Sunday, December 31, 2006

Gene Therapy for Malicious Bacteria

An interesting concept on treating bacterial infections, without encouraging drug-resistant varieties to evolve, is adapting gene therapy to disarm the toxin releasing bacteria by replacing the "bad" genes with harmless gobbledy-gook. Genetically modified e. coli will be the carriers of the harmless genes, so that as the harmful bacteria multiply, the newer bacteria will no longer be able to produce the toxins. I would have liked to see more on how the e. coli actually introduce the displacins, but we know that bacteria love exchanging plasmids, it's only when the plasmids are harmful to the bacteria do they begin releasing their toxins, such as the immune response from our white cells, to destroy those plasmids. But with knowing the specific code of the bacteria, scientists are able to mimic the harmful bacteria's own plasmids, so that they can stroll right through the toxin storm. Pretty cool stuff. I'm sure the Euros will be okay with GM e. coli, just as long as it's not rice.

Update: Someone wants credit for taking more biology classes than I did in school contributing to the post. Thanks bro.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Machinima Christmas Special

Even virtual people have to suffer a crisis of faith sometime, right? So, what happens when the host of a popular machinima talk show has a pity-party on-air? Well, the Halo version of It's a Wonderful Life, of course. I mean, !T'5 4 W0ND3RFU7 5P4RT4N 7!F3.

 


"Hey fellas! Get a loada' me! I'm making machinima!"

 

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Drought Not Caused by Global Warming

Has the backlash against anthropogenic global warming being the ubiquitous cause of climate catastrophes begun? An Australian scientist made headlines by stressing that their ongoing drought is part of a natural cycle, and in no way tied to greenhouse gas emissions. When scientists now make it a point to emphasize whether a drought is a natural occurrence, that hurricane intensity is caused by warming cycles of the Atlantic Ocean not tied to warming, or that even El Niño is solely responsible for the warmer winter in parts of the United States, one has to wonder if the media advocacy of this man-made hoax will now become part of the story on climate change? The scrutiny is long over-due and ecstatically welcomed.

Evil Twins!

Every bad TV show knows that to introduce a main character's evil twin (cousin, brother, etc.), all they had to do was slap a silly mustache and goatee on the evil one's face. Soap operas usually go for the eyepatch, but only in their worlds would modern day pirates exist. But how about space operas? They know what to do.

 

Brewster Rockit courtesy of Tim Rickard

 

But honestly, the best/worst evil twin had to be Garth Knight, no question. Look at those eyes! Brilliant bad, cheesy acting in its purest form!

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

What Do You Have For a Hangover?

According to a review of all the current medical research, nothing works except time. Not the news I wanted to hear right before all the New Year's celebrations.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Now we know for sure...

Remember when the Spaniards voted in that appeasement government after the train bombings, and we asked: "Are they on something? What are they sniffing?" Apparently, cocaine, and lots of it.

Free Time and Video Games?

Heh. I do not resemble that remark... much.

 

FoxTrot courtesy of Bill Amend

 

Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Blogmas!

[Story about picture goes here]

 

Look, two laptops, wow...
"[Funny quote goes here]"

 

What? You want Italian sonnets on Christmas morning?

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Merry Christmas! Shh! Be Quiet!

Merry Christmas everybody! Christmas isn't just a time for family, friends, loot, er, gifts, and yuletide spirit. It's also the time for braving the masses going to the movie theaters for those huge holiday movie events. See if you recognize yourself in any of these situations, and if you do, I must bid you Good Day, Sir!

 


"Nowadays most people treat a movie theater like their own home, and they treat their home like a gas station bathroom."

 

Friday, December 22, 2006

Helmety Goodness: Chad Vader vs. A Christmas Tree

A lot of people get depressed over the holiday season, but Darth Vader's relative has more reasons than most: no job, no girl, and getting drunk on chocolatinis. Will he find a new job? Will he stop being so lame? Maybe my holiday wish will come true!

 


"I love chocolatinis, they're my favorite little playmate. They don't betray you! Urrrp!"

 

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Ms. Dewey

Okay, I just spent 20 minutes wasting time with Microsoft's new search Avatar, Ms. Dewey, which I discovered from Instapundit (of course). In addition to Glenn's suggestions for funny reactions, I'll add: halo xbox; weird science; anime; manga; gun control; baseball; basketball; cycling; Stephen King; cell phones... Gah! I could go on, but how about you waste your own 20 minutes?

 

Oh, I'm right here, baby!
"Hello, anybody home?"

 

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Weird Al and K-Fed: Together at Last

For all you Weird Al fans, this interview with Kevin Federline is just for you. Because I'm a giver.

 

 

Sorghum Beer?

Gluten-free is good for all those allergy sufferers, but details, man! How does it taste?!

Anime Fans Better Watch Out

In some ominous news for anime fans who use YouTube to watch posted episodes from current Japanese shows, YouTube execs will be meeting with Japanese media types concerning copyright infringement. I think that YouTube will be going the way of Napster pretty soon and better find an iTunes model that will work with the YouTuber community that actually posts their own self-produced video. Now I'm feeling all nostalgic for when you really could find any media for free on the net. Appreciate the Wild West while it's still wild!

Orthodox Monastery Showdown

Shaolin monks may have flying fists and feet, but Greek monks use crowbars and sledgehammers. It seems the new patriarch is a little too papist for the squatter monks, but is Advent really the time for sectarian violence?

Re: The "new" Internet Maladies

The AFP reports on some subsets of internet addiction: ego-surfing, blog-streaking, crackberry, google-stalking, cyberchondria, photolurking, wikipediholism, and cheese-podding. My name is so common, that ego-surfing is useless, although growing up, my identical brother and I appreciated a running back on the Giants also had a brother on the Redskins with both our names. Otherwise, I admit only to google-stalking and photolurking, but I plead the fifth on cheese-podding. If I can listen to the Piña Colada song over and again, should I consult WebMD, or would that be committing cyberchondria?

"Tennyson gets me all... steamy!"

Bizarro courtesy of Dan Piraro

I immediately thought of my brother when I saw this cartoon, who swears he saw a hot English major, this one time at college.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Kilt Shortage!

Because of a merger of Royal Scottish Regiments, combined with a delay from finalizing a new contract from their kilt supplier, Scottish soldiers only have 320 kilts for 5000 men. I guess the question of what Scots keep under their kilts will get answered for about 14 out of every 15 men. I'm not that curious...

El Niño, not Global Warming

I'd just like to point out that in this Reuters story on the mild winter in the Northeast, not one mention of global warming. "Classic El Niño," according to the National Weather Service. Too bad even The Farmer's Almanac didn't see the equatorial patch of warm water coming. I guess you can't predict ocean currents from the Earth's position and sunspot activity.

Monday, December 18, 2006

An Inconvenient Climate Scientist Listens to Al Gore

Steven McIntyre, one of the scientists who was very critical of the temperature proxies used to prop up the "hockey stick" model of the average global temperature, attended a conference where Al Gore spoke to the "concensus" scientists to make sure the "debate" was over for the man-made causes of global warming. McIntyre likes Al's social politics, but not when it comes to science policy. A very interesting read.

Comic Strip Madness!

So I wake up in the morning, and the first thing I do in the kitchen after pouring a cup of coffeee, is read the funnies. Yes, I still call the Comics Pages, "the funnies."

[Begin generational rant here] In my day, comics were supposed to make you laugh, and the "serious" comics (Brenda Starr, Mary Worth, Mark Trail, etc.) were supposed to make you go "hmm" since they tied some national theme in with their story. Now we have this unfunny "funny" stuff in Boondocks, La Cucaracha, and Candorville. They don't make me go "hmm" or "heh." They make me go "tsk" or "typical." I'm sure the kids who have gone through the indoctrination protocols at expensive liberal arts colleges find them interesting because they "give a diverse voice" to the comics page. But notice, not funny, because humor does not exist from a culturally diverse point of view, unless you're making fun of white people or joooos. I don't think the multicultural crowd would find Boondocks, Candorville, or La Cucaracha funny if they knew they were written by white guys. Take note of the performative contradiction of "diversity" where you have to "know" what "race" a person is to "judge" their views and actions instead of the merit of their views or actions. Celebrating diversity is a step backwards in civil rights, and condescending of the "lesser," oops, I mean "historically oppressed" races. Not funny at all. [End generational rant]

Anyway, I found a bunch of funny stuff today in "the funnies," so enjoy!

 

Word.

 

FoxTrot courtesy of Bill Amend

 

That's not how I remember playing that game.

 

Get Fuzzy courtesy of Darby Conley

 

Monday Grinches have it tough this time of year.

 

Mutts courtesy of Patrick McDonnell

 

Sunday, December 17, 2006

'Tis the Season...

...to garble all your Christmas Carols together. Actually, that's one Christmas Special Mashup I'd like to see on YouTube.

 

 

Friday, December 15, 2006

A Clone Apart - Episode 3

Illusive Entertainment released the first installment of Episode 3 last week. Our hapless and helpless hero, Danson Delta Forty, gets a crash course in Galactic Imperial history, seeks "relief" after a 20 year wait, and learns to avoid a certain bottomless pit. Who knows what you'll find in there?

 


"Please don't kill me! ...by sending me to the Tattoo planet, with everyone else."

Update: Again, this is the full third episode. The other Helmety Goodness posts which had the second and third parts originally posted on YouTube will just link back here. Special thanks go to Illusive Entertainment for the A Clone Apart series.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Still Waiting...

...to hear back from my Nigerian royal escapee.

The Art of Written Exam Grading

Heh. I always wondered how I got those good grades in my "soft" classes in college: neat paper stacking and choosing professors with a good arm!

Via Instapundit (of course).

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Meh.

Slow news today, or at least I thought so. Some people might be interested in the Duke Lacrosse Rape case, where an NC Congressman wants an investigation of Nifong for prosecutorial mismanagement. Others are worried about the astronauts because of a huge solar flare. Or you might be interested in Europe's late snow for Finland and the Alps. Or what about plesiosaur fossils found in Antarctica? More proof the planet was way hotter than it is right now, even without humans and their pesky extra carbon dioxide. It doesn't matter to insurance companies looking to cash in on new policies for climate change damages that many people are sure will be coming. But do I want to link to any of these stories? Meh.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Fatty Frivolous Lawsuit in Florida Tossed

Score one for personal responsibility. A Florida judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Atkins diet for lack of merit and freedom of expression concerns. The man was suing for damages from following the diet, not eating Atkins approved food. This will be an important precedent for those tort lawyers gearing up againt fast food restaurants, now that the tobacco money is beginning to dry up.

Animal Activists to Protect Rhino Sex

Animal rights activists in Germany are protesting the proposed plan to build the world's largest ferris wheel, because the lighted wheel may prevent rhinos in a nearby zoo from getting it on. First off, Reuters is just shilling for the group's press release, since there is no explanation of how a light source would disrupt rhino sex. Last I checked, rhinos do it in daylight, standing up, in public places (kinky!). Second, instead of the group lobbying for money to help the zoo nocturnalize the enclosure, if such a step is necessary, the activists try to prevent a theme park. Remember, activists are losers, because they don't want to win, otherwise they would have nothing to protest. If they had approached the zoo, board members and sponsors might have donated the money to refit the rhino habitat, but you see, the activists' agenda isn't really about the sexually frustrated rhino. It's about preventing rich people from getting richer.

More Heavy Metal Theft

The bro sent me this story on thieves stealing downed power lines to sell the copper. I had previously written about French thieves doing the same thing back in September, but the French did it overnight in a coordinated theft, stranding several mountain villages without communication. Is the price of copper still so high, that thieves are still motivated to steal cable? If there is a theft of material, that means there has to be a buyer. Also, this stolen material has to trickle down to manufacturers. Police departments worldwide know they have to pay special attention to auto body repair shops and used car dealers because of the high theft rate for cars and their accessories. Who should the cops be looking at in these cases?

Climate Change Good for Tits!

What are you giggling about? The new study is about birds! Sheesh, where's your mind at, buddy? The gist of the report is that warming in the Mediterranean has shown a population increase in tits, and since different species of tits are common worldwide, their behavior and range could provide an important bellwether for climate change. We need to watch more tits, more carefully. You're still giggling!

Monday, December 11, 2006

Free-Pour Latte Art!

You won't get this artistic display from your foamy coffee drink at Schtarschmucks, Peatbog's, or Coffee Been There.

 

Photo courtesy of http://flickr.com/photos/tonx/
Bravo Baristo!

 

Via Citizen Jake.

Poll on GM Foods Show Public Distrust

Heh. A recent poll on people's attitudes toward genetically modified foods showed a general lack of trust on the product of biotechnology, especially toward governmental bodies in disseminating information about them. I'm not so sure why animal cloning was part of the survey, since that has not even become a viable technology, much less because of the ethical concerns involved, as opposed to the widespread engineering of plants. But people should be aware that we've been eating genetically modified foods for thousands of years through animal husbandry and plant grafting. Why don't more people know this? The answer may come from who people trust the least in the survey: the news media.

Tracking the wily urban grey squirrel

I won't say, "It's about time!" But I will ask, "When does the urban pigeon study begin?" I actually would be interested in the Discovery Channel version of this story on city squirrels, just because I would love to hear all the hackneyed animal documentary devices applied to the urban jungle. "What will the baby squirrels do, now that their mother has been cruelly taken from them by that blue Audi?" You get the idea. I did find it interesting that the city squirrels adopted a psych-out behavior for burying their nuts and fooling other squirrels. See? This Animal Planet special needs to be produced!

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Snake Oil Salesmen Find New Carbon Offset Market

File this story in your "People are basically stupid" folder. The so-called "eco-conscious" are paying a new scam industry to offset their carbon output by allegedly investing in alternative fuels, or purchasing carbon credits. Some green groups oppose the emerging industry because "they are just a way to assuage consumer guilt and do little to combat climate change." More militant greens don't like it because the behavior modification protocols aren't being encouraged: "At worst, they can encourage consumption and prevent people from making carbon-cutting lifestyle changes, such as driving less, taking public transit and using less electricity."

Many scientists have shown that individual efforts at climate change control by limiting carbon output are useless. Others have shown that shutting down the economies of G-8 countries forever also won't affect global warming, but that just highlights the audacious stupidity of carbon-trading markets and the development of alternative fuels solely for the chance to reverse climate change. If this new carbon offset market really wants to take off, they should make infomercials that air alongside those herbal supplement ads during late night cable television programming. That's what their intended demographic is watching anyway.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

The First Dog's Holiday Extravaganza

Who knew Barney was so talented?

 


The Cabinet sure is full of hams!

 

No X in Espresso!

You got that? That's one of my pet peeves, too.

 

Frazz courtesy of Jef Mallet

 

Update: Cross-posted at the bro's blog, by accident (yeah, right).

Friday, December 08, 2006

Off by 2 Inches

Heh. "Indian men don't measure up."

Hurricane Predictors Play 2007 Straight

Hurricane experts from Colorado are predicting a more active hurricane season for next year, but they make pains to emphasize two points: 1) It was a rapidly forming El Niñ0 that squashed the Atlantic hurricanes this last year; and 2) the Atlantic Ocean is in the middle of a multi-decadal cycle for hurricane activity that has nothing to do with global warming. They say the second part right here: "Like many U.S. hurricane experts, Gray and Klotzbach argue that the Atlantic is in a multi-decade period of naturally heightened hurricane activity caused by atmospheric conditions and unrelated to global warming." [emphasis added] And like good scientists, they admit their predictions are dependent on the changing atmospheric conditions for next year, especially on how long El Niño decides to stick around. A refreshing story on the weather.

Helmety Glitches

If you spend enough time in a virtual world, you will eventually find the places or events where the code can't manage the situation: glitches. Ideally, patches are supposed to fix these kinds of things, but with how huge (and I mean the programs themselves) games are these days, programmers are increasingly relying on the consumers to report the broken stuff. Thank you, internet, for making programmers lazy. But sometimes, the glitches can be very entertaining. For This Spartan Life's Halloween presentation, they offered up this little glitch montage. You gotta have a montage!

 


My Nintendo 8-bit music never sounded this good!

 

Thursday, December 07, 2006

It's The Apocalypse: Global Warming Style!

The End of the World, part 4, is coming to us next year, when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issues its 4th Assessment. It's new and improved with newly discovered positive feedback forcings and other surprises to let us know they really, really mean it that the world is heating up and people's carbon dioxide output is the cause. What I like about the AFP article is that, in its own way, the writers are admitting that tales of epic disaster and catastrophe are necessary to spur action. Look at the first three sentences:

Nothing beats a whiff of Apocalypse for focussing minds and, next year, climate change will be the big issue that will send an icy shiver down spines followed by a clamour for action.

On February 1, the world's top scientists will issue their first instalment of a massive three-part update on global warming.

It will be the first knowledge review by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2001 -- and the phone-book-sized report will convey an unvarnished message that will be bleak and quite possibly terrifying.

Oh my, anthropogenic warming has got to be true: we got a pile of papers as thick as a phone book! I can't wait for my helping of "bleak" with a side dish of "quite possibly terrifying." I'm surprised every sentence in this story doesn't end with an exclamation point. Read the whole thing, because I'm not sure if the "hard news" story is supposed to be an editorial or not. There's crowing about Democrats' "crushing victory," describing power plants as "dirty carbon-spewing" (um, carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, unless you count your nose and mouth as also a dirty spewer), and called the recent UN climate conference "dreary." Sure, no bias there, AFP.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Coffee, Tea, or...


Definitely, need more cream and sugar.

Apparently, not hot swedish stewardesses! A coffee ad campaign in Sweden has drawn some criticism for being too sexualized, after "a total of nine people complained". Honestly, I'm not offended in the least, but I'm very interested in this coffee now. Don't know why that is...

(h/t to Vancouver Coffee)

Update: Hat tip link fixed!

Something Missing Here...

Bizarro courtesy of Dan Piraro

Ha ha. Looks like he missed his 12 o'clock too.

Flatulence forces emergency landing

Heh. Just to be clear, it was the smell of burning matches that forced the landing, because the woman wanted to "conceal a 'body odor.'" But with all the extra screening, how did the matches get through? Luckily she wasn't trying to light a shoe bomb, just another kind of...

Bad News for Arecibo, Good News for Radio Astronomy

I was annoyed to read that the NSF is cutting the budget of the world's largest radio telescope by 25 percent. Radio astronomy has been the most important observational tool for understanding the nature of the universe. The main reason why is the 21 cm line. What's that? That is the wavelength of light emitted by a hydrogen atom, the most abundant element in the universe, as its energized electron goes back down to its equilibrium state. Without the 21 cm line, we would not know the shape of our Milky Way Galaxy, not know that that the universe was expanding, not have measuring sticks of certain periodic stars, not know relative distances, and pretty much not know anything about star formation. The general public always wants those sexy pictures of visual light, but it's the lowly 21 cm radio wave that astronomy was built upon. Defunding Arecibo is a mistake, and will only lead to other countries leading the forefront astronomical observation and research.

But if the government no longer supports scientific research, private industry will take up the slack. Supposedly, government grants are free(er) of ethical baggage, because big, bad corporations just want to make money. But the government money trough is replete with political infighting and conflicts of interests, so I'm not sure how "ethical" an NSF grant really is. Technology companies love the pursuit of basic science, because the journey there, solving engineering problems and developing new tech, just means a new product and revenue stream in the future. Who thought that running a current through metal embedded in silicon would actually lead anywhere? It was a neat lab trick to demonstrate some principles of quantum mechanics, but now that cheap lab trick is used in almost every electronic device around the world. It is always a positive situation to fund basic science research, and it would help people making budget decisions to remember that.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

European Airlines to Raise Air Fares

Well, that hasn't happened yet, but if the German government gets its way in placing binding CO2 emissions caps on airlines, the airlines will have to buy carbon credits. Where do you think they're going to get the money to buy those credits? From more layoffs? I don't think so. I think another industry is going to wake up from this fake PR movement of seeming Green, and start funding programs to make those non-consensus global warming scientists more vocal before the anti-industrialists make any more progress against the duped European countries.

It's Official: No Partially Hydrogenated Fats For You!

New York City passed their trans-fats ban, and food nazis everywhere rejoice in their new-found power. At least the restaurants have until July to use up old stocks, find new suppliers, and test and change their recipes. Will the city crack down on profiteering, if it happens? We'll see.

More Caffeine!

I always err on the side of more caffeine.

 

Frazz courtesy of Jef Mallet

 

Monday, December 04, 2006

"Because you want that moment to be special..."

Specialty: Blunt Force Trauma
Why the new cement in the basement, Bob?

Hmmph. Kids aren't the only ones who are seeing too many erectile disfunction drug ads on television. I think the most disturbing ads are the ones in the campaign for Enzyte. That guy's smile reeks of serial killer. And his wife's smile says, "I'm your number one fan!" Disturbing.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

"All Mac users go to..."

Just to show that I'm still alive while dealing with my stomach flu, I'll prove that I still have enough vinegar in me for a dig at the Mac vs. PC debate. Even the guys at Rooster Teeth are on my side.

 

Rooster Teeth courtesy of Rooster Teeth

 

Friday, December 01, 2006

Environmental Geologists Dismiss Man-made Causes for Warming

Wow. You won't see this story printed anywhere except in geophysical circles. Professors Khilyuk and Chilingar, from USC, actually estimate how much, if any, humans might have contributed to the current warming cycle of the planet during the last 150 years: 0.01 degrees Celsius. Also, the geophysical causes for warming periodicity, eccentricity in Earth's orbit and tectonic pressures, are on the order of 4 or 5 magnitudes more powerful than anthropogenic atmospheric temperature forcings. That's magnitudes, as in powers of 10. I mentioned in an earlier post that for one to believe that man-made forces could be responsible for any of the global climate change we see, the warming phase would have to have been right on its tipping point, and our meager contribution nudged the cycle into an accelerating temperature phase. As I said before, the odds of that knife-edge tipping point even occurring are astronomical, and that's assuming the hockey-stick climate models are correct, which was the basis of the Kyoto Protocol, and which many climate scientists have already disproved.

Even more controversial are the environmental engineers' conclusions. Remember, these are some of those non-existent scientists outside of the consensus on man-made global warming:

Thus, the Kyoto Protocol is a good example of how to achieve the minimum results with the maximum efforts (and sacrifices). Impact of available human controls will be negligible in comparison with the global forces of nature. Thus, the attempts to alter the occurring global climatic changes (and drastic measures prescribed by the Kyoto Protocol) have to be abandoned as meaningless and harmful.

Scientists say that the Kyoto Protocol is "meaningless and harmful." So, where's their front page story?

The Range of Coffee Personalities

I came across this article on the different kinds of personalities displayed by coffee users, er, drinkers. Pretty funny stuff, especially on how to piss off a coffee snob, or arguing that coffee brewed in an a combat helmet tastes better. I lie somewhere between the "The User" and the Coffee Snob. I don't care all that much when the beans have been roasted, only that they have been roasted properly and the coffee has been brewed "strong." Cool bit: the author wrote the article while at Fuller Theological Seminary here in Pasadena. (h/t to Joel Newton).

New Helmety Goodness!

I'm always looking for new sources of helmety goodness. To be honest, there is actually a lot of machinima to be found out in the wilds of cyberspace, but, as in any artform, there is more bad than good. Machinima should be considered like any animated or live-action short film: there's got to be good writing, good camera work, good production levels, and good editing. The ones I've shown you here have those qualities, but there have been a lot of series with good writing, but crappy sound engineering; good concepts, but bad story-telling. For a short film, attention spans are already short, so if you don't have the whole package from the very beginning, interest will be lost very rapidly. Which brings us to these two French guys flying F-15s. I don't know if it's funny because it's in French, or if it would matter if it was dubbed in English. All I know, the French aspect definitely adds to the humor. Oh, and these guys' second episode swept the machinima awards this year. Maybe you'll get a chance to see that one too. So, here you go, Une Aventure de Bill et John: Danger dedans le Ciel (A Bill and John Adventure: Danger in the Sky).

 


"Go on, do the Tom Cruise thing..."