Stacey Smith
I'm a graduate student studying the molecular and biochemical evolution of HIV within patients and within populations. I also study epigenetic control of ERVs.
sa smith
Posts by this author
May 26, 2009
*PUKE*
Francis 'I dont need no stinkin evidence' Collins might be the next head of the NIH:
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will likely bring on geneticist Francis Collins, leader of the Human Genome Project, as its new director, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday.
...
"NIH is a huge…
May 23, 2009
If you were a True Christian, how would you spend $10,000?
True Christians like to talk about how much Jesus liked kids. OK has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country, maybe contribute to that in some way? Hey, maybe donate it to an organization that helps victims of child abuse…
May 22, 2009
I just moved into a new apartment about a month ago. Of course, Im still getting mail for person-who-used-to-live-here. Most of it is junk-mail ('JOIN AT&T U-VERSE!!!'), but in the 4 weeks Ive been here, there have been 3 magazines... 3 thick, glossy, SEED-quality (construction, not content)…
May 20, 2009
So Ive been here over a year now.
And the whole time, I have had that stupid standard white place-holder banner. *points up*
BUT NO MOAR!
Kevin Hopkins, an artist with Super-Geek-Street-Cred made me a sweeeeeeeeet banner!
Kevin has graciously allowed me to play around with the color on PhotoShop…
May 19, 2009
Okay, so like, we suck at making HIV-1 vaccines. Im trying to make our vaccines more logical/efficacious/etc, but right now, we suck. No HIV-1 vaccine.
There are other ways to prevent HIV-1 infection via sex-- like condoms. YAY! HIV-1 doesnt 'swim'. It doesnt move on its own. It has to be…
May 14, 2009
'Bad dog' is such a relative term.
Arnie-man and I were in the backyard. One more potty-break for the night. Backyard at the apartment isnt enclosed all the way-- its only like 85% enclosed.
Well, the Giagantic Scottie (I dunno the breed-- it looks like a Scottiedog, but almost as big as a Great…
May 14, 2009
Oh for Petes sake.
During a moment of weakness, I clicked on a HuffPo link on "Swine Flu Could Have Come From-Bio Experiment Lab, Researcher Claims" to see what kind of dip-shit comments were getting posted.
The comments were what I expected, plus an unexpected gem:
Something interesting, not…
May 13, 2009
No, I dont mean viruses you get from sexy time. I mean virus sexy time. Viruses having sex, ie, shuffling round their genetic material.
They do it a lot.
HIV-1 sexy time Ive written about before-- because HIV-1 is diploid, two copies of the genome are packaged into one virus. There is lots of '…
May 11, 2009
Shorter Luskin (comments, not in height): DIFRENT JEANS MAEK DIFRENT TREAHS TEHEREFORE JESUS!!! DIRP!
You know how we always laugh at the fact Creationists dont ever have degrees in biology? This illustrates one of the many, many times it would be handy for Caseytits to have taken a couple bio…
May 10, 2009
Because we support our troops and honor our father and mother SO MUCH in the USA (GOD BLESS the USA!), we treat our veterans like shit. Literally.
Case in point: Instead of properly cleaning colonoscopy equipment, physicians/nurses at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals have been using the…
May 7, 2009
When I left you I was but the learner. Now I am the Master.
Only a Master of Evil, but still, I passed my qualifying exam this morning.
ERV hasnt gotten kicked out of grad school yet! Win!
May 4, 2009
When I first got Arnie-man, first thing I did was watch all of the Dog Whisperer DVDs available at that time. Dude has a whole pack of pit bulls, I wanted his advice on how to raise a proper Arnie-man. Sure, Cesar Millan could just be some sort of gimmick, but I followed his advice as best as I…
May 3, 2009
The jokes write themselves.
Oklahoma City Engineering Club invited 'Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education' big-wig Vic Hutchison at their next meeting. It was actually kind of nice-- Biologists make fun of the engineer-->Creationist connection (aka the Salem Hypothesis), and here in…
May 1, 2009
Um, so like, you now how 'HIV-1 doesnt evolve' and stuff?
Well, um, apparently its figuring out how to become invisible to an entire branch of our immune system.
Adaptation of HIV-1 to human leukocyte antigen class I
Oh shi-
Okay, there are 'flags' on the surface of every cell of your body-- MHC…
April 29, 2009
Star Wipe
Lisa: OK, I finished editing the gardening sequence. . .
Homer: OK, from here we star wipe to a glamour shot of Flanders paying his bills, then we star wipe to Flanders brushing his teeth. . .
Lisa: Dad, there are other wipes besides star wipes. . .
Homer: Why eat hamburger when you can…
April 28, 2009
More evidence that evilution is a vast, world-wide conspiracy.
Revealing the History of Sheep Domestication Using Retrovirus Integrations
Scientists from all over the world (literally, Portugal to Pakistan, Italy to Iceland, Tanzania to Texas) have used the random insertion of endogenous…
April 27, 2009
I never had allergies until I moved to Oklahoma. Evidently, when the wind comes sweeping down the plain at +45 mph, its carrying billions and billions of grains of cedar pollen. So even though I grew up in a damn forest, Im now allergic to 'trees'.
*bonus* Arnie is allergic to trees AND grass.
A…
April 25, 2009
So, like, last weekend the Oklahoma GOP had their convention in Tulsa.
They put together their party platform.
...
It is batshit insane.
Like... *silence*... like just print this off (pdf), close your eyes, point at a random sentence and read it.
There is a 100% chance that the sentence you point…
April 23, 2009
That was close.
HB 1326, aka 'Politicians against baby murder and for hot pancakes' was vetoed by Gov. Henry last night. This morning the House voted to override the veto 68-26... But the override only got 26 votes in the Senate. They needed 32.
So us evil Nazi scientists can officially "KILL TEH…
April 23, 2009
Check out this AWESOME anti-science movie!
Outdated, discredited, or simply flat-out scientifically wrong hypotheses presented as real scientific controversies!
Pro-outdated-discredited-wrong 'scientists' persecuted, ostracized by TEH MAN! World cant handle the philosophical implications of their…
April 22, 2009
Poor Brad Henry.
Oklahomas Democratic governor.
Fairly rational dude, always willing to go to bat for the scientific community in this state.
Tonight he is vetoing the 'UR KILLIN TEH BABBYS!' bill, which would make stem-cell research illegal in Oklahoma. Unfortunately, the House/Senate have the…
April 17, 2009
T. Boone Pickens. Never heard of the guy till I moved to OK. Some gazillionare that donates a shitload of money to Oklahoma State in Stillwater.
Now while Pickens seems kinda like a cliche Republican (oil man, Swift Boat contributor, hoarding water), evidently his wife is a PETA nutbar. Oh…
April 16, 2009
While Ive mentioned the connection between endogenous retroviruses and Multiple Sclerosis on teh blag before, I realized Ive never written a post on this topic. Fortunately I just read an interesting paper thats provided me with a good opportunity to do just that:
Analysis of transcribed human…
April 15, 2009
Last year I wrote about a cool paper, arguing for the creation of a new polio vaccine.
Briefly, polio is an RNA virus, thus has an error-prone RNA-RNA polymerase, thus acts like a quasispecies like HIV-1. Now, a live attenuated polio vaccine is the 'best' because you activate lots of branches of…
April 13, 2009
Long-time readers of ERV know lots about HIV-1. You might think you dont, but you do. You know how 'drug resistance' works in a quasispecies. Most people dont. You know that AIDS is actually an exhausted hyperactive immune system, not a 'weakened' immune system. Most people dont. And you know…
April 8, 2009
Alternate post title: Why Charles Jackson is a tool who can quote papers, but doesnt understand what he is reading.
I get this question all the time, and its totally valid:
How do you tell the difference between an endogenous retrovirus that is shared because of common descent, and a retrovirus…
April 4, 2009
If you happen to have a spare 3.5 hours.... OMFG TEH VIDEOZ!
BIG thank you to Doug for taping and subsequently 'dealing with' a shitload of video, just for readers of ERV. Least you all can do is clicky over to his site to see his gorgeous photography. You can also watch his short films at…
April 3, 2009
HT to the Queen of AtBC, Kristine.
lol Ben Stein sucks so hard. So like, you know how Dawkins is one of the worlds most famous living biologist, and 'charges' $30K for speaking engagements, but waived/waives it for educational institutions?
And like, Ben Stein is like, an actor or comedian or…
April 2, 2009
Helpful hint to Creationists:
Never mention HIV-1. Just dont. It will make your lives much easier if you just see the word "HIV" and associate it with an ass whooping. You dont really understand what HIV-1 is or how it works, so just shut up, cause you look like a worthless IDiot.
On the…