Please check this out on YouTube, it's just so wonderful:

YouTube: A Protein Synthesis Primer

This is a 1971 film of a dance illustrating protein synthesis, with an introductory chalkboard explanation.  (Keep watching you attention deficit folks, the dance kicks in at around 3 minutes.)  (Hat tip to JWZ's Blog.)

Yeah, it's completely hilarious.  'One of the funniest things I've ever seen.  But there's more going on here...

This is an vivid account of a slice of American youth culture in 1971.  The performance mixes science, poetry, dance and music, and is filled with joy.  It's a celebration of hard science recognizing one of the major engines of life, as well as a celebration of life itself, performed with optimism and fun.

(Hah!  And you thought it was just a bunch of hippies rolling around in the grass.)

Now, you can chalk this up as an old fart defending his formative years, sure (I turned 14 in 1971), but the point still stands.  You don't see stuff like this nowadays.

"tRNA!  Wooo!"

'Been slacking for a bit... I'm back now.

Two notes on the recent elections:

"I, for one, welcome our new democratic overlords."

Nancy Pelosi on Saturday Night Live
(This sketch is just so amazing, and Kristen Wiig nails it perfectly.  It's hard to tell with the reduced resolution here but there's this creepy glare she does with her eyes at certain points.)

(The SNL clip showed up on YouTube soon after the show aired, but was quickly pulled.  A bunch of idiots whined about YouTube in the usual places, but they don't understand that the clip was pulled for copyright reasons.  Then other idiots whined about NBC, but they don't understand that NBC is pretty much required to police their material or lose the copyright.  Of course, if NBC was smart they would make this available on their web site.  Anyway, I've since found another place that has the clip.)

Seen on the drive into work this morning: There's a new Fuel Cell Powered Bus running route 22 (from the Menlo Park train station toEastridge Shopping Center in San Jose). Very cool!

Santa Clara Valley Tranportation Authority Zero-Emission Bus Demonstration Program
California Fuel Cell Partnership
How a Fuel Cell Works

(Sorry, no photo.  I wasn't quick enough with the cell phone.)