Goldilocks Intruder

When I first saw this story headline, I thought my good buddy LB had been locked out of her home again and needed a place to sleep.  I hope she's not still sitting out on the curb with a bottle of muskatel wrapped in a brown paper bag!

If Skinny Eating Cheeseburgers is still not OK

For many years, research had pointed to caloric restriction as a way to extend life.  Previous studies were performed using small animals (mice, rats, worms) and clearly demonstrated an advantage to consuming fewer calories as a way to live longer.  This study seems to show that caloric restriction really only improves longevity for obese mammals (mice again).  So, if you are lean, it's not as important.  Basically, the research shows that you probably need to just burn up through exercise whatever you consume.  Eat a cheeseburger and run 10 miles!  Not really.  The research also showed that it was better to not eat the cheeseburger at all.  Darn!!!

Pics of SF back in 1915

I thought these images from the Marina in 1915 were pretty cool.   Why did they get rid of the WHY? coffee cup??  I bet it's a high-rise condo now.

Upside Down Yoga

I think this new workout technique would be perfect for MB.  And, I'm sure he's going to love swinging around like crazy!  What a great bday gift!

Beans Forever

I think this bar would be one of KL and DK's favorites.  But, they would like it even more if it served martinis or Guiness!  MH probably loves this cartoon.

Harvesting Gold is Destroying the Environment

This story was an eye opener!!  It's amazing what companies are doing to harvest gold in South America and Africa and how badly it is destroying the surrounding environment.  A mountain is turned into a huge chemical infested hole in the ground just for the sake of a few million dollars.  Ridonkulous!  I'm so glad I'm a turquoise kind of guy and, surprisingly, my KL is not a big fan of gold either!

Cello Scrotum a Hoax

The heading on this article says it all...

Review of Heme Mechanisms (P450, NOS, and HO)

This review is fantastic!  It goes into the various mechanisms used by heme containing enzymes (P450, NOS, and HO) to catalyze their reactions.  I liked all the electron pushing the authors used as well as the new and interesting argument (at least to me) for the 2nd step in the NOS reaction.  Silverman is a leader in the enzyme mechanism field and doesn't disappoint here.

Stradivarius' Secret Revealed

Of course, it all boils down to chemistry!  This research is pretty remarkable as it was 33 year ago when Professor Nagyvary first suggested the notion that the chemicals Stradivari used on his violins were responsible for the unique sound.  Now, his current results in collaboration with other Texas A&M researchers seem to confirm his idea.  It appears as though the wood was treated quite harshly by the violin maker who used chemicals like borax, fluoride, chromium, and iron salts with the intention of preserving the wood (probably from worms).  These chemicals are all pretty cheap and the Stradivari violins are worth about $5 million!!!  Time to start a violin business!!!

Let Us Out of the Box!!!

Science and reason is back!!!

Odd Job

What happened to all the good henchmen like Odd Job from Goldfinger?!  He and his razor hat are sorely missed.  But, I did see that even he has been made into an action figure.  That's not as hot as my Mr. T rubber duck, but it's pretty darn close.

Funny Story in Today's Chronicle

I thought the story that was originally published back in 1909 was pretty funny.  How times have changed in the last century!!  But, at least kids are still taking cars on joyrides!  

How Robots Get Drunk

This cartoon reminded me of a scene from last night's dinner and boxing party with KL, LB, AR, and DA.  KL says the nerdy kid's hair looks like mine.  I don't see the resemblance.  Mine is SO much cooler!  Isn't it?  Maybe not.

Civic Center Farmers Market

It was a cold and windy day at the Civic Center Farmers Market today.  But, I got lots of good deals and fresh vegetables for the week.  Thanks to DA and AR for going with me and getting me outta the house!  Now, it's time to simmer the turkey meatballs in sauce and then get to reading the Sunday paper.  I wonder what they are saying about Mosley whupping Margarito last night!  What a great fight!  Absolute destruction! 

Angry Sign

I saw this sign walking home yesterday.  Usually, people in SF are always pretty nice except when it comes to parking!  I wonder what happened for this person to insert the additional word for emphasis!

Zeke's Bar

This little bar is around the corner from our condo.  It serves up some mean cheap drinks and the quality of food has dramatically improved.  The chili and wings are great and everywhere you turn there is a TV.  So, everything you need is here.  I'm moving in! 

Two Paths of Indian Migration

In this paper, the authors analyzed 2 rare haplotypes to determine that the first Indians took two different paths in colonizing North and South America.  Both journeys started about 15-17,000 years ago by crossing over Beringia which was an ice sheet that connected Siberia and Alaska.  The two groups are thought to have taken separate paths and as a result might not have interacted or had a common language.  One group continued down the Pacific coast while the other migrated down the Rocky Mountains.  Almost 20,000 years passed before Columbus arrived to find the Indian populations possessing a rich diversity of language and culture.  On a personal note, I am having my DNA sequenced to determine my haplotype.  Should be interesting! 

Is MAOA a Warrior Gene?

When I saw this release, I had to wonder if WWE's Ultimate Warrior should have is MAOA genotyped.  The study involved males from UCSB (where EW went to school).  Aren't all those students supposed to be super mellow?  Anyway...The students with the gene producing less MAOA (MAOA-L) displayed slightly higher levels of agression that those with the high activity gene (MAOA-H) and that a greater response was generated if the provocation was stronger (less vs. more $$ taken away).  So environment plays a role as well.  I guess the idea is that these aggressive individuals degrade neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, etc faster.   I'm not sure if I'm sold on this idea as it was a pretty small study (78 males).  Interestingly, the way they thought they were able to punish the people taking their $$ was by making them eat hot sauce.  In reality, nobody had to eat hot sauce.  I love hot sauce.  Bring on the MAOA-L people and their hot sauce, baby!

CYP450 Catalytic Cycle

I tried to detail as much of the reaction mechanism as possible including the various oxidations states of the iron that are thought to be involved.

Kid Loves TV

Dad needs to lock the doors!!  This cartoon makes me wonder if cable TV were around back in the 70's would MB have been a football player in high school and college?

Eggnog Makers

If they were chickens, I think a few of my friends (especially TL, DA, and DL) would be great eggnog makers!  And, I would be their boss.

Induction of CYP450s

This paper is a great review for those of us working in Pharma and are concerned about CYP induction.

Saliva Test for Diabetes May Be The Future

If I had diabetes, I would hate the daily blood sampling that is currently required for monitoring blood glucose levels.  This study identified 65 proteins that are present in more frequently in type 2 diabetics compared to people that did not have the disease.  Maybe blood glucose is not the only thing we should be monitoring in patients with diabetes and instead we need to start looking at even more factors responsible for the disease and its effects!  If they can extend their work so a non-invasive saliva test can be developed for detection and monitoring of diabetes, I think that would be exciting!

Can you see me now???

I wanna get me one of these when they are ready!  This group at Duke engineers has succeeded at creating a cloaking device that is significantly more improved over their initial device made back in 2006.  It basically works by bending electromagnetic waves (e.g. light) in a manner that makes the object invisible.  Think of the mirage on the road that you see on a hot summer's day or when you rub your eyes and the Cardinals are still playing in the Super Bowl.  Very hot indeed!  Even more impressive was the fact that they made the new device in only 9 days whereas the original device took 4 months.  It also can bend a wider spectrum of electromagnetic waves, so presumably, you would be invisible to those infrared cameras.  Ideal if you are hiding in the forest like in The Fugitive.  Or, if you are Paris Hilton making a movie.  The device was about 20 inches by 4 inches and less than an inch high and made up of 10,000 individual pieces in parallel rows.  A mathematical algorithm helped them determine how to put this all together and it seems as though this algorithm was the key to success of the project.  Fascinating!

Thank goodness for long legs!

Evidently, laying on my legs is the best place in the house to take a snooze!!  Taking a cue from JLo supposedly insuring her butt, I just had my legs insured for $10.

20 Year High School Reunion

Has it really been that long??  I can still remember road trips, disastrous Prom nights, and buying and drinking beer underage.  Oh, and I had this one party...

Homer Simpson Says It All!

I actually saw this cartoon hanging in the Notices board in the Union City BART station.  Right above where someone was passed out!  So appropriate because the next day, service from SF to Fremont was delayed by about an hour.  Get ready for higher fares and reduced service.

Dance At Clubs All You Want And Don't Lose Your Hearing!

This team found that in mice an alteration in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor could effectively turn down the noise the mice were hearing.  And even more importantly, after exposure to super loud noise (100 db) they had less permanent damage to their ears compared to the normal mice.  I think the mutant mice were found to be great dancers as well.  You should've seen them do the robot!  I know a few people like Tom Tom that would probably go for a little genetic alteration so they didn't have to wear fluorescent blue earplugs to the clubs every weekend!

Could this happen to my beloved San Francisco?

In this study, the researchers found that the demise of the Supe people on the coast of Peru were done in by a series of major earthquakes, landslides, and rains topped off with some harsh sandstorms.  Sounds like fun!  Daily life became impossible and the people that had been around for centuries died out.  Before all the natural disasters 3600 years ago, the area was rich maritime farming community that prospered and built impressive stone pyramids much earlier than the more famous Mayans.  It is well known that San Francisco is a hub of earthquake activity and it doesn't take much to envision a similar doomsday scenario.  If it happens, I hope I'm basking in the sun drinking a margarita and getting a Thai massage someplace enjoying my retirement!

Hilarious WWE Star

Santino Marella is one reason I watch the WWE every Monday night.  He is so hilarious and his interactions with other performers are always entertaining.  He very rarely wins which is a travesty, but is rarely boring.  I hope he gets another shot at a title and has a successful operation manhood reset!  

Historic Inauguration 2009

Happy days are here again - I hope.  Well they can't get much worse - I hope.  Go Obama!  Go away GWB and Cheney!!

Rapid Evolution in Icelandic DNA

In this work, Helgason et. al. analyzed DNA from skeletal remains from 68 Icelandic individuals that were over 1,000 years old and compared it to contemporary Icelandic DNA as well as DNA from other populations around Iceland (Scotland, Ireland, etc).  This was a pretty large and very impressive genetic study.  They found that the older DNA more closely resembles the DNA from the sourrounding countries than to contemporary Icelandic DNA.  Their findings demonstrate that the women from Iceland came from Scotland and Ireland (presumably with the Vikings) and are a great example of genetic drift in a population.  The gene pool of contemporary Icelandic people was found to have evolved more rapidly (the oval in the figure representing the gene pool of Iceland gets bigger faster) than the surrounding populations that probably first settled Iceland.  Very cool!   (Figure Credit: Helgason et al., doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000343.g002)

Efficient Energy Transmission By Conjugated Polymers

This discovery is pretty cool as quantum mechanism transfer of energy was thought to occur only at low temperatures and in more complex systems than the polymers used here.  Prior to this work, random hopping was used to explain the transfer of energy in polymers at room temperature and that much of the energy was lost.  This work shows that energy can be tranferred along the chemical bonds of these conjugated polymers and not through space.  This finding could lead to different classes of solar cells and allow for a more efficient transfer of energy using these polymers.  

Beer for My Horses

This had to be one of the worst movies of 2008.  It was so bad that only 3 people wrote a review about it. Written and co-starring Toby Keith we stumbled upon this movie playing on the Country Music TV Channel.  We watched it for about 10 min when we caught this classic pickup line "Wanna comeover for a corndog or sumthin?"  Hilarious!  What's funnier is that it worked.  It gets even better anytime Ted Nugent shows up.

Dinner is Cookin!

There are few things that are more enjoyable than enjoying fantastic San Francisco weather, great food, and even better friends!  But, what are those green items??  They better not get in the way of the meat!!

Relax

The sign in the distance displays my motto for this long weekend!  And, it's not diet coke.

San Francisco Cheerleaders

Look closely and you can see AR and MH jumping for joy.  They are excited for the BBQ, but are missing their pom poms.  Fantastic weather in the city today!

McD's Billboard

I never thought I would see the word "snack hole" on a billboard.  Way to go McDonald's!!

Kitten Staredown

I get this look from both kittens when I get up to go to the kitchen.  Quit looking for a handout!

El Huarache Loco for Lunch

We went to this little taco stand for some lunch and I liked the sign.  Actually, I was confused by the cartoon character on the sign and exactly what the heck it was.  A google search indicates that huarache is type of sandal but also a type of Mexican dish.  So maybe that cartoon thing is the tortilla part of the dish.  If that is the case, it's pretty funny that it is singing.  Also, the translation from google for what it is singing is: "the huarache madman wants the bailiwick."  Doesn't seem like a great thing to be singing, but my lamb taco was delicious and cheap!  Thanks huarache madman!!

Trip to Farmers Market

We went with D and A to the Farmers Market on Alemany Blvd near South San Francisco.  I love the sign you see as you enter indicating that it both a Farmers Market and Flea Market on the weekend.  We found lots of great prices compared to the prices at our nearby Farmers Market.  And the people working the stands were great - especially, Hummus Guy and Afghani Girl!  We also got a scare from a homeless guy careening down the hill on a shopping cart full with garbage.  That was exciting!  So, it was well worth the trip!  Thanks for the ride punks!

My New Favorite Accessory

We watched a movie called "Blow Out" last night that starred John Travolta.  But, what I will most remember about this movie is the rabbit's foot necklace Nancy Allen wore in every scene she was in.  I don't understand why this fashion statement didn't catch on.  PETA should have been there to throw flour on her.  Her performance is something to be seen as well.  Dennis Franz has a sweet role as a sleazy photographer that thinks it's cool to wear tank top t-shirts with grease and food stains on them all the time.   Who says the '80's weren't cool??  Amazingly, 93% of critics gave this movie a good review.  Well, John Lithgow was pretty good as some type of serial killer/construction worker.

Top Ten Things We'll Miss About GWB

PEACE OUT!

IHOP Girl Gone Wild

This girl will be lots of fun when she's old enough to hit the clubs!  I have to admit that my IHOP experiences would have been much more memorable if this would have happened while I was there.

Courtney Love Interview

I read this interview in Heeb magazine and can't imagine how the interviewer was able to make any sense of it.  Amazing!   It sounds like KH after a couple of drinks.  Astonishingly enough, it was published in "The Wasted Issue."  Courtney does look pretty good in the photos though.

You Go Grandma!!!

I'm thinking this might be KL at age 80.  But, granny is missing a martini with olives.

Was It Really Jill the Ripper??

DNA analysis suggests that Jack the Ripper could have been a woman.

Cheese Is Grosser Than You Thought

I love science, but sometimes it just goes too far!  Why do we need to find out that one of my favorite foods has even more bacteria and other microbes growing in it?  Leave my cheese alone!  Spend more time building an elevator to the moon or figuring out how a way to make burgers delicious yet calorie free!

BART Pic from Today's Chronicle

Check out the caption.  Given the current state of BART (budget shortfall, crappy seats, smelly cars, police shooting, proposed increase in fares while cutting off services), how appropriate it is.

A Case of Mistaken Dinosaur Identity

So I guess there is such a thing as a state Dinosaur???  Who knew? Apparently, CA's is the famous Smilodon fatalis or Sabertooth Cat.  I'll save that tidbit of knowledge for our next CA trivia party - those are tons of fun!  Well some recent research has uncovered that the state dinosaur of TX was misnamed.  So, of course, there has to be someone to push a name change through the legislature.  I hope the people of TX are happy with the way their state government is spending their money!  I know CA is SO much better about their finances!  Hell no!  What finances??  We can't even pass a budget to have finances!!  Don't mess with Texas.