), but it's apparently officially called Morton's Toe  though colloquial known as Greek's foot. From wikipedia, " In statuary and shoe fitting, a more-protuberant second toe has been called the Greek foot (as opposed to the Egyptian foot, where the great toe is longer). It was an idealized form in Greek sculpture, and this persisted as an aesthetic standard through Roman and Renaissance periods and later (the Statue of Liberty has toes of this proportion) ". Reference this for other 'foot types'. Hmm. To confirm the Statue of Liberty thing, here's a picture (and side tangent, here's an actually really interesting article regarding little known American facts). There have been attempts to attribute personality characteristics with toes; that associated with Morton's toe is that of leadership qualities. i don't know.

Bryan linked a video last night for a product called 'Boar Buster', a highly impressive trap for feral hogs. Though, i'm not sure that we actually have boars in the United States. Okay. However, feral hogs are certainly a huge problem in Texas. That brought about the conversation regarding feral v/s wild.

jess: (wonders about the distinction between feral and wild) 

like, how long does a lineage of hogs have to be feral before being considered wild? 

Bryan: can you go back to wild?

i think if it's a domesticated species it's always feral

jess: the internet agrees with you

so, the only 'wild hogs' we have left in the states are javelinas