WOW!!! CSI Get's Freaky!!

Just sitting around reading papers for Plant Development and watching a little CSI on Spike...."Fur and Loathing" - what a weird episode. Basic premise of one of the two story lines is to understand why a guy in a full body racoon suit was walking across a highway and got hit by a car. The CSIers just brought in a 'cat' in bra and panties (a guy in a blue furry cat suit - head and all!) who has apparently had 'skirtchy' with the racoon. Definition of skirtchy: animal forplay, essentially. Needless to say the CSI crew turned on the UV lamps to check out the cat suit and surprise, surprise...yup fluorescent haploid DNA. Boy what a weird episode. Makes all of our lives look down right tame, normal and dare I say quite forgetable! Alright, commercial is over...gotta go see why grown men dress up in animal suits to rub up against eachother...

Recent visitor

Thanks to everyone for their participation and enthusiasm during the recent visit by Winslow Briggs. For my part, I can honestly say getting to meet the man was quite an experience and honor. I sincerely hope I have a chance to see him again!

Thanks all!
-B

The Lab "Curse" Lives!!!

A little birdie tells me that the "bad water" in the lab continues to be a problem - with the birth of Bethany's son this past Halloween we thought that the lab we free of fetal development...NOPE. Apparently one of our "extended" family (a former student) is currently "with child" (since Nov). So he "curse" continues...this makes a solid 8 years with no period of rest for the wicked!!

Who's NEXT???? Be afraid, be very afraid!!

Resumption of Lab Meeting - THIS WEEK!

All, despite my current level of 'brain melt' I am experiencing this semester I believe the time is due to resume regular lab meetings - most of the recruitment stuff is done or near done and thus I can attend again.

Time: Noon, Friday 3 Mar
Place: 372 CSBLSF

B and Ullas will be discussing BRET stuff.

Oh the Days of Yesteryear: Doughboy and Kitty-Litter

Just sitting in STL eating breakfast and preparing myself for a day of reading Life Sciences Fellowship nominations and waiting for Taylor's 2 dances in her dance competition - we have considerable waiting given that her dances are separated by other stuff by about 4 hrs!! Tom's recent post, and Renee's responses to them, reminded me that the past few years have been quite free of "oddities" for the lab. We've come along way sine the days of rotation students who "have tried it before" (the infamous cat scat eating confession) and feel that a PhD is about disappearing for a couple months to "go home to bake cookies with mom". Having said that we certainly have some good stories of our 'distant estanged relatives".

OK, better get runing to the competition venue for the long wait.

Something only Mannie and Renee will care about...

To think what could have been....I almost got some for free.
Anybody feel like tuna and tabasco cheese nips?
Rose Designs

My Childhood and the X-Files Collide

Well sitting here watching the X-Files and one of my favorite two-parters is on: "Tempus Fugit"/"Max". Within the first 5 minutes of the second part ("Max") Mulder and Scully visit Max's (a frequent abductee) trailer in Barnes Corners, NY - here's the connection to my childhood - NO NOT frequent alien abduction, although some would conclude that would explain a lot - rather Barnes Corners (the real town) is located 6 miles from my hometown of Copenhagen NY. Just a couple minutes ago Mulder was in the Syracuse airport (or the facimile in Vancouver BC where the X-Files was filmed). Pretty cool to see ones childhood haunts depicted on TV in owns favorite show. It's been a long time since I've seen these episodes - not only do they remind me of home (NO not space) but they are killer episodes (and not for the plane crash at the heart of the story).

OK, back to the show and off the computer. Thought we needed an update to the blog...apparently everyone is so busy that they've had no time. Leave to the one who does the least in the lab (me) to post now!!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Cheers today to Jo for proposing a great idea of getting together this Friday after work to celebrate just being a lab. What a nice idea, especially this week! Please count me in and thanks again to you Jo. Yes, we heard you...


Hey... who can fill that last spot on the Liscum Laneconquerors (or Laneconquistadors as I prefer) this year? The day of our triumph (2/17/06, high noon) draws near and the team needs one more person. Do you think you can outbowl those departmental secretaries or that pesky history department? Please do volunteer.

Will Liscum make it? We missed him on the 2004 and 2005 teams.

Too busy with lab drama to post???

OK - I admit - I've been lurking. Trying desperately to keep up with the lab, but since I'm not an X-Files fan, don't have much to add comment-wise. So for those of us who need a Liscum Lab fix - more posts please..........

Anyhow - life here on Wisteria Lane is uneventful. Both of the F1s have been sick off and on for over a week - we had to take Abby into be tested for whooping cough (still waiting on test results, but I don't think she has it) and Ethan has been running a fever since Saturday. I'm about ready to disinfect the house with chlorox!

That's about the exciting news here - see why I need a lab fix??

Blog Going the Way of the Newsletter?

It's been ohhhh soooo quiet recently. Apparently I'm the only one with free time on my hands at 2 am....well just getting ready to hit the hay and thought I'd see if anyone has been on...nope, nadda, no one, not a sole.....quiet, silence, no news.

Here's to waiting for some more posts....

New Study: Auxins Do Not Relieve Nasal and Sinus Congestion Resulting from the Common Cold

UPI (12:43 AM EST) - A researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia has reported that the plant morphogen auxin (chemical identity; indole-3-acetic acid) can now be conclusively removed from any list that it might be on as a possible cure or relief for nasal and sinus congestion resulting from the "common cold". Professor N. O. Sheet told reporters, "I thought it might be worth finally putting to rest an idea, kicked around for a couple of decades in select circles, that the simple phytochemical and plant hormone auxin might hold the cure to the common cold." Prof. Sheet said, "I recently caught a nasty cold and my head felt just congested enough to do some tests...I wasn't surprised at the finding. I read several scientific papers devoted entirely to the role of auxin in axis formation during embryogenesis, but it did absolutely nothing for my pounding head. If anything my head felt more like an explosion waiting to happen after the tests than before, although I don't have any statistics to support this contention." If Prof. Sheet's findings hold up to the scrutinity of the scientific community it is nearly certain that his chances of wining one of the top prizes in science will continue to elude him.

Gone With The War of the Coprophages

Sitting here watching an awesome episode of the X-File (The War of the Coprophages) about killer roaches from space - this is the one with "Bambi" the entomologist hottie - another sexy scientist to add to the list - and thought I'd add a post.

Well we had our run on the F1000 Top 10 Plant Biology papers list, as of today we got bumped off. In an ironic twist we got bumped by a paper I reviewed for F1000 on BTB proteins that was on the Top 10 Hidden Jewels and is now also on the Top 10 Plant Biology papers.

Time to get cracking on the next paper - I like being on these lists!!!!

Sweat dreams all.

Hanging On By Our Fingertips!

Well we've slipped to #10 on the F1000 Top 10 Viewed in Plant Biology:

F1000 Top 10 Viewed in Plant Bio

...but we're still hanging on...how much longer????

X-Files - A New Way to Lose Weight

Apparently one needs just find a find devouring mutant to date to lose SERIOUS weight! The present X-Files on tonight (2SHY) is one about a serial killer who uses digestive enzyme excretions to "devour" his fatty victims!! Only drawback - you don't survive this little proceedure, pretty effective though at removing weight.

Creepy scene...the killer was just having correspondance with his soon to be next victim (e-dating) and the camera panned up to show him licking his lips...what a stylistic touch. The X-files was classic when it was good.

OK, time to read something fun for a few minutes before bed (I'm feeling completely wiped out tonight - I think everythings catching up with this old body) since I've been working all night on my discussion for tomorrow's Plant Development class.

Trivia of the day (night): What was Shaggy's (from Scooby Doo) family name?

No Mark Estelle visit

According to Elizabeth Rogers, who I just spoke with, Mark Estelle will not be coming to campus for a seminar tomorrow and will thus not be meeting with our lab. Apparently his wife sustained an injury and he feels it would be better for him to stay home.

Just thought I'd pass this along...
-B

Starting that next trip around the sun

Well the birthday festivities are finally over and I can get back to work today to get ready for a very busy week.

Thanks to everyone who came out with me to Hooters on Friday, I appreciate the appearances very much. It was really nice to be surrounded by my friends from work at the beginning of this birthday weekend. We all had a good time including watching me fail at the hula-hoop. I include some of the much requested (including the hula-hoop episode) photos below.

Yesterday, I drove out to Lawrence to see Jason, Kelli and the new baby (see photo below). They are doing very well in their new place and getting settled in for a long semester (Jason's is just getting started next week I guess). Kelli will remain on maternity leave until early March when she has to go on the conference circuit, start writing up her data for publication and go through the comps. We shared a nice dinner in KC before I headed back to Columbia. I hope I'll have a chance to see them again very soon.

All right so much to catch up on, and so little time to do it.

Have a great Sunday everyone!
-B

Recovery Time!

Well no news from B today so I guess he's still go that goofy grin on his face from last night!! Actually I know he's on the road to visit Jason and Kelly (and baby). I hope Jo get's the Hooters pics up soon and they aren't obscured by fake boobies.

Remember all - we have a lab time with Mark Estelle on Monday (he's the IPG speaker this coming week).

BTW, the PNAS paper is holding on to the #6 position on the F1000 Top 10 in Plant Biology list:

F1000 Top 10 Viewed in Plant Bio

NaCl & Latex - Did You Know You Can Find It In Great Concentrations in Columbia Outside the University?

Well tonight was our lab outing and like any good field trip - and yes even Renee will agree that this now constitutes a "science field trip" - I learned something new. I learned that one can find high concentrations of NaCl and latex in at least one place in Columbia that is not a University - Hooters!! I swear every waitress there was carrying at least a quart-n-half of NaCl and four good large gloves worth of latex!!

Beyond the learning experience I think everyone had a good time - I gotta give it to B and Jo, the wings are pretty good. While the hottest ones were best the milder ones had good flavor. B got a special "gift" for his B day, although I don't think it's what any of us expected - he got to hula-hop with the Hooter girls encouraging him on - they didn't partake in anyway - I venture to say B felt a little ripped off but I gotta say everyone else got their money's worth of the "Latino 2D Torso Shimmy" - I gotta get Taylor to give B hula-hop lessons.

Here's to modern cosmetics!

BTW, if you're familiar with the Howard Stern show you're familiar with the term "But-er-face", I think it's fair to say a lot of the Hooters girls have that syndrome - apparently they ran out of $ after the gloves and NaCl solutions!

Hoooo-De-Hooooooooo....

Well I think B is shaking with pure adrenalin-driven excitement today. Our long awaited (for B anyhow) venture to the new Columbia Hooters is nearly upon us. We should all take this as an opportunity to visualize the male of our species in a long lost jungle stalking habitat where bagging a mate was paramount to everything aside from eating (the latter of which is apparently easier to do at Hooters than bagging a mate!). Hmmmm, this seems like a science field trip to me...

Ready or not...

Just a reminder to all attentive readers of this blog eager for news about my birthday celebration (9th anniversary of my 18th birthday) at Hooters. I'm going to go forward with plans as they are despite some likely (though not confirmed) cancellations since rescheduling is a bigger pain. I will send out an e-mail to folks currently working in the lab as a reminder as well. All the fun will start at 5:30 PM though I'm going to get there around 5 PM to try and get a good table. If you're in Columbia and would like to come, please e-mail me (brc4yd@mizzou.edu) so I can get a bigger table. Currently, I'm planning on 6-9 people coming.

Take care all!
-B