They’re victims of their own genetics!

Some people do not give up even when they do not succeed.Theyrefuse to accept defeat and continue to try even when common sense tells others there’s no use in trying.

Tilmann Klein and Dr. Markus Ullsperger at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, believe they have found the genetic cause for this “stubbornness”. They discovered that a single genetic mutation can determine whether people repeat their mistakes. This mutation, named the A1 mutation, is found in about one-third of the population and causes a reduction in the amount of D2 receptors in the brain, which are the docking sites for dopamine.

Interesting. How many of our defining traits will we find that have a genetic basis? >70% What about if you add chemical interactions? 95%? More?

Science rocks.

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Why, that’s impossible

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a tabletop accelerator that produces nuclear fusion at room temperature, providing confirmation of an earlier experiment conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), while offering substantial improvements over the original design.

The device, which uses two opposing crystals to generate a powerful electric field, could potentially lead to a portable, battery-operated neutron generator for a variety of applications, from non-destructive testing to detecting explosives and scanning luggage at airports. The new results are described in the Feb. 10 issue of Physical Review Letters.

Cold fusion, baby! We’re gettin there.

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Here he is on ID, bringing his patented brand of “straight talkin” no-nonsense pander right to you, the people. His solution?

“Let the student decide.”

No need for those authoritarian teachers with their “facts” and “theorems” and “scientific method.” No! Let the students decide.

Shorter McCain: I’m a total pussy and I will do anything to ensure that you do not vote against me in 2008, even up to the point of bear hugging the guy that’s going to actually get the nomination.

OK, so that’s not really so much shorter as expanded, but today was opposite day… for the preceding paragraph. You just didn’t know it.

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Brains up Hos fundies down. ID declared an unconstitutional violation of the Establishment Clause.

“Intelligent design” cannot be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, a federal judge said Tuesday, ruling in one of the biggest courtroom clashes on evolution since the 1925 Scopes trial.

Dover Area School Board members violated the Constitution when they ordered that its biology curriculum include the notion that life on Earth was produced by an unidentified intelligent cause, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III said. Several members repeatedly lied to cover their motives, he said.

This was an obvious decision and the right one. That ID can be placed in the classrooms and the upholding of our Constitution in the face of obvious theology in science classes is considered “Breaking News!!!!!” on the cable networks shows how far our country has fallen.

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I wish this were a parody, but it’s not. The cowardice of the corporations in the face of ignorant anti-Darwinist zealotry is breathtaking.

An exhibition celebrating the life of Charles Darwin has failed to find a corporate sponsor because American companies are anxious not to take sides in the heated debate between scientists and fundamentalist Christians over the theory of evolution.
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While the Darwin exhibition has been unable to find a business backer - unlike previous exhibitions at the museum - the Creationist Museum near Cincinatti, Ohio, which takes literally the Bible’s account of creation, has recently raised $7 million in donations.

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Laser beam toy for cats

A method for inducing cats to exercise consists of directing a beam of invisible light produced by a hand-held laser apparatus onto the floor or wall or other opaque surface in the vicinity of the cat, then moving the laser so as to cause the bright pattern of light to move in an irregular way fascinating to cats, and to any other animal with a chase instinct.

It’s only a worthless method patent, but still… c’mon, people.

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Now that religion is being taught in science classes there…

1. Some sources suggest the earth is approximately 4.55 billion years old. Others estimate the earth is 6,012 years old. Without favoring one estimate over the other, calculate the likely age of God. Show your work.

2. The presidency of George W. Bush is an example of:

a. Heredity
b. Parasitism
c. Survival of the fittest
d. Predestination
e. Judicial activism
f. Divine intervention

3. If male zebra finches are raised by foster parents of another species, the Bengalese finch, they will court female Bengalese finches instead of females of their own kind. Which statement best explains their behavior?

a. Birds are animals!
b. Imprinting
c. Gold-digging
d. What happens in Bengal stays in Bengal
e. Co-habituation
f. If you’d ever had the chance to court a Bengalese finch, you wouldn’t have to ask

There’s more…. good times, good times.

Update: full test is now hidden in the archives. Boo.

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A short study of an immediate overstep and retreat over a post on the I-can’t-believe-California-pays-this-guy Volokh’s site, where Zywicki posts about PZ Myers’ calling out of Scott Adams (he of Dilbert fame) on Adams’ spectacularly stupid arguments for intelligent design (or, rather, anti-evolutionist and taking the side of creationists. Same diff). Zywicki called Myers names, got called on it, and retreated. First with an edit and deletion of some comments, then with a major edit and deletion of all comments.

OK, that looks confusing. In chron order:
Scott “Dilbert” Adams makes a post defending ID/attacking evolution, or close enough thereto as makes no difference here. PZ Myers, a biology professor at UMinn and a tireless rebutter of creationists/IDers rebutted Adams and pointed out Adams apparent lack of thought. Adams responded, as inanely as the first time, and Myers responded again. Zywicki steps in and says Adams has a blog and Myers has already attacked him!

At least, that’s what Zywicki said at first. Only it was more than that, Zywicki called Myers a “Lysenkoist,” which is not only wrong (unless today is opposite day), it is offensive. Lysenko sent many good scientists off to die in gulags, and Lysenkoism should only refer to those times when political policy is used to trump science.

You know, like with “Intelligent Design” or the administration’s global warming nonresponse or stem cells…

At any rate, Zywicki’s rapid, pellmell retreat and censorship made me laugh. Nothing like a conservative nut sticking to their guns and with a forthright, uncompromising mien facing the world to really make my day. Good times.

Update: Sedition weighs in about Scott Adams’ momma

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and no, I don’t mean biometric. Well, biometric would work, but I’m not submitted any bio data outside of space I control, that’s for sure.

Over the past two years, three security enthusiasts from the United States and Europe set a host of computers to the task of creating eleven enormous tables of data that can be used to look up common passwords. The tables–totaling 500GB– form the core data of a technique known as rainbow cracking, which uses vast dictionaries of data to let anyone reverse the process of creating hashes–the statistically unique codes that, among other duties, are used to obfuscate a user’s password.

Last week, the trio went public with their service. Called RainbowCrack Online, the site allows anyone to pay a subscription fee and submit password hashes for cracking.

“Usually people think that a complex, but short, password is very secure, something like $FT%_3^,” said Travis, one of the founders of RainbowCrack Online, who asked that his last name not be used. “However, you will find that our tables handle that password quite easily.”

A double-authentication might work, but we’re going to need something. Even before quantum computing gets here, we’re going to need something.

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Google offers Silicon Valley home free wireless Internet

nternet giant Google is offering to cloak its home city in Silicon Valley with free wireless “Wi-Fi” computer service, the company confirmed.

Google’s proposal to “unwire the city” will be considered by the Mountain View city council on Tuesday, according to Ellis Berns, manager of economic development in the town where Google has its headquarters.
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“Providing free Wi-Fi access in Mountain View is one way Google can support the citizens and businesses in the community where we are headquartered,” said Chris Sacca of Google’s new business development unit.

I, of course, think that free WiFi access should be implemented by the State (or municipalities, etc.) rather than private corporations, but I’ll take what I can get.

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You know, one of these lifetimes, I’m going to heed the words of countless generations of human beings who have existed before me.

Man, that’s the last time I updated the firmware on a wireless router that’s functioning justfinethankyou.

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Told ya it was illegal. Fuck Sony. The only good thing they have going for them is they are crushing the xbox, but even so… fuck them. They’re awful. Not as bad as Mitsubishi, but awful nonetheless.

In California, the class action suit alleges that Sony’s DRM has caused harm to computers, and that the company failed to disclose precisely what the DRM technology would do to users’ computers. According to sources, the suit alleges three distinct violations of California law, including violations of statutes relating to deceptive trade practices and obfuscated technological measures deemed to be anti-consumer. The suit seeks an injunction against the sale of the effected CDs as well as monetary damages for those who purchased the discs.

One group that doesn’t seem to mind Sony’s intrusive DRM are malicious trojan authors. Today came the first reports of viruses aimed at exploiting Sony’s copy-protection.

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It is the elimination of need and illness that are my biggest factors for supporting the potential of nanotech, grey goo or no. Wired has the latest (puff) piece about such things.

It’s a space-opera scene we know by heart: The hero’s tiny craft faces off against the vast enemy ship. Now scale down the set a billion times or so, and replace Luke Skywalker’s X-wing and the Death Star with a clump of drug-bearing molecules and a misshapen cancer cell.

Ka-BOOM!

This scenario — from a National Cancer Institute video — is just one possibility offered by the burgeoning field of cancer nanotechnology, where miniscule molecules are designed with literally atomic precision to combat a disease that kills half a million Americans every year.

“It’s 21st-century medicine,” said Vicki Colvin of Rice University’s Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology. “It sits at the intersection of some of the greatest achievements in many different areas of science, from material science to cell biology to physics and advances in imaging.”
…
The first cancer nanotech applications will likely involve detection. Nanoparticles could recognize cancer’s molecular signatures, gathering the proteins produced by cancerous cells or signaling the presence of telltale genetic changes. Researchers have already used a protein called albumin — considered a naturally occurring nanoparticle — to detect proteins found in ovarian cancer tissue.

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USB drives suuuuuuck by nearly any standard of performance. So much for my fileserver on the cheap. Buy cheap, pay twice. Dammit, should’ve listened to my own folk wisdom.

Cheaper and with better perfomance to just buy a bare system and load it with drives than stack externals. Particularly with pretty good systems for about $400 these days.

Bah. 300GB of space and shitty performance. Nearly useless. Man, I’m an idiot.

Also, the SATA-USB box I got… destroyed my SATA drive… thereby losing my entire music collection. Most of it was backed up, but still. Grrr.

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