Skull and Bones, trans-substantiation, endogenous-retroviruses, Hobbits, ATP synthase, cannabis pain relief, Ventria's rice, Ecstasy pain relief, ADS-

blackcommentator .. not only does the Skull and Bones society hold Geronimo's remains, but they were stolen by a man named Prescott Bush, the current president's grandfather. Prescott Bush was stationed at Fort Sill in Oklahoma in 1918. The Apache leader Geronimo was held at Fort Sill at the time of his death and was buried there. A recently unearthed letter from one Skull and Bones member to another alleges that Bush and a group of friends in his unit desecrated Geronimo's grave, stealing his skull and bones.

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Regarding Reason and its limits:
I was taught as an RC altarboy that "trans-substantiation" meant the communion wine "actually" become the blood of Christ.
Not "symbolically" but really.
I now see this as one amongst many religious tenants, that are designed with the sole purpose of 'breaking' rationality. By forcing an illogical absurdity upon my mind, the church 'cracked' my reason, pushing me into an irrational space.
Some might say that's a good thing, that rationality cannot provide a group religious fervour, and that rational people abandon hurricane victims.
I prefer to value rationality. If I behave ethically, its because I have an internal image of the sort of person I want to be. I suggest that almost every human has this self-image, and that no other animal has such a self-image.


And I do mean 'forcing'. Dont forget my namesake, the original Giordano, had 'denial of trans-substantiation' on his heresy list when Cardinal Roberti Bellarmine ["the hammer of heresies"] had GB burned alive, without the usual benefit of pre-strangulation. Later, as the Catholic Encyclopedia says: "it became Bellarmine's official duty to signify the condemnation to Galileo, .. a life which had been no less remarkable for its virtues than for its achievements."[thats RB's life, not GB's, nor GG's]

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science-matters .. evidence suggests that ERVs have driven host evolution in some instances by providing the host with raw genetic material to craft novel genes. This appears to be the case in placentogenesis. The genome of each placental lineage reveals a pattern of ERV colonization that is absent from marsupials and monotremes (i.e. egg-laying mammals). In primates, this pattern gives rise to high ERV expression in normal syncytiotrophoblasts (placental cells) and trophoblasts (embryonic cells).
In particular, three cellular genes derived from three different ERVs act in coordination to form the placenta

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Googling ["Robert D. Martin" hobbit]
because Martin (Fields Inst.Chicago) is apparently still claiming that the Flores Hobbits are diseased Homo Sap.
(given small skeletons 3000 years apart, their "disease" seems remarkably robust) got led to a creationist site (to which I will not provide a link) They apparently make money rafting people down the Grand Canyon while claiming the entire thing was built in a day.
The Intelligent Design/Miraculous Interventionists/IDiots had this :

Stupid Evolution Quote of the Week: In a detailed article in the journal Cell 1 about ATP synthase, the “smallest rotary motor” that “works in both directions with high efficiency” and drives the synthesis of up to 40kg of ATP per day in a resting human, Yi Qin Yao, Wei Yang and Martin Karplus only mentioned evolution once. Here it is: “Interestingly the conformational changes in the beta subunits have been shown to correspond to their lowest frequency normal modes. This implies that the structure of the protein is designed by evolution such that the motions required for its function can take place with a low energy cost.” (Emphasis added). 1Yao et al., “A Structure-Based Model for the Synthesis and Hydrolysis of ATP by F1-ATPase,” Cell, Volume 123, Issue 2, 21 October 2005, Pages 195-205, doi:10.1016/j.cell.2005.10.001.

Actually a neat quote!
The Creationist site seems chiefly dedicated to obsessing over teleological language, which biologists frequently slip into, as a convenience, when they think that IDiots arent watching. Can we issue a one-time overall statement that apparently teleological phrases like "designed by evolution" are just convenient figures of speech. Actual biologists dont actually hold to teleology. Frantic IDiots please calm down.

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Hobbit heads: .. milkriverarchive
posts from NYT 12Oct2005

But some paleontologists and biologists express strong doubts that the little people represent a new species. Two separate groups, including Indonesians, Australians, Americans and Britons, said this week [Oct05?] that they were about to submit reports to a journal that they say refute the new-species hypothesis.
"I don't think anything is changed with this paper," Robert D. Martin, a biological anthropologist and provost at the Field Museum in Chicago, said in a telephone interview, referring to the latest Nature report. "I feel very strongly that these people are glossing over the problems with this interpretation."
In Dr. Martin's view, in which he is joined by several prominent scientists, the more likely explanation for the small stature is, in part, a phenomenon known as island dwarfing. People and animals living in isolation for many generations tend to evolve smaller bodies, their growth constrained by limited resources.

Is Doc Martin claiming micro-cephalic disease or "Island Dwarfing"?
I seem to recall he previously claimed disease. If small size "evolved" then is he still objecting to calling these a distinct species? If he is objecting then why? If he allows them to be called a species, then is there any remaining dispute?
tangled-bank-53

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alternet god botherers

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sflorg
A cannabis plant extract provides pain relief for patients after major surgery such as knee replacements, a study by Imperial College London and the Medical Research Council has shown.

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livescience GM rice :
Ventria's rice produces two human proteins [Lactiva (recombinant human lactoferrin) and Lysomin (recombinant human lysozyme)] found in mother's milk, saliva and tears, which help people hydrate and lessen the severity and duration of diarrhea

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Astro image of the day sdss (sdss3 results are in but no pics yet)
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digg .. Science site, links to:
boston
Ecstasy allows cancer victim to spend final days at peace
as the pain and fatigue of advanced colon cancer left Diane increasingly bedridden, she just wanted the strength to get out of bed. That's when she found ecstasy..
For a few hours at a time as the ecstasy took hold, Diane would leave her disease behind and walk in the park, sing with her parents, or talk about death without fear, her mother said.
..Ecstasy ''was the only thing that controlled the pain and her breathing," said Diane's mother..
..On her final day, Diane slept peacefully for hours after taking ecstasy, her mother said, without moans and gasps. That night, ''she opened her eyes with an expression of absolute wonder, reached out to touch her dad, and died," according to Diane's mother. ''We are honored to have witnessed and shared a holy experience, my daughter's good death."

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USA calls for "financial" sanctions against Iran.
because
1)trade sanctions wouldnt work, nobody would join. Aus exports $169E6 last y. This y. 400,000T wheat contract A$80M)
2)the euro oil bourse may be a real threat, despite 'experts' pooh-poohing it.

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nuclear .. cavendishscience
(use View:Page:No Style to make the Cavendish page bearable)
I am strongly opposed to U235 or Pu fission steam generators ("nuclear power plants"), chiefly because they require an armed security service for thousands of years. And because their subsidies or simply their sequestering of capital, starve non-centralised 'people-power' sustainable alternatives
.. However, on reading Cosmos #8, an Aus science mag, I reckon that ADS Thorium reactor might be ok.
- the pile is sub-critical and needs a proton beam to make neutrons. "A 1000 MeV beam will create 20-30 spallation neutrons per proton"
So it cant blow up. Apparently you can pack Pu and aAcinides around and 'burn' them up. I can imagine scenarios where the daughters might remain hot after an accident, but overall the ADS-Thorium reactor seems like a reasonable idea. Aus & India have heaps of Thorium. nb Thorium does burn in air, so it may be idiot-proof, but not fuckin idiot-proof. [at Wormwood, the operators apparently circumvented 6 separate safety systems]
(Cosmos seems like a decent science mag, typical short articles, but solid-ish content.)

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livescience
Pic of The South Island (nb the name must include "The".
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evolvethought .. evolution blog

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onegoodmove Simpsons evolution episode

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#D metal "printing"
Here's the 4-dimensional analogue of the dodecahedron, projected into 3-space for the occasion of this sculpture. It's named for its 120 dodecahedral faces, which appear skewed in this projection, but of course in 4-space they are all perfect regular dodecahedra.
also see georgehart
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savetheinternet

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Skull and Bones trans-substantiation endogenous-retroviruses Hobbits ATP synthase cannabis pain relief Ventria's rice Ecstasy pain relief ADS-Thorium reactor