Evolution: Charles Darwin was wrong about the tree of life | Science | guardian.co.uk

Given Darwin dreamt this up before genetics was developed he did very well. Basically the tree of life is a 2d simplification of a multi dimensional reality - that there are alternative pathways to transfer genetic material. But if trying to explain biology to the young or otherwise uneducated a tree is a hell of a lot more use than a thicket. A thicket suggests impenetrability and will tend to lead people to lose interest because they would assess, probably correctly, that their chances of being able to invest the time and effort to understand biology will likely be in vain. Considering how many people reject biology for religion this would not be helpful. Also, while there are alternative pathways, the alternative pathways are much less common than 'standard' reproduction - so the tree is representative of what mostly goes on. Maybe alternative biological pathways should be taught at University like when student who thought they know about the Ancient Greeks are confronted with Aristophanes, priapism and farting contests.

Source: Evolution: Charles Darwin was wrong about the tree of life | Science | guardian.co.uk

'Scissor-handed' creepy-crawly named after Johnny Depp - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Why?

Oh.

Source: 'Scissor-handed' creepy-crawly named after Johnny Depp - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Watch 62 Years of Global Warming in 13 Seconds | Climate Central

This sort of data graphic makes it really quite difficult to NOT get the picture. Do climate denialists have 13 seconds to spare? And there is always the 131 year version.

Source: Watch 62 Years of Global Warming in 13 Seconds | Climate Central

Meet the epigenome: the next genomic frontier

Just when you thought you had a handle on genetics, enter the epigenome! Thinking that the genome (sequence of genes) explains an organism is like thinking a parts listing explains how a device like a car operates under varying conditions through its life cycle. Importantly "...the epigenome is fluid and dynamic; changing in different tissues, at different stages in development and in response to environmental exposures and lifestyle habits. It can be modified by what we eat and drink, smoking, ageing, stress, pollution, sun exposure and countless other environmental factors." So for any philosophers out there, this is why the supposed nature OR nurture dichotomy is a crock. It's nature AND nurture.

Source:Meet the epigenome: the next genomic frontier

Neonicotinoid ban eases the stress on bees

Goodish news for the EU - the industrial lobby that flogs insect neurotoxins hasn't won for a change. Yet. This is only a restricted two year ban. But "Neonicotinoids are widely-used in Australia, and as yet there is no mention of restrictions on their use. ... So far, the focus of this review appears to be on honey bees. As many of Australia’s native pollinators are still understudied and undervalued, the impact of neonicotinoids on native insects is unclear." That is, we have no idea what effect this stuff has on our native bees and the native plants they pollinate, all of which are under severe stress. Doesn't anyone remember Silent Spring?

Source: Neonicotinoid ban eases the stress on bees

The Walking Dead Monopoly Game

The Walking Dead Monopoly Game | GeekAlerts. Excellent.

Can you tell if the fetish for zombies is starting to pale (har har) by the availability of theme linked merchandise? The commericalisation is getting serious. Zombies are getting perhaps a little over hyped like vampyres before them. That phase went most recently from Buffy until Raising Whatshername killed it off (alived it off?) through sheer crapiness. Not cheesiness, which is okay, but crapiness, which is disrespectful.

Zombies are now so popular, or perhaps it's zombie survival stories, possibly indicating a deeply and widely felt desire for a simpler world where it's easy to tell who the bad guys are (nearly everyone, including yourself presumably) and to have a fortified village (or prison, how existentialist) with people you know you can trust (because otherwise you will kill them, probably when they come to kill you).

It's very Wild West isn't it? Presumably zombies are the Indians (sorry, Native Americans) who provide a constant socially unifying threat who may be offed at will because they are conveniently already dead so no serious moral difficulties there (unlike, say, Afghans or Iraqis or Islamic peoples in general). I suppose considering how many Native Americans were infected by European diseases, they were already walking dead, whether they knew it or not, during the European expansion into America. Much like our very own indigenous inhabitants here in Oz. See Jared Diamond: Guns, Germs & Steel. Or not.

Exxon Hates Your Children

Exxon Hates Your Children Yup. This is a fine 30 second crowd sourced ad that Exxon had taken off air. The site provides supporting information but the ad is the fun bit. Really cuts to the point about climate change and what will eventually motivate people. Maybe even voters. Also available on Youtube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXV6FW9Vg0I.

Doctor Who: a 50-year history in one data visualisation

Doctor Who: a 50-year history in one data visualisation | News | guardian.co.uk
Just in case you had any questions regarding The Doctor. Very impressive data visualisation but utterly crap on a netbook.

Every Doctor Who villain since 1963

Every Doctor Who villain since 1963 - as a spreadsheet and visualised | Television & radio | guardian.co.uk
So many villains visualised - a work in progress.

If full-time parenting was that fulfilling, more men would have been doing it

If full-time parenting was that fulfilling, more men would have been doing it | Deborah Orr | Comment is free | The Guardian  Fair point. And as for full time male stay at home parents ... Oh be still you whiny wuss!

Some good news - a new malaria drug

New malaria drug packs a triple punch - health - 25 March 2013 - New Scientist
ELQ-300. Sexy name. They need to work on that. 'Plasmodysplat' perhaps? Falciparumide? Malaribang? Why is it good news? According to the World Health Organisation:

About 3.3 billion people – half of the world's population – are at risk of malaria. In 2010, there were about 216 million malaria cases (with an uncertainty range of 149 million to 274 million) and an estimated 655 000 malaria deaths (with an uncertainty range of 537 000 to 907 000). Increased prevention and control measures have led to a reduction in malaria mortality rates by more than 25% globally since 2000 and by 33% in the WHO African Region.

Apart from the deaths and associated trauma, malaria is extremely debilitating so people's ability to be self supporting is severely compromised. And global warming is bringing an infected mozzie to your first world home sometime soon. Since NS articles disappear for non subscribers after a fairly short time, here's the article:

"There's nowhere to hide". Michael Riscoe of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland is talking about Plasmodium falciparum – a species of parasite that causes the most dangerous kind of malaria. His team's new drug hits the parasites at three vital stages in their life cycle, in blood, in the liver and in mosquitoes too. Most existing drugs only kill the parasite in blood.
The drug, called ELQ-300, wrecks the parasites' ability to reproduce by disabling their mitochondria, the factories that produce two of the building blocks they need to make DNA. The drug does not harm human mitochondria, which produce energy rather than DNA.
ELQ-300 rapidly cured infected mice and killed parasites in mosquitoes that were allowed to feed on the mice shortly after infection, blocking further transmission to new victims.
Riscoe says that if ELQ-300 passes the obligatory safety tests, trials could begin in humans within two years.
"This is an excellent evaluation of an exciting new series of antimalarial drugs," says Nick White of the Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, a country where resistance is developing fast to artemisinins, the most potent class of antimalarial drugs now in use. "Let's hope they make it through to the clinic," he says.
Journal reference: Science Translational Medicine, doi.org/kwk

Ford India demonstrating excellent timing

Today's WTF moment especially for Lou and Meg. Ford India should probably fire its ad execs for depicting bound and gagged women. The car has a big boot you see. Or 'booty' perhaps? I'm a bit ashamed of myself for that but I'm not even in the same league as Ford India.

Laser pointers

More good news. Laser pointers: Most red, green lasers are more powerful than allowed by law. Excellent. I like the definition that a laser pointer is "a handheld laser intended to trick an audience into thinking your PowerPoint slides are even vaguely interesting" As evidence they proffer this formal paper presentation which is well worth a look. Also of interest is the Russian take on all of this: Party laser 'blinds' Russian ravers. Now they don't have to rely on the bathtub vodka to get blind. Them Russkis.

Sigur Rós new album Kveikur and single “Brennisteinn”

One for Pac and Matt and maybe me too.

Sigur Rós new album Kveikur and single “Brennisteinn”: Watch the video for the heavy new song.

Mmmm, flouro yellow disembowelment.  And only 7 minutes. I think I quite like it. But are they selling out? Or, given Iceland is in receivership, have they decided they need to pay their mortgages? Have the significant Others in their lives said the equivalent of the lyric in Steve Hackett's song Marijuana, Assassin of Youth:


You need a haircut and then a degree
Don't you want to start a family
Take a stand and make some real cash
Sell your guitar and throw away your stash

It comes to us all in time (or at least most of us). Thank heavens he didn't though.

Thank you Slate.

Marvel?

Silver surfers fighting loneliness with technology - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Excellent. Probs more than 150 silver surfers out there though. Now if only we could find a way to disconnect trolls.

Minor prescription adjustment

Glasses on a string?
Well ring a ding ding!
No glasses on a string?
Can't see a thing.

Insanify

Squeeler Software, the makers of FuckItUp is proud to announce new Insanify! Version 5.3 (actually 0.8 because it doesn't work yet but we thought 5.3 sounded better - Remove this before publishing - Ed).

In this dog eat dog world aspirational office workers needs every tool at their command to scale the slippery slope of the office hierarchy. How best to do it? Drive your fellow workers insane! How to get away with it? Mess with people's minds almost subliminally! How does it work? Insanify! makes little noises while you are away from your computer, just enough that over time your office neighbours will be driven insane! One less competitor to worry about! There is no pattern to the sounds, no link to particular computer functions, no way to predict when that annoying sound will happen. Talk about tenterhooks!

On the Insanify! control panel you can set the volume to suit your office background noise and degree of intrusion into your neighbour's sonic world. You can also set individual sounds to a range of volume profiles: increasing, decreasing and, my favourite, randomly loud followed by a user defined period of complete silence so that when your neighbour calls others over to hear the sound they are looked on as being what they are becoming: increasingly insane!

Insanify! 5.3 supports sonic themes including such favourites as dying fan, electrical fault, stuck keyboard, creaky chair, random key clicks, chalk on a blackboard, tinnitus, mosquito, fly, muffled mobile phone, voices in your head and farts.

Share the fun. For the proactive there is also Insanify CB (Complete Bastard): a stand alone version that can be loaded onto other people's PCs. Insanify! will cleverly unload when the desperate users runs spyware detector or other virus checking software, stay dormant for a while and then reload, crushing your enemy's feelings of success and technical competence.

Maintain your status as the office sociopath: install Insanify! now and show them that you really are better than them! Available now from Squeeler Software and please remember to pay or we'll be sending The Red Chap around to discuss the state of your kneecaps.

Tempus fungus

I know. Inexcusable. But wait, there's more! No, actually there isn't.

Mitigate, adapt, profit, cook

I keep seeing the Liberals and other climate change deniers talking about how it would be more profitable to have an ad hoc approach to the climate change that doesn't exist, in case it happens. Which it won't. But if it does, it would just require a bit of cleverness from business (their stock in trade) to come up with something extra cool that would solve the problem we don't really have) And then there would be profits for everyone (much like the underpants gnomes).

Which sort of misses the point a tad. Well, several points really. And several tads I suppose. What is a tad anyway? And is it in any way related to a chad or The Chad? These are the sorts of issues I think about. Pathetic really.

If these people have biological adaptation in mind, they need to be taken somewhere secure and quiet. Species adaptation to environment change is very slow and exceedingly brutal. Maybe we'll start seeing Foreign Legion hats with 'Adapt or Die' printed on them. They could have 'Mostly Die' on the back to save the sensibilities of tender hearted people.

Anyway, the more specialised a species is (requires a specific ecological niche) the more endangered it is likely to be when the environment changes, especially if it changes quickly. Also, species that rely on a network of other species for their survival, like all top predators, are particularly at risk when the environment changes. Who would the top predators be in this world then? Lions, tigers, bears, sharks ... humans.

Most businesses only flourish during stable times. There's always the exceptions of arms dealing, pubs and brothels but your tender young entrepreneur tends not to go well when the excrement impacts the rotating air distribution device.I suppose I'm rambling towards the idea that managing climate change (because we certainly aren't showing any sign of stopping it) is unlikely to be achieved by clever entrepreneurs. Rather it is more likely to achieved by repressive war time bi-partisan bloody mindedness. But we can't see the problem creeping up on, because it's really creeping up on our kids and grandchildren.

tad, chad, Chad, The Chad

From Dictionary.com

tad [tad] Noun Informal
1. a small child, especially a boy.
2. a very small amount or degree; bit: Please shift your chair a tad to the right. The frosting could use a tad more vanilla.

chad [chad] Noun Computers .
a small paper disk or square formed when a hole is punched in a punch card or paper tape.

Chad i/ˈtʃæd/ (French: Tchad, Arabic: تشاد‎ Tšād), officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Due to its distance from the sea and its largely desert climate, the country is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa".

(The) Chad: Starfish, I would just like to say that I'm honored, honored to see you taking an interest in my work and I also think you're very pretty and... (sees girls getting scuba gear on) Starfish? Where are you going? Starfish are you going swimming? Where are you going? Where are you going again Starfish? Was it the Chad?
Dylan: No the Chad was great.
Chad: The Chad was great.

Charlie's Angels 2000
The Chad was Tom Green.

There is no excuse for this so sort of writing and no known cure short of death (which may be a little excessive).

Scapeegoat, scrape growth

scape·goat [skeyp-goht]
noun
1. a person or group made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place.
2. Chiefly Biblical . a goat  let loose in the wilderness on Yom Kippur after the high priest symbolically laid the sins of the people on its head. Lev. 16:8,10,26.
verb (used with object)
3. to make a scapegoat of: Strike leaders tried to scapegoat foreign competitors.

scrape growth [skreyp-goht]
see shave

I don't know why I do this.

Basically goats are only interested in eating and sex, and the odd fight. Why must the innocent be so cruelly treated? Also, spookily, goats don't shave.

Also there was an ad for Christian singles on this dictionary.com page called www.ChristianMingle.com. Find your soul mate. Shag them senseless. But piously and with guilt, repentance and lots of frantic make up sex.

KR - a thought

It's probably too late for this but ...

KR: Bipolar disorder symptoms and signs

In order to qualify for the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, a person must experience at least one manic episode. Symptoms of mania must last at least a week (unless it is a mixed episode) and include

• elevated, expansive, or irritable mood;
• racing thoughts;
• pressured speech (rapid, excessive speech);
• decreased need for sleep;
• grandiose beliefs (for example, feeling like one has super powers or superlative talents or faults);
• tangential speech (repeatedly changing topics to topics that are hardly related);
• increased goal directed activity;
• impulsivity and poor judgment.

www.medicinenet.com/bipolar_disorder/page3.htm#symptoms

Hmmm. Just a thought. I hope I am wrong.

While I don't think people should be stigmatised for mental illness, they do need treatment (for their own sake and for the sake of those around them), especially when they are in positions of power and responsibility.

Tittle

An interesting fact (i.e cheap filler) I read recently told me that 'The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle'. Really? Off to dictionary.reference.com where I am told a tittle is 'a dot or other small mark in writing or printing, used as a diacritic, punctuation etc'. So not specifically the dot over an i, just one of a class of minor markings. So there you go. I really only wanted to put the word 'tittle' on the blog so that I could have a little tittle tattle about a tittle title. Sorry - I'm going back on the meds now.

Wordle

Today's word is 'wordle'. I wondered where these word cloud illustrations I had seen were coming from and happened to notice a reference in a Guardian article so I tracked it down. Wordle is a very cool Java applet you can try at www.wordle.net. Sure it's been around for years but it's new to me.

Nothing ever being easy, I tried it in Chrome and Firefox but both of them said my Java was out of date and when I tried to update it I was told my Microsoft Installer Service was broken and I should piss off (all the knowledgebase fixes having failed or not worked for some other reason - following the instructions at one point lead to the Google desktop being loaded! I think it may be time to move to Windows 7 with a lovely clean install).

So I loaded Internet Explorer and it worked - slowly! The pictures I've uploaded are derived from Jodie Fosters coming out speech and a meditation on the recent death of my modem router. Also, as I was writing this I've realised yet again that Facebook is not suited to verbose bastards or complexity so I might move all of this to the blog. 

IT in dem olden days

I was reading Jakob Neilsen's Alertbox entry on improving screen resolution www.useit.com/alertbox and it made me all nostalgic. Briefly.

When I started in the tech pubs business, typesetting machines (at 2400 dpi) were being replaced by laser printers at 300 dpi (if you were lucky) or dot matrix printers at 75 dpi (if you weren't). Why choose a technology with much lower resolution? So that more people can produce material and not have to wait on the whims of typesetters and editors who knew their employment was based on a production bottle neck and were fighting a rearguard action. They lost. As a result, lots more crap was lying around at much lower resolution. Why did the creators of this crap think it was a wonderful thing? Because they had written it and their egos were stroked and because they had composed it on a green screen monitor at 75dpi. All that eye strain was worth it, wasn't it?

Also the IT people were young and enterprising. They wanted nothing to do with typesetting markup by fusty old editors, the smell of photographic chemicals or difficult typesetter operators who wouldn't stay late to finish a job. They wanted to bring pixels to the people. And build an empire they could rule in perpetuity. In the long run, they also lost when the WWW appeared so crap could be seen forever anywhere! Progress.

ebooked, line and sinker

Running out of space for books in my house, world running out of trees, want to do my bit and save money as well as space. Silly me. After deciding on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 rather than a Sony ereader because I want to be able to put down my book and check my email without changing devices and I never get enough time to read so my eyes probably wont fall out with the back lit display I then turned to the horrid reality of ebooks. Talk about rip off! Geez guys! There's no printing production or transport costs for Christ's sake! Sure you've got electronic warehousing and interface costs but really, they aren't all that much and you had to do that before anyway. I approve of paying the author for writing a book and the publisher for making it available but not of subsidising the physical production and warehousing and transport costs of the physical editions. Be fair chaps!

Then it appears I can buy (some) ebooks from Amazon as long as I use their Kindle reader app (OK - If I can download it and I'm pretty sure someone has cracked their proprietary ebook format so I can save it for later). Or I can rent a book from Google, read it anywhere on any device provided I have an internet connection. But I can't have the file. Makes it a bit harder to give the book to someone else to read. Or I can use Kobo or one of the traditional publisher websites or bookshops. Little did I know.

Then there are the search engines. Give me strength.

Just searched for Together: The rituals, pleasures and politics of co-operation by Richard Sennett which as followers of my micro publishing empire would know is about ways to combat tribalism. It's sociology. Kobo turned up lots of suggestions from their bondage department with titles like Teach Me, Daddy, Girls on Girls: 7', Way Beyond Whipped and my personal favourite The Babysitter is a Good Girl for Daddy. I haven't read any of the works of Lolli Love but I'm reasonably sure they aren't sociology.

Presumably the Kobo take on tribalism is that the best way to fix it is to distract the guys with submissive chicks who are absolutely gagging for it. Or not. I suspect Kobo's search engine needs to look at the genre tag when offering alternatives. They also want $22.89 for it. Amazon UK wants $24 (plus postage the bastards) for a hardback copy which I submit your honour will way outlast my computer system. Amazon doesn't have a Kindle ebook for it for Australian denizens - if I was a Yank it would be $18.10, but the Amazon is apparently antipodean. There's no Google ebook either though at least the search brought up alternatives like Origin of Group Identity and Gossip and the everyday production of politics rather than Shag Me Senseless Big Boy.

Further trolling and I tried Barnes & Noble who had it as a Nook ebook for US$15.40. That's more like it! Is there an Android App? Yes! Hooray! But is this an aberration? And will I be locked into yet another proprietary format?

Another test: looked for Alain de Boton's Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion. Kobo's got for AU$9.99 but B&N want $13.99 for it. Damn. I need something to help me buy the ebook at the best price (to help offset the cost of the Samsung and because I'm cheap) but also something to help me keep it all together because if I use multiple stores they are all going to put the files in weird places on my tablet. That's assuming I decide to put them on the tablet at all and not on my main PC which I back up into the cloud with DropBox as well as onto physical media from time to time (not often enough despite having suffering the torments of the damned by losing lots of stuff over my 20+ years of computing - will I ever learn?).

It all makes logging into Amazon and paying their disgraceful mail charges almost worthwhile. Stay tuned (not)!

[This was a FB note from Monday, 5 March 2012 at 23:12 that subsequently disappeared and was only rediscovered by dutiful help searching FB. Sort of suggest they don't want people posting more than a few lines at a time, presumably because the mobile young FBer has a fairly short attention span, or at least so they believe anyway.]