TIL: Today I Learned

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Doing research for merfolk for my Wesnoth mod, TIL that there is a ‘Sonic hedgehog’ proteine that makes the webbing in a fetus' hands and feet disappear. What a stupid name.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physarum_polycephalum

You can buy them online for about $20US. I got petri dishes, agar gel and the spores for under $20AUS.

To feed them you just put one small oatflake on the gel every 2-4 days.

You can create small mazes by embedding small rectangular perspex panels in the gel, and watch them navigate it within a couple of days.
They respond to different coloured lights and can be made to move in different directions by changing the lights at different parts of the dishes.
Sadly, I never got to coordinate the lights, maze layout and food sources, so that the critter activated/de-activated photocells connected to small tone generators and create a tune.

I'm still hoping that Slimy will eventually break out of the garbage bag that he was so callously consigned to, and I find him one day on my doorstep, wagging his little tentacles.

The Enb.
 
TIL that both my eBook reader and my phone use Micro-USB cables. This means I don't have to keep messing around with two separate cables. :)
 
The Atlantic said:
US Ambassador Politely Asks UN Colleagues to Stop Showing Up Drunk to Meetings
The United Nations is a pretty fun place. The headquarters hosts all kinds of cultural events. Everyone's open-minded about the dress code. Delegates can even show up hammered to budget negotiations. Or at least they used to be able to.

At a General Assembly budget committee meeting on Monday, the United States ambassador for management and reform at the UN stood up to scold his colleagues for always showing up drunk to negotiations. said Joseph "The Fun Police" Torsella. "We make the modest proposal that the negotiating rooms should in future be an inebriation-free zone." While my government is truly grateful for the strategic opportunities presented by some recent past practices, let's save the champagne for toasting the successful end of the session, and do some credit to the Fifth Committee’s reputation in the process."

This is apparently not a new problem. The budget committee meetings tend to run late into the night at this time of year, as delegates struggle to meet deadlines. Some diplomats spoke up after Torsella's very public shaming and said it's not uncommon for delegates to show up visibly drunk to negotiations. We're not talking about cheerful, oops-I-had-a-glass-of-chardonnay-at-dinner drunk either. "There has always been a good and responsible tradition of a bit of alcohol improving a negotiation, but we're not talking about a delegate having a nip at the bar," one unnamed diplomat told the press, mentioning one incident where a delegate got so hammered that he barfed, though it's unclear where. Another explained, "On one occasion the note-taker who was meant to be recording the talks was so intoxicated he had to be replaced." One more unnamed diplomat said that delegates were showing up "falling down drunk."

What's sort of silly about Torsella politely asking these leaders of the world to show up sober to work is the simple fact that's it's just a request. It's not like the US ambassador can dissolve the committee due to misbehavior, though he did say "we will respond accordingly" if the party animals can't clean up their acts.

On that note, leave it to the country with the high drinking age and fewest vacation days to tell other countries how to get stuff done. Like Torsella said, a couple drinks can really take the edge off of tense negotiations, and everybody knows it. Heck, the Houses of Parliament in London is home to several pubs and bars.
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https://www.theatlantic.com/interna...olleagues-stop-showing-drunk-meetings/317698/

It's an older article, but still gave me a laugh. Also, its the 5th Committee of the United Nations, the budget committee. No surprise that a stiff drink is needed to get the willpower to even attend the meeting.
 
Ajidica said:
its the 5th Committee of the United Nations, the budget committee. No surprise that a stiff drink is needed to get the willpower to even attend the meeting.
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It's their job to get the UN's No. 1 debtor, the US, to pay its back dies. Good luck with that/
 
Today I learned to not take ibuprofen if you are allergic to ibuprofen. That's what the "consumer information" paper that came along in the box said. :crazyeye:
 
aimeeandbeatles said:
Today I learned to not take ibuprofen if you are allergic to ibuprofen. That's what the "consumer information" paper that came along in the box said. :crazyeye:
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Yeah, kinda like I was trying to explain to nurses and other people why I'm not taking one of the most commonly-prescribed drugs for people in my situation. When you keep throwing it up and it causes pain at the level of a full-blown gall bladder attack (an actual gall bladder attack lasts for hours; the pain from this medication lasted for days), it's probably not a good idea to keep taking it. When they persisted in telling me I should take it anyway(!), I pointed out that if I couldn't keep it down and no, it wasn't really a gall bladder attack because I had mine removed nearly 20 years ago, then subjecting myself to this torture wouldn't benefit me in any way whatsoever.

At least my doctor understood that. Unfortunately I'm not covered for the more expensive option.
 
Zkribbler said:
I salute anyone who puts themself through the grind of getting a PhD. :whipped:
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If it proved anything beyond willingness to spend the time and ability to spend the money involved in staying in school that long I might too. Unfortunately...
 
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