Massive Member

Working in a biology lab is great fun. Although there are many rules to work with vertebrate animals, each standard has been thought through very carefully to consider the ethics of each action. In a mouse lab, we take very good care of the mice, making sure that their bellies are full of food, that any pain they experience is minimal, and that they can enjoy the company of mice of the opposite sex (or same, whatever fills their balloon).

Well, a new male was born in my old lab that seems to have all the female mice crowding just to get a better look ... ok, even the male mice (especially some fabulous ones) are also clamoring to glimpse this biological phenomenon. After years of working in a lab, I have seen mice born with extra toes, extra fingers, split tails, six legs, testicles with tumors that take up the entire peritoneal body cavity, massive spleens, and even two heads. But even *I* had never seen this before.

Males used for breeding purposes in a mouse colony are called 'studs'. This little guy brings a whole new meaning to that word - I'm sure he will be able to fulfill his post well:

Sorry I don't have a control picture to place beside this one to clarify for anyone who is unfamiliar with mouse work. For those of you who may not get it, this male has quite a massive phallus - in fact, it's close to an order of magnitude longer than a normal mouse phallus at his age (~7-10 days old). See the big pendulous member between his hind legs? That's not a double tail, that's his lady-pleaser.

Well, we'll see what the ladies think. I'm hoping he will be used for breeding purposes if possible, but if the mechanics don't look like a good prospect, well, he'll have to live with a bunch of males ... maybe there'll be a cohort in his cage that will be happy about that.

Microscopic Porn

I start my new post-doc on Wednesday. Yay! I hope the people in lab will be nice and fun.

I already miss my friends back in Durham. One of my buddies insisted that he missed me so much he started seeing signs that reminded him of me during his late night studies in the microscope room. He sent me this picture of some cells he's been studying in culture:

The name of this particular cell line? RAW. The name of the cell line is RAW.

I love my friends.

A History of God

OK - trying to get back into the blogging world. Just published a new post over at Pascal's Bettors. It's about Karen Armstrong's book, "A History of God". Check it out. I'll be back with more stuff here soon.

Happy Sunday!

Crossing the Continent to the Left Coast (Part VII)

Nevada is almost as beautiful as Utah (well, the northern part at least). The drive has been amazing and the mountain are majestic ... And annoying to drive over sometimes.

We made it to Reno and dad pointed out the historic whorehouse "Mustang Ranch". When asked how he knew about it, he said tv and friends ... Riiiight.

Actually, that is right. Dad watches lots of tv and has some risqué friends.

We're almost to California - yay!

Crossing the Continent to the Left Coast (Part VI)

After 828 miles of Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada we are stopping for the night. I can tell you that my favorite state for scenery thus far is Utah.

The tiny pictures above do not do it justice. The first was taken after entering Utah from the desolate, barren Wyoming. Green was nice to see on the hill sides, and going downhill was a big plus too. The view on I-80 up to Salt Lake City was simply amazing. Then, we travelled through the salt flats of Utah. AMAZING. We had our first bit of rain over the approximate 100 miles of salt. Is this where Mormons search for souls? Maybe they take non-Mormons, give them some salt from here on their food, and it magically converts them. Or maybe it's what makes their women so fertile to grow the religion.

Either way, I'm pooped for the night. On to Reno and then San Francisco tomorrow!

Crossing the Continent to the Left Coast (Part V)

Wyoming. Is. Big. After 180 miles of Nebraska to finish we took on all 400 miles of Wyoming. It is reported to be the least populated state - I have no trouble believing that at all. Trouble is, there's not a lot of different stuff to see, and what little there is is not green.

But we escaped to the utopic Utah! Mote on that soon.

Crossing the Continent to the Left Coast (Part IV)

Renewable energy anyone? Wyoming has brought lots of windmills and cattle ranches thus far ... as well as a transmission fluid pressure leak :-/ Dad and I are proceeding with caution and will let you know what's up after getting through Laramie - hopefully there will be no gay bashing while I'm visiting.

Crossing the Continent to the Left Coast! (Part III)

Almost ready to stop driving for day two. We've made it through indiana, Illinois, Missouri, a tiny bit of Iowa, and a hell of a lot of corn fields in Nebraska. Much of our scenery today can be summarized in the above picture.

After 860 miles today and a total of 1528 miles thus far, we have gone past the halfway point to the west coast. We will drive I-80 directly into San Francisco two days from now. Tomorrow will bring the Rocky Mountains so be on the lookout for some great pictures.

Happy cornhusking!

Crossing the Continent to the Left Coast! (Part II)

We recently crossed the mighty Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri. Dad caught a picture of the gateway arch (above).

We're well on our way to Kansas City now and hope to eat some lunch on the way. Remember to visit my facebook page and see all the churches I've "checked in" at and blasphemed with my prsence on my way to the coastal city of Sodom, er, San Francisco.

Good afternoon from west of the Mississippi!

Crossing the Continent to the Left Coast! (Part I)

Well, I got a job in San Francisco - godless, gay, liberal Mecca, BUT home to MUCH woo-woo that I'm sure you will hear about on my blog.

I'm currently crossing the country, driving the I-80 route with my dad towing many of my possessions in a 6'x12' U-Haul trailer. It's been a pretty smooth ride so far. We started in Nashville, NC and left around 8:30AM yesterday. After traveling down I-40 to Winston Salem we caught 52 North past Pilot Mountain into Virgina, then West Virginia (onto I-77 via I-74), hopping on to I-64 west at Charleston, entering Kentucky, and finally getting all the way to Ferdinand, Indiana. We're a few miles away from one of the largest water theme parks on the North American Continent called Holiday World - in fact, they have the longest water slide in the world (interestingly, after asking how long the slide must be to be the longest slide in the world, the hotel front desk worker responded that it is effectively "two minutes" long. I'm not an avid water slide lover, so I'm not exactly sure how long that is). The comfort Inn we're staying at is FULL of children age 2-12 and their parents who don't know how to make sure they behave.

I've been using the "check in" feature on Facebook mobile to let my friends know where I am throughout the day. I started checking in at local churches as we passed by, because I figured that you all might get a kick out of thinking that I'm stopping in to pay my "respects" or something.

We're on the edge of the time zone change and are up early to get on the road with some sunshine. We made it about 670 miles yesterday. I'll try to log on and let you know how we do today!

Talk to you again in another 700 miles or so :-)