Pictures of Words

One of the main reasons that I highly enjoy learning Chinese characters is that each character is a picture of a word...or an idea (the term for these is thus ideogram). Moreover, these ideograms are of great assistance in remembering things like Trichothecenes, an immunosuppressive mycotoxin that seemed to have its heyday in the Soviet days when it was used in biochemical warfare.

The Chinese translation (traditional characters) is:

單端孢霉烯類毒素

單 single (individual) + 端 end/beginning (extreme) + 孢 spore + 霉 mold + 烯 alkene + 類 type + 毒 poison + 素 normal/origin


The important structural "side chain" mentioned in the article

Mycotoxins are toxins derived from fungi (e.g. mold)

Structurally, trichothecenes are classified as alkenes [C_nH_2n]

Well, it is a toxin

Being an owner of the cutest rabbit on Earth, it is good to know about Myxomatosis...for the times when I go to Europe or South America.

Actually, I came to know about Myxomatosis through a website that discusses customs of various countries pertaining to rabbits. On this site, it said that rabbits having been vaccinated against Myxomatosis were not allowed to enter the United States. That may have been a tidbit of misinformation on their part, but I find the illegality of vaccinated rabbit importation absurd.

Playing Mortal Kombat a few years ago, I found one of the many martial art styles interesting, mostly because of the name, which has such a graceful sound to it. It is unsurprising that the martial art itself, called Piguaquan (劈挂拳), actually is a martial art comprising graceful yet swift form and movement. It originated in Hebei, but its name has spread to such places as Taiwan. Unfortunately (or fortunately), most instructional guides are in Chinese.

Neptune, one of the few things that is more inaccessible than the land of Juche: North Korea.

Introduction

This is for anyone who's a fan of gratuitous, encyclopedic knowledge--even if the accuracy of these highly open-source internet encyclopedias may be 50% ± 50 %.

Though there are many other e-encyclopedias on the intarnetz, Wikipedia surely seems to be the encyclopedia of choice for most. You won't be ostracized and subsequently banished from the blog (the latter of which wouldn't be possible without denying access to curious e-wayfarers) if you post links to articles whose source isn't Wikipedia, but be not alarmed if and/or when you are the sole non-Wikipedia linker. After all, the title is En.Wikipedia Cyan.