I hate linguistic anthropology. Why? One of the most influential experiments in linguistic anthropology involved teaching a chimp asl. One of the most influential linguistics is named Noam Chomsky. You know what the chimp’s name was?
Nim Chimpsky.
Fucking monkey pun.
And this is in textbooks, in documentaries, everywhere. And everyone just IGNORES THIS GOD AWFUL PUN cause of how important the experiment was. But
BUT LOOK AT THIS SHIT. FUCKING NIM CHIMPSKY. I HATE THIS WHOLE FIELD.
Its not just the linguistic anthropologists.
There’s a group of very important genes that determine if your body develops in the right shape/organization… they are called the hedgehog genes, because fruit fly geneticists are all ridiculous. The different hedgehog genes are all named after different hedgehogs. And then someone decided to get clever and name one “sonic hedgehog” because this is just what fruitfly geneticists do.
Well sonic hedgehog controls brain development, and now actual doctors are stuck in the position of explaining to grieving parents that their child’s lethal birth defects or life-threatening tumors are caused by a “sonic hedgehog mutation”.
And this is why no one will invite the fruit fly people to parties.
Biogeochemical scientists, upon discovering the complex mechanisms that govern the storage and use of molecular iron on our planet, decided to call this cycle “the ferrous wheel”. We groaned about that for at least five solid minutes.
The phenomenon of sneezing when exposed to sudden bright light is called an Autosomal-dominant Compelling Helio Opthalmic Outburst. ACHOO.
Half a byte of data is a nibble.
There was this guy called Edwin Southern who invented a new method of DNA sequence detection, so they called it the Southern Blot after him.
Then they named the three next methods Northern, Western and Eastern Blots. People laughed at it and all was fun and games.
But as always in science there are still new methods being discovered and now there are Southwestern and Northwestern and Far-Eastern and Far-Western Blots and everyone’s wondering when it’s going to stop.
This post keeps crossing my dash again and again, each time with more and more hilarity added on, so I decided to post it to facebook and tag a couple of researcher friends. This is the response I got within the space of 15 minutes:
“There’s a protein out there by the name of Pikachurin, named so because it acts fast, lightning fast”
“hERG is short for human ether-a-go-go gene, and was named so because when flies with mutated hERG were anaesthetized with ether, their legs started to shake non-stop, not unlike the dance It’s important in drug discovery because compounds affecting hERG are badddd”
“There’s also a badass sounding protein called Son of Sevenless (SOS), named so because there’s another protein called Sevenless. There’s also another protein named Bride of Sevenless (BOSS)”
“I suddenly recall a gene by the name of Ken and Barbie, because mutations in that gene causes a lack of external genitalia, not unlike the groins of its namesake”
Private Mose Triplett was 19 when the Civil War ended in 1865. Later in life, he married a woman 50 years younger than him and, in 1930, they had a daughter Irene. Irene Triplett is now in her mid-eighties and gets a monthly benefit check from US Department of Veterans Affairs for her father’s service so many years before.
Eric Shinseki, the secretary of Veterans Affairs, often cites President Abraham Lincoln’s call, in his second inaugural address, for Americans “to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.”
“The promises of President Abraham Lincoln are being delivered, 150 years later, by President Barack Obama, ” Secretary Shinseki said in a speech last fall. “And the same will be true 100 years from now-the promises of this president will be delivered by a future president, as yet unborn.”
A declaration of war sets in motion expenditures that can span centuries, whether the veterans themselves were heroes, cowards or something in between.
This story is from 2014, but I looked for Triplett’s obituary and found nothing, so I’m assuming she’s still alive and collecting that pension. See also The Great Span. (via @mikekarlesky)
Oliver Wood was probably more excited than anyone else when the news came out that Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter were expecting a baby because DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH QUIDDITCH TALENT THAT CHILD HAS IN ITS GENES
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Tumblr: and now, everyone can see what you like too!!!! Isn’t it EXCITING?!?!?!?!
Me:
Me:
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Me: *whispers* where am I supposed to stuff all the fucked up smutty fanarts now
It occurs to me as I’m elbow-deep in editing this Mycroft/Lestrade story—and feeling that exquisite torment of loving this story, of being proud of it—that there are those who will never bother to read the thing simply because they can’t be bothered reading anything with the pairing. That gives me a sad. I wish I could convince them otherwise.
See, to me, there’s so much potential in these two. They’re visceral. They’re compelling. As someone who writes both, the problems, issues, and dynamics between Mycroft and Lestrade are just so different from those between John and Sherlock. There’s so much to explore between the two that isn’t often explored with John and Sherlock, or is explored in vastly different ways: Age. Experience. Interaction with work colleagues. The various manners in which they enact the business of caring for others. How the two must fight to fit a relationship between them into such busy, work-entrenched lives.
All pairings are different from one another, obviously. That’s the way of it. Well-written stories are the volatile combination of two or more characters, and that reaction is by definition going to be different with any other combination. However, I’ve talked to many people who have said, “oh, I read Johnlock, but I just don’t care about Mystrade.” And when I ask why, it turns out that they’ve built up this image of the pairing that may reflect the way Mycroft and Lestrade appear to be, but it doesn’t consider what happens beneath the surface when you put these two disparate elements in a room together, shake it up, and let it go.
It can be explosive. Illuminating. Rich. Satisfying. Real.
It can be a story of two men who have achieved within their own particular spheres negotiating how they interact with each other. Two men who have separate lives of their own who nevertheless decide to meet in the middle. Two men whose baggage doesn’t necessarily match, but they decide, regardless, to try.
The combination of Mycroft Holmes and Gregory Lestrade is so much more than the sum of its parts.
I admit, I didn’t get it at first. I read books, I wrote my own original pairings, I read and wrote Sherlock/John. My dance card was full up, I thought. I knew Mycroft/Lestrade existed, of course, but I just didn’t bother to get involved. Greg has silvering hair, and Mycroft carries an umbrella, and what else can there be between them? What more did I really need to know?
But then for some forgotten reason I read one of their stories, and all that changed. I read a story, and I finally understood that there was a there, there. I read a story, and all my barriers crumbled away into nothing the first time Greg made Mycroft smile. I fell in love.
If you’ve read good Mycroft/Lestrade and it’s not been your cup of tea, that’s one thing. I can understand that. But if you haven’t even tried any, if you’ve rejected them on spec, I just really wish I could convince you to give them a try.
I wonder if you wouldn’t fall just a bit in love, too.
I was just reminded of this piece, on the perfect day to put out a call. So to celebrate Mystrade Thursday, why not tell us all what you find so compelling about the combination of Mycroft/Lestrade? MYSTRADE LOVE FEST, GO
I love it for all the reasons you said. To me it can also be a mirror of the John/Sherlock relationship, but with a maturity and confidence that comes with being a little bit older and a little more settled in life.
I like the way that they can fit together, find common ground, explore things one or the other of them might not have considered. I like Greg drawing Mycroft out of his shell. I like Mycroft giving Greg the love and support that he deserves.
There’s lots of great stuff out there, Mydwynter and ChasingRiver and probably more that I’m not thinking of off the top of my head. DuchessCloverly for her amazing videos. (Of course I have my own on Janto321, MerHums and MerKat too)
