the skeptical alchemist

war on Xmas – the Atheist Anthem Competition

2008-12-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

Not that atheists are declaring war on Xmas, but you can imagine the reaction of the crazies if they only found out...

...that Q Transmissions, a weekly skeptical call-in talk show in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, has started a singing contest for a new atheist anthem!

You can find the music and lyrics on their website, and send them your best rendition of the anthem.

So keep those submissions flowing, and your atheism glowing!

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MCB Carnival is coming – need a host!

2008-12-06T13:26:00.000-08:00

Work is taking over my life lately. Not that it's a bad sign, but it's been keeping me away from my blog a little too much. In the meantime, that time of the month is coming – yes, the Molecular and Cell Biology Carnival is approaching fast, and I am on the lookout for a host!

There are two easy ways to become a host: you can contact me at the e-mail on the right hand column of this blog, or you can leave a comment on this post. Make sure you read more about being a host at the MCB website. The carnival will take place on December 14, so make sure you contact me soon!

While I am looking for a host, I would also like to invite you to submit your post for the Carnival – you can e-mail me directly, or use this submission form.

Last but not least, I cannot leave you without something funny and, of course, Prop 8-related. I am quite sure this clip, found through a friend, is going to make your day.

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

P.S. The latest Skeptics' Circle edition is up!

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oh great Ceiling Cat...

2008-12-01T21:53:00.000-08:00

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today it's Join The Impact day!

2008-11-15T14:17:00.000-08:00

That's right, it is time to get out on the street with your local LGBT association and protest against the passing of Prop 8.

If you want to get involved and get more information, you can visit these pages:

Join The Impact, on two websites: here and here
NoOnProp8 on Twitter
JoinTheImpact on Twitter

I am also following the protest on Twitter, so you can get fast updates by becoming one of my followers, or simply by refreshing this blog -- new tweets appear in the right column.

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Gossip Friday

2008-11-14T15:26:00.000-08:00

Friday afternoon, time to ramble... here are a few interesting things for you to read:

I tried to embed comments on my blog - this is a new Blogger feature - and for some reason, the comment form just doesn't show. Great. I guess we are back to the ugly comment page, as per usual
I have added another feature, which also does not seem to work, though I might be wrong. You will soon be able to rate posts, just to give me an idea of what you like to read, and what bores you out of your mind.
Did you know that "kids" up to 18 years of age are being abandoned in Nebraska hospitals, following the passing of a safe-heaven law which did not impose an age limit on the children that could be left in hospitals without having to fear legal repercussions? The abandonments are reaching worrying numbers, so that Nebraska will now have to consider re-wording the law.
A few exoplanets have been not only identified, but imaged, very recently. The images are amazing, and they make me wonder how many more fantastic things one could discover with all the money that goes to armaments and maintaining outdated nuclear heads.
Countries of the Eurozone are now officially in recession. How does this matter... well, I am from there, and my family is still there, that's how. It is not good news my friends... apart from the fact that we can expect oil prices to fall. I say, certain countries in the Eurozone have been in recession for a long time, just that nobody wanted to see it.
There have been rumors that bone marrow transplants can cure HIV, since it has been reported that a man previously affected by both leukemia and AIDS managed to get both to disappear after a bone marrow transplant. I say: even if you can imagine a world where everyone had that lucky compatible donor with the mutant version of CCR5, a third of those undergoing the transplant would still die, in a matter of months. Does this look like a cure to you?
For more crappy news, a Lancet study on the Merck HIV trials vaccine was published. Basically, scientists cannot figure out why in the world the vaccine did not work. I don't blame them. I am starting to wonder whether asking infected T cells to kill other infected T cells is a viable strategy in the fight against AIDS.
I know, now you are craving for good news. Or just for something fun to read. Here it goes then. "Behind every successful woman, there's an astonished husband." Words of the first female four-star general of the United States. This in a country where "women are barred from combat roles but have been allowed in the last two decades to serve in a wide variety of other positions." And they say the gender gap does not exist -- hell, women should have the same right to die as men...
It's a gloomy day around here, it's cold, and I feel like things haven't be going the way I wanted them to go. But I think I am just confused...like this:

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Keith Olbermann on Prop 8 + protests coming up

2008-11-12T00:48:00.000-08:00

As promised, here comes more coverage on the passing of Prop 8 in California. I am re-posting a video showing Keith Olbermann's reaction to the passing of the proposition -- it is worth watching till the end. Hat tip: Greg Laden.

Also, you might have heard that nation-wide protests are being organized for November 15, so Join the Impact here or here. You can follow the developments of the fight against Prop 8 on my Twitter as well.

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Molecular and Cell Biology Carnival #4

2008-11-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the fourth edition of the Molecular and Cell Biology Carnival! Let's get down to business right away...

FParrish presents Fly Flight Simulators: Science Videos - Science News - ScienCentral posted at Flies Playing Video Games...Could Lead To New Flying Robots. This is hands-down the most interesting submission of today's carnival, so I suggest you watch their YouTube video to find out more.

Phil B. presents Evolution is Dead posted at Phil for Humanity. This might be considered a controversial post, but I wanted to include it in this edition. Phil does not usually write strictly about science, but it is great to see that people who are not "in the works" take interest in these topics.

Larry Moran also contributed to this edition with his Gene Wiki posted over at Sandwalk.

GrrlScientist is the biggest contributor to today's edition (and I would like to invite her to become a host for one of the next editions). Her contributions are:

Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life introduces a new book by Carl Zimmer telling the fascinating story of E. coli, and how this common gut bacterium has shaped our understanding of life.

DNA Reveals Tempo and Chronology of Speciation for Dendroica Warblers , a discussion of Science paper which reconstructs the molecular phylogeny of birds

A Closer Look at Preserved Dinosaur Soft Tissue Reveals .. Slime. This discusses new findings that question the initial discovery of soft tissue on a T rex bone, and in fact suggests that this is nothing but a "biofilm" -- slime growth!

Sputnik Challenges Our Current Definition of Life, discussing the surprising discovery by a French group that viruses can infect not only living cells, but other viruses as well!

For the ones who think it's time for protein-interaction talk, 96well presents just another protein-interaction model, posted at Reportergene.

Cellular metabolism

Dr Shock presents Facts about Chocolate and Health posted at Dr Shock MD PhD, giving us an overview of what is known about the mechanism of action of cocoa polyphenols including clinical, pre-clinical and in vitro studies consistently show changes in biomarkers related to oxidative status and/or vascular function.

Methods

SciPhu presents Use of polyethylene glycol for drying polyacrylamide gels to avoid cracking posted at SciPhu.

Other

In this section, we have a submission regardin career options for biologists, and a funny letter by a human-created organism:Khan presents Byte-Savvy Biologists, while Paras Chopra gives voice to the new organism in This is Synthia talking.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of molecular and cell biology carnival using our carnival submission form, or sending me an e-mail (address in the right column of this blog). Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page. We are still looking for hosts -- so if you are interested in hosting this blog on one of the second Sundays of the next few months, give me a shout!

Technorati tags:molecular and cell biology carnival, blog carnival.

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