1
Apple Talk / I REQUEST AND REQUIRE HOLIES
« on: July 17, 2019, 03:59:52 am »
It's been awhile, so let's do some updating. Give me a Personal Text, Custom Title, and some delightful nonsense for my signature. If you please, of course.
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2
Discordian Recipes / Cooking With Twid: How to Make Bacteriophage Lysate (Hopefully)
« on: February 07, 2017, 06:29:02 pm »
Day 1 Part 1:
Prepare Log Phase Bacteria
Ingredients:
20 microliters of Brain Heart Infusion broth
1 milliliter of stationary phase Enterococcus faecalis in Brain Heart Infusion broth
In a 2 mL tube, combine the BHI broth and the bacteria culture.
Shake the tube on a vortexer
Bake for 2 hours at 37°C
Do the dishes. There's always dishes to be done
Do your homework. There's always homework to be done.
Prepare Log Phase Bacteria
Ingredients:
20 microliters of Brain Heart Infusion broth
1 milliliter of stationary phase Enterococcus faecalis in Brain Heart Infusion broth
In a 2 mL tube, combine the BHI broth and the bacteria culture.
Shake the tube on a vortexer
Bake for 2 hours at 37°C
Do the dishes. There's always dishes to be done
Do your homework. There's always homework to be done.
3
GASM Command / Twitter
« on: July 28, 2015, 05:14:39 am »
#gapingasshole2016.
Not my idea, just ran with it. Tracy O'Phyte. Tracheophyte. Vascular plants.
Not my idea, just ran with it. Tracy O'Phyte. Tracheophyte. Vascular plants.
4
Apple Talk / So I've been lost in the Facebooks...
« on: July 16, 2015, 08:19:14 am »
I've mostly been hanging out in Atheists vs Christians and to a lesser extent Atheists vs Theists Death Battle, and recently playfully describing myself as a Gozer worshipper (though it is generally known by people who have known me there for a while that I am a Discordian). Death Battle had a thread over the weekend urging people to do a rap battle sort of thing, so I came up with these two, which I am now saving here for posterity and for your enjoyment and critique.
Some of you may have confessions of faith
Or put stake in thinking it's a waste to worship a wraith
Some of you might be concerned about karma
Or fulfilling your dharma
Chanting hare Krishna or following Siddhartha
some of you might get a boost
out of Zarathustra
But if so we're not used to
hearing from you sir
Maybe it's true
That you are the few
That will make it through
A one forty four thousand JW
Maybe you and your bros and
Your sisters are chosen
The children of Goshen
And your last name is Rosen
Maybe it is fairly likely
You follow the JC
Catholic, orthodox, or heresy
Spending your Sunday hearing homilies
Or maybe the word to mom
Happens to be Islam
Getting your God on
Reading the Qur'an
maybe your gods are several
Maybe your boy's the devil
Maybe your gods are nil
Maybe none fits the bill
I don't care about all of your teachers
Because none of your preachers
Foresaw the main feature
Total destruction of all the sub-creatures
When Zuul and Vinz Clortho join as one
Your civilization is done
Gozer make you go numb
Volguus Zildrohar, the Traveler has come
Hail Eris, All hail Discord
Ia can see the fnords if you get on board
the law of Eristic escalation Is just what the Doktor disordered
The more that the forces of order insist
The forces of disorder equally resist
Fighting the curse of Greyface
Through humor's embrace just have a taste
Of a hot dog, hold the bun
On a Friday night it's Erisian kinda fun
Who's your favorite Nephew if not me
Representing the Black Iron Prison contingency
When you're leaving your rants word salad ain't valid
It ain't deep, son, don't make no ballad
Your idea of order ain't no perception
Your idea of disorder misconception
Your view of chaos through the lens of self deception
Your reality grid is messing up the reception
Trying to cut the signal through the noise
Salvation through absurd, and playful skeptical joy
Hail Eris, All hail Discord
Ia can the see the fnords if you get on board
Some of you may have confessions of faith
Or put stake in thinking it's a waste to worship a wraith
Some of you might be concerned about karma
Or fulfilling your dharma
Chanting hare Krishna or following Siddhartha
some of you might get a boost
out of Zarathustra
But if so we're not used to
hearing from you sir
Maybe it's true
That you are the few
That will make it through
A one forty four thousand JW
Maybe you and your bros and
Your sisters are chosen
The children of Goshen
And your last name is Rosen
Maybe it is fairly likely
You follow the JC
Catholic, orthodox, or heresy
Spending your Sunday hearing homilies
Or maybe the word to mom
Happens to be Islam
Getting your God on
Reading the Qur'an
maybe your gods are several
Maybe your boy's the devil
Maybe your gods are nil
Maybe none fits the bill
I don't care about all of your teachers
Because none of your preachers
Foresaw the main feature
Total destruction of all the sub-creatures
When Zuul and Vinz Clortho join as one
Your civilization is done
Gozer make you go numb
Volguus Zildrohar, the Traveler has come
Hail Eris, All hail Discord
Ia can see the fnords if you get on board
the law of Eristic escalation Is just what the Doktor disordered
The more that the forces of order insist
The forces of disorder equally resist
Fighting the curse of Greyface
Through humor's embrace just have a taste
Of a hot dog, hold the bun
On a Friday night it's Erisian kinda fun
Who's your favorite Nephew if not me
Representing the Black Iron Prison contingency
When you're leaving your rants word salad ain't valid
It ain't deep, son, don't make no ballad
Your idea of order ain't no perception
Your idea of disorder misconception
Your view of chaos through the lens of self deception
Your reality grid is messing up the reception
Trying to cut the signal through the noise
Salvation through absurd, and playful skeptical joy
Hail Eris, All hail Discord
Ia can the see the fnords if you get on board
5
Apple Talk / All of you are Eris...
« on: May 08, 2015, 06:58:56 am »
...but in different universes, and the only constant is that Paris just ignored Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera and gave the Golden Apple back to you.
What do you do next? You tricky prank was just ruined, but it also just made your day.
What do you do next? You tricky prank was just ruined, but it also just made your day.
6
Apple Talk / So my most recent ex is getting married...
« on: March 20, 2015, 02:29:22 am »
... and aside from the fact that she and I are still friends and the ambiguity of my invite (matter of number and invites, plus groom's comfort)....
She asked me for input on the musical selection. I made some facetious as well as some serious input, but at the end of the day, I realized that a lot of the music I listen to, is, well, ambiguously appropriate at best.
This left me with the odd realization, "what the hell are we going to listen to at my own wedding, when it eventually happens?"
Irish music is like country music in this regard. Starts off good but, goddamn.
Heavy metal?
lol, you gotta work with Motorhead at best.
I guess this is coming up because all of the hurdles that were in place between Villager and I getting married are now gone, excepting me finishing college, since I'll probably propose to her not long after I get my bachelor's. We've even figured out the where to live. Massachusetts, just not Boston.
She asked me for input on the musical selection. I made some facetious as well as some serious input, but at the end of the day, I realized that a lot of the music I listen to, is, well, ambiguously appropriate at best.
This left me with the odd realization, "what the hell are we going to listen to at my own wedding, when it eventually happens?"
Irish music is like country music in this regard. Starts off good but, goddamn.
Heavy metal?
lol, you gotta work with Motorhead at best.
I guess this is coming up because all of the hurdles that were in place between Villager and I getting married are now gone, excepting me finishing college, since I'll probably propose to her not long after I get my bachelor's. We've even figured out the where to live. Massachusetts, just not Boston.
7
Apple Talk / ATTN: Musicians and listeners
« on: January 07, 2015, 12:01:35 am »
Has there ever been a moment in your life where music no longer mattered?
I kinda noticed it in the past couple of weeks. It was in Villager's car. Here's the thing, I'm a metalhead (with untapped flexibility because what you listen to inherently sucks) in his borderline mid-30s. Villager was born in 1984, so she is 30. Her next best friend who isn't me is in her mid twenties. She also, on an objective level, has poor taste in music. I say this as a musician, rather than an old dude. Her secret boyfriend seems to agree. Of course he would, he listens to, as she would put it, "angry white boy music" never mind that she listens to valium dosed white girl music. What does any of that mean? I don't care about the folk, I've played it for money and loved it. I don't care about the color of the skin of the musician, if you guitar, you guitar. I don't care if he or she is angry. If it's targeted to boys, I'm honestly not interested. There's a very good reason that I grew up in the 1990s and want to beat the whiny shit out of Jonathan Davis. He sucks. His band sucks. I didn't know at first, but I still figured it out before the year 2000.
I guess this is a defense of the get off my lawn, but a strange twist on it. You're welcome on my lawn, but stop pretending that your grass is greener Your music sucks as much as the music from my era that I now recognize as sucky.
The difference is, I'm willing to give your music a shake. A fair shake.
I'm just not going to give it a free pass. I may be older. But I'm going to put myself in that position of listening to it as a 13 year old and then fast forward myself 20 years.
There's a reason why a Twid likes a bit of Nirvana. It's not because Kurt was good. It's also not because Kurt was shitty (he had some chops, if you listen to Bleach). It's because Kurt happened to be at the right place at the right time. And I'm a better musician than him, so fuck his ashes. So I like crap music from the 90s. That's a challenge. I'll listen to it one way or the other. Most of it is going to suck, much like most of what I liked back in the day also sucked. What's going to stay though? What are you listening to that you'll still be listening to in 2030? Because that's the kinda shit that you're listening to now that I want to hear.
I kinda noticed it in the past couple of weeks. It was in Villager's car. Here's the thing, I'm a metalhead (with untapped flexibility because what you listen to inherently sucks) in his borderline mid-30s. Villager was born in 1984, so she is 30. Her next best friend who isn't me is in her mid twenties. She also, on an objective level, has poor taste in music. I say this as a musician, rather than an old dude. Her secret boyfriend seems to agree. Of course he would, he listens to, as she would put it, "angry white boy music" never mind that she listens to valium dosed white girl music. What does any of that mean? I don't care about the folk, I've played it for money and loved it. I don't care about the color of the skin of the musician, if you guitar, you guitar. I don't care if he or she is angry. If it's targeted to boys, I'm honestly not interested. There's a very good reason that I grew up in the 1990s and want to beat the whiny shit out of Jonathan Davis. He sucks. His band sucks. I didn't know at first, but I still figured it out before the year 2000.
I guess this is a defense of the get off my lawn, but a strange twist on it. You're welcome on my lawn, but stop pretending that your grass is greener Your music sucks as much as the music from my era that I now recognize as sucky.
The difference is, I'm willing to give your music a shake. A fair shake.
I'm just not going to give it a free pass. I may be older. But I'm going to put myself in that position of listening to it as a 13 year old and then fast forward myself 20 years.
There's a reason why a Twid likes a bit of Nirvana. It's not because Kurt was good. It's also not because Kurt was shitty (he had some chops, if you listen to Bleach). It's because Kurt happened to be at the right place at the right time. And I'm a better musician than him, so fuck his ashes. So I like crap music from the 90s. That's a challenge. I'll listen to it one way or the other. Most of it is going to suck, much like most of what I liked back in the day also sucked. What's going to stay though? What are you listening to that you'll still be listening to in 2030? Because that's the kinda shit that you're listening to now that I want to hear.
8
Apple Talk / Twid writes your obituary
« on: November 05, 2014, 02:54:11 am »
Part of what I do at work is to see if our respondents have died or not. So I read my share of obituaries in a day (and try to figure out if it's the same person at all). It's occasionally morbid and bummer work (The worst I saw was yesterday: "[redacted]: [DOB]-[DOD] [redacted] was a resident of [redacted]. She was DOD minus DOB years old." That's it.) but it's also an occasionally, unintentionally, funny genre of writing. Volunteer, and I will ham up your life (and death) to celebrate your existence and its abrupt, and possibly, unseemly, end.
9
Apple Talk / ATTN: Musicians
« on: August 13, 2014, 12:36:54 am »
I've got a bit of an idea that I want to work with. The genre is pop music, so, the main thing I'm asking is how best to go about doing synth. I have a shitty Yamaha keyboard, but I want to figure out how to make a convincing pop music sound on the cheap. What sort of equipment and/or software should I be working with?
10
Apple Talk / I'm eventually going to have to leave Boston forever.
« on: July 14, 2014, 07:20:59 am »
After a series of somewhat difficult conversations with Villager, who is adamant about leaving Boston, and quite likely, New England, we're eventually going to have to figure out where to go. Time frame is basically after getting my BS. Grad school will be elsewhere. Ireland and the United Kingdom are on the table, but it should be noted that those are options because if I'm going to be far from one side of the family, I want to be close to the other. I would prefer to stay west of the Atlantic, east of the Mississippi, and north of the Mason-Dixon. Areas outside of that are negotiable, except for California, and most likely the southwest in general. Place needs biology career opportunities, obviously, but large cities discouraged. And no, I don't want to leave Boston, and never have. So, help me figure out where I would be willing to go.
11
Apple Talk / Calling all nerds
« on: June 10, 2014, 03:15:25 am »
So, I have this friend, who's recently come back into our lives, and he's a hardcore Star Wars fan, which is fine, but he thinks that he is somehow betraying George Lucas if he even entertains the idea of liking Trek.
I have no idea why. I like both. I like Trek more, but I like both.
So I want to troll the shit out of him and bonus points if I turn him into a Trekkie.
Help a nephew out.
I have no idea why. I like both. I like Trek more, but I like both.
So I want to troll the shit out of him and bonus points if I turn him into a Trekkie.
Help a nephew out.
12
Apple Talk / Science/mathematical question, maybe ATTN: Nigel
« on: June 09, 2014, 05:22:13 pm »
So, before we do the lab we have to do a lab skills test prior to. I don't want the answers, I just want to know how to set shit up, because, I'm really not getting it. I've got half the answers and have no idea if I'm correct, so if you can tell me if I am and if I went about it the right way, then bully. It's all molarity shit, so I imagine it's pretty basic for someone who has taken chem, but I have not taken chem.
1. Calculate the amount of Tris [Tris(Hydroxomethyl) Aminomethane] needed to make 500 ml of a 1 M stock solution. MW=121.14.
Answer I got: 60.57 grams. Formula: MW*mol*volume
2. Calculate the amount of EDTA (ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid, disodium salt) needed to make 500 ml of a 0.5 M stock solution. FW=372.2
Answer I got: 93.05 grams. Same formula as above.
3. Calculate the total volume of solution needed to get an 80% solution from 100 ml of 95% ETOH (Ethanol). [Note: Use absolute (100%) ethanol, but be aware that shortly after the bottle is opened, absolute ethanol becomes 95%. If a bottle has been opened, calculate the total volume of solution needed to get an 80% solution from 100 ml of a 95% solution.]
118.75 ml (I'm thinking this is wrong, whereas I'm pretty sure about the above two). Formula: Concentration of stock agent/final concentration needed=Final volume needed/volume of stock reagent. Which is a formula given in the lab manual.
4. You have 300 ul [sic. I'm assuming microliters] of DNA solution in TE buffer. You wish to add salt to precipitate your DNA. You have a 3M NaOAc solution. You wish to bring your DNA solution to 0.3M NaOAc.
No clue.
5. How much solute is required to make 300 ml of 0.8 M CaCl2?
I imagine I use a variant of the formula in 1 and 2.
6. How would you prepare 500% (w/v) solution of NaCl?
1. Calculate the amount of Tris [Tris(Hydroxomethyl) Aminomethane] needed to make 500 ml of a 1 M stock solution. MW=121.14.
Answer I got: 60.57 grams. Formula: MW*mol*volume
2. Calculate the amount of EDTA (ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid, disodium salt) needed to make 500 ml of a 0.5 M stock solution. FW=372.2
Answer I got: 93.05 grams. Same formula as above.
3. Calculate the total volume of solution needed to get an 80% solution from 100 ml of 95% ETOH (Ethanol). [Note: Use absolute (100%) ethanol, but be aware that shortly after the bottle is opened, absolute ethanol becomes 95%. If a bottle has been opened, calculate the total volume of solution needed to get an 80% solution from 100 ml of a 95% solution.]
118.75 ml (I'm thinking this is wrong, whereas I'm pretty sure about the above two). Formula: Concentration of stock agent/final concentration needed=Final volume needed/volume of stock reagent. Which is a formula given in the lab manual.
4. You have 300 ul [sic. I'm assuming microliters] of DNA solution in TE buffer. You wish to add salt to precipitate your DNA. You have a 3M NaOAc solution. You wish to bring your DNA solution to 0.3M NaOAc.
No clue.
5. How much solute is required to make 300 ml of 0.8 M CaCl2?
I imagine I use a variant of the formula in 1 and 2.
6. How would you prepare 500% (w/v) solution of NaCl?
13
Apple Talk / Tell me what to draw.
« on: May 24, 2014, 03:10:26 am »
I want to make a picture.
Problem is I don't know what to draw. Give me something to draw, and I will draw it, and put it in this thread.
Problem is I don't know what to draw. Give me something to draw, and I will draw it, and put it in this thread.
14
Techmology and Scientism / Yo Pent, genes and biotech
« on: May 14, 2014, 11:52:20 pm »
Also a convenient place for me to drop stuff specifically relating to genetics rather than biology as a whole, since I'm taking genetics in two weeks.
So, just as a quick run-down of how DNA and RNA work together before getting deep into the protein bits:
-DNA and RNA are strands of genetic instruction, the main difference between them being that the sugar molecules in their bases differ by one oxygen atom.
-Both use 4 nucleotides (bases), Adenine, Cytosine, and Guanine for both (differing only in that one oxygen atom, natch) and DNA uses Thymine where RNA uses Uracil. Cytosine always pairs with Guanine. Adenine always pairs with Thymine or Uracil. This is basically due to whether or not they can form 2 or 3 hydrogen bonds on the center of the double helix.
-Nucleotides are made up of a phosphate group, a sugar (ribose/deoxyribose/other- more on that in a bit), and a nitrogenous base. The phosphate group of one forms a phosphodiester bond with the sugar of the one next to it, this creates the strand, and nitrogenous bases, which determine what nucleotide it is, forms weaker (and therefore, easy to unzip) hydrogen bonds with the nitrogenous base of its counterpart.
-There are more than one kind of nucleotide, and more than one kind of nucleic acid. ATP, for example, which is the fuel our cellular processes, is basically a modified adenine molecule with three phosphate groups. Further, there are nucleotides that form XNA- nucleic acids that for some reason or another, life on Earth decided not to bother incorporating, but can be used it the fields of synthetic biology and biotechnology (creating exotic nucleic acids that won't interact with ours if it got loose, or even in capping off replication early in biotech). XNA sounds intriguing to me and I think I'll read about it more in my own time as well.
-DNA is an instruction manual, genes are particular tasks in the instruction manual, RNA is the instruction being read outloud, and proteins are the end result of the instructions.
-Triplet sequences of nucleotides code for one of twenty amino acids, or tell you to stop coding. There are 64 possible combinations for codons. Only one sequence codes for "Start" and "Methionine." SIX code for Leucine, and three code for "stop". I'm not exactly sure how these redundancies work, or why Methionine gets no redundancy. Most get 2 or 3. The redundancies help mitigate the chance of damaging mutation. If a syllable can be coded for in a couple of different ways, spelling errors don't have to be that nonsensical.
-DNA unzips, messenger RNA gets grafted on to the exposed nitrogenous bases, and makes a mirror copy. Since most DNA doesn't actually code for anything, the mRNA needs to get edited. The edited mRNA then gets paired with transfer RNA. tRNA is what ends up going on to synthesizing amino acid sequences, which then fold around and create 3 dimensional proteins.
I'll address some of your questions in the next post.
So, just as a quick run-down of how DNA and RNA work together before getting deep into the protein bits:
-DNA and RNA are strands of genetic instruction, the main difference between them being that the sugar molecules in their bases differ by one oxygen atom.
-Both use 4 nucleotides (bases), Adenine, Cytosine, and Guanine for both (differing only in that one oxygen atom, natch) and DNA uses Thymine where RNA uses Uracil. Cytosine always pairs with Guanine. Adenine always pairs with Thymine or Uracil. This is basically due to whether or not they can form 2 or 3 hydrogen bonds on the center of the double helix.
-Nucleotides are made up of a phosphate group, a sugar (ribose/deoxyribose/other- more on that in a bit), and a nitrogenous base. The phosphate group of one forms a phosphodiester bond with the sugar of the one next to it, this creates the strand, and nitrogenous bases, which determine what nucleotide it is, forms weaker (and therefore, easy to unzip) hydrogen bonds with the nitrogenous base of its counterpart.
-There are more than one kind of nucleotide, and more than one kind of nucleic acid. ATP, for example, which is the fuel our cellular processes, is basically a modified adenine molecule with three phosphate groups. Further, there are nucleotides that form XNA- nucleic acids that for some reason or another, life on Earth decided not to bother incorporating, but can be used it the fields of synthetic biology and biotechnology (creating exotic nucleic acids that won't interact with ours if it got loose, or even in capping off replication early in biotech). XNA sounds intriguing to me and I think I'll read about it more in my own time as well.
-DNA is an instruction manual, genes are particular tasks in the instruction manual, RNA is the instruction being read outloud, and proteins are the end result of the instructions.
-Triplet sequences of nucleotides code for one of twenty amino acids, or tell you to stop coding. There are 64 possible combinations for codons. Only one sequence codes for "Start" and "Methionine." SIX code for Leucine, and three code for "stop". I'm not exactly sure how these redundancies work, or why Methionine gets no redundancy. Most get 2 or 3. The redundancies help mitigate the chance of damaging mutation. If a syllable can be coded for in a couple of different ways, spelling errors don't have to be that nonsensical.
-DNA unzips, messenger RNA gets grafted on to the exposed nitrogenous bases, and makes a mirror copy. Since most DNA doesn't actually code for anything, the mRNA needs to get edited. The edited mRNA then gets paired with transfer RNA. tRNA is what ends up going on to synthesizing amino acid sequences, which then fold around and create 3 dimensional proteins.
I'll address some of your questions in the next post.
15
Techmology and Scientism / Video recording question
« on: May 08, 2014, 04:17:20 am »
So, when the bedbugs reemerged (they seem to have been deemerged again) I of course, avoided going over to Villager's place for 3 weeks. During that time she bought me a webcam and had it shipped to my house. I finally installed everything and got it to work (and have yet to find a proper angle for it where I can look sort of at it without being a disembodied head due to black tee shirt and dark background). Problem is with the software is that I can only record for 99 seconds at a time unless I go through youtube, which presumably gives me no editing capabilities. So, what I'm asking is what can I do for the balance of recording for 100 seconds+ for minimal editing? Especially because I might like to record songs here and there (different can of worms, audio-wise. Will cross that bridge when I get there)
My webcam is a Logitech QuickCam IM run on Vista.
My webcam is a Logitech QuickCam IM run on Vista.