Charles Betz Blog

I created a new cover for our scout magazine Den Totem of which I myself was Editor a long time ago... I'm glad that I can still help them sometimes with small things like this one, or like playing webmaster of our site... This is no piece of art, I know, but still I think that it is quite ok for our needs...

After 3 days and 3 attempts I finaly got my colonies... at leat one per dish, pretty miserable, I know... Could be a problem with the ligation. At least I got no colonies on the vector only sample. But the Minipreps will show if these are worth working with, I hope so, they screwed my schedule up... I know that you shouldn't do a very rigid prospect in science, but I want to finish my cells before Christmas, as I will be gone for two weeks and that is giving me enough remorse...

Over the weekend I'll be in Zurich, even if I probably shouldn't say this out loud here in Switzerland...

Today I received a suspicious looking package with a suspicious looking content... A CD... Containing... Pictures! Aha! Julie had send me the pictures that she had made during the Sufjan Stevens Concert in Cologne... Unluckily I wasn't allowed to bring my 5 pound DSLR... Doesn't matter, Julie had her Digi-Pocket--Crappy-Cam so that we at least managed to get some good souvenir of an even better concert! Here are some examples, Courtesy of Julie Wagener, actually one of the two founding members of the non-existing band PapaCello...

   

Cheap, easy, quick, spicy, red hot, ... The list goes on... but if you liked the first few terms, I bet you'd like my Impro Student Meal.
This is for 1 not too hungry person, takes maximum 10 minutes:

You'll need:
-300 g tinned corn (Mais aus der Büchse, maize)

-200 g Chorizo, a hot spicy Spanish sausage
-some Toast Bread

-some garlic (Knuewleck, Knoblauch) and onions
-Spices: chili powder; sweet pepper (Paprika); Herbes de Provence can't hurt; salt and pepper; soja sauce; Ketchup

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Put some Olive Oil in the frying pan, add the chopped onions and garlic till the onions turn glassy. Add the sliced Chorizo till it turns brownish, add the dripped off corn. Add the spices, at the end add some Ketchup and a drop of soja sauce, serve with lots of toast bread. Ready!

I would not call myself a TV junkie, although I love watching good movies, and I am not especially keen on TV series... But as always, there are exceptions to this rule... An older one is Star Trek Voyager... I've never been a real Trekkie, didn't like the movies too much or any other Star Trek Editions... But Captain Kathryn Janeway and her crew have been a nice exception, and ever since Line told me that she's a big fan too, I began collecting the different seasons...

Another great Series I followed up upon right from the beginning was Scrubs. As the voices sound terrible in German, I quickly discovered that it is amazingly funny watching the original. Although there have been several downs during the later seasons, they always find their way back. Yesterday started Seson 6. It wasn't the greatest Season pilot ever but it was ok...

I'll be out to Brussels again this Weekend... Appearently they have a nive Christmas fair there, probably we'll check that out. I hope my traveling by train will not be as exhausting as the last one where I spent some 7-8 hours in that train... But I have my laptop this time, along with enough music, papers and work to do...

I also tryed out a new google sitemap crawler, as my old one dates back half a year and I have the feeling that google manages to get a more precise index of my pages with a sitemap. The tool is for Mac OSX as I'm running it right here from the lab, it's calles RAGE Google Sitemap Automator... It does a wonderful job compared to other utilities I had used so far, it managed to crawl the whole thing in one morning, astonishingly fast!

Another tools I can recommend for use in molecular biology and cloning is ApE, found on http://www.biology.utah.edu/jorgensen/wayned/ape/version%20history.html . It does a good job in cutting and digesting plasmids or stretches of DNA and is visually also very convincing. As for the visual output for shRNA or RNA hairpins in general, Ced had discovered for me a very useful way to do the job... I had been looking for a decent way to show these stemloop hairpins in a useful way to include them in my lab journal. http://www.bioinfo.rpi.edu/applications/mfold/rna/form1.cgi does the job quite well, under view individual structers, you can select among multiple image formats along with seeing the exact energy of the different conformations. Nice catch!

Hey charel ma merci fier dein comment an mengen guestbook

ciaociao

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This is a old folk song written in Luxembourgish Jéinesch, a nearly extinct dialect spoken some hundred years ago by a group of tradors mostly situated in Weimerskirch, often called Lompekréimer.

Span op d'Kléck et hockt jus Téckerchen, dock mer Scheifléken matt den Trëttléken.
Fellekeschnall well ech hu Fock, d'Schackelcher schmonk net wi beim Schnock.

Stéck mer Kitten, dock mer Bich, Quatz, Masommen a boren Droot.
Kee Wëllem, bäis Wintës an déng Kloft, schéiwe Plattféissen, daat get doft!

Zwëss, kimmel, dolles Gendaarm, stomps de, kriss de de Schneiwert gekufft!
Blo'en, Péckes, Schnick a Schnorres, Klénkert kuff d'Schmull an dibber nobes.

Hëpp an de Klanner, de Glopopsiechter, Schmuèrgel an d'Schnut, da schiben ech,
quant gewammescht de Grandische flanzen, Plattféissen, datt d'Knutse jenssen.


eng Moss, e Keff wi eng Drecksbratschel, Schmuckert, Schmus, Plattféis-Watschelwatschel
eng quant Schéck mee hockt eng Kläftchen, span säi Knëff soss schuppt dech de Stäppchen!


Dee Schnuffert mer de Kis gezoppt, hu missen diichten fir all Gendaarm.
Deen do net stompt hockt stapp a Schautert, dee stroumt sott, Schmuckert gouf jaukert!


knaus du deen Hautz, so, du klont? Schuff dech! Schaipche schefft Batze vun nobes.
Kenns du dee Mann/Papp/Bauer? Du schmuddelech Fra, pass op!
Aaremséileje Kärel versteet guèr naischt

Am Raipert de Kittenilles geschnufft, mam Reedel em quant de Stuurz gekufft.
"Bachel net, jenss net, dock méng Kitten, da schéif swënns soss hocks de pleiten!"

Am Pokes de Poufert spant e mech stappes, mee deem Fitschert wibbelt de Wappes.
Oh mäin Hibbes, ooh mäi Kibbes, ech hocke schlommeren, du hoù're Schask.

Holter, Schontkéckert, schmonk mer de Gatt, scheffe Schaufel, Schineejel schéif quant...

spanen=kucken (schauen), Kléck/Téckerchen=Auer (Uhr, Armbanduhr), hocken=sin (sein), jus=10, docken=gin (gehen, werden), Schéifléken/Trëttléken=Strëmp/Schong (Socken, Schuhe), Felleken/Schackelcher(schnall)=Gromperen(zopp) (Kartoffel/suppe), Fock=Honger (Hunger), schmonk=fett, Schnock=Polizist, stécken=gin, Hibbes/Kibbes=Kapp (Kopf), schlommeren=schlofen (schlafen), Schask=Soff (Suff), Kitten/Bich/Quatz/Masommen/boren Droot=Mënz/Goss/Péil/Spéin/Wäck/Knäpp/Mécken, Wëllem=Sou, Wintës=20F am Gold, Kloft=Kleedong, Plattféisse schéiwen=danze goèn, doft=gudd/schéin, zwëss, kimmel, dolles=2, 3, 4, Gendaarm=Drëppche vum Sou, stompen=streiden, Schneiwert=Gesiicht, kuffen=schloèn, Bloèn/Péckes/Schnick/Schnorres=Drëpp, Klénkert=Sabbeler, Schmull=Mond, dibber nobes=so naischt, Klanner=Kostümm, Glopopsiechter=Zylinderhutt, Schmuèrgel=Päif, Schnut=Schnëss, schiben=fortgoèn, gewammescht=gekleed, Grandische flanzen=bretzen, Knutsen=Schanken, jenssen=jéimeren, Moss=Fra, Keff=Hënner, Drecksbratschel=Int, Schmuckert=Kuss, Schmus=Geschwätz, quant=schéin, Schéck=Nuès, Kläftchen=Klaatsch, Knëff=staarke Jong, schuppt dech de Stäppche=hëlt dech der Deiwel, Schnuffert=Déif, Kis=Geldbeidel, zoppen=klauen, diichten=heeschen, stapp=liichtsënnech, schautert=geckech, stroumen=lafen, sott=domm, jaukert=deier, Raipert=Täsch, Kittenilles=Portmonni, Reedel=Staang, Stuurz=Kap, baachelen=pissen, schéif swënns soss hocks de pleiten=ma dech ewech soss bass de doud, Pokes=Täsch, Poufert=Revolver/Flënt, stappes=verbassen, Fitschert=dreckeje Schmeechler, Hibbes/Kibbes=Kapp, schlommeren=schlofen, Schask=Soff, Meeschter, Drecksak, leck mech am Keff, et geet mer schlecht, Schineejel=Aarbecht, schéif quant=äddi

Link: http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/bytopic.html

This site features the most useful collection of information about different Latex packages you'll ever find... Through it I managed to find many important classes and styles and so will you (hopefully)

Today was the Sigma Aldrich Meeting at the Biocentre. After some initial starting problems, apparently the speaker and her companion got stuck in the traffic (so that's what they call it nowadays...) Anyhow, we learned a great deal about our library. For one thing, it is at the moment nearly 80% completed, with the finish projected at April 2007 and it costs 1.8 Million Dollars. Either we hope for Santa being very generous this year, or we find ourselves some labs to share the library, as we wil certainly not need the whole 200 Microlitres per shRNA contruct provided... Then there is also the possibility of sharing the data with Sigma, thereby reducing the price (by how much they wouldn't tell). So there will be some further negatioations needed, let's see what Prof. Moroni can get out of it...

In other news, I discarded most of my clones done so far, keeping just the best ones, and beginning again at the viral infection stage to see if we can reproduce our initial observations... I guess I'll find enough work the next months but that's certainly nothing to complain about...

This one is a classic scout recipe that is sort of a tradition in our group and that was refined over the generations as to speak...Anyway, this ist my personal version, feel free to improve...
This is for 4 persons, takes around 1 lazy hour:
You'll need:
-800 g chicken (better) or turkey (cheaper)
-a big bag of Curry powder (I prefer Curry Madras (hot) but any other fresh Curry will do)
-350 ml cream (Lux: Rahm, Deu: Schlagsahne)
-one bouillon cube (not bullion, the latter being somewhat more expensive and less tastefull ;-)
-some garlic (Knuewleck, Knoblauch)
-Spices: dry parsley (Péiterséileg, Petersilie); sweet pepper (Paprika); very little nutmeg (Muskat); Herbes de Provence can't hurt; maybe some pre-made spice mixes as Grillgewürz or Chicken seasoner etc... No need for pepper, salt or things like that.
-Optionally: Thaï Red Curry paste (a small spoon full, is rather hot!); Pili Pili or Cayenne Pepper or any other Hot Spicy Sauce to get your mucous membranes flaming...

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-cut the meat into pieces, I prefer stripes of around 1x2x5 cm... remove any cartilage or tendons, in other words most of what appears to be white
-heat some oil in a frying pan, don't let it get too hot (it should not evaporate), add your meat, stir it that it will not burn. If the ouside is all white (not brown), begin seasoning, but not too much, you still have to see whether the meat turns brown. Turn it well that everything is distributed well, remove it from the heat, add your garlic, add your cream, stir everything well, add your bouillon cubes, replace everything on the heating plate. Add the rest of your spices, some more curry for example, but don't rely too much on your taste, as the final taste will normally be more intense than the momentaneous. Let the cream cook for 2 minutes and remove it from the heater, voila it's ready. I prefer serving it with Ierzen a Wuerzelen, and Spätzle.