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I see your X and raise you a zip container

But I was thinking of a way
To feed oneself on batter,
And so go on from day to day
Getting a little fatter.
I shook him well from side to side,
Until his face was blue:
"Come, tell me how you live," I cried,
"And what it is you do!"
--The White Knight's Song by Lewis Carroll

And the cynical little boy who said this was eaten up by a wolf, but all the little children who liked movies with morals lived happily ever after.

>GNU was popular before Linus even had a though about Linux.

GNU was around in one form or another before Linus even had a thought about Linux. You'd have to be charitable to call it "popular" even now, except in the sense of base, common and popular.

>For some reason I feel like talking about some of these things more.

It's only by talking about issues that people can best understand each other's opinions, and by that, better understand one's own opinions.

>I am confused about this paradox you present - gays that believe in the bible are asked to commit suicide peacefully?

Perhaps you can better educate me on this point. It's my understanding that if one takes the KJV bible literally, Leviticus 20:13 suggests that gays will be put to death.

However, at the same time, one of the ten commandments is "Thou shalt not kill", which seems to leave only one "option" open, suicide.

But perhaps I'm confused on this. I do know there are many bible-based religions that don't take it that literally.

I only try to avoid even mentioning things like that with most people, as, quite honestly, few ever give me cause to mention things like that (not that you did, apart from asking :)

It's a little more complicated than you were taught in high school. There are viruses with genes made from DNA, viruses with genes made from RNA that go through a DNA stage in their 'life' cycle, and viruses with genes made from RNA that never go through a DNA stage:

http://www.web-books.com/MoBio/Free/Ch1Et.htm
http://www.virology.net/Big_Virology/BVFamilyGroup .html

These viruses hijack cellular components to make the proteins they require to copy themselves and protect their genetic material. 'Sub-viral' agents also exist that do not encode any proteins:

http://www-micro.msb.le.ac.uk/3035/Viroids.html

Yes, but not in the way you think. We can use apoptosis to kill harmful cells, like cancer cells. This is a "natural purpose" of apoptosis, and drugs are under development to "encourage" cancer cells (and virally infected cells) to die by this mechanism.

The theory that apoptosis plays a central role in human aging is part-and-parcel of the "free radical" theory of aging, which I think is bullshit.

The basic idea is that reactive oxygen species - these are chemicals that want to take electrons away from biological molecules and can do in such a fashion that the biological molecule is damaged - damage your mitochondria in such a fashion that the mitochondria signal the cell to die. This definitely CAN happen - however, I don't believe that it actually does, or that any of the pathologies we observe in human aging actually depend on this pathway. Btw, I'm a bioinformatician (grad student); when I worked with my Dad, I studied oxidative stress - he still does but he does not think it plays a role in normal aging. Certain conditions - being a chain smoker, being on hemodialysis, whatever - may actually put enough of these reactive oxygen species into your system that this could happen, but I doubt it.

FYI: some people try to sell you antioxidant dietary supplements (or other treatments.) I cannot emphasise enough - these products are snake oil. Even if reactive oxygen species do play a significant role in aging (which I doubt,) taking spills to scavenge them or soak them up is utter malarky.

The opinion of someone with whom I disagree almost completely. More of the same - the summary is fairly accesible.

To sum up - I can't say conclusively that there is no aging-related process that depends on apoptosis, but I don't find the evidence at all convincing. The one that people are fond of at the moment, which is oxidative stress-come-apoptosis, is hogwash.

Aptoptosis serves two functions:
1) Developmental. Developmental Aptoptosis is necesarry to "carve out" your body. For example, when your fingers form, the tissue between what will become the fingers goes aptoptotic and dies. There is no real evidence that this is what happens when you get old.

2) Defensive. Cells which are pre-cancerous, or which have been infected with viruses, can become apoptotic. Certain conditions that some old people get - autoimmune disorders, for example - depend on apoptosis to do harm. However, this is not a part of normal aging.

P.S. Most scientists pronounce it "apo-tosis," the p is silent (like pterodactyl.) On the other hand, by this reasoning, helicopter (which comes from the same root as pterodactyl) would be "heli-coter", so say the p if you want.