Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

3 flavors of Hallowe'en ... mWA HA HA!



Last Friday, the sight of this tarantula* caused me to
leap up from the couch with a gasp, mid-conversation,
dash for my camera,
and run out the door.

I'm polite, like that.

=)

Gorgeous New England Pie pumpkin I offed 2 weeks ago.

Yes, it's pretty, but the ghoulish part is the stab marks you might see,
and the beads of sweat it's producing as I heat up the oven
and eye it in a way that makes it very uncomfortable...

It is no longer with us.

And last, for good luck,

our coal black cat,
frequently visible only as the places you don't see light,
even when he's in bright sunshine.

"Bear" calls him the singularity,
as in what lies at the center of a black hole.
And if a black hole isn't dark like Halloween,
I don't know what is.

=)

Happy Halloween!!!!

xoxoxooxbb


*Probably a male in the genus Aphonopelma, Family Theraphosidae, native tarantulas in California, per nature.berkeley.edu. "Males are often seen wandering in search of females in the fall." Check!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

woo-hoo! A biologists St. Patricks Day MUSIC video.

100% heaven.



Stuff like this makes me LOVE people. =)

GENIUS! (and nice voice!)

=)

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!

xoxobb

P.S. from the video's author, some metadata (that proves JUST HOW nerdy we all are):
Uploaded by cadamole on Mar 16, 2012
"I'm resurrecting this nerdy drinking song from last year...
As many of you perceptive viewers noticed there were a couple
alcohol-induced scientific errors in my last version of this song
(gold star, perceptive viewers!) -- so I thought this St. Patrick's day
would be a perfect time to correct them."

P.P.S. From the first version, the accompanying text and lyrics. =)
"A 200-year-old Irish classic!
Lyrics:
In the year of our lord eighteen hundred and eleven
On March the seventeenth day
I will raise up a beer and I'll raise up a cheer
For Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Here's to brewers yeast, that humblest of all beast
Producing carbon gas reducing acetaldehyde
But my friends that isn't all -- it makes ethyl alcohol
That is what the yeast excretes and that's what we imbibe

Anaerobic respiration*
Also known as fermentation
NADH oxidation
Give me a beer

[CHORUS]

My intestinal wall absorbs that ethanol
And soon it passes through my blood-brain barrier
There's a girl in the next seat who I didn't think that sweet
But after a few drinks I want to marry her
I guess it's not surprising, my dopamine is rising
And my glutamate receptors are all shot
I'd surely be bemoaning all the extra serotonin
But my judgement is impaired and my confidence is not

Allosteric modulation
No Long Term Potentiation
Hastens my inebriation
Give me a beer

[CHORUS]

When ethanol is in me, some shows up in my kidneys
And inhibits vasopressin by degrees
A decrease in aquaporins hinders water re-absorption
And pretty soon I really have to pee
Well my liver breaks it down so my body can rebound
By my store of glycogen is soon depleted
And tomorrow when I'm sober I will also be hungover
Cause I flushed electrolytes that my nerves and muscles needed

Diuretic activation
Urination urination
Urination dehydration
Give me a beer

[CHORUS]

Happy St. Pat's"

*sigh* =)

Friday, December 24, 2010

Wintry kisses from Mt. Rainier days of yore

  






 Happy Holidays =)

biobabbler


P.S. We're hoping to go sledding sometime this weekend. I hope I hope I hope!
P.P.S. This is my 400th post! =) Ho, ho, ho! =)
P.P.P.S. Check out this adorable invertebrate holiday celebration. =)

Thursday, December 16, 2010

The 12 days of plankton...

  
Thanks to Dr. Bonnie Becker for alerting me to this delightful series of photos... Ho ho ho!

=) biobabbler

Sunday, December 12, 2010

'tis the season...

  
Got this from Cakewrecks, but it's a creation of the a-MA-zing people at Highland Bakery in Atlanta, GA.

I am posting this because it's slightly biological (marine theme is always near and dear to my heart) and it's incredible and might inspire folks to try something OUT there (or even just get a piping bag for cookie decorating) for the holidays. =)

Mostly, though, it's just freaking cool.


Check out the (amazingly realistic) octopus gluing on shell roof tiles with a piping bag. WOW!

Not your ordinary gingerbread house, eh?


Am in the field next week so may post little or none. However, have had NO GUESSES so far re: the photo quiz. Anyone? Anyone? =)

biobabbler