15 July 09 (am)

Workout notes 6 mile plus run in 1:03 (1:05 on 4 July for the same course). 9:30 out, 9:30 pack; hit the hills. Slightly slick in spots but overall pretty good; did pushups (30, 30, 20, 20), yoga moves, one legged squats, toe raises, etc.

SCOTUS: Senator Jeff Sessions represents old school racism; note that he brings up the race of a previous judge who ruled differently than Judge Sotomayor. Gee Senator; did you know that many white senators vote differently than you do?

Here is a bit more of his background.

Applied Mathematics: I am going to make time to digest this interesting article. This is what is going on: when you make a digital copy of something (sound, a visual scene) what you are making is an approximation to the signal. Remember you are really copying discrete pieces of information (e. g., telling the computer screen what color to use for each pixel). The more you can interpolate, the less data you need to store. Anyway, this article is about the mathematics of that; what is new is that instead of making a large data file, throwing out some of the irrelevant data (compression) and transmitting/storing, one is making a decision on what data gets left out at the very start (e. g., not recording what you are going to throw out anyway).

President Obama at the All Star Game

Fluff Warning:

If you like President Obama, just go here and enjoy.

14 July 09 PM remarks

I am watching the Rachel Maddow show. Yes, Senator Sessions is making an ass out of himself (gee, you mean that two people of the same heritage might have different opinions on something?)

But mostly, I am only mildly interested as Judge Sotomayor has enough votes to make it through and the GOP is mostly using this time to grandstand and to shake down their base for more money.

You know, I understand that; our side would do more or less the same thing.

Now here is what I find to be completely ridiculous:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Sam Brownback today with Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) introduced the Human-Animal Hybrid Prohibition Act of 2009.

“This legislation works to ensure that our society recognizes the dignity and sacredness of human life,” said Brownback. “Creating human-animal hybrids, which permanently alter the genetic makeup of an organism, will challenge the very definition of what it means to be human and is a violation of human dignity and a grave injustice.”

The Human-Animal Hybrid Prohibition Act would ban the creation of human-animal hybrids. Human-animal hybrids are defined as those part-human, part-animal creatures, which are created in laboratories, and blur the line between species. The bill is modest in scope and only affects efforts to blur the genetic lines between animals and humans. It does not preclude the use of animals or humans in legitimate research or health care where genetic material is not passed on to future generations, such as the use of a porcine heart valve in a human patient or the use of a lab rat with human diseases to develop treatments.

Brownback continued, “This legislation is both philosophical and practical as it has a direct bearing upon the very essence of what it means to be human, and it draws a bright line with respect to how far we can go in attempting to create new creatures made with genes from both humans and animals.

“My background is in agriculture, and for a number of years we have been working with crops and animals to produce a superior soy bean, a superior cow, and so-on. We can genetically engineer safe products and herds that are disease resistant or that possess more desirable attributes. But doing this in plants and livestock is very different than doing this in humans.

“The issue is that when you make changes in the germ-line, such changes are passed along to one’s offspring. You could make a change now that could be passed along through the gene-pool for the rest of humanity. We do not know what the full effect of this could be, and it could be disastrous.

“Tampering with the human germ-line could be the equivalent to setting a time-bomb that might detonate many generations down the line; but once it is set, there is no reversing course.

“I am optimistic that our nation we will make a sound choice for the generations to come. Already, in Louisiana last month, Governor Jindal signed legislation into law that would prohibit the creation of human-animal hybrids. That law is modeled after earlier versions of the legislation that we introduce today.”

The following senators are orginal co-sponsors: Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Jim Bunning (R-KY), Richard Burr (R-NC), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Bob Corker (R-TN), John Cornyn (R-TX), Jim DeMint (R-SC), John Ensign (R-NV), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), James Inhofe (R-OK), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Mel Martinez (R-FL), John McCain (R-AZ), James Risch (R-ID), John Thune (R-SD), David Vitter (R-LA), George Voinovich (R-OH), and Roger Wicker (R-MS).

No, this is not snark. Who am I disappointed in? Senator McCain, Voinovich, Graham and, yes, Landrieu!!! What in the hell was Senator Landrieu thinking (I know; the Louisiana Governor Jindal passed something similar) Anyway, Senator Landrieu is one reason I won’t give money to the DSCC; I don’t want to support stuff like this.

This is beyond embarrassing.

Science and Religion

This is just plain wrong:

The critics, though, have it exactly backward: the United States needs more scientists like Collins—researchers who show by their prominence and their example that a good scientist can still retain religious beliefs.

Wrong approach! Here are the facts: the type of personality that makes for a strong scientist usually makes one an agnostic or atheist as well! Yes, there are exceptions (Francis Collins, Frank Tippler) but most good scientists are questioners who don’t accept things “on faith”. Scientists will always tend to be less religious, on the whole.

My guess is that the author of this article is still smarting over getting his book slammed by a “new atheist”.

Religion and Frogs

Just read...

Then you need to turn to the non-scientists for some refreshing expressions of unity. Or not.

A New Age magazine in Minnesota is under new management, and the editor wants to exercise some “quality control”: astrology, fairies, life-force energy, and spiritual quests are OK. Channeling and paganism are out. This has annoyed the so-open-minded-their-brains-have-fallen-out crowd.

Other New Age leaders are appalled.

“He is excluding channeling? Yikes. Or pagans? He should not be doing that,” said Kathy McGee, editor of the Washington-state-based magazine New Age Retailer.

“New Age is an umbrella term encompassing anything on a spiritual path — Bigfoot, Jesus, Buddha. Even worshipping a frog is sort of OK,” McGee said.

[...]

Wait a minute…worshipping a frog is sort of OK? Only “sort of”? I am offended. Why is she belittling the faith of frog-worshippers all around the world?

I think that Froggy just became a fan of PZ Myers.

Yes, frogs are worshiped by people other than me (hat tip: Rosematuse)

Really.

The creature was discovered in a flower bed and now draws hundreds of followers to the home where it is kept in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Now one of India’s top zoologists has decided he will study the unusual creature – provided it can be kept alive.

Reji Kumar, 35, a lift worker, said he is doing its best but the frog has lost its appetite.

“My one problem is that this frog does not appear to eat. I keep trying to feed it but it doesn’t eat anything. I don’t know what else to give it,” he said.

He said the frog was white when he first spotted it but it soon changed to yellow and then grey by the time he got it home.

“By night the frog was dark yellow, and then it became transparent so you could see its internal organs,” he said.

“It seemed like a miracle to me that this frog had so many different coats. So now people come to see him and pray to him.”

Professor Oommen V. Oommen from India’s Kerala University, said animals changing colour was not unusual in itself.

“Frogs do change colour to scare away predators,” he told the Sun newspaper.

“But from what I have heard, the frog at Kumar’s place changes colour so frequently it is a bit unusual. I will collect it for study.”

Health Care

This is the House version of the bill that will be presented.
Key features:

I. COVERAGE AND CHOICE
The bill builds on what works in today’s health care system and fixes the parts that are broken. It protects current coverage – allowing individuals to keep the insurance they have if they like it – and preserves choice of doctors, hospitals, and health plans. It achieves these reforms through:

* A Health Insurance Exchange. The new Health Insurance Exchange creates a transparent and functional marketplace for individuals and small employers to comparison shop among private and public insurers. It works with state insurance departments to set and enforce insurance reforms and consumer protections, facilitates enrollment, and administers affordability credits to help low- and middle-income individuals and families purchase insurance. Over time, the Exchange will be opened to additional employers as another choice for covering their employees. States may opt to operate the Exchange in lieu of the national Exchange provided they follow the federal rules.
* A public health insurance option. One of the many choices of health insurance within the health insurance Exchange is a public health insurance option. It will be a new choice in many areas of our country dominated by just one or two private insurers today. The public option will operate on a level playing field. It will be subject to the same market reforms and consumer protections as other private plans in the Exchange and it will be self-sustaining – financed only by its premiums.
* Guaranteed coverage and insurance market reforms. Insurance companies will no longer be able to engage in discriminatory practices that enable them to refuse to sell or renew policies today due to an individual’s health status. In addition, they can no longer exclude coverage of treatments for pre-existing health conditions. The bill also protects consumers by prohibiting lifetime and annual limits on benefits. It also limits the ability of insurance companies to charge higher rates due to health status, gender, or other factors. Under the proposal, premiums can vary based only on age (no more than 2:1), geography and family size.
* Essential benefits. A new independent Advisory Committee with practicing providers and other health care experts, chaired by the Surgeon General, will recommend a benefit package based on standards set in the law. This new essential benefit package will serve as the basic benefit package for coverage in the Exchange and over time will become the minimum quality standard for employer plans. The basic package will include preventive services with no cost-sharing, mental health services, oral health and vision for children, and caps the amount of money a person or family spends on covered services in a year.
[....]

III. SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
The bill creates shared responsibility among individuals, employers and government to ensure that all Americans have affordable coverage of essential health benefits.

* Individual responsibility. Except in cases of hardship, once market reforms and affordability credits are in effect, individuals will be responsible for obtaining and maintaining health insurance coverage. Those who choose to not obtain coverage will pay a penalty of 2.5 percent of modified adjusted gross income above a specified level.
* Employer responsibility. The proposal builds on the employer-sponsored coverage that exists today. Employers will have the option of providing health insurance coverage for their workers or contributing funds on their behalf. Employers that choose to contribute will pay an amount based on eight percent of their payroll. Employers that choose to offer coverage must meet minimum benefit and contribution requirements specified in the proposal.
* Assistance for small employers. Recognizing the special needs of small businesses, the smallest businesses (payroll that does not exceed $250,000) are exempt from the employer responsibility requirement. The payroll penalty would then phase in starting at 2% for firms with annual payrolls over $250,000 rising to the full 8 percent penalty for firms with annual payrolls above $400,000. In addition, a new small business tax credit will be available for those firms who want to provide health coverage to their workers. [...]

We’ll see what we end up getting.

Local Weather, Economic Changes 14 July 09

Climate Change Having a Local Impact?

I remember commenting on this article at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub:

Insurance experts: Get ready for climate change now

Climate change denialism is an astounding ball of contradictions and conundrums.

For example, while most denialists claim to be free-market devotees, they pointedly ignore market indications that climate change is real, aggravated by human actions (and inaction), and that humans can do anything about it.

Look at the insurance industry. I’ve noted often that, here in Texas, we pay higher premiums on home insurance because climate change has produced worse weather, which costs insurance companies a lot. Insurance company actuaries are paid to predict the future, reliably. If they fail, insurance companies die quickly.

The “market” girds itself to fight climate change that governments are not going to move fast enough to prevent. This will cost you a lot of money.

A good place to go for information about climate change and how it affects is the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories, a group that studies the future and is no longer limited (if it ever was) to nuclear future issues.

Insurance in a Climate of Change, The Greening of Insurance in a Warming World, is loaded with information about insurance industry calculations of what the future is, and how insurance companies might and should react to the changes.

Though I am not a climate change skeptic, I wondered if we were really seeing these sort of effects. I still do, but more evidence is coming in. One bit of evidence: our local climate has changed recently; we’ve had some of the wettest springs on record. Scientists at the University of Illinois are saying “get used to it”. From Steve Tarter at the Peoria Journal Star

PEORIA —

Illinois farmers may need to take wet weather into account on a regular basis, said the director of the new climate change institute at the University of Illinois.

Spring rain that delayed planting in the state each of the past two years may be “the new norm,” said Wes Jarrell, interim director of the U of I’s Environmental Change Institute.

The time for debate about global warming is over, he said. “It’s not a matter of opinion. It’s a matter of fact,” said Jarrell. “Climate changes are already occurring in the Midwest. Temperatures are generally rising, especially in winter.”

Jarrell also cited the facts that extreme rainfall events are becoming more frequent, and that lake ice is arriving later and leaving earlier.

State climatologist Jim Angell said Illinois rainfall has increased over the years.

“If you look at Illinois history – in the 20th century, we saw 10 percent more annual rainfall from the 1960s to the end of the century than from the period dating from the late 1800s to the 1960s,” he said.

“In the 21st century, we’re not just seeing more overall rain but more heavy rains, ” said Angell, referring to storms that drop four to six inches of rain in a 24-hour period.

Global warming is partly to blame for the heavy storms and floods that have hit the United States in recent months, said Amanda Staudt, climate scientist for the Washington, D.C.-based National Wildlife Federation.

“If it seems like we’re getting more heavy storms, it’s because we are. Warmer air simply can hold more moisture, so heavier precipitation is expected in the years to come,” she said during a national teleconference last week.

In the Midwest and Northeast, big storms that normally would occur only every 20 years are projected to happen as often as every four to six years by the end of this century, according to a report issued by the federation last week.
[...]

So it isn’t just my imagination.

Two related videos: Climate Change Crocks of the week:

Economy

Area blood banks are being affected by companies not having blood drives:

PEORIA —

The economic downturn is taking a toll on summer blood drives, and local Red Cross officials are looking for new host companies.

Already, 13 previously scheduled summer blood drives in the Heart of America Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross have been canceled through August. Twenty-six others have reduced their donation goals, all the companies citing economic factors, said a release from the Red Cross’s Mid-America Blood Services Division.

As a result, the release said, there are about 619 fewer scheduled donations in the region this summer than last, which presents a bigger challenge in what is already a busy time of year for the agency, said Karen Stecher, communications and public relations manager for the division.

“So much of our blood donations come from blood drives at various businesses and organizations that a reduction of this size just makes it so much harder to collect blood. Some of our longtime supporters are going through some very tough times right now, and because of layoffs or cutbacks or other reasons, they’ve had to cancel their blood drives,” Stecher said, declining to identify any of the companies or organizations. [...]

And of course, our state’s financial troubles are affecting college students:

Katie Tracey of Benson, like most college students, depends on grants to help pay her tuition.

A senior at Eureka College studying political science and history and enrolled in the college’s pre-law program, Tracey receives the maximum, nearly $5,000, each year in grants through the state’s Monetary Award Program, or MAP.

But without a working state budget in place, grants of all sorts in Illinois are in jeopardy of losing funding, including those that would affect Tracey and some 169,000 other college students across the state.

“If I get zero, I’ll have to take out more loans, maybe get a second job,” Tracey said.

That zero she refers to is the amount she and other college students could receive second semester.

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission, the agency that administers most of the key state and federal grants, scholarships and loan programs for postsecondary students, including MAP, is warning students of what may come.

The commission is looking at a budget cut of about 60 percent, from $440 million to some $165 million, if nothing changes. In response, it is eliminating many grants, including two programs providing assistance to veterans and National Guard members. [...]

Upshot: the local economy is taking a beating on many different levels. Tax revenues are down, state aid is down and the weather is playing havoc with agriculture.

Settling A Question

I had posted this on facebook:

And a friend replied:

The general was calling the male senators “Senator,” not “Sir.” Implicit in the different mode of address is the notion that gender trumps rank. She was right.

Of course a very cynical politician of either party might have said, “Excuse me, we sold our souls to become senators, so please address me as such.”

Emphasis mine.

My friend was wrong, period.

Here is the full video from the Senate web site.

The general starts his statement at 29 minutes and answers questions at 39 minutes. Senator Boxer was the first one to talk to him and they went back and forth. The famous clip occurs at about 42 minutes.

Yes, she referred to him as “General” and he answered as “Ma’am” and “Madam Chair”. She was the first one to talk to him; this was NOT a case of him referring to males as Senator and to her without her title.

Later, when talking to Senator Vitter, he sometimes refers to him as “Sir”.

I like Senator Boxer, but in this case, she just had a bad moment, IMHO.

Note: the hearing itself was interesting, believe it or not. It was about getting a better system to control flooding and was a discussion over which option was better to use.

14 July 09 (am)

Workout notes yoga, then 5 miles of walking; 9 laps of the goose loop with 2-1 in 36:54 (12:28, 12:24, 12:01) (note: 3 laps is about 40 seconds longer than a mile, so this was roughly 3 miles in 34:54)

Back of the knee: it did ok; it did whine slightly on my cool-down when I slowed down. Faster walking (with a quicker step) actually felt better.

Articles
Record Setting Fail

see more Fail Blog

Science: 3-quarks daily pointed us to this article where I learned some things:

Your memories of high school biology class may be a bit hazy nowadays, but there are probably a few things you haven’t forgotten. Like the fact that you are a composite of your parents—your mother and father each provided you with half your genes, and each parent’s contribution was equal. Gregor Mendel, often called the father of modern genetics, came up with this concept in the late 19th century, and it has been the basis for our understanding of genetics ever since.

But in the past couple of decades, scientists have learned that Mendel’s understanding was incomplete. It is true that children inherit 23 chromosomes from their mother and 23 complementary chromosomes from their father. But it turns out that genes from Mom and Dad do not always exert the same level of influence on the developing fetus. Sometimes it matters which parent you inherit a gene from—the genes in these cases, called imprinted genes because they carry an extra molecule like a stamp, add a whole new level of complexity to Mendelian inheritance. These molecular imprints silence genes; certain imprinted genes are silenced by the mother, whereas others are silenced by the father, and the result is the delicate balance of gene activation that usually produces a healthy baby.

The article is mostly about these issues. But here are some other things that I learned:

To understand the implications of imprinting, it helps to know a few basics. Imprinting is an epigenetic (meaning “beyond genetic”) mechanism, a molecular change that can happen within a cell that affects the degree to which genes are activated, without changing the underlying genetic code. The type of imprinting that happens in egg and sperm cells is known as “genomic imprinting,” a reference to its fundamental heritable nature. Other types of imprinting can happen as a result of environmental influences, such as parental nurturing or abuse. [For more on epigenetics, see “The New Genetics of Mental Illness,” by Edmund S. Higgins; Scientific American Mind, June/July 2008.]

As recently as a few decades ago, very few people imagined that heritable genetic influences existed beyond the basic genetic code in our DNA. Then, in 1984, biologists at the University of Cambridge and at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia separately tried to breed mice that had either two copies of a father’s chromosomes or two copies of a mother’s chromosomes, instead of one copy from each parent. According to Mendelian theory, the baby mice should have been fine—after all, they had the correct number of genes and chromosomes. All the fetuses died, however, suggesting that simply having two of each chromosome is not sufficient—each pair must be made up of one chromosome from Mom and one from Dad. But the researchers did not yet know why.

The answer is genomic imprinting, as biologists discovered in the early 1990s. In a series of papers published in Nature and Genes and Development, researchers identified the first imprinted genes in mice, all related to a protein called insulinlike growth factor 2 (IGF-2), which plays a role in regulating the size of the pups. Mouse mothers silenced this gene, resulting in smaller, easier-to-carry fetal pups, whereas mouse fathers suppressed a gene that codes for the receptor for IGF-2’s protein—blocking the receptor’s suppressive action so that the pups could grow larger. Since that discovery, scientists have found more than 60 human genes that are typically imprinted by one parent or the other.

Genes are imprinted by the addition of molecules called methyl groups to the gene’s DNA. For reasons that are not totally understood, this methylation prevents the gene’s information from being expressed, or transcribed into RNA and proteins, the basic building blocks of the body. It is as if the imprinting “stamp” blocks the gene’s code from being read by the cell. A woman’s egg carries only the genomic imprints that her mother passed on to her; her father’s imprints are wiped away. Likewise, the genes that a man passes on in his sperm are imprinted in the same way that his father’s genes were.

Glen Beck Thinks that His Viewers Are Stupid

There are a couple of problems:

1. There WERE no questions today; on day one the Senators and the nominee make opening statements.

2. As far as being overturned: when the SCOTUS hears a case, it is because they think that there is a chance that they might overturn it. Often, they just refuse to hear the case at all; that is why the wingnut guest said “of the cases that they looked at”.

Link

Let’s cut the BS: this is political. We won the 2008 election and so our President is nominating somewhat liberal (but still within the mainstream) justices. End of story.

13 July 09; Film Review of The Wrestler (spoiler alert)

I might catch some of the Sotomayor hearings on television.

Workout notes 2000 yard swim; 500 warm up, 10 x (25 fly, 25 free), 5 x 100 on the 1:50, 500 drill/swim with fins.

I think that I’ll start upping my swimming this week.

Film: The Wrestler

I watched the film The Wrestler and had some reactions.

First, I found it sad how much abuse this guy (The Ram) put his body through. Sure, wrestling is choreographed but there are still some collisions and big guys hitting each other and landing with lots of force; plus some of the moves are tricky. It must be easy to screw up some ligaments, tendons, turn ankles, etc.

Then of course, some of the special effects involved a staple gun (yes, staples into the body).

Plus, add to that all of the pain killers (got to make the show), steroids and heavy training and of course the stress of not knowing how much money you are going to make; you really have a super stressful life style.

The film showed the other parts of his life: his strained relations with his daughter, his alcoholism and how loneliness leading to his forking over money that he really couldn’t afford for lap dances (same woman, each time).

He gets a heart attack and is told to quit wrestling. But when he tries to up his hours at his non-wrestling job; well he just can’t seem to handle being a “nobody”; the idiots that he has to wait on at the delicatessen drives him crazy.

So, he returns to the ring for a big money (for him) rematch; he knows that he is about to have another heart attack but proceeds anyway. I see his final match as a type of suicide.

Random Thoughts
When I mentioned the expensive lap dances to my wife, she replied: “well how much money do you spend on your daughter and on your wife?” I suppose that a few “single fee” 60 dollar dance is less expensive than, say, health insurance.

There was a tiny part of me that envied this guy; he died doing what he loved. When I attempt to teach untalented and unmotivated students calculus, I feel a bit like the character did when he worked at the delicatessen counter.

Extended Bio For Facebook

For those who “knew me when” and want to know what happened since, I posted a sketch of where I’ve been from 1973 to 1985.

The details are too boring so I’ll spare you.

12 July 09 (PM)

I took Olivia to Wildlife Prairie Park (flickr photos here). We also walked 4 miles on the Floodplain trail and even caught a glimpse of the Air Force Thunderbirds who were doing an air show nearby.

Trail Marathon Topics

Dirt Trail Runner Talks about a nearby set of trail marathon/ultras. That does sound interesting.

Another friend tackled the Leadville Trail Marathon which features this profile.

Wow; I guess that I didn’t do much this weekend!

Science
3-quarks daily points us to a Scientific American article about why we swear when we unexpectedly hurt ourselves. Yes, there is real reason it helps with the pain!

Climate Change Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub offers an interesting argument about climate change being real: insurance companies have changed their weather related insurance rates. Of course, I’d have to see if this happens due to temporary cycles in weather (e. g., does the insurance industry change their rates during an El Nino, etc.?). But this is an interesting conjecture to think about.

Other Topics I am growing to love Paul Krugman. Here, he gets on President Obama for not facing up to the fact that we need a larger stimulus package (due to the politics of the moment).

Interestingly enough, Nate Silver points out that the Democrats are almost assured of losing seats in 2010, hence we ought to push as much of our agenda now as we can.

He then has a thing or two to say about Peggy Noonan’s pasting of Sarah Palin: she once praised George W. Bush for the same qualities! Surf to his blog to read the dueling quotes from Ms. Noonan.