Ripped Genes

DANCING MACHINE: This afternoon, whilst getting down to "Just Dance" on the XBox, CJ ripped out his pants in a big way.

"Bravo!" I say. Bigger and better exercising is a good thing. Rip all the pants you want, CJ!

ANOTHER ANGLE: For years now, I've been sharing a few of my photos I think others would enjoy on a free stock photo site called Morguefile.com. I discovered it when I was writing multiple stories a week for The Columbian newspaper, and while I took most all of my photos, sometimes I'd have to pull from opther sources, and Morguefile was a lifesaver sometimes. I figured the least I could do was pay it back, and share there, too. Why just let my images collect 'dust' on my hard drive?

It's been cool, I'm Facebook friends with a number of people who have used my photos, and pics of mine (including many of the kids) have would up in magazines and newspapers 'round the world, as well as on countless Web sites. Today, I got a nice note from a woman who told me she used this photo (a favorite). It's Annabelle after a ballet class years ago. She'd forgotten her street shoes, so Christian carried her to the car, so as not to ruin her ballet slippers.

Here's what the creative behind Heart-2-Heart-Angels.com shared with me today ...

Sweet sentiment. MUCH sweeter than anything I usually think or do, so I appreciate it. ;)

CRAZY CONTINUES: I apologize in advance, and should have issued the apology sooner. There's no way I'm NOT going to talk Seahawks every darn day from here until Super Bowl Sunday and likely a couple days beyond. (The 'good' news is, this insanity is temporary. I think.)

Today, I took the What kind of Seahawks fan are you? quiz. SHOCKINGLY, I received a 'score' of "12th Man at Heart"

Speaking of silly, pop psychology tests, today we did a fun fast test. You can, too. Ready ... raise the index finger on your dominant hand and draw a Q on your forehead RIGHT NOW!

Did you draw it 'inwardly,' so it was a Q to you, or did you draw it outwardly, so others could read it? According to sociologist Richard Wiseman, which way you did it is a Really Big Deal.

I'm not sure I subscribe to his pop psychology 'findings,' but it's fun to talk about, just like the very scientific Seahawks' quiz regarding what type of fan you are http://blogs.seattletimes.com/seahawks/2014/01/29/take-the-quiz-what-kind-of-seahawks-fan-are-you/#.UunvQyhUQRQ.email

In news that will surprise no one, I'm a  "12th Man at Heart."

IT'S ALL RELATIVE: We're still plugging away on our genetics class. It's so interesting - and challenging. I'm already sweating the mid-term next week, as it accounts for 40 percent of our grade.

Because we have genetics on the mind, stories related to the topic jump off the computer screen at me. Today we read, "UW scientists find there’s a little Neanderthal in most of us - Studies by the University of Washington and Harvard suggests genes passed down from our ancient relatives play an important role in our skin and hair." Fascinating!

And then there is news out of England of a "major scientific discovery" regarding creating stem cells from non-embryonic cells. Scientists in Japan published ground breaking results along these lines not long ago, and now scientists in England are following suit, with news of shocking blood cells with acid which triggers their transformation into stem cells. Shocking, indeed!

CJ spends the better part of the day talking evolution. I'm so glad we happened into this genetics and evoluation Coursera course when we did.