The 2012 Presidential campaign (Only 17 months to go!) is already getting a little crazy.

The direction of the election circus seems to have no rhyme or reason. We at USDemocrazy have decided to change that.

From hence forward, we will supplying some rhyme to campaign coverage.

To break up the campaign nutty-ness (and keep our sanity), we will be reporting from time to time in verse.

Limericks, haiku, sonnets and the occaisional Homeric epic might be employed… and we will welcome contributions from our readers.

Below is our first effort about this week’s Republican debate in New Hampshire:

The Ode to the Opening Event

A showcase of the GOP slate,

Was held in the 1st primary state,

The front-runner is Mitt,

Who will bore you to bits,

We slept through most of the debate.

MS Thesis Defense

Image Classification and Automated Extraction
of Collocated Actin/Myosin Regions

Ronil S. Mokashi

10:00am Friday, 17 June 2011, ITE 325b

This study illuminates the aspects of cell migration, which is central to many biological processes. To understand cell migration we examine the relationship between local cytoskeletal features and local morphology. We demonstrate this relationship on cells stained for Actin and Myosin We connect the actin/myosin collocalizated structural organization to movements such as membrane protrusions. Membrane protrusions are good indicators of cell migration. Cells can sense the mechanical stiffness or the chemical identity of the surfaces they attach to. We show that these surfaces impact cytoskeletal structure. We develop a classifier to correlate the contextual features extracted from actin/myosin collocalized structure to different cell surfaces.

We also describe a new distance based metric to measure the strength of collocated multi-channel two dimensional data for user selected regions. We provide tools, implemented as plugins for the popular ImageJ toolkit, that are available for download by the general public. These tools allow biologists to specify and score regions of interest by drawing a polygon on their image with a point and click interface. Furthermore, we provide an algorithm that automatically identifies, annotates, and scores an interesting donut shaped region commonly occurring in vascular smooth muscle cells on extra cellular matrix such as dry collagen, wet collagen, fibronectin and monolayer collagen.

Committee:

• Dr. Yaacov Yesha (Chair)
• Dr. Yelena Yesha
• Dr. Michael Grasso

Image courtesy of NPR's Planet Money blog

Do you find charts, graphs and data painful for your eyes? How about your ears? What?  Are these numbing nuggets of numbers not singing to you?

Thanks to some plucky reporters at National Public Radio you can now experience the full musical majesty of visual data.

These intrepid audio-detectives decided to investigate the possibility economusic when they faced the problem of trying to describe economic graphs to their listeners.

Take the Case-Schiller Index which measures home prices. Visually it is a good indicator of the “housing boom”. It shows the huge increase in home prices, followed by the huge decrease and subsequent recession … and looks like this.

But what happens when you take those numbers, transpose them onto a musical staff, and get an opera singer to record them?

Well, this.

Also of interest, here’s Miami’s musical representation - the city with one of the biggest booms and busts, and Dallas – a city that saw relatively constant home prices.

We are looking forward to the day when the 1300 pages of the Federal Budget is delivered in song.

iTunes better be ready.  Check out the full story here.

Deuteronomy 31:1-8

¹ Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: ² “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’ ³ The LORD your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the LORD said. ⁴ And the LORD will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. ⁵ The LORD will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. ⁶ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

⁷ Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. ⁸ The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Reflection:

When a great football coach retires, one almost feels bad for the new incoming coach.  He has an incredible legacy and expectation to fulfill.  His longevity with a team is measured in how quickly he can succeed. Moses was a remarkable leader. He was Israel’s greatest head coach.  How was Joshua to lead in the same manner- in the same power, love, and faithfulness?  Moses summons Joshua to receive his calling and to tell him that it isn’t Joshua who will do all these things but the Lord God is going to do it.  It’s not the man that makes the calling, but rather the calling that makes the man. Joshua doesn’t need to worry about measuring up.  He can lead with strength and courage because God promises to be with Joshua and not to forsake him.

Response:

We also have a great calling and commission - to go and make disciples of all nations.  How can we go to all the nations?  Because in the second part of the commission, Jesus says that He will be with us – the same enduring promise that Joshua received. It’s not who we are that makes the calling. The calling makes us as we surrender, change, grow- we live out the calling.  Let’s pray for God to have His way with us that God will help us grow and change to live out His great calling.  Let’s also pray that each step our answer will be, “Yes, Lord!”

Image from FDA.gov

Don’t get burnt: FDA announces new requirements for sunscreen labels.

Another one in! Former Ambassador to China set to join the 2012 Republican field.

The ruling stands: Federal judge upholds judge’s decision in Prop 8 case.

And, will your gaming ever be safe again?

New York is expected, by many, to become the next state to legalize same-sex marriage.

As of Tuesday evening, a bill to recognize unions between same-sex couples was one vote away from being passed in the state senate. Putting the Empire State on the verge of being the 6th state in the nation, along with Washington, D.C., to recognize such unions.

The bill was introduced earlier the same day by Governor Andrew Cuomo, who campaigned on a platform of civil rights for gay and lesbian New Yorkers.

‘For too long, same-sex couples have been denied the freedom to marry, as well as hundreds of rights that other New Yorkers take for granted,’ Cuomo said.”

The New York State Senate has voted … now it’s your turn. Cast your vote in this USDemocrazy Poll:

Jefferson (Thomas, not George) warned against too-close relationships with other states.

If Prof. Juan Cole's analysis is credible, Saudis+France+England dragged the US kicking and screaming into the Libyan conflict.

http://www.juancole.com/2011/06/libya-not-a-war-for-oil.html

Ignore the URL title; it's still about oil, only more generally and indirectly than usual.

At ~2M barrels/day, Libya is the world's 9th largest oil producer.  US oil use is about 20M barrels/day with a domestic production of 6M barrels/day.  The US must import the rest.

Saudi Arabia, France, and England are countries that want more access to Libyan oil.  The US, Italy, and China *already* have significant refinery assets in Libya, but only the US could be maneuvered into a military commitment.

I cannot imagine any positive inducements they could offer the US, but the negative ones are self-evident: the Saudis would drastically reduce OPEC oil quotas if the US *didn't* enter Libya.  With US/NATO involvement, OPEC has partially made up for the production shortfall.

Prior to the March ~21 start of the Libyan Civil War, spot oil was $80-90/barrel. Afterwards, Brent Crude oil prices rose to $125/barrel at the beginning of May and currently sit ~$118/barrel as of 6/14/2011.