The ultimate holiday video

In the last of my series of favorite videos, shadows of the Vietnam War are cast over Rudolph as he journeys to the North Pole in "A Pack of Gifts Now".

Again, children: no permission, no watch.

The penultimate holiday video

Here is the sequel to "Raging Rudolph", "The Reinfather". Once again, don't let you kids see this, graphic violence, blah, blah, blah.

More holiday videos

"Raging Rudolph", a Martin Scorsese like take on the story of Rudolph. Very funny but also very graphic. Definitely not for British school kids (or any other kids).

Videos for the holiday season

A favorite of mine from MADtv several years ago, "The Greatest Action Story Ever Told".

Just look at this synapse

Normally, I point out when the popular press reports inaccurate scientific information, but even scientists are not immune to making mistakes every now and then. Just look at this picture from a new review on synaptic plasticity.


Okay, the small circles in the synapse must be neurotransmitters. So that means the large circle must be the vesicle. So why are neurotransmitters floating in the pre-synaptic neuron like that just prior to release? And why is the omega structure so much smaller than the vesicle?

My guess is this was drawn up by some graphic artist rather than the authors, which would explain why the mistake was made. Of course it should have been caught by the authors or reviewers prior to being accepted. What gets me is that this is an e-pub ahead of publication and has been online since mid-November (when I first saw it) and the publication date isn't until January. I thought sure that it would have been fixed by now. Maybe some one will catch it before the final manuscript goes to print, though I think it is a little late for that.

DONE!

107 days, 120 "official" lecture hours, 42 "unofficial" lecture hours, 10 journal club presentations, 5 half-day in-class exams, and 1 open book take home final that I handed in last evening. As of 10:46PM on Sunday ...

BIOSCIENCE BOOTCAMP IS DONE!

Now, what to do with the four, 3-inch binders full of my lecture notes that I took throughout the semester? Yes, four binders. Three-inches thick. Full. One semester. I AM NOT EXAGGERATING!

Florida: It is better to remain silent and thought a fool...

Florida has been toying with the idea of tinkering with their science standards and possibly, just maybe, replacing the words "changes over time" with "evolution" in their public schools. Some members of the public have, unfortunately, chosen to open their mouths and remove all doubt.

- "How can anyone accept the theory of evolution? The last time I went to the zoo the monkeys weren't evolving into a man."

Somebody skipped their high school lecture on hypothesis testing.

- "Are we begging for trouble or what? For goodness sakes remember your audience. We are a part of the Bible Belt. Why open old wounds. This could be titled something different. Why not just diversity?"

- "I strongly disagree with the term 'evolution' being used in kindergarten or any grade level. I would change the term 'evolution' to a more user friendly term such as
'adaptations.'"

In other news, students will now call hurricanes vanilla rainbow cotton candy clouds and "Calculus Class" will now be called "Finger painting with Mr. Jeepers".

BBC reporter shares his circumcision story

The BBC reporter in question lives in Zambia and sought the procedure as way to help protect against HIV infection.

I have always wanted to be circumcised as a way of fighting the HIV/Aids scourge.
After reading a lot about circumcision, I am convinced that it is indeed a preventative measure for HIV/Aids.

Like I've said before, he's an adult and there is some evidence to support his reasoning. So, if he wants to go ahead and have this done, I say good for him. However, as I have also said before, my greatest fear was that the circumcision/HIV prevention data would be used as a back door to promote involuntary circumcision of infant males. And it seems that in some countries, that is exactly where it is headed.

The UNAIDS country programme coordinator, Dr Kékoura Kourouma, has advised Rwandans to start circumcision with children at a tender age as one of the measures to protect them from acquiring with HIV/Aids.
"If the government plans to implement circumcision, it would be easier and cheaper when it targets children. This would enable the programme to achieve its targeted
objectives"

Well, anyway back to Mr. Gondwe. One of the advantages* of performing circumcision on an infant versus an adult is that surgery for adults is more complicated than for infants. How complicated?

"One of the first stages is to prepare the surface we are going to work on by cleaning it with an antiseptic solution.
"After that we are going to mark the exact area where we are cut off the foreskin. That will be preceded by giving you a local anaesthetic."

A local anesthetic, not general anesthesia, is all that is necessary. It has all the complication of getting a tooth filled. But what about the other advantage, that recovery for adults is such a horrible process. How did you feel after your procedure Mr. Gondwe?

Walking to the car, I feel strong enough to drive home.
I am very amazed and impressed at how quickly I find myself recovering as I drive back.

That's it. Not weeks and weeks of agonizing pain, though there are weeks and weeks of delicate care that must be taken. All in all, a rather simple procedure with little complication. All the more reason to allow the individual to choose if they be circumcised as an adult.

* I use the term "advantage" rather loosely for these two points, as I don't see how this is an advantage for a surgery which is not even necessary. To think these are advantages you would have to be working under the assumption that every male has to undergo this procedure at some point in their life. And yes, I have met people who believe such things.

Isn't there anyone who knows what Hanukkah is all about?

I rather like the story of Hanukkah. Except for the "miracle of the oil" thing, it is virtually devoid of religious overtone. A subjugated population, with increasing internal friction between the haves and the have nots, revolts against their foreign oppressors. The foreigners, and the haves who kowtow to them, get hammered* by the have nots who go on to re-establish their autonomous nation.

It's a classic story of triumph, a narrative that permeates everything from "The Count of Monte Cristo" to "Rudy". All too often, however, gentiles seem to think the Festival of Lights is just dreidel spinning and candle burning. This leaves me wondering, ala Charlie Brown, if there is anyone who knows what Hanukkah is all about.

Apparently, according to Rabbi Yehuda Levin, Hannukah is all about anal sex. Seriously. The upper class Jews loved their Hellenistic overlords so much that they decided to show it by expressing the love that dares not speak its name. Good thing the Maccabees knew how to distribute some old time, Biblical, expeditious, justice.

The faithful Jews, willingly martyred themselves to defeat the debauchery of that time both heterosexual and homosexual. Thus Chanukah represents the first ever defeat of a world power's homosexual agenda!

Holy crap on a popsicle stick! That's a whole lot a crazy! Well I don't know anything about Rabbi Levin, but if this Wikipedia entry is accurate (and I certainly hope that it isn't) he likes to hang out with Fred Phelps. Yes that Fred Phelps.

I want to return to my bubble now.

* Pun intended.

There's a reason Moses carried that stick

Via the Opinion Mill, I was directed to this post of the nine most Badass Bible verses. Needless to say, this site is NSFW*. But I will give you my favorite:

#2 Judges 15: 15-16

Finding a fresh jawbone of an ass, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men. Then Samson said, "With an ass's jawbone I have made asses of them. With an ass's jawbone I have killed a thousand men."

And their comment:

What should be emphasized in this story was the bravery of the Philistine soldiers, specifically the ones in the back who kept charging even after seeing 700 or so of their comrades go down with shattered skulls. We're talking about guys who probably climbed over a pile of bodies 15-feet high to get to him.

Samson: he took an ass, kicked some ass, and made them look like an ass. If that isn't badass, I don't know what is.


*Well, it's not that bad. But this is the Old Testament we are talking about here. Plenty of war, famine, and sex to go around. The New Testament? Having Jesus turn over a few money changing tables at the temple can't possibly compare to that.

An Ode to Cytochrome C Mediated Apoptosis

Image from Martin, Vuori: Biochim Biophys Acta. 2004 Jul 5;1692(2-3):145-57.

An Ode to Cytochrome C Mediated Apoptosis

Cytochrome C, what came of thee?

Why from the mito did you flee?

I think I see where you went wrong,

to which I respond with this song.

Now Bax and Bak, dirty devils,

got together and made some channels.

Alone they could do no such thing

so Bid and Bim got in the swing.

Now Bid and Bim spell certain doom

(when Bim's not leading bands with brooms*).

But, hold, there is a saviour yet,

a protein that acts like a net!

Now, Bcl don't rhyme so well

except with quell, and fell and dwell.

All things are named, that is true,

and so we have xL and 2.

xL and 2 they can sequester

Bid and Bim before disaster.

And what's more, I'm glad to say,

They can keep Bax and Bak at bay.

Oh no, now, how could it be so

that something else jumped in the row!

Bad and Bik cut through these ties

and quickly they do sensitize

those devils, Bid and Bim, which fling

from Bcl, and then they cling

to Bax and Bak, which are now free

to open pores for cyto c!

Then, my friend, it's off to the races

because we now have the caspaces.

Now none can save, and I anoint

this cell beyond commitment point.

Now, that is all, this cell's life's dim

Because of Bax, Bad, Bik and Bim.

*With apologies to Theodor Geisel, and Bim

I would read "The Golden Compass" ...

... if they had a copy at my library. I had not planned on doing so; I have enough to read without adding on some more. But then I heard that some LDS and Roman Catholic members were calling for a boycott of the film. Of course, Pullman's books are negative mostly towards organized religion rather than religion in general. So I would expect that members of two sects that have, respectively, never undergone a reformation and pretend the reformation never happened to react this way. So, thank you Caltholic League and LDS Relief Society, you've piqued my interest and convinced me to go read Pullman's trilogy.