One More Before I Call It..

"Poli-Sci"? Really, it only gets a mention due to funding by people that are largely unaware of science. *Heavy sigh* Oh, I am listening to Pink Floyd's terrific album "Meddle" as I type this, but am in no other way under the influence of psychedelic drugs. Other drugs may apply. By the way "Fearless" is my favorite Floyd song that rarely gets air play.
Moving right along....I had better finish this before I am swept away. My GF claims that my twice per year 'indulgences' are very cleansing. Perhaps.

The EU needs good science policy. But does that mean it needs a Chief Scientific Adviser? Bollocks!

What every group needs is an incorruptible being that has nothing more to prove. Since politicians everywhere seem to need harsh language--or a 10 meter cattle prod--in order to get off their duffs and actually do something, "listen the fuck up" does not appear to be too strong a way of phrasing. Insrall a Nobel Laureate with the requisite 170+ I.Q. and be done with it!

Okay, now I am really off.

I am totally off-base here, but....

...much like the equities markets, the low hanging fruit in the Real Estate(RE) market has been picked in most markets. People with a vested interest in the Northeast US continue to bang the drum that the market has not topped. This is not true in the Boston, MA market where the deals were to had in 2008-2009. Yes, yes, I am a real estate investor--as opposed to a speculator--and perfectly decent homes that sold for(I am using a unique situation here as I may buy the property) slightly over 200K in 2010 are not getting nibbles at 165K. There is NO easy 35K to be made here. The only reason I am posting this in my sci-rech blog is that Marketwatch is not playing well with any of my three installed browsers. Marketwatch has most of the story correct.

I just wanted to add my $0.01 to the comments section, but no dice.

Okay, I am done venting.

It continues to be an off day. Who would have thought that a card carrying materialist would be so bowled over by the loss of a feline friend? Not I. And yet, here we are. I hope to be back in the science game tomorrow. As for now, I fear that I can only inflict damage so I am off.

Peace be with you and yours,

Todd

I lost a dear friend last night, and other observations

My Cat Jed died last night. No, that's not an excessive use of caps. It is how I have referred to him over the past 16 years. My Cat Jed was stolid until the very end. I will miss him dearly.

In My Cat Jed's honor I planted six balloonflower(Platycodon grandiflorus) today after burying him in the family's pet cemetery. *Heavy Sigh*

In crass consumerism the Internet is awash with rumors concerning the iPhone6. It is a phone, people. The phrase "imagined appetite" immediately leaps to mind. Full disclosure: I have owned one Apple product. It was an iPod that was given to me by client. Being in technology, shiny and new is only impressive when it does something either 10x less expensive and/or 10x better than that which it is replacing. Otherwise, it is simple evolution and that is hardly reason for excitement in any but the biological sense.

I know that I accuse most everyone(hey, that's only 50.1%!) of the populace as being functionally illiterate when it comes to science and technology when science and technology have never been more important in our lives, but at least Canadians are interested in science. Calling the Canadian populace 'scientifically literate' is stretching that thread too thin.

Ironically, in a sidebar on the webpage containing the glowing report on Canadians and their relative scientific literacy, there is this: Canada’s math, science lag bad for economy, report says.

So, Canadians seem greatly interested in science, but they largely cannot do the maths.(nod to my British audience)

At any rate, Canada is helluva lot better off than we here in the US.

Science denial is worlds simpler than developing the tools to proffer quantifiable commentary on scientific issues.

Unfortunately, those least able to deny the findings of science are the quickest to deny that which they have no toolkit to deny via quantification. This anti-intellectualism without validation is one of the scariest things confronting all of us. Okay, enough about that..now onto the follies of science.

There are scientists that are so wedded to either a pet theory and/or what amounts to scientific dogmatism that they are as bad for progress as the science deniers. Thankfully, the scientific method ultimately prevails and new paradigms and deeper understandings are arrived upon. In science, showing that your peers are wrong is lauded. It is unfortunate that this adulation may come too late for an individual scientist.

I could keep flooding the Internet with nonsense about this topic, but I will simply give an illustration.

How Oswald Avery: Discoverer of DNA as genetic information carrier was never awarded a Nobel. Almost everyone thought genetic information had to be carried by some protein structure. Avery discovered otherwise. But his discovery was not immediately heralded. Oswald T. Avery, died in 1955. No posthumous Nobels are awarded. That is a shitty thing.

Fish teaches itself to "walk"...with disclaimers :)

This is really cool. I saw this yesterday, but didn't hit upon the correct article. Bichir fish have always been fascinating. I would put mudskippers in the same tent(it is a big tent!). I thought that this was going to be a simple Tiktaalik redux. Was I ever wrong.

Fish raised out of water develop steady walking gait, Canadian researcher finds . The most fascinating thing to me is that the fry forced into a terrestrial existence lost the ability to swim. Astonishingly, the terrestrial birchirs modify body posture AND some features of their anatomy in order to better locomote. In reading one finds that the fish used in the experiment were not raised generation after generation so that selection does not come into play. The fish have the capacity sans any breeding program. Bichirs of normal environmental rearing have the ability to "walk," but not nearly as well as the terrestrially raised brood in the experiment.

LaMarckian nonsense is not going on here. The abilities and structure changes are obviously available in the current fish's genome.

If this sort of thing interests you in even a wee amount, open the link, read more, and watch video of "walking" fish.

Oh, and I am not "dissin'" Neil Shubin et al's discovery of Tiktaalik. That discovery was monumental. The transition from fishes to tetrapods is one of the greatest moments* in the history of evolution. Tiktaalik also definitively demonstrated the predictive power of evolutionary theory.

Hey, a happy entry!

*Yes. I know it was more than a moment when measured against the timescale of a human life. In geological terms, it happened pretty fast.

You know you have issues when.....

....brain-eating amoebae have taken up residence in the municipal water supply.

Things really are linked. Just the other day I was going to post this similar story as a tie-in to global climate change.

Louisiana just can't catch a break.

Is it only a coincidence that incidence of N. fowleri seems to be closely matched to the Mississippi River system? Surely I cannot be the only person to have made this observation. No. I am not speculating that "Old Man River" is a natural reservoir for brain-eating amobae. I shall remain mute on the subject until further evidence sways me one way or the other. Minnesota is the anomalous state where one wouldn't expect cases of a warm water amoeba...and yet.

I truly hope that the situation in LA is taken care of post-haste.

And now for something completely different.. Mosquito vector illnesses!

No Lyme and no ebola..this time.

I live in central New Hampshire, USA and vector-borne pathogens we got.

Eastern Equine Encephalitis(EEE) has been found in New Hampshire mosquitoes. Again. Oh, we still have our old friend West Nile Virus(WNV) about, and whilst it can be a really nasty infection, EEE is far worse.

It looks like both of these vector-borne pathogens are here to stay.

Just yesterday aerosol insecticides were again sprayed as people will no doubt be out and about this weekend--it is a US national holiday weekend.

To the best of my knowledge no 2014 confirmed cases of either WNV or EEE infecting humans. In fact, I am unaware as to any WNV having been found in 2014 in the state via the usual sampling methods.

Since I live a hundred meters from a large, slow moving river I do not even bother with DEET repellant. I treat my boots and clothing with a very weak permethrin solution. Permethrin is good protection against mosquitoes, and is really effective against those small arachnids which shall not be named in this entry.

Enjoy the outdoors!

More Ebola!

As I suspected(see most of my any entries concerning the West African ebola outbreak), things are likely far, far worse than the official reports that have simply implanted numbers in lieu of confirmation of additional cases. Now the WHO is reporting that the West African ebola outbreak could exceed 20,000 cases before it is extinguished. The dope:

The World Health Organisation said Thursday it aimed to reverse the spread of Ebola within three months, but warned that the caseload in West Africa's epidemic could eventually top 20,000.

In a new anti-Ebola plan, the UN health agency said it aimed to reverse the trend within three months, with the final aim of stopping "all residual transmission within 6-9 months".

It said the current case-count -- 3,062, with 1,552 deaths -- was likely several times lower than the actual number, and that the number of infections "could exceed 20,000 over the course of this emergency".

"This Roadmap assumes that in many areas of intense transmission the actual number of cases may be 2-4 fold higher than that currently reported," it said.

"It acknowledges that the aggregate case load of (Ebola) could exceed 20,000 over the course of this emergency," it added.

The plan called for a massive ramping up of efforts to contain and defeat the epidemic.

It put a price tag of $490 million on a six-month campaign, saying the money would need to come from WHO coffers as well as other aid agencies and governments.

Now that is sobering. The "final aim of stopping '"all residual transmission within 6-9 months"' is really eye opening as that time frame is to begin once the new influx of monies and personnel are in place and working.

I think that it can safely be said at this juncture that no one really knows just what the fuck is going on with this new strain of ebola and just how large of an issue this epidemic is becoming.

Since lots of my speculations do come to pass(anyone buy an Amazon Fire phone?) I will allow myself a bit of speculation here. This strain of ebola--with its nearly 400 mutations--has become more easily transmissible in human-to-human contact. I make no claim as to which route this transmission takes, but if one looks at the clues, one can see that it really does strongly appear different this time.

New strain. Staggering amounts of health workers infected, and once the mutations were published in Science, countries started pulling medical personnel out the embattled area. Now none of this is evidence of a new mode off transmission, but I must speculate every week or so about something.

So far I think that my observations concerning the West African Ebola Outbreak of 2014 have been quite accurate.

Oh, a couple of things.

Yesterday, I used the acronym "CFR" without an explanation. In that instance CFR stood in for "Case Fatality Rate."

I should add that my speculations are only that. I certainly hope that this new strain of ebola has not made the species jump into easy human-to-human transmission. That would be really bad. I only offer an easier mode as pure speculation backed up by no facts. I really, really hope that my speculation proves false.

More Ebola.

Yes. It is a new strain. Lots of mutations vs other strains.

he Ebola strains responsible for the current outbreak are likely to have a common ancestor, dating back to the very first recorded outbreak in 1976.

The researchers revealed the lineage responsible for the current outbreak diverged from the Middle African version of the virus within the last decade and spread from Guinea to Sierra Leone by 12 people who had attended the same funeral.

The team's catalog of 395 mutations (over 340 that distinguish the current outbreak from previous ones and over 50 within the West African outbreak) may serve as a starting point for other research groups.

"We've uncovered more than 300 genetic clues about what sets this outbreak apart from previous outbreaks," said researcher Stephen Gire.

"Although we don't know whether these differences are related to the severity of the current outbreak, by sharing these data with the research community, we hope to speed up our understanding of this epidemic and support global efforts to contain it."

This was reported in the journal Science, so it had to be vetted by true experts in the field. 395 mutations. Perhaps the transmissibility of this strain of ebola differs from those for which more is known.

No more ebola today. I promise.

No. I am not anti-gun. I am anti-stupid.

9 year old girl kills 'instructor' with Uzi on full auto. The now deceased 'instructor,' a Mr. Charles Vacca is hereby nominated for a Darwin.

Lest anyone think I am an anti-gun crusader, the evidence is not there. I held my Federal Firearms License(FFL) for 9 years. I had my own little shop as well. I was hardly Wal-Mart. I would not sell any firearm to perhaps 30% of my potential customers. Sure, it took time to fully explain The Second Amendment to the US Constitution to people that I did not believe neither trained well enough, nor sufficiently in control of their faculties to responsibly handle and care for a firearm, but I slept well every night.

I took--and take--the "well regulated" phrase of the Second Amendment in its proper context. Insufficient training and/or discipline were the two properties that I used to judge a person worthy or not to purchase any firearm.

I was fortunate enough to never have a real incident with a potential customer that even escalated to the raised voices degree. I handed out a lot of supporting documents.

I shuttered the store in 1998.

More Ebola.... From Guinea to the DRC

Things are seemingly very fluid on the ground in efforts to contain the West African ebola outbreak as people quarantined in Liberia trying to escape are reportedly being fired on using live rounds by that country's military. Simultaneously, foreign aid workers are being pulled, with Canada pulling a team out being but the latest extraction.

One of two ebola testing facilities in Sierra Leone has been shut down due to a Senegalese epidemiologist becoming infected at the lab.

Yes, I am now getting into the sociology of the epidemic. From all news reports it is maddeningly difficult to get a sense as to what the state of things really are in West Africa. The WHO has stated that health workers are becoming ill and subsequently dying at an "unprecedented rate."

One reads things like 'we're hopeful,' and 'it appears that the worst may be behind the outbreak,' and yet the situation on the ground is anything remotely like stable as of the time of this entry. One has to think that the WHO is putting the best face on public statements. Just what the reality is remains well guarded sets of data.

Meanwhile, in the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC), it is still being claimed that the Congolese outbreak is a different strain of ebola. This is entirely reasonable given that--according to the WHO-- the two strains of ebola in previous outbreaks of ebola in DRC have been the devastatingly lethal Zaire strain(up to 90% motality rate) and the Bundibugyo strain(50% motality rate). Given the distance between the ongoing West African outbreak and DRC unless someone(s) made it across hundreds of miles of west and central Africa, this really does look like a separate event. Believe me, it was not easy to come to that conclusion given all the issues that Africa has had over the past 50 years. I would not put money on it either way. I still don't yet know for certain that "Ebola Guinea" is a new strain. How could I know?

I just got a distillation of news stuffs about the new DRC outbreak. Features:

13 Probable Ebola Deaths & 565 Suspect In DR Congo

Recombinomics Commentary 18:15
August 26, 23:00

· Declaration of the epidemic by the Minister of Public Health August 24, 2014
· 13 people died of the disease (CFR 54%), including five health workers, about 24 cases suspects (16 women and 8 men)
· 11 people segregated
· 24 cases (16 women and 8 men) of Ebola virus disease outbreak in the area of health Boende, from July 28 to August 18, 2014 · 80 contacts identified for monitoring
· 4 positive samples from eight after a second analysis INRB
· 565 suspected cases investigated with gastroenteritis, diarrhea and vomiting.
· Index case identified Ikanamongo (100 km Boende): a woman who died on August 11 after consuming bushmeat hunted by her husband and that has contaminated your doctor and husband.
· yet unidentified strain between Zaire and Sudan. Awaiting the results from the laboratory in Franceville (Gabon).

Pieces d' origine: If my French is bad, it is because my French IS bad.

I think that the data is mostly good as I just got the following headline: Ebola epidemic declared in Congo


I do not believe that I have ever posted that I have been to West Africa. I went on a multiple country trip in 1995. I went to Gambia(official language is English), Guinea, Senegal, and Mali. It was a combination of business and pleasure. It is not unclear to me just how spending time in Africa has colored my impressions of the ebola outbreak. I do know that I have always been fascinated in the natural world. If I had a clue as to what I wanted to do before committing to my academic training, I would not have chosen engineering. My working career has been a lot of fun, and highly rewarding financially, but I do not find it especially self-actualizing. While solving a vexing problem is not without its charms, I have rarely gotten ecstatic in my work. I feel metamotivated much of the time, just not while pursuing my vocation.

I do love me some applied botany!

'Tis a good day when it begins with an hour plus of applied botany. Today is that kind of day. With the forecast to potentially hit 90 F today, an hour early and an hour late of applied botany will be good. The UVI is only reported as "5," but there is nary a cloud in sight, and things are bright and heating up quite rapidly.

Any science news?

Since we have a plant theme going....an analysis suggests that out blue rock can potentially handle a lot more floral bio-mass than previously thought. Of course the facts on the ground are sobering. Heck, even I have to fight with invasive species; two are only largely kept at bay. Evil Bittersweet Vine and the awfuller Japanese Knotweed. If you read the linked article, you will see why I did not even make an attempt at anything like a segue into my floral nemeses.

I know that I am stupid so I do not see why attempting to keep the earth's population at 7+ billions of humans is a good thing. Stuff is gonna breakdown real fast, real soon.

I will go with that theme. I read The Population Bomb, and while things have not worked out in the book's timeline, the underlying premises are--if anything--even more relevant today.

The book was not a simple Malthusian redux, but a warning. Sure, some of the criticism of the book's scenarios are spot-on, but that seems almost entirely relegated to the timeline, not the central issues. Yes, it was alarmist. But the book did much to raise awareness on a large--and popular--scale. Unfettered reproduction has not been the same since to those with both a working memory and no rose colored spectacles. I have lived with the knowledge for roughly 45 years.

The have-nots are becoming the have-some, and will surely claim that they have every right to live as many currently do in the Western World. So, what to do with a small planet that simply cannot provide bounty for all?

Negative population growth(NPG) seems the reasonable--and achievable answer. I, for one, am not holding my breath.

I think I will go water some plants...using self-captured rainwater, in a vessel made of woven local reeds, of course :)

On Edit: I read about the 63 trillion gallons of water lost to (mostly) irrigate the desert in the US southwest days ago, but didn't read this bit:

Rampant dependency on water has become a more focal point of environmental advocacy groups more so than ever in recent years as drought has threatened water supplies in even developed countries such as the U.S. Americans use nearly 400 billion gallons of water every day as a whole, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. In Europe, the average household uses nearly half of the amount as Americans. On average, American households use around 100,000 gallons per year — meaning the 63 trillion gallon loss amounts to nearly half a year of total water use and multiple years worth of household use.

Is it really any surprise that--assuming the statement is accurate--people in the US use--on average-twice as much water per capita as out counterparts in Europe?

I just thought that the water resource issue hooked in really well with my dire post of earlier today. Bottoms up!

Good thing we have all that unused bio-mass just-a-waitin' to be exploited.

More Confirmation of The Standard Model..it's a QM universe, baby!

Quantum mechanics is truly weird.However, nearly all of the predictions of The Standard Model have proven accurate to our ability to measure the phenomena. The things that physicists haven't yet found are still yet to be discovered.

It appears that at least one of The Model's "heavy" baronsmay have experimental support.

For what it is worth, the Physics Hypertextbook referenced in link #1 is a very, very cool reference. If you take that fine work, and use Stephen Wolfram's fabulous Wolfram Alpha for solution assistance, the world will turn. I find it odd that wolfram Alpha is a pay for app...it is however, more than worth the 3 bucks if you really need it even once. I am really frugal, and I bought the app. It makes lots of things too easy. I'd opt for Alpha Pro if I didn't have Mathematica at the ready. Mathematica knows everything :)

Oh, yes. This is a good day for particle physics!

Ebola - New outbreak, and updated graph

New ebola outbreak in DRC(Democratic Republic of Congo) confirmed. It is very new, so it is unclear which strain this is; given that it is in the DRC, both Ebola Zaire and Ebola Sudan are likely suspects. Other reports claim that as many as 13 have died in the DRC outbreak.

It should be noted that this outbreak is almost certainly unrelated to the West African ebola outbreak which "officials" claim is a different strain. I believe that much can be well stated.

In editorial commentary concerning the West African ebola outbreak this author claims that "ebola debates turn everyone into an expert." The author--perhaps correctly--pens that everyone with an opinion about what to do with experimental drug therapies is an instant expert on "clinical trials, drug pipelines, investigational medicines, and ethics." This may be spot on, but I don't follow the sociology behind the outbreak so I simply do not know. It is a good, quick read.

Meanwhile, I whipped up a graph that I have extended to 1 Sept. concerning the West African ebola outbreak.

I have taken a tiny liberty in extending the figures to 1 Sept., but given what is likely to be the true numbers of cases and deaths, I think that--if anything--an upward revision will be required at some point. It's pretty crude as I did it on my phone at breakfast.

I hope that I am wrong.