Sex

 

Sex has been an especially big focus in a couple of my classes this week.  I will not go into great detail here, but a few of the highlights include:

• In one class I needed to discuss and describe the three primary forms of human orgasm and their physiological roles in reproduction.  These forms are ejaculation (male), clitoral (female), and vaginocervical (female).  

• I also was describing in great detail the chemotaxic and thermotaxic cues within the female reproductive architectures and how these cues are critical roadmaps that guide the masses of undulating spermatazoa the great distance to where they may compete to potentially fertilize an ova. 

• I also described how in typical human female internal reproductive anatomy, the distance from where spermatazoa are initially released to the point where a potential ova may be found to fertilize..... is a CONSIDERABLE distance.  In calculations relating the size of a single spermatazoa to that of the size of an adult human...... the spermatazoa would need to travel the equivalent distance of a human running a 5K (3.1 mile) road race in order to reach the ova.   The spermatazoa are greatly assisted in this race if the female experiences a vaginocervical orgasm.

• In a different class I was talking about the reproductive behavior called amplexus.  This is the mode of reproductive behavior displayed by many amphibia.  In this class I talked about the early historical figures who attempted to study these behaviors in frogs in the late Renaissance period, and the surprising (and often humorous) methods they employed to do so.  Frogs reproduce by external fertilzation.  Basically, a male frog climbs atop of a gravid female filled with eggs..... and he will literally squeeze her abdomen, whereby she will release a sticky stream of eggs much like what happens when you squeeze a tube of toothpaste.  The male simply releases his spermatazoa over the top of these eggs as they are streaming out from the female.

• In a third class, I was discussing and describing aspects of rodent reproductive behavior.  I was especially needing to focus on male rodent intromissive behavior (a behavior that stimulates a female rodent to release more eggs) and on lordosis behavior (a behavior that indicates the willingness of a female rodent to engage in reproduction.... and how it is shaped by the endocrine stage of her ovulatory cycle.

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For as long as I could stay awake last night, while drifting off to sleep, I relived every beautiful moment I could recall from the Chicago trip where I was able to visit Iwan Ries and was able to indulge in the exceptional bowlful of Three Star Blue pipe tobacco.  Even just the exquisite memories of that experience gave me a feeling of contentment.  The actual experience itself was in many ways beyond measure.  I can still see in my mind the flame being drawn into the bowl of the brown crumbles of tobacco leaf, and I can almost still taste the rich flavors of the smoke from that bowlful. I can remember the gentle and pleasant way the nicotine relaxed my thoughts.  These thoughts were beautiful, and I quickly cascaded into slumber for the night. Reliving that experience in my mind is so beautiful.  Remembering that this, with variations of pipe and leaf, used to be a daily occurrence for me for decades had me feeling both appreciative of each of the thousands of bowlfuls, but also melancholy at the drought of such experiences presently. I need to determine some sort of middle ground.

I wish I had a reason to plan a trip to Chicago.  I still get aggravated at myself for the lost opportunity I had for a hoped for similar sense of joy when I was in Des Moines.  

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• 10 indoor miles this morning (~16km).  Inside, because it was raining heavily, even though the temperatures were warm.
• I cannot recall if I have ever described my bug/shrimp story here.  Perhaps I will attempt to do so sometime soon.
• There is a really nice Jazz Performance occurring tonight. I had known about it, but had thought it was on Friday.  My wife and I were planning to go on Friday.  But, I am not sure if we will be able to swing going tonight instead or not.  Both of us are usually dead-dog tired on Thursday evenings.  
• We both (my wife and I) have vowed to swim later this afternoon.  But, we are both taking a "wait-and-see" attitude about whether we may go to the Jazz Performance.  
• Michael Connelly has a new novel coming out.... which makes me glad.  But, I will have to wait a while for either a) the paperback to come out, or b) wait until the used hardcover market for this book grows enough to have a significant drop in price for used copies.
• I have to get working with my rodents the remainder of this afternoon.  So that is it for me today.
• I have been reading a tome of sorts that is a biography of William Conrad.  It is an interesting book, but it is also of a book of a rather "self-published" variety and the grammatical and layout errors that crop up can be distracting (when they occur) and disconcerting (when several occur nearby each other).   
  

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