A mostly historically accurate view of history of Tea Party-like movements:
Tip of the old scrub brush to Unreasonable Faith and earthaid.
Tea Party history, Texas textbook version
July 21, 2010
1 Comment | 
History, History Revisionism, Humor, Politics, Propaganda | Tagged: History, History Revisionism, Humor, Politics, Propaganda | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
Oldest Eagle Scout, Walter Hart
July 20, 2010Working to confirm, but news from Florida and a highly reliable source is that Walter Hart died over the weekend, at 91 by my calculations.
You would remember Hart as the oldest Eagle Scout, having gotten his award three years ago, when he was 88.
Mr. Hart should be remembered as a hero, and certainly as an inspiration to aspiring Eagle Scouts — especially those facing a short time to their 18th birthday.
Leave a Comment » | Boy Scouts of America, Eagle Scout, History | Tagged: Eagle Scout, Hero, History, Oldest Eagle Scout, Walter Hart | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
A song for our times: Arlo and Pete sing Woody
July 20, 2010In the late 1960s and the 1970s, conservatives made big displays of singing this song. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir recorded one very popular version of it; it showed up often. In those occasional complaints about the difficulty of singing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” this song’s suitability for national anthem status was always raised.
Today? I haven’t heard it at a Republican gathering in long, long time. I’m not saying that it’s completely disappeared from the conservative song book — among other things, I don’t attend Republican conventions as often as I once did, but I don’t think I’d hear it if I did. I am saying that people finally started listening to the song, and it’s been largely dropped from conservative sing alongs for political reasons.
And that tells us a lot.
It would be good to hear this song a lot more; it would be good if more people sang it.
Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger leading the congregation in singing Woody Guthrie’s “The Land Is Your Land,” from a 1993 concert at Wolf Trap Farm Park in Virginia (one of my favorite venues for any music):
(Arlo’s got a new release this year, featuring this tune.)
More:
5 Comments | Cultural Literacy, Dissent, Dust Bowl, Great Depression, History, Music, Patriotism, Political conventions, Politics | Tagged: Arlo Guthrie, Conservative Songs, Cultural Literacy, Dust Bowl, Great Depression, History, Liberal Songs, Music, National Anthem, Patriotism, Pete Seeger, Politics, Woody Guthrie | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Boy Scout died in fall from Utah’s Gemini Bridges
July 19, 2010Tragic accident at a spectacular site in Utah’s desert.
A Scout from Wisconsin attempted a leap from one part of a natural bridge to another, lost his balance and fell to his death. According to the Salt Lake Tribune in Salt Lake City:
A Wisconsin Boy Scout died Saturday after falling 100 feet from Grand County’s Gemini Bridges.
Anthony Alvin, 18, of Green Lake, Wis., was with a Scout group at the Gemini Bridges rock formation, which is on federal land northwest of Moab, deputies wrote in a press statement. At about 9:30 a.m., Alvin tried to jump from one span of the double bridge to the other span, six feet away, when he fell backwards, dropping 100 feet to the bottom of the bridges.
Rescuers rappelled off the bridges and found Alvin had died. His body was lowered down two separate cliffs to the bottom of Bull Canyon, deputies wrote.
Erin Alberty
Anthony Alvin was a member of Troop 630 from Green Lake, Wisconsin, in the Bay Lakes Council, BSA. The Troop has years of experience in high adventure trips. This was a transition trip for Alvin, moving from Scout to leader.
High adventure Scouting takes teens to outstanding places with some risks. Strict safety rules protect Scouts and leaders from most accidents. Jumping the gap between the two natural bridge sections is a leap that experienced rock climbers and Scouters should advise against — and probably did — precisely because of the dangers of minor mishaps, 100 feet or more in the air. A six-foot gap would look eminently leapable to a capable young man.
This is a picture of Gemini Bridges from below:
Gemini Bridges, near Moab, Utah, from below. Image from NaturalArches.org image, photo by Galen Berry.
NaturalArches.org includes details about many of these natural spans in the desert Southwest, in Utah and Arizona. For Gemini Bridges we get this warning note:
These magnificent twin bridges are a popular 4-wheel drive destination on BLM land northwest of Moab, Utah. A few foolhardy individuals have lost their lives here. One person fell to his death while attempting to jump the 10 feet between the two spans, and in October 1999 a jeep and driver fell 160 feet off the outer span.
From atop the bridges, the gap between the two can appear deceptively small — see one view here.
For safety’s sake, no one should attempt to leap the gap without proper rock-climbing safety equipment in place and in use — and frankly, I’m not sure how it could be secured even then, in the sandstone.
Redrock country brings out the worst in otherwise adventurous-but-mostly-sane people. Even rock climbers will act irresponsibly.
Four-wheelers and off-road vehicles frequently climb these trails — despite the dangers, the area offers a huge playground for people out of the jurisdiction of the National Park Service or National Forest Service, each of which discourage excessive vehicular risk taking. Several sites extoll the glories of conquering these deserts with gasoline-power.
Irresponsible jump at Gemini Bridges captured on film, from rockclimbing.com
The photo at the bottom shows a memorial plaque to the four-wheeler who lost his life off of Gemini Bridges in 1999. So long as people make monuments to people who pull daredevil stunts, others who have less experience, or even more sense, will be tempted to try the same daredevil stuff.
Go to these wild and beautiful places. Please remember they are treacherous, however, and stay safe.
Tribute to Beau James Daley, who died when his jeep plunged off of Gemini Bridges, Utah
Also at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub:
- “Disaster at Arches National Park,” on the collapse of Wall Arch
- “In the Utah desert, a GPS is no substitute for common sense,” from 2008
More:
5 Comments | Boy Scouts of America, Deserts, Disasters, Geography - Physical, History, Outdoor Recreation, Travel, Utah, Wilderness | Tagged: 4-wheeling, Accident, Boy Scouts of America, Desert, disaster, Gemini Bridges, geography, Hiking Safety, Natural Bridges, Outdoor Recreation, Rock Climbing Safety, Travel, Utah, Wilderness | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Vegetarian fireworks: Fruit and vegetable MRIs
July 19, 2010Fireworks!
Broccoli, as seen by MRI
Looks like fireworks to me.
From Inside Insides, a site dedicated to MRIs of food.
Oddly beautiful. Interesting. Nerdy.
Tip of the old scrub brush to P. Z. Myers at Pharyngula.
1 Comment | Botany, Humor, Images, Natural history, Science, Technology | Tagged: Botany, Humor, Images, Nature, Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Dan Valentine – Pink cigarette lighter, part 3
July 19, 2010By Dan Valentine
THE PINK CIGARETTE LIGHTER – Part Three
From the Urban Dictionary: ‘Midnight Cowboy. A 1969 movie starring Jon Voight [Jolie’s daddy] as Joe Buck, from Texas, who comes to The Big Apple, thinking he can make a living selling his body to women. When that fails, he resorts to seeking gay male customers. Hence, the slang term “midnight cowboy”–a male (straight or gay) who seeks gay men who will pay him for sex.’
In the fall of 2009, while I was at The Music City Hostel in Nashville, a kid from the backwoods of some southern state, I forget which one, checked in. Both his parents had recently died and his elderly grandmother had given him what little cash she had so he could come to Nashville. Why Nashville, of all places, I can’t remember. He had no dream of being a singer or a songwriter or anything else connected with the music business.
Many of the regular guests there took an instance dislike to him. The kid’s backwoods accent offended their ears. A lawyer, who had given up his practice in Wisconsin to follow his dream of becoming a music producer, said one night, “I can’t understand a word he says.” “That’s what he says about you,” I said. One and all laughed.
Ron, the owner of the place, had taken me in when he learned I was homeless–bed and breakfast in exchange for chores. But he told me not to mention the word “homeless” to anyone. He didn’t want to upset his guests. Heaven forbid! “And don’t bum any cigarettes from the guests!” Who me?
Funny, many or most of the visiting guests are European, and those in the European Union are a strange breed, indeed! Whenever they take out a pack of cigarettes, they always–and, I mean, always–offer those present a cigarette first before lighting one up for themselves.
One of the first things the young man from the backwoods told me was: Clerks would not accept his I.D. when he tried to buy a bottle at the liquor store down the block. And he had just turned 21! And he couldn’t understand why. In truth, he couldn’t have been more than 19.
What do to? he asked.
“Enjoy a Coke!”
But the young, they rarely listen to their elders. Instead, he soon discovered that he could quench his thirst by simply opening the fridge outside on the porch, when no one was watching. Guests would buy twelve-pack upon twelve-pack, put ‘em in the fridge to chill, drink most of what they had purchased but not all, and go on their way.
As a result, the kid was drunk most of the time. Did I say, most? He was drunk the entire time he was there. Guests were complaining. His backwoods accent was hard enough to take when he was sober.
One night I’m sitting with him outside. I was the only one who would. I felt sorry for him. He had just lost both his folks. Time after time, he would offer me cigarette after cigarette (European-style), as he lit one for himself and popped open the flip-top of another can of beer. Evenings past, I had always declined. This particular night, after hearing pretty much everything the lad had to say, I asked, “Can I bum a cigarette?” just as Ron came over and said he wanted to talk to him. Timing is everything.
The two went inside. The kid came out a short time later and told me that Ron wanted him to leave the premises immediately, if not sooner.
What to do? He had no money. He asked me to talk to Ron on his behalf. So, together we went inside. It was late. Past midnight. I said something like “you just can’t toss the kid out on the street at this hour. I’ve been homeless, and–”
“Follow me,” he said. And I did. Outside. “I told you never to use the word homeless while you’re here.”
“Hey,” I said, “he’s a kid. Both his folks just died. It’s my duty as a fellow human being. Tomorrow he can go to social services.”
Ron said he’d play the kid’s car fare to The Mission.
I don’t think so. The Mission! Stabbings. You name it. Worst-case scenario. “I was told by one-in-the-know NOT to go to The Mission,” I said. “I wasn’t ready, and HE (the kid) really ain’t!”
Ron said he’d drive the boy to the all-night cafe up the block. Give him money for coffee.
I can live with that, not that it was my call, and not that it had anything to do with me at all.
“But I don’t want to hear you say the word ‘homeless’ ever again.”
“No problem. Got a cigarette I can bum? Just joking.”
Funny, he had told all those who worked there that I had been homeless for a short time (very short, three days) and they, in turn, had informed all the regular seasonal guests. At a hostel, you soon learn most every little thing that’s interesting about a person. Unless, of course, your middle name is Clueless.
A few nights later I’m in the hostel lobby–computers, big-screen TV, washer-dryer, dining table and chairs, etc.–when a guest comes in and informs each and all present that he had seen the kid from the southern backwoods standing on the corner by the gay bars, presumably selling his wares.
I like to think he was lost. But probably not.
TO BE CONTINUED
Patio at the Music City Hostel, Nashville
4 Comments | Dan Valentine, Homelessness, Life, Travel | Tagged: Dan Valentine, Homeless, Hostel, Life, Pink cigarette lighter, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
First cicada killer sighting of 2010
July 19, 2010Cicada killer wasps appeared as early as July 7, in our yard. This year we had a cold winter, with snows that appear to have stymied even the nasty, invasive Argentine fire ant. But June was dry and hot. July came with rains, and cicada killers don’t like wet soil to dig in.
For that matter, we don’t have many cicadas, either.
Plus, we had to tear down a planter box attached to the dining room window, since it hid termites too well. No doubt that planter had young from the cicada killers in it.
Early yesterday evening, as we finished dinner, we watched the house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) escorting their young to the bird feeders, the cardinal “babies” (Cardinalis cardinalis) breaking out of their baby feathering, we looked for the family of red-bellied woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus) — and there it was: One lone cicada hawk zooming across the patio, yellow-and-black striped abdomen standing out among the other paper wasps (almost certainly Sphecius speciosa).
They’re back!
Earlier at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub:
- Most popular cicada-killer post, from 2007: “Cicadas, cicada-killers are back!”
- Photo of our local guys, from their 2008 campaign (some irony: The photo was taken on the lip of the now-removed termite-enabling planter).
- “Cicada hawks a month early – another sign of climate change?” (lots of variation with the weather; need more data)
- Cicada killer on a rose, photo from 2009
More:
- Good post on the cicadas the cicada killers kill, at Bug Girl
- Prof. Chuck Holliday’s cicada killer page, from Lafayette University (sorta gives new potential meaning to the phrase, “Lafayette, we are here!”)
- Several different species in the Americas; here’s a key to tell them apart
- Texas A&M entry in their field guide to insects
2 Comments | Bird Watching, Entomology, Gardening, Life, Natural history, Ornithology, Science, Wildlife | Tagged: Bird Watching, Cicada Hawks, Cicada Killers, Entomology, Gardening, Insects, Life, Natural history, Nature, Ornithology, Science, Seasons, Wildlife | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Happy birthday, Peter Schickele
July 17, 2010Peter Schickele is 75 today.
Peter Schickele, born July 17, 1935
May he live to be a happy, robust, still-composing, still performing 135, at least.
Some people know him as a great disk jockey. Some people know him as the singer of cabaret tunes. Some people know and love him as a composer of music for symphony orchestra, or to accompany Where the Wild Things Are.
Peter Shickele, left, and P. D. Q. Bach, together, in earlier and, some say, happier times.
Then there are those happy masses who know him for his historical work, recovering the works of Johann Sebastian Bach’s final and most wayward child, P. D. Q. Bach.
Tip of the old bathtub-hardened conductor’s baton to Eric Koenig.
6 Comments | History, Hoaxes, Humor, Music, Music education, Mythology | Tagged: History, Hoaxes, Humor, Music, P. D. Q. Bach, Peter Schickele | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
American corporations hide American heroes at Shanghai Expo
July 17, 2010“Penny pinching” conservatives in Congress shamefully worked to guarantee America’s legacy of freedom would be buried at the current Shanghai Expo. Architecture writer Fred A. Bernstein reports that the conservatives won, and that the current U.S. exhibit in Shanghai is shamed by exhibits from other nations highlighting American virtues that the U.S. pavilion should have shown:
Where are the examples of American democracy and freedom, of American know-how and imagination, and of American heroes?
Artist's rendering of U.S. pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010 - corporate sponsorship failed to replace government support prohibited by "money-saving" 1990s law
For those things, visitors have to search elsewhere at the Expo: for the statue of Rachel Carson, outside the Broad Air Conditioning pavilion; for a tribute to Frank Gehry, at an exhibit sponsored by the city of Bilbao, Spain (Gehry would have designed a great U.S. pavilion!); and for videos of an American girl, describing what makes cities livable, look to the Russian pavilion. (Incredibly, the Russians shot the video in front of the U.S. Capitol, smartly appropriating an American symbol of freedom.) Carson, Gehry and the girl are Americans worth celebrating.
What will the millions of Chinese who visit the Expo think of the United States? The most sophisticated of them, especially the 45,000 a day who get inside the U.S. pavilion, will see a country determined to promote its corporations rather than its people or its political system. The rest — and this is even scarier — may visit the Expo, a microcosm of the world in 2010, and not think about the U.S. at all.
What in the hell were we thinking?
Bernstein explained what happened:
Seeing a statue of Rachel Carson, the crusading American environmentalist, at the World Expo in Shanghai moved me almost to tears. After all, Carson is a symbol of independent thought and action, both vital U.S. exports.
Too bad the statue wasn’t at the U.S. pavilion. But that building, sponsored in part by Carson’s nemesis, Dow Chemical, was never going to be a celebration of the power of individuals. Indeed, the pavilion, with its bland tribute to “community,” says little about what makes America, and Americans, special.
Check out Bernstein’s piece, “A World Expo flop by the U.S.,” with the subhead: “Our pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai is a huge disappointment, failing to showcase the best of the United States.”
More:
2 Comments | China, foreign affairs, Rachel Carson, Travel | Tagged: American Exceptionalism, China, foreign affairs, Rachel Carson, Shanghai Expo 2010, Travel, U.S. Pavilion | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
White men gave civil rights to women, blacks and Hispanics?
July 16, 2010It’s maybe an apocryphal story. Republicans in Texas hope so.
It was at a very large, mostly African-American church in Dallas. The social action committee, or whatever it’s name is, was meeting. The only white guy in the room was there to try to get them interested in the elections for the members of the Texas State Board of Education. Normally these races are sleepers, down ballot, and off the radars of almost all interest groups. The social action committee was just as tough an audience as any other group with limited resources and limited time to try to get good political action.
Besides, a good chunk of Dallas is represented by Mavis Knight, an African American who is a pillar of common sense on the Texas education board, and Ms. Knight’s seat isn’t being contested in 2010. Why should Dallas voters be interested in any of these races?
“Before we start talking,” the lone white guy said, “I’d like to show you some of what has been going on in the Texas State Board of Education over the last year, in their work to change social studies standards.”
And he showed the video below. The entire committee grew quiet, silent; and then they started to shout at the television image. “What’s that?” “Is he crazy?” “He said white men gave us civil rights?” “HE SAID WHAT?”
A 58-second video clip that could greatly animate electoral politics in Texas. The comments came fast and loud.
“That was part of the debate? What, are they crazy down there? Don’t they know history? Don’t they know the truth? They aren’t going to tell our children that Martin Luther King didn’t work to get civil rights, are they? They aren’t going to say Martin Luther King died, but some white man gave rights to African Americans — are they?”
It’s a video clip that every Republican candidate in Texas hopes will be hidden away. The Democratic tide that has swept Dallas County in two consecutive elections threatens to stop the Republican stranglehold on statewide offices in November, if those who voted in such great numbers in 2008 turn out again.
There are other stakes, too — the Republican stranglehold allowed the state education board to gut science standards, to eliminate Hispanic literature from language arts standards, and to try to change history, to blot out Thurgood Marshall and as much of the civil rights movement as they could hide. So Texas children get a second-rate, incorrect set of standards in social studies, in English, and in science.
Republicans have declared war on good education, war on the children who benefit most from good education.
So, according to Don McLeroy, who lost the primary election to keep his seat, this little piece of history, below, is inaccurate. Tough for McLeroy — the Schoolhouse Rock video sits in too many Texas school libraries. Sometimes, the facts sneak through, defying the best efforts of the Texas State Soviet of Education to snuff out the truth.
But don’t you wonder what every woman, African American, and Hispanic in Texas will think about the importance of the 2010 elections, when they see what Gov. Rick Perry’s appointee to chair the SBOE, thinks about how civil rights were achieved in the U.S.?
Over at Republican headquarters, they hope that story is apocryphal.
Video of the Texas State Board of Education from the Texas Freedom Network.
Here, you can make sure other voters see this video that Don McLeroy hopes you will not see:
9 Comments | 2010 Elections, Campaigns, Civil Rights, Education, Elections, History, Rampant stupidity, Social Studies, State school boards, State Standards, Texas, Texas Freedom Network | Tagged: 2010 Elections, Campaigns, Civil Rights, Don McLeroy, History, Rampant stupidity, Social Studies Standards, state board of education, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
University of Arizona’s “malaria-proof” mosquito
July 15, 2010This could be good news: A genetically-altered mosquito that doesn’t harbor the malaria parasite, and so cannot pass it along to humans it bites in its later life.
One more way to end the use and production of DDT.
Press release from the University of Arizona (one of my alma mater schools):
The first malaria-proof mosquito
Scientists at the University of Arizona have achieved a breakthrough in the fight against malaria: a mosquito that can no longer give the disease to humans
IMAGE: Michael Riehle, holding genetically altered mosquitoes, and his team work in a highly secure lab environment to prevent genetically altered mosquitoes from escaping.
For years, researchers worldwide have attempted to create genetically altered mosquitoes that cannot infect humans with malaria. Those efforts fell short because the mosquitoes still were capable of transmitting the disease-causing pathogen, only in lower numbers.
Now for the first time, University of Arizona entomologists have succeeded in genetically altering mosquitoes in a way that renders them completely immune to the parasite, a single-celled organism called Plasmodium. Someday researchers hope to replace wild mosquitoes with lab-bred populations unable to act as vectors, i.e. transmit the malaria-causing parasite.
“If you want to effectively stop the spreading of the malaria parasite, you need mosquitoes that are no less than 100 percent resistant to it. If a single parasite slips through and infects a human, the whole approach will be doomed to fail,” said Michael Riehle, who led the research effort, the results of which will be published July 15 in the journal Public Library of Science Pathogens. Riehle is a professor of entomology in the UA’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and is a member of the BIO5 Institute.
Riehle’s team used molecular biology techniques to design a piece of genetic information capable of inserting itself into a mosquito’s genome. This construct was then injected into the eggs of the mosquitoes. The emerging generation carries the altered genetic information and passes it on to future generations. For their experiments, the scientists used Anopheles stephensi, a mosquito species that is an important malaria vector throughout the Indian subcontinent.
The researchers targeted one of the many biochemical pathways inside the mosquito’s cells. Specifically, they engineered a piece of genetic code acting as a molecular switch in the complex control of metabolic functions inside the cell. The genetic construct acts like a switch that is always set to “on,” leading to the permanent activity of a signaling enzyme called Akt. Akt functions as a messenger molecule in several metabolic functions, including larval development, immune response and lifespan.
When Riehle and his co-workers studied the genetically modified mosquitoes after feeding them malaria-infested blood, they noticed that the Plasmodium parasites did not infect a single study animal.
“We were surprised how well this works,” said Riehle. “We were just hoping to see some effect on the mosquitoes’ growth rate, lifespan or their susceptibility to the parasite, but it was great to see that our construct blocked the infection process completely.”
Of the estimated 250 million people who contract malaria each year, 1 million – mostly children – do not survive. Ninety percent of the number of fatalities, which Riehle suspects to be underreported, occur in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Each new malaria case starts with a bite from a vector – a mosquito belonging to the genus Anopheles. About 25 species of Anopheles are significant vectors of the disease.
Only the female Anopheles mosquitoes feed on blood, which they need to produce eggs. When they bite an infected human or animal, they ingest the malaria parasite.
Once the Plasmodium cells find themselves in the insect’s midgut, they spring into action. They leave the insect’s digestive tract by squeezing through the midgut lining. The vast majority of Plasmodium cells do not survive this journey and are eliminated by the mosquito’s immune cells. A tiny fraction of parasite cells, usually not more than a handful, make it and attach themselves on the outside of the midgut wall where they develop into brooding cells called oocysts.
Within 10-12 days, thousands of new Plasmodium cells, so-called sporozoites, sprout inside the oocyst. After hatching from the oocyst, the sporozoites make their way into the insect’s salivary glands where they lie in wait until the mosquito finds a victim for a blood meal. When the mosquito bites, some sporozoites are flushed into the victim’s bloodstream.
“The average mosquito transmits about 40 sporozoites when it bites,” said Riehle, “but it takes only one to infect a human and make a new malaria victim.”
Several species of Plasmodium exist in different parts of the world, all of which are microscopically small single-celled organisms that live in their hosts’ red blood cells. Each time the parasites undergo a round of multiplication, their host cells burst and release the progeny into the bloodstream, causing the painful bouts of fever that malaria is known and feared for.
Malaria killed more soldiers in the Civil War than the fighting, according to Riehle. In fact, malaria was prevalent in most parts of the U.S. until the late 1940s and early 1950, when DDT spraying campaigns wiped the vectors off the map. Today, a new case of malaria occurs in the U.S. only on rare occasions.
The severity of the disease depends very largely on the species of the Plasmodium parasite the patient happens to contract.
“Only two species of Plasmodium cause the dreaded relapses of the disease,” said Riehle. “One of them, Plasmodium vivax, can lie dormant in the liver for 10 to 15 years, but now drugs have become available that target the parasites in the liver as well as those in the blood cells.”
That said, there are no effective or approved malaria vaccines. A few vaccine candidates have gone to clinical trials but they were shown to either be ineffective or provide only short-term protection. If an effective vaccine were to be developed, distribution would be a major problem, Riehle said.
Researchers and health officials put higher hopes into eradication programs, which aim at the disease-transmitting mosquitoes rather than the pathogens that cause it.
“The question is ‘What can we do to turn a good vector into a bad vector?'” Riehle said.
“The eradication scenario requires three things: A gene that disrupts the development of the parasite inside the mosquito, a genetic technique to bring that gene into the mosquito genome and a mechanism that gives the modified mosquito an edge over the natural populations so they can displace them over time.”
“The third requirement is going to be the most difficult of the three to realize,” he added, which is why his team decided to tackle the other two first.
“It was known that the Akt enzyme is involved in the mosquito’s growth rate and immune response, among other things,” Riehle said. “So we went ahead with this genetic construct to see if we can ramp up Akt function and help the insects’ immune system fight off the malaria parasite.”
The second rationale behind this approach was to use Akt signaling to stunt the mosquitoes’ growth and cut down on its lifespan.
“In the wild, a mosquito lives for an average of two weeks,” Riehle explained. “Only the oldest mosquitoes are able to transmit the parasite. If we can reduce the lifespan of the mosquitoes, we can reduce the number of infections.”
His research team discovered that mosquitoes carrying two copies of the altered gene had lost their ability to act as malaria vectors altogether.
“In that group of mosquitoes, not a single Plasmodium oocyst managed to form.”
At this point, the modified mosquitoes exist in a highly secured lab environment with no chance of escape. Once researchers find a way to replace wild mosquito populations with lab-bred ones, breakthroughs like the one achieved by Riehle’s group could pave the way toward a world in which malaria is all but history.
###This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Reference: Corby-Harris et al. Activation of Akt Signaling Reduces the Prevalence and Intensity of Malaria Parasite Infection and Lifespan in Anopheles stephensi Mosquitoes. Public Library of Science (PLoS) Pathogens, July 2010 issue: www.plospathogens.org
How do you like them genetic engineering guys now?
2 Comments | DDT, Disease, History, Malaria, medicine, Public health, Research, Science | Tagged: Biology, DDT, Disease, Genetic Engineering, Malaria, Public health, Research, Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Stealth creationists aim to mess up biology students
July 15, 2010So, God is a platypus?
Appearing to be aware they are losing the battle of the classroom to real science, creationists have taken a sneakier way to undermine science education. P. Z. Myers explains:
A lot of people have been writing to me about this free webgame, CellCraft. In it, you control a cell and build up all these complex organelles in order to gather resources and fight off viruses; it’s cute, it does throw in a lot of useful jargon, but the few minutes I spent trying it were also a bit odd — there was something off about it all.
Where do you get these organelles? A species of intelligent platypus just poofs them into existence for you when you need them. What is the goal? The cells have a lot of room in their genomes, so the platypuses are going to put platypus DNA in there, so they can launch them off to planet E4R1H to colonize it with more platypuses. Uh-oh. These are Intelligent Design creationist superstitions: that organelles didn’t evolve, but were created for a purpose; that ancient cells were ‘front-loaded’ with the information to produced more complex species; and that there must be a purpose to all that excess DNA other than that it is junk.
Suspicions confirmed. Look in the credits.
Also thanks to Dr. Jed Macosko at Wake Forest University and Dr. David Dewitt at Liberty University for providing lots of support and biological guidance.
Those two are notorious creationists and advocates for intelligent design creationism. Yep. It’s a creationist game. It was intelligently designed, and it’s not bad as a game, but as a tool for teaching anyone about biology, it sucks. It is not an educational game, it is a miseducational game. I hope no one is planning on using it in their classroom. (Dang. Too late. I see in their forums that some teachers are enthusiastic about it — they shouldn’t be).
No such thing as a free lunch. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Free software for use in educating kids about biology, sounds too good to be true.
_____________
In comments, Lars Doucet disavows creationist intent. So the creationist/intelligent design factors were added just to make the game more playable, and not as an attempt to introduce or endorse creationism or intelligent design.
Lots of discussion, much of it rude (some of it delightfully so), at Myers’ joint.
Maybe, if the makers didn’t intend to make a creationist stealth game, they could jigger the thing to make it more accurate?
11 Comments | Biology, Classroom technology, Creationism, Education, Intelligent Design, Voodoo science, War on Education, War on Science | Tagged: Classroom technology, Creationism, Intelligent Design, Voodoo science, War on Education, War on Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Typewriter of the moment: Ayn Rand
July 15, 2010
Ayn Rand at her typewriter
Ayn Rand at her typewriter, in an undated photo (do you know the date?).
Contrary to a popular myth, Rand did not take her name from the typewriter. From the website of the Ayn Rand Institute:
What is the origin of “Rand”?
[From ARI’s monthly newsletter Impact, 06/2000]
“Ayn Rand, born Alisa Rosenbaum, based her professional first name on a Finnish one [see above]. The source of her last name, however, has been a mystery.“Although its origin is still uncertain, recent biographical research by Drs. Allan Gotthelf and Michael Berliner has eliminated one possible source. An oft-repeated story claims that Ayn Rand took her last name from her Remington Rand typewriter while she was living in Chicago in 1926. This is false and we would like to put the error to rest.
“While still in Russia, c. 1925, and long before Remington-Rand typewriters were produced, Alisa Rosenbaum had adopted the name ‘Rand.’ Letters written in 1926 from Ayn Rand’s family in Russia already refer to the name ‘Rand.’ These were sent from Russia before Ayn Rand had communicated from America. The Remington and Rand companies did not merge until 1927; ‘Rand’ did not appear on their (or any) typewriters until the early 1930s.
“One lead to the actual source of the name comes from Ayn Rand herself. In 1936, she told the New York Evening Post that ‘Rand is an abbreviation of my Russian surname.’ Originally, we thought that this was a red herring in order to protect her family from the Soviet authorities.
“In 1997 Dr. Berliner noted an interesting coincidence when looking at a copy of Miss Rand’s 1924 university diploma. On the diploma was the name Rosenbaum in the Cyrillic alphabet:
The last three letters clearly look like the Roman letters ‘ayn.’ Richard Ralston then noticed that by covering those letters—and dropping out the second and fourth letters—what remains bears a strong resemblance to the Roman letters ‘Rand.’
“Although far from certain, it appears that the quote in the New York Evening Post may not have been a decoy.”
Her most often used typewriter was a Remington, I’ve read (but can’t find a reference now that I need it). So far as I have found, however, typewriters were always manufactured under the “Remington” marque, and never as “Remington-Rand.” Contrary to the implications from the ARI, Remington typewriters were produced from Reconstruction times (circa 1870), originally by the Remington Arms company. Typewriter manufacturing was spun off from the arms producer in 1886; that company merged with Rand, forming Remington-Rand in 1927.
Leave a Comment » | Books, History, Literature, Technology, Typewriters | Tagged: Ayn Rand, Books, History, Literature, Technology, Typewriters | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Can’t dance to it, but can you learn with it?
July 14, 2010It’s an awkward scene. John Goodman has a lousy role (and I’m not fond of the direction for him or Melanie Griffith here). I’ve never seen the movie, “Born Yesterday,” and I don’t know the context.
But ten important amendments to the Constitution, to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” a potentially useful mnemonic device for your U.S. history, and government students; it’s mostly accurate:
There is some skipping around — the song covers the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments, then skips to the Thirteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Amendments. The First Amendment’s five freedoms are covered completely, other amendments not so much.
The actor in the scene, playing the senator who sings the Fifteenth Amendment, is former Tennessee U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson. Thompson staffed the Watergate Committee chaired by Sen. Sam Ervin of North Carolina, earlier — wouldn’t it be interesting to hear his views on this scene, and song, and what other tricks he may have encountered in the Senate, from Sen. Ervin, or the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd?
It’s not Schoolhouse Rock, but it’s really very good. Everything covered in the song is in Texas TEKS, but some things skipped, like the Fourteenth Amendment, are also required. Can you use it in your classes?
And by the way, does anyone know a rap for the Bill of Rights?
Tip of the old scrub brush to the Facebook status of the Bill of Rights Institute.
7 Comments | 6th Amendment, Bill of Rights, Fifth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Government, History, Law, Learning, Learning styles, Memory Tricks, Mnemonics, Music, Teaching, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Amendments to the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Born Yesterday, Government, History, Law, Melanie Griffith, Memory Tricks, Mnemonic Devices, Movies, Teaching Songs, U.S. Constitution | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
What scares Texas Republicans? How will Texas Democrats push into the future?
July 14, 2010Scholars & Rogues summarized the Texas Republican Party platform. It’s all about “deviant sex,” S&R finds.
Compare it to the Texas Democratic Platform (education planks only, here — rest of the platform here).
Bill White, Linda Chavez-Thompson, Barbara Ann Radnofsky and others are clearly superior candidates running on a real, pro-Texas, pro-business, pro-family platform. Help Texas, help America, help yourself: Support them and give them your votes in November.
Texas Democratic Party platform word cloud
Leave a Comment » | 2010 Elections, Campaigns, Education, Politics, Texas | Tagged: 2010 Elections, Campaigns, Democratic Party, Education, Politics, Republican Party, Texas Democrats, Texas Republicans | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 