Lotus Root

I bet you thought I'd given up on my root experiment. Well, you are wrong! It's just taking me FOREVER to get through them all. Anyway, I got something called lotus root from a sketchy little produce shop in Chinatown up in San Francisco.
Since it's an Asian root I decided to make a stir fry with it. I read on line that you have to peel it, and once you slice it the slices should be dropped in a bowl of vinegar water to keep the root from turning an ugly brown color. (It's similar to how a potato turns yucky colors if you leave them sit out.)
My favorite thing about the lotus root is it's amazing shape when sliced. It's really beautiful, and unusual, and I think it adds a really neat visual element to any stir fry. The root is oblong, and when sliced forms little circles, with even smaller circles within.
Texturally it's similar to a mix between a raw potato and a water chestnut. There isn't a whole lot of inherent flavor, and it's got a crunchy, starchy taste/texture to it. Even after it's cooked it retains the crunchiness. In fact now that I think about it, if you had a recipe that called for water chestnuts, lotus root would be a viable alternative, and make the dish much more exotic looking.
Anyway, I sauteed the root, then added the usual stir fry ingredients and let everything simmer together for a while doused in soy sauce and fresh chopped ginger. It wasn't a recipe really, just a bunch of veggies, some steak, and my lotus root.
Mixed with the stir fry the root turned brown (because of the soy sauce I think) but it still looked pretty cool. I left the wheels whole because I thought it looked more cool, but it was pretty impractical as each slice had to be eaten in at least two bites (so I would recommend quartering them unless the root was really small). Over all I think they were OK tasting. It was basically like eating a half cooked potato covered in soy sauce. It wasn't bad, or offensive at all, but I wasn't head over heals for it either. That being said, I'd probably pick up a lotus root every so often just because of how exotic it looks, and mix it in with my Asian cooking. It's something I think would impress those who have never had it. I also think it would make amazing amuse bouche (individual appetizers) because of it's unusual shape.Or how about chips?!? Wouldn't that be cool? I have never heard of lotus root chips, but I bet they'd be delicious since they are so potato like...Maybe I'll try that next.
In closing, if you like Asian cooking and do it often, I think it would be well worth your while to give this a try. Lotus root won't change the flavor of your dish, but it sure will make it look good! I don't think I would recommend it at all if not for it's shape, and that may seem like a silly reason to eat something, but then again maybe not. It's fun.

Snowboarding: How Hard Can It Be?

Two weekends ago I (along with friends) hit the slopes in Reno NV and decided to learn how to snowboard. I knew it wouldn't be the simplest thing to learn, but I honestly thought "How hard could it be?" I have gone skiing and picked that up OK, and I think in general I have a fairly good sense of balance...what else is there?
Ha! I learned that the hard way. It's not as easy as it looks. At least not for me who has never done any skate boarding or surfing. There were a couple factors that contributed to my overall total demise. One thing was there were way too many people on the practice hill. It was like an obsticle course with folks just sitting down in the middle of the slope catching their breath or taking a break. I ran into more people than I can count. A couple were our snowboard instructor and  a little kid that was probably six or seven years old! (I have a bruise on my butt in the shape of the bottom of his ski pole to prove it.)
The second thing was that we only had one day there, so I tried hills that I probably wasn't ready for because I knew I wouldn't have the chance otherwise. And I guess I was a little peer pressured into it. It was a disaster. I literally fell down that entire hill. It wasn't one giant fall, but about 20 small ones. I hit my head several times, slid over some tree roots on my back (got an expecially tough looking bruise/scratch from that one), and did the splits more than once. I fell backward, forward, sideways, I landed on my hip, shoulder, back and both my knees are bruised. It was brutal. I fell more in that one day than I have in the past ten years!
To be honest a part of me felt like quitting the first time I hit my head (I hit it hard a total of 4 times). My hat actually flew off my head I went down so hard. It looked pretty funny I'm sure, it even made me laugh, even though it was pretty painful. But I decided to stick it out. I have often wondered at the way football players dive to the turf over and over again. I have this strange curiosity about how it would feel to fall ground without using your hands to brace yourself. And to do it 20 or 30 times in a row. So with some apprehension, but also with a bit of morbid curiosity, I kept getting up and trying again. I know it's not quite the same thing, but I'd say falling down a mountain is at least generally comparable to playing a game of football. I wanted to know if I could be as tough as a football player, and I wanted to know what it felt like to be one.
After a day of experimentation the conclusion I reached was I'm probably tough enough to play in one football game. But if you told me I had to do it every Sunday I'd  probably cry. It turns out that diving (or in my case falling) to the ground over and over HURTS...A LOT. I don't mean the actual fall hurts that much, because it's one of those things where if you just get up and shake it off the pain actually goes away pretty quickly. It's more the feeling that overcomes you if you sit down for a couple minutes (at any point after repeated contact with the ground) and try to get up again. If you keep moving you are OK, but if you sit down it's all over. I got up after sliding ten feet down the hill and was fine, but when I went to use the restroom I thought someone might have come in and peel me off the toilet because my legs were suddenly in revolt!
And the stiffness and soreness was so much worse and complete than I ever thought it could be. When I imagined how I'd feel afterward I was only taking into account the muscles I knew I had. I had totally neglected to include the 200 other muscles that up until my snowboarding experience had apparently never been used. I felt like a stranger in my own body. I discovered a muscle in my hip I didn't know was there and somehow made it hard to put shoes on, and one behind my right ear that, for three days, sent shooting pain down my neck whenever I smiled. I had a weird fatigue in the muscle on top of my foot that burned when I would push and ease up on the gas pedal in my car. It was bizarre. And it took me a  week to recover!
But...while my first snowboarding adventure turned out to be more or less a bust, I haven't lost hope that some day I'll find myself whizzing down a mountain on a snowboard and having a fun old time. Next time I go I'm just going to do things a little differently. I might wear a football helmet for one. I might go on a less busy day too. Even though I have spent the last 10 minutes complaining about all the aches and pains, in my mind it was a really good experience. The whole thing during, and after, was very interesting to me. It was all worth it. And you want to know why? Because I came away with one (and only one) shot of me looking like a bad-ass snowboarding queen! Hell yeah! The victory is MINE!

You can't even tell I was about to fall!

Google Earth Catches Airplane

I was looking at maps on Google Earth for a project I am working on when I spotted this airplane! I thought it made a neat looking picture, so I've decided to post it here.

Titletown Takes It Away

Cutler Sandwich

So....We are going to the Super Bowl! I say "we" because while I haven't done anything (but prepare great football snacks and a lot of commentary) I have stuck with the Pack throughout the season and many before. That's the privilege of being a fan.
I must be honest and reveal that when we won yesterday I wasn't jumping up and down in the way I imagined I would. I was a little disappointed with the offense. But after having an entire evening and day to contemplate the game, I have calmed down and if I'd posted a blog yesterday, I'd probably recant half of what I would have written.
So....It was a good game. Rodgers to Jennings was outstanding! He got 20 yards or so per catch! Starks came through as he has in the last two games. Brandon Jackson (I am still a huge Jackson fan because he stepped up and gave the Pack everything he had this season) had a really nice 10 yard run. Driver and Nelson came through as well!
I was not too excited when Clifton went out with a stinger (which BTW is a stretching or compression of the nerves that exit the spinal column at the neck), but T.J Lang filled in like a champ. He wasn't as good as Clifton but I am sure he didn't get nearly as many reps in practice, so to expect him to perform at the same level is...unreasonable.
Raji, the self appointed "Freezer" had a great pick 6. BUT....as it was happening all I was thinking was "BALL SECURITY!!!! WTF? I get that it was his first touchdown. But it was totally unprofessional. He nearly lost it. If that Bears player had reached him just a split second earlier, B.J. Raji would have had a lot of explaining to do, and we might have lost the game. I understand that guys get excited. But this is the NFL and they are expected to keep their head. I am glad #90 got the interception, but at the same time I hope he watches the film and learns his lesson.
Except for that missed tackle by Collins and Woodson (where the Bears scored), the defense really played well, as the have almost the whole season. And I understand that it was just one of those random mis-communications, but still, I was pretty surprised. But moving onto the positives, lets shine a happy spotlight on Sam Shields. What a freaking game for him hu? The reason the Pack is going to the Super Bowl with 14 players on injured reserve is because of guys like Sam Shields, Tramon Williams, and James Starks. It's crazy and amazing that a free agent has clinched the Super Bowl for Green Bay, but that's kind of been part of the story this year. You could even argue it been THE story.
I watched all of the post game commentary, all the "key" players spoke, and of course the sports casters gave their opinion and more.
And I would be OK with that except for the fact that no one interviewed or spoke of the MVP of the game. I went through the videos at NFL.com, I methodically went through all the interviews at packers.com but there was nothing to be found.
Who is the MVP or at least should be recognized for a perfect performance? In my (humble) opinion it's Tim Mathsay. WHO? you might ask? And that's normal I guess. People tend to not even notice special teams unless they score a touchdown, but that's unfair. SoI thought I'd clue you in as to why I beleieve he had such a huge impact. He is the guy that in below freezing conditions (where kicking a football is like kicking a brick) 1.) gave the Bears terrible field position the whole game 2.) didn't kick it straight to Devon Hester, who by the way is ridiculous. 3.) gave the Packers defense a big field with lots of room to do what they do best. Sure punting is not flashy. It's not a touchdown or a take away. There is no one screaming or jumping up and down. But if you consider the poor performance by the offense in the second half, the quarterback change up for Chicago, and the amount of field the defense had to work their magic...I'll put my neck out there and say that this game was truly won because ALL three phases of the game happened for Green Bay. It's hard to quantify what didn't happen, but  at the same time it's important to acknowledge the fact it didn't. Hester didn't get that big punt return for a TD. They didn't get good field advantage. The Bears had to start at the 4 or 5 yard line, and against the Green Bay defense that is a long way to have to go to score. To keep Hester,the NFL leader in punt returns, to nothing, in a championship game no less, is a big deal. And Mathsay came through.Nice work man.
Anyway, we made it! The Green Bay Packers are officially going to the Super Bowl. We won the NFC Championship. We beat the Bears at Soldier Field. And you want to know something? It feels good. I have this sneaking suspicion that we are going to go all the way!

The "Atheists Nightmare" is....

...according to one guy  A BANANA. Yep, you read that correctly. And I always thought if there was such a thing as an 'atheist nightmare', it would have something to do with God presenting himself and sending us all to hell. But apparently it involves fruit instead. It's a huge relief. And actually, I love bananas. They are delicious.
As far as I can tell this guy is seriously claiming that the banana was "created" specifically by God for our consumption and pleasure, and proves beyond a doubt he exists. (BTW using his very own reasoning I would argue a watermelon and a star fruit prove he (God) doesn't.) Also, I am pretty sure wild bananas are smaller, rounder and more gross looking.  I saw the video while watching a (more listening actually)  lecture by Richard Dawkins, and thought I'd pass it on. Watch it here and tell me what you think.

Game Day

*Breath* I have buffalo wings, mini taco's, hot links, and pub mix. I have the refrigerator stocked with beer and soda. My Rodgers jersey is washed and clean. My Packers shrine is dusted and shining. I've watched NFL network and Sports Center every day this week. *Deep breath*...I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I've been anticipating this all week and I've done all I can to prepare. *Another deep breath* So let's do this!!!! Packers on three. One, two, three, PACKERS!!!!!

Mean Chinese Moms...A Good Idea?

I read an article on the Wall Street Journal Online this morning by a Chinese American woman Amy Chua, entitled Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior. She asks why it is that Chinese children are generally smarter and more skilled than "Western" raised children. And then she goes on to say she knows the answer, because she has personally done it.
Chua is of the opinion that Western (American) parents place to much emphasis on their children's self esteem, feelings, desires and emotional state. Chinese mothers, she claims do not. For example she never let her two daughters attend a sleep over, watch TV or play computer games, have a play date, choose their own extracurricular activities, receive any grade less than an A, not be number 1 in their class, or not play the violin or piano. For the latter two if the girls failed she would drill them for hours and when the finally revolted against her she would revert to tactics of name calling and humiliation, and threaten them with anything she could think of to keep them to keep working. She admits to calling her daughter "trash." She admits she makes them practice for up to three hours a day!
This seems cruel to me at first glance, and I would wager that most of us reading the article would feel the same way. What kind of emotional damage would a kid suffer as an adult after a childhood of incessant pushing and degrading name calling? How would a child develop if he thought his parents didn't love him? Those poor kids could wind up being the next psycho bomber or something.
But Chua argues quite the opposite. She claims her actions show real love for her daughters while Western parents coddle their children right into a disadvantaged life.
She says she pushes her girls because she knows they are smart enough to accomplish anything, and through her pushing they are able to learn that about themselves. She says the fact that Western parents don't push their children or force them to excel, subliminally translates to their kids that mom and dad don't really think they are smart enough to accomplish anything.
She also says things become fun once you are good at them. And to become good you need to practice...a lot. I think her basic argument is that math homework isn't fun, but getting 100% on your algebra exam is. Or learning a foreign language isn't fun, but speaking it fluently is. She says she pushes her daughters through the tough part until whatever they are doing becomes fun and easy for them. And then they enjoy it.
That got me thinking. Not that I would revert to name calling, but maybe she has a point. Kids never want to do anything "good for them". But how many of us as adults would have benefited from being number one in our class, or accomplishing everything we'd ever set before ourselves? I don't mean to criticize my or anyone else's upbringing, but a lot of what she claims to be teaching her daughters (not how) actually seems like good stuff to have as an adult.
So if the result is good, but the method is bad, the question then becomes, how do you get a kid to practice the violin for 3 hour a day, or get straight A's without threatening them? Because that's what it takes to be the best. How many 5 year old's would rather do homework than go to a sleep over? How many teenage boys or girls would rather practice the violin for 3 hours instead of go to the mall and hang out with friends? Not many. And what do kids know anyway? They are kids!
I don't know what to think. I can see both sides. You want your offspring to like you and think you're a "cool" parent, and you want them to be happy, but you also want to do whatever you can to make sure they have every advantage when they reach adulthood. And you know the skills that could make all the difference to them later are not the things they want to do as children.
So here is the question:

(Putting the humiliation tactics aside) Is it better for your child if you are a strict parent or a more compassionate one?

What do you think?

The Great Basin Bristlecone Pine

Bristlecone Pine

Have you ever wondered where the oldest trees on earth reside? Or maybe what kind of tree they are? It seems as though lots of us (including myself) just assumed they were the giant redwoods (something like lodgepole pines, or the giant Sequoias). But that's not true. I was listening to an NPR show the other day and heard a story, a sad but true one, about the oldest tree (and thus oldest living thing) ever discovered on earth. After a little additional digging I got the whole scoop.
The story starts in eastern Nevada, in a group of mountains called the Snake Range. I happen to be intimately familiar with these mountains because I spent the better part of a month exploring them over the course of two summers while teaching SJSU field camp. Anyway, the highest peak in the range is Mt. Wheeler. It is located within the boundary of what is now called Great Basin National Park (where we camped). It also includes Lehman Caves which are pretty cool.
High up on Mt. Wheeler there is a grove, or group  of Great Basin Bristlecone Pines that resided on the harsh and unfriendly slope of the mountain. Unlike how they sound, bristlecone pines don't really look like pine trees. They are gnarled, and appear dead for the most part. They have this tortured look about them as if someone took a regular tree and bent and twisted it into a grotesque sculpture and then stripped it of its green. But at the same time, they are incredibly beautiful too. I have had many opportunities to see bristlecones up close and while they are ugly in a way, they have a regal defiance about them, that makes them...extraordinary. They are old but brave. They are bombarded by freezing cold, blazing sun, very little water and nutrient poor soils, yet they patiently eek out a living  in a little patch of barren earth they have called home for hundreds or thousands of years.
Getting back to my point though, there was one particular tree in this grove on Mt. Wheeler named Prometheus. Notice I said "was". This is the sad part of the story. As it goes a grad-student from the University of South Carolina was doing some climate work for his thesis. His name was (is, he's still alive) Donald Currey. Part of his project was drilling cores into these old trees to get information about the climate over the past few millenia by a process called dendrochronology. He claims that while he was trying to drill a core into Prometheus his drill broke. He immediately became concerned because he didn't have another one, and if he didn't get his sample he would have to wait a whole year to get back out in the field and collect the data. Apparently he consulted the Forest Service (it wasn't a national park yet) and they shrugged and basically said, "Well, just chop it down. There are a bunch more trees up there. One won't make a difference." So that's what he did. It was only afterward (according to Currey), as he was tracing the rings of the tree back through time that he realized how ancient the tree was. But by then it was obviously too late.
How old was this gnarly old tree? Best estimates put it at 4862 years old, but it may have been over 5000.
It's hard to imagine that tree sitting up on that slope for five thousand years. It's hard to imagine that 'Prometheus' had already been living for three thousand years before Jesus was (supposedly) born! Or even more incredible think of this, it was a sapling when animals like cave lions still roamed the earth!
It's amazing that one man was able to do in just a few minutes what thousands of years of natural adversity and lightning were unable to. It's really sad too.

A slice of Old Prometheus

And that's the story of the oldest living thing ever discovered on earth, from beginning to tragic end. One good thing did come of this disaster however. Since the discovery of the bristlecone pines extreem age, they are now protected by the government through the National Parks Service and other means. Old Prometheus may be gone, but if you'd like to see his buddies, other trees he spent thousands of years with, you can still head out to Great Basin NP, climb up Mt. Wheeler and say hello.

Packers Vs Bears: Breakdown of Matchup in Pictures

The Packers win against Atlanta last week was amazing! The highest scoring post season game ever! I, like Rodgers, expected them to play well...but not that well! Do you realize they never punted the ball away? WTF? Incredible. The offense was on fire, and the defense was as well. Matthews got two sacks, Raji one and Tramon got 2 interceptions! Plus all the offensive scoring, Nelson, Kuhn, Jones...wow! Rodgers was just about perfect! Cheese and crackers what a game!
But it's not the time to celebrate just yet because in a few days the Pack will take on their oldest rivals the Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship game! And that is no small peanuts. Whoever wins this one goes to the Superbowl! Despite the fact that Julius Peppers caught us off guard in the first game, and that the score was close in the second seasonal match up, I really think we will come out on top for three general reasons. Instead of explaining them I thought I'd draw you diagrams instead and and let you figure it out for yourself. Here it goes!

Reason #1

Reason #2

Reason #3

On the Road to Oroville

I was asked by my work to drop something off in Oroville last evening for a project we are working on. It's about four hours away, and I drove there and back last night. It was a long ride, and strangely foggy almost the whole way there. That wouldn't have been so bad if a.) I had any idea where I was going, and b.) my right headlight wasn't shining up at the sky. Driving with only one headlight on the road isn't the most pleasant thing, and in the fog it made my car look kind of cross-eyed which got annoying after 5 or so hours. But I guess the upshot is that if by chance a UFO were to try to sneak up on me, or a plane were to fly a little too low, I would probably see it immediately with my wandering headlight.
Since it was dark almost the whole way there and back (I was in Oroville for a total of seven minutes) I really didn't get to see much beyond the edges of the road. But I have a good imagination, and so I imagine it was a pretty country drive. I also got bored, so I took a few photos of my unexpected road trip that I am posting below. Enjoy!

Just me and the road. Highway 70 Northbound

Exit from I-5 Southbound to I-80 West.

Right headlight searching sky for extraterrestrial life.

Passing a semi truck on I-80.

Do Do you Love it?

I am sure we have all, at one point or another, received something odd and totally unexpected for Christmas. Whether it was a framed self portrait of a family member, or maybe a cap autographed by the word champion of thumb wrestling, these gifts have left us scratching our heads and just a little confused. Well, whatever your craziest gift has been, I am almost certain (99.9999999% sure) that the one I got this year at house Christmas in Reno will probably top it.

What did I get? (and this is the gods honest truth!) A Christmas ornament made out of real moose poop! Yep straight from Alaska. Don't ask me who came up with such an idea, or who actually makes them, because I have no idea, but as the recipient I thought it was hilarious, and will treasure it always. It's painted, so it doesn't actually look like excrement, and if you didn't know what it was, you'd probably think it was kind of cute.
I realize some people out there in the world might be offended and receiving a gift wrapped piece of poo for the holidays. But not me. No sir. I think it's great! See for yourself my most random and odd gift ever!

The Manliest of Websites

I was just cruzin' the internet when I came across this website. As a general rule I don't like facial hair on guys, but I have to admit after perusing this site, I am kind of in awe! While I don't like being in close proximity to scruffy mustaches, goatees, or mutton chops it turns out I do think beards (and the like) make dudes look super manly! Why some of these guys no doubt could chop down trees with their bare hands, change tires with blindfolds on while shotgunning a beer,  or wrestle gorillas just because of how tough their beards make them look. Check it out! All you ever wanted to know about having a beard, from styles, to grooming, interactive surveys, a photo gallery and much much more await you!

Packers vs Falcons in the Georgia Dome

Our fearless leader! #12 Aaron Rodgers

Well, the Pack beat the Eagles, and in Philly too which is always a tough place to play. But it's not as tough as it will be this Saturday when they head down to Atlanta to take on "Matty-Ice" and the Falcons. Ryan has only lost a couple games in the Georgia Dome. But still, I think there is good reason to believe the Pack will come out ahead. First of all everyone seems healthy. There were no major injuries last week, and as far as I've heard, everyone has been practicing all week. Second, while it's a short week, the Packers have known for a couple of weeks that if they beat the Eagles they'd be playing Atlanta, and thus had a lot of time to prepare, as much as during the regular season. Whereas the Falcons didn't know until after the game Sunday afternoon whether they would be playing the Seahawks, the Eagles or us. Third, it seems that while some big down field plays are not being caught, Rodgers is making good throws and good decisions about where to put the football. So if the receivers would just start catching the ball, we'd be in good shape. Fourthly the last couple weeks have been hard on opponents trying to study film on the offense because many of the big play makers haven't had much play time or don't normally get the ball. Kuhn with his 3 TD's, Starks and his 123 yards on 23 carries, Crabtree on his TD catch...It's hard to plan an attack when you have no idea who will be out on the field. Fifthly (is that even a word?) the defense is on a roll, and making game changing plays. The newer guys are settling in, the older guys are playing as good as they ever did, and I think the word I would use when describing the defense at this point it the season is cohesive. They are playing as one entity, not 11 individuals...so I think they will be in tip top shape and good to go.
The Falcons are a good football club, but so are the Packers. It might not even boil down to who is a better team but to whomever has the last chance to score before the clock runs out. That's what happened last time we met the Falcons remember? If we just would have had one more minute! Those close game tend to be real nail-biters. I am already getting butterflies in my stomach! Yikes how the players stay calm I'll never know! Anyway, as the commentators say, the Pack is "in control of it's own destiny" and we'll see on Saturday which destiny they have laid out for themselves. Goooooo Pack GO!

To ease the pre-game tension I thought I'd post a little NFL joke to lighten things up. Go ahead and laugh it will make you feel better!

Q: Why doesn't Iowa have a professional football team?
A: Because then Illinois would want one too!

(For those of you that don't get it, it's insinuating that the Chicago Bears are not good enough to be considered "professional".)

Thats....Disgusting.

Not that any commercial about diapers is expected to be really appealing, but this commercial by Luvs is really gross, even for a cartoon.  I mean, is this a legitimate concern parents these days are facing? What in gods name they feeding their children that is causing them to have a "blowout"?  It certainly doesn't sound like something a healthy baby should be doing. And why is this (above) kid so happy? If my midsection was engulfed in an inner tube of poop I don't think I'd be too stoked about it. Nor would I be smiling or raising my arms in the victory position. It's just so gnarly. Maybe the parents shouldn't stuff their babies until they are about to pop and stick to normal diapers? Just think of all the couples out there who after seeing this will decide not to have kids. I saw it as an advertisement while watching Cosmos on my computer.) Watch it (the commercial not Cosmos) for yourself here and tell me what you think.

A High 5 For Sagan

I recently read Brocca's Brain by Carl Sagan. I have also been watching (on the internet) the 1980's series Cosmos that featured Sagan as narrator. What can I say? It's been a bit of a Sagan-fest for me lately. And its AWESOME! Not only was he an ambassador of scientific and critical thinking, but he also wore the most incredible outfits! After two episodes of Cosmos I guarantee you will be asking yourself why you don't wear more turtle neck shirts, and why you don't own a tan sports coat! It's epic. I literally love every ensemble he donned for the entire series. I was joking with my little brother that if I dress up for Halloween this coming year I am torn between whether I want to be Carl or Aaron Rodgers. Anyway....
The thing I have come to realize about Sagan, the thing that sets him apart to me (besides his maroon turtle neck and white shoe combo) is his ability to express himself, not only aptly, but poetically, and I'd argue exquisitely. He is able to not only convey facts and reality, but also a well placed sense of incredulity and awe at our own existence. Through his choice of words, Carl Sagan makes this world, the regular one you and I currently reside in, seem as magical as the factitious (and totally rad) one in Lord of the Rings.  Much of what he says I've read  about elsewhere but when he voices it, the information undergoes a metamorphosis inside my brain, and my body reacts to the chemical stimuli and I get goosebumps. If I really believed I had a "soul" I'd say he was speaking to it directly.
It seems to me (from my experience) that sometimes scientists (i.e. myself) get so caught up in the "nuts and bolts" of their given study they loose a bit of the amazing-ness of whatever their chosen field is. I think Sagan had the unique (and envious) ability to understand the small things without ever loosing sight of the bigger picture. And more importantly for you and I, he had the ability to express it to those of us who either aren't scientifically inclined, or are too analytical to remember that we are still human beings.
Many people believe in a deity, and I tried to as well way back when. I didn't get very far with that personally, but in a way I understand why so many people have been drawn to it. It's hard to turn away from the incredible notion that you were created specifically by God (or whomever). But you read/ listen to Sagan and holy sh*t! He reminds you that while it's unlikely that God exists, your life is still pretty freaking awesome because every atom in your body used to reside in a star, a sun, another world a maybe a billion, trillion miles away from where you are sitting right now. Maybe there is no God, but the elements that make up you, your brain, or your eyeballs reading this right now were at one time particles exploding off the surface of suns, in all corners of the universe, and finally (and randomly) they settled here on Earth. All the parts of you ( before they were you) were expelled to interstellar space and floated slowly through the void of space for millions, of years. And then through the myriad of evolutionary experiments and much biological recycling here on earth, here we are. Can this story, one of stellar birth, really be any less awe inspiring than one that begins in the mind of God? I don't think so. And that's why I love Carl Sagan and his blazer.

Art as Seen While Walking in San Francisco

Picking Apart a Crab

 My littlest brother has been in town for the last two weeks on his way to an adventure. I just dropped him off at the airport this morning for his flight to Alaska where he will be living for the next 4 months. We did lots of fun things while he was here, hiking, shopping, going out to eat, watching football etc. We also (my idea) bought a Dungeness crab from the grocery store to dissect on my kitchen counter one afternoon. It was really fun. We probably weren't as careful as a real carcinologist, and our tools were much more primitive, but it was still fun and really interesting. We were able to get a closer look at the mouth, gills, and reproductive apparatus. And although we never did find the heart, we discovered two glands(?) that look like bunched up spaghetti in the inner most reaches of the carapace. Yummm.
In preparation for our dissection I did a little reading up on Dungeness crabs, and learned some really interesting things. (For a more complete description click here for the paper by the US Fish and Wildlife Services.) Here are a few fun facts I thought I'd share:

Dungeness Crab:

Scientific name: Cancer magister Dana
Habitat: Off the coast of Central California to the Gulf of Alaska

Zoea

• Only male crabs are allowed to be caught for commercial sale.
• A female can lay up to 5 million eggs in her lifetime, with each  brood producing 1 to 2 million eggs!
• Baby crabs spend the first portion of their lives as zoea and float around in the ocean currents like plankton. They are tiny (about the size of the tip of a pencil) and don't look anything like a crab, with a beak and giant eyes.
• Dungeness crabs are some of the most "meaty" crabs with approximately 25% edible parts by weight.
• When crabs molt, the shed their entire shell including eye stalks and claws. For a neato time lapse video of a crab molting (and mating click here.)

 Here are a couple photos from our dissection! Enjoy!!!

Reproductive gonopods (male)

Jay carefully removing shell

Mouth with feeder arms

Portion of gill with feather like membranes

Strange But True Illnesses...

I have been slacking on my postings over the holiday, but not on my reading! Hopefully I will get caught up this coming week. Anyway over the last month or so I have come across some interesting illnesses in the books I'm reading and I thought I'd share a few of the stranger ones with you:

Micropsia: A condition where a person sees everything much smaller than it actually is, making them feel (or believe) they are becoming larger. Macropsia is the opposite.
Lycanthropy: A mental illness where a person believes that they have been transformed into an animal (usually a wolf, but not always) and behave accordingly.
Prosopagnosia: Also called face blindness is the inability of a person to recognize people by looking at their face, including friends and relatives

Playoffs? Don't Talk About Playoffs!

Well, last week's last game of the season against the Chicago Bears was....super stressful and not very high scoring. Not that there weren't some great plays, but if it had been another team playing I would have called it a yawner. I was surprised how few yards Kuhn got, but after scoring 3 touchdowns the week before it's what you expect. What kind of NFL team would the Bears be if they didn't spend extra time watching film on a guy that scored 3 TD's the previous game to figure out how to stop him? And even though he didn't get many yards, he offered just enough of a threat to allow Rodgers a couple passing plays down the field. There was a nice play to Jennings and the touchdown pass to Donald Lee.

Erik Walden #93 (Photo from here)

Likewise the defense was great! Erik Walden with two sacks on Jay Cutler was totally awesome! He sort of came out of nowhere (well, Miami actually), but helped to bring the final total defensive tally to 47 sacks  for the season, the best ranking for a Packers defense in franchise history! Nice job dude! And how about Sam Shields blocking some critical 3rd down passes, and keeping pressure on Cutler? He is really doing great. And the interceptions by Charlie Peprah and Nick Collins were...shoot, really, they may have saved the game. The first was in the end zone to Johnny Knox, and would have been a TD, and the last was a 2nd and 10 with 11 seconds left in the game to shut down the Bears final attempt to score! Just amazing.

So we made it to the playoffs!  It's weird because I always get these superstitious inclinations this time of the season. I am not superstitious, but none the less I get the feeling like I might jinx the team if I say something beforehand in reference to the playoff potential, or their performance, especially if I say something good. (For example did I jinx John Kuhn last week by saying he was unstoppable?!? Ha ha you decide:) I also find myself wondering, off the wall, totally nonsensical things like if I wear the exact same pair of socks I wore the last week would it help us beat the Eagles this Sunday? Or did we win against the Bears because I switched my favorite ring to another finger just before Lee caught that TD pass?
Despite the fact that I feel a bit that way from time to time, the I firmly believe the whole notion of superstitious behavior is totally ridiculous. And I'll tell you why.

From churchofgoodluck.com

I know lot's of people are superstitious, and they believe a rabbit foot in their pocket will help them ace a job interview, or a lucky shirt will help them score on a first date, but I don't think they really understand the big picture of what the world would be like if those objects really created good fortune for them. Can you imagine what it would be like if we lived in a world where not changing your underwear for a week could affect the outcome of sporting events? Or someone reciting a phrase before leaving the house in the morning could make them luckier than you and less likely to get hit by a car than you? Can you imagine loosing a job only because the idiot who got hired had a dismembered rodent limb in their pocket? Or how about having sex with some one you normally wouldn't because they wore their "lucky shirt" and not a different one? It would be chaos! And then what would happen when two people on opposite teams (or sides of a coin) do their lucky dance or whatever hoping for opposite outcomes? Would they cancel each other out?
I am not sure what provokes those feelings in me. It's probably nerves. Maybe it's feeling like I want to help them win and knowing there is nothing I can do that would actually be of any use, so I try to make up something because it helps me release the anxiety in the pit of my stomach. But whatever the reason it's still just...silly.
No matter how you look at it it superstition just doesn't make any sense, and thank goodness too. So (deep breath... and fingers crossed (ha ha...get it? fingers crossed is also superstitious..ha ha...I'm so hilarious!)) I am going to end this by saying Yes, we made it to the Playoffs! And I think we will win next week. I really think the Packers are a better team than Philadelphia, I think our defense can handle Michael Vick and I really think Aaron Rodgers will provide more "luck" for the Packers than all the crossed fingers, and un-laundered panties in the world.
GO PACKS!!!!