[Via Tiny Cartridge]

Okay, these cracked up my proverbial shit. Over at I Love This World, René got these knockoff puffy E.T The Extra Terrestrial stickers for just $2 on eBay. $2! That’s what I call value. I mean, let’s take a look at these for a moment:

It all starts off as you might expect, with E.T. bopping merrily along in his glowy spaceship, apparently rocking out to some groovy tuneage on his totally boss headphones (with two antennae!).

Then, we learn that E.T. is a lefty, as he veges out in front of his favorite video game, with his unused right hand to his lips in pensive thought. But he doesn’t have the look of your standard tensed-up, video game-obsessed teen… no, his look is almost wistful, as if this game reminds him of a summer spent on the far side of his home planet… and he’s inspired to softly whistle a merry tune. I like this softer side of E.T.

Why, here’s another side of E.T. I like! It’s Get-Down Disco E.T.! He has got all the moves, and he wants you to come shake it with him! Come on, there’s a party in E.T.’s bathroom, and you’re invited! It’s BYOBathrobe, baby!

Whew! That’s quite a sweat we worked up, so now it’s time to get tidy. E.T. knows that all the good little boys & girls & whatevers need to scrub down, especially under their armpits.

Awwww… E.T. wants to show you his favorite panda. Hello, E.T.’s favorite panda! What a lucky panda you are to have such a friend.

HOLY CRAP. I’m sorry, I did not see this coming. The knockoff puffy sticker people killed E.T.! Or, at least hooked him up to some serious Muppet Labs-caliber equipment, so you know the best case scenario is that his head is going to explode.

Poor E.T. Such a fun-loving guy. Why couldn’t we just let him be? Why must we humans always kill what we do not understand? Thank you, knockoff puffy stickers, for showing me that sometimes an alien can be the better human. I am changed.

And now, I’m really, really wishing that I still had my E.T. latchwork pillow kit from when I was 8. Why-oh-why didn’t I find the wherewithal to finish it? I could be an eBay HUNDREDAIRE!

[via Wonderland]

Rare fossils of the pellet-eating omnivore Homo pacius , commonly known as Pac Man. [Via gaygamer]

This started as an April Fool’s joke, but the 8bit tie was such a huge hit that ThinkGeek decided to start working on it as an actual product, according to Kotaku.

It’s an 8-bit graphic (think original Nintendo graphics) video game tie. I think it is seriously cool, and i want one, although I can’t think of an occasion in the past where I would have worn it if I had it. And yes, it’s a clip-on. As the article explains, you need it to be a clip-on to keep the pixelated look.

I have a secret love for lolcats, even though I never use them myself. I Can Has Cheezburger has a ton of them “tagged for your convenience”. This Legend of Zelda kittah is so cute it makes me want to poke my eyes out. [via Kotaku]

Here’s another one, because I am weak and cannot resist.

[via Defamer]

Protein folding on the PS3

Now comes another really cool advance in distributed computing: the use of video game consoles! The latest generation of video game consoles couple some pretty impressive computing power with an internet connection… that makes it a perfect resource to tap into. Stanford’s Folding@Home project has announced a client for the new Sony PlayStation 3. Since the PS3 has such great graphics capabilities, that means you can also watch Folding@Home in action in real time, and can see the 3D dimensions of the protein being folded. [via Kotaku]

After the jump, I’ll offer up my grossly oversimplified explanation of why protein folding is so important. Read on, if you’d like to know more…

Proteins are what make things happen in your body. They are the critical cogs in the machine that is your body. Proteins are created by following instructions in your DNA (read my A Molecular Happening post to learn more about how that happens). Each protein is made of a chain of molecules, called amino acids. There are 21 different amino acids. When these amino acids are linked together, the chain they form doesn’t just stay in a line — it tangles up into a sort of knot. The way it tangles & collapses into a small knot is identical each and every time — and that’s the key to how proteins work. Your body is essentially creating many identical copies of a self-assembling, 3-dimensional puzzle piece. It’s pretty fascinating, and very cool. These proteins, once they’re finished forming and collapse into their functional shape, then go and find other proteins and bits and pieces that fit, perfectly, into their shape. A dance of proteins combining and releasing like dance partners at a square dance, is how things get done in your body. (Keep in mind — this is just my grossly oversimplified version of how it works.)

Now, sometimes, things go wacky. If there’s a mutation in the DNA, for example, then the wrong amino acid might enter the chain, and the final protein won’t collapse exactly right. And then, it can be like a clumsy elephant is trying to take part in the square dance, and everything goes kerplooie. Now, things go wrong all the time, and your body is fascinatingly good at keeping the square dance running along just fine, but sometimes these sorts of things can be the root of disease. We need a much better understanding of how proteins do their thing if we’re going to get serious about treating and preventing disease — everything from cancers, Alzheimers, multiple sclerosis, diabetes; the way we treat these diseases today is going to look like leeches from the not too distant future.

With advances in genomics and genetics over the past couple of decades, there has been an explosion of data around what the sequence of amino acids are in proteins. But knowing how that particular sequence actually folds — ah, now that’s a slippery fish. These proteins, you see, are damned small. And some of them are terrifically rare. It’s not like you can catch them in action in a petri dish.

But what we can do is take what we do know about how proteins generally fold, and what we know about the sequences of proteins, to start predicting the folding patterns of proteins that are implicated in disease — and get a look at how variations in the protein might affect folding. It’s possible, but boy howdy, does it take some massive computers. Or — it takes a massive amount of small computers. And that’s where you and your little old Dell desktop come in.

If you’d like to put your computer to use, take a look at the World Community Grid (my former co-worker and Twister buddy Rich Bonneau has worked with the World Community Grid on protein folding) and Folding@Home projects.

p.s. — I’ve just created a new team on the World Community Grid for Junkyard Clubhouse — if you choose to run the World Community Grid software, please join the Junkyard Clubhouse team (you can do a search when you sign up, or click this link after registering)!

The lame photo here does not do this justice. It’s an animated PONG T-shirt, The shirt takes batteries and the little paddles and ball bounce around on your chest. For guys it’s the perfect way to make sure you get your ass kicked and lunch money stolen. For girls it’s the perfect way to meet the level 12 Necromancer of your dreams. But hey, it sure looks cool. Check it out on ThinkGeek to see video of it in action. [Via Game|Life]

I don’t understand how this game didn’t catch on.

Anticipation at Wikipedia [via Digg]