Today is June 5. I heard that yesterday was May 35 in some certain places.
Maybe 64=535, 604=535, or anything else? The difference between those 2 numbers in mathematical world is |64 - 535| = 471 |604 - 535| = 69 Both can be divided by 3. Tank Man
Antigenic and Genetic Characteristics of Swine-Origin 2009 A(H1N1) Influenza Viruses Circulating in Humans, Published Online May 22, 2009, Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1176225. Since its identification in April 2009 an A(H1N1) virus containing a unique combination of gene segments from both North American and Eurasian swine lineages has continued to circulate in humans. The lack of similarity between the 2009 A(H1N1) virus and its nearest relatives indicates that its gene segments have been circulating undetected for an extended period. Its low genetic diversity suggests the introduction into humans was a single event or multiple events of similar viruses. Molecular markers predictive of adaptation to humans are not currently present in 2009 A(H1N1) viruses, suggesting previously unrecognized molecular determinants could be responsible for the transmission among humans. Antigenically the viruses are homogeneous and similar to North American swine A(H1N1) viruses but distinct from seasonal human A(H1N1).
YOU are now officially permitted to blame the pigs. .....
A new study, however, suggests pigs really were to blame. Several dozen researchers, led by Rebecca Garten of America’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sequenced full or partial genomes of 76 samples of the new virus, which has afflicted almost 13,000 people around the world so far. In a paper published in Science, they confirm that the closest genetic relatives of the new virus are swine-flu strains from both North America and Eurasia. The virus is made of eight gene segments of known provenance but which have not previously been seen in this combination. The genetic material in them is indeed a hotchpotch derived from avian, human and swine sources, but all eight segments come most recently from pigs.
My husband loves to watch The Simpsons. Monday's episode, Homer Badman, is really touching even this episode was written long time ago. Media is good on "making people look to be guilty without a trial as well as a complete invasion of privacy by setting up camp outside peoples homes". Media is also good on twisting truth by editing and interpreting interview and events into a totally inaccurate segment. Many people would immediately declares that other person is evil when they see what media tell them, but they do not know what is truth. Truth is out there, but people just don't want to seek it. ========= From wiki: "Homer Badman", also known as Homer: Bad Man is the ninth episode of The Simpsons' sixth season and originally aired November 27, 1994. It was written by Greg Daniels and directed by Jeffrey Lynch. After his attempt to grab a gummy candy off of the seat of a young woman's pants is mistaken for sexual harassment, Homer becomes public enemy number one.
.... The next morning, an angry mob marches onto the Simpsons' lawn and claims that Homer sexually harassed Ashley. Homer tries to explain his actions, but the crowd is not interested in his side of the story and continually harasses Homer. "Rock Bottom", a tabloid news show, wants to interview him about his predicament and Homer immediately agrees to be interviewed. However, the interview is heavily (and poorly) edited into a totally inaccurate segment where Homer is portrayed as a sexual pervert. Things go from bad to worse as a media circus arrives at the Simpson home to provide 24 hour coverage of things such as Marge letting the cat out and the family watching TV. ...
This article does tell something. I do hope that the answer to this title is "No".
Will Taiwan Defect to China? by Gordon G. Chang, 05.22.09, 12:01 AM EDT at Forbes .... Ma's administration has been able to make such fast progress in cross-strait relations by compromising his republic's sovereignty. For instance, the government in Taiwan is now participating in World Health Organization activities, when that institution describes the island as "China (Province of Taiwan)." It's a sign that Ma has made a critical concession to Beijing.
.... The agreements he has sponsored--and the ones he contemplates--will give Beijing economic leverage that will inevitably weaken resistance to Chinese rule. Tellingly, he has refused to submit the China agreements to ratification by the island's legislature. The failure to do so indicates contempt for democratic norms, especially because the pacts were negotiated not by the governments of Taiwan and China but by their ruling parties, and they were signed by nongovernmental organizations.
... Moreover, Ma has been undermining democratic institutions by constricting the right to protest, intimidating the citizenry and pressuring the country's media. Some Taiwanese even fear that the Kuomintang will cancel the 2012 presidential election, and with each passing week that fear seems less like a partisan rant and more like a well-founded concern.
From wiki: Chiune Sugihara (杉原 千畝 Sugihara Chiune, January 1, 1900 – July 31, 1986) was a Japanese diplomat, serving as Vice Consul for the Japanese Empire in Lithuania. Soon after the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union, he helped several thousand Jews leave the country by issuing transit visas to Jewish refugees so that they could travel to Japan. Most of the Jews who escaped were refugees from Poland or residents of Lithuania. Sugihara wrote travel visas that facilitated the escape of more than 6000 Jewish refugees to Japanese territory risking his career and his family's life. Because of his actions in saving Jews from the Nazis, Sugihara was honored by Israel as Righteous Among the Nations.
From TW: 猶太人的救星:杉原千畝(sugihara chiune): 另一位比奧斯卡‧辛德勒早三年,在立陶宛(Litva SSR)救出六千名猶太人的日本人,動機就純粹是「救人」,而且是違背日本政府的命令,不顧自身前途,獨斷專行地下了判斷。這位猶太人救星,正是當時駐立陶宛日本領事:杉原千畝。
From youtube: 杉原千畝・命のビザ・6000人ユダヤ人救済: 日本版シンドラー・元外交官杉原千畝氏は、当時第二次大戦下にあった欧州リトアニア国 日本領事館の領事代理時代に、ナチスドイツの迫害から逃れようとポーランドからリトア ニアに脱出してきたユダヤ人難民約6000人に、日本政府の意に反しながらも人道的立 場に立ち,独断で日本通過のビザを発給し続け多くの尊い命を救いました.昭和22年、 ヨーロッパでの収容生活を終え帰国。新たに再出発した日本国外務省から、命のビザ発給 の件で解雇される。没後、、鈴木宗男衆議院議員の強い働きかけで、外務省は、しぶしぶ 、彼の名誉を回復した。
Technology: The holy grail for plant biologists, Magdalena Skipper, Nature Reviews Genetics 10:350 (June 2009). ....Both studies rely on zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) — engineered enzymes that create double-stranded breaks at specific loci and that have previously been used to modify, in vitro, plant transgenes and endogenous genes in human cells.....
ARTICLE SERIES: Genome-wide association studies, Nature Reviews Genetics vol. 10 (June 2009). In the past 2 years genome-wide association studies in humans have revealed dozens of disease-associated loci and have provided insights into the allelic architecture of complex traits. Along the way, much has been learned about how best to carry out such studies. The articles in this series examine these design issues and the technical challenges that remain; for example, identifying association signals and interpreting the molecular mechanisms by which they exert their biological functions.
Plant biotechnology: Zinc fingers on target, Matthew H. Porteus, Nature 459, 337-338 (21 May 2009) The existing methods of creating genetically modified plants are inefficient and imprecise. Zinc-finger technology offers the prospect of opening up a swifter and more exact route for crop improvement. ....The ability to create precise genetically modified plants is one approach to that end, and papers by Shukla et al.1 and Townsend et al.2 (pages 437 and 442 of this issue) provide a promising way forward. Both groups exploit the potential of enzymes called zinc-finger nucleases.
The ubiquitin-26S proteasome system at the nexus of plant biology, Richard D. Vierstra, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10:385-397 (June 2009). The ubiquitin-26S proteasome system is one of the most pervasive pathways of intracellular protein regulation in plants. It controls hormone signalling, chromatin structure and transcription, tailoring morphogenesis, responses to environmental challenges, self-recognition and the battle between pathogens and their plant hosts.
Stressed Out Over a Stress Hormone, Elizabeth Pennisi, Science 324(5930):1012 - 1013. The hormone ABA lets plants handle rough times and holds promise for making drought-resistant crops, if only researchers could nail down its molecular partners.
Atmospheric chemistry: The man who smells forests, Erik Vance, Nature 459, 498-499 (2009). Chemist Allen Goldstein has spent his career tracking elusive compounds emitted by trees. Erik Vance joined him for a tour of the woods. ... At sunrise, the trees start pumping out a complex mix of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as pine-scented terpenes. By mid-morning, the westerly breeze adds a dose of the VOC isoprene from oak woodlands about 30 kilometres away. Then, as the sun reaches its peak in the sky, pollution from California's Central Valley makes its way up into the mountains... ... Estimates suggest that the vast majority, perhaps up to 90%, of Earth's VOC output comes from vegetation ...
"Agriculture" Is Not a Dirty Word, Allen S. Levine, Science 324(5931):1140. Agricultural science is ripe for a renaissance. For too many years, the agriculture sciences have been disparaged in the science and education communities, perhaps because agronomy, soil science, plant pathology, and animal science use a problem-solving approach rather than simply seeking knowledge.
PROFILE: RUTH LEY: Gut Reactions, Elizabeth Pennisi, Science 324(5931):1136 - 1137. A young microbial ecologist is helping to transform medical microbiology into a modern interdisciplinary science.
It is raining and raining. Everything is wet. I think that people in Brisbane area won't need to worry about water supply for a while. Wivenhoe, Somerset & North Pine combined total fill is 67.5%.
The rain is really heavy and the drain system here is really bad. On our way home, there is a above-road bridge is flooded with >15 cm depth water, there is a roundabout is flooded with >20 cm depth water, and the road outside the house we live and the driveway and path to our granny-flat just like a small stream.
Here is Water level update: 20 May 09 by Seqwater: Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine dams Combined levels at 67.5%. WIV (Wivenhoe) 51.2%, SOM (Somerset) 100%, NPD (North Pine) 98.39%. Combined levels have increased by 8.22% in the past 24 hours, adding 8-8.5 months of additional supply to the system. Somerset is at 100% and overnight it is expected water will release over the fixed spillway. In addition we are currently releasing from two cone valves.
Seqwater expects levels to get close to 70% by mid-morning tomorrow. The last time dams were at this level was July 2002.
I don't know how to translate this stuff, but it does look scary. Taiwan's government which is ruled by KMT party currently, use this against demonstration people. Using this on people is too cruel and bloody.
Some interest papers. Sequence is not everything, Natalie de Souza, Nature Methods 6:320 - 321. A new algorithm for identifying evolutionary constraint incorporates information on local DNA topology, and leads to the finding that this topology is conserved across species.
An Invasive Plant Paradox, M. E. Rout and R. M. Callaway, Science 324(5928):734 - 735. One reason that invasive plants may thrive in new environments is their interactions with soil microbes that increase nitrogen cycling.
How to map billions of short reads onto genomes, Cole Trapnell and Steven L Salzberg, Nature Biotechnology 27(5):455 - 457. Mapping the vast quantities of short sequence fragments produced by next-generation sequencing platforms is a challenge. What programs are available and how do they work?
I read today's news on the Liberty Time. There is an article (嘉南大圳之母/蔡崔源算盤配水 完成八田志業) talking about how Mr. Tsai continued Mr. Hatta Yoichi's Chianan Irrigation Waterwork and the Wushantou Reservoir (Hatta Dam), Tainan, TAIWAN. This Chiana Irrigation Waterwork has transformed the Chianan Plain from a drought and barren wasteland to fertile farmland. Many Taiwanese admire them and honor that Mr. Hatta Yoichi as the Father of the Chiana Irrigation and Mr. Tsai as the Mother of the Chiana Irrigation. 推動烏山頭水利系統登錄世界遺產 (Promote and endorse "The Hatta Dam of Taiwan" as World Heritage)
Some articles (八田外代樹像の建立 永い時を経て、なお美しい愛の物語,八田与一記念館および国際水利研究センター建設のよびかけ,嘉南大圳應登錄世界文化遺產) on this blog: 推動烏山頭水利系統登錄世界遺產. I don't know Japanese language, but I think this should still be a good reference site.