Cannot resist posting this from Wired Discoveries
What is inside a cup of coffee?
Caffeine
This is why the world produces more than 16 billion pounds of coffee beans per year. It’s actually an alkaloid plant toxin (like nicotine and cocaine), a bug killer that stimulates us by blocking neuroreceptors for the sleep chemical adenosine. The result: you, awake.Water
Hot H2O is a super solvent, leaching flavors and oils out of the coffee bean. A good cup of joe is 98.75 percent water and 1.25 percent soluble plant matter. Caffeine is a diuretic, so coffee newbies pee out the water quickly; java junkies build up resistance.2-Ethylphenol
Creates a tarlike, medicinal odor in your morning wake-up. It’s also a component of cockroach alarm pheromones, chemical signals that warn the colony of danger.Quinic acid
Gives coffee its slightly sour flavor. On the plus side, it’s one of the starter chemicals in the formulation of Tamiflu.3,5 Dicaffeoylquinic acid
When scientists pretreat neurons with this acid in the lab, the cells are significantly (though not completely) protected from free-radical damage. Yup: Coffee is a good source of antioxidants.Dimethyl disulfide
A product of roasting the green coffee bean, this compound is just at the threshold of detectability in brewed java. Good thing, too, as it’s one of the compounds that gives human feces its odor.Acetylmethylcarbinol
That rich, buttery taste in your daily jolt comes in part from this flammable yellow liquid, which helps give real butter its flavor and is a component of artificial flavoring in microwave popcorn.Putrescine
Ever wonder what makes spoiled meat so poisonous? Here you go. Ptomaines like putrescine are produced when E. coli bacteria in the meat break down amino acids. Naturally present in coffee beans, it smells, as you might guess from the name, like Satan’s outhouse.Trigonelline
Chemically, it’s a molecule of niacin with a methyl group attached. It breaks down into pyridines, which give coffee its sweet, earthy taste and also prevent the tooth-eating bacterium Streptococcus mutans from attaching to your teeth. Coffee fights the Cavity Creeps.Niacin
Trigonelline is unstable above 160 degrees F; the methyl group detaches, unleashing the niacin—vitamin B3—into your cup. Two or three espressos can provide half your recommended daily allowance.
Onyx for Snow Leopard is finally out.
It’s been a hurried and short trip. Leaving Singapore at 8am and now after 2 days of meeting and visits, you are back at Phnom Penh International Airport connected again and writing.
Did not bring a camera this time round for you know the place so well. The vast expanse of clear blue sky, the rice fields, now mixed with blocks of green and yellow as harvest season draws near, the orange puffs of dust as a van or lorry rolls past, the bumpy road, the dam built by the Japanese.
No need for photographs as you are busy processing the images accumulated from the past visits.
This trip is different. Have to visit the grave of a dear friend, and reflect on the years that past, in 2006 when we first met, all the conversations and stories. Now with his passing you are reminded of impermanence and how fragile everything is.
To you, Sineng, thank you for the journey and the lessons.
Neil Gaiman is here again. It’s a pity this time round won’t be hearing him talk about Coraline and just soak in the magic.
Well you can see he seem to be having fun.
Have to drop everything and make a quick trip to Phnom Penh to tie things up for the coming expedition in Nov. Despite trying not to meddle too much this year, will be going down for a week in Nov. Told myself will be just photographs and maybe help out in the kitchen. Will try to make myself as small as possible.
The year is winding down, still lots of testimonials to write. Which reminds me I should not be blogging. But there is a certain therapeutic element in seeing your thoughts take shape in front of the screen. Or maybe it is just plain displacement behaviour.
Have been using the metaphor of a roller coaster quite often. Now its plunging down and down. You realise then you just have to let go of the roller coaster. Things will be alright.
Wanted to write a post on my journey as in facilitator in OSL. Decided it might be too long drawn but this shall be a post to thank all who shared what they think and feel. To all who were honest and open and generous enough to share.
Thank you all.
The last session I had yesterday morning, watching the clip about children saved from the dumpsite in Cambodia, was indeed an intense one. Still thinking about what happened there and how one moves on from there.
This is a neat ink saving font to have.
How much of a letter can be removed while maintaining readability?
Ecofont: Less is more.
Tested it and found that its really good for main text.
This was outside the carpark.
Started the day early, trying to finish up the slides for the Environmental Biology options today. Even though its my second time teaching it, still felt that there are some areas to be improved. In fact I spent the weekend thinking about how to make the story flow, the story of rainforest ecology.
Was busy searching and arranging the slides over the weekend, wanted to focus on the types of forests found in Singapore, peculiarities of the rainforests in this region and how Singapore is connected to the other rainforests in South East Asia during the Pleistocene epoch were one big connected landmass.
As of today 11.30am, I have 88 slides and was still trying to fit in the theory of island biogeography into the 2 hours I am supposed to have. In the end decided just on focusing 2 main parts. 1. Types of rainforests found in Singapore, The forest growth cycle, Nutrient cycling in the rainforest, interesting flora and faun. 2. Issues facing Bukit Timah forest, mainly pressure from increased visitorship and surrounding development.
Mentioned also the research studies projects I worked with my students in 2004. The Bukit Timah survey by CA and NA, and the Mandai reforestation survey by JH and Jl. Seeing those slides again brought back many good memories. Will be sharing the work on Calophyllum distribution after the trip to Bukit Timah this week.
Stayed back to catch up on the marking after a 4 hour marathon lecture. Just hope that what I shared made sense. Did not get to cover island biogeography in the end. Will have to plan that for the next lesson. Started seeing stars 90 scripts later and I know I have to stop. Packed up and took my usual walk out. Passed by a bakery for a quick bite of bread and walked through my usual route across Borders. Picked up a book which I will be reading very carefully.
The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Will look forward to some quiet time to read.
Very nice movie. UP by Disney.
