Conscription or compulsory military service

LOLX!!

I thought Germany has compulsory military service too! But apparently they stopped this year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Germany

"Germany had conscription (Wehrpflicht) for male citizens between 1956 and 2011. On 22 November 2010, the German Minister of Defence proposed to the government to put conscription into abeyance on 1 July 2011.^[1] The constitution, however, retains provisions that would legalize the potential reintroduction of conscription...men were obliged to serve six months either in the military, which they could refuse, and do alternative civilian service, or honorary service (like any volunteer) for at least six months in a civil protection organisation."

Open Science

TED@Waterloo talk today is by Dr Michael Nielsen:
http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_nielsen_open_science_now.html?awesm=on.ted.com_Nielsen&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=on.ted.com-static&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=awesm-publisher

Funny, couldn't find the embed button.

Essentially, he talks about the power of crowdsourcing, but slightly different from the ones I have been talking about. Starting from positive examples from the Bermuda Principles of genomics (everything open-source for sharing) and the Polymath Project (free collaboration ending in publications), he provided insights into tapping the potential of massive collaborations in scientific discoveries and creating a third revolution in science sharing. I have blogged about the prowess of crowdsourcing with the masses. But crowdsourcing within the scientific community is a tad more complex because of conflicting interests, the lack of incentives, constraints imposed by history and mostly, IMO largely also due to inertia.

He didn't provide much concrete actions, but I am looking forward to this revolution. It might take years or decades. But with the Internet and the Semantic Web as the catalyst and the workhorse, this duality in role might expedite the entire process. It just needs the right spark, to create that wildfire...

I will read his blog here:
http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/the-future-of-science-2/

"There are already many well-known but still striking instances of this change in parts of culture outside of science [1]. For example, in 1991 an unknown Finnish student named Linus Torvalds posted a short note in an online forum, asking for help extending a toy operating system he’d programmed in his spare time; a volunteer army responded by assembling Linux, one of the most complex engineering artifacts ever constructed. In 2001 another young unknown named Larry Sanger posted a short note asking for help building an online Encyclopedia; a volunteer army responded by assembling the world’s most comprehensive Encyclopedia. In 1999, Garry Kasparov, the greatest chessplayer of all time, played and eventually won a game of chess against a “World Team” which decided its moves by the votes of thousands of chessplayers, many rank amateurs; instead of the easy victory he expected, he got the most challenging game of his career, a game he called “the greatest game in the history of chess”."

WCUB 2011 (What can you be with your PhD)

This is a 2-day career convention at NYU Langone Medical Center. I must say this is the most informative career convention I have been to. The panel of speakers were engaging, cordial and candid and the participants asked really pertinent questions.

I went for the seminars in resume writing, mentoring, grant and fellowship application writing and careers in the pharmaceutical industry. I think there are some tips covered in this convention that people looking for jobs in general can use, like resume writing. I have some notes if anybody is interested. You can drop me a line.

This also serves as a short getaway from the work that is being piled up. Chelsea Market is just awesome! Thanks G and P and O for suggesting it!!

 

Where we cut our hair - 196 Centre Street NYC.

New Haircut - not too bad for 27 bucks?

Primate sequencing

The first primate to be sequenced was the human³ in 2001, followed by the chimpanzee⁴ in 2005, the Indian rhesus macaque⁵ (Macaca mulatta mulatta) in 2007 and the orangutan⁶earlier this year.


Not surprisingly, genome sequencing projects for nonhuman primates have multiplied, with projects on gibbons, baboons, bonobos, gorillas, African green monkeys, squirrel monkeys, galagos (bushbabies), pigtailed macaques, aye-aye (lemur), sooty mangabeys and other species underway or planned


----http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v29/n11/full/nbt.2032.html

Almost all the primates are endangered species, mostly because of humans encroaching and destroying their habitats. Now, we are sequencing them and using them in our science experiments, so we do want to save them. Someday, when this loop-sided tug-of-war finishes, I wonder who will be the last ape standing.

Entrepreneurship

Point in time: the ability to create a sense of inertia in its product users...


http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v29/n11/full/nbt.2033.html

Some ethnic propensities for genetic diseases

Ethnic Group	Genetic Defect
African Americans	Sickle Cell Anemia
Central or Eastern Jews	Tay - Sachs disease
Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern	Thalassemia

-----http://www.americanpregnancy.org/gettingpregnant/geneticcounseling.html

EDIT:
Ashkenazi Jews have also a higher propensity for Cystic Fibrosis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10464623

EDIT:
http://spittoon.23andme.com/2012/05/22/the-uniqueness-of-ashkenazi-jewish-ancestry-is-important-for-health/

11/11/11

It's the Happy Singles' Day in China but a more solemn Veterans' Day in the US.

Do they really have to go that far in disparity?

Anyway, a very interesting article on 111111 =)

http://paradigmsearch.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Interpret-111111-Friday-November-11-2011-And-a-Metaphysics-Experiment-111111