Qeyser's New Writeups

The whole nine yards (idea)

2002-09-10T21:00:27Z

To illuminate reason number three above:

While no garment would require nine yards of fabric, a seamstress friend of mine tells me that in the glory days of tailoring it would sometimes be appropriate to use that much.

To make a suit of the most exceptional quality, one would want precisely align the grain of the fabric of each small component of the suit (i.e. the sleeves, the collar, etc.) This would require that vast amounts of fabric go wasted, so that in order to make a complete suit, one would need a total of nine yards of fabric.

How to remove the brain of a laboratory rat (idea)

2002-08-07T13:58:58Z

I do this on a weekly basis, and this is how.

First, I'm assuming that you're doing this on live, anesthetized, albino Sprague-Dawley rats. (If you work with white-furred, red-eyed rats, then chances are you are working with albino Sprague's.) Second, I'm assuming that you have the following tools:

A rodent guillotine or large, sharp pair of shears
A small, sharp (~7-8 inched total length) pair of shears
A pair of spring-loaded ronguers* of the same length
A scalpel or razor blade
A very small, very sharp pair of scissors
A scooped spatula no more than 1mm in width

Right then. First, you should decapitate your animal. Do it quickly and cleanly, and make sure to make the cut as close to the skull as possible. You'll be left with a (dead) rat body and head.

Begin by exposing the skull. Using your scalpel or razor, make a single cut along the length of the head, starting at a point…

Boy/girl/other bands and why they're good for real musicians (idea)

2002-08-06T21:58:44Z

There was a writeup here before this one. The node title says all you need to know about it. The following is my response to it:

Record companies, like in any other major business, are first and foremost concerned about making money. This is not to say that they care only about making money, or that they don't care about the kind of music they produce; however, music is expensive,* and in general record companies do what is necessary in order to stay afloat -- and, typically, this means producing mediocre music that will make money rather than new and interesting music that might.

While some will argue that profits from a wildly sucessful band can offset the losses from another less successful act, a record company will not willingly sign a band that it knows will be unprofitable. Furthermore, when a record company has the choice between signing a band that may become the next Radiohead and…

Dancing Queen (idea)

2002-06-06T19:51:40Z

A cover of Dancing Queen? I got 'cher cover . . .

This song is near and dear to my heart, and so I've taken the time to come up with a pretty decent solo acoustic version of this. Here goes:

First of all, play this song in the key of C using standard guitar tuning, as the chords used are mostly open chords and are well balanced. For the verse, we use the C, F, Am, Am7, G and Gsus4 chords. For this entire song, I like to play the F as an Fmaj7, which not only makes it easier to transition between the C and F chords (and the F and Dm7 chords later), but also gives the song a darker, more mellow feel.*


C                  F
Friday night . . .


C                  Am Am7
Looking . . .

G                  Gsus4 G Gsus4
Where . . .

G                  Am G Am
You come . . .

The other verse is the same. If you listen to the song, you'll note that the Am and Am7 are played…

neuropsychopharmacology (idea)

2002-04-15T02:07:50Z

Neuropsychopharmacology really isn't a well-defined and regimented method or direction of scientific study: anybody who does research in neuropsychopharmacology would probably identify themselves primarily as a neuroscientist or perhaps a psychiatry researcher. Furthermore, it is not simply the study of psychoactive drugs per se, thought that aspect is a major focus; rather, the ultimate goal in studying neuropsychopharmacology is to understand the workings of the mind in terms of the chemo-anatomy of the brain.

This may sound like a trivial and obligatory thing to study (wouldn't you hope that your doctor to knows exactly what your Prozac is doing to your brain?*), but it is technically and conceptually an extraordinary undertaking. It requires that the sub-cellular-level actions of a psychoactive drug (such as Prozac) or naturally occurring neurochemical substance (such as glutamate or dopamine) be reconciled to…

American Buffalo (thing)

2002-04-10T18:22:40Z

American Buffalo

A DRAMA IN TWO ACTS

by David Mamet

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is peeling down the alley in a black and yellow Ford." Folk Tune

this play is dedicated to
Mr. J. J. Johnston,
of Chicago, Illinois

THE CAST
AMERICAN BUFFALO, by David Mamet. Directed by Ulu Grosbard; setting by Danto Laquasto; lighting by Jules Fisher; production stage manager, Herb Volger. Presented

…