- Today is a rare day. Science has accomplished something
that both matters and may actually help humanity. Credit goes to an
international team of three scientists who have won the Nobel
Prize for medicine or physiology after discovering how cells precisely
transport material. Americans James Rothman and Randy Schekman and German Thomas
Sudhof shared the prize for their discovery of the way "vesicles" act
like a fleet of ships transporting their goods to the exact destination. This
process is an essential component of the way the brain communicates, the
release of hormones and function of parts of the immune system. As it turns
out, the billions of cells that make up the body are not empty blobs, but are
instead packed with precision machinery that performs a vital function on a
daily basis. Cells can only function properly when they have the correct
materials in the correct place at the correct time. Rothman, Schekman and
Sudhof discovered that vesicles are tiny bubbles of fat which act as the cell's
internal shipping service, sending material such as enzymes, neurotransmitters
and hormones, around the cell. They are also versatile entities capable of
fusing with the outer surface of the cell and releasing their contents into the
wider body. "Had a major impact on our understanding of how cargo is
delivered with timing and precision within and outside the cell,” the Nobel
Prize committee wrote in its analysis. "Without this wonderfully precise organization,
the cell would lapse into chaos." Rothman, from Yale University, unearthed
proteins embedded in the vesicles, which act as the docking mechanism meaning
the cargo is released in the correct location. Schekman, from the University of
California at Berkeley, then found that mutations in three genes resulted in a
"situation resembling a poorly planned public transport system.” He also
had the best observation of the trio when he found out that he had won the
Nobel Prize. "My first reaction was 'Oh, my God!’ That was also my second
reaction,” Schekman said, proving another amazing discovery: Scientists
actually have a non-dorktastic sense of humor……..
- Culture clashes can be a lot of fun. Salt Lake City is
rarely the location of such clashes, unless you count people who think coffee
is the worse caffeine-related evil with those who believe that tea is truly the
most vile caffeine-tinged drink. However, Sunday was that rare day when two truly
different cultures came face to face in the Mormon metropolis, with hundreds of
nearly naked people showing up to run around the city in their underwear at the
same time the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Semiannual General Conference brought
thousands of Mormon faithful downtown. The undie run is essentially a
collection of free spirits and exhibitionists who use their bodies as living
canvases for all manner of causes, both liberal and conservative. However,
event organizers insist they do not suggest or mandate any causes for runners
to advocate. This year, participants pimped for everything from legalizing
marijuana to same-sex marriage reform and autism awareness. Event organizer
Eric Steen explained that the purpose of the event is to take a unique approach
to pushing for reform. “You can go out in suits and picket signs and stuff like
that and make a statement, but nobody really looks at those guys,” Steen said.
“But you go out in your underwear, everyone’s going to look at you to see
what’s going on.” Nate Porter, another of the event’s organizers, had to work
hard to reschedule the event as well as change the name this year because of
the presence of Mormon Mania in the city. The real problem in all of this is a
small group of ass-hatted city officials who told Porter and his crew just
weeks before their event that they would have to pay several thousands of
dollars to carry out the run as a planned event, in order to pay for police and
other resources. Rather than swallow that cost, Porter and pals elected to
change the date for their fun and morph the event into a mix between an undie
run and a free speech protest………..
- Does anyone know who Amanda Palmer is? Anyone? Whoever she
is, she somehow believes that she can be the peacemaker in the truly ridiculous
and pointless skirmish between talent-less pop hacks Miley Cyrus and Sinead O'Connor. Neither
Cyrus nor O’Connor has a shred of musical talent and maybe trying to ride the
same general shock-and-offend gimmick to fame is the reason the two are at
odds, but Palmer wants to step in and calm the waters. As it turns out, Palmer
is a former member of a solid indie rock band called Dresden Dolls and to help
mend the broken fences between Cyrus and O'Connor, she recently performed a
mash-up of songs by the two. During a show, Palmer surprised the audience with
a bizarro combination of Cyrus’ hack-tastically bad “Wrecking Ball” and O'Connor's
infamous cover of Prince's “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Before dropping her crappy
pop hybrid on a captive audience, Palmer warned fans what they were about to
hear. "What I wish to convey with this song is a peace-brokering between Sinead,
who's awesome, and Miley, who's awesome - may they see their similarities instead
of their differences,” she said. None of this would have been necessary if not
for O’Connor’s open letter warning Cyrus not let the music industry make a
"prostitute" out of her. Because it’s far too late for that given
that Cyrus is already all too happy to act like a whore on stage and in her
videos and because she unnecessarily kicked it up a notch by mocking O'Connor's
battles with psychological illnesses over the years, Palmer probably should
have let it go. Hell, O’Connor even insisted the spat was over, so everyone
should choose to not care if she’s telling the truth or not and just keep
moving………
- Iranians DO wear pants. Israeli prime
minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be surprised to learn this because after all, he
recently suggested the wearing of jeans, capris, pantaloons, jorts and other
pant-like items was verboten in Iran. During a recent interview, Netanyahu decried
Iran’s repressive regime by suggesting that if Iranians were free they would
wear blue jeans, and listen to Western music. The repressed people of Iran
responded to the comments by posting pictures of themselves on social media
sites, wearing all manner of jeans and rocking out to their favorite Western
music while striking comedically absurd poses. Some went so far as to mock up
scenes from ancient Persian history with the protagonists wearing denim. In
actuality, jeans are not banned in the Middle Eastern nation, which does adhere
to a dress code stipulating that women cover their hair and wear modest outer
clothing. Some Western music is allowed, although the freedom is not universal.
Scenes of a young boy in jeans whispering into the ear of the Supreme Leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were a nice bit of comic relief in what is ordinarily
an angry and contentious relationship. So was a doctored photograph of Netanyahu's
address at the UN last year in which he drew a red line across a sketch of a
bomb to address Iran’s move toward a nuclear weapon, with the altered image
showing a female figure wearing jeans, with the Israeli prime minister
appearing to draw a red line across the thighs. Parts of Netanyahu’s comment
were actually correct, especially the part where he said that Iranians
"deserve better" than their current government. "I think if the
Iranian people had their way, they'd be wearing blue jeans, they'd have Western
music, they'd have free elections,” Netanyahu.
Free elections while wearing jeans and rocking out to Mumford & Sons? What
a dream…….
- Dwight Howard ain't dumb, ya hear? Hew new man in the
middle for the Houston Rockets is settling in with his new team, enjoying being
out of Kobe Bryant’s shadow in Los Angeles and away from the pressure of
playing in a major media market, but he’s also none too happy about some very
direct criticism from Basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Abdul-Jabbar
was asked about Howard as a post player and while he praised Howard’s physical
skills, he wasn’t so complimentary about other parts of his game. "Dwight
is an extraordinary athlete and has incredible athletic ability, but basketball
is a game where the most important muscle that you use on the court is the one
between your ears," Abdul-Jabbar said. "Dwight's basketball IQ is not
up to speed for him to be a dominant player." While those remarks do
suggest that the mental portion of Howard’s game is not up to par, nothing
there directly or indirectly says that Howard is dumb – just lacking in hoops
savvy. Howard being the oversensitive superstar he is, he didn’t see the
situation that way. "You can't win three Defensive Player of the Year
trophies and be stupid. That can't be done," Howard said. "And I
don't think any coach that has ever coached me has said I have a low IQ for
basketball. Have I done some dumb stuff on the floor? Yes, every player has.
Have I done some stupid things in life? Yes, it's life.” As he continued on his
rant, Howard went scattershot with a range of remarks about how he’s in Houston
now, with people who have his back and will ride with him. Oh, and he’s still a
seven-time All-Star who has averaged 18.3 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.2 blocks
in his nine-year career….during which he has made a grand total of one NBA
Finals appearance. He’s been injury-plagued, drama-plagued and created
more headaches than he has been worth much of the time. To end his diatribe,
Howard passive-aggressively challenged Abdul-Jabbar to come to Houston and face
him like a man. “I will say if he has anything to say, I am here in Houston.
We can talk man to man. That's how I feel,” Howard concluded………
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