Did you know?
When a skeletal muscle contracts, an electrical impulse sent through axons causes the axon's synaptic vesicles to open.  This releases Acetylcholine, which crosses the synaptic cleft and is caught within receptor sites on the muscle.  This in turn causes calcium ions to be released from the sarcoplasmic reticulum.  These calcium ions ( Read more... )

Unicorns, tired
of galloping
and living in the stalls,
without a word
leapt into the ocean
and now are called narwhals.


( Read more... )

It's that time again-- BLOCK BREAK 5: The Reckoning.  Let's break down the numbers, shall we?

Destination: The San Juan river, Utah
Time: Left around noon on Wednesday, returned at 2:30 AM this morning
Nights on the river: 3
People: 8
Rafts: 2
Cheap wine: 3 glass jugs
Cheap tequila: 5 bottles
Weather: Blue skies and stary nights, except on the drive home.
( Read more... )

First block break: River rafting in Colorado
                                 +
Second block break: Canyoneering in Utah
                                 =
Fifth block break: A FREAKISH COMBINATION OF THE TWO???

Yup, tomorrow I'm off to go river rafting in Utah.  We wont be doing any white water, so it's not nearly as cold an experience as you'd think ( Read more... )

It is Snowinge Todaye.

I saw Michael Pollan speak the other day.  He's the author of a book called The Omnivore's Dilemma.  He's essentially the kind of person that scares me into realizing that mankind may very well self-destruct, but then gives me hope that mankind wont self-destruct.  His speech was excellent.  He focused on talking about: 1. The ( Read more... )

I've had a moment-- as I have these moments from time to time-- that has reminded me how necessary it is for me to be a positive force.  And I don't need to be a positive force only to help a world (and specifically, a generation: our generation) that is facing an ass load of negativity, but it's really just part of who I am as a person.  I've been ( Read more... )

Refrigerated Rebellion

Today, gentlemen,
it is not the skillet that shall snare the eggs,
BUT THE EGGS THAT SHALL INDEED SNARE THE SKILLET!
Today is our day of glory.
We shall stand, however wobbily,
but nonetheless intact,
as our mother egg intended.
By yolk of our souls,
WE SHELL (heh) BE VICTORIOUS!
Lieutenant Brown...
Begin the hardboiling.

Grass Dancing

"Perhaps dreaming is meditating before language existed.  Animals certainly dream." -Mary Oliver

The ox chewed.
And snorted.
And dreamed herself a ballerina,
nimble and light,
graceful enough
to make even the field grass envy her.
The ox plodded.
And grunted.
And dreamed that he loved her--
the swan who graced
the bend in the river nearby.
And ( Read more... )

Feng Shui Romantic

The drapery seduces the couch.
Grandma must've got it in India,
and while it seems hideous to think
of anything seducing anything
in Grandma's house--
the drapery seduces the couch,
in the way the breezes make it ripple
and tease the left arm
of this hapless peice of furniture-- a dull
green, much unlike
its red and auburn temptress.

I sip ( Read more... )

I wish.