Good riddance indeed! I hadn't realized it was the third-snowiest January in Chicago history. With 6 more inches expected, although much of it after midnight.
Of course, February is typically the coldest and snowiest month of the year.
Didn't find the write-up about the Neanderthal particularly clear, so I tried to check out the Nature article. Didn't particularly feel like paying $3.22 to see the whole article, but the first page was available for free. What struck me is that the new conclusions are not based on direct knowledge of the Neanderthal genome. I hadn't known that the full genome was available, and it isn't. Rather, the conclusions are based on the assumption that if a stretch of DNA contains a gene with a variant present in both Neanderthals and those of European ancestry but not in sub-Saharan Africans, then all the genes in that stretch are of Neanderthal origin. This assumption is plausible enough to get the article published in Nature, but I think it still has to be treated with a bit of caution.
That nicotine is addicting has been common knowledge for decades. I hadn't previously heard anything about a specific gene being involved. Does this mean some people do NOT become addicted? That would be news, I think.
On the face of it, I suppose there could be a genetically based predisposition to nicotine addiction. There certainly seems to be a predisposition to alcohol addiction that runs through families, i.e. is genetically based. But it does seem hard to blame the Neanderthals for our current woes. I heard a few years ago that some scientist showed that all red-haired people somehow have the Neanderthal strain running more true in them than folks with other hair colors. That sort of statement is good for a laugh, but somehow it doesn't strike me as terribly likely or even provable beyond a reasonable doubt. This smoking gene seems to me in the same category, an interesting and amusing curiosity, but ultimately difficult to prove.
Neanderthals aside, I tend to be cordially suspicious of claims that this, that and the other behavior (usually socially undesirable) is genetically based. I mean, is there a nose picking gene, or a puppy kicking one, or one that predisposes a person to like The Rolling Stones instead of Tchaikovsky, or the other way round? How far do we take determinism? There comes a point, surely, where people become responsible for their own actions and their own lives. Not everything can be attributed to genes or nurture or environment. If effective treatment for nicotine addiction comes out of this purported discovery, well and good. Otherwise, smoking becomes just another in the long list of things we, perhaps rightly, can't blame people for.
Thanks for the link, puddle. The effects are small. And with no indication of how they might be connected to smoking, I'm not inclined to pay much attention to them.
Well done, Alan, if you can get your guy out. From your brief description, it sounds like he was railroaded.
RE Listener's comments on the State of the Union: It is a pleasant change to have an intelligent president, isn't it? He's not perfect, but he's a vast improvement.
Yes, that feeling of feverishness lasted only a few hours. May have had more to do with the change of temperature than any sort of illness. And I slept pretty well last night, so felt ready to get things taken care of today.
Oh yes, Bill. Attributing motives to people is a very uncertain business at best; but gauging their knowledge (of various kinds) is an easier matter. I got the poster to the Federal Defender in the form of a digitized photo in time for him to forward it to the prosecutor, and delivered the original to him in time for him to have it processed into a version that can be blown up even more with a projection system if he should prefer that. I did it largely by hand, and it looks pretty decent from a distance of a few feet; but doing it by computer is beyond me. I discovered a type of poster board with a very subtle grid on it that is visible only close up and with the light at a certain angle. For making an exponential curve on a Cartesian graph I drew it on semi-logarithmic graph paper with a straightedge, then transferred enough points to the grid on the poster board that I could make a good simulation drawing point-to-point. Primitive, but not too doggy. The labels I printed using the computer, and glued on with rubber cement.
Beautiful weather today; it warmed a bit as the day progressed, and the sky cleared (mostly); beautiful blue sky and white clouds by the afternoon. I expect we might have had close to three quarters of an inch of rain, but there is no more in the forecast.
Personally, I like hand-rendered work better. Our culture has gotten to the point where fancy computerised power point presentations are what's expected. But when the system freezes just before (or during) a presentation, hand- rendering starts looking pretty savvy.
Similarly, when I worked at the Bookshop we had to turn off the computers during a thunderstorm. (Our boss did not trust power cords.) Customers still came and went. I doubt that the majority of teens today could have done the math and mechanically swiped credit cards, etc.. But us old people just carried on figuring it all by hand.
Hallo, Howard Dean!
ReplyDeleteGood riddance indeed! I hadn't realized it was the third-snowiest January in Chicago history. With 6 more inches expected, although much of it after midnight.
ReplyDeleteOf course, February is typically the coldest and snowiest month of the year.
I have a great cartoon to share about this...but will have to wait until I'm at my computer. :-)
DeleteDidn't find the write-up about the Neanderthal particularly clear, so I tried to check out the Nature article. Didn't particularly feel like paying $3.22 to see the whole article, but the first page was available for free. What struck me is that the new conclusions are not based on direct knowledge of the Neanderthal genome. I hadn't known that the full genome was available, and it isn't. Rather, the conclusions are based on the assumption that if a stretch of DNA contains a gene with a variant present in both Neanderthals and those of European ancestry but not in sub-Saharan Africans, then all the genes in that stretch are of Neanderthal origin. This assumption is plausible enough to get the article published in Nature, but I think it still has to be treated with a bit of caution.
ReplyDeleteThat nicotine is addicting has been common knowledge for decades. I hadn't previously heard anything about a specific gene being involved. Does this mean some people do NOT become addicted? That would be news, I think.
On the face of it, I suppose there could be a genetically based predisposition to nicotine addiction. There certainly seems to be a predisposition to alcohol addiction that runs through families, i.e. is genetically based. But it does seem hard to blame the Neanderthals for our current woes. I heard a few years ago that some scientist showed that all red-haired people somehow have the Neanderthal strain running more true in them than folks with other hair colors. That sort of statement is good for a laugh, but somehow it doesn't strike me as terribly likely or even provable beyond a reasonable doubt. This smoking gene seems to me in the same category, an interesting and amusing curiosity, but ultimately difficult to prove.
DeleteNeanderthals aside, I tend to be cordially suspicious of claims that this, that and the other behavior (usually socially undesirable) is genetically based. I mean, is there a nose picking gene, or a puppy kicking one, or one that predisposes a person to like The Rolling Stones instead of Tchaikovsky, or the other way round? How far do we take determinism? There comes a point, surely, where people become responsible for their own actions and their own lives. Not everything can be attributed to genes or nurture or environment. If effective treatment for nicotine addiction comes out of this purported discovery, well and good. Otherwise, smoking becomes just another in the long list of things we, perhaps rightly, can't blame people for.
http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20100426/smoking-genes-indentified
DeleteThanks for the link, puddle. The effects are small. And with no indication of how they might be connected to smoking, I'm not inclined to pay much attention to them.
DeleteI hope Listener and Bill are feeling better.
ReplyDeleteWell done, Alan, if you can get your guy out. From your brief description, it sounds like he was railroaded.
RE Listener's comments on the State of the Union: It is a pleasant change to have an intelligent president, isn't it? He's not perfect, but he's a vast improvement.
Not a lot better, here, but working on drowning the germs.
DeleteYes, that feeling of feverishness lasted only a few hours. May have had more to do with the change of temperature than any sort of illness. And I slept pretty well last night, so felt ready to get things taken care of today.
DeleteRe "railroaded": This sounds like one of those cases where one should not attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence.
DeleteTouche.
DeleteOh yes, Bill. Attributing motives to people is a very uncertain business at best; but gauging their knowledge (of various kinds) is an easier matter. I got the poster to the Federal Defender in the form of a digitized photo in time for him to forward it to the prosecutor, and delivered the original to him in time for him to have it processed into a version that can be blown up even more with a projection system if he should prefer that. I did it largely by hand, and it looks pretty decent from a distance of a few feet; but doing it by computer is beyond me. I discovered a type of poster board with a very subtle grid on it that is visible only close up and with the light at a certain angle. For making an exponential curve on a Cartesian graph I drew it on semi-logarithmic graph paper with a straightedge, then transferred enough points to the grid on the poster board that I could make a good simulation drawing point-to-point. Primitive, but not too doggy. The labels I printed using the computer, and glued on with rubber cement.
DeleteBeautiful weather today; it warmed a bit as the day progressed, and the sky cleared (mostly); beautiful blue sky and white clouds by the afternoon. I expect we might have had close to three quarters of an inch of rain, but there is no more in the forecast.
--Alan
Personally, I like hand-rendered work better. Our culture has gotten to the point where fancy computerised power point presentations are what's expected. But when the system freezes just before (or during) a presentation, hand- rendering starts looking pretty savvy.
DeleteSimilarly, when I worked at the Bookshop we had to turn off the computers during a thunderstorm. (Our boss did not trust power cords.) Customers still came and went. I doubt that the majority of teens today could have done the math and mechanically swiped credit cards, etc.. But us old people just carried on figuring it all by hand.
My point is that these are excellent life skills.