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Hello everyone!
I'm not an english native speaker, therefore, mistakes will be found through the story! And you must tell me which are so I can correct them right away!
After reading lots of fics written by foreign speakers as myself, I was all fired up over it. I've just started going to University and I can no longer go to my english institute and practice the language. So here I am, reading lots of fics apart from books and writing this story in order to not forget how to write.
Nothing left to say apart from the disclaimer: you know as well as me that I don't own Fairy tail; if it was mine, I wouldn't be writing this, it would be in the manga instead.
Fairy tail's first master was in the guild, taking a look to the third generation, when she suddenly heard a familiar voice behind her.
A light-blue haired fairy was flying to her.
"Ceci, long time no see!" she opened her arms
"What are you doing here? Weren't you at Tenrou Island?" the fairy hugged her friend.
"Yep, but I came to pay a visit to the current guild" she said. "And why are you here?
"I've heard about a mage in your guild who has great affinity with my element" she explained "So I came to take a peek".
"Oh, I see". Mavis looked away from her friend, looking for Juvia. "There" she raised her arm and pointed her index finger to the blue haired woman. "She's strong and an extremely kind person" A proud smile was drawn on her face. "She really cherishes her friends. Oh, and she's in deeply love with that ice mage" As she added the latter, she directed her finger to the black-haired man fighting with a pink haired one.
"She certainly looks like a good person" the water fairy stated with a nod. "And what about the ice stripper?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Mavis giggled a little before answering. "Well, let's say he's not at all honest with himself"
Understanding what she meant, Ceci smirked playfully. "Is that so?". With that tone in her voice, the first knew her friend was making something up in her naughty mind.
And she was right.
"Let's see what I can do about that". She pointed her palm to Juvia and a tiny, bright ball of light descended upon her head. But no one in the guild seemed to realized, not even the woman who was just bewitched.
Mavis became a bit worried. Fairy tail was noisy enough without any help from the outside. What did her friend do? She looked at her, asking for an explanation.
Unlike the fairy beside her, Ceci was totally relaxed. In fact, she was obviously satisfied with her work. Putting her hands behind her neck, she said "Just be calm and watch". And smiling with malice she added "Next time they touch, is going to be really funny".
It seemed to be a normal day in Fairy Tail.
Everyone started the day with the usual "how are you doing?" chat and later drinks.
As the day went by, Natsu and Gray started fighting for some random reason no one knew. And when someone tried to separate them, they ended up joining the fight too; like Elfman, who started saying the manhood speech while butting in and a few seconds later was punching the salamander with his beast arm.
Meanwhile, the girls were gathered in one table. Erza was eating her favourite strawberry cake while Lucy was talking with Wendy. Levy was trying to deceive Cana in letting go her third barrel of alcohol for it was still early midday. Juvia was there too, sitting with her "rivals" in love to keep an eye on them but specially on her Gray-sama wrestling near. Since Charla was by Wendy's side, Happy was there too, trying to invite her a fish for lunch.
"Goodbye everyone" the water mage stood up "Juvia is going on a mission with Gajeel-kun". As the others said bye or waved hands, she left the table and looked at Gray for the last time before going out.
She saw him really quick because Gray was sent flying by a kick in the middle of his back and fell over her, pushing both of them to the floor. The next second, something really strange happened.
Juvia was set on... light?
"What the f-?" Gray didn't finish the question. A loud "poof" was heard as the light turned into a dense cloud of smoke, causing everyone to cough until it dissipated.
The entire guild fell in utter silence.
Gray noticed the warmth of his cheeks. But his mind was in blank. Under Gray was lying.. a mermaid Juvia. Her long, light orange tail stretched from her waist and between the man's legs. The edges of her just growth fish ears were razing his hands. Her face denoted confusion as well as the faces of everyone else.
"EHH?" was the general reaction.
Lucy shouted, rushing to them. She pushed Gray a meter from where he was before and embraced the naked chest of her friend. "Something to cover her with!" she asked for help.
Of course, the men didn't lift a finger. Some were really stunned while others were enjoying the view with their heart-shaped eyes. As for the women, none of them had spare clothes. Except for one.
"Ex-quip" she said. Erza retrieved the classical shell-bra for a mermaid from her spacial-wardrobe and started to help Lucy putting it on Juvia.
"How come you have one of those?" asked the blond girl.
Erza smiled. "You never know when it will come in handy" she assured. "Like this time".
As always, her friend's common sense amazed her.
After a minute, Lucy said "done", as she took the mermaid by the shoulders. "God, Juvia, what had happened to you?". But the answer never came.
The blue haired woman seemed puzzled. She was looking everywhere, turning her head from side to side, and when she heard the question, she simply froze in confusion. The growing fear in her eyes was almost palpable; she didn't seem to know where she was or who were the people around her, staring at her so intensely.
"Apart from a mermaid, did she become somewhat stupid?" Natsu was leaning over her with his hand under his chin, which caused Juvia to move a little trying to gain distance between them.
"Don't be so rude" Lucy punched him in the back of his head. After that, the guy put his hand where he had been hit, complaining and asking what had he done to deserve that.
They were arguing, but Juvia was no longer looking them. Suddenly, she seemed to had gotten interested in something.
Or someone.
Gray noticed she was staring at him and a few seconds later he realized that she was over him. "O-oe" he said, trying to stop her but she was already too close. Her index finger was running all over his abs and stopped over his guild mark, amazed by his body. The rest of the guild was laughing thanks to his awkwardness and the delighted Juvia. "H-hey, do something!" he demanded looking at Lucy and Erza. The proximity of the beautiful creature made him really nervous, especially when her finger tip was on his lips.
But the said girls didn't need to move, because Juvia had already moved apart from him.
"What's she doing?" someone asked as they observed her.
She had put a hand over her chest before putting both of them behind her fish-ears. She seemed desperate for some reason.
And Levy guessed what it was. "She can't breathe!" the petit mage realized horrified.
After hearing her, panic went through the guild. "What do we do?" was the general yell.
"Reedus" Erza shouted. "Water, NOW!"
The artist was surprised for being called out but he quickly draw a tank of glass full of water in the air, which become bigger after a few seconds. Gray threw Juvia into it, forgetting any kind of softness in the middle. She entered the water noisily, with a loud "splash", making a lot of bubbles raise to the surface. Her desperate face suddenly turned into a calm one as she realized she could breathe again through her gills. The entire guild sighed in relief.
The mermaid started swimming from one side to another, happily. She smiled thankfully at everyone and they smiled back.
"Now that there's no danger" Natsu began "what the hell happened?".
No one knew.
Mavis was startled by the scene.
"Hahaha" Ceci was laughing really hard. "She became such a cute mermaid".
Mavis turned to look at her friend. "Why did you do that?!"
Ceci smirked. "Come on Mavs, you must admit that was funny".
The first couldn't help but smile. "It certainly was" she giggled. "Gray's expression was the best".
"Told you! And things are going to become better... Oh! I forgot something" and she went flying to Gray's side. "You are the only one who can turn her back to normal" she said with a smooth voice in his ear.
"Huh?". Gray turned around looking for the person who had just whispered in his ear. But no one seemed to had said anything, and finally thinking it was his imagination, he came back to the ongoing conversation.
"So, we don't know why she became a mermaid" Erza stated.
"And the only thing we know is that she has amnesia" Lucy said.
"To the point of not being able to talk?" Wendy asked worried.
The silence was the affirmative answer.
"What if she had been cursed?" Gajeel inquired. Even with his usual iron façade everyone knew he was really worried for her best friend.
"That is the less likely possibility, I mean, it's Juvia!" Lissana was there too.
"Whichever the case, we'll be able to do something" Levy and Freed stepped forward from the multitude. "Leave it to us!"
But a week went by without any progress despite their efforts. The script-mages spent the all day trying to solve the situation but couldn´t come up with anything. They couldn't sense any spell cast on her because Ceci made it that way; the magic of a real fairy was much more powerful than theirs.
During that time Juvia stayed in her tank in the middle of the guild. She welcomed everyone with a bright smile every time the door was opened.
But just like the usual Juvia, she reserved a special smile for Gray.
Every time it was Gray who entered, she would have that smile. The widest smile she could make, in which her eyes closed and her cheeks went a bit pink. Soon after that, she would place her hands on the glass wall and try to be the closest she could to the ice mage who went by her side, saying the usual "hey" for greeting with a smile on his face.
The seventh night since her transformation, Gray went to visit her.
It was past midnight and there was no one in the guild. He went up the platform Reedus had created for the people who wanted to talk to her, and put his arms on the edge of the tank, leaning over it to see the sleeping beauty. She was resting with her tail near her chest.
She was definitely the same Juvia, for she woke up thanks to her gray-sama radar a few minutes later. After opening her eyes and looking side to side, she looked above and saw him. With her special smile on her face she swam to the surface.
"Hey" he greeted. "What's up?"
As always, there was no answer. She simply stared at him smiling. But she did spun happily, telling him she was glad he came to see her.
Gray sighed and made a sad smile. "You are the only one who can turn her back to normal" those words echoed in his head. Were they true?
If so, how did he do it?
After a while he said "You know, I miss you". Then he corrected himself "I mean, your old self". Juvia inclined her head to the right, puzzled by the weak smile. "I never thought I would miss your madness or sick imagination. It's really strange not having you stalking me". His tone was nostalgic and even though she didn't know what he was saying, Juvia didn't like seeing him like that.
She jumped out of the water and tackled him down to the platform floor. Gray made a surprised sound as they fell. "What is wrong with you?" he asked a little frustrated while looking down at her.
She was hugging him around the neck, her face a few inches apart from his. She gulped.
"You should go back to the water, before-"
"G-gray" was the trembling sound that came out of her mouth.
The boy's eyes widened. "Did you just-"
"Gray". She said with more confidence.
"Hey! That is gr-"
"Gray" She modulated perfectly.
He put a hand on her waist. "Okay, that's enoug-" but he was interrupted again. This time, with a kiss.
When their faces where apart again, the girl could see the blush on his cheeks. She giggled while smiling. She had washed out that sad expression from his face and placed instead a really funny one.
Before Gray could do or say something, Juvia started glittering. She saw amazed her lighting skin and raised her eyes to his while the same "poof" from seven days ago was heard.
After the smoke dissipated, his eyes confirmed what his body had been feeling.
Looking down, he found a naked Juvia over him, her bare skin over his bare chest.
"So, Gray, how did you do it?" asked Natsu for the tenth time.
Gray seemed pissed by the question. "I already told you, I didn't do a thing" he said.
The guild was having a party after finding out Juvia returned to her old self. But just like why she had become a mermaid in the first place, how she turned back to normal was a mystery too.
However, Gray seemed to know something. And he didn't want to tell about it; every time he was asked, red stains appeared on his cheeks because he didn't like to think the spell dissipated with a kiss like in fairy tales. So the men gathered around him in order to interrogate him.
As for Juvia, she was surrounded by the girls too, two meters apart from the first ones.
"You don't remember anything from being a mermaid, Ju-chan?" asked Lisanna.
The blue haired woman shaked her head.
"How come? You were soooo cute back then!" A drunk Cana passed an arm around her shoulders.
Levy puffed her cheeks. "I'm sorry Juvia-san, I tried my best but couldn't do a thing".
"Please, don't say that, Levy-san" Juvia pleaded. "I'm really thankful for your help".
"But it is really strange" said Erza.
"Uh-huh". Lucy agreed. "What happened last night that made the difference?".
"When she was back to normal, Juvia was a bit dazed". She looked down at the floor and suddenly blushed by a memory. She raised her arms and put her hands on her cheeks. "The only thing she can remember is being naked over Gray-sama" her shy voice was almost impossible to hear.
Despite that, the entire guild had hushed while she said those words.
"GRAY, YOU JERK" shouted the crowd.
Erza had a kill aura around her. "Gray, you are going to die now" she stated solemnly grabbing her sword.
"Wait, Erza, before that" Natsu rushed to the ice mage side "how did you fuck with a mermaid?".
Gray looked with incredulity to him while shouting "YOU ALL GOT IT WRONG!"
That was it! Please, restrain yourselves from throwing any virtual-fruit at me (? Just mark the mistakes kindly on the reviews :D
After seeing this fanart art/Juvia-Mermaid-353125849 (by Juviaaa) a few scenes popped in my head and stuck there; I love the idea of a mermaid Juvia, so cute just like the picture :B Btw, I don't have an account on deviantart, but if you guys do, you must congratulate the author for the pic! Please, do me that favor.
Review and make this little woman happy? :D
Yumeko nee off!


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June 29, 2011: We're getting a lot of email on POTG, some mocking us that it is skyrocketing in spite of the fact that we called it a Pump & Dump. Well we never said that Pump & Dump stocks don't go up.
One subscriber called POTG another LEXG. We couldn't agree more. We think POTG is exactly like LEXG. That doesn't mean it will go to ten bucks but it might. It might go to a hundred. Who knows? But one thing we do know is that a lot of people will get hurt on POTG just like a lot of people got hurt on LEXG. That's the thing with Pump & Dumps. Some will go up, but all eventually go down and most of the time go down hard. Some (mostly insiders) made a lot of money on LEXG. Even more took part in the millions of dollars lost. We promise you that is what will happen at the end of the day with POTG.
Other emails call for us to do an advisory on POTG. We'd love to do one but the trouble is that this company is based in South America. We can't find out anything about the people involved, including company President Paul Luna, or the properties that it purports to be so valuable. Which brings us to another point. Why would you invest in people far away from the reaches of the regulators, in areas (Peru) known to have a past with problematic mining claims. If this thing is exposed as a scam, who do you expect to chase the schemers who got away with your money?
And please don't fall for the old "well if it's in SEC filings or press releases it must be true otherwise the regulators would stop them". This is not the case. Companies lie in press releases and SEC filings every single day. Few get caught and even fewer or prosecuted. Now we are not saying that Portgage Resources is lying. We just can't confirm anything they say or do background checks on the peole behind it.
One thing is for sure. If this was the real deal, it would not be hiring so many touters to run Pump & Dump campaigns. We promise you that most of the stock investors are buying is coming from insiders.
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I have read Dance to the Tune of Life. It's a very confusing book for several reasons. Denis Noble has a very different perspective on evolution and what evolutionary theory needs to accomplish. He thinks that life is characterized by something he calls "Biological Relativity." I don't disagree. He also thinks that evolutionary theory needs to incorporate everything that has ever happened in the history of life. That's where we part company.I'm working slowly on a book about genomes and junk DNA so I was anxious to see how Noble deals with that subject. I tend to judge the quality of books and articles by the way they interpret the controversy over junk DNA. Here's the first mention of junk DNA from page 89. He begins by saying that it's difficult to explain development and the diversity of tissues in multicellular organisms. He continues with,
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Jonathan Wells illustrates zombie science by revisiting junk DNA
Jonathan Wells has written a new book (2017) called Zombie Science: More Icons of Evolution. He revisits his famous Icons of Evolution from 2000 and tries to show that nothing has changed in 17 years.
I wrote a book in 2000 about ten images images, ten "icons of evolution," that did not fit the evidence and were empirically dead. They should have been buried, but they are still with us, haunting our science classrooms and stalking our children. They are part of what I call zombie science.I won't bore you with the details. The icons fall into two categories: (1) those that were meaningless and/or trivial in 2000 and remain so today, and (2) those that Wells misunderstood in 2000 and are still misunderstood by creationists today.
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
"The Perils of Public Outreach"
Julia Shaw is a forensic psychologist. She is currently a senior lecturer in criminology at the London South Bank University (London, UK). Shaw is concerned that we are creating a culture where public outreach is being unfairly attacked. Read her Scientific American post at: The Perils of Public Outreach.Shaw's point is rather interesting. She believes that scientists who participate in public outreach are being unfairly criticized. Let's look closely at her argument.
What scientists write in academic publications is generally intended for a scientific community, full of nuance and precise language. Instead, what scientists say and write in public forums is intended for lay audiences, almost invariably losing nuance but gaining impact and social relevance. This makes statements made in public forums particularly ripe for attack.
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Debating philosophers: Pierrick Bourrat responds to my criticism of his paper
I recently criticized a paper by Lu and Bourrat on the extended evolutionary synthesis [Debating philosophers: The Lu and Bourrat paper]. Pierrick Bourrat responds in this guest post.
Research Fellow, Department of Philosophy
Macquarie University
Sydney, Australia
Both Qiaoying Lu and I are grateful to Professor Moran for the copious attention he has bestowed on our paper. We are early career researchers and didn't expect our paper to receive so much attention from a senior academic in a public forum. Moran claims that our work is out of touch with science (and more generally works in philosophy of biology), that the paper is weakly argued and that some of what we write is false. But in the end, he puts forward a similar position to ours.
Saturday, May 06, 2017
Debating philosophers: Epigenetics
Qiaoying Lu and Pierrick Bourrat are philosophers in Australia.1 Their research interests include evolutionary theory and they have taken an interest in the current debate over extending evolutionary theory. That debate has been promoted by a small group of scientists who, by and large, are not experts in evolution. They claim that current evolutionary theory—which they define incorrectly as the 1960s version of the Modern Synthesis—needs to be overthrown or extended by including things like epigenetics, niche construction, developmental biology, and plasticity [New Trends in Evolutionary Biology: The Program].Lu and Bourrat have focused on epigenetics in their recent paper [Debating philosophers: The Lu and Bourrat paper]. They hope to reach an accommodation by re-defining the evolutionary gene as: "any physical structure that causes a heritable variation." Then they go on to say that, "we define the phenotype of an evolutionary gene as everything that the gene makes a difference to when compared to another gene."
By doing this, they claim that epigenetic changes (e.g. transient methylation) fall with the new definition. Therefore, epigenetics doesn't really represent a challenge to evolutionary theory. They explain it like this ....
Thursday, May 04, 2017
Debating philosophers: The molecular gene
This is my fifth post on the Lu and Bourrat paper [Debating philosophers: The Lu and Bourrat paper]. The authors are attempting to justify the inclusion of epigenetics into current evolutionary theory by re-defining the concept of "gene," specifically the evolutionary gene concept. So far, I've discussed their understanding of current evolutionary theory and why I think it is flawed [Debating philosophers: The Modern Synthesis]. I described their view of "genes" and pointed out the confusion between "genes" and "alleles" and why I think "alleles" is the better term [Debating philosophers: The difference between genes and alleles]. In my last post I discussed their definition of the evolutionary gene and why it is too adaptationist to serve a useful function [Debating philosophers: The evolutionary gene].
Wednesday, May 03, 2017
Debating philosophers: The evolutionary gene
This is the forth post on the Lu and Bourrat paper [Debating philosophers: The Lu and Bourrat paper]. The philosophers are attempting to redefine the word "gene" in order to make epigenetics compatible with current evolutionary theory.I define a gene in the following way: "A gene is a DNA sequence that is transcribed to produce a functional product" [What Is a Gene?]. This is a biochemical/molecular definition and it's not the same as the definition used in traditional evolution.
Lu and Bourrat discuss the history of the evolutionary gene and conclude,
Debating philosophers: The difference between genes and alleles
This is my third post on the Lu and Bourrat (2017) paper [Debating philosophers: The Lu and Bourrat paper]. Part of their argument is to establish that modern evolutionary theory is a gene-centric theory. They need to make this connection because they are about to re-define the word "gene" in order to accommodate epigenetics.In my last post I referred to their defense of the Modern Synthesis and quoted them as saying that the major tenets of the Modern Synthesis (MS) are still the basis of modern evolutionary theory. They go on to say,
Tuesday, May 02, 2017
Debating philosophers: The Modern Synthesis
I'm discussing a paper by Lu and Bourrat (2017) [Debating philosophers: The Lu and Bourrat paper]. They begin by describing current evolutionary theory, known (to them) as the Modern Synthesis. The paper is about challenges to current evolutionary theory from those who advocate an extended evolutionary synthesis or from those who would replace, rather than extend, current evolutionary theory. It is reasonable to begin with a description of the theory that's being challenged.
Here's what Lu & Bourrat say,
Debating philosophers: The Lu and Bourrat paper
John Wilkins posted a link on Facebook to a recent paper by his colleagues in Australia. The authors are Qiaoying Lu of the Department of Philosophy at Macquarie University in Sidney Australia and Pierrick Bourat of the Department of Philosophy at The University of Sydney in Sidney Australia.
Lu, Q., and Bourrat, P. (2017) The evolutionary gene and the extended evolutionary synthesis. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, (advanced article) April 20, 2017. [doi: 10.1093/bjps/axw035] [PhilSci Archive]
Abstract: Advocates of an 'extended evolutionary synthesis' have claimed that standard evolutionary theory fails to accommodate epigenetic inheritance. The opponents of the extended synthesis argue that the evidence for epigenetic inheritance causing adaptive evolution in nature is insufficient. We suggest that the ambiguity surrounding the conception of the gene represents a background semantic issue in the debate. Starting from Haig's gene-selectionist framework and Griffiths and Neumann-Held's notion of the evolutionary gene, we define senses of 'gene', 'environment', and 'phenotype' in a way that makes them consistent with gene-centric evolutionary theory. We argue that the evolutionary gene, when being materialized, need not be restricted to nucleic acids but can encompass other heritable units such as epialleles. If the evolutionary gene is understood more broadly, and the notions of environment and phenotype are defined accordingly, current evolutionary theory does not require a major conceptual change in order to incorporate the mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance.
1 Introduction
2 The Gene-centric Evolutionary Theory and the 'Evolutionary Gene'
2.1 The evolutionary gene
2.2 Genes, phenotypes, and environments
3 Epigenetic Inheritance and the Gene-Centred Framework
3.1 Treating the gene as the sole heritable material?
3.2 Epigenetics and phenotypic plasticity
4 Conclusion
The selfish gene vs the lucky allele
The Selfish Gene was published forty-one years ago (1976) and last year there was a bit of a celebration. I think we can all appreciate the impact that the book had at the time but I'm not sure it's as profound and lasting as most people believe ["The Selfish Gene" turns 40] [The "selfish gene" is not a good metaphor to describe evolution] [Die, selfish gene, die!].The main criticisms fall into two categories: (1) the primary unit of selection is the individual organism, not the gene, and (2) the book placed too much emphasis on adaptation (Darwinism). I think modern evolutionary theory is based on 21st century population genetics and that view puts a great deal of emphasis on the power of random genetic drift. The evolution of a population involves the survival of individuals within the population and that, in turn, depends on the variation that exists in the population. Thus, evolution is characterized by changes in the frequencies of alleles in a population.
Friday, April 28, 2017
Professor, please can I have more marks?
I submitted my grades on Thursday morning and they were approved by the Department of Biochemistry in short order. Once the final grades have been approved and submitted to the Faculty they can't be changed unless the change is approved by the Departmental Chair. Students may appeal their grade by paying a fee to re-read their final exam but, even then, I do not have the authority on my own to change a grade. I have to justify any change in writing. This is a good thing.A few hours after the grades were posted I received an email message from a student [It's that time of year, again]. Here's part of what the student said,
I just saw my final mark ... which was an 76, and was very surprised. I thought I'd done well on the final exam, and had studied hard. My performance on the Midterm was good, and I had expected this to be just as well. As such, I wanted to humbly inquire whether it'd be possible to move me a 77 (a 1% increase) or even an 80. This small difference could make a very big impact on my GPA as I apply for positions to pursue a master or other professional degrees. With the mark as it is now, I fall below the GPA requirement for a program I wish to enroll in next year and will have to do another few courses or a full year to make up for it.
Friday, April 21, 2017
I'm going to Chicago!
I leave tomorrow for Chicago where I'm attending Experimental Biology 2017. Is anyone else going to be there? Wanna get together? I'm there until Wednesday.
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Bill Martin is coming to town!!!
The last molecular evolution exam: Question #6
How can alleles be fixed in a population by positive natural selection (i.e. adaptation) if the environment remains constant for thousands of years?Question #1, Question #2, Question #3, Question #4, Question #5, Question #6
The last molecular evolution exam: Question #5
Many people believe that recombination evolved because it increases genetic variation in a population and this provided a selective advantage over species that didn't have recombination. Do you agree with this explanation for the evolution of recombination? Why, or why not? What are the other possibilities?Question #1, Question #2, Question #3, Question #4, Question #5, Question #6
The last molecular evolution exam: Question #4
More than 90% of our genome is transcribed when you add up all the transcripts from various cell types and various times of development (= pervasive transcription). Many biologists take this as evidence that most of the DNA in our genome is functional. What are the counter-arguments? Who do you believe and why?Question #1, Question #2, Question #3, Question #4, Question #5, Question #6
The last molecular evolution exam: Question #3
The Three Domain Hypothesis has eukaryotes and archaea branching off from eubacteria. It shows eukaryotes more closely related to archaea than to eubacteria. However, many scientific studies indicate that a majority of our genes are more similar to eubacterial genes than to archaeal genes. How do you explain this apparent conflict?Question #1, Question #2, Question #3, Question #4, Question #5, Question #6
The last molecular evolution exam: Question #2
The paper by Andrews et al. (2011) lists a number of common misconceptions held by their students. One of them is the idea that, "Evolution is a process that will never stop, even in the human species." Why do they think this is a misconception? Do you agree?
Andrews, T.M., Kalinowski, S.T., and Leonard, M.J. (2011). "Are humans evolving?" A classroom discussion to change student misconceptions regarding natural selection. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 4:456-466. [doi: 10.1007/s12052-011-0343-4]Question #1, Question #2, Question #3, Question #4, Question #5, Question #6
The last molecular evolution exam: Question #1
Eugene Koonin described his view of the proper null hypothesis for evolutionary questions. One of the examples he used concerns the evolution of recent gene duplications (Koonin, 2016 p.5). Describe how one possible fate of these genes relates to constructive neutral evolution. What are the other possible fates of these genes? Which one is most likely?
Koonin, E.V. (2016) Splendor and misery of adaptation, or the importance of neutral null for understanding evolution. BMC biology, 14:114 [doi: 10.1186/s12915-016-0338-2]
... in eukaryotes, duplicates of individual genes cannot be effectively eliminated by selection and thus often persist and diverge. The typical result is subfunctionalization, whereby the gene duplicates undergo differential mutational deterioration, losing subsets of ancestral functions. As a result, the evolving organisms become locked into maintaining the pair of paralogs. Subfunctionalization underlies a more general phenomenon, denoted constructive neutral evolution (CNE).
Question #1, Question #2, Question #3, Question #4, Question #5, Question #6
Sunday, April 09, 2017
Vimy Ridge
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The battle invovled four divisions of the Canadian Corps and it has become a symbol for Canada of the sacrifices made during World War I. The symbol is remarkable for the beautiful Canadian National Vimy Ridge Memorial designed by Walter Seymour Allward. He intended it to be a "sermon against the futility of war."It is remarkably successful as such a symbol since, among other things, it contains the names of more than 11,000 Canadians who died in World War I and whose bodies were never recovered. We visited the memorial in 2011 with my granddaughter Zoë [Canadian National Vimy Memorial] and found the name of Lance Corporal Robert Alexander Hood, a cousin of Leslie's grandfather and Zoë's great-great-grandfather.
Saturday, April 08, 2017
Somatic cell mutation rate in humans
A few years ago, Tomasetti and Vogelstein (2015) published a paper where they noted a correlation between rates of cancer and the number of cell divisions. They concluded that a lot of cancers could be attributed to bad luck. This conclusion didn't sit well with most people for two reasons. (1) There are many well-known environmental effects that increase cancer rates (e.g. smoking, radiation), and (2) there's a widespread belief that you can significantly reduce your chances of getting cancer by "healthy living" (whatever that is). The first objection is based on solid scientific evidence but the second one is not as scientific.Some of the objections to the original Tomasetti and Vogelstein paper were based on the mathematical models they used to reach their conclusions. The authors have now followed up on their original study with more data. The paper appears in the March 24, 2017 issue of Science (Tomasetti and Vogelstein, 2017). If you're interested in the debate over "bad luck" you should read the accompanying review by Nowak and Waclaw (2017). They conclude that the math is sound and many cancer-causing mutations are, in fact, due to chance mutations in somatic cells. They point out something that should be obvious but bears repeating.
Monday, March 27, 2017
How to define evolution?
Do you think this video is helpful? [see "What Is Evolution?"] Is it important to know that evolution requires genetic changes and that it's populations that evolve? Is it important to have a definition of evolution that covers antibiotic resistance in bacteria and blood types in humans?
Monday, March 20, 2017
Correcting the correction of a video about evolution
Charlie McDonnell is the author of a book called Fun Science: A Guide To Life, The Universe And Why Science Is So Awesome. He made a video on misconceptions about the theory of evolution (see below). Sally Le Page (below left) is an evolutionary biologist working on her Ph.D. at Oxford (UK). She noticed a few problems with the McDonnell video so she made one of her own to correct the misconception in the first video. Now it's my turn to correct the misconception in the video that corrects the first video!Sally Le Page highlights six misconceptions in the McDonnell video. She points out that none of them are very important—they are "little niggles"—but she still thinks a comment is necessary. (I agree.)
Wednesday, March 08, 2017
What's in Your Genome? Chapter 4: Pervasive Transcription
I'm working (slowly) on a book called What's in Your Genome?: 90% of your genome is junk! The first chapter is an introduction to genomes and DNA [What's in Your Genome? Chapter 1: Introducing Genomes ]. Chapter 2 is an overview of the human genome. It's a summary of known functional sequences and known junk DNA [What's in Your Genome? Chapter 2: The Big Picture]. Chapter 3 defines "genes" and describes protein-coding genes and alternative splicing [What's in Your Genome? Chapter 3: What Is a Gene?].Chapter 4 is all about pervasive transcription and genes for functional noncoding RNAs.
Chapter 4: Pervasive Transcription
- How much of the genome is transcribed?
- How do we know about pervasive transcription?
- Different kinds of noncoding RNAs
- Box 4-1: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs)
- Understanding transcription
- Box 4-2: Revisiting the Central Dogma
- What the scientific papers don't tell you
- Box 4-3: John Mattick proves his hypothesis?
- On the origin of new genes
- The biggest blow to junk?
- Box 4-4: How do you tell if it's functional?
- Biochemistry is messy
- Evolution as a tinkerer
- Box 4-5: Dealing with junk RNA
- Change your worldview
What's in Your Genome? Chapter 3: What Is a Gene?
I'm working (slowly) on a book called What's in Your Genome?: 90% of your genome is junk! The first chapter is an introduction to genomes and DNA [What's in Your Genome? Chapter 1: Introducing Genomes ]. Chapter 2 is an overview of the human genome. It's a summary of known functional sequences and known junk DNA [What's in Your Genome? Chapter 2: The Big Picture]. Here's the TOC entry for Chapter 3: What Is a Gene?. The goal is to define "gene" and determine how many protein-coding genes are in the human genome. (Noncoding genes are described in the next chapter.)
Chapter 3: What Is a Gene?
- Defining a gene
- Box 3-1: Philosophers and genes
- Counting Genes
- Misleading statements about the number of genes
- Introns and the evolution of split genes
- Introns are mostly junk
- Alternative splicing
- Box 3-2: Competing databases
- Alternative splicing and disease
- Box 3-3: The false logic of the argument from complexity
- Gene families and the birth & death of genes
- Box 3-4: Real orphans in the human genome
- Different kinds of pseudogenes
- Box 3-5: Conserved pseudogenes and Ken Miller's argument against intelligent design
- Are they really pseudogenes?
- How accurate is the genome sequence?
- The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology
- ENCODE proposes a "new" definition of "gene"
- What is noncoding DNA?
- Dark matter
Monday, March 06, 2017
What's in Your Genome? Chapter 2: The Big Picture
I'm working (slowly) on a book called What's in Your Genome?: 90% of your genome is junk! I thought I'd post the TOC for each chapter as I finish the first drafts. Here's chapter 2.
Chapter 2: The Big Picture
- How much of the genome has been sequenced?
- Whose genome was sequenced?
- How many genes?
- Pseudogenes
- Regulatory sequences
- Origins of replication
- Centromeres
- Telomeres
- Scaffold Attachment regions (SARs)
- Transposons
- Viruses
- Mitochondrial DNA (NumtS)
- How much of our genome is functional?
What's in Your Genome? Chapter 1: Introducing Genomes
I'm working (slowly) on a book called What's in Your Genome?: 90% of your genome is junk! I thought I'd post the TOC for each chapter as I finish the first drafts. Here's chapter 1.
Chapter 1: Introducing Genomes
- The genome war
- What is DNA?
- Chromatin
- How big is your genome?
- Active genes?
- What do you need to know?
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Another physicist teaches us about evolution
Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist at the City College of New York. Like many physicists, he thinks he's smart enough to know everything about everything so he doesn't hesitate to lecture people about evolution.In this case. He's telling us that humans have reached perfection in all adaptive traits so there can't be any more selection for things like bigger brains. He tells us that human evolution has stopped because no animals are chasing us in the forest any more. He also let's us know that there are no more isolated populations because of jet planes. Watch the video to see how little he understands.
Is there something peculiar about physicists? Does anyone know of any biologists who make YouTube videos about quantum mechanics or black holes? If not, is that because biologists are too stupid ... or too smart?
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Sloppiness in translation initiation
There are two competing worldviews in the fields of biochemistry and molecular biology. The distinction was captured a few years ago by Laurence Hurst commenting on pervasive transcription when he said, "So there are two models; one, the world is messy and we're forever making transcripts we don't want. Or two, the genome is like the most exquisitely designed Swiss watch and we don't understand its working. We don't know the answer—which is what makes genomics so interesting." (Hopkins, 2009).
The distinction is important because, depending on your worldview, you will interpret things very differently. We see it in the debate over junk DNA where those in the Swiss watch category have trouble accepting that we could have a genome full of junk. Those in the Rube Goldberg category (I am one) tend to dismiss a lot of data as just noise or sloppiness.
Friday, February 17, 2017
Did Rosalind Franklin produce the first X-ray diffraction images of DNA?
There's an interesting video of ten famous women scientists at Interesting S_Word: [Top 10 Female Scientists of History]. The image of Rosalind Franklin caught my eye (see right).
Perhaps I'm nitpicking but fake news is all the rage these days so I think we'd better be extra careful to present real facts rather than alternative facts. In that spirit, I'll mention two things.
Monday, February 13, 2017
Dan Graur explains junk DNA
If you want to be a serious participant in the debate over junk DNA then you should watch this video. Dan Graur presents the standard arguments for junk DNA—most of which have been around for decades. He also destroys the main arguments against junk DNA. You are entitled to choose sides in this debate but you are not entitled to pose as an authority unless you know the best arguments from BOTH sides. It is not sufficient to just quote evidence for function as support for your bias. You must also refute the evidence for junk. You have to show why it is wrong or misleading.
Hat Tip: PZ Myers
Sunday, February 12, 2017
ENCODE workshop discusses function in 2015
A reader directed me to a 2015 ENCODE workshop with online videos of all the presentations [From Genome Function to Biomedical Insight: ENCODE and Beyond]. The workshop was sponsored by the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Md (USA). The purpose of the workshop was ...
- Discuss the scientific questions and opportunities for better understanding genome function and applying that knowledge to basic biological questions and disease studies through large-scale genomics studies.
- Consider options for future NHGRI projects that would address these questions and opportunities.
Darwin Day 2017
Today is Darwin Day but I'm too busy with other things to write a new post in his honor. So here's a post from 2007 (slightly updated) to help you enjoy the day.
Today is the birthday of the greatest scientist who ever lived. When you visit Darwin's home (Down House) you get a sense of what he must have been like. One of the things that's obvious is the number of bedrooms for the children. The house must have been alive with the activities of young children. It's no wonder that Darwin needed some peace and quiet from time to time.
Gwen Raverat was Darwin's granddaughter (daughter of George Darwin). She described Down House as she knew it in the years shortly after Darwin died.
Of all places at Down, the Sandwalk seemed most to belong to my grandfather. It was a path running round a little wood which he had planted himself; and it always seemed to be a very long way from the house. You went right to the furthest end of the kitchen garden, and then through a wooden door in the high hedge, which quite cut you off from human society. Here a fenced path ran along between two great lonely meadows, till you came to the wood. The path ran straight down the outside of the wood--the Light Side--till it came to a summer-house at the far end; it was very lonely there; to this day you cannot see a single building anywhere, only woods and valleys.I became interested in Darwin's children about fifteen years ago when I first began to appreciate the influence they had on his life. We all know the story of Annie's death when she was ten years old and how this led to Darwin's rejection of religion. There were other tragedies but Charles and Emma turned out to be very good parents.
Here's a short biography of each of Darwin's children from AboutDarwin.com
William Erasmus Darwin
The first of Darwin's children was born on December 27, 1839. He was a graduate of Christ's College at Cambridge University, and was a banker in Southampton. He married Sara Ashburner from New York, but they had no children. William died in 1914.
Anne Elizabeth Darwin
Born on March 2 1841, and died at the age of ten of tuberculosis on April 22, 1851. It was the death of Annie that radically altered Darwin's belief in Christianity.
Mary Eleanor Darwin
Born on September 23, 1842 but died a few weeks later on October 16th.
Henrietta Emma Darwin ("Etty")
Born on September 25, 1843 and married Richard Buckley Litchfield in August of 1871. She lived 86 years and edited Emma's (her mother) personal letters and had them published in 1904. She had no children.
George Howard Darwin
Born on July 9, 1845. He was an astronomer and mathematician, and became a Fellow of the Royal Society ... in 1879. In 1883 he became the Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at Cambridge University, and was a Barrister-at-Law. He studied the evolution and origins of the solar system. George married Martha (Maud) du Puy from Philadelphia. They had two sons, and two daughters. He died in 1912.
Elizabeth Darwin
Born on July 8, 1847 and died in 1926. She never married and had no children.
Francis Darwin
Born on August 16, 1848. He became a botanist specializing in plant physiology. He helped his father with his experiments on plants and was of great influence in Darwin's writing of "The Power of Movement in Plants" (1880). He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1879, and taught at Cambridge University from 1884, as a Professor of Botany, until 1904. He edited many of Darwin's correspondence and published "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin" in 1887, and "More Letters of Charles Darwin" in 1903. He also edited and published Darwin's Autobiography. He married Amy Ruck but she died when their first child, Bernard, was born in September of 1876. He then married Ellen Crofts in September of 1883, and they had one daughter, Frances in 1886. Francis was knighted in 1913, and died in 1925.
Leonard Darwin
Born on January 15, 1850. He became a soldier in the Royal Engineers in 1871, and was a Major from 1890 onwards. He taught at the School of Military Engineering at Chatham from 1877 to 1882, and served in the Ministry of War, Intelligence Division, from 1885-90. He later became a liberal-unionist MP for the town of Lichfield in Staffordshire 1892-95, and was president of the Royal Geological Society 1908-11. Leonard married Elizabeth Fraser in July of 1882. He married a second time, but had no children and died in 1943.
Horace Darwin
Born on May 13, 1851. He was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, and became an engineer and a builder of scientific instruments. In 1885 he founded the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company. He was the Mayor of Cambridge from 1896-97, and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1903. Horace married Emma Farrer in January of 1880 and they had three children. He died in 1928.
Charles Waring Darwin
Born on December 6, 1856 but died on June 28 1858.
Eventually we wind around the Monastery and finally enter the Nave. Ignoring the monument to Winston Churchill (1874-1965) and hardly bothering to look up and admire the high ceiling, I head for the front of the church where I can see the statue of Isaac Newton (1643-1727). This is the same statue that plays such an important role in the Da Vinci Code but today I'm not interested in Newton or his orb. I takes me only a few seconds to find the marked stone on the floor. I'm standing on the grave of Charles Robert Darwin.
I can picture the scene on Wednesday, April 26, 1882—a grand funeral attended by all of London's high society and the leading intellectuals of the most powerful nation in the world. Darwin would not have been pleased. He wanted to be buried quietly in the Downe cemetery with his brother Erasmus and two of his children. Darwin's family was persuaded by his friends Galton, Hooker, Huxley and the President of the Royal Society, William Spottiswoode, that, for the sake of England, Darwin should be laid to rest in Westminster Abbey. As Janet Browne writes in her biography of Charles Darwin, "Dying was the most political thing Darwin could have done."
Looking around I can see the tomb of Joseph Hooker and a memorial to Alfred Wallace, two of the scientists who were Darwin's pallbearers. (Another pallbearer, Thomas Henry Huxley, is buried elsewhere.) Nearby are the final resting places of a host of famous scientists; Kelvin, Joule, Clerk-Maxwell, Faraday, Herschell, and Sir Charles Lyell. Lyell was Darwin's hero and mentor. We are told that Darwin's wife Emma wished he were buried closer to Lyell.
I am not overly sentimental but this visit has a powerful effect. I think Charles Darwin is the greatest scientist who ever lived—yes, even greater than Sir Isaac Newton whose huge statue overshadows Darwin's humble marker in the floor. Natural selection is one of the greatest scientific ideas of all time. Darwin discovered it and he deserves most of the credit. But Charles Darwin died on April 19 in 1882 and that was a long time ago.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
What did ENCODE researchers say on Reddit?
ENCODE researchers answered a bunch of question on Reddit a few days ago. I asked them to give their opinion on how much junk DNA is in our genome but they declined to answer that question. However, I think we can get some idea about the current thinking in the leading labs by looking at the questions they did choose to answer. I don't think the picture is very encouraging. It's been almost five years since the ENCODE publicity disaster of September 2012. You'd think the researchers might have learned a thing or two about junk DNA since that fiasco.The question and answer session on Reddit was prompted by award of a new grant to ENCODE. They just received 31.5 million dollars to continue their search for functional regions in the human genome. You might have guessed that Dan Graur would have a few words to say about giving ENCODE even more money [Proof that 100% of the Human Genome is Functional & that It Was Created by a Very Intelligent Designer @ENCODE_NIH].
Thursday, February 09, 2017
NIH and UCSF ENCODE researchers are on Reddit right now!
Check out Science AMA Series: We're Drs. Michael Keefer and James Kobie, infectious .... (Thanks to Paul Nelson for alerting me to the discussion.)Here's part of the introduction ...
Yesterday NIH announced its latest round of ENCODE funding, which includes support for five new collaborative centers focused on using cutting edge techniques to characterize the candidate functional elements in healthy and diseased human cells. For example, when and where does an element function, and what exactly does it do.
UCSF is host to two of these five new centers, where researchers are using CRISPR gene editing, embryonic stem cells, and other new tools that let us rapidly screen hundreds of thousands of genome sequences in many different cell types at a time to learn which sequences are biologically relevant — and in what contexts they matter.
Today's AMA brings together the leaders of NIH's ENCODE project and the leaders of UCSF's partner research centers.
Your hosts today are:
Nadav Ahituv, UCSF professor in the department of bioengineering and therapeutic sciences. Interested in gene regulation and how its alteration leads to morphological differences between organisms and human disease. Loves science and juggling.
Elise Feingold: Lead Program Director, Functional Genomics Program, NHGRI. I've been part of the ENCODE Project Management team since its start in 2003. I came up with the project's name, ENCODE!
Dan Gilchrist, Program Director, Computational Genomics and Data Science, NHGRI. I joined the ENCODE Project Management team in 2014. Interests include mechanisms of gene regulation, using informatics to address biological questions, surf fishing.
Mike Pazin, Program Director, Functional Genomics Program, NHGRI. I've been part of the ENCODE Project Management team since 2011. My background is in chromatin structure and gene regulation. I love science, learning about how things work, and playing music.
Yin Shen: Assistant Professor in Neurology and Institute for Human Genetics, UCSF. I am interested in how genetics and epigenetics contribute to human health and diseases, especial for the human brain and complex neurological diseases. If I am not doing science, I like experimenting in the kitchen.
Monday, February 06, 2017
A philosopher tells us how to think clearly about evolutionary causes ... avoid adaptationism
I think philosophy has lost its way. The discipline gives credence to religious philosophers who write about god(s) and to other philosophers who reject determinism and think the mind-body problem is still an open question. Philosophers still debate the validity of the ontological argument. Philosophers of science have not even settled the question of what is science, let alone come up with a valid answer of how to do it. There are few other disciplines that are still respected after several hundred years of trying, and failing, to answer the most fundamental questions in their field. Many academic philosophy department are hotbeds of political correctness and just plain politics.
Sunday, February 05, 2017
Friday, February 03, 2017
Ricky Gervais explains atheism
Watch Ricky Gervais explain atheism to Stephen Colbert. I like his explanation of the difference between science and religion. In fact, I like it so much I'm going to embellish it a bit and present it here ...Imagine what would happen after a giant meteor strike that wipes out everyone except for a small native tribe in the Andes that had no contact with other people before the apocalypse. All books and all knowledge will be destroyed.
Ten thousand years later there will be science books and they'll be pretty much the same as the ones we have now because people will simply rediscover the basic truths of nature. There might be religious books but they won't be anything like the holy books we have now because the people will have invented entirely new gods. That's the difference between science and religion.
Why is life the way it is?
Trying to educate a creationist (Otangelo Grasso)
Otangelo Grasso is a creationist who's convinced he can learn to understand biochemistry by reading what's on the internet and copy-pasting it into his website. He then takes that limited knowledge and concludes that evolution is impossible. He often poses "gotcha" questions based on his flawed understanding.His behavior isn't very different from most other creationists who suffer from Dunning-Kruger Disease but he happens to be someone who I thought could be educated.
I was wrong.
Over the years I've tried to correct a number of errors he's made so we could have an intelligent discussion about evolution. You can't have such a discussion if one side ignores facts and refuses to learn. Here's an example of a previous attempt: Fun and games with Otangelo Grasso about photosynthesis. Here's a post from yesterday showing that I wasted my time: Otangelo Grasso on photosynthesi.
Thursday, February 02, 2017
Discovery Institute publishes another anti-evolution book
It's not Saturday morning but you can enjoy this cartoon anyway.
Tom Bethell ... writes like a dream.
  —Fred Barnes
Wednesday, February 01, 2017
Scientists confused about photosynthesis - press release makes it worse
Photosynthesis is the series of reactions that capture light energy and use it to make ATP and sometimes reducing equivalents (e.g NADPH). There are many different versions of photosynthesis. One of the simplest is found in purple bacteria where the process results in formation of a proton gradient that's used to drive ATP synthesis.
Sunday, January 29, 2017
The evolution of the citric acid cycle
I just realized that I don't have a post devoted to the evolution of the citric acid cycle. This need to be remedied since I often talk about it. It's a good example of how an apparently irreducibly complex pathway can arise by evolution. It's also a good example to get students to think outside of the box. Undergraduate biochemistry courses usually concentrate on human physiology and too often students transfer that bias to all other species. They assume that what happens in humans is what happens in plants, fungi, protozoa, and bacteria.1Here's what the standard citric acid cycle looks like (Moran et al., 2011 p. 393).
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Once again, the IDiots don't understand evolution
This is so frustrating. I've been debating creationists for almost 30 years. My colleagues and I have tried time and time again over those three decades to educate them about real evolutionary theory. We've also tried to teach them about the difference between evolution and the history of life. In order to explain the history of life on Earth you need to account for mass extinctions and other chance events that have nothing to do with evolution. They refuse to listen.The latest evidence is a recent post by David Klinghoffer [Theory of Evolution? Call It a "Narrative" Instead]. He says,
The theory of evolution by natural selection operating on random mutations, as a sweeping explanation for life and how it got there, is a "narrative." It presents a very smooth story, persuasive to most scientists. The facts may all be true, but the conclusion: BS.
Now you know why we call them IDiots. What is it that makes them so resistant to learning about the ideas they so adamantly oppose? They can still oppose correct ideas if they want. Isn't that better than fighting strawmen?
Monday, January 23, 2017
Why does the human population carry an allele that increases the risk of Alzheimer's?
The human apolipoprotein E gene (ApoE) has several alleles segregating in the human population. One of them, E4, is associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's. Ed Yong, writing for The Atlantic, asks "Why Do Humans Still Have a Gene That Increases the Risk of Alzheimer's?I can think of several answers off the top of my head. The most important one is that Alzheimer's has very little effect on your ability to have children. The disease may not even have developed in most of our ancestors who tended to die younger. In order to be subject to negative selection the allele has to affect adults before they reproduce.
The second reason is that the slight deleterious effect, if there is one from an evolution perspective, may not have been significant enough in small populations. I know, and I hope my students know, that neutral and deleterious alleles can reach significant frequency in a population by chance. The general public doesn't know this.
Check out Ed Yong's article to see his explanation.
"It doesn't make sense," says Ben Trumble, from Arizona State University. "You'd have thought that natural selection would have weeded out ApoE4 a long time ago. The fact that we have it at all is a little bizarre."
Thursday, January 19, 2017
The pervasive transcription controversy: 2002
I'm working on a chapter about pervasive transcription and how it relates to the junk DNA debate. I found a short review in Nature from 2002 so I decided to see how much progress we've made in the past 15 years.Most of our genome is transcribed at some time or another in some tissue. That's a fact we've known about since the late 1960s (King and Jukes, 1969). We didn't know it back then, but it turns out that a lot of that transcription is introns. In fact, the observation of abundant transcription led to the discovery of introns. We have about 20,000 protein-coding genes and the average gene is 37.2 kb in length. Thus, the total amount of the genome devoted to these genes is about 23%. That's the amount that's transcribed to produce primary transcripts and mRNA. There are about 5000 noncoding genes that contribute another 2% so genes occupy about 25% of our genome.
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Pyruvate dehydrogenase astonishes Ann Gauger
Ann Gauger was reading a cell paper the other day [Digging Deep in Biology: "Things Get Even More Complicated When You Look Closer"]. The subject was the localization of citric acid cycle enzymes and pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH). She did a little digging and this is what astonished her ...
... so I looked up pyruvate dehydrogenase and found to my astonishment that it is not one enzyme but an enormous complex of three different enzymatic activities clustered together on a cube-shaped core of 24 units, or alternatively a dodecahedral core of 60 units. The enzymes work together to turn pyruvate into acetyl CoA in a three-step process, handing off to each other as the reaction proceeds.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Why are most biologists adaptationists?
I enjoyed listening to Michael Lynch's talk on Friday. Much of what he said has been covered in Sandwalk over the past few years. His main point was that nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of population genetics. He laments the fact that most biologists, and even most evolutionary biologists, don't have a firm grasp of population genetics and the importance of random genetic drift.I asked him why he thought this was true. He said he didn't know why. I think he was being polite. If you read his book, "The Origins of Genome Architecture," you'll see that he attributes this phenomeon to ignorance of modern evolutionary theory.
Saturday, January 14, 2017
The dynamic duo tell us about five problems with evolution
Here's a link to a remarkable radio interview with Stephen Meyer and Doug Axe. The subject is the Royal Society meeting last November on New trends in evolutionary biology: biological, philosophical and social science perspectives. The theme is not Intelligent Design Creationism, instead it's all about so-called problems with evolutionary theory. That's really what ID is all about in spite of what the IDiots may claim. [see A Royal Pain: Stephen Meyer and Douglas Axe on Five Problems for Evolution.]Here are the five problems according to IDiots.
- Fossil record (Cambrian explosion)
- The origin of information (no known natural source of information)
- The necessity of early mutations (you can't mutate regulatory genes that act early in development because all mutations in those genes are lethal)
- Epigenetic information (you can't evolve new body plans by mutating DNA because development is controlled by non-DNA epigenetic information)
- The universal design intuition that we all have (everybody thinks that people are created by a god-like designer, even atheists, so it must be true)
Saturday, January 07, 2017
What the heck is epigenetics?
"Epigenetics" is the (relatively) new buzzword. Old-fashioned genetics is boring so if you want to convince people (and grant agencies) you're on the frontlines of research you have to say you're working on epigenetics. Even better, you can tell them that you are on the verge of overthrowing Darwinism and bringing back Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.But you need to be careful if you adopt this strategy. Don't let anyone pin you down by defining "epigenetics." It's best to leave it as ambiguous as possible so you can adopt the Humpty-Dumpty strategy.1 Sarah C.P. Williams made that mistake a few years ago and incurred the wrath of Mark Ptashne [Core Misconcept: Epigenetics].
Friday, January 06, 2017
Genetic variation in the human population
With a current population size of over 7 billion, the human population should contain a huge amount of genetic variation. Most of it resides in junk DNA so it's of little consequence. We would like to know more about the amount of variation in functional regions of the genome because it tells us something about population genetics and evolutionary theory.A recent paper in Nature (Aug. 2016) looked at a large dataset of 60,706 individuals. They sequenced the protein-coding regions of all these people to see what kind of variation existed (Lek et al., 2016) (ExAC). The group included representatives from all parts of the world although it was heavily weighted toward Europeans. The authors used a procedure called "principal component analysis" (PCA) to cluster the individuals according to their genetic characteristics. The analysis led to the typical clustering by "population clusters." (That term is used to avoid the words "race" and/or "subspecies.")
Thursday, January 05, 2017
Birth and death of genes in a hybrid frog genome
De novo genes1 are quite rare but genome duplications are quite common. Sometimes the duplicated regions contain genes so the new genome contains two copies of a gene that was formerly present in only one copy. "Common" in this sense means on a scale of millions of years. Michael Lynch and his colleague have calculated that the rate of fixed gene duplication is about 0.01 per gene per million years (Lynch and Conery, 2003 a,b; Lynch 2007). Since a typical vertebrate has more than 20,000 genes, this means that 200 genes will be duplicated and fixed every million years.
The initial duplication event is likely to be deleterious since there will now be redundant DNA in the genome. The slightly deleterious allele (duplication) can be purged by negative selection in species with large population sizes (e.g. bacteria). But in species with smaller populations, natural selection is not powerful enough to eliminate slightly deleterious alleles so the duplication persists and may become fixed in the population.
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Do seahorses evolve faster?
Genome sequencing is becoming so routine that it's difficult to publish your new genome sequence in a top journal. The trick is to find something unique and exciting about your genome so you can attract the attention of the leading journals. The latest success is the seahorse genome published in the Dec. 15, 2016 issue of Nature (Lin et al., 2016.The species is the tiger tail seahorse Hippocampus comes. The assembled genome is 502Mb or about 1/6th the size of the human genome. The seahorse has 23,458 genes (protein-coding?) or about the same number as most other vertebrates. About 25% of the genome is junk (transposon-related).1
Tuesday, January 03, 2017
Save the date!!! Michael Lynch is coming to Toronto
Michael Lynch is giving a seminar next week on Friday, January 13, 2017 in the Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. The title is: Mutation, Drift, and the Origin of Subcellular Features. The talk is at 3PM in the Earth Sciences Centre rm B142.
The exit exam for biochemistry and molecular biology students
I'm a big fan of teaching fundamental concepts and principles and a big fan of teaching critical thinking. I think the most effective way of accomplishing these objectives is some form of student-centered learning. As I near the end of my teaching career, I wonder how we can tell if we succeed? It should be relatively easy to develop an exit exam for our biochemistry/molecular biology students to see if they grasp the basic concepts and can demonstrate an ability to think critically.Here are some of the questions we could have on that exam. Each one requires a short answer with an explanation. The explanation doesn't have to be detailed or full of facts, just the basic idea. Students are graded on their ability to think critically about the answers. Many of the questions don't have a simple answer. Can you think of any other questions?
Monday, January 02, 2017
You MUST read this paper if you are interested in evolution
A reader alerted me to a paper that was just published in BMC Biology.1 The author is Eugene Koonin. He makes the case for neutral evolution (random genetic drift) and against adaptationism. You may not agree with his take on evolutionary theory but you better be aware of it if you claim to be knowledgeable about evolution.
Koonin, E.V. (2016) Splendor and misery of adaptation, or the importance of neutral null for understanding evolution. BMC biology, 14:114. [doi: 10.1186/s12915-016-0338-2]
The study of any biological features, including genomic sequences, typically revolves around the question: what is this for? However, population genetic theory, combined with the data of comparative genomics, clearly indicates that such a "pan-adaptationist" approach is a fallacy. The proper question is: how has this sequence evolved? And the proper null hypothesis posits that it is a result of neutral evolution: that is, it survives by sheer chance provided that it is not deleterious enough to be efficiently purged by purifying selection. To claim adaptation, the neutral null has to be falsified. The adaptationist fallacy can be costly, inducing biologists to relentlessly seek function where there is none.


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|24th August 2016, 23:02
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Re: Rear ended - thanks to a jaywalker
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|13th September 2016, 15:15
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Re: Red Dwarf My 2016 Mahindra TUV300 T8 Manual
The tank has been steadily munching miles and this weekend I got a chance to do ~730km in a day as a part of the Bangalore Hyderabad mega meet (Pics: Bangalore & Hyderabad Mega Meet, September 2016). As usual the tank rumbled along at 110-120 kmph while the mercs, beemers and VAG cars raced away on the relatively empty Bangalore – Hyderabad highway. The tank returned an FE of 14.29 kmpl which I think is pretty decent given the speeds and 100% AC usage.
Found some time to look at the usage stats today and here is a quick summary of my driving distances and FE over the weeks of ownership.
Note: I use free version of Fuelio app to track all automobile spends
Points to note:
Other Ownership notes:
On the whole pretty happy with my tank and itching to take it out on a longer run sometime soon.
Last edited by procrj : 13th September 2016 at 15:33.
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|13th September 2016, 20:00
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Re: Red Dwarf My 2016 Mahindra TUV300 T8 Manual
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|14th September 2016, 08:35
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Re: Red Dwarf My 2016 Mahindra TUV300 T8 Manual
1. Radiator return hose
2. Seat belt replacement
3. Rear step
4. Front driver window rattle
Also wanted add that this was the second time I pushed the tank to 2 fuel bars on the return journey from Kurnool and I half expected it to sputter and stall in the middle of the road (fdm issues maybe?) but it did not. But having that constant fear in the back of your head got the better of me and I stopped for fuel after 60-70 kms of driving on 2 bars else I am pretty sure I could have reached home and refueled at my usual place. Pretty confident that my tank has a 780-840 km range when cruising at 110 kmph for extended periods of time with 100% AC on AC eco mode.
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|14th September 2016, 09:25
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Re: Red Dwarf My 2016 Mahindra TUV300 T8 Manual
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|25th September 2016, 19:28
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Re: Red Dwarf My 2016 Mahindra TUV300 T8 Manual
Over the weekend the dwarf got a small makeover
Those silver alloys were a little hard to keep clean and someone had posted a pic of their tank with black alloys on FB an it looked smashing. I did not have the budget to upgrade alloys and hence decided to plastidip the alloys to a matte black.
Big shout out to Ullas from Flaunt Ur Kuler who painstakingly cleaned the alloys and spent almost 3 hours prepping & spraying the alloys.
Broad outline of process:
1. Wash wheels - done at a car wash nearby
2. Cover calipers and brake drum using canvas & paper cutouts
3. Spray 3 coats of palstidip & leave it for 30 minutes
4. Rotate tires by 180deg and then spray 3 more coats
5. Wait for 30 minutes to dry
6. Ready to roll
Total time taken from start to finish is almost 4 hours
Cost: 4.8K for all 4 wheels inclusive of everything
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/pKuP6y8Vsr22
Contact Ullas - 97319 43666
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|25th September 2016, 19:50
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Re: Red Dwarf My 2016 Mahindra TUV300 T8 Manual
Now for the Red Dwarf blackening of the "C" pillar and the roof would complete the makeover. In my opinion this would go very well with the black alloys.
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|25th September 2016, 20:22
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Re: Red Dwarf My 2016 Mahindra TUV300 T8 Manual
Planning to get it done on my orange tank.
Any pointers for pune will be helpfull.
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|25th September 2016, 20:49
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Awesome looking. Get Your roof blackened with C pillar, tank will become sexy.
This plasti dip can also be applied over dull black plastic parts like cladding as well.
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|1st October 2016, 22:47
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Speakers Upgraded - Kicker CS 674
I am not an audiophile but I do like my music to sound almost right if not absolutely perfect and hence speaker upgrades have been on my to do list for a while now. A lot of folks had posted about speaker updates on the official review thread but Ezee's thread on TUVclub was what got me thinking about DIY over the last few weeks. Started searching for the right set of Coaxial speakers as I was not really keen on shelling out a lot on component speakers, which might now be utilized to its full potential by the stock HU. I had very basic JBL coaxial in my WagonR which even after 6 years were doing a very neat job.
Went through a whole lot of videos, reviews and also spoke to a couple of custom ICE installers who are currently doing mid to high end ICE installs in bangalore and most were of the opinion that a front coaxial + rear component setup would be the best bet with the stock HU. Even in this config, the total cost of the setup was coming up to ~ 18-19K, which was almost double the budget that I set for this upgrade. Decided not to go with a custom setup and hence reached out to Ezee for feedback on Kicker CS 674 that he had installed on his tank. For the price of 7.5K, these seemed like real VFM and hence after a couple of message exchanges with Ezee, decided to check out Kicker speakers. The reviews on youtube were pretty clear on what these basic set of speakers can do and hence I was quiet convinced that these would be a perfect fit for my daily use. Quick search on amazon & I realized that a pair of Kicker CS 674's today cost 9.5K
Decided to try my luck with a couple of relatively well known car mod shops in bangalore and I got lucky when Car Shringar - Mission road confirmed that he has 2 pairs of CS 674's coaxial speakers which he can let me have for 10K. Tried haggling a little but he was adamant on the price and hence decided to go and pick up the same. Now that I was picking up the speakers from an auto shop, I checked regarding install and he said they can complete the same within an hour.
Drove to Car Shringar and checked out the speakers. These were imported in May 2016 by Sai Supertek Global, who is the only authorized distributor for Kicker in India. Hence gave the go ahead to install the same and the complete exercise was completed in about 45 minutes. To say that these guys are pros is an understatement for they really do know what they are doing. I would have liked them to be a little more gentle when handling the door panels but I dont think they know what that means. They pulled out the connectors from the old speakers and wired the same to the new speakers. After the install, I realized that Kicker has provided heat shrink tubes which could have been used to connect the wires instead of good old insulation tape. I did ensure that the insulation tape was generous and did not leave anything exposed. On the whole I would rate the experience with Car Shringar a 4/5 and the total cost of the upgrade worked out to be 10.6K (Additonal 600 for a set of 4 spacers which were used instead of the OEM plastic casing which was used to house old speakers)
Kicker coaxials are totally worth their money and for ~10K INR, they do a very good job of improving your sensory experience. I mostly listen to carnatic classical, traditional rock & metal that I grew up listening to (flyod, metallica etc.), Indian fusion (agam, thaikkudam bridge etc.), some jazz/blues and AR Rehman. The stock HU has some preset EQ modes, most of which is nothing great. 'Rock' & 'Retro' were the most used modes in my case on the stock speakers and there was not a lot of difference then between the two. Now after the upgrade, there is quiet a bit of difference - bass & treble have improved and even clarity of vocals are much much better. 'Retro' seems to have become my standard mode for any kind of western music and 'Rock' is my standard preset for carnatic vocals. A few samples which were recorded using the phone audio recorder at different volume levels. Tried to keep everything else the same to try and ensure that the tracks are comparable.
Music: Lets get this party started
Artist: Pink
V1 - EQ setting - Retro, Volume - 10
V1 - EQ setting - Rock, Volume - 10
Music: Memory Remains
Artist: Metallica
V1 - EQ setting - Retro, Volume - 18
V2 - EQ setting - Rock, Volume - 18
Music: Smooth
Artist: Santana (Ft. Rob Thomas)
V1 - EQ setting - Retro, Volume - 12
V2 - EQ setting - Rock, Volume - 12
Music: Paddy McCarthy
Artist: The Corrs
V1 - EQ setting - Retro, Volume - 15
V2 - EQ setting - Rock, Volume - 15
Next set of mods/upgrades that I am considering:
1. Headlights - upgrade to 90/100 Philips with relay
2. Front grill - plastidip or vinyl wrap
3. LED Fog lamps - have been thinking about this and found a few on Aliexpress that look good
Last edited by procrj : 1st October 2016 at 22:49.
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|10th October 2016, 09:21
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Re: Red Dwarf My 2016 Mahindra TUV300 T8 Manual
Lights Upgraded to 90/100 Philips with Philips relay
Last week I upgraded the headlights to H4 Philips 90/100 with Philips relay. Had been using the same combination on my WagonR as well and worked very well. Here is a small video of how the low beams look.
What I had observed during various drives is that the beam intensity and spread in low beam was more on the left headlight as compared to the right. Decided to check this and here is a snapshot of various lights after an attempt to level the same.
Note: Its easy to change the main headlamps as there is absolutely no obstruction and its a very clean process. Also the headlamp assembly has 2 nuts which can be used to level high and low beams.
Fog lamps - not much to say when it comes to a cutoff. Thinking of upgrading the same to LEDs but its hard to find square fog lamps
Low beam - Can see that the intensity is much higher in the left beam when compared to the right. Not a bulb problem as I swapped bulbs and its still the same. Could it be a voltage issue as the intensity & spread in high beam seems to be similar for both lights. Not sure what the issue is.
Fog lamps + Low beam - concentration is center & left of center and not much on right. This becomes a problem when taking a curve.
High beam - After a lot of trial, I managed to level both beams and right now its all concentrated in the center, which I think is the right thing. Increased distance will ensure that focus is on the road and not all over the place.
************************************************** ************************************************** ****************
Had been awhile since I cleaned the car and hence decided to apply some elbow grease and spiff up the tank for the festival. Spent 3 1/2 hours cleaning the car inside out and here is how it looks
Looks like the 3M paint protection wax & polish layer has not been exposed to the sun/rains due to the coat of Optimum opti seal over it. My typical process:
1. Rinse off all the dust and dirt with a bucket of water
2. Wash and wipe down with Optimum no rinse
3. 1-2 coats of Optimum opti seal applied using an applicator pad. Its a wipe on walk away nano coating and it seems to be working very well for the tank
4. Usually wipe down interior plastics with a dilute solution of ONR and then use 3M dashboard dresser
First time cleaning the plasti dipped alloys and hence was extra careful. After a wash & wipe, decided to try the dashboard dresser on them as Ullas from Flaunt ur Kuler had mentioned that you can use vinyl & plastic dressers on plasti dip. 3M dashboard dresser gave the alloys a wet look.
Some more pics
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|10th October 2016, 10:09
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Re: Red Dwarf My 2016 Mahindra TUV300 T8 Manual
Much required update on the dwarf Ravinder And after the wash the tank looks as good as new.
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|4th December 2016, 17:16
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Re: Red Dwarf My 2016 Mahindra TUV300 T8 Manual
The dwarf has been sitting quiet in the parking for the last few weeks as I have stopped driving to work. On the spur of the moment, decided to visit the lesser known Hoysala temples on Saturday and ended up having a super time both on the road and off it.
Drove 520+ kms and the tank was just singing along. There were times when I was surprised to see the speedo at 120 kmph as the new speakers seem to be working fine at masking noise - volume level remains the same. It could also be because of the Helix HX5 which is keeping the engine ticking over without a hicup. All in all the tank is running super smooth and I was more than happy to drive all day & some parts of the night yesterday.
Some pics from the drive. Detailed Tlog posted here (Guide to the lesser known Hoysala Era Temples)
Parking lot - Arkere temple
Tank with Doddagaddavali temple in the background
Tank at Ishvara temple, Arsikere
With 19.7K Km on the Odo, I plan to get 3rd service done on Christmas eve. I have been having an interesting discussion with the M&M service lead for India Garage-Bangalore. Will post the details of the same once I have a reply from him to the latest mail that I sent.
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|21st December 2016, 10:53
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11 Months and 20K kms on the Odo
11 Months - 20K Kms on the Odo
It has been 11 months of relatively peaceful ownership and the Odo stands at just over 20K kms. The dwarf has been cruising along just fine and has not had any major problems apart from the alternator failure (for which I blame India Garage and not M&M). 3rd service is due and I shall be visiting MASS this weekend to get the car serviced. Apart from seatbelt replacement, nothing else needs to be really fixed and hence I am hoping for a relatively quick service.
I was going over the points I had made when I started this ownership thread and here is how I would summarize the car if someone asks me for my opinion:
Should you buy the car?
If the answer is Yes to 3/4 of the above and the top 3 are a firm Yes, then this is the car to own. Having said that I should reiterate that this is not a real SUV in the traditional sense (Old endeavor, Pajero etc.) of the word and hence this falls right is the pseudo SUV/CUV category.
The plastics and interiors are holding together well and I havent heard a rattle or squeak from any parts inside the car. Parts of the dashboard and center console with piano black finish have a lot of minor scratches but nothing much I can do about it. Might just cover these with black vinyl.
Smaller but still significant points:
If I were a product manager at M&M, here is what I would do to make TUV a better car:
Wait a minute, what if all of the above is actually included in the TUV 500 or whatever it is that M&M is going to call the Xylo replacement.
There was a time when I was questioning myself on the purchase (especially when it was raining FDM & AMT issues) but right now I must say that I am very happy with the tank and If I was in the market right now purchasing a car in the 10L budget, I would in all probability purchase the 100 BHP TUV.
Over the last few months, my city driving has drastically reduced as I am using public transportation to get to work and hence the TUV will only be used for occasionally weekend drives in the city and for the most part will be used on long distance drives.
Hopping to add another 2-3K on the odo before the 1st anniversary. A few pics of the car from various drives.
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|21st December 2016, 11:08
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Re: 11 Months and 20K kms on the Odo
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text:
Is Barack Obama About To Sign A Treaty That Says A World Government Is Going To Be Created?
Monday, October 19, 2009 Posted by Shattered Paradigm
For a long time the global elite have viewed the threat of "global warming" as a way to get all the nations of the world to agree to increased "global governance". This new treaty takes this wacky global environmental agenda to frightening new levels.
On October 14th, Lord Christopher Monckton gave a presentation at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota during which he issued a dire warning regarding this "United Nations Climate Change Treaty". An excerpt of a portion of his remarks as reported by Canada Free Press is posted below. Remember, he is a former member of the Thatcher administration in the U.K. Monckton is absolutely convinced from his reading of this treaty that it says that a world government will be created.....
At [the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in] Copenhagen, this December, weeks away, a treaty will be signed. Your president will sign it. Most of the third world countries will sign it, because they think they're going to get money out of it. Most of the left-wing regime from the European Union will rubber stamp it. Virtually nobody won't sign it.
I read that treaty. And what it says is this, that a world government is going to be created. The word "government" actually appears as the first of three purposes of the new entity. The second purpose is the transfer of wealth from the countries of the West to third world countries, in satisfaction of what is called, coyly, "climate debt" – because we've been burning CO2 and they haven't. We've been screwing up the climate and they haven't. And the third purpose of this new entity, this government, is enforcement.
Video of Lord Monckton making these remarks is posted below.....
The truth is that the majority of the American people do NOT want to be under any kind of world government, but it seems as though the United Nations, the global warming wackos and Barack Obama are determined to railroad all of us towards that goal.
Please get Lord Monckton's warning out to as many people as you can. The Copenhagen Treaty is NOT acceptable and any move towards a world government is NOT acceptable. There is still a couple of months until December so hopefully this treaty can still be stopped.


text:
|Reviews for It's A Mondler Life
| Arianna76 chapter 5 . 10/10/2015
Wonderful story! Love it :')
| Planeaversary chapter 5 . 7/24/2013
I love this story!
| Veridissima chapter 5 . 2/23/2012
Great story
Love it
It's just one thing wrong because Phoebe didn't know Mon at 16 so that means she would become a prostitute in the show too
But love your story
You are a great writer
| one fearless wallflower chapter 1 . 11/28/2011
Love it :)
| ghostgirl chapter 5 . 12/5/2008
Great story. But all that just from falling off the ladder in the house? The roof would have been more believable. Good job all the same!
| dino chapter 5 . 2/1/2008
really good.
kinda reminds me of the oc.
| Unexpected Hopeless Romantic chapter 5 . 6/1/2007
aw... that was sad, picturing life without monica. really, seriously! write more stories okay?
| OhhhReaaally.x chapter 5 . 8/3/2006
Nice story! Cute! ]!
| RachelKarenGeller chapter 4 . 5/24/2006
i liked it yay
| jennied chapter 5 . 4/22/2006
Ok again, it's not Christmas but I wanted to read this fic and review it. It was soo cute, I love Mondler. You did a great job retelling it's a Wonderful Life, you really are so good at this. A great job as usual.
| JohnnyDamon143 chapter 5 . 12/17/2004
That was SUCH a GREAT story! I absolutely LOVED IT! It was suspenseful toward the end... I was so anxious to find out what happened! GREAT JOB!
| 3lions chapter 5 . 12/14/2004
that was fantastic... i love "its a wonderful life" this was great. awsome work
| ILoveMondler chapter 5 . 12/14/2004
hey! this was great! i love the movie a wonderful life and so i loved this...i thought it was really sweet and i'm glad that you wrote it during xmas time! :) thanks!
| Red-rumm chapter 5 . 12/14/2004
I loved this story! It was so good!
| MonicaKateBingCastle chapter 5 . 12/14/2004
Aww! I loved your Mondler fic! You did so great!:)


text:
Herbert Smith has hired two lawyers from Linklaters to bolster its energy and project finance team.
Martin Kavanagh and Matthew Job, who were both counsel at their former firm, will join the London office as partners this summer.
Head of finance Jason Fox commented: "The energy sector has been relatively unaffected by the recession; indeed energy and power finance account for a growing share of global lending. The recruitment of lawyers of the calibre of Martin and Matthew adds considerably to our client offering in this area, adding further skill-sets to our market-leading energy practice."
Kavanagh is an energy finance specialist with experience working on transactions in Africa and contributes to the firm's 25-partner Africa practice.
Job advises on financing structures in the UK and European energy and infrastructure sectors, including syndicated loans, project bonds, leveraged finance, commodity hedging and structured finance.
This comes after Herbert Smith hired Linklaters' first solely US-qualified partner, US securities specialist Steve Thierbach (11 March 2010).


text:
Decorate your home this Christmas with Snowtime's LED Colour Change Tree and watch as sparkly glitter circulates inside it with the aid of a little motor. Battery operated, the tree features colour changing LEDs to create the perfect festive atmosphere and an easy to operate on/off button.
Important Features of Snowtime's LED Colour Change Tree:
Height: 32cm
Requires 4 x AAA Batteries (not included)
Colour Changing LEDs
On/Off Button
For Indoor Use only
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|"Hadoop QA (Commented) (JIRA)" <j...@apache.org>
|[jira] [Commented] (HDFS-2718) Optimize OP_ADD in edits loading
|Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:01:54 GMT
[ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HDFS-2718?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=13198534#comment-13198534 ] Hadoop QA commented on HDFS-2718: --------------------------------- +1 overall. Here are the results of testing the latest attachment http://issues.apache.org/jira/secure/attachment/12512905/editsLoader-trunk.patch against trunk revision . +1 @author. The patch does not contain any @author tags. +1 tests included. The patch appears to include 6 new or modified tests. +1 javadoc. The javadoc tool did not generate any warning messages. +1 javac. The applied patch does not increase the total number of javac compiler warnings. +1 eclipse:eclipse. The patch built with eclipse:eclipse. +1 findbugs. The patch does not introduce any new Findbugs (version 1.3.9) warnings. +1 release audit. The applied patch does not increase the total number of release audit warnings. +1 core tests. The patch passed unit tests in . +1 contrib tests. The patch passed contrib unit tests. Test results: https://builds.apache.org/job/PreCommit-HDFS-Build/1832//testReport/ Console output: https://builds.apache.org/job/PreCommit-HDFS-Build/1832//console This message is automatically generated. > Optimize OP_ADD in edits loading > -------------------------------- > > Key: HDFS-2718 > URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HDFS-2718 > Project: Hadoop HDFS > Issue Type: Bug > Components: name-node > Affects Versions: 0.22.0, 0.24.0, 1.0.0 > Reporter: Konstantin Shvachko > Assignee: Konstantin Shvachko > Attachments: editsLoader-0.22.patch, editsLoader-0.22.patch, editsLoader-0.22.patch, editsLoader-trunk.patch, editsLoader-trunk.patch, editsLoader-trunk.patch, editsLoader-trunk.patch > > > During loading the edits journal FSEditLog.loadEditRecords() processes OP_ADD inefficiently. It first removes the existing INodeFile from the directory tree, then adds it back as a regular INodeFile, and then replaces it with INodeFileUnderConstruction if files is not closed. This slows down edits loading. OP_ADD should be done in one shot and retain previously existing data. -- This message is automatically generated by JIRA. If you think it was sent incorrectly, please contact your JIRA administrators: https://issues.apache.org/jira/secure/ContactAdministrators!default.jspa For more information on JIRA, see: http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira
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The above graph displays service status activity for Xbmchub.com over the last 10 automatic checks. The blue bar displays the response time, which is better when smaller. If no bar is displayed for a specific time it means that the service was down and the site was offline.
Service Status History
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|6.13 ms.
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|11.23 ms.
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|6.8 ms.
* Times displayed are PT, Pacific Time (UTC/GMT 0) | Current server time is 01:17
We have tried pinging XBMC Hub website using our server and the website returned the above results. If xbmchub.com is down for us too there is nothing you can do except waiting. Probably the server is overloaded, down or unreachable because of a network problem, outage or a website maintenance is in progress...
If the site is UP but you cant access the page, try one of the below solutions:
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Clear your local DNS cache to make sure that you grab the most recent cache that your ISP has. For Windows - (Start > Command Prompt > type "ipconfig /flushdns" and hit enter). For details choose your operating system :
If you can access a website at office or from a 3G network yet it's not working on your computer, it is a good idea to use an alternative DNS service other than your ISPs. OpenDNS or Google Public DNS are both excellent and free public DNS services.
Check our help page for step-by-step instructions on how to change your DNS.
xbmc is down and has been for days
tried to acess xbmc but it says preparing to run first time then goes back to prev page.. help.. in ns is the xbmc down at the moment?
xbmchub.com is down :(
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text:
infin8 precisava de um novo design de logo e criou um concurso na 99designs.
Um vencedor foi selecionado entre 57 designs enviados por 25 designers freelancers.
Established company is wishing to create a new dynamic logo for their business. Use abreviation in logo spsas.
Desired Color Scheme:
See website
Accepted File Formats:
Adobe Illistrator, PNG or EPS
Colour Scheme should incorparate Maroon and gold.
The logo should not use there abreviation. They are looking for a symbol that can be put on shirts and stationary so nothing to fancy needs to be simple.
Also the wording should south penrith sand & soil (no supplies at the end)