ERV

ERV has moved

2008-04-28T17:27:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Mark (and I mean really, thanks to Mark, this wasnt a generalized Blogger glitch, this was Blogger BS), endogenousretrovirus.blogspot.com is back up.

But Im moving to ScienceBlogs!

And backing up all of my old posts tonight instead of studying.

*flips off Blogger*

Why do weird people believe smart things?

2008-04-23T20:34:00.003-05:00

Even though Michael Shermer has... confused me... recently, theres no questioning that 'Why People Believe Weird Things' is a skeptical thinking classic. I especially enjoyed the chapter on 'Why Smart People Believe Weird Things'-- How can someone be a physicist during the day, and a ghost hunter at night? How can someone be a high school social studies teacher, but keep a blog on 'THE LOST SECRETS OF ATLANTIS!' during their free time?

Hell, Im even superstitious sometimes-- I think if I dont do the same activities every morning in the same order, Arnie will get disgruntled and get into the trash/bookshelf/futon while Im at work.

But an equally interesting question went unanswered in 'Why People Believe'.

Why do weird people believe smart things?

Im not joking when I look at Creationists like a confused puppy and say "How do you function in the real world?" Do they just randomly accept normal things?

Humans and other primates descended from a common ancestor: NO.
The earth is round: NO... I mean YES.
Its physically possible to boil water to make tea: LET ME CHECK MY BIBLE.

I wondered that very question while watching Robert Kennedy Jrs presentation on campus last week. You all might remember RFK from Respectful Insolence. RFK wrote a good ol fashioned slander piece about the non-existent VACCINES-->AUTISMOMG a couple years ago. Not just the normal stupid anti-vaxer claims-- slanderous crap against scientists and the CDC.

So I was interested when I heard RFK was coming to campus (a medical research campus) to speak about global warming. Despite the fact RFK is on the 'science' side of climate change, his previous behaviors have clearly established that he is not pro-science. Hell, he is anti-science. So why is he pro-science in the case of global warming? I mean, global warming is in fashion this political season (YAY! As long as it isnt just for show), but is he that shallow?

I dont think RFK is *that* shallow, but he is definitely anti-science.

His presentation on global warming, to scientists, included no science. Lotsa folksy stuff, like how hes just so miffed that he cant eat the fish he catches with his boys cause the lake mercury levels are too high. Cause Jebus Christ told em that he is supposeta take care of the earth (I was treated to a >20 minute sermon, you know how much I enjoyed that). Cuase its good economics to go green!

Well, I agree with two of those three things, but, um, no science.

Except when he urged the audience, several times, to have their hair tested for heavy metals. If he was a woman, he said, his mercury levels are so high he would be at risk for having a baby with autism.

Isnt that special.

Shorter Robert Kennedy Jr--

Only do the right thing when it directly benefits you.

Only do the right thing because an invisible sky pixie will hurt you if you dont.

Only do the right thing because its cost effective.

I guess thats how weird people can occasionally believe smart things?

ERV, Queen Elizabeth, James Dobson

2008-04-21T18:16:00.003-05:00

What do ERV, Queen Elizabeth, and James Dobson have in common?

HAPPAH BIRFDAY TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

hehehehehehe!!

I cant find my favorite songs on YouTube from my other birthday brother, Iggy Pop ('Turn Blue', 'Some Weird Sin'). So heres just a friggen hysterical clip:

Second EXPELLED Copyright Case 'Resolved'

2008-04-17T21:14:00.004-05:00

'Inner Life' and all of its yellow permutations are out of EXPELLED.

No such 'luck' for The Killers:

"I just spoke to the band's manager, and adding to the confusion was the fact that they did authorize a project months ago with this request:

Quote:
'The film is a satirical documentary with an estimated running time of 1 hour and 50 minutes, exploring academic freedom in public schools and government institutions with actor, comedian, economist, Ben Stein as the spokesperson.'

She later added:

"The band asked the producers to remove their song from the film when they became aware of the true nature of it. They were told it is too late. That's all there is."

Well, you all can write the jokes from here. But something jumped out at me-- "1 hour 50 minutes"?

It was 97 minutes pre-XVIVO.

Now its only 90.

Its the incredible shrinking propaganda film.

Which even the TheoTARDS think is 15 minutes too long.

Fantastic.

(H/T Quidam at AtBC)

$25

2008-04-17T20:12:00.003-05:00

For $25, you and a friend could go to EXPELLED for shits and giggles.

Or, if youre in the OKC area, you can go to the OKC animal shelter* and adopt a dog or cat-- Theyre having a special promotion right now :)

Spayed/Neutered, all shots, $25 (I spent hundreds on Arnie to get him checked out/shots/fixed).

A little running buddy.

Someone to keep you company while youre studying at 4 am... for the third night in a row.

Waggy mess of fuz that makes it physically impossible to ever have a real Bad Day.

$25.

Just putting it in perspective for those of you tempted to watch the train wreck...

*In honor of the OKC shelter pledging to be no-kill by 2010, Im using my birthday money (*COUGH*MONDAY*COUGH*) to buy some fleece blankies and bags of raw hides to donate. A friend is dropping them off for me, though, as I dont 'do well' at shelters...)

Premise Lawsuits, Toddler Animations, and a Final Resolution

2008-04-16T13:48:00.004-05:00

Mkay. So I just got a copy of Premise Medias SLAPP lawsuit against XVIVO.

It is quite possibly the dumbest thing I have ever read in my entire life. And I have read the Bible and Atlas Shrugged.

Its 16 pages.

The first 15 pages explain why they filed the suit in Texas instead of Canada (Premise) or Connecticut (XVIVO). 15 pages. Of this:

12. In addition, on information and belief based on the materials
displayed on the XVIVO Web Site, an Internet user in Texas and in this district can interact with XVIVO over the Internet in the following ways, among others:
a. view XVIVO promotions, offers for services, and solicitations;
b. hyperlink and download various items of sample work product including but not necessarily limited to the Inner Life Video;
c. provide information to, and otherwise communicate with XVIVO;
d. ask questions and receive answers about XVI VO's products and services, including ongoing projects
... etc etc etc etc etc...

Shorter first 15 pages:

YOU CAN GETZ TO XVIVO ON DEH INTRAWEBZ AND DEY HAS EMAILZ SO I CAN SUE THEM IN TIMBUCKTOO IF I WANTS BUT I DONT WANTS I WANTS TEXAZ!

Yeah. Im sure it has *nothing* to do with the fact Texas has no anti-SLAPP laws. Premise is suing in Texas because "an Internet user in Texas and in this district can interact with XVIVO over the Internet".

So whats the last page about? Its a fucking ad for EXPELLED:

Premise Media's Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a provocative documentary film that examines the scientific community's academic suppression of those who dissent from the belief of the adequacy of Darwinian evolution to explain the origin of life.
The Documentary Film Expelled is narrated by Ben Stein, a well known actor, who is also a lawyer, economist, writer, and former presidential speech writer. Mr. Stein and the Expelled producers feel that Neo-Darwinism inappropriately dominates the classroom and academia and are interested in promoting free speech and debate regarding a diversity of views.

It goes on and on and on like that. But eventually they get to the meat of their claims. And they make no sense whatsoever:

In preparing the Documentary Film, Premise Media commissioned computer animation of some of the natural processes inside a living cell (ERV-- Please note, even in the lawsuit, they dont say who made their animation. I will be taking bets in the comments if you have guesses).

Some time ago, as part of the pre-release activity relating to the Documentary Film, Premise Media commissioned a DVD highlighting some parts of the Documentary Film as then planned. The DVD was designed as an educational resource highlighting the theme of the Documentary Film and was distributed free of charge in all cases. The resource DVD included a short clip of an animation of the inside of a cell. The short clip showing the cell interior was independently created early in the production process, and was used in the resource DVD. At the time the short resource DVD was made, the Documentary Film was not complete. The final version of the film does not contain the segment from the DVD on which XVIVO appears to base its claims in its April 9 letter.

Even so, Defendant evidently obtained access to the resource DVD or its contents, as indicated in Exhibit 1, because, on information and belief, at the time it sent that letter, XVIVO could not have seen the Documentary Film (it had not been released).

The specific segment from the educational resource DVD is not even in the final version of the Documentary Film to remove.

So, they knew what they were doing was morally and legally wrong, and have been working on a replacement for theatrical release. The animation on the DVD is not in the movie. But the reason they changed it was NOT because it was obviously stolen from 'Inner Life' and other resources.

Riiiiight.

Makes sense to me.

But this part is funny shit and worth reading 15 pages of "I CAN EMAILZ DEM SO I CAN HAS LAWSUIT IN TEZAS?":

Even if the resource DVD or Documentary Film had relied on the Inner Life Video in part (which it did not), any such use would be protected by the doctrine of fair use.

In addition, the fact that XVIVO makes available the Inner Life Video on its website with the "lead in" that "A full length version of 'The Inner Life of a Cell' is now available online for educational use" (emphasis added) creates an implied nonexclusive license for Premise Media to precisely do what XVIVO now complains Premise Media is doing, arguendo, i.e., make "educational use" of that video, via a Documentary Film.

Shorter version:

WULS EVAN IF WE DIDS STEALS IT.... BUT WE DIDNTZ... WERE USIN IT FOR EDUMACATION! WERE A FOR REALZIES LEARNIN DUKUMENTRY!

So, youve heard it here first, folks! All of you that saw previews of EXPELLED and saw a yellow 'Inner Life'-- you were hallucinating. All of you. Mass, country-wide, specific hallucinations. 'YELLOWZ INNER LIVES IS NUT IN EXPELLED! YELLOWZ INNER LIVES IS NUT IN EXPELLED! WHooooOOOO!'

Dont feel bad, hallucinating readers. Mark Mathis is even having trouble remembering what he has seen and which animation is in EXPELLED:

GW: I have compared the original Harvard footage with the promo DVD version that Myers has posted at Pharyngula, and though I’ve only seen the film once, as I recall, there are very, very substantial differences between the final cut of the animation and the version that appears on the promo DVD. Is that right?

MM: You know, I haven’t made— I believe that’s the case; but I haven’t actually watched what Myers has posted. I haven’t made my own comparison. I apologize; I should have done that, because I have the DVD version. I have the film on PC, too, so I can do that. My problem has been that I’m running so hard and fast doing twenty-seven other things that— I know that we’ve got Executive Producers who have dealt with this specifically, and this is kind of in the periphery of what I’ve been involved in. But I’m glad you brought that up, because I need to make that comparison myself, just for my own. But I know, because I’ve watched both, that certainly there are significant differences and improvements, and I believe that, because of those substantial differences, there isn’t any merit to the charge. (H/T Quidam)

Poor poor Mark Mathis. All those lowly internet rats giving you trouble when all you want to do is steal other peoples hard work and make money. Must be so stressful. Explains you forgetting things.

This might be what is in the final version of EXPELLED:

So, EXPELLites knew after Dembski got caught they couldnt leave the real 'Inner Life' in, so they created the Frankenstein 'Inner Life' as a place-holder until they could find some 5 year olds to create a shitty Las-Vegas-Meets-TeleTubbies 'Inner Life' for the actual theatrical release because they knew their Frankenstein wouldnt hold water in court. Prescreenings were tightly regulated so 'no one' could attend but stupid rubes who wouldnt be familiar with 'Inner Life' to squeal on Premise.

I gotta say, this lead up and animation detective work has been a hell of a lot more entertaining than the actual movie will be. Now that the 'real' animation is up, I have no reason to waste $10 to go see it myself. Save my money for quality films.

And XVIVO, Harvard, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute are vindicated-- Their hard work, though pilfered by these shameless half-wit Creationists for the past year, will NOT be in the final version of EXPELLED. WHOO!

Open Challenge to Premise Media

2008-04-16T10:19:00.003-05:00

Hi Premise Media!

I know you all read and monitor my blag, cause I see you on SiteMeter. I hope youre learning lots of fun things about endogenous retroviruses and American Staffordshire Terriers.

Anyway, its come to my attention that, unsatisfied with 'merely' stealing a small animation companys work (and money from Sesame Street), you issued a press release about your plagiarism that implied you were going to utilize litigation (curiously in Mega-TARDs backyard) to return honor to your good Christian name.

Now, I cant help but notice that the 'dude', 'cell biologists', or 'team of animators', the individuals who would have the most to lose by being unfairly labeled thieves, are not the plaintiffs-- Premise Media is. And I cant help but notice how after admitting you stole the animation, you think 'stealing' somehow involves free speech rights. But here is my challenge for you, Premise Media. A litigation-free way of clearing your name:

Upload the animation you used at the December 9, 2007 screening.

You made it. You own copyright, right? So upload it. Harvard has theirs online, so you cant possibly be afraid of anything. I dont care if it is a crappy work-in-progress, as long as it shows you were genuinely trying to do this on your own. So upload it.

If it is 'Inner Life', then take responsibility for your actions like big boys. Simply admit that you lied, you got caught, and take it out of EXPELLED (think of this challenge as a bonus for avoiding more litigation with Howard Hughes Medical Institute).

If its not 'Inner Life', then congrats! You made an animation identical to Harvards in approximately 12 days (8 business days!)! Took them about 420 days! YAY! Creationists are 35 times as smart as Harvard. Good for you. And you should have all your data behind you to back up that time-frame, including reasons for why a multitude of errors in 'Inner Life' also appear in your animation. HURRAY! You arent lying thieves. Everyones honor will be satisfied.

You have my email if you wish to direct me towards the video when you upload it. I look forward to resolving this issue.

Your Friend--
Abbie

ROFL!!

2008-04-15T19:50:00.003-05:00

Okay, Angry ERV doesnt stay angry for long if you know the trick-- If you make me laugh, I cant be angry anymore.

Darwin Central made me laugh.

The Official EXPELLED Paternity Test.

H/T to midwifetoad at AtBC!

EXPELLED: ERV finally gets angry

2008-04-15T17:53:00.004-05:00

*squints eyes*

*slams head onto her desk*

*keeps slamming her head onto her desk*

*deep breath*

*keeps slamming her head onto her desk*

Okay, so like, you all know what I think about Creationists. Im not an appeaser. Im mad at the current generation of PhDs for not crushing them years ago. I continually get reprimanded from the PTers for calling Creationists 'stupid'-- but every time I hear Behe/Wells/whoever speak Im shocked the men can figure out how to feed themselves, much less get a goddamn PhD.

I think theyre evil little morons.

I didnt think it was physically possible for my opinion of them to go any lower.

You know the next line: I was wrong.

You know those other parts of the animation in EXPELLED? The parts that arent obvious traces of 'Inner Life'? I figured they just got those parts from 'Unlocking the Mysteries of Life' or some dumbass Creationist crap.

But I kept getting emails from people "I know Ive seen that other stuff before!" "Students who plagairize dont just use one source-- I bet EXPELLED people used something other than 'Inner Life' too." But I ignored those people. I was like "HAHAHAHAHA! DI Fellows are stupid mother fuckers, but they arent that stupid! No, Im sure they made those parts on their own!"

AAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA.

No.

That top picture is from the video titled 'The Central Dogma Transcription of DNA to RNA'.

The bottom picture is from EXPELLED.

But youre probably thinking "Wow. EXPELLED-TARDs really did some hunting to find that Australian animation. I guess thats kinda like work. I mean, the closest thing youll ever get to 'work' out of a lazy ass silver spoon Creationist."

Nono, dear reader. You know where those fuckers got the idea to steal that particular animation?

PBS.

After denying, then admitting, then denying (OH! Mega-TARD took that last post down! No harbles for him, eh?) stealing the hard work of a small animation company and a couple of hard working scientists, turns out the Discovery Institute Fellows stole from PBS too. The organization they found just sooooooooo offensive after 'Judgment Day' and 'Evolution'. The organization that teaches little kids how to count and the alphabet and how to read and how being different is okay...

The Discovery Institute stole from Mr. Fucking Rogers.

You have got to be shitting me.

What the fuck is the matter with those people???

They arent just idiots-- everyone acts stupid now and then.

They arent just delusional-- everyone can act wonky if you give them enough NyQuil.

The only answer is that they are genuinely bad people.

Thats all we can expect from them. Ever.

EXPELLED EXPOSED: Actin Networks

2008-04-14T13:15:00.005-05:00

Well shit.

I was going to save these posts until after EXPELLED was released, but now there is no point in waiting. After the Discovery Institutes blatant theft of a small animation companys work, three out of four of Papa-TARDs remaining functional neurons must have died after working so hard to drip out 'But all deh cells looks dey sames!' as a defense... only to have their massive effort ruined when Megalomania-TARD bravely screamed 'LEEEEEEEEROOOOOOY JENKINS!'-- admitting the DI stole XVIVO/Harvards damn animation.

Right on the internet.

For everyone to read.

Including Harvard law.

*blink*

But I might as well put this series of posts up so you gentle readers can critique the stolen animation for your friends, if they should still be under the impression that the Discovery Institute Fellows are somehow 'honest' or 'intelligent'.

EXPELLED EXPOSED: ACTIN NETWORKS
Actin is one of those pesky proteins Creationists wish didnt exist. You see, humans got several different kinds of actin out of that impossible evolutionary mechanism of gene duplication and divergence. But bad news for Creationists is good news for you! Youve got different kinds of actin that have their own special duties. For instance, you probably remember 'actin' from high school bio, when you talked about muscle contractions-- Actin, myosin, etc. Thats 'alpha' actin.

The actin at the beginning of 'Inner Life' is 'beta' actin. Beta actin forms the cytoskeletal network at the cell membrane surface, and can quickly change shape when a cell wants to move. But this actin network is never static, and it does not change shape by itself. Beebopping around the network are proteins that stabilize the structures, and ones that destabilize it. Here is a short list of the little actin-altering dudes floating around.

Changes within the actin network at the cell membrane surface is an integral part of the 'Inner Life' plot. I mean, the whole story is about how a lymphocyte moves to a site of infection, and the cell wouldnt move at all if it werent for changes in the actin network. But XVIVO chose to omit all of the actin binding proteins for simplicitys sake:
Whats important to note here too, is that in addition to the static actin network structure, in addition to the absence of actin binding proteins, notice how 'Inner Life's actin network forms a nice, pseudo-diamond crystal, horizontal sides differing from the vertical component in size, general shape/structure, and color.

This is what an actin network looks like through a microscope:
Hat tip and thank you to The Daily Transcript for the pic (and go read the rest of that post on actin!).

So, knowing what you know now, gentle readers, can anyone explain the EXPELLED rip-off video as anything other than a rip-off?
Same diamond crystal structure. Same vertical/horizontal component size/structure/color differences. Same absence of same proteins.

Its just a shittier version of 'Inner Life'. The horizontal 'actin' looks like it belongs in 'Two Girls, One Cup', not a fucking professional bioanimation.

More to come.

Best Movie of 2008

2008-04-13T17:55:00.003-05:00

Oh. My. God. The sequel to the best movie ever made:

If EXPELLED is tempting you to melt brain cells, go to H&K April 25th instead.

You wont be disappointed.

Where is the World is Mike Edmondson?

2008-04-11T16:25:00.007-05:00

One of the benefits of being a D-list blogger is that I dont get PZ-esque traffic. This means that every once in a while, I can click on my SiteMeter and catch some fun hits-- someone at the NIH, someone living in Figi, its entertaining :P

Its been really fun this past month or so to see all the site hits from Premise Media (LOL! LOSERS!). They started about a month ago, after I posted the 'Inner Life'-Dembski time line. From someone in Vancouver. I happened to be chatting with Peter Irons at the time, and I was like 'Which one of those pieces of shit lives in Vancouver?'

Peter mentioned a name or two, including a computer animator, Mike Edmondson. "Computer animator!" we exclaimed, "Wonder if he is our 'man'?" So Peter dropped Mr. Edmondson a note:

...
2. As part of this employment, you produced, through digital technology in your studio, a segment of the "Expelled" film, purporting to show the operations of cellular mechanisms, particularly the "walking" models of kinesic activities.

3. I have been advised by several specialists in cellular biology that the segment you created copied, virtually without any changes, significant portions of a video entitled "The Inner Life of the Cell," produced by the XVIVO company in Connecticut, under contract to Harvard University.
...

Mr. Edmondson promptly replied:

I did not create or have anything to do with the animation in question.

So the guy ('the dude', if you will) who is listed at the computer animator for EXPELLED did not make the Frankenstein 'Inner Life'. Well, okay, there is lots of computer stuff to do-- graphics and such, so I believe(d) Edmondson.

Dude appears to be a genuine computer animator, so I believe him. Copy someone elses shit, and you will never work again, plus I assume there is something about honor in art and being original.

Nows where things get weird. One month ago when I looked at Edmondsons 'LinkedIn' business site it said:

... employment since August 2007 as "Digital Artist/Animator at Premise Media creating animations for the film Expelled and a five minute animated propositional piece.

Here it is now.

One month ago, Edmondsons photo and biography were on the Premise Media web page. Now, this is all the evidence I can find he is (was?) associated with them:

How very, very odd.

I can think of two reasons for Mr. Edmondsons disappearance.

Scenario #1-- Edmondson had nothing to do with EXPELLEDs plagiarism. He did not know the animation in the film was stolen. When he found out from Peter, he found my blog, and emailed Premise-TARDS for an explanation. When the theft was confirmed, Edmondson declared he wanted nothing to do with EXPELLED-- take his name off everything. If there is a stolen computer animation in EXPELLED, and he is listed as the EXPELLED computer animator, he will never work again. Edmondson is an honest guy trying to run his own business and did the right thing.

Scenario #2-- Edmondson is 'the dude.' Premise media, in their frenzy to wipe hard drives and shred notes, is expunging the history of Edmondson from Premise.

If its the former, I urge Mr. Edmondson to contact me or Peter. We can help you.

If its the latter? *flips off Edmondson*

EDITED 6:15 pm-- Edmontons name was removed from Premise/EXPELLED at his request.

*blink*

EDITED 4-13-08-- Edmondson is a cool dude-- His videos online are friggen hysterical. How he got tangled up with EXPELLites we may never know, but lay off ol dude :)

Anyone want seconds?

2008-04-10T16:10:00.007-05:00

Guys, we arent going to have to eat for months after this. More roasted Creationist, this time from William Dembski, Megalomania-TARD:

I ve gotten to know the producers quite well. As far as I can tell, they made sure to budget for lawsuits. Also, I know for a fact that they have one of the best intellectual property attorneys in the business. I expect that the producers made their video close enough to the Harvard video to get tongues awagging (Headline: Harvard University Seeks Injunction Against Ben Stein and EXPELLED you think that might generate interest in the movie?), but different enough so that they are unexposed.

So they knew from the beginning that they were making a Frankenstein 'Inner Life.' They knew they were copying 'Inner Life', and budgeted for 'if they got caught.' They hired 'one of the best copyright lawyerz in dah biz', just in case 'they got caught.'

Sooo... This fiasco is the definition of malicious copyright infringement.

It was a nice touch on the producer s part to use the same music as the XVIVO video. Presumably they got permission from the artist is that another possible oversight to explore? But then again, one of the producers was for years in the music business. So most likely they re covered here as well.

DUDE! You stole the music too?!?!?! I didnt know that. Thanks Mega-TARD.

BOTTOM LINE: Before you think the producers of EXPELLED are idiots, you might think that they are chess players who have seen several moves ahead. For instance, have you ever thought who stood to gain the most from the Machine Video featured at UD a week ago?

Yeah, "Creationists caught stealing someone elses work. Again." isnt much of a headline, is it? Put it right next to "Dog bites man" on the front page, eh?

Your lying. Its pathologic. Seek professional help.

I love the smell of roasted Creationists in the morning.

2008-04-10T12:10:00.003-05:00

Oh certainly I dont want to eat them. Im a vegetarian. But I still enjoy the smell.

So, like, remember last fall when Billy D finally had to fess up to stealing 'Inner Life'? Remember how the Discovery Institute hung him out to dry, even though they obviously played a part in that fiasco?

Well, I really wondered how the DI would respond to EXPELLED getting caught doing the same goddamn thing. Would the DI pull a Dover and run away screaming, letting Premise fend for itself? Or was the DI inseparably entangled with the Frankenstein 'Inner Life', completely unable to distance itself from its making, and be forced to take responsibility for their actions?

Hum hum hum.

Honestly, I thought they would bail. Make EXPELLED pick a fall guy (like Kevin Miller, or their computer animator) and wash their hands of EXPELLED. Pull a Dover and pretend they didnt have anything to do with it.

But it was clear to me from the beginning that DI had a hand in this. Quote Kevin Miller:

But as far as I'm concerned, no one has copyrighted any cellular processes--at least not yet. I'm sure Craig Venter would like to.

Thats stupid enough to be DI 'lawyer' advice. Well, Kevin, you cant copyright Mus musculus either, but Id really like to see you draw a yellow pair of shorts on Mickey Mouse, put him in EXPELLED, and see what Disney has to say.

But Jonathan Wells, 'ol Papa-TARD himself, has come to the defense of Premise, clinching the DI-Frankenstein connection:

Expelled does NOT use the Harvard animation. The producers paid a professional to create a new animation that is more accurate than the Harvard one (based on current knowledge of cellular processes). Any similarities between the Expelled animation and the Harvard one are due to the fact that both animations depict many of the same processes.

'A professional.' Now, it took a team of Harvard PIs/students and professional bioanimators 14 months to make 'Inner Life'. Premise hired a dude (one dude) to make a nearly identical version in <3 months. And its funny how Wells story doesnt match an earlier defense from Kevin:

We created the animation in conjunction with an animation studio and several cell biologists.

'A dude'. 'An animation studio.' 'Several cell biologists.'

How nebulous of you, Creationists.

And notice how fast Wells jumps to defend the quality of the animation (its BETTER than Harvards!). Thats some fine lulz. Wells, if you werent a functionally retarded Creationist and were actually a 'biologist' you could have picked out a hand full of errors in 'Inner Life' that just so happened to show up in Frankenstein 'Inner Life'. Not just because 'they are the same cellular processes'-- you copied things that are wrong or artistic renditions.

Why dont you, Wells, identify, lets say '3' things in 'Inner Life' that you know are wrong and tell me why you (excuse me, I mean 'the dude') chose to mirror those errors in *your* animation? Im not talking complicated things. Im not talking advanced biochemistry/microscopy/whatever.

Im talking basic, Cell Bio 200, wrongs.

Think of it as practice for your court date.

Ready... Set... GO!

(No cheating from the audience, this is a Q for DI/EXPELLITES only).

EXPELLED: EXPELLED for plagiarism

2008-04-09T16:41:00.006-05:00

This was Kevin Millers ('writer' for EXPELLED) response to my question, "Who made your animation?"

Who made our animation? Some nondescript place with no sign called "Plagermation." Seemed legitimate to me...

Lets see if that holds up in court.

Dear ____:

This letter will constitute notice to you, as Chairman of Premise Media Corporation, of the copyright infringement by your corporation, and its subsidiary, Rampant Films, of material produced by XVIVO LLC, in which XVIVO holds a copyright.

It has come to our intention that Premise Media and Rampant Films has produced a film entitled “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” which is scheduled for commercial release and distribution on April 18, 2008. To our knowledge, this film includes a segment depicting biological cellular activity that was copied by computer-generated means from a video entitled “The Inner Life of a Cell.” XVIVO holds the copyright to all the models, processes, and depictions in this video, and has not authorized Premise Media or Rampant Films to make any use of this material.

We have obtained promotional material for the “Expelled” film, presented on a DVD, that clearly shows in the “cell segment” the virtually identical depiction of material from the “Inner Life” video. We particularly refer to the segment of the “Expelled” film purporting to show the “walking” models of kinesic activities in cellular mechanisms. The segments depicting these models in your film are clearly based upon, and copied from, material in the “Inner Life” video.

We have been advised by counsel that this segment in your film constitutes an actionable infringement of XVIVO’s intellectual property rights, as protected by federal statutes, including Section 106 of the Copyright Act, the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990, and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998. Each of these statutes provides for judicial enforcement of their provisions, with substantial civil penalties for their infringement.

We have also obtained legal advice that your copying, in virtually identical form, of material in the “inner Life” video clearly meets the legal test of “substantial similarity” between the copied work and our original work.

This letter will also serve as notice to you that XVIVO intends to vigorously and promptly pursue its legal remedies for your copyright infringement, unless and until Premise Media, Rampant Films, and their officers, employees, and agents comply with the following demands:

1) That Premise Media, Rampant Films, and its officers, employees, and agents remove the infringing segment from all copies of the “Expelled” film prior to its scheduled commercial release on or before April 18, 2008;

2) That all copies of the “Inner Life” video in your possession or under your control be returned to XVIVO;

3) That Premise Media notify XVIVO, on or before April 18, 2008, of its compliance with the above demands.

We have been advised, by a telephone conversation with Mellie Bracewell of Premise Media on April 8, 2008, that an e-mail transmission of this letter to her will be promptly forwarded to you. A hard copy of this letter, on XVIVO stationary, will also be sent to you today by express delivery.

We are sure that you will want to avoid legal action in this matter, and urge you to promptly notify us of your compliance with the above demands. You may do so by return e-mail, directed to _____, followed by a hard-copied letter indicating your compliance with the above demands.

I cant wait to find out who made their Frankenstein copy. Im sure the Usual Suspects had *nothing* to do with it.

Edited to add-- Wes has a nice, non-legal observation that EXPELLED cronies might want to think about, considering Dembski and the Discovery Institutes history with 'Inner Life'.

And, Premise Media people reading my blog *whispers* I can see yoooooou LOL!!! LOSERS!

Building a better polio vaccine (or any vaccine, really)

2008-04-08T21:45:00.000-05:00

I cant imagine being a physician 60 years ago, with this picture being an every-day reality:
Row after row of kids with paralyzed diaphragms, locked in iron lungs. Polio.

Though I suppose I cant be too 'shocked and awed'-- I get this:
Yaaaaaay......

*sigh*

But with gymnasiums of iron lungs existing only as fading memories for some, and just pictures in history books for others, its easy to forget one tiny little fact-- Polio still exists, in the wild, on this planet. Unlike smallpox, which is confined to prison in a few research laboratories, we have not eradicated polio. And we might never get rid of it completely, unless we change our vaccine strategy.

You all might be aware of three different kinds of vaccines:

Only a component or protein of a virus/bacteria, like a tetanus shot. No risk of infection at all.
A dead virus/bacteria, like your annual flu shot. No risk of infection at all.
An attenuated virus (has been passaged over and over in a different species so its crippled in humans, evolution, WHOOO!). Might actually get the disease from the vaccination.

Polio vaccines come in two forms, Numbers 2 and 3. I got the live attenuated one on a sugar cube before I started school. It provides the best protection because lots of branches of our immune system are activated by the 'live' vaccine. Our immune system can then remember what worked best if we are ever confronted with a real polio virus. I know this one is also preferred in developing countries, as its super easy to administer. Sugar cube. No needles to sterilize. Yay!

So why isnt polio gone?

A problem with this attenuated vaccine is that you poop polio viruses. Crippled polio viruses, but you poop viruses. And because polio is an RNA virus, it might have mutated back to a wild type form.

Crap.

What can we do? We dont want to keep giving the oral vaccine because it keeps polio 'alive'. We cant do the dead vaccine because its just not as good, and impractical in areas that need the most help. And we cant not give vaccines.

Vignuzzi et al think they have a good idea for how to keep the better live vaccine for RNA viruses, and lose the crappy wild-type polio pooping-- Controlling the attenuation process:
Engineering attenuated virus vaccines by controlling replication fidelity

Their idea is simple-- alter the viruses ability to mutate by making its RNA dependent RNA polymerase better! They tested lots of different amino acid positions and lots of different replacements to see what mutation they could make that would not hurt the overall fitness of the virus. If you start messing with an organisms fitness, you are putting it under pressure to mutate. So dont mess with it! Let it replicate nice and happy, no problems, no stress, let it replicate.

Why? So your immune system can launch a full on assault on the progeny virions, giving you that awesome attenuated vaccine response!

And those progeny viruses (you will still be pooping them, but not as much according to this paper), will be under no pressure to mutate away from the vaccine strain, and their ability to do so will be handicapped anyway (its hard to mutate when your polymerase is super accurate!), so you lose (or at least lessen) the chance of pooping a wild-type virus back into the environment.

Neato! This directed attenuation scheme could work on any RNA virus-- measles, mumps, rubella, rabies-- but they havent actually tried this yet. I mean, they tried it in mice, and got great results, but they havent tried it in people, much less an entire population.

Its nice to know that even though you and I can live blissfully ignorant, iron-lung-free lives, someone is out there making sure our kids can have the same luxury. And theyre using basic principles of the theory of evolution to do it. *gasp!*

Who are we fr*ming for?

2008-04-07T20:18:00.004-05:00

I already think the entire concept is stupid. But seriously, I dont even think I know anyone I should be fr*ming for.

N&M say its for religious moderates.

Who are these people?

I know religious liberals (or people I call liberal), and I think we have a lot in common, and I dont think they are 'offended' at my writing.

For instance, one of the few people in OK I consider a real friend is Ian Ramjohn. Hes Christian. He thinks Sally Kern is a bitch (paraphrasing, Ian is much more congenial than I).

Stephen Matheson stood up and denounced her words and actions with a Jesus fish.

James McGrath had the patience to write a Summer Glau response to Kerns rant.

None of my friends growing up, devout Catholics to this day, find anything funny about Kerns view of Christianity. We love our homosexual friends, end of story.

The same can be said of their views on science.

I was never bullied for not being a Christian growing up (even though I was bullied a bit for being a nerd). It was a joke among my friends-- I would go on their church group trips and find all the great prizes during the scavenger hunt (they would each find a coupon for a free ice cream cone at Dairy Queen, Id find $100 cash). Proselytizing attempts were met with "Oh, Abbies not like that. Shes more into that science stuff." One friend got a good lolz out of taunting her fundy aunt with "Abbies going to school to be an abortion doctor."

They arent offended by my line-in-the-sand opinions on science, because theyre right there with me.

Oh certainly my friends and I could get into a big fight over religion (especially me and Ian-- he does that 'I used to be an atheist' thing that drives me up the wall LOL!). And of course I think my friends are being silly and childish-- they know that. And of course I know they think Im going to heaven and Im going to LUV IT, whether I like it or not (???).

But we arent going to fight about science.

And we arent going to fight about civil liberties.

Um... so who, exactly, am I supposed to be fr*ming for?

The people locked in their Ivory Tower Churches? I told the elders at this church two years ago that Harrub was lying to their congregation. Yet there he is on a speaker schedule for this July.

Oh wait, thats why fr*ming is retarded.

Mooney-- Im glad to see youre trying to fr*me your fr*me shit again. Call me when you have some actions and real-world game plans to go along with your meaningless words.

Nisbet-- *flips off Nisbet* Yeah, air headed PhD telling an HIV and cancer researcher to 'be a good citizen'. Piss off. Oh, and nice to see SciBlogs has their very own Uncommon Descent now. April Fools fools on us, eh?

Everyone else-- Stop blogging about fr*ming. It pisses me off and then I have to blog about it to get the pissed-off-ness out of my system. Just stop, until they provide something beneficial to society...

(H/T to Greg Laden)

I LUVS MAH LAZER: The Best Week Evah

2008-04-07T19:44:00.003-05:00

Did you all have that thing in gym class in elementary school? Where you had to do so many pull-ups and so many sit-ups and run a mile, and youd win the Presidential Fitness Award or something stupid like that? Well I remember that crap-- Sure I run 3-6 miles a day now with Arnie puppy, but one mile is a long friggen way when youre 10 years old! That crap sucked!

I remember I could make it the whole way by saying to myself "Just one more lap, just one more lap, just one more lap..." Eventually the trick wouldnt work. I knew I had 5 more laps. I knew my stomach hurt. I knew I wasnt getting that stupid 'fitness award' anyway and the whole ordeal was an exercise in futility. But then there really was just one more lap. The end really was in sight.

Thats how I feel in the lab right now.

Its a lab joke-- Ive been stuck, stuck on my project. So Id just keep telling Bossman "Just two more weeks. In two weeks Ill have data. Just two more weeks. Just two more weeks..."

Now, its not a joke any more.

Mah lazer. Mah lazer is so awesome!!!!!!! We got it for my red cells, but the laser on the machine that I use for my green cells is ten times as strong, so even my green results are better. The results I got today-- I was in disbelief. Ive done this same stupid experiment over and over, but today, the machine saw everything!! As my cells popped up on the computer screen, I couldnt do anything by shake my head in disbelief.

I think Im going to be able to go back to the old-school way of titering my viral stocks (much easier than the way I did it today).

For the next couple of months, it will just be plug-and-chug for me.

All of the hurdles between me and the finish line are officially gone.

Im a little angry-- Ive been doing everything right all along, but it was my lazerlessness that held me back.

Im relieved-- this shit works. I can get this done.

Im in disbelief-- Ive been telling myself "Just one more lap, just two more weeks" for so long, I cant believe I might actually finish this project and get this data published.

Im gonna go make out with the new lazer now...

I CAN HAS LAZERS!!!!

2008-04-01T20:27:00.005-05:00

I CAN HAS LAZERS! I GOTS A NEW LAZER!!!!!

"Wait, what?" you might be saying, dear readers. "Youre a biologist. Um, why are you excited about lasers? Isnt that a physics thing? Another April Fools?"

NOOOOOOOOO!! I CAN HAS A NEW LAZER! Life doesnt suck so hard anymore!*

You know how Im doing this red vs green thing?

I hit an impasse.

Our flow cytometer cant see my red cells.

I can look through a microscope and see loooots of lovely red cells, but the friggen flow cytometer cant see them. Its like the red guys are invisible. Why?

Well, a flow cytometer works by shining a beam of light, a *Dr. Evil hand quotes* 'lazer', on a stream of cells. If your cell contains a green fluorescent protein, the GFPs will be excited by the light and fluoresce... green. The flow cytometer software says "w00t! That little guy is glowing!" and pops him over to a different part of your readout chart. A cell that does not contain any fluorescent proteins will slide on by. The flow cytometer software says "Boo. That guys a dud, but Ill count him anyway." Non-fluorescent cells stay clumped in a background region of your readout.

The catch to all of this is that you have to have the right wavelength of light to excite your fluorescent proteins properly for the computer to register a hit. You cant just shine any old light onto your cells and expect to see green and red and blue, etc.

I was using a beam of light at 488 nm to excite both of my proteins-- the red and the green. But look at this chart (from Clonetech, click for a better version):

Im exciting both proteins at 488. Light green peak for green is at 488. The red peak for red is at 551. At 488 nm, DsRED2 is only at ~30% of brightness, so my dim red cells, reduced another 70%... the poor computer cant see them. Red cells are being counted as non-glowing background cells.

BUT!

I CAN HAS LAAAAZER!!!! We just got a new laser for the flow cytometer... one at 551 nm!!!!!!!!! So I ran a sample I fully expected to fail. Sure I could see red cells underneath the microscope, but with my old protocol nothing would have registered. The cells were way too dim.

But with the new laser? It saw 50 red cells. More than I could see on my own! WHOOOOOO!!! WHOOOOOOO!!!

I can finally move forward with my main experiments!! Biggest roadblocks are gone! WHOOO! WHOOOOO!! LAZERS! WHOOOOOOO!!!

* Arnie has repeatedly offered to let me borrow his lazers, unfortunately, the lazer I need is green, and his lazers are blue. Puppy tries.

Americans United and ERV

2008-04-01T07:29:00.003-05:00

Last Saturday I gave a presentation at the Oklahoma Americans United for the Separation of Church and State conference on Intelligent Design in public school science classrooms. Unfortunately it was at 8 am the Saturday after a block of tests, but I think I did alright ;) Fortunately for you all, Damien, a member of Oklahoma Atheists, recorded the presentations and put them up on Google Video!

Yeah, so, the only weird part? You know at the very end, when a guy speaks up and makes a joke about Jesus? Yeah, that was PZ. The PZ. I didnt notice him until he said something because I wasnt exactly expecting to see him in OKLAHOMA (why I doubled over in embarrassment when he spoke up). He didnt RSVP, or if he did, it was under an alternate surname (not 'PZ'), or else we would have made him speak too!!

Im really starting to think PZ does have a gatecrashing problem...

WHOOOO!!

2008-03-31T17:00:00.004-05:00

WHOOO!!

So theres a really nice dog park in Del City Ive wanted to take Arnie to (its much closer to us than the others in the OKC area), but Ive been terrified to take him there.

Despite a state law against breed specific legislation, the Del City suburb made their own little law against only dogs with 'bull' in their names (irrefutable Oklahoma logic-- 'Dar, its gosta bull in dah name so itsa mean daaawg. Daaaar.'). Its been challenged in court, and WHOOO!

DEL CITY, Okla. -- A metro city has backed off trying to enforce a law regarding pit bulls after a district judge overturned its controversial ban.

Hundreds of people in Del City have been ticketed for violating a city ban on having pit bulls. According to state law, however, the city cannot ban a specific breed of dog.

Del City officials said they disagree, saying it's a safety issue.

Residents who oppose the ban said the reversal is a victory for anybody who owns a pit bull.

Just to put this into perspective, as a 'safety issue'-- 30-50 children die every year in the US by drowning in 5 gallon buckets.

~30 people are killed by *all* dogs in a given year (not just 'bully breeds', *all* breeds).

Yeah, banning Arnie should be high on everyones list of 'safety issues'.

Silent ERV

2008-03-27T19:52:00.003-05:00

Im in like... my 20th year of school now.

You would think that by this point I would start studying earlier for tests.

Alas, Im not that clever, so another block of test this week, and another week of all-nighters (You might be a grad student if... #105-- Youre genuinely angry Red Bull isnt sold in 2 liter bottles).

So this week youve got a silent ERV :P

Ill be in the clear this weekend, though, and I gots lots of neat stuff to share (hint-- it will involve LAZERS!!). But for now, please enjoy piccies of deh puppah!!

Yah, about that cell video in EXPELLED...

2008-03-23T21:10:00.003-05:00

PZ has a post up clarifying that the animation in EXPELLED is not Harvard/XVIVOs animation, 'Inner Life of a Cell.'

Hmm-- Now why would PZ, Dawkins, and dozens of EXPELLED viewers that have emailed me recently have been confused about the animation in EXPELLED and 'Inner Life of a Cell'?

September 17, 2007
William Dembski makes a presentation at the University of Oklahoma where he plagiarizes 'Inner Life of a Cell' to describe 'the cell as an automated city.'

November 20, 2007
After Dembski ignored Harvard/XVIVO for two months, I broke the story on my blog.

November 27, 2007
Dembski issues a stock standard notpology, but proclaims:
I continue to this day to think that “The Inner Life of the Cell” is the best animation illustrating cellular activity. But there are other videos that make the same point. From now on, I will no longer use it and instead go back to using a clip from “Unlocking the Mystery of Life.”
This wonderful completely original animation that is currently in EXPELLED appears not to exist, at this point.

December 9, 2007
A professor of theology in Dallas gets invited to a pre-screening of EXPELLE D. He makes a note of the animation, and positively identifies it as 'Inner Life of a Cell' without being prompted. Expresses concern that the producers have not obtained the appropriate rights.

December 21, 2007
Dembski brags about his textbook 'Design of Life' being a 'companion text' to EXPELLED.

December 25, 2007
Peter Irons and Afarensis identify footprints in 'Design of Life' where screen-shots of 'Inner Life' were to appear.

January 11, 2008
We are informed that EXPELLED will not be ready for its scheduled February 12 release. Though all accounts of the film thus far describe it as cut/pastes of stock footage, one wonders what the hold up was...

March, 2008
EXPELLED confuses viewers into thinking the animation they are using is 'Inner Life of a Cell', featuring Dembski blithering about 'the cell as an automated city.'

Well I just cant figure out why PZ would have thought EXPELLEDs current animation is at all related to 'Inner Life'.

An apology to the Discovery Institute

2008-03-20T22:01:00.003-05:00

Wow, Im getting another dose of humble pie today (actually, its pineapple upside-down cheesecake).

All those times I pointed at the Discovery Institute or one of its 'fellows' and laughed 'FAIL! LOL!' 'EPIC FAIL! LOSER LOL!'?

I was wrong.

Those werent epic fails.

This is an epic fail.

So I apologize Discovery Institute, and producers of EXPELLED. I severely underestimated your ability to fail. Touche.

Edited to add-- Kristine has a short account of the events at AtBC. Where is Randy Olson? What was his point in 'Flock of Dodos' again? How Creationists are nice people? Seriously, omfg! Radical Christians are plotting to give me a fucking brain aneurysm this week...

An apology to Sally Kern

2008-03-20T18:10:00.004-05:00

I would like to use this post as an opportunity to apologize to Sally Kern.

She is not a backwards hate filled bitch for Jesus.

She is much, much worse than that.

I dont believe there is an English word or phrase that properly describe Sally Kern or her twisted, inexplicable interpretation of reality.

The entire transcript of Kerns diatribe is on the internet.

You can read it here.

Excerpt:

Another practical benefit of Christianity was the elevation of knowledge, of learning, of science, okay, of the arts.

...

... he believed that we needed to have a society that was based upon Christian principles because elevation of science, elevation of knowledge is very important if you’re going to have an informed public. And I believe it was Thomas Payne also said, you know, you can look at a picture and it makes you think of the artist, you can look at some kind of invention and you think of the inventor. Why is it that we look at the creation and we don’t think about the creator. You know, we don’t do that. And if we really had Christian principles our educational system would not be in the mess it is in today.

...

Another thing that I’m real big on that is a real detriment to this society is evolution. Evolution undermines Christian principles. Period. That’s all there is to it. You either believe there is a creator or you believe there isn’t. Some people say well I believe there is a creator and he used evolution. There’s a lot of problems there folks. When does sin come in, when does the spirit come in? You know, it’s evolution. You read God’s word and you will see the word creation all through it, old and new testament. And it undermines people’s faith. They have trouble reading or believing the Bible.

Sally Kern: Hate filled bitch for Jesus, Part Deux

2008-03-20T07:09:00.003-05:00

Must be read to be believed.

Seriously, thank you to the True Christians who had the decency to step up and defend your god against people like Kern.

Do it again.

Louder, if you really love the beautiful religion of Christianity.

*atheist dream sequence*

Churches turned into libraries. The mega churches into schools. Pews chopped into lumber to rebuild New Orleans. All the shiny shit melted into scrap metal and all those god awful 'Christian Rock' CDs thrown into a food processor. The Bible is required reading for an ancient literature course that students dread more than Herodotus. Crazy motherfuckers like Kern living in compounds in the hills, waiting for TEH HOMO MAN to come eat their children, but never in a political office. Never daring to speak their hateful thoughts around humans.

... I dont think its TEH HOMOZ you need to be worried about, Mizz Sally Kern. I think its a fucking mirror.

Chris Mooney vs Chris Mooney

2008-03-19T19:13:00.003-05:00

Goddammit, Brian.

Should we confront anti-scientists at all?
Chris Mooney, 2006--

And just as science-abusing corporations must be fought in the courts, science-abusing religious conservatives-- who would misinform our children about the origin of the human species and about virtually every thing having to do with sex-- must be fought in schools, the educational system, and the public arena more generally.

Chris Mooney, 2008--

First of all, what is the point of fighting and debating climate skeptics any more?

... if you actually bother to rebut the Heartlands and Discoverys of the world, you instantly enter into a discourse on their own terms. The strategic framing these groups employ to attack mainstream science heavily features the rhetoric of scientific uncertainty—and so if you try to answer their arguments, you’re inevitably committed to conveying more abstruse technical information and, thus, more uncertainty as soon as they wail back at you (which they thoroughly enjoy doing).

Does debating anti-scientists pump up the 'controversy'?
Chris Mooney, 2006--

Political attacks on science succeed, at least in part, because they confuse the public and policymakers, leading them to believe that a scientific "controversy" exists where one actually does not...
This would not happen so frequently, however, if journalists-- the chief purveyors of scientific information to the American public in controversial and politicized areas-- performed their job better.

Chris Mooney, 2008--

There’s certainly a longstanding mentality among progressive groups that nonsense must be refuted, often in rapid-fire mode if possible. But that mindset runs up against something else that ought to be obvious: controversy sells. If you create a big fuss over what your intellectual opponent is saying, you might well be helping him or her.

Should major science organizations speak out against anti-science?
Chris Mooney, 2006--

We must also mobilize the natural defenders of Enlightenment values: scientists themselves, who all too often fail to engage antievolutionists and other know-nothings in defense of what they hold dear. True, groups like the National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have shown historic willingness to step up when it counts, especially with powerful friend-of-the-court briefs in creationism lawsuits.

Chris Mooney, 2008--

Nevertheless—and to stick with environmental groups for a second–they fall into this trap constantly, refuting at length anti-environmental forces at rightwing think tanks or in the media. The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund (now known simply as Environmental Defense) both published lengthy studies to refute New York Times contrarian John Tierney’s 1997 attack on the efficacy of recycling, to name just one example.

What is the role of Average Joe and Jane Scientist?
Chris Mooney, 2006--

But scientists have too often failed to counter creationist efforts at the local level, preferring to remain in their ivory towers.

Chris Mooney, 2008--

Unfortunately, yet another example of scientific defenders enabling anti-scientific forces has recently come to my attention. The rightwing comedian Ben Stein has a new movie out called Expelled, a supposed documentary about how evolutionary forces are suppressing the intelligent design movement’s intellectually valid dissent. Now, this is nonsense, but what better way to help nonsense thrive than to unleash public statements that would seem to confirm it or to be consistent with it?

**flips off Chris Mooney, 2006**

**flips off Chris Mooney, 2008**

Future for Oklahoma Students

2008-03-18T18:33:00.003-05:00

Today I was rummaging about Big Bossmans Magical Crap Closet looking for a slot-blotter, and I found something a little more unusual.

A crystal ball.

Being a naturally curious individual, and hoping to find the slot-blotter, I wasted no time peering into the crystal balls smoky core. Of all the things I could have possibly seen, the image that appeared was an +A essay by a future Oklahoma eighth grader:

Boreded Ceiling Cat makinkgz Urf n stuffs

1 Oh hai. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat maded teh skiez An da Urfs, but he did not eated dem.
2 Da Urfs no had shapez An haded dark face, An Ceiling Cat rode invisible bike over teh waterz.
3 At start, no has lyte. An Ceiling Cat sayz, i can haz lite? An lite wuz.4 An Ceiling Cat sawed teh lite, to seez stuffs, An splitted teh lite from dark but taht wuz ok cuz kittehs can see in teh dark An not tripz over nethin.5 An Ceiling Cat sayed light Day An dark no Day. It were FURST!!!1
6 An Ceiling Cat sayed, im in ur waterz makin a ceiling. But he no yet make a ur. An he maded a hole in teh Ceiling.7 An Ceiling Cat doed teh skiez with waterz down An waterz up. It happen.8 An Ceiling Cat sayed, i can has teh firmmint wich iz funny bibel naim 4 ceiling, so wuz teh twoth day.
9 An Ceiling Cat gotted all teh waterz in ur base, An Ceiling Cat hadz dry placez cuz kittehs DO NOT WANT get wet.10 An Ceiling Cat called no waterz urth and waters oshun. Iz good.
11 An Ceiling Cat sayed, DO WANT grass! so tehr wuz seedz An stufs, An fruitzors An vegbatels. An a Corm. It happen.12 An Ceiling Cat sawed that weedz ish good, so, letz there be weedz.13 An so teh threeth day jazzhands.
14 An Ceiling Cat sayed, i can has lightz in the skiez for splittin day An no day.15 It happen, lights everwear, like christmass, srsly.16 An Ceiling Cat doeth two grate lightz, teh most big for day, teh other for no day.17 An Ceiling Cat screw tehm on skiez, with big nails An stuff, to lite teh Urfs.18 An tehy rulez day An night. Ceiling Cat sawed. Iz good.19 An so teh furth day w00t.
20 An Ceiling Cat sayed, waterz bring me phishes, An burds, so kittehs can eat dem. But Ceiling Cat no eated dem.21 An Ceiling Cat maed big fishies An see monstrs, which wuz like big cows, except they no mood, An other stuffs dat mooves, An Ceiling Cat sawed iz good.22 An Ceiling Cat sed O hai, make bebehs kthx. An dont worry i wont watch u secksy, i not that kynd uf kitteh.23 An so teh...fith day. Ceiling Cat taek a wile 2 cawnt.
24 An Ceiling Cat sayed, i can has MOAR living stuff, mooes, An creepie tings, An otehr aminals. It happen so tehre.25 An Ceiling Cat doed moar living stuff, mooes, An creepies, An otehr animuls, An did not eated tehm.
26 An Ceiling Cat sayed, letz us do peeps like uz, becuz we ish teh qte, An let min p0wnz0r becuz tehy has can openers.
27 So Ceiling Cat createded teh peeps taht waz like him, can has can openers he maed tehm, min An womin wuz maeded, but he did not eated tehm.
28 An Ceiling Cat sed them O hai maek bebehs kthx, An p0wn teh waterz, no waterz An teh firmmint, An evry stufs.
29 An Ceiling Cat sayed, Beholdt, the Urfs, I has it, An I has not eated it.30 For evry createded stufs tehre are the fuudz, to the burdies, teh creepiez, An teh mooes, so tehre. It happen. Iz good.
31 An Ceiling Cat sayed, Beholdt, teh good enouf for releaze as version 0.8a. kthxbai.

DO NOT WANT. You can still stop this future from happening...

My virus boyfriend-- A love that cannot be

2008-03-17T16:31:00.004-05:00

Me: "OMG! My boyfriend published another paper!!"

Bossman: "Ugh. Do you have any idea how old he is?"

Me: "Our love, it is forbidden."

My virus boyfriend Patrick Forterre is still fighting the good fight for viruses:

Redefining Viruses: Lessons from Mimivirus

Why the hell arent the most abundant creatures on the planet included in the tree of life??

Viruses arent just wads of selfish genes. They are an organism. They contribute massively to the evolution of 'life' on this planet.

We arent slack-jawed TARD Creationists pointing at a Panda Bear slurring "Dat der is a BEAR kiiiind." We use genetics to establish phylogenetic trees, ergo, who is related to whom. Why do we point to viruses and drool "It aint ALIVE! It caint go in deh tree!"

It doesnt make any sense. Like having a ribosome imparts an organism with a 'soul' that allows it to be considered 'alive' and included in Earths evolutionary tree of life.

But that is the stickler for including viruses in the tree. Usually its the ribosomal sequence thats used to compare amoebas to oak trees. And viruses dont have them. Viruses really dont have anything in common with cells (so much for the "But viruses r just de-evolved CELLS!!" hypothesis) so how can we attach them to the Tree?

Forterre suggests that we just use the protein that all viruses have in common, capsid, to create a mirror tree. Like a reflection in a graveyard pond, a Tree of Undead Viruses.

Hmm.

Its a start. But I do not like. I dont see the viral world evolving like a mirror Tree of Life with viruses evolving with their hosts in an alternate dimension. I see The Tree of Life and the Tree of Undead Viruses hopelessly intertwined-- in the same dimension-- we can detect where we got protein A and protein B from viruses and where bactereophages stole protein C and protein D from their hosts or one another. I dont think Forterre would suggest that the trees are isolated, as it appeared in a diagram in this paper, but that is going to be the outcome if you compare Ribosomal Encoding Organisms to Capsid Encoding Organisms.

Meh.

It is a start :)

Golden TARD Award

2008-03-17T11:06:00.004-05:00

When it comes to The Arguments Regarding Design, few people can top our dear friend Egnor.

So whats he done now?

Okay, click on this.

Now, click on this.

LOL! LOSER!!!! LOL!!! Thats a lovely Golden TARD, Engor!! LOOOL!!!! AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! TARD!!!

Shame on the Atlanta Police Department

2008-03-15T22:24:00.005-05:00

Want to see your tax dollars at work? Want to see what cops are doing on a Saturday, rather than pulling over drunk drivers or, you know, fighting crime?

Check out this video from the Atlanta Anonymous protest. Riot squads for a group of kids with signs. Kids being arrested for 'violating noise ordinances'. Drivers being pulled over for honking in support.

*flips off Atlanta PD* Got a paid 'day off' huh boys? Got to play make believe storm trouper in your riot gear and ruin the week of innocent people. Jerks.

Note: In other cities, much larger protests were held. Other cities police forces commended Anons on local news for being so peaceful, ate caek, had a great time. This was the result of asshole 'police', not violent protesters. You should be ashamed of your behavior, Atlanta PD.

Edited 3-16-08 to add: They also had a helicopter circling overhead. A helicopter. The 'guy in charge' is Terrell Bolton (tdbolton@co.dekalb.ga.us). Please send him a nice letter (seriously, no lulz) if you feel moved. I sent an email that mirrored this post, plus a suggestion that he ask the mayor to pardon tickets given that day, and to apologize to the tax payers.

EAC-- Project Maotai

2008-03-15T14:54:00.004-05:00

Last night I was hanging out with some super sweet folks from the cell bio department, and I accidentally stumbled upon a perfect plan to 'dispose of' Christopher Hitchens should he start going a little too crazy. I call it 'Project Maotai.'

Maotai is a Chinese rice wine-- like saki or whatever, I guess. Its considered a lovely gift for someone 'higher up' than you, so Chinese post-docs frequently give Dr. Cell Bio bottles of it for gifts.

Minor problem.

It smells and tastes like butt hole.

So as a joke, Dr. Cell Bio gave me a shot of Maotai just to see me gag... But I loved it! Warm, spicy flavor and an unearthly (literally painful) kick. It was like a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster-- LUV!

Some people in the room declared that we couldnt be friends anymore. The fact I liked Maotai grossed them out too much (their gag reflexes were kicking in just watching me drink it).

So here is the EAC plan, should Hitchens get too unruly: I innocently challenge him to a drinking contest. Weapon, Maotai. He cannot win. The EAC survives.

Morons in Microbiology

2008-03-11T19:57:00.003-05:00

No, not the Usual Morons in Microbiology-- These morons have been around for billions of years!!

A moron (in bacteriophage biology) is a DNA element inserted between a pair of genes in one phage genome when the genes of this same pair are adjacent in a related phage genome.

hmmm.. yaaa... Not so helpful, ASM. Luckily, Bossmans lecture on morons in class this week was much clearer.

'Morons' are genes that bacteriophages carry around which are unnecessary for the virus, but helpful for the host bacteria.

This doesnt make sense at first, because when we think of viruses (especially bacteriophages) we think of infection, making lots of baby viruses, and BOOM!!-- cell explodes and all the viruses are released. Why would it care if the bacteria is comfy as its exploding?

Well, thats not really what happens with phages. They infect a cell, insert themselves into the bacterias genome, and chill. They just sorta hang out until some stressor tells the virus its time to jump ship. Think about it-- who is more fit, a virus that blows up its host and produces a thousand progeny who might/might not find another host cell, or a virus that sits silently in a genome, getting passed down through the generations laterally for a million years? The latter! But while hiding in someone elses cell is a good idea, silent phages have the same problem as plasmids-- How do you convince a bacteria to keep you around when you are genetic dead weight?

MORONS!

LOL!!!

Morons help the bacteria survive by being novel genes that make the bacteria more competitive with its peers in an old niche, or giving the bacteria the ability to exploit a new niche. Morons are kind of hard for us to appreciate... Like the MORON that encodes Type III secretion effectors that make you poop when youre colonized by Salmonella or the MORON toxins that make you poop when youre infected with Cholera or the MORON toxins that make you poop when you eat spinach sprinkled with E. Coli... but theyre actually a really cool evolutionary story, demonstrating the co-evolution of bacteria and their phages over time! Bacteria even have 'endogenous phages' like we have endogenous retroviruses!

I was rather pouty about getting my PhD in microbiology because of all of the associated 'bacteria based' classes I would have to take (Ive never taken an intro micro class-- cocci-wha?), but this stuff is friggen fun!

Sally Kern: Hate filled bitch for Jesus

2008-03-09T18:46:00.006-05:00

You know that bill I wrote about yesterday? Its part of a slew of radical Christian bills that Representative Sally Kern is trying to get through OK legislature. Who is this woman?

A hate filled, backwards bitch.

Listen to this.

Listen to all of it.

Fuck you, Kern. And fuck all of you 'Christians' that let this shit spread in the name of your god.

Edit-- Some people have better humor about this than I.

Edit again-- OH MY FUCKING GOD WHAT A FUCKING BITCH:

In an exclusive interview with News9.com Kern (R-Oklahoma City) admits it is her voice on the recording and stands by her comments. She said she's just stating the facts on what she believes.
...
"Shame on the person who didn't have the courage to come and say, 'I'm going to tape you and put it out on YouTube,'" she said.

Special Rights for Religious Radicals in OK

2008-03-08T16:39:00.003-06:00

You all know the old joke for dealing with Creationists:

What should a teacher say to a student who, every time he comes to a question on a test he cannot answer, writes “God did it.”? Then, when he hands in the test, he expects — even demands — a perfect score and a pat on the head.

Idiot Creationists see unanswered questions, proclaim 'GOD DID IT!' and expect a pat on the head. They are shocked and offended when people laugh at them.

But members of the reality based community know that 'God did it' is a joke answer in the real world.

Well... the real world minus Oklahoma:

The Oklahoma House of Representatives Education Committee has just approved House Bill 2211. The bill is expected to pass the full House, and then to go to the Senate. Its authors describe it as promoting freedom of religion in the public schools. In fact, it does the opposite.
...
The bill requires public schools to guarantee students the right to express their religious viewpoints in a public forum, in class, in homework and in other ways without being penalized. If a student’s religious beliefs were in conflict with scientific theory, and the student chose to express those beliefs rather than explain the theory in response to an exam question, the student’s incorrect response would be deemed satisfactory, according to this bill.

The school would be required to reward the student with a good grade, or be considered in violation of the law. Even simple, factual information such as the age of the earth (4.65 billion years) would be subject to the student’s belief, and if the student answered 6,000 years based on his or her religious belief, the school would have to credit it as correct. Science education becomes absurd under such a situation.

Wow. This bill is genius. One bill, school becomes meaningless. Science, history, math, ethics, psychology, health, art, all obliterated.

*clap*

*clap*

*clap*

Touché, radical Christians, touché.

(H/T to Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education)

HIV Evolution for Kids!

2008-03-06T19:48:00.003-06:00

WHOO!! The next issue of 'Evolution: Education and Outreach' is up! This issue includes two lesson plans for using HIV to understand evolution:

Molecular Evolution: The HIV Envelope Protein
Molecular Evolution: HIV Drug Targets and Resistance

Sweet! I approve! And if you have any specific Qs about HIV in those lesson plans, leave a comment!

I also strongly encourage students, teachers, Average Joes, non-biologists, everybody to check out other articles (they arent too long or scary!). Im lovin T.R. Gregorys explanation of how to understand phylogenetic trees!

Useful Pit Bull Fact of the Day

2008-03-04T18:35:00.002-06:00

Pit bulls luv jelly beans.

NOMNOMNOM!

LOL! Jewish boys

2008-03-04T18:25:00.001-06:00

LOL! Good kid. And good synagogue for not going psycho on him.

Prions: Viruses Red-Headed Stepbrothers?

2008-03-03T19:49:00.004-06:00

Funny how we were just talking about rocks evolving yesterday... Today our guest speaker was a prion guy, Jason Bartz (also incredibly nice!)

omg, you guys.

omg.

Prions, evolve, even though they dont have a genome.

omg.

Say you have a mink infected with a prion. In a few months, your fluffy, fluffy mink will succumb to its disease. So you grind up your fluffy fluffy mink brain and put it in a ferret. A few years later, squeaky ferret succumbs to its prion disease. Grind up its brain and put it in another ferret, and so on and so on.

The prion evolves in the ferret. Eventually, it adapts to the ferrets neurological system, which in turn means it cant infect the mink very well, even though 'mink' is where you got the original prions in the first place!

Holy crap.

How does something with the same amino acid sequence evolve??

The idea I pitched to Dr. Bartz (the idea he was already planning on pitching to the scientific community hehe, I iz smrt) is that prions operate like HIV-1. But instead of exploring sequence space like my HIV, his prions explore structure space. One protein exploring all possible structural configurations. It has an optimal configuration for minks, but needs to explore and find a more optimal configuration for ferrets.

Minor problem: With our current technologies, we can only detect a few configurations (because of the chemical properties of prions, theyre impossible to crystal structure, even though the normal protein is easy as pie). We can detect Normal, Prion 1, and Prion 2 (through some tricks, its not easy), but that doesnt mean that there arent Prions 3, 4, 5, 6... 1,000,000,000 that we just cant see. A cloud in the structure space.

On top of all of this, prions are tough mo-fos. You can autoclave them, freeze them, whatever, and they dont change out of their prion form. So I gave Dr. Bartz my usual schpeal "Okay, so everyone who says 'omg viruses are just devolved cells they arent alive' are idiots, so what about prions? Could they have been around for the past 4 billion years? Could they have been in the soup?"

"Yup."

So Im going to look into this more (as time permits)-- I dont know a lot about prions, but Im intrigued. Theyre more than biological oddities to me now. More than just the occasional news report on MAD COW DISEASE.

They could be my viruses red-headed stepbrothers, and family is family :)

Addiction and Revenge in the Microbe World

2008-03-02T19:25:00.003-06:00

One of the fastest ways to get me to roll my eyes is to say something along the lines of 'But viruses arent ALIVE!!!' 'Alive' is an archaic, unhelpful word when looking at evolution and the Tree of Life.

Viruses/RNA/Prions ≠ rocks. Dont be dumb. *rolleyes*

See!

So I flipped out last week in class when we learned about a cool trick plasmids can play-- Plasmid addiction. Why is there not a Wikipedia page on this topic for me to link to?? Theres not even another blog around thats posted on it! BUT ITS SO COOL!!

That horizontal gene transfer that some people get so pumped about? It can be mediated by plasmids-- an easy example is how antibiotic resistance spreads between totally different kinds of bacteria. Some plasmids (even though they arent ALIVE!!) have evolved a a sweet system for ensuring their propagation a la 'The Selfish Gene'/'Dune'-- Plasmid addiction.

Some plasmids encode for:

a poison
the antidote

As long as the bacteria keeps the plasmid around, everything is fine! Even though the poison is always being made, there is always tons of antidote around too. Its a burden to the bacteria, but the poison has no effect.

But if the bacteria says 'Ugh. Im not wasting any more resources making this damn plasmid. Lazy bum. Im kicking him out' the plasmid pulls, like, a 'Kill Bill'-esque revenge plot. The poison has a longer half-life than the antidote. If the plasmid is no longer there to encode the antidote, all the left-over antidote degrades, and the poison is left to kill the bacteria.

That. Is. AWESOME.

AiGs YECs on ERVs

2008-02-28T20:18:00.002-06:00

Its peer reviewed too! For realzies! In a big kids journal!!!

Answers Research Journal. ARJ is a professional, peer-reviewed technical journal for the publication of interdisciplinary scientific and other relevant research from the perspective of the recent Creation and the global Flood within a biblical framework.

heh. Wonder if the Young Earth Creationists will publish their journal as often as the Intelligent Design Creationists?

ISCID is pleased to announce the latest issue of PCID, Volume 4.2 November 2005.

heheheh. Anyway, I dont think the ERV stuff is Sokaled-- it reads straight from the list of Creationist Claims about ERVs I already have, but I took a look at it anyway just to make sure I didnt miss a good one.

I didnt.

But it was funny anyway:

Day Six--Termites with Trichonympha (protozoans); cattle rumen with methanogenic bacteria; human intestines with E. coli (bacteria); human reproductive system with ERVs

heeeeeehehehehehehe. Sweet. The funniest part, though? The references:

References

Atlas, R. M., and R. Bartha. 1998. Microbial ecology: Fundamentals and applications, 4th ed. San Francisco, California: Benjamin Cummings.

Bulloch, W. 1938. The history of bacteriology. New York: Dover Publications.

Francis, J. W. 2003. The organosubstrate of life: A creationist perspective of microbes and viruses. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Creationism, ed. R. L. Ivey, Jr., pp. 434–444. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Creation Science Fellowship.

Gillen, A. L. 2007. The genesis of germs: Disease and the coming plagues in a fallen world. Green Forest, Arkansas: Master Books.

Gillen, A. L. and F. Sherwin. 2005. The immune system: Designed to interact with microbes. Origins (A Journal of the Biblical Creation Society) 40:5–9.

Lim, D. V. 2003. Microbiology, 3rd ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt.

Liu, Y. 2007. Endogenous retroviruses: Remnants of germline infection or created in the cell? In All creation groans: The problem of natural evil, Proceedings of the Sixth BSG Conference, ed. R. W. Sanders, Occasional Papers of the BSG 10:19–20.

MacArthur, J. 2001. Battle for the Beginning. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson.

Morris, H. M. 2006. The New Defender’s Study Bible (KJV). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Word Publishing.

Purdom, G., and J. W. Francis, eds. 2008. Proceedings of the Microbe Forum, June 2007. Answers Research Journal 1:1–6.

heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehehehehehehehehehehehe!! LUV!! LUUUUUV!!! Study Bible in the reference, but no, you know, 'journals'. Not a one! Not even a real article just to quote-mine!! ROFL!!

Meh-- Ive already covered their claims (dont forget this one!) in my list, but if you see anything I missed, or still have a Q, leave a comment!

How a 'just so' story turns into just 'so?'-- HIV and the failures of Intelligent Design

2008-02-26T20:39:00.002-06:00

August 2, 2007, over six months ago, I wrote an essay on the evolution of a cool new gene/protein in HIV-1 called 'Vpu'. To quickly summarize, Vpu first emerged in chimpanzees version of HIV, SIV. After chimpanzees transmitted SIV to humans, Vpu acquired new properties to deal with the environment of a new host. As time progressed, HIV-1 split into multiple subtypes, and the Vpus of different subtypes started to evolve different characteristics as well. Thus SIV_cpz Vpu, HIV_{Subtype B} Vpu, and HIV_{Subtype C} Vpu are genetically and biochemically distinct proteins.

Quite the opposite of Behes claims about HIV-1 in 'Edge of Evolution', "the story of Vpu is turning into a beautiful example of how evolution works in the real world, the continual evolutionary struggle between host and disease producing a novel function, formation of an active ion channel, from a simple protein. It also nicely illustrates and how scientists use evolution to explore our universe and produce improvements in medical practice." (to quote an email from Ian Musgrave)

This didnt happen a billion years ago. It didnt take a billion years to occur. This is real evolution happening in real time with real consequences.

While that was enough to put Behes ridiculous claims about the evolution of HIV-1 to rest, there is still more to Vpus story. Six months ago, science only had a 'just so story' explanation for Vpu:

So theoretically, ion channel formation evolved in HIV-1 when it infected humans to overcome a species specific and cell specific host factor.

Why did Vpu evolve the way it did? Well, it had to overcome something in human cells. There was something about human cells that were different from chimpanzee cells that HIV-1 needed to evolve around. Whats that something? Um... something. But thats what happened! Thats why Vpu forms a viroporin!

It was one of those 'just so stories' that Creationists love to dismiss.

But that was six months ago. And, you see, scientists arent like 'Creationist' scientists. They dont see a black box, declare a deity made the box, and take the rest of the week off. Scientists see problems and demand answers. Several weeks ago, a paper was published in Nature that turned Vpus 'just so story' into just another 'so?' story for evolution:

Tetherin inhibits retrovirus release and is antagonized by HIV-1 Vpu
Human cells possess an antiviral activity that inhibits the release of retrovirus particles, and other enveloped virus particles, and is antagonized by the HIV-1 accessory protein, Vpu. This antiviral activity can be constitutively expressed or induced by interferon-alpha and it consists of protein-based tethers, which we term 'tetherins', that cause retention of fully formed virions on infected cell surfaces. Using deductive constraints and gene expression analyses, we identify CD317 (also called BST2 or HM1.24), a membrane protein of previously unknown function, as a tetherin. Specifically, CD317 expression correlated with, and induced, a requirement for Vpu during HIV-1 and murine leukaemia virus particle release. Furthermore, in cells where HIV-1 virion release requires Vpu expression, depletion of CD317 abolished this requirement. CD317 caused retention of virions on cell surfaces and, after endocytosis, in CD317-positive compartments. Vpu co-localized with CD317 and inhibited these effects. Inhibition of Vpu function and consequent mobilization of tetherin's antiviral activity is a potential therapeutic strategy in HIV/AIDS.

These researchers used Vpus 'just so story' to discover a new component of the human innate immune system. When most people think of their immune system, they think of antibodies. But there are lots of ways your body can defend itself against viruses without the adaptive immune system. It can be something as simple as your skin (keeps em out!), or something really general like Toll-Like Receptor 3, or pH changes within a cell. So because there are a lot of ways the innate immune system can help get rid of viruses, and there is a very distinct pattern of need/no need for Vpu in different cell lines, these authors thought 'maybe' Vpu was countering one of those innate mechanisms. Here is their initial logic:

1. Some kinds of cells cant be infected well unless you use an HIV that has Vpu.
2. Other kinds of cells dont care if Vpu is there or not-- they produce lots of viruses.
3. Whats different about the protein expression in these two cells?

They used a microarray to identify proteins that were upregulated in cell #1, and not expressed very much in cell #2. This gave them a list of putative proteins that could be interfering with HIV-1 particle release. Then they asked:

4. Vpu seems to act at the cell membrane, where viruses are budding off. That means that the putative protein should be either in the cell membrane, or secreted.

So they kicked everyone off the list that wasnt a membrane bound protein or secreted. This left them with one possibility-- 'CD317'. So then they asked:

5. The cells from #2 dont express CD317. If we make them express CD317, do they act like cells from #1?
6. The cells from #1 express CD317. If we knock down its expression with siRNA, do they act like cells from #2?

The answers to both of those questions is 'YES!!!'

They renamed CD317 'tetherin' and concluded that tetherin is a component of the innate immune system activated by interferon-alpha which interferes with the release of HIV-1 viruses in certain human cells, BUT this inhibition can be overcome by HIV-1 Vpu.

On top of Vpu down-regulating CD4.

On top of Vpu forming super sweet viroporins.

Now its important to note that tetherin is joining lot of other innate anti-viral systems like APOBEC3G (found using the HIV-1 protein Vif) and TRIM5alpha. Its also important to stress that like the APOBEC and TRIM, tetherin isnt a feature unique to humans-- lots of organisms have APOBEC proteins, lots of mammals have TRIM proteins. But, each species particular set of variants, each species restriction abilities, are unique. Comparing different species APOBECs and TRIMs has turned into a fruitful avenue of research.

The publishers at NATURE hope for the same with tetherin-- From a Nature News and Views on this paper:

Because the amino-acid sequence of tetherin differs considerably among mammals, some HIV-1-related animal viruses might find it difficult to overcome human tetherin, preventing them from becoming human viruses. Conversely, it is worth investigating whether tetherin contributes to the inability of HIV-1 to efficiently escape from most rodent cells, which has hampered efforts to develop small-animal models of HIV-1 infection. Even in human cells, Vpu might not always be able to overcome the powerful effect of tetherin, as the release of infectious Vpu-positive HIV-1 can be inhibited with high doses of interferon-. Thus, an understanding of how tetherin works, and how Vpu fends it off, could lead to strategies to limit the spread of HIV-1 and other viruses that target humans.

In six months, evolutions 'just so story' led to new drug targets for new HIV/AIDS therapies, and a brand new avenue of research for immunologists and virologists all over the world (tetherins role in influenza, ebola, EBV, herpes, whoo!!!!).

... But what would have happened in Bizarro World? What would have happened if Intelligent Design Creationists were in charge of the NIH? What if someone like Michael Behe were controlling who got money for research?
Six months ago (well, four months, took him a while) Behe would have thrown everything known about HIV-1 Vpu into the garbage can. My original essay and all of the information it contained was 'pathetic', 'unimpressive', and 'meaningless.' Why would you continue to waste money studying the evolution of HIV-1, when it doesnt evolve in a 'meaningful way'?

This study, this study that discovered a brand new branch of innate immunity, this study that could potentially help us treat all kinds of viral infections, would have never happened in Bizarro World.

What has Behe been doing the past six months? How has he contributed to the HIV research community? The medical community? The scientific community? Its not fair to single Behe out in Bizarro World-- What about Dembski? Wells? West? Am I missing anyone? What have they done in the past six months to help stop AIDS, cancer, influenza, MSRA, anything??

Rather than being an icon for the failure of evolution, HIV-1 is an icon for the complete and utter failure of Creationism.

When Tards Attack

2008-02-25T20:44:00.004-06:00

Crap! Its bed-time, and I just found this.

DRAT! Foiled again by those wily lychee researchers!

*shakes fist angrily*

Didnt the EAC just pass a resolution about keeping Creationists away from fresh fruit?

More on Carl Woese

2008-02-24T15:31:00.003-06:00

10 years ago:

The status of biological instruction, especially in the high schools, disturbs Woese. "Biology is poorly taught in general at the high school level," he says, referring to the polarization of evolution by the scientifically heterodox. "Scientifically, the matter is simple. The essence of biology is evolution, and biology should be taught from an evolutionary perspective. Yet, although evolution is covered to some extent in high school biology courses, it bears the scarlet letter and is taught in a guarded fashion, embalmed in caveats. The reason for this is obvious, as are the pressures on textbook publishers."

Woese removes himself from the "politically cathected" evolution vs. creationism issue. "I like my science pure. I don't see any fundamental contradiction between science in the big view and religion in the big view."

Woese believes biology itself has ironically locked arms with the creationists in putting negative pressure on biologic instruction. "It comes from within the core of biology itself," he says. "Biology today is structured about the molecular paradigm. Molecular biology, which derives from classical physics doesn't see evolution as basic, that it's an almost trivial collection of 'historical accidents'.

"I am not at peace with the state of biology today," he says. "It is in a revolutionary mode, and the revolution needs some guidance of the kind it is not receiving. The way we teach biology is not right. Evolution should be the centerpiece."

...

???

I mean, its appeaserery, but its fine. So why the weird switch? Maybe someone else has, erm, 'Flew' over the cuckoos nest? Or maybe Brandon Keim didnt report, ah, accurately?

*sigh*

In any case, you all really should read the rest of the article the above quote came from. Its a lesson in how paradigm shifts in biology really occur (PARADIGM!!!!). Woes had an idea. He was shunned for his idea. He didnt found a 'think tank.' He didnt push to get his ideas in high school textbooks. He didnt go on country-wide-church speaking tours telling radical Christians that microbiologists were Nazis who hate Jesus.

He kept doing research anyway, building evidence to support his claims.

Scientists are slaves to data. We must go where the evidence leads us. And Woeses data smacked biologists over the head: Archaea are real*.

* Archaea have their own viruses too, but thats a whole nother story :P

Has Carl Woese lost his friggen mind?

2008-02-22T15:15:00.007-06:00

Do a Google search for 'Carl Woese and evolution'.

Hes a cool dude! Broke up the Tree of Life into Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukaryotes-- hes a big-wig. Unfortunately, hes not that great with words, so DI Tards LUV to quotemine him. Ah well, lots of scientists arent... um... 'eloquent' or very good at explaining their ideas to the public. But Ive been reading some things Woese has been saying on WIRED blogs recently... troubling things.

It started a couple weeks ago on Darwin Day:

Woese's experience with bacteria led him to look for an evolutionary framework larger than that provided by Darwin and his intellectual descendants. Bacteria -- which may account for up to half of Earth's biomass -- swap genes without reproducing; with millions residing in a teaspoon of seawater, Woese sees them in terms of networked communities rather than individual cells, and interprets their evolutionary history as driven by the non-linear self-organization that's now being studied at all biological scales.

The property is gone in the individual iron atoms, but when they behave collectively, you see the property of the whole. That's a very simple example.

The property is gone in the individual iron atoms, but when they behave collectively, you see the property of the whole. That's a very simple example.
The microbial world is where I work; [saltational evolution] predicts that there should be properties of the collective thing, that arise as the thing collects.

Umm... Yeah. Theyre called biofilms. In virus-word, its 'quasispecies'.

Umm... Im not sure what the hell Woese is talking about from the article, and Woeses own words are no more helpful. But when I read that a couple weeks ago, I brushed it off and thought no more about it.

Now there is a new post up at WIRED, and I will not ignore this shit:

My feeling is that evolution shouldn't be taught at the lower grades. You don't teach quantum mechanics in the grade schools. One has to be quite educated to work with these concepts; what they pass on as evolution in high schools is nothing but repetitious tripe that teeachers don't understand.

I certainly don't want any intrusion of religious ideas in the name of science -- but I don't want this bland soup that's taught as evolution in the name of science, either. It's not science -- it's catechism. Let's hold off until college, then hire some teachers who really know what to teach them. You have to go to the higest levels to find people with an understanding. That whole setup isn't there at all; all that's there is teaching the same old pap for 150 years, modfied by neo-Darwinists but not in an useful way. (typos original)

Oh no he din'int. Is he shitting me? Evolution=Quantum Mechanics?? 'Neo-Darwinism is religion see I used the word catecism'?? Teachers are tards? The 'solution' is not teaching evolution until college???

**fumes**

Id like to see your lesson plan, Carl. Give me *one biology topic* you can teach in a meaningful manner without evolution. You can give kids a list of shit and make them memorize it.

"Hey kids! Heres a list of the parts of a cell! But dont ask where mitochondria come from! And please dont notice animal cells look different from plant cells. I cant tell you why."

"Now its time to learn about ecosystems! This is a desert. This is a rain forest. But please dont ask why different organisms live in different organisms, or how all these organisms interact."

"Today were gonna learn about the oceans! Fish live in oceans! I cant teach you anything about whales though!"

Jesus fucking Christ. Crazy old man.

Turkey-- Our Islamic Doppelganger?

2008-02-21T19:37:00.003-06:00

We are nowhere near Halloween, but Tander Edis just had a creepy, creepy essay published in the 'History of Science Society' newsletter. Its like seeing a ghostly double in the mirror:

In the 1970s, political Islam started to gain strength in Turkey as well as the rest of the Muslim world. Evolution became a minor culture war item, as a way for Islamists to demonstrate opposition to secular life without taking the risk of naming official secularism as a target. But creationism came into its own only in the mid 1980s, when in the aftermath of a short period of military dictatorship, religious conservatives gained control of the Turkish Ministry of Education. These conservative Muslims thought evolutionary ideas were morally corrosive, yet they found themselves in an environment where science commanded significant cognitive authority. So they needed a way to suggest that evolution was a fraudulent, scientifically dubious idea. They found the resources they needed in American “scientific creationism,” and invoked Christian creationists in a curious mirror image of the way Turkish secularists regularly relied on Western scientific authorities. While the Muslims downplayed some features of popular American creationism such as a young earth and flood geology, they adopted the bulk of the anti-evolutionary debating points developed by their Christian counterparts. Indeed, the Ministry of Education had many instances of creation-science literature officially translated and made available to high school teachers and libraries. Since this mid-80s breakthrough, Turkish textbooks have often contained anti-Darwinian or explicitly creationist material. The creationist paragraphs have disappeared in the infrequent occasions when secularist parties have shared power and reappeared when Islamists returned to government. At present a moderate Islamist party sympathetic to creationist views holds power. This party won another overwhelming electoral victory in 2007, and so it looks like conservative Muslim concerns will continue to influence Turkish science and education policy for the foreseeable future.

**shudder** A nightmare. A dystopic horror unleashed in reality.

Reality.

Its real.

And its what they want for us.

But dont despair! I gots a good Behe Bash in the works ;)

Nicest Guy in Science

2008-02-18T20:05:00.003-06:00

When I was growing up (hell, even now), I always heard scary stories about evil arrogant scientists. Megalomaniacs with fancy degrees from Ivy League schools (or somewhere European) with publications in Nature and Science who demand anyone 'lower' than them grovel at their feet.

If anyone Ive met in science-world could have fit this description, it should have been Hung Fan. Graduate of MIT, worked at the Salk Institute, co-author on a paper with David Baltimore, a gazillion dollars in grant money, head honcho over at UC Irvine... He should have been one of those Arrogant Scientists.

Nope.

Dr. Fan is one of the *nicest* individuals I have ever met. Wow. I mean, Im sure you all will be shocked to hear this, but Im *kinda* contrary in the lab, and especially with visiting virologists. So I tried to pick a fight with Dr. Fan over David Baltimores recent comments-- Uh uh. We had a wonderful conversation on the topic. He told me about virology-world before/during the discovery of HIV, some insight on Baltimores project and personality, and he was so encouraging about my research.

So I tried to pick a fight with him over Louis Villarreal**, as Dr. Fan has also co-authored a paper with him. Dr. Fan had lovely things to say about Dr. Villarreal and about viral evolution!

Okay, now, seriously-- Im really combative about ideas, and I kept pushing on various topics the entire day. He never got worked up or short with me, and he always just had the most insightful, and above all, encouraging comments!

He didnt tell me to go kill myself once!!

As he was leaving this evening (he stayed late to talk to a few of us longer, again, NICE!!), I asked him what his advice would be to a first year grad student studying virology. "To quit while you can and go to medical school?" I laughed.

"No! Enjoy yourself! Make sure you love to come into work every day! Make sure you love doing the experiments even when they dont work! But make sure you love your research!" he said cheerfully.

I looked at Bossman and we both ROFL. Today was a good day :)

** More on him later!! Dr. Villarreal is also a really friggen nice guy, at least through email, but I havent met him :P You know, my only encounters with Arrogant Asshole Scientists have been with Creationist 'scientists'... hmmm?

ERV vs David Baltimore

2008-02-16T09:45:00.004-06:00

This week, The David Baltimore finally came out and said what everyone in HIV research is thinking. Every other day you hear press releases from universities and crappy reporting declaring 'HIV VACCINE IN 2 YEARS!!' (Bossman was 'quoted' in one of those articles last summer). But Baltimore finally got a reporter to just say it:

Attempts to control the virus through antibodies or by boosting the body's immune system have ended in failure.

This has left the vaccine community depressed because they can see no hopeful way of success, Prof Baltimore said.

Yup. HIV vaccines. Epic Fails. I mean epic, with recent trials ending after the vaccine somehow increased HIV infection rates.

HOWEVER Im still pissed at Baltimore, and we would have gotten into a tif over his comments. First of all, the rest of the article is pushing the HIV-gene-therapy therapy the Gates Foundation has been funding.

"In the human you really only have one shot which is to try to change genes in stem cells," said Prof Baltimore, one of the leading experts on the HIV virus.

"So we're trying to do that, to design vectors that can carry genes that will be of therapeutic advantage."

I read about Baltimores strategy last fall in Science, 'Building an HIV-Proof Immune System':

Instructive immunotherapy
At the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, David Baltimore has teamed up with immunologist Pamela Björkman on an HIV gene-therapy project that he calls "instructive immunotherapy." Rather than bolstering the natural immune response, Baltimore says, "we're instructing the immune system [about] what to make."
This 5-year experiment lives up to its Grand Challenges billing with its focus on inventing virus-fighting antibodies. Gene therapists have paid antibodies little heed because HIV notoriously remains impervious to their attack. "I didn't think we should be giving up on the historically most powerful part of the immune system," says Baltimore. So he and Björkman are attempting to construct an antibody against HIV that's far more powerful than anything naturally produced by the immune system. Baltimore and co-workers then want to use an HIV-based vector to transduce the gene for this antibody into immune stem cells.

What I understand of that endeavor is that you take out someones pre-B-cells, alter them to produce neutralizing antibodies, and insert them back into the patient before they are infected with HIV.

Yeah. Thats a workable solution for AFRICA. Common. Common. What the hell.

Id also say that the only HIV vaccine researchers who are 'depressed' are the ones that have been failing and are currently out of ideas. I might be discouraged, but Im not 'depressed'. From my appearance on IGs show last week:

IG-- Do you think we will ever have a cure for HIV?

ERV-- Im not sure about a 'cure'. I would be happy with reducing it to a herpes level, where you have to be on drugs, it sucks, but its not going to kill you. Its not going to bankrupt you, trying to get drugs. Im optimistic about a vaccine for it, though! Im not optimistic about current vaccine trials, but Im optimistic about my research and its potential to lead to a workable vaccine target.

Here is why I think others might be 'depressed' (*warning* following info is from a bratty student bitching at people who have been involved in HIV research since before she was born). Remember quasispecies? How its like a big cloud floating in sequence-space? Current vaccine trials have been like shooting V2s into the cloud. The cloud doesnt care.

My research is based on the hypothesis that the cloud is... um, a cloud. Its a smokescreen hiding the real targets for a vaccine. We have been so intimidated by the cloud that we havent stopped to think that its not the cloud we need to worry about-- there are molecular determinants to sexual transmission. Focus on the viruses with the 'transmission' characteristics. Ignore the rest of the cloud. Got yourself a workable vaccine.

The 'vaccine community' might be depressed, Baltimore, but the basic virologists arent.

*shrug*

Or I might be setting up an epic fail myself.

Help a pussy, Laugh at UD

2008-02-15T20:19:00.004-06:00

Since I can has minions, I has new mission for you all-- Help a local animal shelter by voting for your favorite kitty or puppy!! From Bissell (a US vacuum company):

Do you want to share the beauty of your favorite pet with the world? We're having a contest to find our next pet model! The winning pet will have their photo on our Pet Hair Eraser vacuum package. We will also donate $10,000 to the Pet Cause of the winning pet parent's choice!

$10,000 bucks to ASPCA, Humane Society, local no-kill shelter, anything! OMG! Now Im not suggesting my minions go vote for my friends adorable liger Walley (hehehe!), but go vote for your favorite and help out a local animal shelter!

But if you need any incentive to vote for Walley, I can assure you that if he wins, the $10,000 will not be going to PETA:

You all know my response to this. While PETAs other two ads have a point, they *kinda* arent in a position to be comparing the AKC to the KKK, considering PETAs position on pitbulls. Put 'nigger' or 'beaner' in place of 'pit bull' and you got yourself a KKK member, dear Ingrid.

Actually-- Klan members just wanted to isolate and control inferior races. Ingrid wants all pits killed. All of them. They are dangerous, evil dogs, out to eat our babies and our souls. Guess that makes her worse than a Klan member. Maybe, oh, nevermind...

That being said, I love this ad.

Why?

TARD FIGHT!!!!! (guilt free reading of UD w00t!)

Round 1-- DLH posts the usual 'Evilutionists think humans are equal to pigs and rats and they hate Jesus'

What does that have to do with Darwinism? Everything. To a Darwinist, you see, there is no distinction between human beings and animals. We all came about by chance; we are made of the same “stuff,” and we all end up as nothing more than dust. Instead of recognizing humans as bearers of God’s image, Darwinism sees us as nothing more than competitively successful bipeds with opposable thumbs. Forget any talk of human dignity.

And that is exactly the worldview that PETA lives by. If Darwinism—which we teach in the schools—is true, then they are right: Slaughtering and eating animals is just as bad as the Holocaust. It is cannibalism. If Darwinism is true, then PETA was correct when it recently compared the American Kennel Club to the Ku Klux Klan for trying to create a “master race” of dogs. Charles Darwin and Ingrid Newkirk are so much on the same page that without Darwin, there could be no PETA. It is a perfect example of following a worldview to its logical conclusion.

Round 2-- DaveTard (unexpectedly) punches back with 'If you kill animals, you hate Jesus and love Satan!':

The connundrum we are left with is a clear vision of God’s creation in a state of perfection which is definitely vegetarian, a savior who lived a sinless life as man and God together who for all the witnessed evidence we have was argualy a vegetarian, various ancient and modern day Christian monastic orders who are vegetarians, and for most of the rest of us a life where we are red in tooth and claw like a lion rather than free of blood like an innocent lamb.

Of course the story goes that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross absolves of us sin and that would include the unnecessary slaughter of animals to consume their flesh. But that doesn’t mean we should be reveling in the killing. We’re supposed to do our best to live a life free of sin. If one accepts the possibility that animal slaughter is indeed a sin then the safe bet is not to do it if hedonistic pleasure is the only real motivation for it. I don’t want to find myself standing before God someday explaining why I took the lives of things when it wasn’t necessary. Do you want to take that risk?

OOOOHH!! DLH got SERVED!

Hilarity ensues. Including wishes to baby Jesus that other UDers will burn in hell. AWESOME.

LOLSaudis for Valentines Day

2008-02-14T18:10:00.004-06:00

I always joke that Im going to run off to Saudi Arabia to get a teaching position at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology cause there arent any positions here in the US.

Well now my plans have been ruined.

The Saudi 'Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice' (did they go to 'Radical Christian Institute for Naming Things'?) has declared Valentines Day illegal:

"As Muslims we shouldn't celebrate a non-Muslim celebration, especially this one that encourages immoral relations between unmarried men and women, " Sheikh Khaled Al-Dossari, a scholar in Islamic studies, told the Saudi Gazette, an English-language newspaper.

Every year, officials with the conservative Muslim kingdom's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice clamp down on shops a few days before February 14, instructing them to remove red roses, red wrapping paper, gift boxes and teddy bears. On the eve of the holiday, they raid stores and seize symbols of love.

LOL. Muslims.

Saudi Arabia should be a model for Radical Christians--We could put Ted Haggard in charge of 'Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice'!! Have a special ministry for witch burnings!

Ugh.

Well, even though all the Crazy Christians and Muslim Maniacs hate me cause Im an atheist chick, I got a Valentine for them anyway.

EPIC WINS! Epic crash :P

2008-02-13T19:25:00.003-06:00

Whos bright idea was it to make mid-terms the same week as Darwin Day???

*fumes*

hehehe Bleh oh well-- Im running on empty right now, but Ive got lots of fun updates:
1-- Reggie put my interview up (for freeeee!!) I dont think I came off as too tardish, and we had a lot of fun! The only embarrassing moment was when Arnie started choking on a rawhide he was NOMNOMNOMing, and all you hear on the recording is a long strange silence :P Otherwise, we chatted about Luskin, Behe, and there is even a surprise guest appearance by none other than RBH!!

LINKY!!

2-- Darwin Day! OUs new Center for Inquiry set up a panel discussion on evolution for Darwin Day, and it was great! Ian already summed it up-- Im really disappointed that the Creationist Kids in the audience didnt ask any questions. Let me be perfectly clear on this-- What I (we?) do with Dembski/Behe/Luskin/Hovind/whatever is not how I would react to students.

Ever.

These kids are the product of their environment. They needed to ask their Creationist questions! *sigh* Maybe they were too scared, as questioning things is frowned upon in their world...

Oh, and we decided we needed to figure out how to put 'obligate siblicide' on a bumper sticker. hehehe!

If youre in Oklahoma but missed this talk, Im going to be presenting at the Oklahoma Americans United conference the end of March. Ill have more details on that later!

3-- Student BLAG!!! Some of you might have been hearing rumors of a new ERV blag. Well, ERV is staying the same, but Im partnering with Sigma Xi to open a new blog, with a new purpose: Students dealing with pseudoscience. Of course I will write about other sciency-studenty things, but one topic I want to emphasize is encouraging kids to use their knowledge to deal with pseudoscientists. Creationists, Astrologers, Homeopaths, all of em. I want 'sciency' kids in Oklahoma surrounded by Creationism to know they are not alone, and that somewhere on this planet, their critical thinking skills are appreciated. I want B-average students to get into the action-- thats one thing I brought up last night. When I was younger, science was *only* for the 'smart' kids. The nerdy kids. I got shipped off to nerd camp for a month every summer. But science is for everybody. I want Art History students to get into the action!! Hard to put into words now (Im also getting sick-- Yay NyQuil!) but lets see where we can take this new blag :) Its a done deal now, but it will be another few weeks before we are up and running. Ill keep you all updated!

So some great wins this past week, but Im going to sleep.

Its 8.15 pm, and Im going to sleep.

NIGHT!!

Im officially 'impossible'

2008-02-10T18:56:00.001-06:00

Mom has been describing me as 'impossible' for about 25 years now, but it wasnt official until just recently. My research focuses on basically 3 things:

The evolution of HIV-- IMPOSSIBLE
Endogenous Retroviruses-- IMPOSSIBLE
Epigenetics-- IMPOSSIBLE

Well I thought I was doing cool research with epigenetics that will help us generate new organs for people and help cure cancer and stuff, but oh well. I guess Jonny Wells knows more about this stuff than me:

Having dismissed efforts to explain development from a purely genomic perspective, Wells then claimed that epigenetics is a neo-Darwinian concept because it is genic, and rejected that as well.

Hmm-- This doesnt seem right. Epigenetics is something Creationists *love* to exploit. Its new (well, to us, not new to life), most people dont totally understand what epigenetics is, so its a perfect gap to cram a god into. I googled a bit to try to figure out what Wells deal is with epigenetics, and found 'Icons of Evolution' on Google books:

According to the standard explanation, cells differ because the genes are differentially turned on or off. Cells in one part of the embryo turn on some genes, while cells in another part turn on others. This certainly happens, as we saw in the case of Ultrabithorax. But it doesnt resolve the paradox, because it means that genes are being turned on or off by factors outside themselves. In other words, control rests with something beyond the genes-- something "epigenetic."

See! Epigenetics is 'beyond the genes' *cue Handels Messiah* If we are created in Gods image, God is a deacetylated histone! Hurray! But wait-- theres more!

This does not imply that mystical forces are at work, but only that genes are being regulated by cellular factors outside the DNA.

AWWWW! Dammit! But, um, 'cellular factors outside the DNA' are still encoded by DNA... Unless God is poofing methyltransferases into embryos.
But wait-- Theres more!

Many biologists during the first half of the twentieth century investigates epigenetic factors in their attempts to understand embryo development, but the factors proved elusive. As the neoDarwinian synthesis of Mendelian genetics with Darwinian evolution rose to prominence between the two World Wars, biologists studying epigenesis were increasingly marginalized.

Ooooooh there we go! A variation of the Galileo gambit. Fantastic.

But Im still confused. Does Jonny accept epigenetics or not? I need to know before I waste another day trying to cure cancer!!! DI Fellows, please, show us the way!!!

lol.

Scientology vs The Internet

2008-02-10T17:21:00.000-06:00

Celebrating February 10th:

I hope Anon set their sights a little higher to... oh... I dunno... someone... like... I dunno...

* For those of you that dont get the joke, see here, and then here, and then here.

ERV live!

2008-02-07T10:12:00.000-06:00

Just a reminder, Im going to be a guest on The Infidel Guy tonight! You can listen live from IGs site, or in his Myspace group, and if you miss it, he uploads a podcast of it at a later date :)

The last time I was on his show, it was a great experience and great exposure (hehehe, PZ spellin my name 'Abby'). Since Behe 'wasnt interested' in talking about HIV with me, there will be no debate this time. I think were just going to gab about my recent adventures with Creationists, and how any science student can do the same thing.

Ive also got some big news for any of you skeptical students out there ;)

Darwin Day! One week away!

2008-02-05T20:12:00.001-06:00

Hey Darwin Day is next week-- What are you all doing?

Im gonna be doing this:

SPECIAL DARWIN DAY EVENT AT OU.
HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT EVOLUTION?

Ask the Experts at the DARWIN DAY Forum, 7PM, Tuesday, February 12, Baird Lounge, Oklahoma Memorial Union on the OU Campus.

Whats the evidence? Isnt it just a theory? Are there gaps in the fossil record? Did humans come from apes? What about Intelligent Design or Creationism?

Professors and doctoral candidates will answer the tough questions for you. Panel will include Ola Fincke, Richard Broughton, Abbie Smith and perhaps others. Sponsored by Center for Inquiry (CFI) on Campus.

Creationists are free to come and attempt to avenge Dembski.

BPR3 vs BPSDB

2008-02-05T10:16:00.000-06:00

Im sure by now youve all heard about Luskins latest attack against the worlds irony meters:

The Research Blogging icon was designed to be used as part of that larger project. Anyone who wants to use the icon is welcome to. All you need to do is make sure that your post meets the guidelines for the project, register at the ResearchBlogging.org website, and follow the simple instructions that are provided. Casey did all but three of those things.

Yes, Casey used someone elses copyrighted image on a webpage. And worse, he did so to give his toddler-like babbling the veneer of 'scientific credibility.'

Everyone pretend to act shocked.

Pseudoscientists hijacking BPR3 was inevitable, really, so Caseys faux pas has triggered lots of interesting discussions about what to do. I think the 'fix' is simple: just require open comments. Pseudoscientists can yammer all they want about peer reviewed research as long as they follow the guidelines and people are able to say "Hey, youre full of crap, and heres why..." in the comments.

I really enjoy BPR3 posts myself, and I dont want their reputation sullied. But I bet you all have noticed that I havent taken part in BPR3. Personally, like Green Gabbo, I think BPR3 posts dont fit in with my writing style. I luv the idea, its just not for me right now.

BUT, Mister DNA has just invented a great icon for a lot of the posts I make, and I feel completely 'at home' using it:

I think we are going to be voting on the 'official' icon some time in the near future.

Students Standing up for Science

2008-02-04T20:41:00.000-06:00

Its a sentiment youre going to be hearing more from me in the future (including during my interview with Infidel Guy!): I love it when students stand up to pseudo-scientists. I hate it when kids think "I really liked Immunology 101, and I think I see spots where Behe messed up, but Im just a student. Ill let Dawkins deal with it." or equally terrible "Im just an art history/Chinese literature/psychology major. Id like to stand up for science, but I cant."

Everyone can use their individual talents to support science education! Here is a recent, great example from a sophomore English major, Aaron Elias:

Every so often, a group will try to promote its cause and give itself the proverbial rake in the face. The pointy end of the rake came up when the makers of “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” started bribing fundamentalist schools to organize mandatory field trips forcing students to watch the film. Bribery? Great publicity move! That garners about as much credibility as a Republican politician in a bathroom stall.

Not only are the filmmakers throwing money at Christian schools to wash out the insides of students’ heads, but they have also been “misleading their interviewees”—in other words, flat-out lying. Biologist P.Z. Myers, National Center for Science Education head Eugenie Scott and Richard-freaking-Dawkins said that they were misled into participating in “Expelled” by being interviewed for a film called “Crossroads,” which explored the interaction between science and religion. Dawkins stated that “at no time was [he] given the slightest clue that these people were a Creationist front.”

My favorite line:

Maybe I’m only bashing the movie because I’m a left-wing, liberal hippie who drives the Mystery Machine with my stoned talking dog.

hehehehe!

Okay, so its not something Dawkins would write. Its not an editorial for the New York Times. But its a student making observations, putting a pen to paper, and bringing his observations to people who might not know whats going on with the ID/DI/EXPELLED story in a cute, funny way.

Aaron will no doubt be rewarded for his efforts with a PR-sniper-shot from Casey or Anakin, but I hope readers of this blog will realize that the DI is shooting with rubber bands. An attack from a DI 'Fellow' is meaningless.

Students, dont be afraid of their crap. Dont doubt your abilities. Stand up for science any way you can!

Nuns can be pedophiles too! GIRL POWER!

2008-02-03T16:00:00.000-06:00

Just in case you still had any doubts that Catholicism is a state sponsored child sex ring:

A Roman Catholic nun who sexually abused two teenage boys in Milwaukee four decades ago admitted to a church panel that she also had molested a Chicago boy and at least three other minors, according to a court document obtained by the Tribune.

This woman is a pathological child rapist sheltered by 'religion':

Although church officials knew in the 1990s of the allegations against Giannini, they did not contact civil authorities.
...

At one point, the panel asked Giannini: "What do you think that these kids thought?"

Giannini answered: "They were sowing their oats. How many teenagers would resist that opportunity?"

Mmmm yeah they wanted it. They asked for it. They wanted her:

Kobs said he often considered suicide and suffers frequent migraines and recurring nightmares of abuse. St. Patrick said he abused alcohol and drugs for years after the abuse, which destroyed his faith.

"I thought, why didn't Jesus stop this?" he said.

Both men said Giannini had abused several other boys in their school, whom they have been trying to contact. One victim committed suicide, they said, and two others have sexually assaulted women.

Justifying the abuse by saying the victims 'wanted it.' Classic pedophile. Surely she is going to be punished for this, right?........ Right???

Donald sentenced Giannini to 10 years in prison on two felony counts of indecent behavior with a child, but he stayed the sentence in favor of probation and a year of incarceration at a Milwaukee County jail facility in Franklin, Wis

The judge said he decided against sending Giannini to state prison because of her age and health problems.

Um... SO??? I thought this was kinda a universal thing that everyone, Christian and atheist could agree on. Child rapists, especially serial child rapists, should rot in jail. This woman has spent 79 years out in the sun. Playing bingo. Traveling. Hanging out with friends and family like nothing has happened. She got to live a normal, happy life... while the lives of those she abused were ruined. According to her victims, she is directly responsible for the death of one of her victims, and the rape of other women.

Oh, but she should only spend a year in a county jail. Wouldnt want that breathing carcass to die in prison. Why?

"I'm struggling to understand how it is that someone who spent their entire life providing education and friendship ... could have been so diabolical," Donald said.

Because hiding under the safe wing of religion provided her with ample opportunities and cover for indulging in her psychotic behavior. Stop giving special rights to religion.

When GOOD science outreach ideas take a BAD turn

2008-02-01T20:10:00.000-06:00

Yesterdays edition of Sigma Xi Student News had a great example of a cool science outreach idea with a really stupid, unnecessary twist:

Casting 25 to 35-Year-Old Male Host for Science Adventure Show
Objective Productions (UK) and The Discovery Channel are in search of a 25 to 35 year old male host for a new adrenalin fueled and action filled show. Our host will take on seemingly impossible challenges with crazed enthusiasm while placing his faith in science no matter how crazy the task appears. DANGERMAN is a documentary style reality series that replicates the extraordinary stunts performed by daredevils, stuntmen and showmen and explains the scientific principles that make the most amazing feats possible. Applicant MUST BE A SCIENCE GRADUATE (minimum bachelors degree). You must have an interest and passion for extreme and dangerous sports and related areas. Please submit a recent photo (from the last six months) along with a bio or resume and letters stating your interest in the show, science, adventure and extreme dangerous sports. All submissions can be e-mailed to ___@___.com (email me if youre interested and want the link), which is in London.

Aw now common. Disqualified by boobies.

Why?

If anything, it would be better TV if the host is a chick. Not that I dont love Bill Nye, Beakman, Mr. Wizard, and the Kratt Brothers, but why not a science-TV Lara Croft? This could have been a great opportunity to show a tough young woman having FUN with science. Guys would like it, girls would like it, YAY!

Ugh.

ERV-- Life on the Delist

2008-02-01T18:04:00.000-06:00

You all know how I joke about being a D-list blogger?

Well, thanks to the help of the best readers on the intrawebs (mine YAY!), I just realized my blog has been delisted from Google. Go ahead, go to Google. Type in 'ERV'. I used to be the top hit. Now, nada. Put in "http://endogenousretrovirus.blogspot.com/". Nada.

Try the same thing at Yahoo, and everything is fine.

Now, as much as I would like to blame this on Baby Casey and the DI, as the timing of this delisting is curious, my blog is still up. If there were some complaint (ie "She called me names and Im nice I volunteer at soup kitchens but she called me names Im kind!") my blog would have been suspended.

But another reason for delisting is when people hack your site and insert links to porn and crap, like what happened to Wes and Talk Origins. But Im on Blogger. If someone hacked this site, its Blogger/Googles fault, not mine. I dont run this shit.

And no one emailed me any kind of warning from Google.

Even though Im on Blogger.

They gots my email.

Oh well. While I would like *certain people* to *unleash their minions* to figure this out or throw a fit to get me back on *cough* because this is a pain in the ass, it doesnt really matter. I will be moving somewhere else soon anyway and reposting Classic ERVs.

;)

Edited like an hour later-- BACK UP!! Maybe... I can has minions?

LOL, or Google just tweaked for 48 hours.

Bookstore Sciencevangelism

2008-01-31T20:31:00.000-06:00

Bookstores in Oklahoma look like what you would expect bookstores in Oklahoma to look like. Even the chains (ie Barnes and Noble) have row after row after row of Christian/Astrology/Natural Medicine/Diet shit, and seem to only begrudgingly allocate a column of shelves for science books (which includes DI shit).

So last Sunday morning I went to Barnes and Noble with only a slim hope of finding Craig Venters autobiography, 'A Life Decoded.' After last weeks announcement, I couldnt take it anymore. WANT. Plus I had a coupon for 25% off an item, and I always fantasize about walking into B&N to find another lost soul in the science 'section', lecturing a helpless B&N employee on why O'Learys book should not be in the 'neurology' section (yes, its there. Neat fact: it was proof-read by a lolcat.) on a Sunday morning.

Alas, the science shelf was void of human life, save a lone dude who appeared to by studying at a nearby table (and not appreciating my LOLing at 'Spiritual Brain').

BUT they did have 'Life Decoded', and it was accidentally still on holiday sale-- so I ended up getting it for like $12!! WHOO!

'A Life' also made for an unexpected opportunity at sciencevangelism:

Older fellow at the register: "Hey do you listen to NPR?"
Me: "I only listen to the radio in the car, and I dont drive much, but sometimes!"
Dude: "Well they have this segment called 'Science Friday'..."
Me: "Yeah yeah!"
Dude: "They said last week that this guy... created artificial life? Created life?"
Me: lol! "Sorta :) They recreated life, from scratch I guess you could say."
Dude: "Man... *shakes head* Its scary..."
Me: "NONONONONONO!!! Its not scary! Theyre hoping to one day figure out how to use 'artificial' bacteria to eat all this plastic were generating and how to help with global warming and alternative fuel sources-- They have the approval of the government and numerous religious organizations. This is all in a controlled environment. Its not scary, theyre trying to save the world, and this is the first step. Its a good thing!"
Dude: "Wow, what a brave new world we live in!"

I hate it when people are scared of science. Especially cool and helpful science. Like were gonna screw up the planet any worse than where we are already heading...

Oh, and an open note to WIRED: Its their goddamn science project, they can watermark whatever the hell they want in it. And, as Carl Zimmer notes, the message is fleeting anyway. When *you* build a genome, you can sign it any way you want... within the confines of the amino acid alphabet.

ERV attains immortality

2008-01-29T21:00:00.000-06:00

omg.

Im a character in the 'Zombie Hitler' series.

*cries tears of joy* This is better than a friggen Nobel!!!!!

Little Women, Big Men, Casey Luskin Fails Again

2008-01-29T19:39:00.001-06:00

Id like to introduce you all to Paul Burnett. Hes an older fellow who luvs his hybrid cars, cactuses, and being a pro-science activist in the E/C ‘controversy.’

A couple days ago, Paul sent an email of to Mike LaSalle, the owner/editor/creator of Mens News Daily, where Luskin posts about ID and the evils of Darwinism. It was just a simple list of links to blogs pointing out Luskins anti-science and bully-ing tendencies. But, as the ‘incident’ with KKMS shows us, Average Joe Creationists are pretty clueless of the activities of Professional Creationists and wouldnt be giving a voice to these rats if they knew what was going on. It was great activism for Paul to point Luskins 'indiscretions' out to LaSalle.

Unfortunately, LaSalle didnt 'get it'. I thought his response to the link to me was incredibly odd:

ad hominem:
Casey Luskin doesn't have a real job like us well-paid but over-worked bio-science professionals who don't have the time to blabber on all day on their blog about what a damn fool Casey Luskin is...

Um… I get paid less than $20000 a year, and I work +60 hours a week, not including studying. Um… Well paid? Im not a science professional either. Im a student. And it took ~15 minutes to write that post, and it only took so long because I had to hunt down links. I will happily exchange 15 minutes of my time to make fun of a miserable failure of a bully like Luskin so everyone can laugh at him.

I myself still laugh, hard, every time I see that pic of him. Its wonderful!

*shrug* Well, okay. End of story. Another one of Luskins employers doesnt care that hes a bully and a loser, whatever.

Nuh uh.

Casey could NOT leave it at that. He wrote a letter to Mike defending his asinine behaviors. omg you guys, this letter, priceless. Its like a distraught toddlers tantrum “I dunno why everyone is so mean to me Im really nice and respectful and I volunteer at soup kitchens and Im really nice but people call me names and I dunno why they call me names and Darwinists are so mean but Im really kind and they call me names!!!”

Like, several paragraphs of that.

Its.

Awesome.

He also proclaims that he has ‘debated’ Mooney and Zimmer (and he was really nice and respectful but they called him names!!!!).

Then the letter gets *really* weird. Even though the original email from Barnett included links to Tim Sandefur, Red State Rabble, Pandas Thumb, etc, *I* am the focus of the rest of the email, starting with this:

I also treated Les Lane with respect when I e-mailed him recently; I simply asked him (nicely) to remove my picture from his website. Apparently Mr. Lane forwarded my e-mails around to others without my knowledge or permission (something I have not done to him). For example, read the page about this at:

http://endogenousretrovirus.blogspot.com/2008/01/day-in-life-of-di-fellow-part-iii.html

Hey, Casey, it doesnt matter that you were ‘respectful’ and ‘kind’ to Les. You were wrong. Though Les and I were not aware of this, as we are not lawyers, Tim Sandefur informed us that you were using your position as a ‘lawyer’ to bully people into doing what you want even though you had ZERO legal standing for your ‘respectful’ and ‘kind’ words to Les.

You, Casey Luskin, used your credentials inappropriately to bully someone who didnt know any better.

You. Are. A. Bully.

Additionally, what the hell did you think was going to happen when you emailed a ‘legal’ threat, especially one involving copyright, to a mentor of ERV? Did you honestly think I was going to let you bully a friend of mine, on this topic specifically, and not say anything? WHY? Because your ‘friends’ at the DI never seem to stand up for you?

But this isnt the weird part of the email. The rest and the P.S. is Casey begging Mike LaSalle to do a hit piece on me to avenge him. Why would LaSelle be interested in such a thing? Well, 9/11 opened LaSelles eyes to the fact he is a poor, oppressed rich white Christian man, which is what inspired him to start MWN (Note, Mike LaSelle is not his real name. If people knew his real name he would be persecuted even more, evidently, kinda like someone else…). A major part of LaSelles persecution is those damn women with education. Not a fan of the vajayjays.

It doesnt really bother me if people attack me personally; my main response is that their behavior is saddening. The ERV blogs page is all about attacking me personally-otherwise theres no substance to any of it other than trying to mock me and attack me. Like I said, it doesnt really bother me personally, but its clear that the claim that I am a bully is simply their latest /ad hominem/ attack against me. But its not a valid attack.

In any case, I have no ill will towards ERV and I will not retaliate against her in any way. Im not interested in attacking anyone personally. And I respect people who support evolution. But it is interesting, and saddening, how the pro-Darwin side often operates in this debate, isnt it?

Sincerely,

Casey
CC: Paul Burnett

p.s. Like I said, I have no ill-will towards ERV (whose real name, I believe, is Abbie Smith). Thus, if you are interested in learning about Smiths behavior, here is some of what she has written in the past:

"I. Hate. Missionaries. Hate. Them." (Blogging for the Common
Good,B July 4, 2007, at
http://endogenousretrovirus.blogspot.com/2007/07/blogging-for-common-good.html)

Im not necessarily a Jerry Falwell fan, but on her website she once gave death wishes that Jerry Fallwell's family would die, writing: "Falwell is an ass. His family is a bunch of little assholes. Im glad Falwells dead, and I wish he took his poor little family with him."

Smith subsequently replied to a commenter saying, "No-- Im creepy. Fantasizing about them all driving off a cliff a la 'Billy Madison'." (Hitchens, I like this guy!, May 18, 2007, at
http://endogenousretrovirus.blogspot.com/2007/05/hitchens-i-like-this-guy.html)

Elsewhere, Smith suggests appropriate ways to take the Blasphemy Challenge, a pop-culture internet phenomenon where people are asked to send in videos denying the existence of God:

I dont care if you paint a picture of the Virgin Mary and shit on it. I dont care if you take your dogs to your old church and let them shit all over their parking lot (as long as you pick it up). I dont care if you act like a stereotypical 'teenage atheist' dress in all black and write songs about fucking Jesus in the ass. I dont care if you jump out of an airplane with 'GOD IS DEAD' written on your parachute. I
dont care if you plant a garden of tulips in the shape of a pentagram. I dont care if you put an Evolve Fish on your car and wear an Atheist Atom on your jacket lapel. Im not going to call someone an idiot for expressing their views and frustrations in a way thats appropriate for them, especially when they are doing nothing wrong. (Dawkins was only half right, March 2, 2007, at
http://endogenousretrovirus.blogspot.com/2007/03/dawkins-was-only-half-right.html)

Again: I do not write this to attack Smith in anyway; I have no desire to do that. I just thought that you might want to see what she has written in the past, in her own words.

Disgruntled husband to a hit man: “Sir, I love my wife. I wouldn’t ever do anything to hurt her. Im not a violent person, Im kind and respectful. I volunteer at soup kitchens. So if something were to happen to her, I couldn’t possibly be held accountable. If something were to happen to her, she drives a blue 2002 Honda Civic, and she leaves for work at 7:25 every morning. She is also allergic to shellfish. Here are several recent photographs of her and half of the $12,000 we agreed to. But I sure hope nothing happens to her.”

ROFL!!!

Hey Luskin-- in the real world, being a smart atheist chick isnt an insult. Must you fail at everything?

ERV decends further into her woo

2008-01-28T21:01:00.000-06:00

Every time I post on my woo, I feel its necessary to write a short apology for any new readers. Okay, now, a lot of the usual commenters around here have gotten used to my personal woo, but I need to warn the new readers that your beloved ERV, stomper of Creationists, smasher of anti-vaxers, smusher of HIV-Deniers, is a full blown Pit Bull Denier.

Im hopeless.

I cant even be persuaded by PETAs iron clad logic to kill Arnie.

So be aware that this post is all Pit Bull Denier propaganda.

-------

So everyone remembers the Michael Vick fiasco. Disgusting piece of shit was fighting pit bulls, electrocuting/body slamming/shooting dogs that didnt fare well, etc. I can barely breath thinking about the torture Arnie lived through before I found him-- so I saw those dogs, and I saw Arnie, and I thought of all the other dogs still out there, and I think of my baby Arnie... Im bawling as I write this post.

Over 50 dogs were taken from Vicks compound. Contrary to PETAs oh-so-ethical desire to kill all that worthless 'kennel trash', only one needed to be put down for aggression (maybe if they had come a day sooner...). One needed to be put down for breast cancer (from over breeding). What happened to the other dogs?

WONDERFUL news!!! The court gag order over the dogs was lifted this week, so the media is finally getting to report on the other puppies: THEYRE DOING GREAT!!!!

... The Oakland, California-based pit bull rescue and education group Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pit Bulls, or BAD RAP, which had done similar rescues from busts in California, asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gill for permission to evaluate and rescue as many of the dogs as possible, with the hope of eventually placing them in adoptive homes.

"Much to our amazement, he said yes," said Reynolds, who heads BAD RAP. "This doesn't happen. People don't say yes to pit bulls."

-------

... Nearly half have been sent to a Utah sanctuary, Best Friends Animal Society, where handlers will work with them. None showed human aggression and many have potential for adoption someday. Others, evaluated as being immediate candidates for foster care and eventual adoption, went to several other groups.

-------

As part of his plea deal, Vick agreed to pay for the dogs' care.

WHOOOOO!!!

All of those puppies 'quirks' are Arnies 'quirks'-- stealing underwear out of the laundry basket, obsession with peanut butter filled KONG toys, "the thump-thump-thump of happy tails", acting like a goof ball at the AKC 'good citizen' classes, even good taste in classical music:

"I put on Yo-Yo Ma one day and he cocked his head, laid down and listened to the cello next to the speaker," Nuccio said. "He's turning out to be a man of high class and culture."

Meh, but what do they know. Pit Bull Deniers, the lot of em.

A Day in the Life of a DI Fellow: Part III

2008-01-26T19:19:00.000-06:00

What did you all do yesterday?

If you are like most people, you work and/or go to school during the week. Maybe you are studying for your CDL test, maybe you are teaching some fourth graders fractions, maybe you helped deliver a baby after you had been on shift for 18 hours, maybe you folded 928,656 sweaters at Old Navy and youre going to fold 928,656 again tomorrow, maybe you retired a few years ago but you still had shit to do around the house. You worked. You did things.

Normal people like you and me work.

But what does a DI Fellow do every day?

------------------------------------

I dont know about you all, but Ive always really wondered what Casey Luskin does all day. I mean, Dembski and Behe are employed by outside organizations, but Luskin works for the Discovery Institute.

Hes a lawyer, but he doesnt stop DI fellows from stepping in legal shit.

Hes got degrees in geology, but he doesnt do any science.

So what does he do all day?

Well, like Dembski, evidently he just plays on the internet. Except instead of cruising for... ummm... Luskin is trolling for anyone talking about intelligent design in a negative way so he can spring into action as DIs attack dog.

Sometimes its just irritating, like a toy poodle attacking a pit bull, like when he went after Carl Zimmer or Chris Mooney.

I also wasnt particularly amused at his 'defense' of Behe.

But then sometimes Caseys internet hit jobs are not funny at all. Normal people, minding their own business, wake up to find out they are the current DI target.

His attack on KU astronomy student 'Angry Astronomer' was completely out of the blue-- Jon only knew about it because of Technorati.

And now Casey is attacking retired professors.

Les Lane is a retired virology professor at the University of Nebraska. He also just so happens to be one of the gentlemen in Nebraska Citizens for Science who mentored me into the pro-science-chick I am today. Les maintains a Geocities webpage-- its nothing exotic, but its a great collection of links and information for pro-science people. Heres what he found in his inbox yesterday:

Dear Mr. Lane,

Greetings. At http://www.geocities.com/lclane2/luskin.html you have a copyrighted photo of me to which I own the copyright. I do not give you permission to post it on your website. Please remove the picture from your website.

Also, you write that I have “dubious credentials.” At present, I leave it up to your conscience to decide whether the sources you cite on your website are informed or accurate, or whether the claims you make are accurate, but for your information, I am an attorney in good standing in the State of California (see http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/member_detail.aspx?x=238124 ) and I hold a B.S. and M.S. in earth sciences from UC San Diego, having done about 4 year’s worth of scientific research at Scripps Institution for Oceanography and published a scientific paper out of some of that research. (You seem aware of that paper because you seem to cite it elsewhere on your site.) I continue to do scientific research and am currently preparing some research I have recently done for submission for publication. In any case, at present, I’ll let your conscience dictate how you proceed from here regarding whether you now continue to retain on your website the false claim that I have “dubious credentials.”

Thanks.

Sincerely,

Casey Luskin

Yes, you read that right. After the DI wailed about Dembskis theft being a 'witch hunt' and 'petty', Casey Luskin is demanding photos of himself are taken down from random websites because 'he owns the copyright'. I mean there is nothing 'offensive' on Less page. He even links to Caseys webpage!!!

Im really, really getting sick of this joke, but:

OMG! DI NOT RESPECTING ANYONES COPYRIGHT BUT *THEIR* COPYRIGHT!

I dont even know how he found Les's page, unless Casey just sits around Googling himself all day... Anyway, Les is nice, and he took the pic down. However, remember he is one of the reasons 'I am the way I am'-- he had to sass back**:

Casey-
I have removed the picture. I consider scientists' attitude toward science an important aspect of their credentials.

Les

Casey used that as an opportunity to talk about himself-- Note the lack of question marks in Les's reply above:

Thanks for that reply. Since you inquired about my attitudes towards science, I suppose it might be helpful for you to know that I believe that all science should be based upon the scientific method, that evolution is science, that evolution should be taught in schools, and that evolution should be taught as a science that is open to critical scrutiny and not as a dogma that cannot be questioned.

Sincerely,

Casey

End of story:

I likewise believe that evolution shouldn't be taught dogmatically. However I also believe that to promote to science students what hasn't survived scientific peer review, to suggest to them that "incompleteness" discredits science, or to encourage them to substitute rationalizing for science, risks intellectual dishonesty.

Les

LOL!! SLAM! LOL!! Poor DI attack dog, cant win against puppies, cant win against the retired pit dogs, sure as hell cant win against the dogs in their prime. Poor poor Casey!

**Please note, Les uses apostrophes appropriately. That did not rub off on me. :P

A Day in the Life of a DI Fellow: Part II

2008-01-26T17:10:00.000-06:00

Hi Dr. Behe-
I'm the producer to Reginald Finley, the host of "Live with the Infidel Guy" and "The Debate Hour" talk programs. We'd like to know if you would be interested in being a guest on our program for an informal debate with a prominent biologist. Mr. Finley has been in talk media for 8 years with over 100,000 fans internationally. His programs are the oldest and most downloaded freethought talk shows on the Web. Our programs typically deal with issues pertaining to science, philosophy, theology, and pop culture. We would love to talk to you more and have you discuss your work, specifically Irreducible Complexity and ID, with our listeners. Let us know of your interest and we will schedule you as soon as possible.
On a personal note- I enjoyed seeing you on your first book tour when I was young biochemistry student at the University of Georgia.

Pfff. Well now I feel like a loser. Look at the email I got:

Hi Abbie!
I spoke with ____ recently and he suggested you might be available to deconstruct Michael Behe/ID for us on an upcoming show. Please let us know of your interest in this- we would love to have you on. As you know the show airs live at 8pm EST every Thursday.

I responded within an hour. "ME?? BEHE?? LIVE?? NOMNOMNOM!!!"

Behe, naturally, was ecstatic to have an opportunity to confront the Mean Girl that bullied him and shove it to the Darwinists.

**crickets**

But, Infidel Guy tries really, really hard to be fair to 'the other side' of debates. He has the luxury of letting some comments slide due to the skeptical nature of his audience (listen to my 'debate' with Lenny-- we just let that guy keep going omgrofl!). Unlike the Christian show that let Behe dog me while they didnt even attempt to get me on their show, IG did not want his show to be me smacking on Behe behind his back, so they sent a second email.

Hi Dr. Behe-
I apologize for sending a second request but I wanted to give you the opportunity to respond. Abbie Smith has agreed to be our guest on show to discuss ID and the arguments you have made for it. I believe you have had an ongoing dialogue with her in the cyber world and we wanted to get the two of you together to discuss these issues in real time. Abbie is scheduled to be on Thursday, February 7th at 8pm EST. However, if you wanted to be on we could re-schedule for a date that is convenient for both of you. Let us know of your interest and we will schedule you accordingly.
Regards,

The response:

Hi, ___, sorry for not replying earlier. I appreciate your asking me, but I'm not interested in doing the show. Best wishes.

Mike Behe

'Not interested.'

Well, I kinda figured you were 'not interested' in HIV research, LiLo, cause you didnt even Google 'HIV' before you decided to write a whole book on what it can and cannot do. Kinda figured you were 'not interested' in HIV research because your response to my essays was that the hard work of hundreds of scientists was 'pathetic'. OH LOOK! More PATHETIC RESEARCH on Vpu in that PATHETIC journal, NATUR E!

Yeah. Its the *research* thats pathetic, Behe.

Not *you*.

*rolleyes*

But just so we are clear, dear readers, the same folks that call scientists 'cowards' for not debating them, the ones that scream that their views are 'stifled', the same ones that demand the strengths AND weaknesses of 'theories' are brought to light, are 'not interested' in debating me on a topic they chose to be an 'authority' on!

I didnt bring up HIV-1. Behe did. And now hes 'not interested' in talking about it anymore... With me. To radical Christians hes all kinds of gabby.

You know, far be it from me to call LiLo a big fat phony. Thats something a Mean Girl would do.

A Day in the Life of a DI Fellow: Part I

2008-01-26T16:33:00.000-06:00

24 January 2008
Thanks for Your Support ... Evolution of M&M's

Galapagos Finch
Thank you for your support! Dembski’s copyright infringement charges have been dismissed and, after all the shenanigans of you ID crazies, I am back in North Dakota [Details Here].

I now recognize we must all continue to contribute to the evolutionary process. Whenever I get a package of plain M&Ms, I make it my duty to test the strength and robustness of the candy as a species. To accomplish this, I subject M&M’s to repeated trials of survival of the fittest. Taking two candies between my thumb and forefinger, I apply pressure, squeezing until one of them cracks. That is the “loser,” and I immediately eat the inferior M&M. The winner survives to the next generation.

In general, the brown and red M&Ms are tougher, and the newer blue ones are genetically inferior. I have hypothesized that the blue M&Ms as a race cannot survive long in the intense theater of competition that is the modern candy and snack-food world. Occasionally I will get a mutation, a candy that is misshaped, or pointier, or flatter than the rest. Almost invariably this proves to be a weakness, but on very rare occasions the mutation gives the candy extra strength. In this way, the species continues to adapt to its environment.

When I reach the end of the pack, I am left with one M&M, the strongest of the package. (M&M’s come in packages, birds in flocks, whales in pods and beer in six packs.) Since it would make no sense to eat this one as well, I pack it neatly in an envelope and send it to: M&M Mars, A Division of Mars, Inc. Hackettstown, NJ 17840-1503 U.S.A., along with a 3×5 card reading, “Please use this M&M for breeding purposes.”

Read more at TheBRITES.org

... he stole from Craigslist.

Because WAD is a complete failure at mathematics, and he will never publish a real theorem, I propose an new theorem to bear WADs name-- the Infinite Dembski Theorem.

The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey at a typewriter, given enough time, will inevitably recreate the works of Shakespeare.

The infinite Dembski theorem states that WAD on the internet, given enough time, will inevitably try to play off the works of Shakespeare as his own.

Honestly, I dont want to know why Dembski was playing on Craigslist... do not want to know...

FREE T-SHIRT DAY!!!!

2008-01-26T13:28:00.000-06:00

Somehow my post on psychos suing Ed turned into a chest thumping poop throwing contest. Thought about joining in, as Ed and Orac are completely wrong about atheistic activities and the importance of demonstrating to children that the Bible is not magic (which has only increased, in the past year).

However, Orac is completely right about us being a breath away from Blog Wars III, so Ill stand by my last years post and move on. So whats the best way to distract a group of brawling guys?

FREE T-SHIRT DAY!!!!

The Evilutionary Biologist and I did a T-shirt exchange-- This is what I got!

He will have to give you the back-story on it-- evidently there is a store in NYC devoted to evilution!

Then I got a free T-shirt in the mail yesterday from Promega. It came vacuum sealed into this 3"x3"x0.5" square. I think its kinda clever for a free t-shirt-- the simple comment 'Today could be the day' epitimizes my story from a couple of days ago. Why the hell would I put myself through 8 months of torture? Day after day, slamming my head against a brick wall, trying anything and everything to get an assay to work, only to get negative results. Why would anyone do this to themselves? Because 'today could be the day'-- the rush you get from great data makes all kinds of self-inflicted mental torture worth it.

I think I need to wash/iron it before I wear it outside, though. Vacuum cube = crazy wrinkly shirt.

Evilutionary Biologist has his post up-- I so want wanna those for myself!

Jonny Lee Miller!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

2008-01-24T19:49:00.000-06:00

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

GODDAMMIT!

ATHEIST FINDS 'FAITH'! VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM!! GODDAMMIT JONNY LEE MILLER!!!

I friggen LOVED 'Hackers' when I was little! Even though Ive accepted the fact that every computer I screw with will inevitably go up in flames (not joking. true stories.), and became a biologist, 'hack the planet' is still a part of who I am today and my ultimate life goals-- Hack the planet-- sequence everything-- free all the information in DNA, control it, fix it...

Goddammit.

(via Tatarize)

The new grad student should be afraid...

2008-01-23T20:31:00.000-06:00

A little back story:

When I was in undergrad, I dont think I totally understood how 'grad school' worked. I was like 'How the hell do kids pick labs? How do you KNOW what you want to do? How do you decide on a thesis? I might love virology, but how do you decide 'I wanna spend 5 years studying the evolution of the vpu viroporin in Subtype C HIV-1'???

I didnt know that most students entering graduate school (well, at least at my uni) rotate through a few labs during the first year of school to decide where they fit the best, and which kinds of research they really enjoy. Then the principle investigator of that lab helps you decide what your project should be, and the more you learn, the more questions and potential solutions just start coming to you naturally.

Well, I ended up not needing to rotate-- Bossman decided I was worth keeping around :P But we still have rotating students coming into the laboratory.

Unless he does something really bad, I want to keep our current one.

Why?

Because hes good luck*.

I have been banging my head against the wall at work for the past 8 months trying to get an assay to work. It MUST work for me to move forward with my experiments. So I try changing one little thing, hope the assay works, it doesnt. Change something else, hope the assay workds, it doesnt. Try something else. Something else. Something else... I also didnt realize in undergrad how frequently shit just doesnt work in the lab... *sigh*

So today I walked into the flow cytometry facility, fully expecting my latest attempt to fail. Im not exaggerating-- though I am usually obnoxiously optimistic, this particular assay was killing me.

I put on the samples that always work. "Oooh yay. They worked. Fantastic. Hey... they worked a little better..." and I fought like mad not to get my hopes up. Put on a sample that never worked... It was perfect. PERFECT. Put on a few more samples that never worked... BEAUTIFUL.

I cried a little.

Ran like a little kid up to the lab, clutching my data, screaming at my committee members as I ran past their offices "I HAVE DAAAATA!! I HAVE DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATAAAAAAA!!!!"

Bright red and a little sweaty, I slammed my results on Bossmans desk. "THREE great pieces of data today!!!!" he beamed back.

Our post doc got some great data today, as did the new rotating grad student.

Now, I didnt think rotating grad students little project worked. I had done the exact same procedure, another grad student in the lab has done the exact same procedure, post doc has done the exact same procedure, and we all just got a hand full of positive colonies.

Rotating grad student had a whole plate, hundreds of colonies, so in my head I was thinking "Aw, poor kid got all wild-type. Oh well, he can try again." NUH UH! Dude got ALLLLLL properly mutated plasmids!

The new rotating grad student is lucky.

If he decides to go to another lab, Im sawing off his foot.

:P

*I told you all Im wooish. Dont you try to act surprised!

Ben Stein-- Not on the 'Jew Mailing List'

2008-01-23T18:39:00.000-06:00

Ben Stein is a Jew.

A Jew who is aligning himself with Creationists at no benefit to himself, only the Creationists (LOOK! NOT ALL CREATIONISTS ARE RADICAL CHRISTIANS! LOOK! WE HAVE A JEW! **points to Ben**)

Unfortunately, Ben has been so busy with his new Dominionist Christian friends that he hasnt been checking his Jew voice-mails:

In a media teleconference for the film “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” on Tuesday, Stein pointed out that Darwinian teaching on natural selection and random mutation "led in a straight line to the holocaust and Nazism."

Darwin said that there were certain species that were superior to other species and all were competing for scarce supplies of food or resources, Stein pointed out. But if there was a limited supply of basic resources, Darwinism taught that "you owe it to the superior race to kill the inferior race," he told reporters.

The ADL spoke out against this shit a year and a half ago. Abraham H. Foxman:

Hitler did not need Darwin to devise his heinous plan to exterminate the Jewish people. Trivializing the Holocaust comes from either ignorance at best or, at worst, a mendacious attempt to score political points in the culture war on the backs of six million Jewish victims and others who died at the hands of the Nazis.

Certainly some sects of Judaism are Creationists. And certainly I as an atheist with no psychological ties to any religion (though my mother is Jewish) should just ignore this. But just as a human I am disgusted at how easily Creationists have held up the millions of Holocaust corpses to support their cause.

Its sick.

It makes me feel sick.

And I caution Ben to remember that he is Jewish, and to heed Foxmans warning about his new found friends:

"It must be remembered that D. James Kennedy is a leader among the distinct group of 'Christian Supremacists' who seek to "reclaim America for Christ" and turn the U.S. into a Christian nation guided by their strange notions of biblical law."

(via AtBC)

W.A.D. of I.D.

2008-01-22T18:51:00.000-06:00

HalfMooner has done it again!

Dont worry, this one wont give everyone nightmares :P

This comic is awesome on so many levels-- W.A.D. reference, Howard Ahamanson reference, spoofing psycho-biblo Johnny Hart...

**standing ovation**

No one reads Uncommon Descent, Part Deux

2008-01-21T20:38:00.000-06:00

No one reads Uncommon Descent.

Even Paul Nelson, apparently, as he stays entertained and informed by reading my blog. *waves to Paulie*

Friday, Paul picked up on my reference to 'LIFE: What a concept!' to pretend Craig Venter supports ID blah blah blah, the usual ID spittle.

Happily, Paulie has good blog-manners and gave me a hat-tip for that Friday post. Its now Monday evening. According to Google Analytics, in the past month Ive gotten 189 hits from UD. 29.63% of those visitors havent visited before, 'new visitors' (which means 70.27% of those hits were from AtBCers, lol!!).

That means over the holiday weekend, I got 56 hits from Uncommon Descent readers. In that same amount of time, Ive gotten +2,500 total hits from other links or direct views.

*squint* No one reads Uncommon Descent.

SA Smith

2008-01-21T19:56:00.000-06:00

A few months ago, The Scientist asked several prominent science bloggers who their favorites were, and I was incredibly flattered to find out PZ had me on his list (incredibly flattered, especially considering who else was on The Scientists list and PZs blog-roll).

That list stirred up a bit of controversy because no women science bloggers were asked, and few women science bloggers were listed. I have to admit, while I too was a little annoyed at this, I also thought it was kinda funny that some people who were protesting this point didnt know I was a female ;)

For people who dont read my blog or are new to my blog, ERV=SA Smith.

Steven Alexander Smith?

Stephanie Alexis Smith?

Stephanie Alexander Smith?

Because of my... *ahem* 'aggressiveness'... and my atheism, I get pegged as a dude online sometimes, so Im used to it, but I never thought about how my initials and writing style would be taken in my publication and grant submissions.

Some people have told me that women do not produce scientific results that are of the same high quality as those produced by men (nor do they write life science blogs as well as men, apparently) and that male reviewers can readily recognize when a woman is the lead (or sole) author of an article because "women do science differently from men."

If this article is representative of the scientific community, Im going to stick to 'SA Smith'. 'Behavioral Ecology' switched to a double-blind review process, and female publications popped up from being under-represented to right where they should be. I dunno, I like being a chick that can kick viro-ass, and there are a lot of women at the top of the field of virology, like our visitor last week. Why cant I be S. Abigail Smith? Eh but even someone as 'big' in retrovirology as Dr. Dudley brought up biases against women in science in one of our conversations.

I guess Ill stay in cognito with SA Smith, then present at a conference so everyone can whisper to one another "OMG SA SMITH IS A CHICK! SHE WRITES SCIENCE LIKE A DOOD!" hehehehehehe!

Perfect Storm of Woo-- Anti-Vaxers in OKC

2008-01-21T13:46:00.000-06:00

I went to that presentation on Saturday. Its now Monday. Its taken me this long to calm down enough to write a post about what happened. Thankfully, blog-reader CJ was there to keep me from going postal... He also took all the pics.

CJ and I decided to meet up at the cafe in The Health Food Center (the store hosting the anti-vaxers) a few minutes before the presentation to compare notes. I got there before him, so I took the opportunity to wander around a bit. For a 'food store', there was relatively little 'food'. A wall for organic fruits and veggies, some freezer cases, but a majority of the area was devoted to potions, pills, vitamins, extracts, and books/CDs about potions, pills, vitamins, and extracts. Isle after isle of shit. Here is a pic from the 'Reference' section.

There were also areas devoted to 'reflexology' treatments, and 'foot detoxification.'

When CJ showed up, we decided to get lunch at the stores cafe. I just got coffee. It tasted like sludge water (Im sitting here drinking Folgers). CJ got a hamburger of some kind with carrot juice. It looked good, but he only choked down a few bites/sips before giving up. Little did we know that was the *least* nauseous we would be all afternoon.

We headed next door to the abandoned-store-turned-auditorium. Like Ive seen at every Creationist presentation, there were tables and tables of shit to sell.

There was also a table of chiropractic nurses. The significance of this wouldnt surface until later in the day.

I really loved this abandoned store/auditorium. There was no heat. And the bathrooms were disgusting (the toilet didnt flush in the womens room), but humorously, posted on the wall was a flyer declaring "IF YOU LIKE THE WAY THIS BATHROOM SMELLS, YOU CAN BUY ____ NEXT DOOR!!!" LOL Yeah, I want an 'unflushed toilet' scented candle. And there was shit growing in the ceiling.

I could really tell these people were concerned about their health.

Exactly 51 seconds into the introduction, 'autism' popped up (CJ was recording it, his timer said '51 seconds'). We were told that 1 in 67 children are autistic. They mentioned that their numbers didnt match the CDC, but that the CDC was hiding The Truth.

We were also told that 'you need a good doctor, you need a good nurse, but you need a good team of chiropractors!' It seems this presentation was co-sponsored by a local chiro shop. Chiros were plugged ad nauseum throughout the afternoon.

Jenny McCarthy was hailed as a savior.

As for April Renees presentation, I was shaking I was so angry. It was a hate speech against scientists that would make any Creationist proud. After ranting about how scientists and physicians get pleasure from killing children she said 'I dont mean to degrade any of the pediatricians in the audience, if there are any, lol.' Then she promptly returned to slandering scientists and physicians.

Literally, nothing she said was scientifically accurate, and she Gish-Galloped by the book. Slide after slide of quotes from pediatricians saying how they loved killing babies and Excel graphs (like this one) with zero references to her sources. Claims that would be clarified with an introductory course in immunology and virology, yet she knew her Audience would never catch her BS. Hails of 'YEAH! THATS RIGHT!' 'AWWWWWW!' 'PRAISE HIM!' came from the audience on her cues.

You know how I always make fun of Creationists for speaking in 'coagulated word salads'? Renee took this to the extreme. She declared something called 'stealth viruses' were contaminating all vaccines. The fellow who invented that phrase wrote the introduction to Horowitzs book.

'Severe monkey viruses' also contaminated all vaccines-- CMV, EBV, HPV, HSV-1, were all 'severe monkey viruses'. Renee insisted that she got herpes from vaccines. She insisted her daughter died from EBV in her vaccinations, and blamed the physician who vaccinated her for the toddlers death. She scared every woman in the audience by insisting that if THEY were vaccinated, they could transfer these 'severe monkey viruses' to their babies, who would also die.

Im sure youll be surprised to find out she firmly established that she is an HIV Denier/Conspiracy theorist like Horowitz. Contaminated vaccines-->HIV.

Im sure you will also be surprised to hear she plugged Mothering magazine.

Im sure you will also be surprised to hear that she insisted that chelation was a natural, non-invasive way to cure autism.

Im sure you will also be surprised to hear she is a Creationist (and managed to bring that up in her presentation).

What I did find odd was that every few seconds, Renee would reference God, angels, or Yeshua. Yes, Yeshua. CJ and I were baffled, and wondered if this indicated Renee was a Jehovah's Witness, who have their own issues with medicine. So while I wanted to call her a stupid bitch in the Q&A, I asked her in my adorable voice:

Me: Im sorry, this might be too personal...
Renee: No, go ahead!
Me: Well, I noticed that you kept mentioning your faith and God and... 'Yeshua'? I was just wondering what religion you were?
Renee: I dont like 'religion'. 'Religion' to me is man interfering with Gods word. But I believe in our Lord and Savior and blah blah blah blah Biblo-crap blah blah salvation blah blah.

She wouldnt answer me.

Afterwards, I was drained. I was angry. Iron-willed ERV, who couldnt be shaken by Behes purple faced tantrums or Dembskis underwear staining flatulence, was literally shaking from this anti-vaxer. I couldnt stay for her boyfriends presentation (she kept calling him 'honey').

CJ dared me to get a pic with her. I thought I was hiding the fact I wanted to punch her really well. Photograph says otherwise (hey did I ever mention I was 7 feet tall?).

This pic sums up the afternoon perfectly.

But it was great having CJ there-- he gets the award for 'Best Comment EVAH!':

Renee: Grapefruit Seed Extract is so great blah blah blah you can buy it next door I never go anywhere without it blah blah blah. GSE is like Gods penicillin.
CJ: *whisper* Um, I thought penicillin was Gods penicillin.

hehehehehehehehe

More Delicious UD Irony

2008-01-18T20:07:00.001-06:00

So Paul Nelson just linked to me from Uncommon Descent.

Now, remember Billys recent 'difficulties' with copyright. You should also note that Paul Nelson was 'named' as another DI fellow who was showing 'Inner Life'. I dont have a recording of him, but he was 'named' in my investigations.

Okay, ready?

Ready?

Click on this:

OMG OH NO! TECHNORATI IZ INFRINGIN ON THEIR COPYRIGHT!!

AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!

LOOK AT ME! IM A CREATIONIST! I CARE SO MUCH ABOUT COPYRIGHT EXCEPT WHEN ITS SOMEONE ELSES!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Sweet.

I dont like Ed.

2008-01-18T19:48:00.000-06:00

We just seemed to disagree a lot.

But he just wrote an excellent expose on 'private security firms', and now he is going to be sued (should the lawyers ever find him, heh).

I dont particularly like Ed. But I hope he tells us how we can support him, if he needs any help.

Anti-Vaccination in 1888

2008-01-18T18:37:00.000-06:00

Because the BL3 has been closed this week, I havent been able to do my usual research. So Ive been using my lab time to clean and reorganize the lab. I even rented one of those tiny bulldozers to clean out a long forgotten storage room so we could use it.

I found lots of great stuff, like pictures of the former department heads wife in shorts ripped across the butt (PIs loved that one) and 20 year old Scientific Americans.

The January 1988 SciAmerican has an article titled 'Scientific American, 50 and 100 years ago.' Its made up of blurbs from top stories in 1938 and 1888. You all will not believe one of the blurbs from 1888. Yes, 100 years ago*:

January 1888-- "The success of the anti-vaccinationists has been aptly shown by the results in Zurich, Switzerland, where for a number of years, until 1883, a culpulsory vaccination law obtained, and smallpox was wholly prevented-- not a single case occurred in 1882. This result was seized upon the following year by the antivaccinationists and used against the necessity for any such law, and it seems they had sufficient influence to cause its repeal. The death returns for that year (1883) showed that for every 1,000 deaths two were caused by smallpox; In 1884 there were three; in 1885, 17, and in the first quarter of 1886, 85."

Wow. Today we are getting the exact same arguments from the MMR folks-- "We dont need to vaccinate against measles! No one gets measles!", with the same results...

1888.

Thats nuts.

* The wording is a little weird, but I swear its word-for-word.

LIFE: What a Concept!

2008-01-17T20:22:00.000-06:00

Cant post.

Too excited.

EDGE* just put up a pdf book/transcript of interviews and round-table discussions between:

LIFE: What a Concept!

Cant stop reading.

Will post on specifics in the article later.

*Also note that Venter and Dawkins will be speaking on "LIFE: A gene centric view" this coming Monday. Digital Life Design has videos of previous years conferences up-- Lets hope they share this one too!

Crazy places you find HIV Deniers

2008-01-16T19:37:00.000-06:00

Rants & Raves, the new hangout for infidels on the internet, is my new favorite forum. There is (so far) no moderation, so its a strange combination of logical arguments and references, sprinkled with insults and boobs. I think its wonderful :)

I wasnt aware that it had become so popular until I started noticing the woo-ers coming out of the woodwork. First the anti-vaxer from mothering.com, now an HIV Denier. If the poster isnt being a poseur, its none other than David Rasnick.

The same David Rasnick who 'collaborated' with Matthias Rath, a professional woo-er who says vitamins can cure AIDS and cancer.

Thats another topic for another post, but what the heck is Rasnick doing on Rants & Raves? Posting on a thread about a new HIV study you might have seen on the news:
Identification of Host Proteins Required for HIV Infection Through a Functional Genomic Screen.

I dont even have to go through his whole post-- the first sentence could not be made by a virologist with a sound mind:

I was surprised to learn the Harvard study led by Professor Stephen Elledge was conducted in highly aneuploid "HeLa-derived TZM-bl cells". I've worked the past 11 years studying the consequences of aneuploidy and feel I should pass along some of my concerns about the study's experiments and the authors' conclusions.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why this dude is 'surprised' at the use of a cell line called 'TZM-bl'. TZMs are standard in HIV research laboratories. To any HIV researcher, why these cells were used by Elledge et al is shockingly obvious. Even to someone unfamiliar with modern HIV research, like an HIV Denier might be, the reason why this cell line was used is described on the first page of the article.

HeLa cells are a cell line derived from a 1951 case of HPV induced cervical cancer (side note: some say they are no longer human). TZMs are special HeLa cells that have basically been genetically engineered for HIV research-- They express CD4 (normally only expressed on T-cells, the target of HIV-1), and the TZMs genome contains two 'reporter genes'. If the TZM is infected with HIV, a protein tat will start transcribing the two reporter genes! One reporter gene you can stain with a dye and see underneath a microscope, like I did in this post. You can also use the other reporter gene by blowing up all your cells and doing a luciferase assay.

So an HIV lab using TZMs should not be surprising to anyone supposedly as familiar with HIV research as Rasnick.

Ignoring all of that, Elledge et al also explained specifically why they used TZMs in their paper and in supporting materials. They needed the reporter genes for their initial controls and in their experimental procedures. Those reporter genes are not in patient donated PBMCs. They also gave other reasons for why TZMs were used, though they were not ideal:

TZM-bl cells were chosen due to limitations in experimental methods using more relevant T and macrophage cell lines. They proved useful for screening because they are easily transfected with siRNA, are hardy enough to survive high throughput manipulations and support a full HIV lifecycle to produce infectious virions.

There are positives and negatives to all cell lines, but there are also positive and negatives to using fresh PBMCs. There are positives and negatives to using animal models or human subjects.

Im going through all of this with my own research-- I started with cell lines, then I moved to using PBMCs. Then Im going to try organotypic cell cultures, then animal models, then hopefully I will have a PhD and pass the project to someone else :) But while I want my research to be as biologically relevant as possible, Im not going to wait until vaccine trials to publish a friggen paper.

Ugh, friggen stupid comment from a stupid friggen Denier.

ERV vs BEHE, LIVE!!!

2008-01-15T19:12:00.000-06:00

Remember last year when I debated Lenny Horowitz on 'The Debate Hour with the Infidel Guy'? Well, Reggie and his crew have been following my fun with Behe and Dembski and asked if I would be willing to debate Michael Behe on the evolution of HIV-1 for another show!

My response: "YEEEEEEEES!! WHOOO!!!"

Behes response: ..................**crickets chirping**................

:(

Sorry, I was a tease in the title. Behes not gonna show.

Maybe hes just too busy for radio interviews? Ooops! Nope! He has time for interviews with radical Christian talk-radio programs! But he doesnt have time to defend his own claims about the evolution of HIV-1. IG is always very fair to the... dissenting... point of view in the debates he moderates (just listen to my debate with Horowitz, we let Lenny just keep going and going... hehe!)

Even Behe cant defend Behe.

Oh well, the show will go on! Im going to talk about how students and interested laymen can and should confront Professional Creationists and pseudoscientists, and share some tips and tricks I have learned on my adventures. You can listen to the show live on IGs site 7 pm Central Time on February 7th!

EXPELLED: Creationism isnt Christianity! Really!

2008-01-15T18:11:00.000-06:00

The producers of EXPELLED have figured out a nifty way to drum up interest in their movie: Bribe schools to have 'mandatory field trips' to EXPELLED. Christian schools.

Q: What’s the best way to get our school families to come out to the movies?

A: In speaking with Christian Schools, we’ve found that hosting a school-wide “mandatory” field trip is the best way to maximize your school’s earning potential. Send a field trip home with your middle school and high school students, have each child pay for their own ticket, then collect the stubs at the door once you get to the movie theater. With this model, you also will be able to benefit from the ticket stubs purchased by parents who choose to come as well.

Whats a great way to boost movie ticket sales? FORCING KIDS TO GO AND MAKING THEM PAY FOR THEIR OWN TICKETS! OF COURSE!

What is the Expelled Challenge?
To engage Christian schools to get as many students, parents, and faculty from your school out to see Ben Stein’s new movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (opening in theaters April 2008).

Here are some suggestions as to how to do that: Organize a school field trip and invite parents to attend as well. Offer extra credit to your students to go on their own time. What is the reward?
Generous donations can be awarded to schools according to the number of movie ticket stubs they turn in. By accepting this challenge, your school could be awarded a donation up to $10,000, just for bringing your kids to see this film! Your school will be awarded a donation based upon the number of ticket stubs you turn in (see submission instructions in FAQ section). That structure is as follows:
0-99 ticket stubs submitted = $5 per ticket stub
100-299 ticket stubs submitted = $1,000 donated to your school
300-499 ticket stubs submitted = $2,500 donated to your school
500 ticket stubs submitted = $5,000 donated to your school
Each school across the nation will be competing for the top honor of submitting the most ticket stubs with that school having their $5,000 donation matched for a total donation of $10,000!

Hmm... So who the hell is paying for all of this?

Q: How are the funds for the donations being provided?

A: Being that this film is viewed as history changing, funds have been provided by the Faith and Arts Community Endeavor project, specifically for Christian schools, organizations, and groups to encourage them to see the film and engage these Important issues.

So I Googled "Faith and Arts Community Endeavor project". One hit. The EXPELLED website.

So I Googled "Ground Force Network", where you have to mail your ticket stubs, and found this.

Once you sign up on this website to become a volunteer “Field Agent” for GFN, you will have the opportunity to promote a variety of faith-based products, music releases, films and events. Some are concentrated on the college level, while some are more targeted to the church. We call these projects “Ground Wars.” You will always have the option to sign up for each project, and we will equip and direct you every step of the way.

Riiiiiight.

But ID Creationism has nothing to do with Christianity. So... If a bit group of atheists register, we get money back? Hmm-- $7.50 ticket-$5 = EXPELLED for $2.50 and 2 hours of your life. Any big atheist groups want to try to register?

(Hat tip to AtBC-- ALL SCIENCE SO FAR!!!)

ERVs and Infectious Disease!

2008-01-14T20:32:00.000-06:00

One of the fun things about being a graduate student is the presentations by visiting PIs. Someone who is a researcher in California or Maryland flies in to give a presentation on their research. Unfortunately, my department is mostly made up of immunologists and bacteria folk, and I cant say those are the most interesting topics for me.

BUT!

This semester Bossman was in charge of scheduling speakers, so a ton of them are virologists! YAAAY!! Todays speaker, Jackie Dudley.

If you dont know who she is, the first thing you should know is that she is one of the professors who signed a letter supporting Chris Comer.

The second thing you should know is that shes going to be on the Journal of Virology editorial board in 2009.

Third thing you should know is that she kicks ass!!! Personality wise, shes one of my new role models-- we got into a tiny tiff about the place of viruses in the evolution of life and the tree of life, but it was a FUN tiff! I coulda tiffed for hours! She was a lot of fun in the meeting with graduate students... at least for us virology grad students :)

Shes also done some cool research on the place of ERVs in the pathogenesis of disease. Remember MMTV? Pups get infected with exogenous MMTV when they are pups, and it activates every time a mouse starts lactating. After a few rounds of pregnancy, the female mouse gets mouse breast cancer. The virus doesnt *want* to cause cancer, it just happens.

Dudley wondered what part, if any, endogenous MMTVs played in this game. She made some mice that only expressed endogenous MMTV 6, 8, or 9, and another strain that had no endogenous MMTVs. She found that carrying an endogenous MMTV left the mice more susceptible to exogenous MMTV infection! No endogenous MMTVs? Only 10% of the mice progressed to tumors, as opposed to 90%-100% in the wild type mice. The mice that had one of the other endogenous MMTVs fell in between those percentages.

So having endogenous MMTVs are a detriment to the mouse!

... Or are they?

A colleague down the hall studied cholera, a gram negative bacteria. Now because of the way MMTV works (it codes a protein called 'Super Antigen'), some of the mouses T-cells get knocked out while it is maturing. Non-self MMTV proteins are recognized as 'self', so the T-cells that recognize these 'super antigens' coded by the endogenous MMTVs are killed, just like the T-cells that recognize a protein made by a lung cell or a liver cell. You dont want your immune system attacking you :) So, what happens when branches of T-cells are knocked out because of endogenous MMTV when you infect it with an unrelated organism?

Same thing.

Mice without endogenous MMTVs were not as susceptible to cholera.

WHOA!

Well, dont get too excited-- theyve tried other gram negative bacteria and other organisms, and they dont see this effect. But still! Some of these endogenous MMTVs only encode for the super antigen-- why are these kept, evolutionarily, if everything else is degraded??

Avenues for further research :)

More Atheist Authors at the Movies

2008-01-12T16:56:00.000-06:00

The plan worked perfectly!!! BWAHAHAHA!

Though Im not part of the 'Media Control' division of the EAC, I am proud of their sneakiness. Check this out-- they threw out 'The Golden Compass' as an easy target for the Biblos, got em all worked up in a froth, put 'OMG AN ATHEIST MOVIE THUR GONNA EAT UR KIDS'! on every news station. And while all this was going on, they snuck 'Atonement' in the back door! Though we wont get to see the 'Golden Globes' this year, 'Atonement' has the most nominations, and it was written by... AN ATHEIST!

Like, a REAL atheist!

I just read a quote of yours, "Atheists have as much conscience, possibly more, than people with deep religious convictions," and I have noticed that recently you have been talking a little more about atheism. You also contributed an essay to a new book called The Portable Atheist. What are your thoughts on the "New Atheist" movement, which has gotten so much publicity and sold so many books in the last year or so. Do you think it differs from strains of atheism in the past?
I am a little baffled as to why it is called the "New Atheism." There is a very long tradition of free thinking, and the arguments made against religion tend to be the same but made over and over again. But I think what has happened is that there have been a number of good, articulate books--Hitchens, Dawkins, Dennett, Sam Harris, and so on. What they have discovered to their own great surprise is that in the United States, and right across the South too, there are an enormous number of people who also think this way. I don't think they have suddenly been persuaded by this rash of books--the feelings were there anyway--but they didn't have a voice, they didn't have a focus. When Hitchens took his book across the Bible Belt and debated with Baptist ministers in churches, there were huge audiences, most of whom, it seems, from when they spoke to him afterwards, were somewhat irritated that the place in the United States that they lived in was called the Bible Belt. I think there was something there that people had not taken into account. Quite heartening really, given that America is meant to be a secular republic with a strong tradition of upholding all freedom of thought.

Sweet!

Unfortunately, 'The New Republic' evidently doesnt like to be associated with those dirty atheist types. Here is an after-interview comment from the TNR 'deputy editor', Greg Veis:

But my questions are these: Why can't atheists make their case without too often resorting to absolutism like McEwan's here? Why can't Hitchens stand up for godlessness without telling people that they're thick to believe otherwise? As authors, they should know that people are more interesting than that.

He also referrs everyone to an 'excellent' piece by Damon Linker. Ya, excellent. **rolleyes**

Anyway, props to the 'Media Control Division', bonus points for getting TNR to print awesome pro-reason comments!!

The race is on for '2008 Woo-umentary of the Year'!

2008-01-09T19:36:00.000-06:00

I know a lot of us are simply distraught over the Golden Globes this year. I can barely work at all, and I havent eaten anything since they were officially canceled a couple days ago. Arnie ripped up another sofa cushion, he was so angry.

*sigh*

Well, all we can hope for is that the writers strike will be resolved soon, and next years movie awards wont be effected, because we have to see who wins for '2008 Woo-umentary of the Year'!

The line up just keeps getting stronger and stronger.

First, there was 'EXPELLED!'-- Bad-boy Ben Stein takes a stand against Big Science, shining a light on their persecution of Creationists!

Then, there was 'Einstein was Wrong'-- Bad-Boy David de Hilster takes a stand against Big Science, shining a light on their persecution of Relativity Deniers!

Now, perfectly in line with my New Years Resolution, we have 'AIDS, Inc.'-- Bad-Boy Gary Null takes a stand against Big Science, shining a light on their persecution of HIV Deniers!

Hmm... already wins my award for 'Most Boring Movie Trailer'... PARADIGM sighting at 1:08...

Yeah all you really need to know about Gary you can find on his website. Its good I ran across him before I met The Other Gary on the 19th-- I didnt know a degree in nutrition made you an expert in:

Psychology/Psychiatry
Business
AIDS
Virology
Vaccination
Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome
Air purification
The dangers of cell phones
Healing with magnets
Veterinary medicine
Arthritis
Body lotion
Immunology
What to do in case of nuclear attack
Political Science
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Anger management
Optometry
ALL THIS AND MORE!

Dear god.

Well, -50 Woo-points for missing anti-fluoridation, but +20,000 points for selling CDs and DVDs on how scientists are only in medicine for the money while also SELLING MAGNETIC BRAS FOR 72 DOLLARS.

Everybody start stocking up on popcorn!

Francis Collins: DO NOT WANT.

2008-01-08T18:30:00.000-06:00

Poor Francis Collins. 48 hours ago, dude was just hanging out, minding his own business, and then Dr. Fr*mer got it into his head to make a post on Collins, and now the poor guy is in the new 'Topic' on SciBlogs. The Topic can be summarized thusly:
I dont want him for an official presidential/political adviser either. And not just because he was dumb enough to be impressed by C.S. Lewis.

Scientifically-- Maybe it was/is because he is working through government channels, but he was/is always playing second fiddle to someone else: Craig Venter. Venter sequenced the human genome faster and with less money. Venter is the driving force behind sequencing microbiomes of the human body, sequencing everything we can find in a bucket of seawater, sequencing more and more human genomes to better define/identify/treat human diseases-- Hack the Planet-- Sequence Everything. As a scientist, I admire innovation and ballsiness. I dont see that from Collins.

Politically-- Does anybody see anything wrong with this statement?

SUSAN DENTZER: For all of the wonderful things that could come out of knowing one's genetic makeup in terms of being able to identify diseases in the future and perhaps new therapies for them, obviously many people remain concerned that their genetic material will be used against them.

FRANCIS COLLINS: Yes. So, I think we all have a sense that genetics can be pretty powerful stuff. Powerful in a good way in the sense that we could use this approach to unravel mysteries of diseases and come up with cures for conditions that we currently don't really quite know how to treat. But potentially powerful in a more frightening way, where this kind of information might get used against you to discriminate, to take away your health insurance or your job, or perhaps used in other ways that violate privacy...

Hey, Collins, I got an idea for ya! Hey, what about universal health care?? Say we find a genetic marker for juvenile diabetes or breast cancer. If you dont have to worry about insurance dropping you, you can keep an eye on your 6 year old daughter to watch for signs of diabetes before she goes into diabetic shock at the park. You can start giving a patient mammograms earlier, just in case tumors do develop, and maybe save her breasts. OMG! Happier, healthier patients! Suddenly, better diagnoses and healthier patients arent a SCARY thing because youve taken 'insurance' out of the picture.

Why didnt Collins think of this?

Why was his reaction "OMG STOP SCIENCE!!" and not "OMG STOP PRIVATE INSURANCE!!"? I do not ever want someone in the White House who thinks the answer to a political problem with science is STOP SCIENCE. Ever.

Which leads to my final reason why Collins should not, cannot, be in a political position for science: he is afraid of science. Let me finish the above quote for you:

But potentially powerful in a more frightening way, where this kind of information might get used against you to discriminate, to take away your health insurance or your job, or perhaps used in other ways that violate privacy...or in some way begin to lessen what it means to be human in the full sense of the word by moving us in the direction where everything about us is viewed as being hard-wired as part of our DNA, taking away all of the wonderful aspects of who we are as human beings.

DO NOT WANT.

We cant sequence everyones genome because people might start being materialists? Everyone might stop with that 'Mind-Body-Spirit' crap? What?

We cannot have a science adviser who is afraid of genetics. We cant have a science adviser that is afraid of embryonic stem cell research. We need a science adviser that understands the publics fears about these topics and can address them accordingly, like we did in Missouri with our stem-cell initiative in 2006. You would think the birth-mother of the fr*ming crap would understand that.

Tripping over anti-vaxers

2008-01-07T18:49:00.000-06:00

My New Years resolution was an accident. I was just stumbled across that presentation when I was bored on the internet, and now it seems I cant take two steps without tripping over an anti-vaxer.

The latest came from an unexpected location-- Rants & Raves (IIDB without teh suck). An innocent post in the science forum on a potential 'universal flu vaccine' caught an anti-vaxer in 5 posts. After making some amusingly/horrifyingly non-science statements, the anti-vaxer informed R&R posters that she would not be debating her views. We would have to go to a specific website to 'debate'. Turns out that forum is an anti-vax version of Uncommon Descent. See a billion examples from Orac here and here and here and here... You know, just search Respectful Insolence for 'mothering'.

I cant 'debate' vaccines at mothering.com because Im not allowed to. Its in their forum guidelines:

Recently, we have seen several members join MDC who seem to have an agenda to promote vaccinations. Though Mothering does not take a pro or anti stand on vaccinations, we will not host threads on the merits of mandatory vaccine, or a purely pro vaccination view point as this is not conducive to the learning process.

We will be contacting several members to discuss their sincerity on MDC. In the meantime, we are asking our members not to quote from this notice or address members within a thread as this is strictly prohibited. Instead, contact a forum moderator or administrator if you are concerned about a post and we will take appropriate action if need be.

But just in that one thread at R&R, Ive noticed a lot of things anti-vaxers and Creationists have in common.

Scientists are always wrong. Scientists used to bleed people/think the earth was flat. Scientists are dogmatic, but we are shifting the paradigm/paradigm. No one understands immunity/evolution, so dont listen to those immunologists/evilutionists. See, look at how stupid their claims about vaccinations/macroevolution are! Youre just a mom and you can understand how stupid vaccines/macroevolution is! Gosh scientists are stupid! To learn more about scientists are stupid, buy my book/ book.

Bleh. Thank you Orac, for sheltering me from this crap for so long.

Michael Shermer's new book

2008-01-06T18:18:00.001-06:00

Michael Shermer just released a new book, 'The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics'. It doesnt appear to be like his other books, but Im still confused as to why I havent heard much about it from the skeptic community.

But I cant say Im super excited to pick it up. Blurb #1 from Amazon:

“Written with his customary verve and flair, The Mind of the Market is Michael Shermer at his best. Roving over the entire sweep of history, and drawing on the best of modern science, Shermer attempts a grand synthesis of research from psychology and the neurosciences to demonstrate that markets are moral and that free trade meshes well with human nature. Shermer entertains as well as informs, and in the process he deepens the argument for economic, political and social freedom.”—Dinesh D’Souza, author of What’s So Great About America

Uh huh. Umm... what? No. I mean, I guess its good to get people from 'the other side' to endorse your book... but D’Souza was what, an English major? Not economics/evolution/relevant field.

Why dont you get SAL to review your next book, Shermer?

Bleh. Gross.

PARADIGM: Not just for Creationists anymore!

2008-01-03T20:28:00.000-06:00

While researching a bit for a future NOM NOM NOM, I came across a bit of surprising and nice information:

She has won a Golden Globe (forAlias) and the heart of husband Ben Affleck. But actress Jennifer Garner's big concern this flu season is to protect the health of the couple's 2-year-old daughter, Violet."One in three children get influenza, and more than 100 children die every year from this disease -- these are facts that no mother or parent wants to hear," said Garner, 35.She spoke to reporters in New York City on Monday as the new national spokeswoman for the American Lung Association'sFaces of Influenzaeducation campaign."I want to help make sure that all moms across the country understand that influenza is serious and that vaccination should be a family priority," said Garner...

... Actor Dean Cain, 41, who soared to fame as TV's Superman inLois & Clarkin the 1990s, was also on hand to urge people to get the flu shot this year.Cain, a former pro footballer, said even healthy adults can be laid low by the virus. He's especially vulnerable, because he also has asthma, he said."Asthma puts me in a high-risk group, because if I were to get the flu, guess where it's going -- right to my lungs," Cain said. A prior bout of flu once left him unable to work for almost two weeks, he said, but "my number one concern is the health of my family" -- specifically, son Christopher, age 6.

I found another interview where Cain really does a great job:

Do you have any personal hopes for what people will gain from the campaign?

Dean Cain: Well, you know, I fight this even within my own family. With my mother, in fact, just doesn’t believe in getting a [flu] vaccination. You know, people forget about polio, chickenpox, measles...the things we get vaccinated for. They forget that these diseases have basically been eradicated through vaccinations. And so it becomes a non-issue. Well, if we stop getting vaccinated, people are going to start getting those diseases again as well. As far as the flu goes, be smart about it, vaccinate yourself, vaccinate your children. It’s not some crazy conspiracy to make money. They are giving these out free in so many places. You can get free flu shots wherever you go. It saves the economy a lot of money because we won’t have so many people hospitalized from it. You don’t have to deal with so many people dying from it. It is a fantastically easy and wonderful thing to do to protect your family and yourself.

Now, of course I really wish the general public was listening to, oh, I dunno, physicians and scientists about vaccines, but its refreshing to see celebrities using their position for public education! And not... you know... ummm...

But no good deed goes unpunished!

Byron J. Richards, Founder/Director of Wellness Resources:

...Vaccinations of all types remain the centerpiece of the public health herd-mentality paradigm...

Fear of disease is the driving force behind all public health campaigns. Fear is the great motivator of blind compliance. Jennifer Garner, celebrity and young mother, is now on a soapbox encouraging mothers across the country to have their children immunized with the flu vaccine. Earth to Jennifer Garner: How many infants will your misguided propaganda injure?

{snip list of usual anti-vax, anti-science claims}

Go ahead. Read that whole article. I literally LOLed at his comments about Jonas Salk.

But I couldnt find any anti-vaxers bashing Cain. I tried really hard, cause I wanted to quote them here, but I couldnt find anything. Google 'Dean Cain vaccine'-- he has really been out and vocal about vaccinations of all kind, yet Gardner gets attacked? Maybe its because she is a 'bigger' star right now, but I feel as if its a sexist thing too. Women and mothers seem to be the target of Professional Anti-Vaxers... hmm...

New Years Resolution: Eat more wooers.

2008-01-01T17:20:00.000-06:00

A lot of people are making New Years resolutions right now about their diet. Im gonna throw my hat into that ring too.

Ive been on a steady diet of Creationist Tard for the past few months, and I dont want them to get the impression their anti-science bullshit is any more special than all the other anti-science bullshit out there, so my resolution is to eat a wide variety of woo-ers in 2008. Luckily, I was bopping around the internet today and found a couple of woo-ers that are going to be talking in OKC in a few weeks!

April Renee-- Keynote speaker for VIC, Vaccine Injured Children and former president of TAAP, The Autism Autoimmunity Project. After the loss of her vaccine injured autistic daughter, she embarked on a mission to expose the cause of all "labels" such as autism, ADD, ADHD, diabetes, arthritis, depression, multiple sclerosis, ALS, fibromyalgia, and cancer.

Check this chick out:

NOM NOM NOM NOM!!! THE WOO!! SO YUMMY! WANNA EAT IT NOW!!!

Gary L. Tunsky, N.D.-- Cellular Disease Specialist-- International speaker, author, and lecturer; currently in practisce as a traditional Naturopathic Doctor. He has opened up new doors to the world of customized human cell restoration treatment protocols. He applies strategies for full body detoxification, herbology, heavy metal chelation, homeopathy, and much more. His non-toxic, non-invasice cellular treatment strategies are directed to a wide spectrum of disorders that are prevalent in the 21st century.

omg you guys...

This year, Hulda Clark canceled her visit at the last moment for unknown reasons. She is the proponent of the theory that diseases like cancer and AIDS are caused by parasites that can be eliminated from the body by electrical gizmos called "zappers" and "syncrometers". The Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. has successfully prosecuted some of these manufacturers. Hulda Clark operates out of a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, and is the author of a book called The Cure for All Cancers. She was to give two seminars on the use of her devices, which cost $130 each, but she did not show up.

Another last minute "no-show" was Texas naturopath Gary Tunsky. Rumours at the conference suggested that he had been prevented from entering Canada by either customs or immigration officials because he was bringing banned products into the country. This has not been confirmed, but officials for the show did mention that he was bringing in products that could save lives and that was the reason he was banned. Len Horowitz filled in. He is a Harvard trained dentist with a master's degree in public health. He is a frequent guest on Canadian radio and TV shows. Len Horowitz coined the phrase "iatrogenocide" and believes that vaccines and drugs "play a primary role in what amounts to genocide for profit, psychosocial control and even depopulation," according to an Internet ad for one of his tapes.

Gary rubbs shoulders with Clark (also believes AIDS is caused by liver flukes) and my bestest buddy LENNY? You KNOW this is going to be fun! CANNOT WAIT!

More:

The radiologists and oncologists who administer radiation and AZT death serum wear full mop gear and protective clothing. And they're injecting this into the bloodstream of an AIDS patient who has no immune system! AZT destroys all cells including T cells, B cells and red blood cells that carry life giving oxygen. All the new antiviral drugs (ddl, D4T, 3TC, and ddc) are modeled after AZT under the guise of AIDS treatment. Cancer treatments of chemotherapy and radiation are no different!

omg... like seriously... cannot wait... cannot wait... **drool**

Arnie Overload

2007-12-30T21:03:00.000-06:00

I missed posting about Arnies one-year-with-Abbie anniversary (it was December 2nd). Not because I forgot, but because I wanted to post cute puppy pics to go along with the post... And Arnie chewed through my camera-->computer cord.

Arnie chews everything.

Everything.

So I tried to get a new camera cord, and every one I tried *looked* right, but didnt fit right, so I finally just got a card reader. Instead of uploading hundreds of Arnie Puppy pics, I just added a dozen or so in a slide-show. Enjoy! And go adopt a puppy.

Taking Arnie home last year was one of the best decisions Ive ever made.

Plz note: Darwins Pit Bull comes equipped with lazrs, though they need to be recharged often.

Its their paradigm shift and they'll cry if they want to

2007-12-30T20:22:00.000-06:00

Considering the ID Creationism movement is made up entirely of white, aging, fundamentalist Christian men, the sheer number of temper-tantrums we have witnessed in 2007 is jaw-dropping. While us hoity-toity Ivory Tower scientists were busy doing research, it appears Creationists were only willing to expend energy wallowing on the ground, pounding their fists, and screaming until they turned blue.

For instance, I finally got back from vacation, and since in science no vacation goes unpunished, Ive spent the past couple of days in the lab catching up. So once again, I missed a fun Dembski temper tantrum, and you all missed out on some details that would have made the temper tantrum all the more enjoyable:

A few posters were wondering what Peter Irons had to do with any of this-- Why the hell is Irons emailing Big Billy about 'Design of Life' and 'Inner Life of a Cell'?

Thats my doing. I had seen Peters work on Pharyngula before, and thought he would be an excellent contact for Harvard/XVIVO. I mean, you know Harvard Law doesnt think it needs help with anything, but you also know that Average Joes have no idea what Professional Creationists are like, and what they are capable of. Something that may appear to be innocent, turns out to be malicious. And, there is a lot about Dembski they wouldnt know unless they were one of us.

Peter (and Afarensis!) is the one that found Dembskis trail of droppings in the 'Design of Life'. So, after I made my post on the topic December 24th, Peter sent Dembski an email pointing to my blog. Considering the fact that Dembski doesnt read his own blog, I dont expect him to read mine to see my posts about him. Thus, Peters email was a courtesy to Dembski. Now that Dembski is aware of our findings, he can refute them right?

Wrong.

Enter his "LEEEEEEEAAAAAAVE MEEE ALOOOOOOOONE!!!!!!!! SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!" email to Peter.

Several weeks earlier, Dembski was also involved in an email conversation with John Kwok. Dembski didnt appear to be annoyed or bothered in his emails at all (though AtBCers take note-- even in private emails, Dembski writes "BUY MY BOOK"). After the Amazon escapade, John started teasing Dembski about buying him a camera lens as an apology/Christmas present.

Instead of ignoring those emails, or marking them as junk, Dembski who had no problem conversing with John a month ago suddenly needed to scream "LEEEEEEEAAAAAAVE MEEE ALOOOOOOOONE!!!!!!!! SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!"

John got the same email as Peter. But dont forget, Billy D was the one who posted the home phone numbers and addresses of some people at Baylor and encouraged everyone at UD to send them a message.

"LEEEEEEEAAAAAAVE MEEE ALOOOOOOOONE!!!!!!!! SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!"

But Dembski isnt the only baby throwing fits. John West brought out the "War on Christmas" dead horse to address the 'Inner Life' scandal.

Never mind the whole thing happened in September, "EVILUTIONISTS HATE BABY JESUS SQUEEEEEEE!!!" He also found it necessary to replace "Abigail" with "DARWINISTS" to rile up the other Creationist babies, and of course DARWINISTS=NAZIS... "DARWINISTS!!! DARWINISTS!!!! NAZIS!!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!" as he franticly looks for 'Greg'.

Guillermo Gonzalez and Nathaniel Abraham were caterwauling because their Creationism rendered them impotent: "GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!! MINE MINE MINE!!! MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!!!!"

And then theres Mikey Behe. I thought I was special for getting a "YOURE MEEEEEEEEEAN!! YOURE SO MEAAAAAAAAN! MOMMIE!!! SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!" when in fact, months earlier he had done the exact same thing to David Levine. Ive still got Levine one-upped, though, as Behe didnt tell him to go kill himself (you want your children to have Behe for a teacher, dont ya? Telling students to go kill themselves?).

Banner year for ID.

Its their paradigm shift and theyll cry if they want to.
CRYYYYYYYYYY if they want to.
CRYYYYYYYYYYYYYY if they want to.
You would cry too if you sucked at life too!

Discovery Institute, Dembski, Copyright, and 'Design of Life'

2007-12-24T16:26:00.000-06:00

*squints eyes shut*

*rubs temples*

*keyboard to forehead*

So… You know all that stuff Dembski said in his notpology a while back? You know, where Dembski said he was really, really sorry for using a manipulated version of XVIVO/Harvards animation titled 'The Inner Life of a Cell’, but he didn’t do anything wrong?

Back in September of 2006 I announced at my blog UncommonDescent that a "breathtaking video" titled "The Inner Life of Cell" had just come out... ...Moreover, at the time, the video did not have a voiceover explaining the biology of what was being shown... most simply have some background music that do not explain the relevant biology... I downloaded from the Internet a version of the video with a voiceover describing the relevant biology...the version I used omitted the opening credits (a fact about which I became aware only in the last few days)...

Remember how John West at the Discovery Institute said they didn’t know nuthin about anything, they were being persecuted by Darwinists?

Some have even claimed (as usual, without an iota of evidence) that Discovery Institute supports the disregard of copyright laws or even had something to do with Dr. Dembski's usage of the animation in question. (Wrong on both counts.)

*squints eyes closed again*

Yeah… They were lying.

Peter Irons and Afarensis teamed together and discovered things in ‘Design of Life’ only a Master would look for or notice:

Footnote from Chapter 6:

Now, there is nothing wrong with them referencing XVIVO’s animation. Nothing weird about that. Whats interesting is the ‘last accessed’ date:

January 25, 2007.

The footnote is to the original Harvard website, not YouTube. The longer animation, with the original narration, with the original title/opening credits/closing credits/copyright.

January 25, 2007.

But Dembski didn’t know nuthin November 26, 2007. He sure didn’t know there was an original narration or no opinin credits! He just thought it was nifty and found it on the intrawebz!

January 25, 2007

Dembski knew at the time of his presentation at OU (September 17, 2007) that he was NOT allowed to use Harvards animation, but he did it anyway and lied about it when he got caught.

But theres more. You remember this coincidence? This figure?

The caption refers you to Footnote #4:

"As seen" at a web-article about 'Inner Life of a Cell.' Figure 8.1 was SUPPOSED to be a still from ‘Inner Life’. Not a funny coincidence, it was supposed to be ‘Inner Life’. But while they changed the actual figure, the stupid bastards didn’t change the footnote.

*keyboard to forehead again*

To quote Peter:

Removing the XVIVO still from the book (but forgetting to remove the incriminating footnote) indicates that Dembski knew a) that he didn't have permission to use any portion of the video, and b) that Harvard and/or XVIVO would have grounds for copyright infringement if a still from the video appeared in the book.
Nonetheless, knowing this (as he must have before Sept. 2007), Dembski went ahead and showed the over-dubbed XVIVO video at his OU talk on Sept. 17, probably assuming that nobody in the audience would know that it was a doctored version of the video. Over-dubbed or not, the video was still protected by copyright, and Dembski did not have permission to use it, which he obviously knew by then. Claiming (as he did on UD on Nov. 26 and 27, after you exposed him on ERV on Sept. 20) that he simply "found" the doctored version on the Internet, does not excuse his knowing violation of copyright.
All the other evidence you showed on ERV (stripping the opening credits, projecting a new title of "The Cell as an Automated City," etc.) indicate that Dembski knew he was using the XVIVO video without permission.
Is the latest footnote snafu a big deal? Not as big as the OU use of the doctored video. But it shows, IMO, that Dembski knew well before his OU talk, while DOL was still in production, that using a still from the XVIVO video would violate copyright. However, he failed to erase his fingerprints (the tell-tale footnote on p. 299) from the scene of the attempted crime.
This footnote snafu is just further evidence of Dembski's cover-up of his serious ethical problems in appropriating other people's work for his own purposes (and profit). Rubbing his nose in it seems perfectly justified.

Dembski is a lying sac of Creationist Crap. Pretend to act shocked.

But lets not forget the organization supporting Dembski and ‘Design of Life’. John West at the Discovery Institute wants us to believe that the DI ‘Don’t know nuthin’ about Dembski’s obsession with ‘Inner Life of a Cell.’ Even though everyone at the DI has written GLOWING reviews of ‘Design’, and they all no doubt received review copies, as well as pre-print copies, and drafts, and two DI senior fellows wrote ‘Design’—Dembski and Wells (wheres Behe?), they expect all of us to believe that the DI knew nuthin of Dembski/Wells having some ‘copyright issues’ with Harvard trying to get a pic for ‘Inner Life’.

Im sure Dembski/Wells kept it to themselves that the Evil Darwinists in their Ivory Towers at Harvard wouldn’t let them use a dippy little picture.

Im sure none of them flipped by the Harvard picture in a pre-print version and said 'WOW! We got Harvard to give us the copyright to use this pic??' Lawyers wouldnt think of such things.

John West—You all are the IDiots that tried to steal Harvards work and were too incompetent to cover your own tracks. *We* aren’t the stupid ones. *We* don’t believe you knew nuthin.

* Before anyone posts any crap about ‘IZ CRIZMAS Y R U POSTIN?’, my family isn’t Christian, but Dembski wanted to make sure this years Christmas present got to everyone on time.

In the search for truth, DE

2007-12-22T21:17:00.000-06:00

While I was driving home on Kitzmas, you all were having fun without me-- Crashing Dembskis party at Amazon.com.

Well fine. I see how it is. Im not even going to invite you all to read the fun Im having with Dear Don over at Amazon:

Regarding my comments on physics. I am not a physicists but I am interested in its implications. I am sure that my take on it is controversial but I think some heavyweights in the field would agree. I suggest that information is the unifying element of physics and biology--the quantum and codon are fundamental units of organization of information that require a sufficient cause.

Uh huh. Thats MY tard-mine! YOU ALL ARENT INVITED!

...

Aww, dont give me those puppy dog eyes! Awwwwww! *sigh* FINE! But I still get dibs on his comments about the evolution of the immune system.

Dons problem is a problem all Creationists have. They dont know how to use PubMed. Not that that fact will stop them from talking about 'scientific research'. Dons 'scientific research' was so messed up in his presentation, I couldnt figure out what the hell he was talking about at the time, but now I get it. Dons reference:

Homology domains identified within shark RAG I prompted sequence comparison analyses that suggested similarity of the RAG I and II genes, respectively, to the integrase family genes and integration host factor genes of the bacterial site-specific recombination system. Thus, the apparent explosive evolution (or "big bang") of the ancestral immune system may have been initiated by a transfer of microbial site-specific recombinases.

Summary-- RAG I and RAG II, really important genes in our immune system only have sequence homology to genes in bacteria! How the heck did bacteria genes get into sharks a long time ago?? What? Oh now how the hell are Evilutionists going to explain THAT dosey? Arent Evilutionists stupid! Common design! Common design! Common design! WHOOOOOO!

No.

That publication was from 1996. In 1996, this hypothesis was the best the researchers could do with the information they had. Luckily, science moves forward. We get better at the game as we go along:

RAG1 Core and V(D)J Recombination Signal Sequences Were Derived from Transib Transposons

PLOS Translation

I thought Don was confusing bacteria and retroviruses because he was a Creationist that couldnt differentiate between those two 'bug kinds'. Turns out he really meant bacteria, he just didnt know that we're taught, you know, 'modern' science in class. Not, like, decade old putative hypotheses in peoples discussion sections. Cause, scientists did not stop at 'horizontal gene transfer from a bacteria into a gamete... eeehh....' or 'gawd did it.' They kept looking for better answers, and found it.

My response to Don at Amazon:

Viruses/transposable elements/etc and Creationism theoretically have a lot in common. They both, theoretically, have been misunderstood and mischaracterized by the Scientific Establishment. 10 years ago, viruses were seen as a freak-show of 'life', not at all connected to The Tree of Life, and it was heresy to suggest they were anything but degenerated bits of genome and chemicals. 10 years ago, Behe, Dembski, Wells, were 'maverick scientists' 'taking on the establishment' and 'making a case for a paradigm shift in biology'.

In the past ten years, viral paradigm shifters have been in their labs, churning out paper after paper after paper demonstrating the importance of viruses in the evolution of life on earth, to the degree that it is now an 'industry standard' in the viral world (and other fields), and is creeping into textbooks and graduate/undergraduate courses (ie the new edition of 'Origin and Evolution of Viruses' coming out soon). In another 10 years, it might be all the way down to high school texts.

In the past ten years, intelligent design creationist paradigm shifters have been busy writing news releases, filing lawsuits, screaming 'DISCRIMINATION!!!', designing web pages, writing on their blogs, attacking/threatening students, writing textbooks to push on children, giving presentations to local churches for thousands of $$$, making flash animations of federal judges farting, getting fired from their teaching positions, inciting costly lawsuits in numerous school districts, and staying merrily oblivious to modern research (and making sure their $$$ flock are blissfully unaware of this research as well).

Oh, I believe the 2005 paper was part of the stack presented to Behe at Dover:

In particular, Behe criticizes a 1994 Proceedings of the National Academy of Science paper advancing the hypothesis that the RAG system evolved by lateral transfer of a prokaryotic transposon¹³, an idea initially suggested in a 1979 paper¹⁴ and expanded in 1992 (ref. 15). Behe ridicules the idea as a "jump in the box of Calvin and Hobbes,"² with reference to the comic strip in which a child and his stuffed tiger imaginary friend use a large cardboard box for fantasy trips and amazing physical transformations.

The timing for the criticism could not have been worse, as soon after publication of Darwin's Black Box, solid evidence for the transposon hypothesis began accumulating with the demonstration of similarities between the variable-diversity-joining recombination and transposition mechanisms¹⁶ and also between shark RAG1 and certain bacterial integrases¹⁷. Since then, a steady stream of findings has continued to add more substance to the model, as RAG proteins have been shown to be capable of catalyzing transposition reactions, first in vitro^18,¹⁹ and then in vivo^20,^21,²², and to have even closer structural and mechanistic similarities with specific transposases²³. Finally, in 2005, the original key prediction of the transposon hypothesis was fulfilled with the identification of a large invertebrate transposon family bearing both recombination signal sequence–like integration sequences and a RAG1 homolog²⁴. When faced with that evidence during an exchange on the internet, Behe simply 'shrugged' and said that evidence was not sufficient, asking instead for an infinitely detailed, step-by-step mutation account (including population sizes, relevant selective pressures and so on) for the events leading to the appearance of the adaptive immune system (http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2005/06/behes_meaningle.html).

*shrug*

WATERLOOOOOOOO!

2007-12-21T13:29:00.001-06:00

I was on the road* for the Kitzmas Holiday yesterday, but I still managed to celebrate-- While traveling along The Blessed Highway, I received a sign from God:

WATERLOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

* Im now at Home home, with all of its dial-up-internet glory. How the hell did we survive the 1990's?

Question about Anti-Science and ERVs

2007-12-19T18:45:00.000-06:00

I recently stumbled across another anti-science blog. Normally Id just ignore it (unless its a tard-mine, like UD), but this one figured out how to keep my attention: Theyre trying to combine ERVs, epigenetics, and anti-evolution.

Theyre The Anti-ERV.

And though Im not linking to them until I can get a real post up, Ive got to wonder out loud, out of exasperation: Why do anti-science people (Deniers, Creationists) really REALLY want endogenous retroviruses to be the source of exogenous retroviruses?

I dont get it.

I kinda get it with the Deniers-- they want people to think HIV is not an STD/blood-born pathogen. But whats up with the Creationists? Are they just trying to figure out a way to deny common descent? "OMG ERVS R FRONT LOADED PUNISHMENT FOR TEH FALL!! THEY R LIKE MINES! SIN=RETROVIRUS!"?

*sigh*

Musical Evilutionists

2007-12-19T09:25:00.000-06:00

Two hysterical musical parodies of ID Creationists--

One old, dedicated to Behe from Torbjörn Larsson:

BEHE:
I cut down facts. I Gish and gallop.
I like to press wild fallacies.
I put on scientist's clothing
And hang around in labs.

MOUNTIES:
He cuts down facts. He Gish and gallop.
He likes to press wild fallacies.
He puts on scientist's clothing
And hangs around in labs?!

He's a creationist, and he's okay.
He lies all night and he lies all day.

One new, dedicated to Dembski from Amadan:

I claim that Dover came about because the judge was activist
I dazzle congregations with my jargon that's distractivist
I never answer awkward questions even if you do insist
I really am the model of a c-design-proponentsist

He never answers awkward questions even if you do insist
He really is the model of a c-design-proponentsist

Spew-worthy intro:
[Note: Malicious allegations have been made that this work somehow plagiarises something by W.S. Gilbert. Nothing could be further from the truth and I emphatically state that I have nothing to apologise for. And I'm really sorry. Comments on this subject are now closed.]
Holy mother of god.

ROFL!

Lab Lesson of the Day: Read the god damned recipe

2007-12-17T20:16:00.000-06:00

Guys, Im never going to finish grad school.

Stupid Mistake #1-- Not checking the pH of my solutions.
Stupid Mistake #2-- Not checking for azide in commercial reagents.
Stupid Mistake #3-- Forgetting to put an ingredient in a master mix.

For the past week Ive been trying to optimize this RT assay. I take a few microliters of a viral stock, gently blow up all of the viruses, and measure the reverse transcriptase activity. Its an old, old protocol, should be a matter of copying the recipe someone put in a publication, ploping in my virus, and YAY! RESULTS! Except dot-blots are supposed to look like this:
My dot-blots looked like this:
Yeah... so, Bossman was like "You need to check your reaction buffer. Something is wrong in your master mix." Me "NO WAY! Its right! Its got to be something else!" Bossman "Check your buffers."

*5 minutes later*

Me "Yeah... I didnt add EGTA..."

Reverse transcriptase needs Mg2+ to work. BUT you need the charge of the reaction solution to not be too positive, as that will prevent the reaction product, DNA-RNA hybrids, from binding to a special membrane. EGTA 'neutralizes' Ca2+ ions in the reaction, but leaves the MG2+ ions alone! Super! But not adding it means the reaction buffer blocked the DNA-RNA from binding, so I got these weird twisty halo thingies...

It was a really stupid thing to overlook.

*face palm*