Hot Mulled Cider + Futuremug = Very yes

If you're an interwebs nerd (and let's face it: you're reading a blog, so chances are pretty good) or simply like to keep up with breaking science news, you may have heard that the astrobiologists down at NASA-Ames (exobiologists? At one point they changed the technical name of the department and since then I've been confused about which title I should use. Let's go with astrobiologists because 1)It sounds cooler, & 2)That's what their website uses) discovered some insane crazy awesome bacteria that can actually use arsenic (As) as a complete substitute for phosphorous (P). You may be thinking "so?" but trust me when I say this is insane. INSANE I tell you!!! The DNA, RNA, and primary energy molecules (ATP) of EVERY SINGLE LIFE FORM ON EARTH are built using P.
It's kind of funny that this announcement occurred yesterday because even though I'd totally forgotten that they were going to be making some announcement I'd been thinking about the astrobiology department quite frequently for the past several days.  You may remember that yesterday's blog post touched on the hypothetical situation of being stuck in an elevator.  That topic comes up not infrequently in my life (usually it doesn't involve the serious WTF bit) and every single time it does, I think about the elevator in building 239 on the Moffett campus. I don't know if it's been worked on since I interned there (it's been at least 5 years or so), but given the amount of money NASA tends to get I highly doubt it. This elevator liked to go a little past the floor you had pressed, then kind of drop/clunk down three or five inches so you were (pretty) level with the floor when the doors opened. It also made strange clunking sounds in general. I always considered it a bit of a gamble whether the doors were actually going to open and thus any time I imagine getting stuck in an elevator, it's that one. I tended to use the stairs. 
You may be thinking, "My god! What an unsafe work environment!" to which I would respond, "Hey, at least we didn't have Legionnaires disease in our air system like Building 19 did!" 


I found it amusing that the San Jose Mercury News had the article about this crazy ground breaking scientific discovery of bacteria unlike anything we've ever seen (the arsenic ones, not the Legionella) in the "Local News" section.

By the way, sadly we did not get to exhume the raccoon today because, um, we couldn't find it. Not only did they cut down the tree we buried it next to and take away the marker stake we'd put on the site, but they dumped all the debris from grinding down the stump RIGHT ON TOP of exactly the area we knew the grave was in. After entirely too much shoveling we concluded that although it broke our hearts to admit defeat, if Admin really wants the raccoon out of there they can go fucking find it because we sure as shit couldn't. So no moldering raccoon for me. My heart is a little bit broken.  On the upside I will be taking so much Anthro next term and I'm super excited for it. Speaking of which, I need to go do that paper for my class. Shut up, you! It will get done!

Be Seeing You 

Boil Update:
You know how in the one episode of South Park they have the counter for the number of times they've said "shit"? I kind of wish I had one of those for the number of times I've used some variation of the word "suppuration" in my Boil Updates. What is it about pus that's so friggin gross? It's bad enough when it doesn't smell, and when it does..well...like I said: no one wants to smell themselves rotting. I tend to avoid using anti-biotics whenever possible, but I finally went out and bought some Neosporin for my burn because I wasn't a fan of having to drain out the build-up under my bandage several times a day. I put the Neosporin and Tegaderm on there this afternoon, and it looks like it has already cleared up. Win.