Online gamers crack AIDS enzyme puzzle | Games Blog - Yahoo! Games

Online gamers crack AIDS enzyme puzzle | Games Blog - Yahoo! Games

Remarkably cool. If we can position these types of adventures and games in from of the young generation -- instead of just shoot 'em up / blow 'em up (yawn) games -- our evolution gets on a new arc.

Please share, consider, get your kids interested. http://fold.it/

"...This is where Foldit comes in.

Developed in 2008 by the University of Washington, it is a fun-for-purpose video game in which gamers, divided into competing groups, compete to unfold chains of amino acids -- the building blocks of proteins -- using a set of online tools.

To the astonishment of the scientists, the gamers produced an accurate model of the enzyme in just three weeks.

Cracking the enzyme "provides new insights for the design of antiretroviral drugs," says the study, referring to the lifeline medication against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

It is believed to be the first time that gamers have resolved a long-standing scientific problem.

"We wanted to see if human intuition could succeed where automated methods had failed," Firas Khatib of the university's biochemistry lab said in a press release. "The ingenuity of game players is a formidable force that, if properly directed, can be used to solve a wide range of scientific problems."

One of Foldit's creators, Seth Cooper, explained why gamers had succeeded where computers had failed.

"People have spatial reasoning skills, something computers are not yet good at," he said.

"Games provide a framework for bringing together the strengths of computers and humans. The results in this week's paper show that gaming, science and computation can be combined to make advances that were not possible before."

The Real Trump: The 8 most sensational quotes from secret recordings of Trump's sister

 Here

Here are some of the most notable quotes from the recordings: 

“I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy sh-t.”

Barry said this in describing her brother's conduct in running his administration since he was elected president in 2016. 

“He has no principles.”

Barry, who as a federal judge had ruled on immigration cases, said this about the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the southern border. “All he wants to do his appeal to his base,” she added. 

“He doesn’t read.”

Barry said this in response to a question from her niece about what the president reads. Trump has reportedly skipped reading daily intelligence briefings, instead relying on oral reports and visual aids. 

“Donald is cruel.”

Barry told her niece this while discussing the ongoing conflict between her and her brother since the 1980s, according to the Post. 

“He was a brat.”

Barry said this in explaining to her niece that she often did Trump’s homework for him and that he paid someone to take his SAT exams for him.

“You can’t trust him.”

Barry said this during a discussion about Trump’s business bankruptcies. Companies led by Trump have filed for bankruptcy six times. 

“He once tried to take credit for me.”

Barry said this in reference to her appointment by then-President Ronald Reagan to a federal judgeship in New Jersey. Barry had asked Trump to tell his personal attorney, Roy Cohn, a friend of Reagan’s, to plead her case for the appointment, but maintains she had risen to the position on merit. 

“It was all about him.”

Barry said this about Trump’s speech at their father’s funeral in 1999. “Donald was the only one who didn’t speak about Dad,” she added. Barry reportedly did not attend the funeral service for their brother, Robert, which Trump held at the White House on Friday.

• FILED UNDER:
 
• WHITE HOUSE,
 
• DONALD TRUMP

***Antidotes to violence, and Hollywood responds to deadly Conn. school shooting

Hollywood responds to deadly Conn. school shooting - Yahoo! News 

"We cannot turn our back and say that violence in films or anything that we do doesn't have a sort of influence," Jamie Foxx said in an interview on Saturday. "It does."

Ya think? The average 10-year-old has seen tens of thousands of acts of homicide in his lifetime.
That kid reportedly has trouble differentiating between the news, movies, and video game violence. But they keep seeing homicide. We keep seeing more violence. Let's change this cycle.

 I've boycotted Tarantino films (even though he's a good story-teller) and almost all other overtly violent films and tv shows for years because YAWN of the stupid, excessive morbid violence in them.
I am ahead of the curve, I think, and pray.

There's lots of things better to do than participate in that milieu: play music, play sports, play with your kids, scuba dive, bungee jump, find your X Games inner athlete and push your inner boundaries and kick ass at the top end of your potential... eat hot peppers, have sex, have more interesting sex, read the greatest novels, study eastern religion and culture, learn about terra forming and plans to expand our space programs, find video games that challenge people to find out the DNA alleles responsible for AIDS and HIV, blog, mentor a kid, watch a Bruin game, donate time to a soup kitchen, read about, volunteer for and support Doctors Without Borders, brew your own ginger beer, paint, and start a garden and grow your own food, for a few.

Middle East is Ready for Democracy, and Social MODERNIZATION Input

Fareed Zakaria says Middle East is ready for democracy | The Desert Sun | MyDesert.com
As I mentioned in a comment below re: Egypt, democracy is mutually compatible with Islam.
Fears of biased demagoguery and dictatorship can be allayed with true democracy.
This is the modernization of a society, allowing for the perpetuation of ancient religions and ways alongside the freedom and emancipation desired by modern citizens.
An exciting time. Different but philosophically not unlike the admission of the Vatican that condoms can be used to stem AIDS (!); while the Vatican ought to be taking more steps to attract younger, virtuous people who see sex not only as a mean to have children, but for *pleasure.* No, really?! Really. We need to expand the availability of birth control and education to people, particularly in poorer countries where the birth rate (and disease and death rate) is high.
Democracy in the Middle East, and social realism in the Church, could foster a much more peaceful and sustainable/population future across many lines. This would seem to be the progression of an intelligent design.