Saturday 7 February 2009

Introducing: 'Would You Believe It' (WYBI) to McBlawg




A little known fact, is that a decade before teh interwebz, other than being a musician/songwriter, McDawg spent three years as a DJ on a local hospital radio station. With hindsight, my introduction to the voluntary sector.

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Our Station Manager at that time, Brian Mathieson, produced some great jingles that us DJ's borrowed and used from time to time. I had to however, create some of my own - and had great fun in doing so.

Jingle Carts have of course evolved since then, and the days of "tape", are but a haughty reminiscence.

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My Jingle Carts that were kept as memorabilia but won't now play on any device on this planet.

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The content however of two of Brian's carts, I'll never forget.

1) Would You Believe It !!

and

2) Would You Believe It ??


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Starting today, once a week (or month), I'll be posting a WYBI entry to McBlawg. Your job is to guess whether this is scientifically proven fact, or just, utter pish.

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ENTRY NUMBER ONE (an easy one - they'll get harder)

London Snow Timelapse: 21,000 Photographs - remix



Spotted a rather excellent 11 minute timelapse video over at Vimeo of the heaviest snow fall in London for 18 years, captured by digitalurban:-

A timelapse taken using a HD webcam mounted on a roof overlooking Camden Town. A 1600x1200 pixel image was captured every 5 seconds resulting in over 17000 images and 24 Gb of storage.

While not anywhere near the quality of a DLSR it does provide a quick and easy way to capture long duration timelapses - a tutorial is online at digitalurban.blogspot.com/2008/11/tutorial-torch-webcam-hd-timelapse.html for those interested.

Note the build up and melting of the snow on the lens, captured during the heaviest snow fall in London for 18 years.


24 Gb of storage? WOW.

The version at Vimeo has been compressed to 251Meg.

Particularly liked the sections where snow-flakes land on the lens and create rather cool images. The only thing missing in this video for me, is music.

I wasn't able to edit this Quick Time video, so used RAD video tools to convert the file (65 mins.) to WMV, thus allowing me to edit in some music. End result, 174Meg.

Uploaded the following remixed file back over to Vimeo attributing digitalurban but of course:-


London Snow Timelapse: 21,000 Photographs - remix from Graham Steel on Vimeo.


MUSIC

Thom Yorke - Black Swan
Sting - Fields Of Gold
Zero 7 - When It Falls

Now, go and check out the Digital Urban blog....

Wednesday 4 February 2009

New articles this week in PLoS ONE Published January 29, to February 4, 2009

Lead Article


PLoS ONE Collection—Stress-induced depression and comorbidities

This collection of articles represents the output of a group of international research institutions who collaborated around the causal link between stress exposure and depression vulnerability. The preclinical and clinical research papers present an integrated experimental effort, employing a variety of methods and concepts from different disciplines such as biological psychiatry, neuroscience, and neuroendocrinology. Editorial oversight by Bernhard Baune, Section Editor for Neuroscience and Psychiatry at PLoS ONE.

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Derangement of a Factor Upstream of RARα Triggers the Repression of a Pleiotropic Epigenetic Network
Francesca Corlazzoli et al.


Species-Specific Seed Dispersal in an Obligate Ant-Plant Mutualism
Elsa Youngsteadt et al.

Reduced Responsiveness to Long-Term Monocular Deprivation of Parvalbumin Neurons Assessed by c-Fos Staining in Rat Visual Cortex
Marco Mainardi et al.

A Pathway-Based View of Human Diseases and Disease Relationships
Yong Li et al.

Selective and Irreversible Inhibitors of Aphid Acetylcholinesterases: Steps Toward Human-Safe Insecticides
Yuan-Ping Pang et al.

Tensin3 Is a Negative Regulator of Cell Migration and All Four Tensin Family Members Are Downregulated in Human Kidney Cancer
Danuta Martuszewska et al.

Disruption of Vps4 and JNK Function in Drosophila Causes Tumour Growth
Lina M. Rodahl et al.

A Filamentous Hemagglutinin-Like Protein of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri, the Phytopathogen Responsible for Citrus Canker, Is Involved in Bacterial Virulence
Natalia Gottig et al.

Non-Sterilized Fermentative Production of Polymer-Grade L-Lactic Acid by a Newly Isolated Thermophilic Strain Bacillus sp. 2–6
Jiayang Qin et al.

New Protocetid Whale from the Middle Eocene of Pakistan: Birth on Land, Precocial Development, and Sexual Dimorphism
Philip D. Gingerich et al.

The HU Regulon Is Composed of Genes Responding to Anaerobiosis, Acid Stress, High Osmolarity and SOS Induction
Jacques Oberto et al.

ZEB1 Links p63 and p73 in a Novel Neuronal Survival Pathway Rapidly Induced in Response to Cortical Ischemia
Thai Bui et al.

An Ethical Façade? Medical Students' Miscomprehensions of Substituted Judgment
Farr A. Curlin et al.

Sequential Metabolism of 7-Dehydrocholesterol to Steroidal 5,7-Dienes in Adrenal Glands and Its Biological Implication in the Skin
Andrzej T. Slominski et al.

Neuronal Shot Noise and Brownian 1/f2 Behavior in the Local Field Potential
Joshua Milstein et al.

Ca2+ Permeable AMPA Receptor Induced Long-Term Potentiation Requires PI3/MAP Kinases but Not Ca/CaM-Dependent Kinase II
Suhail Asrar et al.

Using Sequence Similarity Networks for Visualization of Relationships Across Diverse Protein Superfamilies
Holly J. Atkinson et al.

Liver Cancer-Derived Hepatitis C Virus Core Proteins Shift TGF-Beta Responses from Tumor Suppression to Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition
Serena Battaglia et al.

The Tree versus the Forest: The Fungal Tree of Life and the Topological Diversity within the Yeast Phylome
Marina Marcet-Houben et al.


A Late Role for bmp2b in the Morphogenesis of Semicircular Canal Ducts in the Zebrafish Inner Ear

Katherine L. Hammond et al.

ACC2 Is Expressed at High Levels Human White Adipose and Has an Isoform with a Novel N-Terminus
John C. Castle et al.

Transmission of MDR and XDR Tuberculosis in Shanghai, China
Ming Zhao et al.

Adult and Embryonic GAD Transcripts Are Spatiotemporally Regulated during Postnatal Development in the Rat Brain
Anke Popp et al.

Identification of Lympho-Epithelial Kazal-Type Inhibitor 2 in Human Skin as a Kallikrein-Related Peptidase 5-Secific Potease Ihibitor
Ulf Meyer-Hoffert et al.

Diagnostic Accuracy of S100B Urinary Testing at Birth in Full-Term Asphyxiated Newborns to Predict Neonatal Death
Diego Gazzolo et al.


Modulation of the β-Catenin Signaling Pathway by the Dishevelled-Associated Protein Hipk1

Sarah H. Louie et al.

Nitric Oxide Administration Using an Oxygen Hood: A Pilot Trial
Namasivayam Ambalavanan et al.

Zebrafish Kidney Phagocytes Utilize Macropinocytosis and Ca2+-Dependent Endocytic Mechanisms
Claudia Hohn et al.

QTL Mapping in New Arabidopsis thaliana Advanced Intercross-Recombinant Inbred Lines
Sureshkumar Balasubramanian et al.

Hepatitis C Virus Is a Weak Inducer of Interferon Alpha in Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells in Comparison with Influenza and Human Herpesvirus Type-1
Françoise Gondois-Rey et al.

The Effect of Transposable Element Insertions on Gene Expression Evolution in Rodents
Vini Pereira et al.


Chaotic Signatures of Heart Rate Variability and Its Power Spectrum in Health, Aging and Heart Failure

Guo-Qiang Wu et al.

Varicones and Growth Cones: Two Neurite Terminals in PC12 Cells
Ana Mingorance-Le Meur et al.

Forest Structure and Roe Deer Abundance Predict Tick-Borne Encephalitis Risk in Italy
Annapaola Rizzoli et al.


Confusion and Conflict in Assessing the Physical Activity Status of Middle-Aged Men

Dylan Thompson et al.

On the Evolution of the Standard Genetic Code: Vestiges of Critical Scale Invariance from the RNA World in Current Prokaryote Genomes
Marco V. José et al.

Facilitated Monocyte-Macrophage Uptake and Tissue Distribution of Superparmagnetic Iron-Oxide Nanoparticles
Arnaud Beduneau et al.

The Staphylococcus aureus Response to Unsaturated Long Chain Free Fatty Acids: Survival Mechanisms and Virulence Implications
John G. Kenny et al.

Novel Biochemical Markers of Psychosocial Stress in Women
Marie Åsberg et al.

Stress and Depression: Preclinical Research and Clinical Implications
Alessandro Bartolomucci et al.

Conceptual Challenges of a Tentative Model of Stress-Induced Depression
Bernhard Baune

Towards Predictive Computational Models of Oncolytic Virus Therapy: Basis for Experimental Validation and Model Selection
Dominik Wodarz et al.

Network Adaptation Improves Temporal Representation of Naturalistic Stimuli in Drosophila Eye: II Mechanisms
Anton Nikolaev et al.


Network Adaptation Improves Temporal Representation of Naturalistic Stimuli in Drosophila Eye: I Dynamics

Lei Zheng et al.


Staphylococcus aureus Bacteraemia in a Tropical Setting: Patient Outcome and Impact of Antibiotic Resistance

Emma K. Nickerson et al.

PECAM-Independent Thioglycollate Peritonitis Is Associated With a Locus on Murine Chromosome 2
Michael A. Seidman et al.


Systemic Correlates of Angiographic Coronary Artery Disease

José Pedro L. Nunes et al.


The Combined Dexamethasone/CRH Test (DEX/CRH Test) and Prediction of Acute Treatment Response in Major Depression

Cornelius Schüle et al.

Regulation of Kainate Receptor Subunit mRNA by Stress and Corticosteroids in the Rat Hippocampus
Richard G. Hunter et al.

Enriched Environment Experience Overcomes Learning Deficits and Depressive-Like Behavior Induced by Juvenile Stress
Yana Ilin et al.

Exercise Improves Cognitive Responses to Psychological Stress through Enhancement of Epigenetic Mechanisms and Gene Expression in the Dentate Gyrus
Andrew Collins et al.

Metabolic Consequences and Vulnerability to Diet-Induced Obesity in Male Mice under Chronic Social Stress
Alessandro Bartolomucci et al.


Multiple Independent Genetic Factors at NOS1AP Modulate the QT Interval in a Multi-Ethnic Population

Dan E. Arking et al.

Expression of the Axonal Membrane Glycoprotein M6a Is Regulated by Chronic Stress
Ben Cooper et al.

Opposite Effects of Early Maternal Deprivation on Neurogenesis in Male versus Female Rats
Charlotte A. Oomen et al.

Crohn's Disease and Early Exposure to Domestic Refrigeration
Fatemeh Malekzadeh et al.


Mortality Risk among Children Admitted in a Large-Scale Nutritional Program in Niger, 2006

Nael Lapidus et al.

The Methyl-CpG Binding Proteins Mecp2, Mbd2 and Kaiso Are Dispensable for Mouse Embryogenesis, but Play a Redundant Function in Neural Differentiation
Isabel Martín Caballero et al.

Retinal Pathology of Pediatric Cerebral Malaria in Malawi
Valerie A. White et al.

Identification of Retinal Ganglion Cells and Their Projections Involved in Central Transmission of Information about Upward and Downward Image Motion
Keisuke Yonehara et al.


Rhythmicity in Mice Selected for Extremes in Stress Reactivity: Behavioural, Endocrine and Sleep Changes Resembling Endophenotypes of Major Depression

Chadi Touma et al.


Chronic Mild Stress (CMS) in Mice: Of Anhedonia, ‘Anomalous Anxiolysis’ and Activity

Martin C. Schweizer et al.

Timing Is Critical for Effective Glucocorticoid Receptor Mediated Repression of the cAMP-Induced CRH Gene
Siem van der Laan et al.

Monday 2 February 2009

Barack Obama is "Never Going To Give You Up"

Read about this in a newspaper over lunchtime. In an interview with 80's pop icon, Rick Astley, mention was made of a video someone (blogger - Hugh Atkin based in Sydney) had put together of President Obama 'singing' his infamous hit single "Never Going To Give You Up". Rick Astley described it as "it's genius".



"Because someone had to do it... Senator Obama just BarackRoll'd you (like a rickroll... only Presidential)."

At almost 6M views already, it's a YouTube hit. Go check it oot.

(Worth noting that Rick's original video of this song only has 1.5M hits on YouTube in comparison to Hugh's remix).

It's always great when artists endorse such remix creativity !