Notices by David J. Atkinson (meltedcheese@c.im)

@RickiTarr Luciferase is the generic term for the substrate and enzyme that result in #bioluminescence in a number or organisms. Luciferase genes can be synthesized in the lab through #genetic engineering and inserted into organisms or transfected into cells. It is used in the “action” part of a synthetic molecular switch to provide evidence that the switch worked. The Wikipedia article is a decent explainer. In addition to the applications it mentions, it has been used in pigs and rabbits.

https://www.lubio.ch/blog/luciferase

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luciferase

@inthehands I had no idea that Tesla was selling carbon credits. Carbon credits are a scam for corporations to avoid reducing greenhouse gas #GHG emissions. That’s it. So yes, this idea should go away. However, if a company can demonstrate that they are in fact sequestering significant amounts of GHG, then this should be rewarded in some way, but not at the expense of greater emissions by some other company. The book, “Ministry of the Future” by Kim Stanley Robinson has some good ideas along this line and lots of others too.

@ai6yr I’m in Albuquerque right now. We’ve had several of these zero visibility dust storms go through today. Other times, visibility has been a quarter mile at best. Looking at the local radar at this moment, winds are sustained at 10-20 mph, gusting to about 50 mph. It is also extremely dry. There is practically no vegetation in this part of desert, nothing at all to hold the sand and detritus to the ground. My first time witnessing this kind of weather.

@inthehands I agree, it is a worthy vision. I am struggling to understand the method to “put the people they’ve marginalized in positions of actual power, give them actual ownership.” For a publicly owned company, does that mean something like a shareholder revolt? Or hostile takeover? For a privately owned company, the means are even more obscure to me. One thing I think we know for sure is that court ordered sales/breakups, anti monopoly legislation, or state seizures of #MSM property are not viable in the current political reality. Ideas? 🤷🏻

@inthehands @DrGeof This is in part because the batteries require constant cooling. That system runs all the time. That is, until it doesn’t.

@davesdogmaggie @Nonilex It is prudent to assume plans for “special” federal police — probably not #FBI — are being prepared, if not already being implemented. The “Brown Shirt” equivalent are the Proud Boys and similar right wing vigilantes who do the intimidation work. At this stage in Hitler taking power, the Brown Shirts were being double-crossed so Hitler could convince the Generals not to resist, that he would not bypass them. Expected next: Night of the Long Knives.

@chessert @benroyce Hey, give them all the #H5N1 milk they want. At this point, save your own and yourself from the stupidity of crowds.

@Infoseepage @tshirtman @benroyce Scientists in every field know people like this. They waste the air they breathe. In my experience, they all go away. But it might take some time.

@benroyce So what did we learn from #Covid19 that we can use now with #H5N1 ?

@benroyce Uh, you first? BTW, did anybody actually do that? Are they alive?

@StaceyCornelius @BioGeek23 @IntentionallyBLANK @Infoseepage Agreed. But this approach didn’t work out so well with COVID from a public health perspective. One lesson learned: it is up to us as individuals to keep ourselves safe.

@IntentionallyBLANK @BioGeek23 @StaceyCornelius If the virus is in wastewater, how would it get there except from humans?

@MxVerda @breadandcircuses
I just finished reading Hansen et.al., “Global warming in the pipeline” (2023). I weep for my children and grandchildren and all the others who will suffer from humanity’s inexorable drive to live out of balance with nature. It is fair to say that we couldn’t predict the catastrophic implications of the Industrial Revolution. Now it seems too late. #climatechange

https://academic.oup.com/oocc/article/3/1/kgad008/7335889

@thomasfuchs @trochee Sadly, people seem more appalled by being called weird than they do being called racist.

@MylesRyden @KevinMarks @ottaross Great idea. #kamalaharris

Other than #weird, what common, simply understood words or phrases accurately describe the behavior of MAGA and what they advocate?

- unusual
- out-of-bounds
- ridiculous
- radical
- discourteous
- abusive
- unconventional
- ignorant
- …

Your list?

@luckytran Just in time for the authoritarian coup, presently underway. If this were to become law, I would choose disobedience.

@inthehands AFAIK, You run the risk of being denied boarding, or getting bumped because you have not provided the info and thus are not yet fully confirmed. Airlines are required to provide passport data along with the passenger manifest. It has been a few years, but I’ve seen people being hassled over this at a US airport, and in France and Germany.

@GottaLaff Everything about Trump is unprecedented. Insofar as Trump aims to complete his coup d’etat, the RNC would become co-conspirators. I expect them to do it. The GOP as it was is long gone.

@evan IMO, the poll question is ambiguous. If or when there is a viable nation state called Palestine, then I’ll switch from no to yes. Should there be a State of Palestine? Probably. Do the Palestinians deserve democracy and the protection of civil rights? Absolutely yes.

@robertnorlyn @paninid Hamas has disclaimed responsibility for the Palestinian people on numerous occasions, including when they were asked why they did not shelter the people in their tunnels. They asserted the UN is responsible for the health and safety of the people.”The tunnels are for us.” I weep for those in Gaza, all of whom have been used as pawns, or at best, ignored.