Clipmarks | egoldstein's Pops

Jon Stewart exposes Rove, Hannity, Morris, Palin hypocrisy

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:55:21 GMT

clipped by: lifecyce1898
clipper's remarks: Well worth the time to watch this short clip.

This is one of the best TDS segments I’ve seen in a long time. These people just make it too easy. Whether it’s Karl Rove decrying Tim Kaine’s lack of experience (while praising the clearly less experienced Sarah Palin), or Dick Morris and Hannity bashing the “sexist” media attacks on Palin (despite peddling real sexist attacks on Hillary themselves), Jon shows that these people have no shame nor ethical consistency.

Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Heather)

“Karl Rove appears bitterly divided on the experience issue.”

After BillO’s Jamie Lynn Spears/Bristol Palin hypocrisy: “You see what happens with opinions on teen pregnancies is that they gestate over a period of months.”

See this and more Daily Show / Colbert Report clips at Indecision 08.

Scientists may have cured cancer

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:07:17 GMT

clipped by: shylock 2006

Clip Source: www.healthsalon.org

Scientists may have cured cancer last week - more on DCA

27th February 2007 by Rett Anderson Posted in Cancer

Scientists may have cured cancer last week.

Yep.

So, why haven’t the media picked up on it?

Here’s the deal. Researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada found a cheap and easy to produce drug that kills almost all cancers. The drug is dichloroacetate, and since it is already used to treat metabolic disorders, we know it should be no problem to use it for other purposes.

Doesn’t this sound like the kind of news you see on the front page of every paper?

The drug also has no patent, which means it could be produced for bargain basement prices in comparison to what drug companies research and develop.

Scientists tested DCA on human cells cultured outside the body where it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but left healthy cells alone. Rats plump with tumors shrank when they were fed water supplemented with DCA.

What the Non-Elite Wear

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:03:29 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: You know, I think I'm wearing about fifty bucks worth of clothes right now. We liberal elitists shop at trendy little boutiques like Farm & Fleet.

Real salt of the earth types wear thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and designer clothing, because they don't hate America.

I'm so ashamed...

Clip Source: www.vanityfair.com

One of the persistent memes in the Republican line of attack against Barack Obama is the notion that he is an elitist, whereas the G.O.P. represent real working Americans like Levi “F-in’ Redneck” Johnston.

It caught our attention, then, when First Lady Laura Bush and would-be First Lady Cindy McCain took the stage Tuesday night wearing some rather fancy designer clothes. So we asked our fashion department to price out their outfits.

Laura Bush
Oscar de la Renta suit: $2,500
Stuart Weitzman heels: $325
Pearl stud earrings: $600–$1,500
Total: Between $3,425 and $4,325

Cindy McCain
Oscar de la Renta dress: $3,000
Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch: $4,500
Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000
Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000–$25,000
Shoes, designer unknown: $600
Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100

Tags: news

Roman Empire raised HIV threat

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:33:37 GMT

clipped by: valann 47

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The spread of the Roman Empire through Europe could help explain why those living in its former colonies are more vulnerable to HIV.

The claim, by French researchers, is that people once ruled by Rome are less likely to have a gene variant which protects against HIV.

This includes England, France, Greece and Spain, New Scientist reports.

Others argue the difference is linked to a far larger event, such as the spread of bubonic plague or smallpox.

The Romans spread their genes far and wide

In countries inside the borders of the empire for longer periods, such as Spain, Italy and Greece, the frequency of the CCR5-delta32 gene, which offers some protection against HIV, is between 0% and 6%.

Countries at the fringe of the empire, such as Germany, and modern England, the rate is between 8% and 11.8%, while in countries never conquered by Rome, the rate is greater than this.

We're waiting for the big piece of evidence which will solve this

Dr Susan Scott
Liverpool University

Tags: hiv, roman empire

Social media and new media are not the same

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:34:36 GMT

clipped by: billdeys

Clip Source: www.christopherspenn.com

In the new media space, we use a lot of terms fairly confusingly:

Old media
Broadcast media
Mainstream media
New media
Social media
Personal media
Citizen journalism
Citizen media

Social media is the opposite - it’s media that REQUIRES the participation of others. Twitter, for example, would never have existed without other users in the network. PodCamp as a conference would never have existed if it was only one person who showed up. Take any of the social networks, remove the people, and you have something not useful at all.

Meditation sharpens focusing abilities

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:24:51 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Zen Training Speeds The Mind's Return After Distraction, Brain Scans Reveal

Experienced Zen meditators can clear their minds of distractions more quickly than novices, according to a new brain imaging study.

The study compared 12 people from the Atlanta area with more than three years of daily practice in Zen meditation with 12 others who had never practiced meditation.

While having their brains scanned, the subjects were asked to focus on their breathing. Every once in a while, they had to distinguish a real word from a nonsense word presented at random intervals on a computer screen and, having done that, promptly "let go" of the just processed stimulus by refocusing on their breath.

After interruption, experienced meditators were able to bring activity in most regions of the default network back to baseline faster than non-meditators. This effect was especially prominent in the angular gyrus, a region important for processing language.

meditation may enhance the capacity

Tags: neuroscience, focus, meditation

Palin's speech

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:27:44 GMT

clipped by: lp97702
clipper's remarks: I like this analysis...

Clip Source: www.rollingstone.com

I didn’t think Sarah Palin — even with a great speech — could turn this week around for herself. But I gotta say, I think I was wrong.

I think Sarah Palin was the best possible choice for keynote speaker for this convention.

And yet. For all of her intimate knowledge of oil-and-gas production, and for all of her John McCain hero worship, I still can’t see how America gets comfortable with the likelihood that she could inherit the Oval office.

Sarah Palin is clearly ready to rumble.

Sarah Palin is clearly not ready to be Commander in Chief.

Tags: palin

No Time to Think (As We May)

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:46:52 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

No Time to Think

[Video]

March, 5 2008

Vannevar Bush's 1945 article, "As We May Think," has been much celebrated as a central inspiration for the development of hypertext and the World Wide Web. Less attention, however, has been paid to Bush's motivation for imagining a new generation of information technologies; it was his hope that more powerful tools, by automating the routine aspects of information processing, would leave researchers and other professionals more time for creative thought. But now, more than sixty years later, it seems clear that the opposite has happened, that the use of the new technologies has contributed to an accelerated mode of working and living that leaves us less to think, not more. In this talk I will explore how this state of affairs has come about and what we can do about it.

Tags: david levy, levy, vannevar bush, thinking, creativity, knowledge, technology, science, video, google

106 mpg 'air car' creates buzz, questions

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:32:34 GMT

clipped by: dewitte

Clip Source: edition.cnn.com

(CNN) -- You've heard of hybrids, electric cars and vehicles that can run on vegetable oil. But of all the contenders in the quest to produce the ultimate fuel-efficient car, this could be the first one to let you say, "fill it up with air."

That's the idea behind the compressed air car, which backers say could achieve a fuel economy of 106 miles per gallon.

The technology has been the focus of MDI, a European company founded in 1991 by a French inventor and former race car engineer.

New York-based Zero Pollution Motors is the first firm to obtain a license from MDI to produce the cars in the United States, pledging to deliver the first models in 2010 at a price tag of less than $18,000.

The concept is similar to how a locomotive works, except compressed air -- not steam -- moves the engine's pistons, said Shiva Vencat, vice president of MDI and CEO of Zero Pollution Motors.

Tags: car, compressed, air

Study: Zen Meditation Really Does Clear the Mind

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:44:59 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Zen meditation discourages mental withdrawal from the world and dreaminess, and instead asks one to keep fully aware with a vigilant attitude. Typically one focuses on breathing and posture and aims to dismiss thoughts as they arise. Brain scans now show that Zen training leads to different activity in a set of brain regions known as the "default network," which is linked with spontaneous bursts of thought and wandering minds.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

The seemingly nonsensical Zen practice of "thinking about not thinking" could help free the mind of distractions, new brain scans reveal.

This suggests Zen meditation could help treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (so-called ADD or ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder, major depression and other disorders marked by distracting thoughts.

In the last decade, there has been a resurgence of scientific research into meditation, due in part to the wide availability and increasing sophistication of brain-scanning techniques. For instance, scientists recently found that months of intense training in meditation can sharpen a person's brain enough to help them notice details they might otherwise miss.

Study shows pine bark naturally reduces knee osteoarthritis

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:33:01 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Some will be interested personally.

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

Third clinical trial reconfirms strong evidence pycnogenol lowers joint pain, symptoms; May now have lasting effect on joints following cessation of the extract

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), osteoarthritis, the most common type of arthritis, is on the rise. A new study published in the August journal of Phytotherapy Research, reveals Pycnogenol, bark extract from the French maritime pine tree, reduced overall knee osteoarthritis (OA) symptoms by 20.9 percent and lowered pain by 40.3 percent. To date, this is the third clinical trial on osteoarthritis treatment with Pycnogenol. This study investigated what happens to joint symptoms after treatment with Pycnogenol is terminated and the results show that no relapse occurred after two weeks. Pycnogenol acts as potent anti-inflammatory and the lasting effects found in this study suggest that Pycnogenol may help the joints to recover.

Brain Tumor Blasting Laser

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:02:27 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Now if Medical science could just give me a new back...

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

In a world first, a man was strapped to a bed in Paris and had laser beams fired into his brain. He not only survived but, amazingly, wasn't James Bond.

The revolutionary surgery was carried out at Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital to destroy a brain tumor that wasn't responding to conventional treatment. Drilling a hole in somebody's skull and piping laser destruction into it, on the other hand, definitely counts as "unconventional treatment" and destroyed the tumor.

Unbelievably, this incredible example of genuine Mad Science converted to humanitarian efforts is running out of funding. Apparently people think "curing brain cancer" isn't important enough for a few million dollars of funding. (Note: America alone spends four billion dollars a year on cat food.)

We can only hope that somebody official gets their act together and budgets for some more research

US Teen Suicide Rate Rising

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:22:45 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: Take away the meds from kids and this is what happens. Yet the reason for keeping kids away from psychiatric medication persists however absurd it might be.

And the reasons are absurd. If a teenager had a malfunctioning liver, only religious weirdos would say to keep the child off the medication. But when a child's brain malfunctions and there is is a medication that can help, many people cry foul and become suspicious. Why? We are only talking about organs of the body. Just as yellowing skin can be a symptom of a malfunctioning liver, so depression can be a symptom of a malfunctioning brain. The meds can save lives.

Clip Source: www.upi.com

A spike in U.S. teen suicides in 2004 -- sharpest increase in the past 15 years -- appears to have persisted into 2005, researchers said.

Jeff Bridge of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus said researchers have identified what may be an emerging crisis, but the next step is to figure out why. One answer may lie in the prescription of antidepressant medication. Because of concerns over side effects, the number of teens prescribed antidepressants has dropped by as much as 20 percent.

"The vast majority of young people who complete suicide have some sort of psychiatric disorder. Most commonly depression or some mood disorder," Dr. John Campo also of Nationwide Children's Hospital said. "Kids who need the medicine most may not be getting it."

Scientists Develop New Computational Method To Investigate Origin Of Life

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:33:15 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: "Retroelements are an ancient and highly diverse class of proteins; therefore, they provide a rigorous benchmark for us to test our approach. We are happy with the results we derived, even though our method is in an early stage," said Patterson. The team plans to make the algorithms that they used in their method available to others as open-source software that is freely available on the Web.
Scientists map out the evolutionary histories of organisms by comparing their genetic and/or protein sequences. Those organisms that are closely related and share a recent common ancestor have greater degrees of similarity among their sequences.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Scientists at Penn State have developed a new computational method that they say will help them to understand how life began on Earth. The team's method has the potential to trace the evolutionary histories of proteins all the way back to either cells or viruses, thus settling the debate once and for all over which of these life forms came first.

"We have just begun to tap the potential power of this method," said Randen Patterson, a Penn State assistant professor of biology and one of the project's leaders. "We believe, if it is possible at all, that it is within our grasp to determine whether viruses evolved from cells or vice-versa."

The team is focusing on an ancient group of proteins, called retroelements, which comprise approximately 50 percent of the human genome by weight and are a crucial component in a number of diseases, including AIDS.

Tags: life, computers, science

10 Alternatives to Soda

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:03:21 GMT

clipped by: deusdiabolus
clipper's remarks: Instead of popping the top on another soft drink sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, sucralose or aspartame - none of which are good for you - try these alternatives instead.

Clip Source: www.revolutionhealth.com

1. Club soda mixed with pomegranate juice.

2. Tonic water with a squeeze of lemon or lime.

3. Light yogurt and fruit smoothie.

4. Tomato juice or V8.

5. Flavored seltzer.

6. Energy drink (such as Gatorade).

7. Apple cider.

8. Milk, whole or skim.

9. Ovaltine made with skim milk.

10. Tea or coffee, unsweetened.