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- New Thing Learned for 30 April: Researchers are considering the "jungle rot" fungus, T. reesei, as a potential catalyst for the production of cellulosic ethanol. Anybody else seeing a potential grey goo scenario here...? [Source: salon.com.]
- New Thing Learned for 1 May: The forehead feathers of the basic-issue green-and-yellow budgie fluoresce under a blacklight. Dude, I'm so totally wearing some parakeets to the next rave. [Source: the Most Extreme, "Nightlights".]
- New Thing Learned for 2 May: The phrase "cut to the chase" originates in early filmmaking practices, when an editor faced with a sequence that wasn't working would be told to dispense with that silly storytelling crap and, literally, cut to the chase scene. Completely obvious in retrospect, but as with most idioms, the very familiarity of it means that it rarely occurs to one to think about its origins. [Source: Bambi vs. Godzilla : on the nature, purpose, and practice of the movie business, David Mamet.]
The lavender is in the ground, and has probably already perished of the cold. Ah, springtime in Chicago.