] freenode exists to provide an interactive environment for
] coordination and support of peer-directed projects,
] including those relating to free software and open
] source. Our network is currently implemented using
] Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Our aim is to help improve the
] communicative and collaborative skills of our
] participants and to maintain a friendly, efficient
] environment for project coordination and technical
] support.

We have been meaning to colonize an IRC channel for awhile now. We couldn't make our mind up about which which network. Freenode is great. Its the perfect network for us.

irc.freenode.net, #meme ... Colonize it.

For more information on Freenode, click thru and check out the FAQ & Philosophy pages.

MemeStreams IRC Channel

New "biopunk" book by Margaret Atwood. I can't wait to read it:)

Amazon.com: Books: Oryx and Crake

inignoct wrote:
] ]] A controversial IVF technique could see babies
] ]] being born with three parents, scientists have suggested.
] ]]
] ]] Experts in China say they have created embryos using eggs
] ]] from two women and sperm from one man...
] ]
] ]Marie, should this be legal or not?
]
] i have no problem with this. they're just using a healthy
] woman's egg cell as a carrier, right? there shouldn't be any
] of the donors DNA left to complicate the fertilization.
]
] it's like, one lady had a cracked mixing bowl, so she borrowed
] her neighbors bowl in order to mix up the ingredients for some
] cookies. as long as the neighbors bowl wasn't still caked
] with paprika and chili powder from her own cooking, the
] cookies should be fine, untainted by her neighbors recipe.
]
] seems like calling it three-parent is misleading if the donor
] of the "blank egg" has no genetic effect. does the cytoplasm
] have more to do with embryonic development than i think it
] does? a genetic or mechanical influence?

I am not sure that this should be legal. Seems to me, and it states in the article as well, that this is getting a tad too close to human cloning for my tastes. Yes, there is genetic material found in the cytoplasm of a cell, namely the DNA found in the mitochondria. So basically, they are mixing DNA from three different adults. The mixing bowl analogy would be better suited when there is a surrogate mother involved...in that sense, the mixing bowl would be the womb, and nothing else.
This procedure causes an child to be born with three differnt kinds of DNA, which could cause problems scientists have never even run into. It raises an interesting scientific question about what would happen, though. As of now, your nuclear DNA is a mix of your parents DNA, while mitochondrial DNA is only inherited from your mother. Seems to me, that due to the fact that you can only inherit it from your mother, cellular machinery may rely on that assumption in some way.
Either way, its too close to human cloning, which is shady as hell:)

RE: BBC NEWS | Health | Foetus with three parents created

] Beginning next summer, a tiny bio-chip developed at UC
] Berkeley will help researchers in Nicaragua understand
] and screen for a tropical disease that incapacitates as
] many as 100 million people each year.

Lab Notes: Research from the Berkeley College of Engineering

Quentin Tarantino and Neal Stephenson are birds of a feather.

Both are passionate about their work and conduct extensive research on the subject matter. The artists' latest efforts have been criticized for being overloaded with details -- some might say trivia -- that demonstrate their mastery of the literature. Their works are laced with references within references, including many so obscure that few in the audience are likely even to detect all of them, let alone trace them back to the source.

Each of these works is so large, so grand, so packed with detail, that the marketplace is unable to accommodate it all at one time. And so a story is broken into pieces, with the releases spaced apart in time, that the audience might take advantage of the intermission to savor the tasty bits of the first course while waiting in eager anticipation of the next.

[That movie rocked...go see it now. Why are you still sitting there?! GO....NOW!:) -Nano]

Channeling Propellerheads on Kill Bill and Quicksilver

SunnComm drops its lawsuit.. That was quick.

] Jacobs said in an interview late last night that a
] successful lawsuit would do little to reverse the damage
] done by the paper Halderman published Monday about his
] research, and any suit would likely hurt the research
] community by making computer scientists think twice about
] researching copy-protection technology.
]
] "I don't want to be the guy that creates any kind of
] chilling effect on research," Jacobs said.

] I just thought about it and decided it was more important
] not to be one of those people. The harm's been done . . . if I
] can't accomplish anything [with a lawsuit] I don't want to
] leave a wake," he said.

The Daily Princetonian - Threat of lawsuit passes for student

] The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) today announced
] plans to establish a major science center in Palm Beach
] County, Florida, focusing on biomedical research,
] technology development, and drug design.

Werd

The Scripps Research Institute - News and Publications

Go Elonka:)

STLtoday - News - Story

Ahhhhh science.....

In honor of Nobel prize week, I present to you the Nobel e-museum....lots of good science geeky stuff to be found here:)

Check out the virtual Biochemistry Lab....this is the kind of stuff I do all day:)

-Nano

Nobel e-Museum

Showcase of Nashville electronic music at The End Oct. 11th 9PM. Link goes to this week's Nashville Scene write-up about the local electronic musicians.

...

In short, Area 615 is a fine survey of what gets called electronic music these days. Contributors like Satellite City and Callisto (both side projects featuring members of local band Venus Hum) bring an appreciation for recent trends and ideas--e.g., the "glitch" style of clicking and popping noises promulgated by the German label Mille Plateaux. Notably different, but hardly out of place here, is Mr. Natural, who uses contact microphones, guitar pickups and the surfaces of objects to create what could appropriately be called sound explorations. His approach shares a kinship with a totally different group of musicians, among them San Francisco's Loren Chasse and the UK's Jonathan Coleclough, who electronically process field recordings to create pieces that can be at once gentle and disorienting.

Props to all the people on this CD....this is a truely great thing, and I can't wait to buy my copy (aKa, sell some at PN and reserve one for me damnit:))

New compilation CD and upcoming live show survey Nashville's electronic musical underground