Gufodotto would like you to read these:

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Today's post... all in one...

Lots of things I wanted to post about, today...

The fact that a pair of male spiders were fighting each other in my bedroom's ceiling, yesterday - to conquer the heart of a big female sitting in the corner... It must be tough to menace themselves with big sharp venomous fangs while hanging upside down three meters up. they weren't there this morning, when I woke up. Possibly one of them won, and the newly married couple headed off to another room to consume their mating - and soon after, the female to consume the male, most likely. It sucks to be a male spider.

Again. Vlaaivis is available for free on the net. This is a neat piece of software from J&J, which shows complex data in a extensively customisable pie-chart: have a look at it!

Finally, I am going to meet Stephen Hawking on May the 20th!!! Isn't this great? My GF also hinted me the possibility of meeting Eddy Merckx, a living legend of cyclism!!! Don't know when though...

Other than that, I spent the day analysing the diversity of a bunch of molecules, and selecting some of them to show to the Chemist who head the CNS projects to see if he likes them. All within the scope of a Blood/Brain Barrier study I am going to work on in the following month or two. Oh, and I bought a couple of books and a t-shirt from play.com. And no, I don't know who this guy HIM is, just thought it would be nice to have a pentagram T-shirt for 5 EUR.

Enough for today I believe!!! See you tomorrow!

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

GOD itself is on Pharyngula!!!

Answering a critical post of our dear PZ Myers (by the way nice signature piccie) regarding this crankpot Kenneth Poppe, GOD itself posted a comment!!!


I listened out for him for 25 years and never heard a peep.

I was busy chewing on a parallel universe. It's rude to talk with my mouth full. Now I have the Internets.

So ... what's your prob? And I hope it's not another sob story about a pet with cancer or some crap.

back to the crankpot, however, he published a book titled: Reclaiming Science from Darwinism

But can you believe he couldn't even manage to get a correct picture for the cover? Look at that DNA coil!!! LOL... what an idiot!!!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Color Blindness

I came to this wikipedia page on color blindness while I was reading Carl Zimmer (yes, again)
talking about rats with human vision.

Both pages are quite interesting, with the wikipedia finally clarifying my ideas on daltonism (from John Dalton, famous chemist who (first?) described his own condition. Zimmer's piece, instead, focuses on the evolution of our very special color vision - special since apes, differently from most mammals, do have three receptors (RGB) rather than just two (GB). So scientist added the missing Red pigment genes, which in our case is just a duplicated and mutated version of the green pigment. But how about the brain? we have specialised structure to make sense of the added information - could mice do the same? apparently so. Come on, check it out in the original piece.

(piccie stolen from the loom)

That's not a monkey...

it's two monkeys!!!


Carl Zimmer writes:

Marmoset chimeras. These cute little monkeys pose a serious philosophical quandary. Each individual marmoset is an amalgam of cells from two different marmosets. That's because marmosets are generally conceived as fraternal twins and then trade stem cells like mad. Even eggs and sperm can belong to siblings. It may look as if a male marmoset is fathering baby marmosets, but he may actually just be their uncle. (Here's the paper.)

Isn't this incredible?!? I never suspected such weird things could happen in mammals...

3rd rock from the sun

e in tema di telefilms, mi permetto di segnalare: 3rd rock from the sun, spassosissima sit-com di argomento fantascientifico: quattro alieni atterrano sul pianeta in missione esplorativa, travestendosi da 'famiglia suburbana tipica'.



ho visto una manciata di episodi e son davvero incredibili!!! le battute scientifiche son sempre azzeccate, si vede che chi ha scritto gli episodi ha una certa conoscenza - un po' come Futurama.

se siete interessati, ve li posso passare la prox volta che scendo. senno' acccatatevilli in dvd, o se preferite su tvtorrents.com

I am tempted to learn it, almost

After a week spent reading Absorption and Drug Development
Solubility, Permeability, and Charge State
by pION's Alex Avdeef, I'm now reading Clinical Pharmacokinetics: Concepts and Applications by Malcolm Rowland and Thomas N. Tozer. Pretty interesting read, but I need a break from time to time.

I've found the wikipedia page about sardinian, the language spoken in my birthplace. Well, not exactly in my birthplace since we have a mixed italian/sardinian/corsican dialect up there.

Anyway, it's quite interesting to read. Have a go! Or, you can read one of the books above - how about that? Now, back to the exercises :-P

Monday, March 26, 2007

And, once again, where are you?

A small partial map of the Internet. Each line is drawn between two nodes, representing two IP addresses. This graph contains over 40,000 nodes, which represents about 2% of the Class C network address space.

from wikipedia.

We were like this, once...



Only, we weren't ectopic. the picture comes from Wikimedia, the image/audio/movie part of wikipedia. Original page is linked, just click the picture.

the embryo in the image is seven weeks old, 10mm long, and implanted itself in the wrong place, in one of the ovarian tubes connecting the ovaries to the womb. In the upper part, the placenta's willi are forming, although I guess they would not be able to complete their development as normal, not being in the proper place.

It's fascinating to think that we were like that, once. You can see the eyes, the limbs and the brain, and all little parts which would grow up to male up one of us. Incredible, isn't it?

Ieri ho visto...


The last king of Scotland...

che dire? tosto. purtroppo la storia si conclude in maniera un po' Hollywoodiana, il che e' un peccato. e il personaggio principale non ha un granche' d'evoluzione durante tutta la storia. almeno a mio parere, reagisce piutttosto che agire. Chi domina la scena e' Forest Whittaker nei panni del generale Idi Amin. Impressionante e terrificante a tratti.

Le scene son molto crude, meno violente di Blood Diamond, ma psicologicamente piu' incisive. O forse io son particolarmente reattivo al vedere una ragazza nera tagliata in pezzi e ricucita a casaccio. ma tant'e`. di certo non il film cui volete portare la vostra ragazza. ah, e non pianificate di mangiare la sera. dopo non avrete voglia. se anticipate, correte il rischio di riveder la cena durante il film. urgh.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Feeling Romantic?

Tell your significant other I love you in all the language of the world!!!

from http://www.freelang.com/expressions/jetaime.html

AFRIKAANS ek het jou lief / ek is lief vir jou
ALBANAIS të dua
ALLEMAND ich liebe Dich
ALSACIEN ich hab die lieb
ANGLAIS I love you
ARABE DIALECTAL (maghrébin) n'bghick
ARABE DIALECTAL (oriental) bahebbak (à un homme) / bahebbik (à une femme)
ARABE LITTÉRAIRE ouhibbouka (à un homme) / ouhibbouki (à une femme)
ARMÉNIEN yes kez siroumem
ASTURIEN quiérote
ATTIÉ min bou la yé
AZERI men seni sevirem
BAMBARA né bi fè
BAS-ALLEMAND ik heef di leev
BAS-SAXON ik hou van ju
BASQUE maite zaitut
BAOULE mi klôa
BENGALI aami tomakey bhalo basi
BERBÈRE righ kem
BIÉLORUSSE Кахаю цябе (kahaju ciabie)
BIRMAN nga nin ko chit te
BOBO ma kia bé nà
BOSNIAQUE volim te
BRETON karout a ran ac'hanout / da garout a ran / me az kar
BULGARE обичам те
CATALAN t'estimo
CHEYENNE ne'mehotatse
CH'TI j't'aquiers
CHINOIS wo ai ni
CORÉEN saranghe
CORSE amu tè / ti tengu caru
CRÉOLE ANTILLAIS mwen enmen
CRÉOLE GUADELOUPÉEN mwen enméw
CRÉOLE GUYANAIS mo contan to
CRÉOLE HAITIEN mwen renmen'w / mouin rinmin'w
CRÉOLE MARTINIQUAIS mwen inmin'w
CRÉOLE MAURICIEN mo content toi
CRÉOLE RÉUNIONNAIS mi aime a ou
CROATE volim te
DANOIS jeg elsker dig
DIOULA mi fê
ESPAGNOL te amo / te quiero
ESPÉRANTO mi amas vin
ESTONIEN ma armastan sind
FÉROÏEN eg elski teg
FINNOIS minä rakastan sinua
FLAMAND ik hou van jou / ik heb je lief
FRANCIQUE LORRAIN ich lìwe dich
FRANCIQUE RHÉNAN ich honn dich gäer
FRIOULAN o ti vuei ben
FRISON ik hâld fan dy
GAÉLIQUE D'ÉCOSSE tha gaol agam ort / tha gaol agam oirbh
GAÉLIQUE D'IRLANDE tá grá agam duit
GALICIEN amo-te / ámote / quero-te / quérote
GALLOIS rydw i'n dy garu di
GÉORGIEN me shen mikvarkhar
GREC s'agapo
GUARANÍ rojhayhû
GUJARATI hun tane prem karun chhun
HAWAÏEN aloha wau iā 'oe
HÉBREU ani ohev otakh (homme > femme)
ani ohevet otkha (femme > homme)
HINDI main tumse pyar karta hoo
HMONG kuv hlub koj
HONGROIS szeretlek
INDONÉSIEN saya cinta padamu / saya cinta kamu
ISLANDAIS ég elska þig
ITALIEN ti amo
JAPONAIS aishitemasu / aishiteru (peu utilisé)
anata ga daisuki desu (plus "mignon")
KABYLE hamlagh-kem (homme > femme)
hamlaghk (femme > homme)
KANNADA naanu ninnanna pritisutteney
KHMER bang srolaïgn ôn (homme > femme)
ôn srolaïgn bang (femme > homme)
KINYARWANDA ndagukunda
KURDE ez te hez dikim
LANGUEDOCIEN (OCCITAN) t'aimi
LAO khoi hak tchao lai
LATIN te amo
LETTON es tevi mīlu
LIBANAIS b'hibik (homme > femme)
b'hibak (femme > homme)
LIGURE mi te amu
LINGALA na lingi yo
LITUANIEN aš tave myliu
LUXEMBOURGEOIS ech hunn dech gär
MACÉDONIEN te sakam
MALAIS aku cinta padamu
MALAYALAM enikku ninné ishtamaanu
MALGACHE tiako ianao / tia anao aho (plus fort)
MALTAIS inħobbok
MANXOIS ta graih aym ort
MAORI kei te aroha au i a koe
MONGOL Би чамд хайртай (bi chamd khairtai)
MORÉ mam nong-a fo
NAPOLITAIN t'ammo
NDEBELE niya ku tanda
NÉERLANDAIS ik hou van jou
NEPALI ma timilai prem garchhu
NORVÉGIEN jeg elsker deg
OCCITAN t'aimi
OURDOU mein tumse mohabbat karta hoon (locuteur M)
main tumse mohabbat karti hoon (locuteur F)
mujhe tum se pyar heh
OUZBEK men seni sevaman / men seni yahshi ko'raman (moins formel)
PAPIAMENTO mi ta stima bo
PERSAN dustat dâram (formel) / duset dâram (courant)
PICARD ej t'a kèr
POLONAIS kocham cię
PORTUGAIS amo-te / eu te amo (portugais brésilien)
PROVENÇAL t'aimi
PUNJABI mein tenu pyar karda han (locuteur M)
mein tenu pyar kardi han (locuteur F)
QUECHUA de CUZCO munakuyki
RAPA NUI hanga rahi au kia koe
ROMANI kamaù tut
ROUMAIN te iubesc
RUSSE Я тебя люблю (ia tibia lioubliou)
SAMOAN ou te alofa ia te oe
SANGO mbi yé mô
SARDE deo t'amo (logudorois) / deu t'amu (campidanois)
SAVOYARD jhe t'âmo
SERBE volim te
SESOTHO ke ya ho rata
SHONA ndinokuda
SINDHI moon khay tu saan piyar aahay
SINHALA mama oyata aadareyi (spoken) / mama obata aadareyi (formal)
SIOUX wastewalake
SLOVAQUE ľúbim ťa / milujem ťa
SLOVÈNE ljubim te / rad te imam (locuteur M) / rada te imam (locuteur F)
SOBOTA volim te (courant) / se te volime (littéraire)
SOMALI waan ku jecelahay
SONINKÉ na moula
SOUSSOU ira fan ma
SUÉDOIS jag älskar dig
SWAHILI nakupenda
TAGALOG mahal kita
TAHITIEN ua here vau ia oe
TAJIKI jigarata bihrum duhtari hola (homme > femme)
tra lav dorum (femme > homme)
TAMOUL naan unnai kaadhalikkarn
TATAR min sine yaratam
TCHÈQUE miluji tě
TELUGU nenu ninnu premisthunnanu
THAI ผมรักคุณ (phom rak khun) - locuteur M
ฉันรักคุณ (chan rak khun) - locuteur F
TIBÉTAIN na kirinla gaguidou
TURC seni seviyorum
TURKMÈNE seni söýärin
UDMURT mon tone jaratiśko
UKRAINIEN Я тебе кохаю (ia tebe kohaiu)
VÉNÈTE t'amo
VIETNAMIEN anh yêu em (homme > femme)
em yêu anh (femme > homme)
WALLON (orthographe à betchfessîs) dji vs voe voltî
WOLOF nob nala
XHOSA ndiyakuthanda
YIDDISH ich hob dir lib
YORUBA moni ife e