I'm starting this thread for a couple of reasons. One is, I would love to have a repository for my ramblings about preparation. Another, because I will be mostly off the grid for a couple of weeks, but I might be able to get online here and there and it would be cool to have a place to check in with you terrible people. Lastly, if I don't make a hole to put it in there is a possibility that I will get random ramblings all over the place, and nobody wants that.
Today I finished my travel shopping, which meant a ton of hand sanitizer, baby wipes, and Pepto Bismol. I could tell the checkout guy was a little uncomfortable.
I'm liking this thread already.
Yo dawgs. I don't really have Internet access here, it turns out. The food is terrible. Send help.
I spent four days deep in the jungle with a Dusun village of former headhunters, helping to build a tiny hydropower generator. It's the dry season, so mostly what we had to eat was rice and whatever the hunters managed to kill, which varied from delicious (a wild boar) to horrifying (I won't tell you what it was, just trust me, I was horrified. And I'll eat anything).
The insect life is spectacular. I'll post pics. We toured a genetic lab that sequences zoonotic viruses, which was awesome. We've spent a lot of time on a bus of questionable mechanical integrity, driving around the countryside visiting schools, villages, and wildlife sanctuaries. The poverty, waste, and corruption are highly visible.
I'm so so sick of noodles and rice.
HI NIGEL
So that genetics lab sounds really hi tech compared with everything else. Supervillain lair?
I'm in the dining room of the Marina Court Apartments, eating a dismaying breakfast and waiting for the bus to take us to the dock to go to the island where I guess we're spending our last day.
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on March 27, 2015, 11:33:57 PM
HI NIGEL
So that genetics lab sounds really hi tech compared with everything else. Supervillain lair?
It was surprisingly high tech, and had backup generators in case of power outage (which happened twice while we were there). I was invited to come back and work there after I graduate.
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 27, 2015, 11:38:45 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on March 27, 2015, 11:33:57 PM
HI NIGEL
So that genetics lab sounds really hi tech compared with everything else. Supervillain lair?
It was surprisingly high tech, and had backup generators in case of power outage (which happened twice while we were there). I was invited to come back and work there after I graduate.
It sounds like you should for the food alone!
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 27, 2015, 11:31:09 PM
Yo dawgs. I don't really have Internet access here, it turns out. The food is terrible. Send help.
I spent four days deep in the jungle with a Dusun village of former headhunters, helping to build a tiny hydropower generator. It's the dry season, so mostly what we had to eat was rice and whatever the hunters managed to kill, which varied from delicious (a wild boar) to horrifying (I won't tell you what it was, just trust me, I was horrified. And I'll eat anything).
The insect life is spectacular. I'll post pics. We toured a genetic lab that sequences zoonotic viruses, which was awesome. We've spent a lot of time on a bus of questionable mechanical integrity, driving around the countryside visiting schools, villages, and wildlife sanctuaries. The poverty, waste, and corruption are highly visible.
I'm so so sick of noodles and rice.
YOU'RE ALIVE! :banana:
It sounds terrifhorrible!
Now I'm on a tiny island surrounded by coral reef. I just got done snorkeling, where I was bitten by a clownfish.
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 28, 2015, 02:25:08 AM
Now I'm on a tiny island surrounded by coral reef. I just got done snorkeling, where I was bitten by a clownfish.
That poor fish.
(seriously, you okay?)
It was a vicious savaging by the aquatic brute. Also it was adorable.
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 28, 2015, 02:33:45 AM
It was a vicious savaging by the aquatic brute. Also it was adorable.
Nigel in the ocean, petting hammerhead sharks.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 28, 2015, 02:46:33 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 28, 2015, 02:33:45 AM
It was a vicious savaging by the aquatic brute. Also it was adorable.
Nigel in the ocean, petting hammerhead sharks.
They're just misunderstood, really.
Clownfish are terrible. Finding Nemo was just pure propaganda.
Quote from: Cain on March 28, 2015, 05:48:01 AM
Clownfish are terrible. Finding Nemo was just pure propaganda.
:lulz:
I'm home now. It's been the longest day of my life, lasting from approximately 9pm Saturday night to 6 pm Monday morning, Portland time, with intermittent light napping.
I got in at 8:40 this morning and went promptly to my classes. Woot. Cell bio is gonna be hard. may have bitten off more than I can chew with microbial metagenomics. We'll see.
I has an imperial fuckbasket of tireds.
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 31, 2015, 02:03:52 AM
I'm home now. It's been the longest day of my life, lasting from approximately 9pm Saturday night to 6 pm Monday morning, Portland time, with intermittent light napping.
I got in at 8:40 this morning and went promptly to my classes. Woot. Cell bio is gonna be hard. may have bitten off more than I can chew with microbial metagenomics. We'll see.
1. Welcome home.
2. Microbial whatsenomics?
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 31, 2015, 02:07:11 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 31, 2015, 02:03:52 AM
I'm home now. It's been the longest day of my life, lasting from approximately 9pm Saturday night to 6 pm Monday morning, Portland time, with intermittent light napping.
I got in at 8:40 this morning and went promptly to my classes. Woot. Cell bio is gonna be hard. may have bitten off more than I can chew with microbial metagenomics. We'll see.
1. Welcome home.
2. Microbial whatsenomics?
It's really cool! So, you're familiar with genomics, I'm sure... the study of an organism's genome? Well, a metagenome is the collective genome of a community of organisms, binned by
function. It's seriously some of the coolest science I've come across so far, and has massive, massive ramifications not only for ecological and biomedical research, but also potentially for industrial biosynthesis.
It is essentially taking one step back and looking at an ecosystem as a functioning organism with its own genome.
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 31, 2015, 02:17:02 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 31, 2015, 02:07:11 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 31, 2015, 02:03:52 AM
I'm home now. It's been the longest day of my life, lasting from approximately 9pm Saturday night to 6 pm Monday morning, Portland time, with intermittent light napping.
I got in at 8:40 this morning and went promptly to my classes. Woot. Cell bio is gonna be hard. may have bitten off more than I can chew with microbial metagenomics. We'll see.
1. Welcome home.
2. Microbial whatsenomics?
It's really cool! So, you're familiar with genomics, I'm sure... the study of an organism's genome? Well, a metagenome is the collective genome of a community of organisms, binned by function. It's seriously some of the coolest science I've come across so far, and has massive, massive ramifications not only for ecological and biomedical research, but also potentially for industrial biosynthesis.
I can grasp the concept, I think.
HI NIGEL I'M GLAD YOU'RE OKAY I MISS YOUR DICK IN MY ASS
Selected pictures follow.'ll try not to be a total picture ho, but I got some good shit.
The journey:
Flight, departing from SF
(http://s25.postimg.org/ti6c6ytgf/2015_03_18_14_12_37.jpg)
The Alaskan archipelago
(http://s25.postimg.org/fzzfuohb3/2015_03_18_18_50_21.jpg)
Siberia
(http://s25.postimg.org/kw32mdhgf/2015_03_19_00_53_39.jpg)
WHAT THE FUCK, SINGAPORE?
(http://s25.postimg.org/5jnx637of/2015_03_20_03_58_44.jpg)
Day 1 in Kota Kinabalu:
Hotel
(http://s25.postimg.org/5kxuzi9i7/2015_03_20_12_08_20.jpg)
Patriotism
(http://s25.postimg.org/n60dom55r/2015_03_20_17_37_15.jpg)
Filipino district
(http://s25.postimg.org/nzczh8b6n/2015_03_20_17_42_59.jpg)
Slums immediately adjacent to luxury hotels and malls
(http://s25.postimg.org/me2b35qcf/2015_03_21_08_32_45.jpg)
(http://s25.postimg.org/6d54cg333/2015_03_21_08_32_42.jpg)
Self-explanatory
(http://s25.postimg.org/6v4v61i1r/2015_03_21_08_43_55.jpg)
The trip to Kalangaan:
The river at the start of the trip:
(http://s25.postimg.org/r7m280mu7/2015_03_21_08_59_25.jpg)
Three hours up a dirt road later, yep, that's the jungle.
(http://s25.postimg.org/lyr1a54f3/2015_03_21_11_15_46.jpg)
Earthworm, yo
(http://s25.postimg.org/utwgyeilb/2015_03_21_11_45_59.jpg)
Wild hibiscus
(http://s25.postimg.org/lnirov2qn/2015_03_21_13_06_34.jpg)
Dry season riverbed. We cross it.
(http://s25.postimg.org/xdwp68vj3/2015_03_21_13_21_44.jpg)
Leeches. We cross it.
(http://s25.postimg.org/r956sx3fj/2015_03_21_13_35_16.jpg)
The trail
(http://s25.postimg.org/ylamyglnj/2015_03_21_13_37_56.jpg)
More trail
(http://s25.postimg.org/58oucakrj/2015_03_21_14_02_29.jpg)
Oh good goddamn, what the fuck are these
(http://s25.postimg.org/8bpkfnzq7/2015_03_21_14_03_42.jpg)
Oh hey, a giant potato bug
(http://s25.postimg.org/pk0oyld3z/2015_03_21_14_24_09.jpg)
Continuing the lengthy trek to Kalangaan:
Hi, small stickbug!
(http://s25.postimg.org/fy2j4jwkf/2015_03_21_14_46_45.jpg)
I still don't know what these are, but I ate some. For science. Don't judge me.
(http://s25.postimg.org/yivcpd7dr/2015_03_21_15_00_06.jpg)
Bridge
(http://s25.postimg.org/haotk6jdr/2015_03_21_15_30_38.jpg)
Skeptical village chicken questions my intentions.
(http://s25.postimg.org/hoq5js3hb/2015_03_21_15_49_38.jpg)
In Kalangaan:
Skeptical village chicken don't give a fuck.
(http://s25.postimg.org/d82ui7vkv/2015_03_21_15_49_40.jpg)
Chillin the fuck out in the living room
(http://s25.postimg.org/b8h6touxr/2015_03_21_18_33_45.jpg)
Dinnertime
(http://s25.postimg.org/pwx51w1pb/2015_03_21_20_49_28.jpg)
AAAAAHHHHH NOSI YOU ARE COVERED IN BEES
(http://s25.postimg.org/epxhl9f33/2015_03_22_13_30_16.jpg)
BEEEEES
(http://s25.postimg.org/yykv6zee7/2015_03_22_13_25_04.jpg)
Diverting the river
(http://s25.postimg.org/5fpyvgtr3/2015_03_22_13_34_52.jpg)
Quote from: Q. G. Pennyworth on March 31, 2015, 04:51:28 AM
HI NIGEL I'M GLAD YOU'RE OKAY I MISS YOUR DICK IN MY ASS
AWWWW! :)
I think that tomorrow I will probably go to the doctor about the weird rash on my hands.
I have to say that I really like the Dusun and I appreciate their "you kill it, you eat it" policy, but they are really not very good cooks.
More shit in Kalangaan:
Lizard eggs
(http://s25.postimg.org/wwoz6h5sv/2015_03_22_15_08_14.jpg)
I don't know what the fuck this is, other than awesome
(http://s25.postimg.org/ytqaoslun/2015_03_22_15_13_23.jpg)
A vine doing a vine thing
(http://s25.postimg.org/uofe2vo2n/2015_03_22_16_22_33.jpg)
Tree roots
(http://s25.postimg.org/4he76x5sv/2015_03_22_16_54_16.jpg)
The trail back to the village from the worksite
(http://s25.postimg.org/5aqszjbtr/2015_03_22_16_55_22.jpg)
A village house at dusk
(http://s25.postimg.org/u1ghdcr6n/2015_03_22_16_56_31.jpg)
Was that more hibiscus in front of Skeptical Village Chicken?
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on April 02, 2015, 12:30:30 AM
Was that more hibiscus in front of Skeptical Village Chicken?
Yes! It's like a weed, it's everywhere.
Tell us about the mosquitoes.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on April 02, 2015, 03:58:40 AM
Tell us about the mosquitoes.
It's like a weed, it's everywhere.
Actually there were hardly any mosquitoes. It's not a swampy area really, and it was the dry season. I hear the south of Borneo can be pretty brutal malaria-wise.
this looks so awesome
Quote from: Cain on April 02, 2015, 09:25:08 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 02, 2015, 06:50:01 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on April 02, 2015, 03:58:40 AM
Tell us about the mosquitoes.
It's like a weed, it's everywhere.
What were the weeds like?
Like swarming flocks of miniature flesh-eating dinosaurs covered in terrestrial leeches.
Let this be a lesson to you about traveling. It SEEMS all sophisticated and stuff, but then you get bitten by a clownfish and chased by weeds.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on April 05, 2015, 05:07:48 AM
Let this be a lesson to you about traveling. It SEEMS all sophisticated and stuff, but then you get bitten by a clownfish and chased by weeds.
May I big words?
Quote from: Q. G. Pennyworth on April 06, 2015, 03:00:55 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on April 05, 2015, 05:07:48 AM
Let this be a lesson to you about traveling. It SEEMS all sophisticated and stuff, but then you get bitten by a clownfish and chased by weeds.
May I big words?
Of course.