Ounce of prevention?
Posted 1:09 PM

Long-term studies are expensive, but what if preventative therapy is the only cure to some tough illnesses? Our current focus on magic-bullet drugs may be preventing medical science from cracking problems like Alzheimbers, AIDS, and cancer.

Organisms with heightened levels of SOD live longer and are less likely to get cancer. Gene therapy which increases levels of EC-SOD are well tolerated in people. But it's only given in low-doses to angioplasty patients. If you wanted it just "for your own health", you couldn't get it. IDEA: Conduct a long-term effects study on SOD, as a cancer vaccine.

Telomerized cells live forever, however there's never been any whole-organism studies to possibly reduce lifelong genetic damage. IDEA: Telomerize embryos to study the effects on aging?

Non-embryonic stem cell replacement therapy works well to repair tissue damage. IDEA: Stem-cell or stimulated neurogenesis as a vaccine for Alzhemers.

Labels: science

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Solar Terrorism
Posted 7:23 AM

Eat enough of the same stew, no matter how tasty it was, and you'll get sick of it.

The best thing any American can do for his country right now is go out and get a Wind Generator or a Solar Generator. Cutting down on energy use means less money spent on oil, which means less money pouring into the Middle East and into the weapons that keep them in power and keep them dangerous. Nice site with research on the oil/gas email you may have gotten. The conclusion is the same, it's not where you buy gas from ... it's how much. If you're pro-America, then you're anti-SUV.

We all seemed to be getting somewhere, technology and marketplaces were leaping ahead and new things were right round the corner, promising cures to cancer, longer healthier lives, better education for children. Now it's like we took a step back 12 years, and we're watching the Persian Gulf War on TV, feeling completely detached and wondering why we're doing this and what it's all about. Deep down we know it has something to do with Texas and oil, but we're not really sure exactly what that relationship is. Conspiracy theorists all speak in gibberish, and CNN/FOX skip over any investigative journalism, sticking to whitehouse press releases.

The whole thing stinks. I hope we don't have to wait 12 years to get back to where we were.

Someone bought put options on airlines just before the attack on the WTC - this was reported on CNN. The results of the investigation are apparently being suppressed. There's a possible connection to the CIA.

John O'Neill quit as director of the FBI two weeks before Sept. 11th because of they were "obstructing his investigation into Al Qaeda". He died in the WTC - even though he was on the ground floor.

There's more and more of this coming out every week. Can't we just impeach him and get it over with?

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Posted 1:13 PM

In case you hadn't noticed, I've been trying to capture the essence of the media circus vibe that's been going on down here in the last month or so. Today, I saw the capper. While eating sushi, I looked out and saw an old woman, holding her hands up to the sky and begging for her son to come back to her. Everyone turned to look and suddenly the news cameras turned on her. There were about 3 or 4 cameras facing her, but because of a police line, it was hard to get a good angle on her tears. One photographer then decided to reach around her face with her camera and take a closeup shot. The lady blinked, rubbed her eyes, and tried to smile for the next picture.

Right now the wind is exteme, and clouds of dust are getting in everyone's eyes. The crowds have all been asked to leave. Someone told me that's because the President is coming. If so, our office has a perfect shot. The police are preventing people from getting near the site - even on streets that are normally open on a regular day.

Labels: world trade center

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Drunken talking harp
Posted 9:38 AM

Picked up a harmonica in some town upstate that's famous for blues. Used www.harmonicalessons.com to get started for the last week. Blues rules. Just bought a nicer harp from musiciansfriend.com - my cheap Bluesband's detuning quickly from my over-bending the 3-draw. Beginner's troubles. I don't remember the town I was in, or how I got there. Maybe I should stop drinking. I decided alchohol is the most evil drug of all. I've tried most, from cigarettes and heroin to LSD and coke, and alchohol is the only one that can get under my skin. I'm swearing off the sauce for a month, at least.

Took my best set of WTC pics so far. I especially like the bomb-squad van, the floodlights, and the shot of Bloomberg talking to some news-chick (even if it is the back of his head). You can see how nice the news-makeup makes people look on camera.

Seven Samurai is an incredible film, modern in many ways, watchable yet artful, and filmed in 1954. The Film Forum is a great place to see it on the big screen for the next few weeks.

I talked to the "talk to me" kids last week. Bill and Liz. They are smart and fun to talk to. I agree with the idealism, and it's a great experiment. I'd like to stalk'em and find out if they rent hotels from time to time. According to them they are on a $7/day budget and they live in tents on rooftops. While I was there, there was a guy making annoying sexual remarks. A NYSE trader then suddenly trooped up, looked Bill in the eye, and said "I have 10 seconds, and I'd like you tell me what this is about." 9 1/2 seconds later he politely, but quickly, excused himself and left. A short-cut-blonde woman in a business suit with sad eyes gave them $20, and refused to take no for an answer (they kept refusing to take it). It's definitely interesting to sit with them, I highly recommend it. Here's a decent article on them. Can't find the nytimes one because I don't have a subscription to the site.

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