The Dusty Dog

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Dubya Impeachment Poll



Well, you may not actually see it first here, but you do see it. I got this graph from the Daily Kos site. If you take the poll yourself, you too can get to see some interesting results. Now, obviously, this is not considered a scientific poll. And, the readers of Daily Kos are resoundingly democratic and left leaning individuals. But, what this poll illustrates is that we democratic, left-leaning individuals have some serious work to do to take the Congress back from the bushevik neocon deathcult, death mongering, lowlife cockroaches. So, GET BUSY! Get out there and work to get as many revolting, disgusting republicans out of there. Goddamm, I hate the neocon republicans.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Folding Proteins



Folding proteins is something I do every day. It's my contribution to solving some of the riddles of disease. What you're seeing above is a .gif of the results of the Folding@home protein folding project. What you see below is that I am not alone in my efforts. Not by a long shot. Thousands of individuals, like myself, have opted to contribute to the Stanford University protein folding project.



Interestingly enough, this technology is so far above my head, so far beyond my realm of expertise, that I cannot even begin to explain it. I just do it. I leave the explaining to the website, Folding@home. And, I'm happy to have a computer that is capable of processing these protein simulations relatively quickly. That means that I can fold like crazy, contributing my efforts to cure lousy diseases, and I can increase my standings in my folding team of choice.

I belong to the team "Arthritis Warriors". We are a group of people who found each other through the misfortune of having unwillingly picked one of life's many proverbial short straws, thereby resulting in most, if not all of us, having one form of arthritis or another. Fact is, there are over 100 different arthritis flavors, as described on the Arthritis Foundation website. They all suck. But, as I said above, I have a fast computer and I can fold and fold and fold. My standings as of today is a mere 20 of 25 active team folders. I took a kind of hiatus from folding for a few years while I sorted out my computer woes. Totally unsortable, however, resulting finally in the purchase of a Dell 8400 with lots of bells and whistles. But, I digress...........

One of the neat things about folding is they issue these online certificates when you reach some milestones, apparently. I just noticed this today. Below are two certificates that I have acquired through my computer's sweat and elbow grease.





Another way that I fight my arthritis gremlin is to raise money. It is something I began last year, by participating in the Arthritis Foundation's annual Arthritis Walk. As soon as I register and have updated a working website to collect donations, I will post it here. I'm not proud. I'll shill for arthritis causes and cures wherever and whenever I can. Dustydoggie seems like a fine location for this endeavor. Stay tuned.

Back to Folding@home...... I encourage anyone with a computer capable of processing the distributable software to undertake the altruistic enterprise of folding on your own computer. You can join any group you want. You can join as an individual. You can fold proteins in your sleep. You can fold proteins while doing laundry, walking the dog, or watching TV. Proteins even get folded in the background while you're doing other stuff, like, in this case, blogging this article.

And, it really does not take a great, latest techno gigantic computer to fold proteins. There are different downloadable software options, some with the heavier processing requirements that have these nifty graphics, and others that are just displayed in MSDOS windows, sans frills and fun, but accomplishing the same task. Below is a .gif of the type of software I have, and what my screensaver looks like, as it shows the actual protein folding simulations. Very, very cool technology. Does my heart good. And my soul. As for the arthritis, well maybe some day.......

Sunday, December 25, 2005

85% Majority

 

As you can see from my blogsite, this site, Dustydoggie, I am an ardent supporter of impeaching our clueless leader. If he were to be seriously indicted, and tried, I'd bet dollars to donuts the bum would be convicted. And, as an impeached and convicted president, he would not qualify for ever being pardoned. Sounds kind of nice, doesn't it. NO PARDON EVER FOR THE DUBYA DUMMY. EVER.

Well, thanks to one of my all-time favorite websites, Buzzflash, I came across this little ditty about this very topic. Today, at MSNBC is a live and ongoing poll asking whether you believe that Bush should be impeached. There is also a disclaimer at the bottom indicating that this is not "scientific". Scientific or not, 85% is a HUGE majority. Calls for his impeachemt is so far in the lead that any margin of error wouldn't negate this majority. It's about time. Are the sheeple waking up?

Of course, I cannot emphasize enough that one cannot be impeached without the other. Bush's puppet master also has to go. Besides, who ever saw an uglier, more evil mug on any one in recent memory? Evil freakin' bastard. Impeach them both. Send them both to jail. No pardons ever for either one of them. Hold them accountable for the tens of thousands of lives destroyed, for the killing and maiming and wanton destruction, for the illegal wiretapping of Americans, for the multitude of lies upon lies, for the wasted money and resources, for the associations with abject criminals who preside over today's Congress. We're not talking about a stained blue dress, for God's sake. We talking about money and lives and tyrannical powers. Posted by Picasa

Sunday, December 18, 2005

The Right to Bear Arms?

 

I was perusing BuzzFlash this morning when I came across an article they were highlighting from the Gun Guys, called "The Right To Bear Arms is Actually Wrong." It is an interesting article, but I find that it needs more discussion. So, I sent them an email stating so, which I copy herein:

When I clicked to this site from Buzzflash, and the specific article, "The 'Right to Bear Arms' is Actually Wrong", I was hoping to see a discussion of the phrase in the Second Amendment about well-armed militias. It wasn't there. Will there be any follow-ups to this article, and to this discussion? I sure hope so.

I have always argued that the NRA, and all their idiotic followers are in LaLa Land because the Second Amendment never ever discusses the rights of individuals. I says, and I quote, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of the free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." In fact, my reading of this leads me to believe, rather strongly, that the right of the people, as part of a regulated militia, and only as part of a regulated militia have rights to bear arms.

Sure, when you take the Second Amendment apart, and only quote the phrase "the right of the people" out of context, it reads and says and justifies what the NRA and all their idiotic followers want it to say. Meanwhile, people, American citizens, are dying by the thousands. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the revolting republicans have been so bought out by this NRA nonsense. I guess it's all about their money, and money is apparently evertything to these bums. Scruples obviously mean nothing to them.

Kudos to your great efforts to maintain this site. I have registered for your emails, and if I had any money, I'd contribute to your cause, but right now, it's going to have to wait. It is our cause, after all.

Happy Holidays,
Diane


I'm not much of a Constitutional scholar, but this seems so clear to me, so abundantly clear, and I do not understand why the issue is not raised more often.

All in all, the Gun Guys is an excellent website for anyone who thinks our American gun policy is a policy run amok by special interest' money, particularly targeted to and bought in by the dumbass republican asswipes. I dunno. Maybe they should all be shot. Posted by Picasa

Seasons Greetings 2005

 


May all my friends, co-workers, blog visitors, family, family friends, everyone's pets, and the whole world have a healthy, happy and peaceful holiday, and continue it on through the New Year. Posted by Picasa

Sunday, December 11, 2005

The Winter Tree

 


I bought myself a new camera. I got it online, and it was delivered this past week. But, I was too busy to even start playing with it until today.

Today started out to be a beautiful day. Sunny and bright and amazingly warm, upwards of 50 degrees F. I started out installing a new mailbox, glad that it was so nice when I had to work outside. I bought a new mailbox, because some dipshit neighborhood kids decided to play kickball with my old one. Anyway, I now have a loverly new white mailbox. It will be good to get mail again, as I haven't received anything since wednesday. Probably just bills, anyway.

After the mailbox chore, I took my dog to the bay. By that time, the sun was obscured by clouds, and it got really cold really fast. But, we walked along the bay, Zuki sniffing anything and everything, and me looking at the world through my new camera lens. This picture is one of the photos I took today. I didn't take too many because Zuki was too excited about being out on the bay, and was running and lurching and being ...... well...... a dog. But, I kind of like this shot. It's the bay, and it's winter, and this is a winter tree overhanging the bay. Kind of set the mood out there today.

I love my new camera, a Panasonic Lumix FZ30. Photography is one of my passions. That and my dog are two things that get me out on a cold winter day, giving me the opportunity to really appreciate things like winter trees. Posted by Picasa

My New Favorite TV Show

 


It's called The Colbert Report, on Comedy Central. This guy, Stephen Colbert, is a comic genius. And, he is all politics, all the time. In fact, his show is really a spin-off from The Daily Show, and it is quite evident that John Stewart misses him. But, between the two, they have created a great hour of television. Kudos, boys!

Colbert's reports tend to be convoluted, round-about discussions of a topic, which then come round to his original point. His "Word of the Day" segments are perfect examples. He'll take a word, and while discussing it, other thoughts are being displayed on the right side of the screen. These other thoughts are usually contradictory to what he is actually saying, really funny, but as he comes in for his "landing", or conclusion, it then all makes perfect sense.

His interviews are satires of interviews. He invites guests, then proceeds to use them to further his political satire. All of his guests obviously go along with the spoofs, as it is really apparent that they are of like minds with their host. What a hoot!

Of course, the fact that his politics rants tend to correlate with my political rants, or vice versa, does certainly add to the entertainment factor. For those of you readers of my blog who do not live in the U.S. and cannot view the program, check out his website for any segments of the show that he may have put up.

I give this show a resounding bunch of stars, as many as necessary to make the point that this is a great show. Posted by Picasa