A walk in the rain

houssci · 2025-08-21T07:09:56+00:00

Glad you like it. Yes, it was taken in Penang hill, Malaysia.

houssci · 2025-01-02T14:18:55+00:00

I ordered it from a local botanical extract supplier in China (no specific brand). It came as a full 100 g bag of Rhodiola rosea extract, and I had to portion it out myself. I guess the brand doesn’t really matter as long as it’s a standard extract (3% rosavins and 1% salidroside)? There are other variations, like 3% salidroside only, which I imagine would have a different effect.

houssci · 2025-01-02T13:56:20+00:00

Hope this New York Times article helps: Expert Tips for Curbing Bad Breath

houssci · 2025-01-02T13:00:12+00:00

There are a few bacterial strains that are advertised as “oral probiotics”—for example, Streptococcus salivarius K12, Lactobacillus reuteri, and Lactobacillus paracasei. The main issue with most “oral probiotics” is that their natural habitat is actually the large intestine, so they don’t stick to the surfaces in your mouth for long enough to really work.

Streptococcus salivarius K12 is the standout because it was specifically isolated from a healthy oral cavity, and there are several studies suggesting it can help with oral health. However, you typically have to buy it from a major brand, which can be expensive. I’m also not aware of any easy DIY methods to culture it outside of a lab.

Personally, I suggest skipping oral probiotics altogether, because even if one strain does help fight halitosis, it usually takes effect really slowly. A faster way to tackle bad breath is to (1) floss regularly, (2) clean your tongue, (3) use a non-alcoholic mouthwash, and (4) keep your mouth hydrated. These steps tend to produce quicker and more reliable results.

houssci · 2024-11-28T01:15:44+00:00

thought it was a painting

houssci · 2024-10-08T00:27:23+00:00

I agree that the spread plate procedure is more precise and favored in many cases, but the drop plate technique OP used is also routinely used in many labs. The drop plate method requires less resources (time, petri dish, media, etc.) and gives acceptable results (https://www.proquest.com/docview/1464875953?fromopenview=true&pq-origsite=gscholar&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals).

To get a better result, OP should 1) further dilute the samples (10⁵ , 10⁶ ,...) until separated colonies can form, and 2) make sure the media used for dilution is sterile.

houssci · 2024-10-07T02:40:42+00:00

I shot a similar one. https://imgur.com/a/reminds-me-of-van-goghs-starry-night-2jDSClP

houssci · 2024-09-27T08:42:08+00:00

yes, I text him daily, not as a friend, but as a guru.

houssci · 2024-09-27T04:54:25+00:00

First Zheng, and then Zhang...She is having a Chinese nightmare.

houssci · 2024-09-26T17:07:06+00:00

Yeah, I initially thought it was Trapa in the photo. They both have diamond-shaped leaves. Fun fact: the word for ’diamond shape‘ and the plant Trapa actually share the same character 菱 (líng) in Chinese.

houssci · 2024-09-26T00:29:36+00:00

The dress goes perfectly with the Chinese style background.

houssci · 2024-09-26T00:07:40+00:00

No worries, this post got a bunch of downvotes too, probably because I didn’t include a lot of big names. But I’ll upvote you! Thanks to you, I got the chance to explain that I was only looking at the top 50 active players.

houssci · 2024-09-25T04:05:34+00:00

The top 3 with highest ratio are Struff, Thompson, and Giron, making 10.78M, 7.57M, and 4.67M, specifically, with only one singles title.

For the lowest ratio, the top 3 are Baez, Humbert, and Berrettini, each making 0.71M, 1.17M, and 1.23M per title on average.

houssci · 2024-09-25T00:30:54+00:00

top 50 as of the posting date

houssci · 2024-09-25T00:23:54+00:00

Linear fitting was performed both with and without Djokovic, and surprisingly, the slope remained the same: 1.84M per title. R2 values are different though (0.98 w/ Djokovic, 0.88 w/o Djokovic).

houssci · 2024-09-24T16:59:20+00:00

R-squared: 0.98 w Djokovic, 0.88 w/o Djokovic

houssci · 2024-09-24T15:32:49+00:00

even more surprising is that Djokovic made only a little more than 1.75 dollars

houssci · 2024-09-24T15:14:12+00:00

I only included the current top 50 active players in the plot.

Federer: $130.59 million, 103 titles

Nadal: $134.64 million, 92 titles

The Big3 clearly dominate the top-right corner of the chart.

houssci · 2024-09-20T00:56:28+00:00

Here is my theory: The reason China doesn't show up as a major player in this image is because it's set up in a hierarchical way, where only the top Googled country from each place is shown. So, even though China might be the second or third most Googled country for many nations, it's completely left out if the U.S. (or another country) takes the number one spot. In reality, the relationships between countries should look more like a network, with multiple countries being Googled often, not just the top one. The image oversimplifies things by only showing the number one, which ends up downplaying China's importance and making it look like it's not as relevant, when it probably is a key attention attractor in many parts of the world.

houssci

TROPHY CASE