Tony Spencer's Blog

Back in the land of the living

2014-08-29T21:19:00.002+02:00

Yay, finally everything sorted with the new flat, and now I have an internet box in place, so no longer cut off from the world except for unreliable wifi hotspots. Expect some rants soon :-)

Still here!

2013-06-23T19:34:00.001+02:00

Still here in sunny France, blogging from an iPhone.

Gene expression and GM Dangers

2012-09-02T20:48:00.001+02:00

I've recently been catching up on podcasts, especially in the areas of my biochemical interests. There was an interesting episode from Nature's Neuropod podcast in October 2011.

Now that we have sequenced the human genome, we can now map the genes. It turns out that there are about 24,000 genes, but there are 100,000 proteins in the brain. This means that gene expression, how a gene is translated to a relevant protein can and does change in both location and time. In other words one gene can code for at least 4 different proteins which can change over time.

Studies have shown that there are huge changes in gene expression in the brain pre-natally, and post- natally, decreasing until we are about 40, then increasing again as we get older. This is an element of switching genes on and off, but far wider in implication. It kinda dents the gene expression mechanism outlined by Crick and Watson and although the podcast didn't mention it, I can imagine one mechanism whereby the transfer DNA, which codes for specific amino acids to build proteins from triplets in the coding of the bases in the DNA, somehow vary with time.

However, this is just the brain – other cells and organs have their specific proteins too, so an individual gene may code for far more than just 4 proteins. Since most of our genetic code is identical to not just other primates and mammals but birds, insects and even bacteria, and hence similar and often identical biochemical pathways, it follows that most of life will have a similar array of different gene expression in both location and time.

Thus when we play around with genetically modified organisms, including transgenic species, we are modifying only one of many possible gene expressions within that GMO cell, organ and species, which can also change with time, and hence we have no idea of the full effects of modifying or splicing an individual gene over time, or what effects those other gene expressions may have on the organism, the food chain, or humans. What we are changing is only perhaps one of a dozen or more effects, and we have zero idea of the effects of the majority of effects those expressions that a gene codes for.

Unfortunately, we have now released myriads of GMOs into the environment and it is too late if they turn out to have adverse effects in the future. But it means that until we fully understand all of the gene expressions for a particular gene and species, we are at risk of releasing something dangerous in the environment that we are not only unaware of, but also not looking for the effects of, so further GMO releases should not be undertaken until this understanding is further developed.

Of course GM is driven by big business and pharma for profits, but we need to rein them in until this research is done. It is never good to play around with nature when you don't fully understand it, and human experience shows that we always mess up: DDT, pesticides, drug resistance, MRSA, releasing non-native species to areas and others are huge reminders of our weakness in messing with our environment.

Science today is moving far faster than our ethical and moral considerations are advancing or being debated. Partly it is due to a lack of scientific and technical education amongst politicians and business leaders, both groups not well known for their high moral and ethical standards in the first place!

Releasing GMOs in to the environment is not something that can be reversed and has the potential to change natural selection and evolution in ways we can't imagine, and this release should not be governed by profit motives, but informed scientific debate and ethical considerations.

Nature Podcasts
http://www.nature.com/podcast/index.html

October 2011 Extra
http://www.nature.com/neurosci/neuropod/archive.html

Sad day

2012-08-26T14:05:00.001+02:00

I was back in England for a week for my step-mother's funérailles.

Now I'm part French!

2012-01-20T22:54:00.003+01:00

After a bit of a long hiaitus, I'm back a little more regularly.

Having qualified for totally free health care (merci la belle France) I am having major dental work, and so now have some French teeth.

At the moment I'm speaking a little funny, awaiting the caps for the upper and lower front, but in about 10 days I shall have a brand new glittering smile.

John Handy - Hard Work

2010-11-17T23:27:00.003+01:00

Ah, this is the long version that I remember, that Stan The Man introduced me to before I went to college in the early 80's:

Probably my all time fave saxophone jazz funk track of all time. From the 1976 album Hard Work. Check out wikipedia on John Handy or his official web site.

He is, of course, no relation to Captain John Handy

"Captain" John Handy - Hard Work

2010-11-14T18:43:00.003+01:00

It took me ages to find a copy of this song, one of my all time faves, and here's a video:

Such a great sax player, but sorta lazy: he only actually plays about half the notes you think you hear.

Things just about shipshape

2010-11-13T16:16:00.002+01:00

Might have lost a few gizmos here and there, but the blog is not looking too bad now. Added some links for interest, people I know, my likes, music, what I'm reading and watching currently. Check them out.

And back again :)

2010-11-12T22:50:00.002+01:00

Another short lived return lol. Lost my internet connection and other problems. But I now have some access back, so it's just a question of picking up all new stuff.

I'm back...

2007-12-28T14:17:00.003+01:00

Well, that was short lived lol. Still I'm back, just trying to get all of my old page back with this new fangled Google blogger... I've been spending a lot of time in the last year in Second Life. So bear with me while I put back in everything it's eaten.

Tax Rebate

2006-08-29T14:29:00.004+02:00

Well my tax rebate finally came through. Well, actually it's called Prime d'Emploi, a scheme where if you're on low salary, you get a rebate, introduced a few years back when they had some tax cuts.

Bought myself an iPod nano (yay!) so I can listen to decent music at work, but am also listening to a lot of podcasts eg BBC News, Today programme, New Scientist and Scientific American reports, as well as Mac news. Also a podcast on learning French.

Also upgraded to iLife '06 over the weekend, and am very impresse with iWeb, and the intergration with the other iApps and .mac and have started redesigning my web site. It's much, much quicker than any other software I've used, and photo albums, videos, podcasts are just a drag and drop away.

Awesome.

True Colours

2006-08-15T14:35:00.001+02:00

Well there is finally a ceasefire in Lebanon.

The US could have stopped this by not supplying replacement bombs. Instead they chose to ship in plane loads of replacement bombs and take the money. Profit over humanitarian concerns. Whiteys over Muslims. And they wonder why they have a problem with the perception of the US around the world.

I wonder how many Neocons have shares in the relevant arms and munitions companies?

Online Fraud

2006-07-24T01:31:00.001+02:00

These days there are so many stories and reports about online fraud, and whilst some is hyped, a lot of the stories are true. However most of these types of fraud existed before the internet, the benefit of the internet being that it's quicker, easier and more anonymous, and usually conducted via spamming.

So how can you protect yourself?

Well rule number one is to use common sense, and not leave it at home when you get online. If something appears to be too good to be true, then it probably is.

Reputable people and companies rarely ask for personal details such as social security numbers or driving licence numbers, so don't give these details out.

Again, reputable companies and sites such as ISPs, banks, eBay and other auctions sites, will never ask you for your password, so don't give it out. Ever.

Just think for a second. You wouldn't give this info out to a stranger you met in the street, so why give it to a stranger online?

Always make sure any site you do give info to is secure, and using SSL. You can tell this by the padlock logo that appears in your browser. There are new technologies arriving to tell you whether you are logged on to a real site or a fake one - use them.

If you are using wireless connections, particularly in free hotspots, those servers and connections may not be secure.

An awful lot of people who fall for internet fraud and scams do so because of their own greed, so I don't have a lot of sympathy there. And if the guys are up front about the dodgy legality of their operation, you only have yourself to blame.

Types of online fraud

There are many types of online fraud.

One of the most common is the advanced fee scam, of which the most commonly known is the Nigerian scam, or 419 fraud (named after the paragraph in the Nigerian legal code which forbids it). This often leads on to a wish wash scam.

How this works: you receive a spam email saying that there are any one of: undeclared funds, hidden funds, oil profits, smuggled money, an estate with no beneficiary etc etc, usually for a huge sum, in the millions, and you will get a substantial chunk of this, between 10 and 40%, for help in getting the money out of the country, using your bank etc. They usually make no bones about the fact that their action is illegal, so anyone falling for this is doing it for greed, knowing that they are helping to break the law.

Once you make contact, they usually want to contact you by fax and phone, and string you out over months by asking for money upfront for various fees, taxes and bribes that have to be paid. Excuse after excuse, sob story after sob story, is used to ask for more money, and people hooked at this stage often continue because they feel they have "invested" so much already they can't afford to lose it. The money is usually sent by Western Union, so it's impossible to trace or get back, as the guys never use their real names.

Eventually you may be invited to Nigeria, or Europe (often Amsterdam or London), to meet the people or collect the money, where they may then engage in a wish wash (black money) scam on top of the money the victim has lost. On occasions the victim of the fraud has been murdered. Victims have been known to lose $5 million in this type of fraud. Since you are in a foreign country, you are at a disadvantage, and the global nature of this fraud, where you are often passed on from handler to handler make it difficult for law enforcement agencies to act due to the jurisdiction problems.

Variations on this fraud include:

dating/romance
bogus lottery wins (how can you win a lottery you've never entered?)
loan scams
escort scams
accomodation rental scams
au pair and nanny scams
immigration, green card and visa scams
employment scams
quickie divorce scams

and all sorts of auction scams including ones where there are overpayment for items especially for online auctions.

In this latter there are various excuses as to why they are sending you more money than requested. You send the balance back to them (less a "fee" for your trouble of course), along with the goods, but the cheque they send is counterfeit, so you lose money and the goods...

Often in conjuction with this fraud, there is the use of fake escrow services, fake courier companies or fake banks.

The advance fee scam is probably the most common fraud on the internet, so be wary of anybody who wants fees, processing charges, taxes or any other payment upfront, especially where they want that payment by Western Union. Western Union of course is a legitimate way to transfer money around the globe, but is also preferred by the scammers as there is no trace to a bank account.

There are many other types of scam, fraud and cyber crime.

These include auction and retail scams, where a product, often of supposed high quality or value, eg Cartier watches, laptops, cars etc is for sale. Once you've paid your money, you receive either poor quality goods, or a counterfeit. If you receive nothing, then that is a form of advance fee fraud.

Then there are employment and work-at-home scams, where the "employment" is often limited to just posting an ad similar to the one you responded to, or legitimate work you do which is never paid for because your products never quite meet the company's "quality standards". There is more info here, here and here.

Investment scams are quite popular and make encompass everything from:

fake investments using fake banks
"pump and dump" stock market manipulations
Ponzi schemes
pyramid selling
foreign currency scams.

You can find tips on how to avoid investment scams.

In the US, the legal code allows for prosecutions for wire fraud and mail fraud. The latter covers frauds carried out using the US Postal Service. Since modern email frauds are often reinventions of traditional postal frauds, these are covered by the wire fraud legislation.

The other main online fraud is Identity Theft and Fraud. This refers to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person's personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain. This has moved identity theft often physically carried out by dumpster diving and information diving online.

Sometimes this involves hacking into a company database and stealing customer data, but more commonly these days the data is given unwittingly by the person themselves in what is termed phishing, and sometimes pharming.

Phishing is where you receive an email looking like it came from a genuine enterprise, such as your bank, PayPal or eBay, Amazon or even MySpace account, and asking you to confirm your account details, often including credit card or bank account details, including your password. There are often threats behind the email, such as your account will be terminated or suspended if you don't comply. You are then taken to a fake site which looks very much like the official site, where you enter your details.

Once the phisher has your details, they can access your account and empty it, or commit other frauds with it. Other phishing attempts are not aimed at directly accessing your accounts, but may use the data you provide eg social security numbers, driving licence numbers to set up false accounts and loans, which may leave you liable to debts, and certainly ruin your credit rating. There is also carding, which is essentially credit card fraud.

But not all phishing attempts are from spoof emails and web sites. Instant Messaging is also used.

Data can also be stolen by viruses, worms, Trojan Horses (an example), spyware, adware, root kits and other malware.

Last, but perhaps not least, online fraud is not the only type of cybercrime or computer crime, which can include:

unauthorized access
malicious code
Denial-of-service attack
Hacking
Writing and releasing a virus or trojan horses
Cyberterrorism
Information warfare
Cyberstalking and online harassment
Fraud and identity theft, including phishing
Virtual crime, such as the theft of virtual property
money laundering

and of course copyright infringement which can include:

music and movie theft or piracy
Bootlegs
software piracy including:
video game or computer game piracy
font piracy (this is not a joke)

as well as "normal" software or application piracy.

World Cup Blues

2006-07-02T22:40:00.001+02:00

Well, there we go. England are out of the World Cup, failing to beat the first half decent team they encountered.

They played crap. If they need some pointers, look at France vs Brazil. France played their hearts out, something the English prima donnas can't do. They gave 110%, kept control, passed well, created space, used position and created chances, which paid off with a goal, from a striker rather than a midfielder.

Not a single English striker scored a goal in the competition. And as for Sven changing the formation at the last minute, and leaving Rooney alone up front... what planet is he on?

England never picked up, they seemed to believe their own hype that they were the best, and could walk off with the cup just by turning up. Get real.

France showed the right attitude: they needed to beat Togo 2-0 or face a second consecutive homecoming after the first round. They did that, which gave them the confidence to beat Spain. So why not Brazil too? France have now beaten Brazil in 3 out of their 4 encounters in the World Cup finals, compared to one draw and 3 losses for England.

With France's form, and new found belief, I think they have a very good chance of winning, provided they don't pick up too many suspensions for the final when they encounter Portugal.

And it also means my loyalties will not be divided in the semi final this Wednesday, between my birth nation and my adopted nation. :)

British study: Don't legislate DRM

2006-06-05T22:07:00.001+02:00

A new report by a British Parilamentary group has advised the government not to make DRM systems mandatory.

You can check it out here.

Interestingly, they cite that Apple should be investigated, because they check addresses of credit cards and prevent you from buying cheaper music from a different iTunes store. So much for the free market philosophy that we're all sold on...

Microsoft writes a law for Oklahoma

2006-04-12T22:50:00.001+02:00

Microsoft writes a law for Oklahoma giving it the right to inspect your hard drive, delete your files and applications, and call the police if it finds anything illegal. Is your state next?

Well, another debate about American "Freedom". Seems these days there's no such thing as personal freedom, just freedom of the state and big fat corporations.

Of course, if these guys accidentally delete something legal -- eg perhaps you've never officially registered because you installed while offline -- then they will be tampering with your computer, which should mean big fines and maybe jail time for the executives.

Oh, sorry, I forgot. That only applies to individuals, and not to big corporations like Sony or Microsoft.

If you ask me, that's another nail in the coffin for Windows. Why is it these guys just don't get it?

read more | digg story

Bush takes over the World - Part 4

2006-04-07T06:22:00.001+02:00

We know that Uncle George "Dubya" Bush is very keen on democracy - it's the only way to go.

Even if you pervert it a bit to get yourself elected.

Even though its success in Afghanistan and Iraq has been far from spectacular. Never mind. It's the will of the people, their freedom to vote and choose that's important here. And in defence of that freedom, America has gone to war. Several times. A democratic freedom of choice is paramount.

Unless of course, you choose someone George doesn't like. As has happened in Palestine. The people have chosen (and fairly, unlike in some countries) to be represented by Hamas. Hurrah, democracy in action!

Bong! Wrong. That's not how it's supposed to work, so the US will just slap sanctions on the country until they elect someone Uncle George likes.

It's funny, but that's not how I understood democracy worked. But it is the way it works in a dictatorship...

Bush takes over the World - Part 3

2006-04-07T06:14:00.001+02:00

U.S. Rolls Out Plan to Build 125 Nukes per Year.

The Bush administration Wednesday unveiled a blueprint for rebuilding the nation's decrepit nuclear weapons complex, including restoration of a large-scale bomb manufacturing capacity.

So let's see if I've got this straight... Nuclear proliferation is bad. Iran having nukes is bad. But it's okay if we start making new nukes, and doing nuclear deals with India...

I wonder how this will affect the friendly terms the US is on with Pakistan, who have fought several wars and border skirmishes with India over the last 3 decades or so.

That's a real neat ploy for helping world peace, Dubya!

read more | digg story

Bush takes over the World - Part 2

2006-04-07T06:06:00.001+02:00

Security leaks are bad, and that's something Bush has clamped down on hard. After all, we can't have people knowing the truth can we?

So perhaps it's a little strange that he's been authorising leaks himself, although this only comes out in a court case on perjury and obstruction on a CIA leak case, as reported by the International Herald Tribune.

I'm not too worried about how many false facts Bush gave to "justify" the invasion of Iraq, but I would like to know why he was so keen on the invasion. What is it's real purpose?

Bush takes over the World - Part 1

2006-04-07T05:52:00.001+02:00

White House Said To Be Muzzling Scientists On 'Global Warming'...

Scientists doing climate research for the federal government say the Bush administration has made it hard for them to speak forthrightly to the public about global warming. The result, the researchers say, is a danger that Americans are not getting the full story on how the climate is changing.

So, don't want to stop polluting SUVs? Embarrassed the Kyoto accords are going ahead without you? Time to get Big Brother onside and manipulate the data. If you delete all references to a problem, then there is no problem - right?

read more | digg story

10 Emerging Technologies

2006-03-23T14:15:00.001+01:00

Epigenetics, Cognitive Radio, Nuclear Reprogramming, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Universal Authentication, Nanobiomechanics, Pervasive Wireless, Stretchable Silicon, Comparative Interactomics, Nanomedicine.

So how many of these will come to fruition? I suppose it will depend on how many bucks the big corporations can make...

read more | digg story

How To: Re-Surfacing CDs So They Work Again

2006-03-23T12:58:00.001+01:00

With a few things that might be in your house, here is a simple way to remove scratches from a cd so you can get your data back off the disc again.

Well this uses Brasso, and I'd already successfully tried T-Cut polish on one of mine.

The site itself, instructables, has tons of step by step how to's with pictures, so any time you want to know how to do something, this would be a good place to start. Has full search and explore option.

read more | digg story

A Guitar that tunes itself

2006-03-20T17:16:00.001+01:00

The worlds first practically invisible automated guitar tuner,
An automated guitar tuner system, that not only automatically tunes your guitar fully automatically, but can do it almost hands free!

Video here.

Info here.

This looks really neat.

read more | digg story

The tech behind fake debit cards

2006-03-20T17:13:00.001+01:00

How does someone in Moscow step up to a cash machine and withdraw money from an account holder half a world away? Even when the debit card is still in the victim's wallet? To show me how easy it was, two executives from MagTek Inc., one of the largest makers of credit card stripe readers, visited MSNBC.com and gave a demonstration.

Interesting article, though hardly new. Of course this is much more difficult to do with chip based cards, but then they're slightly more expensive and cut into company profits, shock horror!

read more | digg story

A Moore's law for razor blades?

2006-03-20T17:12:00.001+01:00

Shavers are going to get more blades whether they need them or not. However, just like Moore's law - the observation that computer chips double in power every 18 months or so - it seems that technology as well as marketing determines the rate at which new blades are introduced.

Well I've wondered about this too, how many blades will we eventually get, and are they effective? Or is this just another way to pump up the profit?

read more | digg story