Changes: Order and Disorder

The hourglass: The glass is silicon dioxide (SiO₂) and the sand is as well (ignoring slight impurities like sodium and borate). SiO₂ is the inorganic analog of carbon dioxide. Both are chemically spent, meaning they have no chemical energy left to give in a world surrounded by O₂. So an hourglass is made from two forms of the same thing. There aren't too many substances that do that at the chemical level. Glass and plastics come to mind. 

I wouldn't call glass a different "phase" than sand is -- they're both solids. But glass has no real microscopic structure whereas sand does. Pure elements do sort of the same thing when they form allotropes. I suppose that water does it when it forms different types of ice -- some crystalline and some amorphous. But water is unique in forming mixtures of water and ice. Here's a pretty photo of water & ice and sand & glass:

Maybe adding a little dry ice could liven things up. just to keep carbon in the picture.

Pure Enjoyment

Consider all the English words based around the Greek word logos--derived words like catalog, prologue, dialogue, logogram, zoology, even blog...it's a root word with countless derivatives. Logos is to words what the substance purine is to the chemistry of life.

Purine is ubiquitous and underlies a great deal of biochemistry. It, along with the even simpler pyrimidine, are the core base pairs in DNA and RNA. Purine is also the basis for a surprising number of familiar Genußmittel--things like caffeine and theobromine (the stimulant in chocolate). The German word Genußmittel is bit like Schadenfreude and has no literal equivalent--the best translation is perhaps "means of enjoyment."  Our own English word (which the French also use) is stimulant.

Of course, purines are not everything--there are also sugars, and amino acids too, which are completely different entities.  Diversity. But we owe our first taste of purine, and the apt name, to a German chemist named Emil Fischer.

Time For Cocktails: The Vesper

"A dry martini," [Bond] said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet." 

"Oui, monsieur."

"Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet.* Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?"

"Certainly, monsieur." The barman seemed pleased with the idea.

"Gosh, that's certainly a drink," said Leiter.

Bond laughed. 'When I'm...er...concentrating,' he explained, "I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink's my own invention. I'm going to patent it when I can think of a good name."

—Ian Fleming, Casino Royale (1953)

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*Kina Lillet used to contain quinine, a muscle relaxant. Kinda like how Coca-Cola used to contain cocaine, and 7-Up contained lithium citrate.

Time For Cocktails: La Dura Vita, That's Amaro!

Trooper York puked all over my last cocktail comment thread, complaining that the Aviation sounded too sweet. Such a bitter blogfather. I should go clean up the mess, but perhaps I'll just walk away this time.

So here's a little something I found more up his alley. It's recipe based around a Sicilian liqueur called Averna Amaro. The recipe I'm using can be found here. I'm going to try it out.

La Dura Vita:

1-1/2 oz. gin
1 oz. Campari
1/2 oz. Averna amaro

Build and garnish with lemon twist. This one can be enjoyed at room temperature or slightly chilled. The Italians slug a shot of the stuff right out of the bottle after a heavy meal to aid in digestion.

Blogfather obviously has a bias against drinks which would suggest La Dolce Vita. I hope he can hold his liquor this time because this one's an after-dinner drink.