awesome, awesome little app

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This.

Try this for a sweet little jingle:

34896,8194,33284,9384,34816,9256,34896,8232,34836,8224,35368,9226,34816,8480,35408,11392

Just paste it into the field.

I found it from someone's blog. Can't remember who now, I've been playing with it for so long.


Edit: 66048,64,66080,528,66048,0,66048,512,66052,0,66048,520,66064,0,32832,0

According to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index Professor Chomsky is the eighth most cited scholar of all time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And there's a reason why.

stupid observation of the month

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Holy, fuck! This is sooooooooooooooo STUPID! New Scientist should be ashamed:

"The virus's severity will depend on how many people who catch it die."

No. Shit Sherlock.

exploiting the moment

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The International. Not a bad film, although they could have done a lot more with it. Clive Owen does his ting (Children of Men, Inside Man) predictably well. The ending needed a lot more to bring closure to this story, though.

carbon trading won't stop climate change

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This New Scientist article is just bloody brilliant!

"All these methods of pricing carbon permit the creation of a carbon market that will allow us to pollute beyond a catastrophic tipping point. In other words, they require us to put a price on the final "killing" tonne of CO₂ which, once emitted, tips the balance and triggers runaway global warming. How can we set such a price? It's like saying, how much is civilisation worth? Or, if you needed a camel to cross a desert alive, what is a fair value for the straw that breaks its back?"

"Even if you could price the killing tonne, it is a transaction that should never be allowed. Economics becomes redundant if it can rationalise an exchange that sells the future of humankind."

"Governments are there to compensate for market failure but seem to have a blind spot about carbon markets. They could counteract the impact of low carbon prices by spending on renewable energy as part of their economic stimulus packages, yet they have not done so. The UK, for example, has spent nearly 20 per cent of its GDP to prop up the financial sector, but just 0.0083 per cent in new money on green economic stimulus."

If anyone here is in advertising or marketing . . . kill yourself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do it!



Cheers to Anonymous in the comments.

Mark Thomas endorses the Green Party

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mark rules.

the solution to the credit crunch

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is simply incredible! William F Engdahl proposes that the US government takes into receivership the five largest financial institutions in America and fires their entire management with no recourse. The reason? - They own 95% of the dodgy financial vehicles that are clogging up the credit system and were primarily responsible for their creation in the first place. Its a simply astonishing prospect. Expect him to die in a tragic accident very soon.

how to extract RNA from biological samples

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a protocol I'm currently using which was developed by two PhD student friends and a postdoc. Its really detailed so I thought I'd share it with the world because a lot of this stuff isn't intuitive and is only understood after much trial & error.

By the way, this protocol doesn't work for plant material. Planty RNA is protected by thick cell walls and is not easily isolated from the rest of the planty rubbish you find in there.

RNA Extraction with TRI reagent

1. Homogenize tissue in 0.5ml of TRI (or put on ice to defrost if this has been done)
- Stand for 5 min
- Centrifuge for 5 min @ >10,000 @ 4degC
- Remove supernatant if messy sample and place in a new tube. Dispose of pellet
- Don’t use polytron homogenizer if extracting DNA – shear forces can break strands

2. Add 0.1ml Chloroform
- Shake for 15 sec (vigorously).
- Stand for 15 min (room temperature)

3. Centrifuge 15 min @ 12,000 @ 4degC
- Extract RNA phase (top/clear) into fresh tube straight away!
- Avoid white cloud above white layer as this is genomic DNA.
- If has been standing to long, or there are still bits in supernatant, then
- spin down again.

4. Add 0.25 ml Isopropanol + 1 ul LPA (linear polyacrylamide – coprecipitant for very small amounts)
- Stand for 10 min @ room temp OR over night @ -20degC
- Centrifuge 30 min @ 13,000 @ 4degC
- Mark where pellet is with marker
- Pour Isopropanol gently out into a beaker, keep an eye on pellet. Don’t lose it!

5. Spin 30 min @ >13000 @ 4degC
- Decant supernatant

6. Wash “Back down” with 1 ml 70% Ethanol
- Vortex
- Centrifuge 10 min @ 13,000 @ 4degC
- Decant Ethanol – pour off gently onto blue roll, watch pellet.
- Make sure pellet re-attaches

7. Repeat Ethanol wash
- Allow pellet to dry - upside-down on blueroll (not in sun)
- Try to take as much of EtOH as possible so doesn’t take too long to dry
- Dry completely – approx. 1 hour. But not too long.

8. Resuspend RNA with H2O (in minimum amount of water)
- 8-40 ul dependant on pellet size
- If pellet is hard to dissolve, heat solution for 10 min at 55-60 degC, then aliquot
- immediately and freeze at -80.

9. Transfer to clean 0.5ml tube and freeze at -80
- Don’t transfer if low amounts.
- Aliquot solution immediately and freeze at -80 – RNA is very unstable at room temperature.

After this step you have to remove DNAases and then create cDNA from the RNA.

comedic genius

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bit in Pixar's new film, Monsters vs Aliens, where the President is trying to communicate with the robot probe through a Yamaha DX7 , starting with the tones from Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind and then breaking into a surprise little number (I won't spoil it for you). Its just classic.

Green Stimulus or Simulus?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Report out a few days ago from Greenpeace and the New Economics Foundation. Pertinent statistics include:

• New and additional green spending included in the green stimulus package of the government’s Pre-Budget Report (PBR) is astonishingly small compared to other recent spending commitments, at just 0.6% of the UK’s £20bn recovery plan. This key element makes up just 0.0083% of UK GDP, but in the wake of the banking crisis nearly 20% of UK GDP has been provided to support the financial sector.

• New and additional green measures could save just 0.128 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (MtCO2) per year from the atmosphere and will only delay the accumulation of UK carbon emissions by six and a half hours by the end of 2011.

• Just over £100m is being allocated to spending that is genuinely new and additional; this is a fraction – less than 13% – of the annual bonus package given to staff at the failed Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) which is estimated at approximately £775m. £100m represents just 0.0083% of UK GDP. Estimates for necessary new annual spending on environmental economic stimulus and transformation range from £11bn to £50bn.

• Figures from HSBC and the IMF indicate that among the major economies, the greater the proportion of GDP spent on bailing out banks coincides with a lower proportion spent on green stimuli.
  

• Several of the government’s measures are, in fact, in conflict with the environmental stimulus. By comparison with the new and additional spending of the PBR’s green stimulus, £2.3bn – around 22 times – has been put aside to assist the car industry. If spent on energy efficiency measures this would save about 3 MtCO2 annually.

• £27m has been put aside specifically for development of a new Land Rover vehicle, the Land Rover Group are one of the most climate-unfriendly manufacturers in Europe. The potential CO2 savings of the proposed vehicle have not been specified. This is not encouraging, particularly given that this financial support is likely to delay a shift to greater use of public transport and that historically much of the gain in efficiency in vehicles has been negatively counter-balanced through a gain in weight of the vehicle concerned.

• There has been a further commitment to spend on building 520 lane miles of road expansion. Research indicates that the provision of new lanes leads to relative increases of between 30 and 50% in the number of vehicle miles travelled on that road – in other words, more car use. This happens due to the phenomenon known as induced traffic: building new roads merely encourages more traffic.

There's another report from Greenpeace detailing how investment in an energy-efficiency programme to insulate public buildings and private homes could generate 55,000 jobs, reduce expenditure on energy consumption and bills and reduce carbon emissions.


What's the betting the government fails utterly to address any of these points?

crazy fish that can see through its own head!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The green spherical things are its eyes! Mental!

the war for the holy land

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Los Angeles Times (via Media Lens):

“The winter assault on the Gaza Strip was officially portrayed in Israel as an attempt to quell rocket fire by militants of Hamas. But some soldiers say they also were lectured about a more ambitious aim: to banish non-Jews from the biblical land of Israel.

"‘This rabbi comes to us and says the fight is between the children of light and the children of darkness,’ a reserve sergeant said, recalling a training camp encounter. ‘His message was clear: “This is a war against an entire people, not against specific terrorists.” The whole thing was turned into something very religious and messianic.’"

“In testimony reported by Israeli news media and in interviews with The [Los Angeles] Times, Gaza veterans said rabbis advised army units to show the enemy no mercy and called for resettlement of the Palestinian enclave by Jews.

"‘The rabbis were all over, in every unit,’ said Yehuda Shaul, a retired army officer whose human rights group, Breaking the Silence, has taken testimony from dozens of Gaza veterans. ‘It was quite well organized.’"

Word.