I miss the people I met over the years
I miss getting up 5 min before class and still making it on time
I miss the lack of traffic
I miss a good Super Wal-Mart
I miss being able to care very little about classes
I miss the Dukum and everything about it
…but…
I don’t miss the fact that it was 10 F when I woke up today in St. Louis…but it was -14 F in Kirksville…
Friends in Kirksville? You kids have a nice day 🙂
…’cause that’s when “X-Men 3” will be released… USA Today has an article about it out today… It’s looking like the switch from Bryan Singer (“X-Men 1 and 2;” “Usual Suspects”) to Brett Ratner (“Red Dragon;” “Rush Hour 2”) won’t be as bad as it could have been…
But, damn if Kelsey Grammer doesn’t look tight as the Beast…I was a bit worried about that one…that, and they got Halle Berry to play Storm again, even though it was thought she wouldn’t return (…as she has an Oscar now and doesn’t really need to do superhero movies…).
…and on a semi-related note, Bryan Singer is all about doing a “Star Trek” movie in the future…w00t!
Click thru for the Official “X3” trailer.
So I went and saw “Aeon Flux” yesterday… The Wehrenberg Theater chain ran a deal yesterday that gave you a free movie ticket if you brought 3 cans of food for donation, so I saw the movie on the cheap…
Anyway, I didn’t think it was that terrible. I mean, it wasn’t a particularly awesome movie, but there are certainly worse movies out there (…”Battlefield Earth?”). I think I would consider it to be most like a somewhat little-known movie called “Equilibrium,” starring Christian Bale. It was a decent movie with a good story and a few decent actors…but mostly bad actors. The fight scenes weren’t quite as impressive as I would have liked to see, but were passable nonetheless.
So it goes with “Aeon Flux.” Charlize Theron was good and her fight scenes were well-choreographed…but could have been better. The effects were good, but not awesome. The story itself was relatively creative, yet somewhat confusing (it all became more understandable late in the movie). On the other hand, the movie was interesting and held my attention throughout and the ending wasn’t entirely unbelievable. It even had an amount of social commentary involved, which is always welcome. Personally, I’ve never seen the original anime series that appeared on MTV in the early 1990s (which, I’m told, was equally confusing), but the movie was still entertaining.
So yeah, overall, the movie could have been better…but it sure as heck could have been a lot worse… If you go see it, don’t expect anything awesome; just buy some soda and popcorn, sit back, and let your mind stay open. If you expect an Oscar winner, you’ll be disappointed.
So yeah, I was listening to The Howard Stern Show a few days back and they were talking about this…but apparently you can download your own “spin-free” Bill O’Reilly merchandise. For example, you can get your own official tote bag…or perhaps a Bill O’Reilly-modeled jacket…
I hate that man…
So yeah, I was listening to The Howard Stern Show a few days back and they were talking about this…but apparently you can download your own “spin-free” Bill O’Reilly merchandise. For example, you can get your own official tote bag…or perhaps a Bill O’Reilly-modeled jacket…
I hate that man…
So, we talked in class today about transposons. For those who don’t know what they are, I’m going to give a brief description. For those who usually stop reading by now when I start talking science, keep reading ’cause there’s a relatively important point toward the end that warrants discussion…
A transposon is also known as a “jumping gene.” They are pieces of genetic information that can code for the machinery to either copy itself to another location in a genome, or even excise itself from one location and move itself to another. Cool, eh?
Well, think of it this way. Let’s say a transposon lands at some location in a bacterial cell that’s pretty close to a gene that codes for tetracycline resistance (that’s an antibiotic…). Let’s say another transposon lands on the other side of this resistance gene. Now, what you have is a bigger transposon that, at either side, can cut itself out and move the whole thing (including resistance) to another location, or replicate itself.
Why is this bad? Well, that’s one easy (and scary) way that antibiotic resistance is spread between bacteria. Apparently, for example, there’s a transposon in the fruit fly that is found in all fruit flies…but wasn’t there 50 years ago…so within a span of 50 years, all fruit flies on Earth got this gene. Do you know how fast bacteria divide? It’s insane to think of how fast bacteria can get these “jumping genes” and then become resistant to all of our antibiotics.
Know what else is bad? And this is the point of the discussion… The government is more concerned with developing defenses for smallpox and anthrax than they are about protecting us from resistant strains of flu, or pneumonia, etc. How many people do smallpox and anthrax kill every year? Not that many. Now, flu and pneumonia (etc…)? How many? Lots. And those guys aren’t resistant to all of our antibiotics…yet…
So yeah, at this point, it’s likely that within the next 20-30 years (or sooner?), all of our current antibiotics won’t be effective against common ailments that are curable today. And we’re wasting our money “protecting” ourselves from dangers that barely blip on the radar in the natural world.
Believe you me…I’m more worried about an antibiotic-resistant strain of influenza than I am about anthrax…and you should be, too…
Update (12/2/05): Case in Point. Here’s an article about a new strain of bacteria that is proving difficult to fend off… Be afraid…be very afraid…
