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Comments

Entertaining and informative read. This is another reason I love this blog! Thanks so much, and Happy Margarita Day :D

Ahhhhh! DNA is made up of nitrogenous bases linked with the sugar-phosphate backbone! Proteins are made of amino acids!

Sorry for the exclamation points but I work in biochemistry and this is pretty central to what I do. Otherwise great post!

Very neat stuff! Boy are dog breeds weird. Hope you don't mind another biological nitpick, in addition to nfs's correction:

Alleles are the specific varieties that a gene can come in. A gene is something like "eye color." An allele of that gene would be "blue" or "brown." The blue allele is recessive, so if you inherit a blue allele from one parent and a brown allele from the other, you will have brown eyes. It's not really right to say that alleles are the variations within a single organism that result from copying error--they're the variations that exist throughout a population of individuals, and they may have originated in a number of different ways. The microsatellite diagram shows three alleles. (And the SNPs, like all DNA, are chains of nucleotides, not amino acids.)

I love the image of a pug herding gerbils. =)

Shane: I actually know better than that. I kept writing taurine instead of thymine, too. You are 100% right - I should have written nitrogenous bases, not amino acids. I apparently have bodybuilding on my mind. But the backbone is sugar phosphate, right?
The hazards of venturing far afield from one's area of expertise - I really appreciate your taking the time to correct my sophomore error! Thank you!

@Shane: Sugar and phosphate, I meant.

Er...I don't wish to contradict you on your own blog, 'cause I think you're much smarter and better educated than I am. But...Dachshunds are indeed a type of hound. They were bred to hunt badgers, and the AKC classifies them in the Hound Group. So that's probably where Darwin's "hound" look comes from.

Danna: FYI, I'm the blue-eyed child of a person with blue eyes and one with hazel eyes (my mom.) My mom says she thinks one of her grandmothers have blue eyes, so there could be a funky blue eye gene there somewhere. I also have hazel coloring around my pupils. Pretty sure I'm not adopted because the blood types work (me, mom, & dad all O-), and I look a lot like my mom.

Susan, you are 100% right and I can't explain why I wrote that other than trying to keep up regular entries with two different blogs and buying a house/arranging to move next month is making me just a little more absent-minded than I usually am. I got out of the shower this morning and got dressed and then realized I hadn't rinsed the conditioner out of my hair. We call them my "administrator moments".

The ironic thing is that Darwin is afraid of Dachshunds. He got bit by one when he was young and, although he absolutely loves small dogs, he won't go near anything that looks like a Dachshund.

No prob. Good luck with the house purchase. Been there, done that. I've also done the conditioner thing although I didn't get dressed. At least you remembered the conditioner.

Oh, when you move in, remember to have your locks re-keyed - unless it's a new house. Otherwise, no telling who might have keys. It doesn't cost much.

That chart says pugs are hunting dogs rather than herding dogs. But as a friend of mine pointed out, he can't work out which of these improbable classifications is funnier...

Good job on the detailed post on dogs!

I really enjoyed the reading the post!. Keep up the good job on your site! Thanks for sharing! Bookmark for future reference!

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    Physics Cocktails

    • Heavy G
      The perfect pick-me-up when gravity gets you down.
      2 oz Tequila
      2 oz Triple sec
      2 oz Rose's sweetened lime juice
      7-Up or Sprite
      Mix tequila, triple sec and lime juice in a shaker and pour into a margarita glass. (Salted rim and ice are optional.) Top off with 7-Up/Sprite and let the weight of the world lift off your shoulders.
    • Listening to the Drums of Feynman
      The perfect nightcap after a long day struggling with QED equations.
      1 oz dark rum
      1/2 oz light rum
      1 oz Tia Maria
      2 oz light cream
      Crushed ice
      1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
      In a shaker half-filled with ice, combine the dark and light rum, Tia Maria, and cream. Shake well. Strain into an old fashioned glass almost filled with crushed ice. Dust with the nutmeg, and serve. Bongos optional.
    • Combustible Edison
      Electrify your friends with amazing pyrotechnics!
      2 oz brandy
      1 oz Campari
      1 oz fresh lemon juice
      Combine Campari and lemon juice in shaker filled with cracked ice. Shake and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Heat brandy in chafing dish, then ignite and pour into glass. Cocktail Go BOOM! Plus, Fire = Pretty!
    • Hiroshima Bomber
      Dr. Strangelove's drink of choice.
      3/4 Triple sec
      1/4 oz Bailey's Irish Cream
      2-3 drops Grenadine
      Fill shot glass 3/4 with Triple Sec. Layer Bailey's on top. Drop Grenadine in center of shot; it should billow up like a mushroom cloud. Remember to "duck and cover."
    • Mad Scientist
      Any mad scientist will tell you that flames make drinking more fun. What good is science if no one gets hurt?
      1 oz Midori melon liqueur
      1-1/2 oz sour mix
      1 splash soda water
      151 proof rum
      Mix melon liqueur, sour mix and soda water with ice in shaker. Shake and strain into martini glass. Top with rum and ignite. Try to take over the world.
    • Laser Beam
      Warning: may result in amplified stimulated emission.
      1 oz Southern Comfort
      1/2 oz Amaretto
      1/2 oz sloe gin
      1/2 oz vodka
      1/2 oz Triple sec
      7 oz orange juice
      Combine all liquor in a full glass of ice. Shake well. Garnish with orange and cherry. Serve to attractive target of choice.
    • Quantum Theory
      Guaranteed to collapse your wave function:
      3/4 oz Rum
      1/2 oz Strega
      1/4 oz Grand Marnier
      2 oz Pineapple juice
      Fill with Sweet and sour
      Pour rum, strega and Grand Marnier into a collins glass. Add pineapple and fill with sweet and sour. Sip until all the day's super-positioned states disappear.
    • The Black Hole
      So called because after one of these, you have already passed the event horizon of inebriation.
      1 oz. Kahlua
      1 oz. vodka
      .5 oz. Cointreau or Triple Sec
      .5 oz. dark rum
      .5 oz. Amaretto
      Pour into an old-fashioned glass over (scant) ice. Stir gently. Watch time slow.