FlaSoxxJim

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 09:08 PM) teehee

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 01:16 PM) I'd bet there's a reasonable chance they actually do exist as As-rich bacteria in nature, if the chemist who presented yesterday is worth his salt. He argued quite convincingly that in a normal DNA chain, anything bonded with As instead of P is a particularly weak link and leaves the chain easily severed, requiring repair. The suggestion I got was that this substitution and weakening of P-rich structures was the main mechanism of As poisoning in normal life. Getting around this problem would probably require some mechanism by which either the chain is strengthened/protected by another cellular component, or a mechanism by which breaks are rapidly repaired so as to not become systemic and kill the organism. Both of those seem to me to be adaptations that would require significant expenditures of energy to maintain. As such, if the bugs weren't living as As-rich bacteria in nature, there's no reason for them to maintain this adaptation over multiple generations; it'd be a large selective disadvantage because it'd be such a large waste of energy. A selective disadvantage perhaps, but in an extremophile environment with few or no competing species it is likely an energetic inefficiency the populations could tolerate. Based purely on energetic efficiency arguments obligate anaerobic metabolic pathways should not even persist, but they do because the anaerobes that occupy those niches don't have to compete with metabolically more efficient aerobes. That said, I also don't doubt that As-incorporating populations of these new bacteria exist in specific environmental conditions.

I need to take time to read the Science article, but the Loom blog points out something to keep in mind.

QUOTE (NIUSox @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 11:18 AM) Tailgated there for the Bears game this past Sunday and it has by far the coolest view of the city and the stadium. It is like you are out in the middle of the lake. The coolest view of the stadium would be one that totally obstructs the ugly-a$$ spaceship that landed on the top of once-beautiful Soldier Field.

Don't forget though, these newly described bacteria STILL ARE carbon based. a single atom (phosphorus) has been swapped out in favor of another (arsenic) in the backbone of the DNA molecule. The bacterium itself is still an organic (carbon-based) life form.

Vulpes vulpes couldn't pull the caper off so he got Canis lupis to do it for him.

Tony Millionaire did a fine job on the cover art on the new Costello album.

Ron Santo

RIP Mr. Santo.

Happy Birthday to the guy with one of my favorite avatars.

QUOTE (knightni @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 04:15 AM) Here's one that I saw on TV tonight, Jim. Good for the holidays http://chocolatechipotle.typepad.com/choco...in-martini.html Interesting. The Poorman's version would have a vastly different texture and flavor profile than the original, but it doesn't sound bad at all. But for the saffron syrup I have all the ingredients for the teevee version. The St. Elizabeth's allspice dram is tasty but incredibly intense, and the ginger liqueur is quite delicate (I need to use a full ounce of it to fight though something as tame as 1.5 oz of pear vodka), so I would take the dram down to 1 tsp. or even less. Evan at that amount, the allspice can dominate the drink. Thanks for sharing. We definitely have a couple of Food Network-inspired drinks in home rotation. In particular, Alton Brown's fresh margarita with agave syrup, muddled orange and lime and no triple sec, and a pretty frufru choco-tini that I think came from Rachel Rae are two my wife often calls for.

TDN: Bumwine has come to a close. Not a lot to work with when your starting point is Mad Dog, Thunderbird, Night Train, etc. Still, a good handful of interesting drinks were bandied about. Here's the Twitter feed with all the evening's recipes. My two submissions (under the handle "Sunny&Rummy") were the "Mad Dog and Englishmen", with MD 20/20, Pimms, and English fizzy lemonade, and the topical "DNA with Arsenic" that utilized Mad Dog, Peruvian pisco, lime juice, simple syrup, egg white, and bitters. Here are lovely photos of my submissions. Note the "meat and two veg" effect achieved by the garnish of English cucumbers and oversized Slurpee straw on the Englishmen, and also the crafty DNA double helix Ango bitters design dragged across the egg white foam in the DNA. Unfortunately, I can already feel the mule kick to the back of my head that invariably accompanies a brush with bum wine.

Really it ought to go on Double-Secret Probation, whatever that is.

Pearl Harbor. Germans. Nothing is over until we say it's over.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 02:15 PM) I think the answer is probably neither. From what they presented...it sounds like the DNA of these things seem at least quasi-ordinary, except for the presence of arsenic. Unless their really cool animation was inaccurate (which would be really F***ing disappointing because that was a cool animation), normal DNA structure, normal DNA basically, except with Arsenic substituted 1:1 for Phosphorus. My guess would be that these things are basically bugs that existed in a high arsenic, low-P environment, and a mutation allowed it to make use of As instead of P. I never could get the feed. You are likely right if every other aspect of the DNA structure is the same except for arsenic substitution is identical. Still, what a neat discovery.

Dang webcast seems to be frozen for me. Probably a lot of people logged on. Jumping the gun on this discussion, do you all think the Mono Lake bacteria are evidence of panspermia and arrived here from an extraterrestrial point of origin, or are they evidence that abiogenesis occurred on at least two distinct occasions on Earth? Either way, if they found what they think they found, I really think it is an utterly profound discovery.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 11:04 AM) Poem by Demetri Martin Dammit I'm mad. Evil is a deed as I live. God, am I reviled? I rise, my bed on a sun, I melt. To be not one man emanating is sad. I piss. Alas, it is so late. Who stops to help? Man, it is hot. I'm in it. I tell. I am not a devil. I level "Mad Dog". Ah, say burning is, as a deified gulp, In my halo of a mired rum tin. I erase many men. Oh, to be man, a sin. Is evil in a clam? In a trap? No. It is open. On it I was stuck. Rats peed on hope. Elsewhere dips a web. Be still if I fill its ebb. Ew, a spider… eh? We sleep. Oh no! Deep, stark cuts saw it in one position. Part animal, can I live? Sin is a name. Both, one… my names are in it. Murder? I'm a fool. A hymn I plug, deified as a sign in ruby ash, A Goddam level I lived at. On mail let it in. I'm it. Oh, sit in ample hot spots. Oh wet! A loss it is alas (sip). I'd assign it a name. Name not one bottle minus an ode by me: "Sir, I deliver. I'm a dog" Evil is a deed as I live. Dammit I'm mad.

Zoinks! Stoopid raw HTML mode.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Dec 1, 2010 -> 11:47 PM) Did you know that "Dammit I'm mad" spelled backwards is "dammit I'm mad"? Did you know that "Egad a base life defiles a bad age" spelled backwards is "Egad a base life defiles a bad age"? Your move, Hoss. . .

<!--quoteo(post=2291696:date=Dec 1, 2010 -> 10:09 PM:name=Balta1701)--> QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 1, 2010 -> 10:09 PM) <!--quotec-->Wish I could play Voodo Chile. XV minutes is the exact length of the cut on the US release (the clip above is YouTube truncated at 10 minutes). Mind you, Voodoo Chile is not Voodo Child (Slight Return), with the former closing out side one and the latter side two of Electric Ladyland.

Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

Seenalottalovebutthey'renevergonnaseeanotheronelikeIhadwithyou (these eyes).

What say I post now so I don't have to come up with another stupid X word.

I have 80 degrees and sandy beaches.