Nightly Open Thread
So it appears that Texas is about to pass a bill banning the TSA from randomly patting down would-be air travellers; the TSA must, according to the bill, demonstrate probable cause before administering a physical search. Predictably, the “security” agency has responded by deeming the Texan law “unconstitutional”…according to the Supremacy Clause. Which, if my reading of the relevant portion of the Constitution is correct, is basically an outright lie.
Then again, I’m not a legal scholar.
A spoonful of sugar really does help the medicine go down. And in the case of certain antibiotics, it also boosts the medicine’s effectiveness against persistent strains of bacteria like staph.
So why exactly did Microsoft buy Skype
And does it have anything to do with the rumours that Microsoft might also be looking to buy up Nokia? If you think about it, there is a real opportunity for some high-powered web-driven mobile communications magic to happen there.
…they’re apparently adding support for CentOS to their Hyper-V virtualization platform. Weird.
Grow a mini-garden in an Altoids tin!
Because your office deserves some greenery, but space is limited.
Genetic precursor for obesity confirmed.
And actually, it turns out that genes behave in rather fascinating ways:
…the mother’s KLF14 gene controls other genes associated with body-mass index (obesity), insulin, glucose levels and cholesterol. This means that KLF14 is a “master switch” that controls and shows the connections between metabolic traits.
Researchers made this discovery by recruiting 800 UK female twin participants and studying over 20,000 genes in subcutaneous fat biopsies. They also looked at genes in subcutaneous fat biopsies from Icelandic participants. Between the two studies, researchers discovered the connections between the KLF14 gene and distant genes associated with metabolic traits.
“This is the first major study that shows how small changes in one master regulator gene can cause a cascade of other metabolic effects in other genes,” said Spector. “This has great therapeutic potential particularly as by studying large detailed populations such as the twins we hope to find more of these regulators.”
In a way, I see this as bad news, because it makes it easier for people to now say “I have bad genes!” and ignore the fact that they subsist on a steady diet of cheeseburgers and fried chicken.
Apparently, we have a bent galaxy.
A newly-discovered arm of the Milky Way has shed some light on the shape of our swirling home in the cosmos. Apparently, it’s bent, like the cap of a beer bottle after being bent by the bottle opener.
Social media…now for tinpot despots!
A Britisn journalist gets into a Twitter-based spat with the ruler of Rwanda.
And speaking of tinpot dictators…
…Moammar Gadhafi is kind of a jerk:
Fill an inflatable boat with explosives. Crew it with mannequins. Send it out to sea in search of a humanitarian aid ship to destroy. Behold the desperate ingenuity of Moammar Gadhafi.
I suppose stranger things have been done in wartime. And as soon as I can think of examples, I’ll list them.
This is awesome: a lady snapped a picture of Endeavour’s launch…from the window of a plane!
She also grabbed a video:
Up, up, and awaaaaaaaay!
Best music video ever: Pomplamoose takes on Angry Birds!
I have never played this game, for the record.
I LOLd. And for quite some time, too.
Tonight’s post brought to you by George:
Spaced out!
With regard to Skype, I think MS is converting their user base over to its own products and services. Skype user base to MS software to Nokia hardware. They’re treating it as a protocol or basic service and are going to leverage it against competing protocols/services on Android and Apple OS’s. The Linux version of the Skype client will probably be corrupted or abandoned. 🙁