nodalpoint.org - Virology - Comments

prove your point

Neil — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 07:54:53 -0400

We are a tough audience here at Nodal. On the one hand, geeky enthusiasm is what we live for. On the other - if you storm in full of big promises, you'd sure better live up to them. Because we have a zero tolerance policy for bullshit.

Do not make the fatal mistake of assuming that bioinformatics is merely a branch of computer science. Because when I read claims like "analysis of almost every type of file", then I see a bunch of clustering algorithms which construct trees with nodes, I wonder how that applies to everyday bioinformatic tasks like annotating genomes or batch-processing PDB files.

Richness of data is the hallmark of biological information. I've no doubt that this software is interesting and important, but before telling me that it can do everything, take some time to understand biological problems.

complearn

cilibrar — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 05:42:38 -0400

Sure, there are many reasons details in my research papers on my homepage: http://www.cwi.nl/~cilibrar/

In summary the main reasons are
a) it's easier, usually
b) it's more robust, usually

I would like to fix the Mac OSX compile/link problems. Can anybody let me have an account for a day or two on their Mac to fix this problem? Please email me at cilibrar@gmail.com if you are up for helping.

Best regards,

Rudi

Exciting new site ?

Greg — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 23:36:36 -0400

Nodalpoint will be celebrating it's 5th anniversary in a few months. I think "exciting" rather than "exciting new" site might be a better way to put it.

So can you offer us any reason why a compression based approach is better than [insert favorite machine learning technique applied to biology here] ?

Compiling on OS X

alf — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 11:22:24 -0400

I had no luck compiling this on OS X. Things like malloc.h and -export-dynamic throw up easily fixable errors, but I wasn't able to find a way round an undefined symbol error later on.

Thank you

Greg — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 13:21:32 -0500

Thank you for updating your comment with the information on how to register for the free keynotes. I definitely agree that TBL speaking at a biotech conference would be worth while. I think it is also a good move providing free passes to the key notes and exhibition halls. Feel free to submit this as a blog post or story, some people may miss it in the comments.

I don't mean to be heavy handed when dealing with advertisements, but over the years (almost 5 years now, I feel a little old) nodalpoint has had all maner of dubious bio related advertising posted to the site. Posters mainly wanted to be linked on nodalpoint to get our google juice. Not that we're that great, it's just my guess...

My error for not providing the information you need

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 10:43:03 -0500

To get the free keynote sessions passes, feel free to go to: http://www.bio-itworldexpo.com/live/26/register///CC60804. At the bottom of the page it shows that you can register for FREE for the Exhibit Hall Pass which includes admission to the keynotes. This is only to those that register prior to May 17th.

I thought that these 2 great keynote speakers would be worthwhile to the community.

Sounds good... except you did

Greg — Fri, 18 Feb 2005 05:26:13 -0500

Sounds good... except you didn't actually provide a link to any information about these "free keynote session passes" (e.g. how do we get them ?). So I searched the website you linked to in you comment for the word "free". Of the six results returned none mention anything about free passes. So I can only assume that this is some lame attempt to use this site for free advertising.

I don't mind people advertising or promoting their work on nodalpoint even if it is for profit as long as it is a contribution to the community. There are no hard and fast rules for determining what is and is not a contribution, but we are resonable people (I hope) so talk to us. Building community means participating in that community. Participating in the community means you build trust with members of that community.

Rant over...

education & networking resource

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 18:38:39 -0500

In an effort help your community building efforts (great idea) I would like to extend the offer for your community to attend some great keynote presentations (J. Craig Venter and Tim Berners-Lee) at Bio-IT World Conference + Expo this May in Boston - Free Keynote and Exhibit Hall passes! www.bio-itworldexpo.com

Yeah I'm aware of it; bookma

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 23:18:14 -0500

Yeah I'm aware of it; bookmarked in my bioIT news folder actually ;) I'll probably add a 'news sources' section, so I might link to you in the near future. Keep up the good work!

news resource

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 09:14:31 -0500

Hello! Just wanted to make sure you're aware of our website http://www.bio-itworld.com - it should make for a useful resource to help you establish your bioit news blog. Good Luck!

Deb Walsh

Suspected and probabal cases of SARS

Greg — Mon, 12 May 2003 03:40:42 -0400

From the WHO: http://content.nejm.org/early_release/SARS.jpg

and

A SARS weblog ?

http://www.sarswatch.org/

SARS epidemiological study

PedroBeltrao — Wed, 07 May 2003 11:34:45 -0400

In The Scientist today:

"Epidemiological study published today gives more accurate picture than previous WHO figures"

Some important points :
"The death rate from SARS in Hong Kong is 43% in those over 60 years old (35

Rush out those analyses

Neil — Sun, 04 May 2003 20:08:42 -0400

As I mentioned briefly already, these guys work fast. I had a look at the SARS genome when it came out, with a vague notion that anyone with some bioinformatics skill could contribute something useful. Seems a few other folk had the same idea :-) Amazing how quickly people can work when something is hyped/important (take your pick). I still fail to see how the genome will aid in the search for vaccines if the thing is similar to the common cold, perhaps someone can help me with this piece of logic. Which is not to say the genome is of no use, genomes are just A Good Thing.
These analyses are well worth looking at; they range from very good to quite amateurish IMHO.