BLAG
sa smith | July 31, 2012COOL!!!
Recombinant origin, contamination, and de-discovery of XMRV
I dont know if you all have access to this paper, but here is the relevant portion:
Treatment of CFS patient PBMCs with 5-azacytidine was omitted from Lombardi et al. paper
In September 2011, Abbie Smith, a graduate student and virology blogger, (http://scienceblogs.com/erv/) revealed that Dr. Judy Mikovits, the corresponding author of the Lombardi et al. study, presented a figure at a meeting that turned out to be identical to one in the original paper, but with different patient numbers and experimental conditions (John…
sa smith | July 8, 2012Hai guise!
Because of some complaints that NatGeo is getting about the posts/comment threads at ERV, Im taking them down here and putting them up at an alternate location (lots of you have offered, havent decided where yet, will update yall when its worked out).
No big whoop-- This is NatGeos property and I dont want them getting harassed over our free speech rights. And frankly, I like being advertised on NatGeos homepage (this is a science blog, after all) so following their rules is conducive for that.
So, #1, if you all want to comment here, try very hard to follow NatGeos suggested…
sa smith | May 21, 2012Hi guise!
SciBlogs will be changing cosmetically a bit in the next day or two (gonna look more NatGeo and less Classic SciBlogs).
There is no point in commenting between 7 pm Eastern Time tonight and when the update is complete (sometime Tuesday, afternoonish is the goal, we will tell you when its done) , because your comments will not be transferred. Comments made before 7 pm Eastern should transfer fine.
So, youve got about two hours left if you want to say something.
Then you have ~20 hours to admit anything you want to the entire internet and the comment will disappear forever Tues…
sa smith | June 13, 2011Oh thank god.
I am not a '3 Quarks Daily' finalist.
While I certainly appreciate readers nominating and voting for me (getting that kind of support for the semi-finals was award enough for me!), the day I win some kind of award for writing is the day before the end of the Universe as we know it. I write ERV for fun and for educational purposes and for lulz, not like, for realsies writing equal to that of Carl Zimmer.
That being said, I am extremely pleased that 'Starts With A Bang' is still in the running. I think Ethan has, hands down, one of the best science blogs. Not just 'best of…
sa smith | June 8, 2011What is going on?
The Nominees for the 2011 3QD Prize in Science Are:
Alphabetical list of blog names followed by the blog post title:
34. ERV: Barnyard Week: White Chickens Are ERV Mutants
WHAT IS HAPPENING???? I DONT UNDERSTAND!!!
Me no thinks me rites gud, but if u lieks u can votes for me?
sa smith | March 14, 2011Youll have to excuse me for a couple more days.
Im participating in the time-honored tradition of "getting 90% of your data the week before you have to give three big presentations".
sa smith | December 7, 2010HAI GUYS!
Im currently packing to go on a trip.
A semi-long trip (few weeks) where my internet access will be sparse (*TWITCH*... **TWIIIIIIIITCH**), so, funny enough, the blag is a little quiet now so its not totally quiet while Im gone. Also, just a heads up,The Management is going to be keeping their eyes on the comment threads while Im gone so I dont have to shut them down totally, AND THEY ARE TERRIFIED.
Im so proud of you guys :-D
Anyway, just for lulz, I wanna see if anyone can guess where Im going :-D
And here are some random neat things:
Dawkins at Duke
Donkey and Shrek are still…
sa smith | November 1, 2010We filled a big gap at SciBlogs this morning!
See, Orac likes writing about anti-vaxers-- the politics, their methods, etc.
I like writing about anti-vaxers-- but from the vaccine and viruses perspective.
We didnt have anyone here to focus on anti-vaxers from the immune systems perspective (I can, but I really dont like to. The immune system is food and futile, to this HIV-1 researcher).
Until now! Yay!
We, Beasties
Plus, it looks like they will have some sweet micro posts too!
Plus, these guys are friends with Silvia!
Great addition :)
sa smith | October 28, 2010Im going to be doing a live show for This Week in Science tonight!
Dr. Kiki's Science Hour
Gonna talk about endogenous retroviruses and how to bring them back to life (just in time for Halloween!!) and all sorts of fun stuff (HIV-1, epigenetics, etc)!
They uploaded the video if you couldnt catch it live-- listen to me blither here!
sa smith | October 26, 2010Dear Age of Autism--
Dont ever link to ERV again.
I dunno whether you know this or not, but I get paid per page view. If you link to me, it means my check for the month is tainted with your filth. That makes me want to puke.
There is no point in you linking to me. Neither you, nor your readers, have anything to offer ERV or its readers.
lisa-- What a stupid website. Why are you wasting your life this way. Go do something useful. Start a dry-cleaners or something. At least then you would be contributing to society.
Wow, just...wow--The level of maturity and intelligence posted here is a…
sa smith | September 28, 2010In the first paragraph, I provide some anecdote about my life, family, dog, school, whatever. Sometimes its just an observation. This is really just filler I hope will draw you in so you humor the bitching part of my post and read the science part.
These are titles of some sensational news articles.
They either a) totally miss the point of a recent paper, or b) exaggerate the findings of a recent paper
I used to link to these, but theyre so awful these days I stopped.
Sometimes I will include a snippet from an awful pop-news article if its particularly bad, or is being repeated all over…
sa smith | September 13, 2010Still writing my papers.
So I write/edit one all day, cant stand the sight of it any more, switch to the other paper. Cant stand the sight of it any more. Switch back. Get pissed off at EndNote. Check email. Stare at one of the papers for a while.
And then Im like 'OMG BLAAAAG! BLAAAAAAG! Ugggggh blaaaaaaaaaaaaag means writing....uuuuuuuuuuugh.........'
I promise super cool and snarky and sad post on Koalas tomorrow, but if you have cool/funny/sad/interesting linkies I would appreciate them in the comments, so I have something to help me procrastinate as Im writing tonight (I really…
sa smith | September 1, 2010Im writing a couple papers right now.
Which means when I get home, Im like 'YAY BLOGGIE TIME!... ugh, writing... ugh... gonna watch TV...'
It doesnt help Ive gotten all excited about a few papers I wanted to blog about, only to subsequently realize they werent as cool as I thought they were, so I get all annoyed and not wanting to bloggie.
So heres a few random things:
1. I saw 'Bad Universe'. Every time Sydney blew up/was going to blow up my brain screamed 'OH MY GOD! They killed SYDNEY! Those BASTARDS!' So now when Sydney does get demolished by an asteroid in real life, Im going to be…
sa smith | July 31, 2010I think its pretty obvious to even the most casual observer of this blog, I am not a professional writer. I am a scientist-in-training who is madly in love with viruses, and wants the general public to understand how cool viruses are too, so I write this blag.
While I have been coaxed into writing a for realsies science article before, that was a laborious process for me and the editors, cause me no rites gud. I can write like a scientist, or write like an lolcat. Not 100% useful for an article aimed at mainstream audiences.
So its with some surprise that I am now writing a blog post…
sa smith | July 15, 2010I was so scared this was gonna happen while I was at the dentist this morning, but some time this afternoon/evening, New ERV (not including Old ERV) is gonna get its one millionth visitor!
YAY!
Normally I would demand sacrifices and lulz for a big celebration, but I got Lortab, so... Im going to go to sleep now... But I would appreciate lulz in the comments when I wake up...
YAY!!!
sa smith | July 6, 2010
True to my red-neck/gamer nature, I too think that Mountain Dew is the best soda pop ever made. Though I am a fan of Classic Green Mountain Dew, I also love Blue Mountain Dew (IT TASTES LIKE BLUE!!!), and Red Mountain Dew kicks fucking ass.
These are my abs:
If you want to bitch about the new Pepsi blog before theyve even posted anything, you should probably do it somewhere else.
Edit-- I forgot Pepsi made Gatorade. Gatorade 03 is mind blowing. A PROTEIN DRINK that tastes like (thick) GATORADE. Amazing. Its hard to find, though.
Edit #2-- Childhood friend just reminded me about a…
sa smith | March 13, 2010
There are only a couple things I would change.
1) Add Arnie. And Oracs pup. That would have been funny :D (But Orac is hysterical as is)
2) Add me saying "hehehehehe" in my first panel. Plus, one additional panel with me jumping up and down, clapping my hands saying "YAAAY!" over Nisbets unconscious body Nisbets Theory of Framing.
**giddy clapping** YAAAY!!
I might have to change my 'Douchbaggery!' category to 'EXTREME RANDOM VIOLENCE!"
sa smith | February 18, 2010Threadless has finally reprinted my favorite T-shirt, featured in my current Facebook pic: New World Order!
Many of you asked where to get it, so, there you go! Oh, and Threadless has sales all the time, so keep an eye on their page, dont pay full price unless you MUST HAS NAU!
Also, weve all got a shitload of STDs :-/
Also, I have a lot in common with Sarah Silverman:
'Marriage' has officially creeped me out since 2004. I wouldnt join a professional science organization that excluded homosexual people, why the hell would I contribute to the 'value' of marriage? Ew.
Also, WPI, if you want…
sa smith | January 29, 2010I think its funny that even people who HATE Richard Dawkins, I mean, the people who would run the man down with their car and eat the corpse raw, or even just the hundreds (thousands?) of douche bags who wrote 'reviews' or 'rebuttals' of 'The God Delusion' without actually reading it-- Their lives have been positively influenced by Dawkins.
How?
MEMES!:
The word meme originated with Dawkins' 1976 book The Selfish Gene.
Dawkins used the term to refer to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator. He hypothesised that one could view many cultural entities as replicators,…