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User: VitrosChemistryAnaly

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Comments · 164

  1. Re:Then again, maybe it _is_ good news. on Study: HIV Becoming Less Deadly, Less Infectious · · Score: 2

    My question: how do you find these cases in adults? You can't ethically give someone a placebo for 5 years! Are these people who the point of infection can be narrowed down to an instance and who discover they have HIV 6+ years after the fact?

    I'm not the clinician in my lab, but here's the way that I understand it works:
    After a person tests positive for HIV, their CD4+ T-cell count is monitored. Once that count goes below a certain level they are placed on anti-retroviral therapy. Elite controllers are those whose CD4+ T-cell count never goes down and have nearly undetectable viral loads. For those who don't know, HIV tests actually test whether your body is making antibodies against HIV and don't directly measure viral load.

  2. Re:Then again, maybe it _is_ good news. on Study: HIV Becoming Less Deadly, Less Infectious · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What we'd have then is a situation like SIV in which the virus doesn't cause disease in "natural" host organisms (such as chimpanzees) because the host can control virus replication. These people actually already exist and they're called "elite controllers". They are infected with HIV (for many, many years), but their immune system keeps the virus to almost undetectable levels. For them, HIV is harmless.

    I work in immunology and the coevolution of host and virus to the point where it is harmless would be a Good Thing (TM).

  3. On one hand... on Lockheed Claims Breakthrough On Fusion Energy Project · · Score: 1

    ...fusion power is exciting

    On the other hand, I'm not excited about Lockheed Martin developing it.

    With my third hand, did anyone else read in the article that nuclear submarines run on a fusion reactor that needs to be replaced on a yearly basis? I was under the impression that it was a fission reactor, so it really makes me doubt if the writer knows what he/she is talking about.

  4. Similar to "Runaround" in I, Robot... on Developing the First Law of Robotics · · Score: 3, Informative

    A story in which a robot is stuck between two equal potentials and therefore cannot complete its task.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaround_(story)

  5. Re:BTW, this proves piracy is irrelevant for artis on Apple Outrages Users By Automatically Installing U2's Album On Their Devices · · Score: 1

    This doesn't "prove" anything. You may believe that it illustrates a point that you're trying to make, but it supplies no proof of any kind.

    That aside, I'm sure that music publishers and/or U2 are making plenty of money on this deal. It's "free" to iDevice users, not to Apple and nothing like sharing music with P2P.

  6. Re:And better yet on How the Outdated TI-84 Plus Still Holds a Monopoly On Classrooms · · Score: 1

    But the other thing about the TI-8x line is if you take a short amount of time you realize you can program the hell out of it. So if for example you're required to memorize formulas, just program them in.

    This is exactly what I used to do with my TI81(?) back in 1993 when I was a senior in HS. I was one of the few kids in my class to realize that you could actually program your calculator. When it came time to learn a formula, I would write a program using that formula. Two birds killed with one stone: I had to understand the formula to write a program for it and simple math errors were largely avoided because I was just plugging in numbers and letting the program do the operations. I would do this for chemistry, physics and economics.

    After some time, the teachers became aware that some students were just storing equations (not programs) in their calculators and would walk around to make sure that everyone cleared their calculator's memory prior to a test. The solution? You could make images and store them so I wrote a program that made it look like I had cleared my memory.

    Fun times.

  7. Re:Human vs. crowd on Inside the Facebook Algorithm Most Users Don't Even Know Exists · · Score: 1

    Reminds me of Asimov's "psychohistory" from the Foundation series as invented the character Hari Seldon.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...

    I like to think that there's something to it, but there probably isn't.

  8. Re:Anything that screws monsanto ? on Hidden Viral Gene Discovered In GMO Crops · · Score: 1

    ... and millions of people have died and become gravely ill because of it.

    ...um...citation?

    I've had one friend die from lung complications and another deal with lifelong diabetes and a skin condition due to exposure to chemicals Monsanto and Dow were contracted to develop.

    Who are these friends and what are these chemicals?

    I agree with you for the most part in that we should not blindly trust a company that is so in bed with the government, but you've got to back up your claims with some evidence.

  9. Re:Ummm on Hard Drives Shipping with Star Trek · · Score: 1

    And the ironic part is, they probably had the personal assistant look up the price online at BBs website, during the board meeting where they were jerking each other off.

    There, fixed that for you.

  10. Re:Lol? Sif it will happen. on Will Australia Follow China's Google Ban? · · Score: 1

    Very well seen. If the 20th century taught us anything, then it was this: any innocent-looking, peaceful society can almost without prior notice degenerate into a self-destructing monster, ruled by a tyrant. Which is a terrible and sad thing to say, but - alas - a true one.

    I thought that's what the Star Wars prequels taught us...

  11. Re:2% by 2012? on New Jersey Outshines Most Others In Solar Energy · · Score: 1

    You know, very technically speaking, solar power IS nuclear power...

    And, as we all know, being technically correct is the very best kind of correct.

  12. Re:Nuclear isn't the problem. on Penny-Sized Nuclear Batteries Developed · · Score: 2, Funny

    The problem is that normal people are fucking stupid. Imagine the shitstorm when someone disassembles one of these to "see what's inside."

    I think that would make for an interesting episode of "Will it blend?". Up this week: a nuclear battery!

  13. Re:Spread the FUD on Swine Flu Outbreak At PAX · · Score: 1

    Killer bees were going to kill us all.

    Hello! I mean they have the word killer right there in the name! Of course they're going to kill us all. No one makes a name just for the sake of sensationalism.

    The killer bees are just taking their sweet time to kill us. They'll wait until the right moment and *sting*, there you go. They should be called killer nefarious bees.

  14. Re:Silly on Why Motivation Is Key For Artificial Intelligence · · Score: 1

    That is essentially what happens in part of Asimov's novel Foundation and Earth.

    Robots on Solaria have been programmed to define "human" in a different way (more akin to the Solarians) and attack the main, human, characters.

    Great series of novels IMHO.

  15. Re:Huh? on US Colleges Say Hiring US Students a Bad Deal · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Please stop making sense and being logical!

    I gots to have my FUD!

    /me heads off to read Sarah Palin's facebook page.

  16. Re:Aren't they Worried... on Gardeners Told to Give Exhausted Bees an Energy Drink · · Score: 1

    Oh, buzz off.

  17. Re:It's like quitting smoking. on Shaw Cable Again Blocks Firewire On Canadian Set-Top Boxes · · Score: 5, Informative

    You *are* aware that the internet isn't just for facebook and youtube, right? In fact many people (heck, most people on Slashdot) use it as a *tool* to get work done. I just ssh'ed into the server at my lab so that I could check on a bioinformatics project that I have going on. For me, the internet is a tool that I use to be more productive, check Slashdot and to keep up on news without my TV

    TV is pretty much only about entertainment and wasting time.

  18. Re:Fine on Exchange Rates Spell High Prices for Windows 7 In the EU · · Score: 1

    "If Europeans want a Unicode-friendly forum where they can use foreign currency symbols and letters with funny looking little hats overtop and whatnot, they can jolly well start their own site. We don't want it here.

    It's funny that you would use a British-ish phrase to let them know that they're not welcome here.

    Wilkommen! Get your kraut-ass back home. Is that how it works?

  19. Re:More importantly... on Microsoft Discloses Windows 7 Pricing · · Score: 1

    Since Windows 7 comes with "XP mode" for compatibility, I'd say that yes you can.

    I'll stick with Ubuntu and run a virtual XP for all the "windows only" things I need to do thank-you-very-much.

    Seriously, Vista and Windows 7 pricing are such a joke.

  20. CARBON NEGATIVE?!? on GE Microbes Make Ersatz Crude Oil From Many Sources · · Score: 3, Funny

    From TFA:
    The company claims that this "Oil 2.0" will not only be renewable but also carbon negative - meaning that the carbon it emits will be less than that sucked from the atmosphere by the raw materials from which it is made.

    OMG! Isn't anyone thinking about the ramifications? I'm talking about Global Cooling!

    Won't someone please think of the children?!?

    Seriously, though, I nearly spit out my coffee from reading the phrase "Oil 2.0". What a creative name. *rolls eyes*

  21. Two NES phones that you can't get in the USA - on 10 Cool Gadgets You Can't Get Here · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/nes-slider/gionee-nes-phone-lets-you-stomp-goombas-on-the-go-268486.php

    http://www.gadgets-weblog.com/50226711/lenovo_phone_sports_nes_emulator.php

    Why, oh why can't I get these in the US? I would love a phone that is a *good* NES emulator.

    Anyone know the best routes to get this stuff in the US?

  22. Subscription? on Windows 7 Likely Going Modular, Subscription-based · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Okay, there is no way in hell that I'm going to run any OS as my main OS that requires a fucking *subscription*.

    What happens when you're late with a payment? You windows will refuse to let you log in?

    I've been using Linux pretty exclusively at home for the past year (my wife does OSX on her new intel macbook). The more I use it, the more I can envision a completely MS free life. Now this news just gives me a date to go along with that vision

    I'm going to say it: 2010 will be the year of the Linux desktop! Thanks to MS!

  23. Re:w00t on MIT Students Show How the Inca Leapt Canyons · · Score: 1

    after a night of twisting

    In a different time and place that phrase would have a completely different meaning. (whistling "Let's twist again!"...)
    Or different meaning to Hari Seldon perhaps?
  24. From the article on British Scientists Reverse Casimir Effect · · Score: 3, Funny

    Their discovery could ultimately lead to frictionless micro-machines with moving parts that levitate.
    Finally that fast talking dude will have a job again!
  25. Re:Trackpoint? on Mouse or Trackball? · · Score: 1

    Did you ever bother to consider that your keyboard was probably some dark wizard's horcrux and that's why it was indestructible?

    You insensitive clod!