trans fat

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060619133024.htm

"over six years, male monkeys fed a western-style diet that contains trans
fat had a 7.2 percent increase in body weight, compared to a 1.8 percent
increase in monkeys that ate monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil.
...
According to the FDA, trans fat is found in vegetable shortenings, some
margarines, crackers, cookies, snack foods, and other foods made with or
fried in partially hydrogenated oils. Unlike other fats, the majority of
trans fat is formed when food manufacturers turn liquid oils into solid fats
like shortening and hard margarine by adding hydrogen."

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Secret Santa dies

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070113/ap_on_re_us/obit_secret_santa

"Larry Stewart, a millionaire who became known as Secret Santa for his habit
of roaming the streets each December and anonymously handing money to
people, died Friday. He was 58."

How sad that such a good person has died.

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Milk Eliminates Cardiovascular Health Benefits Of Tea, Researchers Warn

"Research published online in the European Heart Journal has found that the
protective effect that tea has on the cardiovascular system is totally wiped
out by adding milk.
Tests on volunteers showed that black tea significantly improves the ability
of the arteries to relax and expand, but adding milk completely blunts the
effect. Supporting tests on rat aortas (aortic rings) and endothelial
(lining) cells showed that tea relaxed the aortic rings by producing nitric
oxide, which promotes dilation of blood vessels. But, again, adding milk
blocked the effect."

I guess I'd better stop adding hot chocolate mix (which contains powdered
milk) to my morning green tea! It sounds like what I do sometimes - adding
cooking cocao and crushed up peppermint candies - might be ok, since I don't
add milk then.

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Radiation Degrades Nuclear Waste-containing Materials Faster Than Expected

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070110181212.htm

"Minerals intended to entrap nuclear waste for hundreds of thousands of
years may be susceptible to structural breakdown within 1,400 years, a team
from the University of Cambridge and the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory reported today (Jan. 11) in the journal Nature.
...
This could lead to swelling, loss of physical strength and possible cracking
of the mineral as soon as 210 years, well before the radioactivity had
decayed to safe levels"

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power blinds

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070110124121.htm

"Adam Galinsky of Northwestern University, Joe Magee of the Wagner Graduate
School of Public Service at NYU, and colleagues at Stanford University found
that possessing power itself serves as an impediment to understanding the
perspectives of others."

Experience, on both a personal and political level, show this is true.
However, another possibility for the results of this particular experiment
is that the powerful just don't care about other people's perceptions.

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deficit vs. debt

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16599329/

"In its monthly budget report, the Treasury Department said Friday that the
deficit from October through December totaled $80.4 billion, the smallest
imbalance for the first three months of a budget year since 2002. The budget
year starts Oct. 1.
...
The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that the deficit for the 2007
budget year will rise to $286 billion, an increase of 15.2 percent from last
year, but that figure could be lowered when the CBO releases its revised
estimate later this month.
...
Bush, who took office while the country was running record surpluses, saw
the deficit hit an all-time high in dollar terms of $413 billion in 2004."

As usual, the news media only report the amount of the budget deficit (or
surplus, when Clinton was president). The deficit is the amount by which
the national debt has grown in a single year. We citizens also need to know
the national debt, the total amount which the government owes (much of it to
China), which is not usually given. Many people don't know the difference.

Since this administration has no regard for truth, I regard any information
it puts out with scepticism. (Of course, even with honest evaluations, it
takes time for all information to come in, so that there are always later
corrections). People who will change the meaning of scientific reports, to
protect the financial interests of the rich at the expense of the health of
our people and country, cannot be trusted to tell the truth on any topic.

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Pollutants' link to diabetes

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070105-18042600-bc-ecowellness-diabetes.xml

A preliminary study has found Americans who live near toxic waste sites are hospitalized more for diabetes than those who live in clean communities.

Such results suggest environmental triggers of diabetes, a fairly new research area, are worthy of more investigation, Carpenter said. As type 2 diabetes has exploded -- a two-fold increase from 5.8 million to 13.3 million Americans from 1980 to 2002 -- scientists have scrambled to find explanations for the rise. Although experts often point to the obesity epidemic, that alone can't account for it, Carpenter said.
Indeed, the "evidence is accumulating rapidly that environmental exposures are very important factors," he said.
Dr. Larry Deeb, president of medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association, also stressed obesity can't be the only culprit for the dizzying increase in diabetes.

harnessing child power

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14936341/

The Clinton conference began Wednesday with a slew of world figures, among them first lady Laura Bush, who announced a partnership aimed at bringing clean drinking water to communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
The program, called Play Pumps, will install specially designed playground equipment that will use the force generated by children using the equipment to pump clean water from beneath the ground.

After all the people (like me), remarking that we could supply much of our energy if we could harness the energy of children, someone has actually done it.

cheap computers

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16456043/

Rwanda is the eighth developing country to join the One Laptop Per Child initiative aimed at giving away inexpensive computers to all young students.

I would like to buy one of these myself. Microsoft keeps making more powerful and expensive computers. All many people need is a basic computer.

If I could afford it, I would get a Mac suitable for composing music, but since I don't anticipate being able to afford that soon, if ever, I would like to buy an inexpensive, basic computer.

torture

The most effective way I've found to get a lot of housecleaning done is to decide to do my taxes!

Maternal Diet During Pregnancy Can Impact Offspring For Generations, Study Shows

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061113180343.htm

A new study by scientists at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) is the first to show that a mother's diet during pregnancy influences the health of her grandchildren by changing the behavior of a specific gene. ... The new research shows that the diet consumed by a pregnant Avy mouse affects the health of not only her pups, but also their pups -- her grandchildren.

I read a of a similar study several years ago. In that study, pregnant mice (or rats, I can't remember which), were fed a deficient diet. Their offspring had reduced IQs (no new results there), and so did their daughters' offspring, but not their sons' offspring. President Reagan tried to end the WIC (Women, Infants, and Chidrens nutrition) program, and was able to reduce it. His administration defined ketchup as a "vegetable" in order to save money on school lunch programs. There is no telling what harm this has caused our country. He also tried to eliminate Head Start. It boggles my mind when people claim the press was hard on Reagan, and now Bush. They treated both with blatant favoritism.

striking a balance

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15936990/

In a civilized society based on the rule of law, we live in a delicate balance between obeying those whose job it is to enforce the laws, and policing the police to make certain they do not abuse their special positions of authority.

This is an excellent discussion on this topic.

Rapist who preys on men sparks fear, interest

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16361153/

BAYTOWN, Texas - A rapist who has struck at least five times since April in and around Baytown has not only spread fear in this working-class community but also piqued the interest of those who study the criminal mind.
The reason: He preys on other men.
That makes him something of a rarity in the world of crime.

I worked on a crisis line many years ago. In one of our classes, rape was discussed. This caused the men to giggle, and at least one to comment they wouldn't mind being raped. When I commented that they were most likely to be raped by another man (men being far more likely to engage in violent acts than women), the giggling stopped. And this is not an isolated incidence of male insensitivity to rape - when it happens to women. As a result, I admit I don't feel the sympathy for these men that I would for a woman.

Combinations of over-the-counter drugs can cause serious side effects

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16282719/

However, overdoses of acetaminophen can cause serious liver damage, even death, the FDA said. For aspirin, ibuprofen and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, there is a risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and kidney injury even when patients take the correct dose. Those risks too are linked to deaths, in this case thousands each year. ... For acetaminophen, the labels also would warn of the risk of severe liver damage if patients take more than the recommended dose or consume three or more alcoholic drinks a day while on the drugs.

This is definitely not an over-reaction on the part of the FDA. This killed my brother, who suffered from chronic back and neck pains from injuries.

Designer’ babies with made-to-order defects?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16299656/

Creating made-to-order babies with genetic defects would seem to be an ethical minefield, but to some parents with disabilities — say, deafness or dwarfism — it just means making babies like them.

And a recent survey of U.S. clinics that offer embryo screening suggests it’s already happening.
Three percent, or four clinics surveyed, said they have provided the costly, complicated procedure to help families create children with a disability.

As a fairly short person myself (5 feet), I have nothing against dwarfs, but as the article indicates, having a person with one such gene may need surgery for dwarfism-related bone deformities. A baby with two such genes dies. Unless/until we devastate the environment so badly that small people will have an advantage because we need less resources, it would be wrong to deliberately create people such disabilities. Since we know of widespread genes which are seriously harmful or fatal when two are present, but protective in some circumstances for those who have a single gene, we should be leary of trying to stamp out such genes, but it would be wrong to deliberately choose for them, at least when even the single gene causes problems.

I have progressive myopia, caused by a recessive gene. It is possible it is associated with increased IQ (there is still an open question, as far as I know). But I certainly wouldn't go out and deliberately try to have children with this condition.

Backpack generates its own electricity

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9245155/

A new backpack design may offer a way for first responders and disaster relief workers to generate their own electricity for communications devices, night vision goggles, water purifiers or other crucial, portable electronics.
All the person wearing the backpack has to do is walk — the backpack does the rest. The backpack captures energy from the up-and-down movements of its heavy contents and converts this energy to electricity.

This would be good for anybody. Batteries are horrible for the environment.

help our troops

www.geocities.com/helmetliner

This site contains instructions for knitting or crocheting wool helmet liners for our troops. The ones supplied by the government are of synthetic fiber, and not as warm.

I have finished one (will send it in next week), and have started another.

results of voluntary standards

Pres. Bush must be happy at the results of the voluntary standards he is so enamored of.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16222089/

Recent E. coli outbreaks have drawn attention to foodborne illnesses, and though officials say the overall number of cases is on the decline, produce — particularly leafy vegetables — is increasingly a carrier of germs once linked only to meat and dairy.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15821237/

A type of salmonella found in eggs is turning up more often in chicken meat and needs to be reduced, according to the Agriculture Department.
From 2000 through 2005, there was a fourfold increase in positive test results for salmonella enteritidis on chicken carcasses.

inspirational words

I cried because I had no shoes,
until I met a man who had no hair.

Jack Kevorkian to be paroled in June

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16191093/

After more than eight years in prison, a frail Dr. Jack Kevorkian will be paroled in June with a promise that he won’t assist in any more suicides, a prison spokesman said Wednesday.=

I never thought he should have been sent to prison, certainly not for so long. He wasn't killing people w/o their permission. He was giving them freedom to end their pain and suffering. The fear of not being able to make such a decision for myself would cause me to end my life earlier than otherwise in such a situation, before I became helpless to do so. If someone insists that people should be forced to endure agony, whether physical pain or severe depression, that person is a sadistic jerk.

I disagree with disabled people who said such actions devalue disabled people. Disabled people should be supported. And they should have the right to make decisions about their own lives that able-bodied people can do. If they are not in severe pain, it would be reasonable to not allow assisted suicide for a time after a person becomes unable to act on their own. Six months might be reasonable, because research has found that people tend to adjust to circumstances in that amount of time, and to end up about as happy or unhappy as they were before the disability.

I read once of a man who had been severely burned. He wanted to be allowed to die, but wasn't allowed to do so. After he recovered, he said that he should have been allowed to die, that even though he was recovered, he didn't want to have lived through such pain. I feel the same way for myself. If someone else makes a different decision, that's their choice.