Take a Ford and a Chevrolet, two automobiles that were intelligently designed. Now, try to take the engine from the Ford and put it in a Chevrolet. Does it fit? Can it be used? The answer is no. How about the door handle? The answer is no again. How about the headlight? The answer is no again. In this example, intelligent design does not result in interchangeable parts.
Now, take a human and a yeast. Take a human gene and put it in a yeast. Does it fit? Can it be used? The answer is yes. A quick search of google.com for “human yeast complementation” results in many examples of human genes complementing yeast genes and vice versa.
How can a yeast gene work in a human? It works ecause yeasts and humans are descended from a common ancestor, through evolution, and are not designed by an intelligence.
And I hope this is all I’ll ever say about this topic.
May 29 2008 | Biology | Comments Off
I obtained a Twitter account last week. These are my lightly edited tweets for the week of 18 May 2008. Follow me at http://twitter.com/conrad_halling/.
- 2008-05-18: 14-mile long run this morning on the Minute Man Bikeway. I stupidly didn’t carry water, so I was extremely dehydrated at the end.
- 2008-05-19: The term “efficient multitasking” is an oxymoron. The human brain can’t multitask and work efficiently at the same time.
- 2008-05-20: Twice today I printed the “current page” from Microsoft Word 2007, and twice today it printed the wrong page.
- 2008-05-21: I recommend the article, “The Fall of Conservatism”, by George Packer, in this week’s New Yorker. The conservatives have no good ideas.
- 2008-05-22: I succumbed to audible.com after listening to too many TWIT podcasts. My first book is an old favorite: Our Mutual Friend, by Dickens.
- 2008-05-23: I’m shopping for a 20-inch to 24-inch LCD display. My experience with the Dell E207WFP is that it’s a low-quality monitor. I want something better.
- 2008-05-24: Thank you, Hillary, (I write sarcastically), for telling us you’re staying in the race because Barack Obama could be assassinated in June.
- 2008-05-24: I’m reading The Mind Readers, by Margery Allingham, an Albert Campion mystery (1965). It’s about ESP and a new element named nipponanium.
- 2008-05-24: Excellent advice from Bioinformatics Zen about how to organize bioinformatics experiments. See this post.
May 25 2008 | Microblog | Comments Off
This afternoon my wife and I went to an afternoon concert by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players at Jordan Hall. This was the last of a four-concert subscription series of chamber music, and the program was devoted to modern works. I had anticipated hearing the kind of modern music that is more noise than music, something like Elliot Carter’s Horn Concerto that my niece and I went to last November on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. James Sommerville, as always, played beautifully that night, but I didn’t like the music.
However, I was pleasantly surprised by today’s program, which was four listenable and beautifully played works, all written by composers closely associated with the Boston Symphony.
The first piece was Irving Fine’s Partita for Wind Quintet, which was composed in 1948 for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn. According to the program, this is a popular work, and I agree because I really enjoyed it.
The second piece was Lukas Foss’s For Aaron, written in tribute of Aaron Copland. The instruments included violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, and percussion. This work is richly melodic and almost sentimental in flavor.
After the intermission, we heard a new piece by Osvaldo Golijov, Zhuang Zhou’s Dream, written for two violins, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, percussion, harp, and celesta. This quiet work was very relaxing.
Finally, we heard Plain Song, Fantastic Dances by Michael Gandolfi. This work was written for violin, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, bassoon, and horn. I enjoyed this piece greatly, too; it had a dynamic ending. Michael Gandolfi was seated in the audience and came up to the stage to take bows with the players.
The only work of the four that seems to be available as a recording is Fine’s Partita for Wind Quintet, which I have ordered. It’s a shame the other works aren’t available because I would like to hear them all again. However, this concert introduced me to four composers I wasn’t familiar with, and I will explore their other works.
May 11 2008 | Music | Comments Off
