Resolved

Was chit-chatting with my cube neighbor after she stared giggling over something her husband had eMailed her. She does a lot of BA work and she's a grammar Nazi like me, so we get along well. The humor that triggered our conversation was something about a metaphor, so I commented, “The man that can handle you on a daily basis must be strong-willed.” As she described him I got all maudlin. Asked how long they'd been married—thrity-seven years. This definitely evoked a whimsical sigh as I thought about never be able to make a similar claim.

Pat Robertson Endorses Giuliani

Friday, November 9, 2007

Pat Robertson Endorses Giuliani

Televangelist Pat Robertson has endorsed former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani as Republican presidential candidate despite Giuliani's pro-abortion rights stance. What do you think?

Ashley Brennan, Systems Analyst "This makes perfect sense in light of his pro-Pat Robertson stance."

David Oppenheimer, Pewter Caster "I don't know whose credibility this ruins more."

Mike Hilleman, Fish Cleaner "Between an abrupt return to seasonal temperatures, the very real threat of no new episodes of Lost, and now this presidential endorsement, I am not exactly sure what the hell is going on."

The Onion - America's Finest News Source

New Trojan Horse Strikes Mac

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

New Trojan Horse Strikes Mac

A rare new Trojan horse that targets Mac users and takes over their computers has been found on pornographic websites. What do you think?

Bettie Farnsworth, Stocker "Before I answer I'd first like to know what the current societal views are regarding online pornography."

Rick Donnelly, Ground Crew "Though I know this Mac virus is undesirable, its rarity gives me an unquenchable thirst to possess it."

Dan Benincasa, Systems Analyst "Wait a minute. You can access porn on something that isn't a wall calendar? When did that happen?"

The Onion - America's Finest News Source

On the Backs of Annelids

Gene switch altered sex orientation of worms
Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:56 AM ET

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Altering a gene in the brain of female worms changed their sexual orientation, U.S. researchers said on Thursday, making female worms attracted to other females.

The study reinforces the notion that sexual orientation is hard-wired in the brain, said Erik Jorgensen, scientific director of the Brain Institute at the University of Utah.

"They look like girls, but act and think like boys," Utah researcher Jamie White, who worked on the study published in the journal Current Biology, said in a statement.

Researchers in Jorgensen's lab switched on a gene in female worms that makes the body develop male structures, but they only activated the gene in the brain.

As a result, the female worms still had female bodies, but they behaved like males.

"It suggests sexual behavior is encoded in our genes" and not caused by extra nerve cells specific to males or females, Jorgensen said in a telephone interview.

Animals such as nematodes, fruit flies and mice share many of the same genes as humans and are often used as models to understand human genetics.

But Jorgensen said the study is not likely to resolve the burning question about the genesis of sexual orientation in humans. "A human's brain is much more complex than a worm's brain," he said.

Many scientists think a host of factors such as genetics, hormones and environment may play a role in determining sexual orientation in humans, but this has not been proven.

Jorgensen said the study is interesting because it suggests rather than being caused by extra, sex-specific nerve cells, attraction behaviors are part of the same brain circuit.

The finding was part of a study looking at areas in the worms' brains involved in sexual attraction.

LIVE IN DIRT, EAT GERMS

Nematodes, or C. elegans, are tiny worms about one millimeter long that live in the dirt, chomping bacteria. They have no eyes and rely on smell for navigation and propagation.

There are few males, only one in 500, so most of these female nematodes are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female sexual organs. This gives the female worms the ability to fertilize their own eggs and produce offspring in the absence of a male.

"For the most part they are females," Jorgensen said. "It's really hard to tell that they are hermaphrodites, but they do make these few sperm."

When they do mate with males, female worms produce 1,200 progeny, compared with just 200 when they produce their own sperm.

The researchers were trying to understand the underpinnings of sexual attraction in the male nematodes.

They reasoned it could arise from four extra smell-related nerve cells found only in male worm brains, from four core nerves found in both males and females or from a mix of both.

When they systematically neutralized the male-only neurons, mature male worms still responded to the females.

The findings imply nerve cells common to both male and female worms are central to sexual attraction and sexual orientation.

"They have genes for both male behavior and female behavior in them," Jorgensen said. "It suggests the brain determines behavior."

The study expands on prior studies suggesting a genetic component to sexual orientation.

"This is one more observation. We've seen this in flies and in mice," he said. "The difference is we know what cells are involved."

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

Another step forward brought to us by the NSF. Or wiggle, as it were. I especially like the fact this research is coming out of Utah.

Sixty

Happy Birthday Hillary Clinton! Hope you kick collective ass despite the electorate.

• I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting.
  Ronald Reagan

TOS in the House, Represent

I was happily coding when the Project Manager dropped by for some insight. While I have enjoyed being “dealt back in” to some Architecture steering, it can be very distracting to switch tracks, losing momentum. I gave him a fiercely annoyed face. He laughed and the conversation went:

PM: “Do you remember the Star Trek episode where the kid projected a mean image?”
Me: “Naturally. That's The Corbomite Maneuver.”
PM: “No no no. This is the one with the kid from Gentle Ben.”
Me: *Spock arched eyebrow* “Unfortunately I'm not that old.”
PM: “Uh huh. Well, The Corbomite Maneuver had the Klingons in it where Kirk used a code the Klingons had already broken.”
Me: *eye roll* “Now you're mixing episodes. That could be Day of the Dove or The Trouble with Tribbles… or are thinking Next Generation? There's an alien child that uses holography to convince Riker he's been caught on a secret Romulan base.”
PM: “No. This was definitely the old series.”
Me: “Okay. You remember the crazy looking alien at the end of the credits, right before the Desilu logo comes up?”
PM: “Right! That's the image the kid projected.”
Me: “Yes. That's The Corbomite Maneuver. Now what the Hell do you want?”
PM: “Well, you just made that face at me when I walked up.”
Me: “...”

Thankfully Memory Alpha had an image of the alien so we were able to move on. Still, I love being right about the old stuff. Bitches need to not doubt.

Skin Deep

Very few people can scoop me when it comes to Star Trek news, but Adam has a few times. Being adorable makes it hard to resent him for it. Anyway. I like the fact that I have no idea who Chris Pine is, the guy just casted for Kirk. Hell, I only know two of the primary actors. Will be fresh, new, and all that. My biggest concern so far is that all the cast is hot. Really hot. Eric Bana, Karl Urban, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Zoe Saldana. Even that Anton Yelchin kid is cute. Stupid Hollywood.