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User: elmohound

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  1. My old biometry profressor, a former graduate student of R.A.Fisher, gave this pearl of wisdom at the conclusion of the course's final lecture. It was was billed as the magic equation that should be heeded by all experimental biologists:

      C^1B(4).

    In other words, see a statistician before performing the experiment.

  2. Re:Mutations behind autism hints of future therapi on Microsoft Creates an AI That Can Spot a Joke In a New Yorker Cartoon · · Score: 1

    Please ignore the previous comment. It was posted to this thread by mistake.

  3. Mutations behind autism hints of future therapies on Microsoft Creates an AI That Can Spot a Joke In a New Yorker Cartoon · · Score: 1

    Recent papers have reported dramatic progress in identifying some
    of the mutations responsible for autism, which in some cases
    seem reversible.

    One study, which will appear in Cell (paywall:/dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.06.045), identifies
    protein kinase A (PKA) as an upstream regulator of the
    autism-linked ubiquitin ligase protein UBE3A. A UBE3A mutation,
    disrupts this regulation, leading to excessive UBE3A activity
    against itself and ultimately to snaptic dysfunction. The authors suggest that
    a phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor named rolipram can boost UBE3A
    levels thereby restoring normal function.

    An unrelated study investigated an autism-linked mutation called
    Shank3, which can be potentially
    reversed (http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/abstract/S2211-1247%2815%2900496-9)

  4. Re:Oh no... you mean... on Political Polls Become Less Reliable As We Head Into 2016 Presidential Election · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry that I gave the impression that I think that polls caused Regan's victory.

    I'm even sorrier that y'all are leaping on *me* as if I'm some kinda "friggin" idjut for reporting that people that I know claimed to have waived their rights to vote because they had heard it was a lost cause.

  5. Re:Oh no... you mean... on Political Polls Become Less Reliable As We Head Into 2016 Presidential Election · · Score: 1

    Really? I was voting in New Jersey that year.

  6. Re:Oh no... you mean... on Political Polls Become Less Reliable As We Head Into 2016 Presidential Election · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In British Columbia, the media is not allowed to report poll results within 30 days prior to an election. Politicians can have a poll done, but they can't reveal the findings. I'm sure that that two-edged sword, the U.S. Bill of Rights, would never permit such a "free-speech" restriction in the U.S.

    As far as I'm concerned, polling is a tool used to sway voters and manipulate voter turnout. Imagine my disgust way back in 1980 when driving to the voting 1/2 hour before opening time to hear over the radio that NBC had declared "Raygun" the next president of the U.S. Many of my (then) young friends told me that they hadn't even bothered voting because they didn't think that their vote would count given the polling numbers that were flooding the media.

  7. Re:Thinking back to my undergraduate days (late 70 on Goodbye, World? 5 Languages That Might Not Be Long For This World · · Score: 1

    The programming expert who wrote that article provided Pascal code that probably won't compile because of a missing "END" statement.

  8. This is not as new an idea as one might think. on Fuel Cells From Nanomaterials Made From Human Urine · · Score: 1

    I recall reading a recipe for case-hardening iron in a Scientfic American article from 1890's. The process involved packing a crucible with iron, straw, and horse feces and urine, then heating in a furnace.
    I guess these ingredients were readily available to black smiths of the time.

  9. Re:more downgrades on Firefox 29: Redesign · · Score: 1

    I can verify that the problem reading Yahoo! mail has indeed been fixed in SeaMonkey. Thanks jez9999!

  10. Re:more downgrades on Firefox 29: Redesign · · Score: 1

    I've been using SeaMonkey for many years. Although the lack of support for some of my favorite add-ons has been enough of a hassle that I don't use it quite as much as I used to. Given the revelations about FF 29, though, I think it's going to become popular for me again starting today! There is one big problem, however, for the last 2-3 weeks I've not been able to open Yahoo! mail messages in SeaMonkey. Maybe this sea-change at Mozilla will provide that last final push for me leave Yahoo with it's lack of POP or IMAP, and it's periodic "improvements" behind once-and-for all. (Every time they upgrade, they degrade the Yahoo experience to the point that I'm hardly shouting yahoo. Does this sound like a familiar theme?).

    Oh, in case you are wondering about the add-ons not supported for SeaMonkey, here are two that I love.

          ColorfulTabs
          MultirowBookmarks Toolbar Plus

    Again, I'd rather lose them than move to FF29.

  11. Re:Pay for their own show on Creationists Demand Equal Airtime With 'Cosmos' · · Score: 0

    There's no crocoduck. You can't explain that!

    I thought that this might shape up to be an interesting sub-thread, but when I read comments like yours, apparently not presented as sarcasm but as a serious point of argument regarding a serious scientific topic, I can only shake my head in disgust at how far American culture has devolved in recent years. You see, when you distill down the arguments of others into an pointless non sequitur, you aren't proving a deity-damned thing, other than your own foolishness. Get a clue girl! Better yet, strive to really understand what it is that "the other side" is saying, and I don't mean by listening to either your religious leader(s) or popularizers like Tyson. The Internet is a vast library, I suggest that you use it to improve yourself.

  12. Re:Not so fast. on Missouri Legislation Redefines Science, Pushes Intelligent Design · · Score: 2

    Actually, the old testament can also be viewed as more political propaganda than accurate historical treatise.

    I invite you to compare various events reported in the bible to the accounts from the Babylonian and Assyrian historical texts. For example, the Assyrians tell us that Egyptian agitators convinced the kingdoms of Judea and Israel, along with the Phoenician states, to divert their tribute (i.e. monetary payments) from the Assyrian Empire to the Egyptian Empire. The Assyrians responded militarily and, following their traditional practice, relocated the troublemakers. The bible, however, only provides the point-of-view of the injured parties, completely ignoring the political reality, and puts a weird (now enshrined) religious spin on the whole thing.

    Just one example, there are many more. You can find translations of Mesopotamian history on the shelves of any decent research university.

  13. Re:Look I know God is real, but this isn't the bat on Missouri Legislation Redefines Science, Pushes Intelligent Design · · Score: 1

    I believe that the mythical deity of my choice has placed
    followers of other mythical deities on Earth in order to try my
    patience.

    I endure these silly gnats with Job-like patience, and long for
    the day when they just die out along with their neolithic
    superstitions.

    Nonetheless, I respect *their* right to believe any nonsense that
    they choose, but I certainly have little regard for those who
    don't follow my true deity and seek to fight their ignorance by
    ignoring them whenever it is possible, and ridiculing them when
    it is not.

  14. Desqview, SideKick, Turbo-Lightning, debug.com on What Early Software Was Influential Enough To Deserve Acclaim? · · Score: 1

    These three were killer apps under MS-DOS that themselves were killed by MS-Windows.

    Desqview (useful for MS-DOS based multi-tasking and mixing graphics and text)

    Sidekick (just like a little PDA on your MS-DOS box)

    Turbo-lightning (pop-up spell-checker)

    debug.com (write and run little machine-language apps that could be emailed without MIME)

  15. Re:Idiot. on Student Expelled From Montreal College For Finding "Sloppy Coding" · · Score: 1

    Idiot? I think that your posting is a great example of idiocy, so should I call you an idiot? I person may be unwise and behave foolishly, but that doesn't mean that the person is an idiot. Clearly, the man had sufficient intelligence and technical savvy to get into that mess. You, sir, come off as someone who clings to some shred of understanding of legal matters and lies in wait for opportunities to wave it in the breeze like a flag of honor. Heck, I'll bet you don't have a clue about IP laws in Canada and Quebec.

  16. No RNA! Not a virus! on Scientists Recover Black Death RNA From Exhumed Victims · · Score: 1

    While the poster cites a very interesting article, the original posting contains two glaring errors. Specifically, the paper describes sequencing the genomic and plasmid DNA of the a specific strain of the species Yersinia pestis (a reasonably close relative of the 'dreaded' E. coli, BTW). So, no RNA! Not a Virus! The Nature paper, itself, uses currently conventional methods and draws very plausible conclusions based on our knowledge of Enterobacterial evolution. A review of the Yersinia literature shows that there is believed to be an association between various historical plague outbreaks and the certain characteristic changes in DNA sequence. It is not clear, however, that any of these genetic markers reflect changes in virulence. Finally, we don't have to recover plague from old graves to get virulent strains Y. pestis, since they are still thriving in certain parts of the world to day. For example in the four corners region of the USA. I've taken a look at Abbie Smith's blog and sense some confusion leading to the conclusions that she draws. For sure, we know that some of the plasmids contain virulence factors relate to the disease. It is a demonstrable fact. The nature paper just reports that there was difficulty isolating and sequencing pPCP1 to a reasonable level of coverage.

  17. This is neither a novel idea or a new development. on Artificial Bases Added to DNA · · Score: 1

    Work of this sort was pioneered by U. Florida professor Steve Benner in the last century and subsequently commercialized by Eragen Biosciences under the Trademark "Multicode".