Pansynthesis

[In case it needs to be said: I don't agree with every word of everything I link to. --L.]

Undereducated immune cells get aggressive with HIV

A new study suggests that a lack of education allows some people who have been infected with HIV to keep the virus in check.

Not education in the traditional sense; this inadequate schooling takes place in the thymus, where immune cells are taught to distinguish friendly cells from invaders.

…This ability to get a death grip on viral proteins, even when the virus mutates and changes its appearance, comes from immune cells that haven’t learned to recognize the body’s own proteins, the team found.

…As a result, once the T cells leave the thymus, they think they see foreigners everywhere.

That can be a problem because these undereducated T cells sometimes mistake normal body proteins for invaders and attack, causing autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis and creating hypersensitivity to some drugs. But these aggressive, undereducated T cells are also better at attacking HIV.

The General Election (PaulCornell.com)

I've never believed 'they're all the same', and I loathe the cant, so prevalent in fandom, that they're all representatives of some great oppressive power. That just saves people from having to think, and gives them the enjoyable frisson of feeling oppressed without having ever stood up for anything. I think one good reason for a Lib Dem government would be to see if Lib Dem supporters, unlike a lot of Labour supporters, could get their heads around supporting people who are actually in charge, or if, in a horribly British way, they'd always prefer to be mentally in opposition.

…I think a government should have a clear mandate, and get stuff done. If the Lib Dems won outright, I'd be happy with that, because it'd suck the liberalism out of the Labour party, and it'd serve the Lib Dems right to find that they have to do bad things sometimes. I think the other crap thing about the British is that they sometimes think a hung parliament might be a good thing, because it'd… well, stop anyone doing anything. Because oppositional news reporting has taught them that politicians only ever do bad things. And there are some more informed folk who point to the various times and places where coalitions have worked (note, I don't count those situations where everyone involved is being bombed, I think that imminent invasion tends to focus the mind). I think where there's genuine common ground, with a quite liberal Labour party and a right-moving Lib Dem party, then good government might result. They could write a quick shared manifesto, share a whip, actually nail something together than could just about float.

Portraits In Posthumanity: Claudia Mitchell [Bionics]

In 2004, Claudia Mitchell lost her left arm in a motorcycle accident. Two years later, she became the first woman to have a bionic arm – a prosthetic limb that she controls with her mind.

Why Do Stones Skip Across the Water? [Mad Science]

Scientists say, "magic." Almost. All right, so scientists actually say, "magic angle." To skip, the path of the stone must be at an angle of twenty degrees to the water. The question is, why is twenty degrees the best angle?

Conservative Admits: Tax Cuts Don’t Pay For Themselves. (Alas, a Blog – Ampersand)

Reading this article by Kevin Williamson in the National Review was a breath of fresh air — not so much for what it says, as because a conservative is saying it.

Williamson is discussing the infantilization of economic thought among Republicans…

Of course, while this is advanced thinking for a conservative, it still leaves a lot to be desired.

First of all, Williamson, like most Republicans, can’t even bring himself to discuss the possibility of raising taxes. But there is no plausible path to getting deficits under control that doesn’t include raising taxes; you can’t do it with spending cuts alone. (I’m considering cutting existing tax breaks to be a form of raising taxes.)

Secondly, the really big long-term issue for the US deficit isn’t current levels of taxes or spending; it’s mainly the growth in Medicare/Medicaid (mainly Medicare), which is itself driven by skyrocketing medical costs. If we don’t use the federal government’s power to “bend the cost curve” — to slow down the rate at which medical costs are rising — then neither tax increases or budget-cutting will matter much.

What about laughter and joy? (Pandagon – Amanda Marcotte)

…one of the most tediously wrong assumptions about what makes something artistically valuable or interesting, the assumption that something’s worth can be measured by how grim or horrific it is. The main thing that superhero movies do wrong, in his book, is they don’t make you sad enough. This is equated with bravery.

…I have to ask, why is goofy joy not considered a respectable emotion for a movie to invoke?

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