Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Genetics for Dummies

More old Palm pilot gems. I copied this from somewhere erudite - wish I'd been more diligent in keeping the source reference.

A Cell has a helix shaped string of DNA - think of a set of encylopedias containing complete blueprint for life.

DNA is a set of 23 pairs of 'books' (chromosomes) in the set.

Each word in the books is a Gene (100, 000 of them).

The words are made up of 4 main letters - G (guanine), A (adenine). T (thymine), C (cytosine).

These letters are nucleotides. There are 3b of them in total in a DNA string, 90% of which do nothing.

The genome project is mapping the 100,000 genes and their role.

Single Genes may cause disease such as cystic fibrosis. Combinations of genes may cause more complex conditions (obesity for example).

Once a growing cell splits from 8 to 16 the cell begins to specialise and only reads a part of the book.

Clones are easily created at the cellular level as in identical twins.

Dolly the sheep proved that an old DNA strand can be tricked from its specific role back in time to accessing the full encyclopedia.

Thus it is a new form of cloning, more akin to genetic-level engineering than twinning.

World's Greatest Inventions (ever)

Another gem from my old Palm Pilots - a list that generated a lot of debate (and ridicule) at the time I recall! I'll try to put it in order sometime soon, and perhaps try to justify these wild claims.

  • Fire
  • Wheel
  • Weaving
  • Metalwork
  • Plough
  • Writing (Sumeria, 3000BC)
  • Printing press (Gutenburg 1458) - note: da Vinci refused to have his manuscripts typeset as he thought printing was a fad.
  • Water frame (Arkwright) 1770 vs Spinning Jenny (Hargreaves) 1767
  • Pulp paper (1798)
  • Gatling Gun (1860s)
  • Telecommunications (AG Bell, 1876)
  • Engine (Niklaus Otto, 1877)
  • Refrigeration (?)
  • Plane (Wrights, 1903)
  • Thermal Oil refining (W. Burton, 1913)
  • Liquid fuel rocket (Goddard, 1923)
  • Atomic bomb (1945)
  • Computer (1946)
  • Satellite (Clarke 1948, launched '58)
  • The Pill (1961)
  • The internet
  • Theory of 4 forces - weak nuclear, strong nuclear, gravity, electromagnetic.

Quotes from my Palm Pilot

I worked out how to crack my ancient Palm Pilot (pre 3COM!) data files. Found some great old quotes, in no particular order:

Travelers, there is no path. Paths are made by walking. (Antonio Machado, 1875-1939)

Relying on quantitative analysis is akin to thinking the buying & mailing of Christmas cards causes Christmas.

Organisations should change their habits - not their culture (Drucker)

Don't write off Disney as a global financial services player in the 21st century. No one has a bad day at Disneyland. No one's called Mickey Mouse a bastard (Linda Nicholls. Wallis Enquiry)

Rivers knew only too well how often the early stages of change or cure may mimic deterioration. Cut a chrysalis open, and you will find a rotting caterpillar. What you will never find is that mythical creature, half caterpillar, half butterfly, a fit emblem for the human soul, for those whose cast of mind leads them to seek such emblems. No, the process of transformation consists almost entirely of decay (Pat Barker, The Regeneration Trilogy, page 184).

The best way to predict the future is to invent it (The X-files)

Beneath all this horse-shit there just has to be a pony.

The fuckup fairy has visited again...

If you have the opportunity to seize power, sell your mother to do so - you can always buy her back afterwards. (Arab proverb)

False face must hide what the false heart doth know (Macbeth Act 1)

The better a hammer has served in the past, the more all new problems look like nails (Kotter)

There's a big difference between hope & expectation (Fox Mulder)

As cunning as a fox who has just been made Professor of cunning at Oxford University (Blackadder Goes Forth)

Whenever there's any doubt, there is no doubt (Ronin, 1999)

Mankind hopes vaguely, but dreads precisely.

You can tell a lot about a company by the person they keep. (Microsoft)

I do not know with what weapons WW3 will be fought with, but WW4 will be fought with sticks & stones (Einstein)

Insanity is doing the same thing again & again, but expecting a different result (Rita Mae Brown)

Change is inevitable, progress is not (John Callum).

You can't talk your way out of what you have behaved your way into (Covey)

More NZers believe Elvis is alive than support compulsory retirement savings (Michael Cullen)

Dealing with DSS is working for the dole (graffiti Melbourne)

The world breaks everyone, but afterwards some are strong at the broken places (Hemingway)

This project is so important, we can't let more important things interfere with it (UPS)

Work is a thing you do, not a place you go.

An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it (Orlando Battista)

My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income (Errol Flynn)

Cafe society or Nescafe society?

It girl or twit girl?

We don't like their sound - groups of guitars are on their way out... (Decca Records rejecting the Beatles, 1962)

Radio has no future (Lord Kelvin, 1897)

TV won't be able to hold onto any market it captures after the first 6 months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night (Darryl Zanuck, 20th CF, 1946)

Airplanes are interesting toys, but of 0 military value (Marshall Ferdinand Foch, French military strategist 1911)

There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home (Ken Olsen, founder DIGITAL, 1977)

Radio makes surprise impossible (Joseph Daniels, US Secretary of Navy, October 16 1942)

What use could this company make of an electrical toy? (Western Union turning down AG Bell's $100k offer to sell his struggling company)

Who the hell wants to hear actors talk? (Harry Warner 1927)

Stocks have reached a permanently hiqh plateau (Irving Fisher, Yale Prof of economics, Oct 17, 1929)