the magic

i have to be honest, i am not a huge fan of blogging. i already waste a good deal of time on the internet, so for the most part i have viewed this as yet more wasted time (no offense to the professor, i didn't expect my feelings to be taken into consideration when you designed this course). and now i'm being asked to write a blog entry about any magical writing muses i've experienced in any of my posts. maybe something is eluding my memory, but i am inclined to say that i havn't. if i had to speculate as to why, i would say that it's probably that i just don't care. as the professor hypothesized, those magical moments are the result of deadlines and other external pressures which cause you (often only momentarily) to lose inhibition and start writing with more creativity. since i don't really care, no such pressure has been put upon me. most of the time, it was difficult enough to think of something to write that didn't sound completely stupid. that kind of pressure did exist and usually resulted in me not doing the assignment.

thanks, herman

i was recently lent the book "siddhartha", which i am surprised i hadn't read before. i had been wanting a good book, because i had already gone through all my others, and i like to have something to read before bed. it relaxes you and winds your mind down in preparation for sleep. this is one of those famous novels that probably most people have at least heard the name of, but don't know what it's about. when it comes to things like this, where its excellence is rather undisputed by almost everyone, i often find myself hoping i don't like it, so i can prove everyone else wrong. it's a shitty attitude to have. i guess i always just want to be the smartass.
however, i found there is really nothing to find fault with in this book at all, and it's probably one of the best books i've read. its potential application to almost anyone's life is profound, and i would recommend it to anyone who wants to change or augment their existing perception of their own pursuit of happiness. that is what the whole book is about, actually. it tells the story of a young man who leaves home to find his enlightenment and all the different choices he makes and realizations he comes to about the nature of happiness and peace, something we'd all like to attain, i think. sounds relatively simple and maybe a little boring, but it is assuredly not, and anyone who lets that turn them off from reading it is missing out.

lay summary

Life did not necessarily evolve in the shallow parts of the ocean. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that it may have first evolved on the sea floor. There are many microorganisms that live and thrive at deep sea hydrothermal vents, where extremely hot water is discharged. These organisms make use of alternative forms of metabolism, much simpler than photosynthesis, which would not work at those depths due to lack of light. The depth creates a great deal of pressure on the organisms that live there. However, this depth may have also served to protect early organisms from the bombardment of asteroids, comets and ultraviolet radiation.
Proteins are molecules that make up the enzymes that control the chemical reactions in living organisms. These molecules typically become deformed at greater pressures, which has caused researchers to question how organisms survive at those depths. Studies have shown that some of them have enzymes that actually function better at great depths. This is one piece of evidence for a theory of early life evolving at greater depths.
Other studies have investigated the specific metabolic pathways that would have been used by early organisms developing in hydrothermal settings. One hypothesis that has resulted from an experiment using a microorganism which inhabits deep sea vents showed that metabolizing iron, an abundant substance in such environments, may have been one of the first metabolic processes.
There has also been a piece of fossil evidence found that supports the idea that life may have existed in the deeps before it existed near the surface. It shows the microscopic bodies of tiny organisms, probably archea, preserved in microcrystaline quartz. The composition of the fossils indicate that it would have come from a hydrothermal vent at great depth, and that the age of the fossil would predate any existing evidence of life at that time period.
The search for the origins of life is an important question that has the potential to increase our knowledge of life on the planet today on our own planet and the potential for life on others. Likewise, what we learn about other planets which mimic the conditions of early earth has implications for the study of how life began here.

snow

since i don't have anything really interesting to talk about, i'm just going to talk about snow. i like the winter; i was born in the winter. but snow is a real pain in the ass in at least one respect: the inconvenience it presents for transportation. i live off campus, so i'm not looking forward to driving in on slippery roads every day. and there were times last winter where i couldn't get into my own driveway because it needed to be plowed.
other people start driving worse in the winter too. it amazes me each year the number of people that apparently live in new england but don't know anything about driving in the snow.

revisions

Intro:
Most of us learn in school that life evolved first in the ocean and then gradually colonized the land. But the particular circumstances and setting of the origin of life are still under much contention. For a long time it was assumed that the earliest life forms were simple photosynthetic organisms that would have inhabited the shallower parts of the ocean. In more recent years, this notion has been challenged by new evidence that suggests life could have originated much deeper, far below the level of light penetration.
Hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor serve as an unlikely haven for life. At these great depths, the pressure would be more than sufficient to kill any terrestrial life forms and even those that inhabit the upper ocean as well. Temperatures at these sites are also extreme, capable of reaching 760° F. And yet, the heat generated by the vents serves as a source of energy for those organisms that are capable of withstanding such stress. Indeed, many bacteria and archea found in these remote places not only tolerate and survive these extreme conditions, but appear to thrive and often even require them. This has lead some researchers to hypothesize that life could have begun in a similar setting.
Photosynthesis, which serves as the basis of most food chains, is not the most simple means of metabolism. In addition, the surface of early Earth was far from hospitable, being bombarded frequently by comets and asteroids. Early life may have found it easier to begin on the ocean floor along vents where they would be protected from such catastrophic events. The depth would also have provided a protective buffer against ultraviolet radiation. However, such environments have their own set of stresses which life would have to endure in its formative stages of evolution.

Conclusion:
Very little is known about the oragnisms that inhabit the more remote parts of the ocean and how they relate to the rest of life on Earth. As our technology improves, we will be more able to explore the depths and collect more evidence about the unique ecosystems that are to be found there. What we learn about the origins of life on our own planet also has the potential to aid in our search for extraterrestrial life. By the same token, our exploration of other worlds that mimic conditions of early Earth may help us to understand how life originated here. If life did indeed begin deep below the surface, the implications that would have on our search for life elsewhere in the universe would be profound. For instance, the subterranean ocean that is thought to exist on the moon Europa and possibly also Mars would be good candidates for harboring microorganisms similar to those that live in our own depths.

collage essay

One thing I find incredibly interesting are the life forms and ecosystems that inhabit the deep sea, below the point where light reaches. At those great depths, a diverse array of organisms defies the expected limitations of what life is capable of surviving. Most life relies upon the incoming energy from the sun which is used to catalyze the biological processes that enable plants and other autotrophic organisms to drive a food web. Below the point of light penetration in the ocean, organisms are deprived of this important source of energy.
The upper trophic levels still rely upon existing organic material, whether it be smaller creatures on which they can feed or dead matter that drifts down from the ocean above. One can also find life forms that make use of the energy from heat vents at the bottom of the ocean. To what extent do these creatures still rely on the surface and is it reasonable to question the possibility of life forms evolving an independence from the surface?
However, the more fundamental question may be whether life in fact originated in the depths, without the sun’s rays as a source of energy. Research being conducted on the effects of pressure on protein denaturing may provide some insight. Proteins are major parts of many substances that are critical for life to function, such as the enzymes that catalyze chemical reactions. Heat, pH, pressure, and other factors can cause them to become denatured, which means to lose their structural integrity or the specific shape necessary for them to do their job.
In one particular study, it was shown that certain enzymes from bacteria inhabiting a wide range of depths of the ocean functioned better at higher pressures. This could indicate that certain organisms may have originated deeper in the ocean rather than in more shallow zones.

how do you like them apples?

there's an orchard in the area i live called high hopes. they have really good apples there, and a machine for making their own donuts, which are also fabulous. in the last couple years though, that place has turned into a real circus. they've added things like small amusement park rides, and now there's more people than ever with a million screaming children. not that it didn't use to be crowded, but now it's considerably more so. it's also just a drag that they had to sell out in such an unclassy, obnoxious way. i don't know what happens to a person with an apple orchard to make them wake up one day and decide that they not only want to run an apple orchard, but one with a small rollercoaster and a mini race track behind the corn maze. it all just seems a little inappropriate, for lack of a better word.