ABOUT CLICKED

The modern news consumer ignores Weblogs and online citizen journalism at his own peril. But not everyone has the time to keep track of what's going on the Web. With this blog we hope to track the highlights of what's being discussed online so when news breaks from the Web, we're ready.

Will Femia is a Weblog enthusiast who, through good fortune and dumb luck, was introduced to the form as his position as chat producer for MSNBC.com careered into obsolescence. On any given day, Will can be found having already spent an unhealthy amount of time squinting at a computer screen.

Send a message to Will at spotter@msnbc.com



Old bread

Posted: Friday, January 18, 2008 12:04 PM by Will Femia

Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years - What's weird about this research is that it's phrased as though humans would naturally live much longer if only it weren't for a couple of genes that promote aging. I've read other studies about reduced calories and longevity. In my head I'd understood it to mean you get more life out of the engine when you run it less. Makes sense. But this study seems to be suggesting that reducing calorie intake does more than just run the engine less, it causes these couple of pro-aging genes to signal less (or more poorly?) and that's what extends the lifespan.

If you know anything about genetics at all you're smarter than I am on this subject so I appreciate anyone's input on whether I'm understanding this correctly.

I lost some of my morning this morning to this guy's photos.

Speaking of getting lost in photos, the Library of Congress is putting huge numbers of photos on Flickr. "Out of some 14 million prints, photographs and other visual materials at the Library of Congress, more than 3,000 photos from two of our most popular collections are being made available on our new Flickr page, to include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist."

Why it's a bad idea to be a dick to people at your company's annual product show ADDING NOTE: Wow, you know you're a nerd when you don't even notice you're linking to a blog about sex. This link is basically clean but clicking through to the home page or any of the links in the side columns could get you to some nakedness. Sorry to anyone who had to find that out on their own. Thanks to Lydia for bringing it to my attention.

How to Write a Novel in Two Months - It's strange to see this kind of advice because it really comodifies the book and writing process generally but there's still good advice here in terms of preparation and even just getting words on the page that you might eventually go back and re-work once you've flushed your brain of a block.

Yahoo implements OpenID - You'll recall this is an idea to get rid of the problem of having a different login for every site you visit. Adding the Yahoo user base to the cause is a big boost.

Time Warner tests Internet usage-based billing - This would be the one thing that would make me finally lock my wireless - sorry freeloading neighbors. As a Time Warner customer I look forward to any specifics on how much bandwidth one has to eat to produce a really regrettable bill.

Weirdest excuse ever. The Department of Justice can't send press releases to Talk Points Memo anymore because their e-mail address list is full.

Top 8 Most Amazing Tree Houses

I've seen the ad for Anthony Bourdain's new show a million times but I haven't watched it yet. I see his blog getting some link attention.

What Jupiter sounds like. Apparently they're electromagnetic vibrations that are translated into sound. Sounds about what a huge planet in space should sound like though.

Stan Lee tribute art

Why I'm doomed to forever be a jeans & t-shirts guy.

The Disintegrator - a 288-band, 40-round-per-second rubber ban machine gun. (I know what you're thinking but at least they're 7 really cool seconds.)

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Comments

Hey Will,
FYI, that article about how you shouldn't be a dick to people at your trade show (steve jobs at macworld) has lots of very NSFW stuff all over in the left-hand column of the site.  Explicit material.  No nudity visible just by clicking the article, but the article's accompanying page contents and subject matter are something someone could definitely get fired for if their boss or co-worker were to see it.  I'm really glad our company does not have internet monitoring or I'd be canned by monday!

Lydia (Sent Friday, January 18, 2008 2:18 PM)

The thing about A Bourdain is that it feels like A Bourdain. Whether it's his books, blog posts, or show episodes, you're always seeing and hearing A Bourdain, not some trussed up "I was some-body" monkey paraded around in front of cameras with a script.

With A Bourdain, you're getting a genuine person, replete with vulnerabilities, and therein lies his appeal. I only hope that the other would be food/travel show personalities stop trying to imitate him. Do your own thing... a la Andrew Zimmern.

Gayle (Sent Friday, January 18, 2008 6:20 PM)

Holy Escape from the Circus! I just saw that fashion link.

I did appreciate that some of those male models nearly nailed the Blue Steel and Magnum.

Gayle, Bay Area, CA (Sent Friday, January 18, 2008 6:31 PM)

Knocking out a gene means just that--you zap the bugger.  No more signal.  It's done as a way to try to figure out  the function of individual genes.  The problem lies in the complex interactions of genes, because no one gene does one thing.  They interact by the tens to thousands, which very rapidly gives you staggering possibilities of combination.  Try figuring out the number of pizzas with different toppings you could order at a local pie joint, then extrapolate.  There are statisticians who focus their entire careers on trying to understand these probabilities.  

The upshot is twofold:
1. There is no one Alzheimers gene or cancer gene.  There are instead some genes that seem to increase the likelihood of getting these diseases, and no one really understands how.
2. Every gene you knock out has more than one job, so the possible ripple effect is huge and unknowable.

So, to (sort of) answer your question, the diet is not telling the genes to signal less.  The researchers shut the genes off, then restricted the diet to see what else happened.

Jay, Blacksburg, Virginia (Sent Friday, January 18, 2008 10:00 PM)

I just saw the fashion link.  Ugh.  It reinforced my opinion that the people of the fashion industry are some of the most vapid, self-centered and worthless people to stain the planet.

The Stan Lee tribute was tops, though.  My comic book afficionado friends will be thrilled.

Mr Scratchy (Sent Monday, January 21, 2008 2:16 PM)

Will, check out Bourdain. The first time my husband and I saw the show, we were hooked. His intellect and humor can't be matched by any "Food Network" host.

Jeanne Scarff, Ontario, CA (Sent Monday, January 21, 2008 5:39 PM)



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