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Lydia — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:18:01 GMT

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!

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Gayle — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:20:53 GMT

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.

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Gayle, Bay Area, CA — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:31:41 GMT

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.

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Jay, Blacksburg, Virginia — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 03:00:47 GMT

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.

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Mr Scratchy — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:16:18 GMT

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.

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Jeanne Scarff, Ontario, CA — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:39:55 GMT

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.