Word of the Day
Opossum
Etymology: Virginia Algonquian, literally, "white animal"
Date: 1610
1 : any of a family (Didelphidae) of American marsupials that usually have a pointed snout and prehensile tail; especially: a common omnivorous largely nocturnal and arboreal mammal (Didelphis virginiana) of No. America having grayish to blackish fur with white on the cheeks
2: the animal that I saw in a tree outside my front door 3 minutes ago while taking out the trash
This squirrel-like animal was slowly slinking up a tree branch, but something about it's movement caught my attention. It was decidedly unsquirrel-like for several reasons: I usually don't see squirrels at 11:45 PM, this thing looked larger than a squirrel, this thing was moving slower than a squirrel, and I thought I saw a pink tail. Upon further inspection, I found a very cute opossum staring down at me from a nook between two branches. It just stared at me with its beady eyes, and I just stared at it with my beady eyes. As soon as I turned away, it turned away. As soon as I turned back, it immediately laid eyes on me again. It was cute, but rabies are decidedly non-cute; I kept my distance and came inside.
Today was much like a weekday for me, as I went into the lab and spent most of the day working on the Results section of my paper. I'm getting some really fascinating results that seem to suggest an effect that is the exact opposite of what's been reported for other organisms. We're hoping to submit our finished product to Nature Genetics, which prides itself as the #1 journal of the 120 genetics and heredity journals currently "on the market," so to speak. I don't think our paper will be accepted there, but it's good to aim high and lower your expectations from there. Maybe we'll get lucky... Tomorrow will be much the same as today.
Here's a talented opossum, but his pink limbs creep me out.
Etymology: Virginia Algonquian, literally, "white animal"
Date: 1610
1 : any of a family (Didelphidae) of American marsupials that usually have a pointed snout and prehensile tail; especially: a common omnivorous largely nocturnal and arboreal mammal (Didelphis virginiana) of No. America having grayish to blackish fur with white on the cheeks
2: the animal that I saw in a tree outside my front door 3 minutes ago while taking out the trash
This squirrel-like animal was slowly slinking up a tree branch, but something about it's movement caught my attention. It was decidedly unsquirrel-like for several reasons: I usually don't see squirrels at 11:45 PM, this thing looked larger than a squirrel, this thing was moving slower than a squirrel, and I thought I saw a pink tail. Upon further inspection, I found a very cute opossum staring down at me from a nook between two branches. It just stared at me with its beady eyes, and I just stared at it with my beady eyes. As soon as I turned away, it turned away. As soon as I turned back, it immediately laid eyes on me again. It was cute, but rabies are decidedly non-cute; I kept my distance and came inside.
Today was much like a weekday for me, as I went into the lab and spent most of the day working on the Results section of my paper. I'm getting some really fascinating results that seem to suggest an effect that is the exact opposite of what's been reported for other organisms. We're hoping to submit our finished product to Nature Genetics, which prides itself as the #1 journal of the 120 genetics and heredity journals currently "on the market," so to speak. I don't think our paper will be accepted there, but it's good to aim high and lower your expectations from there. Maybe we'll get lucky... Tomorrow will be much the same as today.
Here's a talented opossum, but his pink limbs creep me out.
This guy's cuter, but his tail creeps me out.
These guys creep me out the most.
Music of the Moment: "Mother and Child Reunion" covered by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
posted by Yours Truly at 8:46 PM
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