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Young Surfer concurs Cribbar.
Tennis ace cheats death in wild surf
There’s so seldom any surf news I thought I post it for the 4th of July.
Happy Day off, if you are off. I’m working.
It’s my birthday. I was looking at property today. Not that I can afford the bills I have.
To buy on or near the beach is impossible despite tons of stuff not selling.
There are some good deals inland.
A largish in need of extensive repairs kind of place in Selbyville. Around 185,000.
This property is being “sold as is” with no warranties. It has been used as a chiropractor’s office with a residence upstairs. It is in need of extensive repair. Presently occupied. Large, beautiful lot with alley access. Beware of dog!
This blog post at The Guardian UK Catching a literary wave expounds some of the depth of literature having to do in some way or other with Surfing.
Who knew Mark Twain tried in while in Hawaii, without much success as it turns out.
Interesting read if you’re looking for suggestions for surf reading.
Bra Boys the movie will be released on DVD in August.
An interesting documentary that focuses on the crew from Maroubra Beach: the Bra Boys. The subculture, the random criminal act and so forth. Not generally a “surf” movie it’s worth checking out.
What’s with all the spam?
Surfs up here kids, so I will be a a rare commodity.
No world class breaks here, but it’s better than being landlocked.
Memorial Day weekend and despite the gas prices the beach was packed and I finally made some real money.
Didn’t get to even look at a surfboard but the weather today is hot, the water is warmer, so without a wet suit I ventured.
Felt so damn good to get out there. The water is not quite cooked yet, bt my hypothermia is dissipating.
Six word tag via Cooper.
I am never without a dog.
My camera works, but I have no computer connections. When that happens you will meet the goldenpoo.
Technically the dogs I’ve had over the last four years were not mine in the sense of ownership, but they were mine at heart.
My hopes for eventually sweeping Portia de Rossi off her feet dashed.
congratulations.
Fucking spam.
Cooper says it best with some graffiti she stole from somewhere else.
I’d post it here, but I’d have to copy the picture, or suck her bandwidth, then I’d have to give credit to the blog where it originated, and to do that requires more clicks than I’m prepared for tonight.
I worked all day and I’m heading in to tend bar.
I’ve walked the dog, checked my bank balance - where Amazon credited me with 7 bucks for who knows what. It’s painful when one minuscule deposit is so noticeable.
Things are falling into place. I am now saving for a wet suit.
I have 7 dollars.
NEWS:
Finally making some money.
Ash is coming into town this weekend, it makes me happy, we get along so well when we are not dating. She is no longer in a relationship.
I’m content.
Driving into Baltimore, Fell’s Point, next week for a concert, paid for hotel for the overnight.
Bob Weir and Ratdog
I called my roommates in Ohio, to ask them to pack up the rest of my books and send them here.
What Books? They say.
I have to pay rent there for two more month, then it is formally so long.
They did something to this blogging platform, it no longer seperates my sentences, or the theme no longer work well with the upgrade.
Oh well.
I write so infrequently I accumulate few spams. T
This was one..…………….redart ultragaseous papilloedema monodelph lamellibranchia quivering access crawling…
I’m definitely out of the loop. Does that mean something? I get the swollen brain part and thought maybe someone was trying to tell me I had a big head, but the rest is a mess of words which all together do not form anything resembling a coherent phrase, unless they were trying to tell me I was the worst kind of spineless full of hot air low-life.
I could have sworn I whipped off a post sometime last week, it’s not here so I guess I’m wrong on that.
Last week I quelled a bar fight in which a bottle was going to get cracked over someone’s head. All this for the love of a girl. The green monster of ownership.
Cold and not beach-like here but the restaurant is busy enough. More year round residents than in the past.
My fifteen minutes is up.
Feel free to come on down, fourty degrees on the beach is not so bad.
Really it isn’t.
Type 1 (Juvenile Diabetes)
JDRF’s new billion-dollar global campaign, “From Research to Reality: The Campaign to Accelerate the Cure for Diabetes,” is intended to do just that: step up the transformation of research into treatments and interventions that can soon benefit people with type 1 diabetes. Focusing on JDRF’s five cure therapeutic paths, this groundbreaking campaign offers you a rare chance to participate in this decisive process. Your support means helping us pay for the development of innovative therapies. It means funding the research that will culminate in a cure for diabetes. The sense of urgency is clear, yet it comes with the hope that we are nearing our goal. At JDRF “dedicated to finding a cure” is not just a mottoit’s a call to action.
The Promise to Remember Me Campaign
Home Page
U.S. Senator Barack Obama today released the following statement during the debate on the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act:
I stand in full support of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act as I did when this bill was introduced and sent to the President’s desk in the 109th Congress. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill.
I am frustrated by the opposition this bill has generated and saddened that we are preventing the advancement of important science that could potentially impact millions of suffering Americans. The study of stem cells holds enormous promise for the treatment of debilitating and life-threatening diseases. However, in order to reach this level of medical achievement, much more research is necessary to understand, and eventually harness, the amazing potential of stem cells. Instead of creating roadblocks, we must all work together to expand federal funding of stem cell research and continue moving forward in our fight against disease by advancing our knowledge through science and medicine.
Each year, 100,000 Americans will develop Alzheimer’s disease, with impaired memory, ability to understand, and judgment. Over 1 million adults will be diagnosed with diabetes this year, and risk complications that include blindness, damaged nerves and loss of kidney function. We all know or have met individuals with spinal cord injuries, including national celebrities, local war heroes and loved ones from our own families and circles of friends, who are struggling to maintain mobility and independence.
For most of our history, medicine has offered little hope of recovery to the 100 million individuals affected by these and other devastating illnesses and injuries.
Until now.
Recent developments in stem cell research may hold the key to improved treatments, if not cures, for those affected by Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, spinal cord injury and countless other conditions.
Many men, women, and children who are cancer survivors are already familiar with the life-saving applications of adult stem cell research. Patients with leukemia or lymphoma often undergo bone marrow transplants, a type of stem cell transplant, which can significantly prolong life, or permanently get rid of the cancer. This therapy has been used successfully for decades, and is saving lives everyday.
Yet this breakthrough has its serious limitations. Adult stem cells, such as those used in bone marrow transplants, can only be collected in small quantities, may not be a match for the patient, which can lead to rejection, and have limited ability to differentiate, or transform into specialized cells.
Similarly, the promising advances of stem cell use from a patient’s own cord blood, as illustrated by the success stories of Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg from Duke University, also have their limitations. If, for example, a young cord blood recipient’s condition should deteriorate after his or her initial treatment, or should develop another illness, there simply are not enough cord blood cells left for a second use. The few remaining cells would have to be cloned to get enough cells for future treatment, or stem cells would have to be obtained from another source.
Two of my constituents, Mary Schneider and her son Ryan, are well aware of the potential of cord blood treatments. Her son, diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 2 years of age, has made what appears to be a full recovery after treatment with his own cord blood. Despite the compelling results witnessed by the Schneider family, they also firmly believe and support expanded research of embryonic stem cells to combat disease.
A recent scientific paper about stem cells derived from amniotic fluid has drawn much attention. While this offers an exciting alternative to regenerative medicine therapies, the author of that report, Dr. Anthony Atala, has himself urged that his work on amniotic stem cells will not replace the continued need for investigation into treatments with stem cells derived from embryos.
All of these alternative treatments are just that, alternatives, and are not substitutes for embryonic stem cell research.
Embryonic stem cells can be obtained from a number of sources, including in vitro fertilization. At this very moment, there are over 400,000 embryos being stored in over 400 facilities throughout the United States. The majority of these are reserved for infertile couples. However, many of these embryos will go unused, destined for permanent storage in a freezer or disposal. We should expand and accelerate research using these embryos, just as we should continue to explore the viability of adult stem cell use, cord blood use, and amniotic fluid use.
The promise of embryonic stem cells has come to light in a recent achievement by researchers at Johns Hopkins. They were able to repair damaged nerves and restore mobility in paralyzed rats through embryonic stem cells. One can’t help but wonder when, not if, this research will be translated into techniques that will help human patients who have lost the ability to walk.
Of course any work in this area must have appropriate oversight. Embryonic stem cell research demands comprehensive, thoughtful and carefully crafted ethical and scientific guidelines. We must not only look to guidance from the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration but also to our reason, our morals and our compassion.
The President’s veto of the stem cell bill proposed in the last Congress prevents government funding beyond 78 previously established stem cell lines. However, recent estimates on the number of viable cell lines bring the numbers down closer to 20. Clearly, we are moving backwards in our efforts with these current restrictions. Stymieing embryonic stem cell research is a step in the wrong direction. It closes the door on many Americans awaiting new treatments that could potentially provide a better quality of life, or, perhaps, even save their life.
My hope, and the hope of so many in this country, is to provide our researchers with the means to explore the uses of embryonic stem cells so that we can begin to turn the tide on the devastating diseases affecting our nation and the world
Just stole this from Cooper, I like it enough to do two posts in less than thirty minutes.
The Eye, even with Jessica Alba, is not as good at the original.
Skip the movie, wait for the DVD, and rent the original.
I’m home, with a document proving I graduated. I’m not sure if I’ll go back for the ceremony, but it looks like I have to.
I’ll be heading back to pick up more stuff just don’t know when. I still have to pay the lease on the apartment through June.
Building boards for the next week or so, then I’ll look for real work. I’m not looking for a grad school for a year or three.
Sold some books to some guy on Amazon. The guy complained the books weren’t in the condition I said they were, now Amazon has put my account in dispute mode. I described the books perfectly. I’d like to see the guy try to get those books in the same condition for any cheaper price. I told the guy to send them back if he didn’t want them, or tell me what he wanted me to do, he never responded. I didn’t get to my email right away to respond to him originally, which is probably what pissed him off.
I have another eight or nine hours to go with my last two boards, from design to finish. I ‘ll have some time next week to play around here, maybe.
Made it back to Ohio, if for nothing else than to pack up, try to ditch my lease and move back east.
All of sudden I have no address. I sent the rent to my roommates here, but they never received it. Despite the fact that I’ve had things sent here since last June the mail was returned to my family in Maryland with a notice that it was undeliverable due to their being no such address.
Spent a week with my grandparents in Florida, my grandfather is not well and it was considered a good idea for me to go down with my father and spend some time with him.
I am not used to getting up at 7 in the morning, and going to bed at 10 at night. I skateboarded twenty miles a day, painted the whole outside of their house, and spent two days at a flea marker full of all sorts of illegal merchandise.
The beaches where they reside are full of nothing but older folks. Nothing wrong with that but they all hang around the beach drinking and looking at the rare hot chick walking on the beach.
That’s it for now, I’ve got to check in with school and make plans for returning for graduation and then figure out how why I have no address, how to get out of my lease, and how to sell the massive amount of junk I have here.
Bobby Fischer, First U.S. World Chess Champion, Dies
Damn, he was pretty young.
I made skateboards.
No time to post. I’ve been back a few days. Not sure what happens next. My grandfather is ill. I will have to go to Florida with my dad to see him after the new year. I have to get back to make some decisions about the apartment and moving back East. All on hold until after Christmas.
I spent six hours shopping with my mother today, most of it stopping for coffee or a light snacks because she hates to shop.
Can’t think tonight.
Designing some kick ass skateboards right now, waiting for my final grades. No more school for at least a year. I need time off.
I guess that means bar tending or working in a coffee shop. My fathers dream.
A lot
Nothing
Merry Christmas
A routine two hours of sleep a night is not enough.
I was going to take a few hours off to go to the movies this weekend but Cooper made a case against the Golden Compass and I just read a review on I Am Legend which might make me go see The Kite Runner. My reasoning stems from disliking movies which make the ending more palatable than the book did.
I’ll be traveling home sometime before Christmas, if only to keep a doctors appointment. Might be bringing home a friend from Nepal.
I am going to come back, with finals I have no time to try to find someone to take over my lease, if I have to stay until June I will, but I am going to try to get out of here early though I will return after Christmas and start working on temporary employment.
Can’t call it break any more, it completion and then job hunting, life hunting and eventually grad school hunting.
If anyone is reading this I may see you soon. If nott won’t be because I didn’t try.
Finals.
Enjoy.
Word on the street is that Robotman will return from Central America for a short time during the holiday and then head back to South America.
Three more weeks for me.
My future plans are not clear. Something ab out paying off a few bills and figuring out if I can sublet this place or have to stay the course until next June.
This has been out awhile but it is worth a second look. Lifeline/Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals available now in vinyl.
The Greatest Generation Remembers Its Sacrifice
The Plight of American Veterans
There is little outright hostility toward returning military personnel these days; few Americans are reviling them as “baby killers” or blaming them for a botched war of choice launched by the White House. Indeed, both Congress and the White House have been hymning their praises in the run-up to Veterans Day. But all too often, soldiers who return from Iraq or Afghanistan — and those who served in Vietnam or Korea — have been left to fend for themselves with little help from the government.
While talking to my mother the other day she mentioned the army had come looking for me.
Say what?
She told me they drove up got out of their official vehicle, all dressed in their fatigues and knocked on the door. The recruiters told her I had requested information. They wanted to speak to me. Three of them.
My mom was highly suspect, as an attorney she wanted to interrogate them because she knew they were fibbing, but she quietly told them I was hundreds of miles away finishing up my college degree.
They left their card.
I have gotten countless mailings from the army and other services. I never, that I can recall, requested information from an armed service of any kind. I have Juvenile Diabetes which to my knowledge makes me ineligible for any kind of service. I have no interest in military service anyway.
It is easy to see they are desperate for recruits.
A friend sent me this article Recruiters struggle to find an Army.
appropriate here.
THURMONT, Md. — The Army is struggling to find volunteers for an unpopular war, despite recruiting bonuses of up to $20,000 and pay increases for enlistees that have beaten inflation by 21 percent since 2000.
It met its numeric goal of 80,000 recruits last year, but it paid a price in terms of declining numbers of high school graduates and lower scores on skills and physical tests. The percentage of minimally qualified Army recruits, known as Category IVs, has quadrupled since 2002, and the percentage that required special health or moral waivers has risen sharply as well.
This part got me, on explaining that the risk of death is not so bad they tell us:
They computed the death risk to be 1 in 250 per year of deployment in Iraq for the period from March 2003 to September 2006. That compares with a death risk among black men in Philadelphia ages 20 to 34 of about 1 in 230 — 9 percent greater. “People do seem extremely surprised” by the numbers, Preston said, because they “severely overestimate the death rate in Iraq.”
How many people want to risk that statistic for this type of war? They leave injuries, injuries which might in some cases make death the better option or injuries fro IED’s out of this convincing set of statistics.
The Good news:
My tonsils are no longer stuck together, like they were all weekend. I woke up with hives all over my arms and chest yesterday prompting a visit to the clinic. I was going to bypass it and wait it out but the hives changed my mind.
They cultured my throat - it’s probably a virus. I hope so, I hate antibiotics. Should have had those bitches out a long time ago.
Sympathy Post.
Happy Halloween.
My mom sends me a text message once every week.
Today it was:
“HEY”.
I was busy so I text her back.
“Hello”
Thirty minutes later I get another message:
“If you are really my son and not his kidnapper tell me your dead dogs name”?
This is funny as shit.
Believe me kid there are a ton of homeless people here.
Maybe not that funny but I don’t get around much. I’m too busy, trying to find a home.
From my apartment mate’s severe depression subsequent to the Indian’s loss, to a paper I have to redo because my professor tore an asshole into it, I’m exhausted.
Writing from the library, where I’ll be until midnight.
The apartment is a mess. Tiff may be coming here for the weekend from Maine. I have to get something done about that situation.
I don’t have much.
On My List of Favorite Old Movie Scenes: this clip from Dog Day Afternoon. Pay attention now.
I’m in Maryland for the weekend. Southwest dragged me in around midnight.
I’m reviewing a some options. There are only a few places I can go with the Peace Corp due to my JD, and a strict physical and mental evaluation is necessary. The physical is no problem. I’m in great shape, am taking a quarter credit marathon class just to get into better shape, but the mental??? I’ll be discussing this with my parents today.
Will probably crash at Cooper’s tonight if I can take a car, I don’t think she’d be inclined to come get me.
Oh man, I was hoping Cleveland would take-out the Red Sox. One thing about Ohio, they love their sports. Let’s say Boston played their best card and now it’s over.
For some reason my mother and I argued about Cleveland versus Boston until almost three in the morning. My father was asleep, having picked me up at the airport at midnight, but good old mom was awake, and as usual we have to find something to disagree on, our arguments are ritual. I miss them. So nice to be home for a few.
The Peace Corp is under consideration. Awaiting information on whether or not my health issue will prevent this.
Please do not tell me I am nuts this is only one of several things being considered.
The restaurant I work at is closing down because they lost their lease - refused to negotiate for higher rent. They’ll re-open in a couple of months at another location. There goes that job for now. I plan to stay here for six months after I finish classes in January to get into decent financial shape. I’m hoping they re-open. They had really good food, cooked fresh.
I have six paychecks I haven’t cashed. I was informed by someone else who works there that they will probably bounce. Great. I’m still waiting to see on that, I deposited the checks yesterda
Classes have started and I’ve got very little time, or computer access. Damn Freshman year for being my downfall. If I knew then what I know now I would do things a little differently. I would have quit lacrosse immediatly, woud have dissociated myself from the fraternity much earlier. I have made some good business contacts and one very good friend but after all that I still prefer the “Peace and Justice House” crowd over the “my daddy will pay for it crowd”.
I think coming from the “daddy who could pay for it if he wanted but is not going to pay one cent more than he told you he would originally and that is why your car is sitting in a drive unused for four months” crowd I have gained greater appreciation for my many things. My parents included.
The call it show time. It is. Look at Geraldo, smilling and clapping like a damn idiot.
I left class and am writing this on my laptop, on the steps of the library on a beautiful day.
This guy is full of shit, but keep your enemies closer.
Barack Obama Demands Fairness in Jena 6 Case
“There are a number of signs that the system is not working in this case. It’s a problem when criminal charges are brought against some students for fighting, but not others. It’s a problem when a public defender doesn’t call any witnesses. And it’s a problem when a prosecutor decides to try teenagers as adults for a school fight, a charge that could leave them in jail for the majority of their lives. That is why I join my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus in calling on the judge to consider all the relevant factors and calling on the District Attorney to drop the excessive charges brought in this case. And I, along with other members of the CBC, will continue to monitor this case closely.”
“Going forward, we have to fix our criminal justice system.
Like the attitude but is this the first time he has spoken on this?
Black teen’s conviction tossed in La. racial attack
The only coverage in the major Columbus news was the recent overturning of the conviction. Many of the smaller publications and local stations have covered it.
There’s more to be done.
Work and school. That’s all I have for you and that’s not worth writing about.
I got a little messed up the other day after taking the skateboard I use to get around campus to a skate park and trying to
go back and time and skate like it was 1999. I used to be good. Not any longer. I took a fall and ended up with a bum ankle, and a few bleeding damaged areas. The cop who patrols the park had to bring me home because I couldn’t walk. So much for that. I also destroyed my cell phone in the process.
Work and study.
So far this term I’m almost nine hundred dollars poorer. This happens after paying for books and supplies.
In the 10th grade I had you on my wall.
Sounding more like Madonna every day. The difference from a historical point of view - Madonna did some crazy things, but even when much younger always seemed to know what she was doing, her eyes on the prize.
Having children makes you a momma girlfriend. You got to stop drinking and drugging. You got to take care of the babies. Get some help. Go find peace on a mountain somewhere. It’s there.
I wish you the best. I hope you make it out and over. Then we’ll dance.
I think you got a hit here.
17-year-old hacker unlocks iPhone’s secrets
Now the 17-year-old from Glen Rock, N.J., has reached the big leagues of hacking. He says he has “unlocked” the iPhone, finding a way to get around the device’s restrictions and allow it to be used not only on AT&T’s cell phone network but also on T-Mobile’s network and overseas.
He should have kept quiet about it. Apple will let this go on for about….five seconds.
Cooper has a post about the Jena Six which calls for posting on the 29th of August.
My last term, fifth term, starts next week. This weekend work is busy because the boys are back in town.
later
I should have my computer back in a couple of weeks, and cable internet by the end of September.
School starts in ten days or so. I’ve been fighting the school who up until now refused to let me off campus saying “I had not filled out the proper paperwork and it was unlikely it would be approved”. All bullshit because I am in my fifth year, the fraternity I lived in originally had rules about living in the frat fifth year (you couldn’t), but all of a sudden now I have to. I have a lease signed, have been living here all summer in the apartment and had no intention of going back to the frat. At five grand a term for room and board there, horrible for my health food, too much noise and not enough privacy, it just wasn’t going to happen.
This does not have to be so complicated. The bottom line is I had to withdraw from the frat if I want to live off campus.
So I did.
Might be able to post later, have to work today. Work is picking up because everyone is heading back in to town.
In 56 of Ohio’s 88 counties, ballots and election records from 2004 have been “accidentally” destroyed, despite a federal order to preserve them — it was crucial evidence which would have revealed whether the election was stolen.
Glad I’ll be out of here by next year.
Story at Alternet.
Flying to Maryland sometime Sunday, and will hang out until Wednesday.
Gotta go, it’s too warm on the roof right now.
Olivia sent us some links she thought we’d like. I consulted with the Ego, and he approved them.
Thanks specifically because they were not links to “The Edge” or “Three Quarks Daily”.
One was on Trout Fishing, that was for me. The other on Artificial Intelligence with a touch of philosophy thrown in. It’s interesting but Dane is “the robotman”, he gets that one.
I’m almost done painting this place. Until then it’s quiet time.
I moved into my first apartment this weekended.
No more dorms. No more frat houses.
The place was a mess, and despite the disastrous shape in which my frat room was kept this place is shaping up.
I painted the walls, scrubbed the floors and baseboards for hours. Hard wood but old and shabby looking. I think they call it shabby chic in NY, but I live in Ohio so it’s just shabby.
I’m exhausted from work ,and from living in this hell of a state during the summer months. It takes a toll on the brain, to tolerate this place year round will make me stronger. Right?
I’m being taken out for my birthday by an assortment of individuals all of whom I trust implicitly.
I’ll be twenty-two years old around three in the morning give or take an hour.
We have yet another study which helps us determine how well one will do on math and oamguage tests.
Finger Length Helps Predict Elementary Exam Results, Study Shows
In a study to be published in the British Journal of Psychology, scientists compared the finger lengths of 75 children with their Standardised Assessment Test (SAT) scores. They found a clear link between a child’s performance in numeracy and literacy tests and the relative lengths of their index (pointing) and ring fingers.
The ability to make super babies may be just a shot of testosterone or two away. And we thought the middle finger was so important.
Cogitating monkeys can calculate statistics
Rhesus monkeys turn out to be pretty good statisticians, a study reveals.
They can accurately assess which of two behaviours is more likely to bring them a reward by summing together a series of probabilistic clues. And their reasoning is reflected in the firing rate of individual neurons in their brain.
Tianming Yang and Michael Shadlen at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the University of Washington in Seattle, US, tested the reasoning of two rhesus macaques by showing them a series of abstract shapes on a video screen.
Each shape corresponded to a different probability that a drink reward would be associated with a red instead of a green target.
In each trial, the monkey saw a sequence of 4 of 10 possible shapes then, had to choose which target to look at. The probability that the red target would give the reward was the sum of the probabilities for each of the four shapes; otherwise, the green target yielded the drink.
This says more a bout statistics than it does about monkeys.
Think about it.
I’m leaving for Maryland tomorrow with a car load of junk. I’ll be heading back to Ohio within two days. I have to work the weekend, alumni weekend. I promised I would. I have at least another car load if stuff to bring back anyway so I might as well. It’s al of driving but I don’t mind.
I am not positive but think I will be living in Charleston this summer. I’m going to work on that this next week.
In case anyone is wondering where I got to, that’s the story.
I totally rocked my final project- Post Modernism my ass. I took them to the bank and ended up with a hundred percent……….I am in the best mood I have been in all year.
One more final.
The library is a total disaster, everyone talking and screaming and socializing. I’m heading to the bar to study, just a couple old guys watching soap operas or
“the Price is Right” reruns. Nice and quiet.
I wrote this two day ago but didn’t post it because the ego had just posted.
I’m done and am putting on a rocking barbeque this evening.
Too bad you can’t join me.
I’m working now, in a bar/restaurant in downtown middle of nowhere Ohio.
It’s the first job I’ve had while attending classes.
I bar-tend infrequently because I am low of the totem pole - I do all around bouncing and public relations. I really wanted to cook but they don’t need me.
Finals week coming up, this time of year is hell.
I’m staying for a couple weeks to look for an apartment for next year and so I can gather some summer cash by working full time. I am thinking about doing a full year next year and making my minor a third major. Don’t know about that yet.
My gf from sophomore year came down to visit for the weekend and I’m taking her to the airport later on. She is sleeping now. Good times.
Little squawk-out in science blogging.
Science Journal (Almost) Polices the Blogosphere
Blogging and fair use - continues here.
Senate Approves Embryonic Stem Cell Bill
“A stubborn Senate voted Wednesday to ease restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research, ignoring President Bush’s threat of a second veto on legislation designed to lead to new medical treatments.”
“We’re going to use federal money, indirectly or directly, to destroy embryos,” countered Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., echoing Bush’s argument against the measure. Coburn said claims of imminent scientific breakthroughs from embryonic stem cell research are unsubstantiated and that adult stem cells have been shown to be useful in a variety of cases.”
Diabetics Cured with Stem Cells
For the first time in human trials, stem cell therapy has cured Type 1 diabetes. 15 newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetes patients underwent immune suppression therapy and were then given transfusion of stem cells from their own blood.The infusion worked on 93% of the patients and some have been freed of their dependence on synthetic insulin for three years with no mortality. Dr. Voltarelli’s team first removed stem cells from their patient’s blood.
They then treated patients with chemotherapy to wipe out the white blood cells in the body and then re-injected the stem cells to help rebuild the immune system. Only 1 of the 15 patients has had to resume insulin injections.
The key here is newly diagnosed, when they still have funtioning beta cells. This is pretty limiting and while being good news there is so much more that has to be done.
They are still using immunosuppressive agents which in and of themselves are pretty scary drugs which can have untold effects on your body.
More - Stem cells could blow hole in insulin market
It had occured to me and others before me that blowing the lid of the billion dollar insulin market as well as the billion dollar market resulting from the sale of bloof glucose monitoring paraphenalia will be a hard thing to swallow , at least for those profiting from it.
I’m not holding my breath.
You guessed it. My break is over.
Driving almost four thousand miles in a little over a week is not a bad thing. I fell in like with Charleston and gained a new appreciation for Florida. Flying into Miami, Fort Lauderdale or Orlando, spending a few days and taking off I never got the full picture of what lurked along the coasts of Florida. It’s not the horrific mass of crotchety elders swinging a golf clubs or shopping at Saks.
I am putting
Florida on my list of potential living places when I get out of here in December, Charleston too for that matter. My sinuses were clear and I didn’t cough once. This might appear insignificant to you, but every winter here in
Ohio I live with a sinus, cough, cold type condition of varying degrees of severity. This condition always goes away when I head to a beach or even home, but especially a coastal area. It gets really bad when I arrive back at this fraternity.
This house is ancient; looks are deceiving because it looks great on the outside. Inside it is full of “killer mold”. An air filter runs constantly in my room. Break was good, the drive rejuvenated me.
Made it in.
Spring Break.
I’m broke so I drove home with a friend, we are heading down to Charleston SC Sunday then Florida to visit his grandparents and maybe my grandparents if we make it down that far.
Some guys who ran a surf shop at the beach I worked at last summer opened a shop in SC. I’m going to check it out.
I have relatives to sponge off on the beach in SC if I need to and unlike my parents they know how to party.
I have to get me a new tire, pack some clothing, eat and pack a bunch of food and sleep for a day and then I’m set to go.
My friend wants to spend time chatting with my parents, especially my mother.
Nothing like meeting a school full of kids whose parents do not give shit about them one way or another, to make you appreciate your own I say. He loves to sit around and tell my mother all his relationship problems, no one listens to him in his family because his mom is remarried and has another family and his dad is a womanizing restaurateur.
That’s it for me.
Coop has what one might call an opinion piece up on a sexist fashion add, go give her your opinon. I have mixed feeling.
Later.
I’m sick again, I woke up this morning and god damn it all I am SICK AGAIN.
This place harbors the most vile form of virus and bacteria, the kind that never goes away and due to years of living with males with piggish tenancies all the germs have become immune to any form of cleaning solution and or antibiotic. This stuff spreads like the ocean through the dorms and the fraternities, on through the small town into the bars and the restaurants it does creep.
ALWAYS , during midterms.
My sense left me when I decided on college in this cold and barren wasteland full of villainous microbes.
I had the pleasure of attending an event in which Ted Kooser was the event, and to add my good fortune he was a speaker in my class a couple of days later. This the only joy for me the last couple of weeks.
I’m craving the waves.
Off to the Nyquil/Dayquil cycle.
What I found most interseting about this was not the fact that women make better leaders, but that when women act in the trasactional way expected of men they are looked at suspiciously.
I too busy looking for my long underwear to do much of anything here today.
Why is it when people who go to college in Ohio have less visitors than those who go to college on either of the coasts?
We too have bars.
It would be bad if I skipped this because I am the one that needs it the most, cooper mentions the increase in funding for stem cell research bill passed Congress, it’s heading toward the Senate. I am going to post the link for you to write your Senators in support of this bill. Write Senators in support of H.R. 3–the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007.
JDRF supports it of course, and it should be passed. The liklihood of veto is there, but put yourself into the place of those who need this research to possibly extend their lives or give them a better quality of life. Life is nothing but what can be made of it and the life of a fully developed living breathing human being is not comparable to the life of a frozen embryo.
Be wary of the polls. Most Americans feel they should be able to do what they want with their own embryo’s. There will be a lot of scary and false information spread throughout the media over the next few weeks. Do your own research. Embryonic stem cells are still the best case scenario in the hope for the cure for many diseases.
My college, for all the money it charges, does not turn on my access to the internet until tomorrow. Wonder how much of my tuition dollars are saved by doing that. I am using a the internet in an apartment of a bartender friend . I have friends in low places. I am the luckiest guy in town.
Mission Statement
Our Mission
Save the Waves is an environmental coalition dedicated to preserving the world’s surf spots. Our goal is to preserve and protect the best surfing locations on the planet and to educate the public about their value. Save the Waves works in partnership with local communities, foreign governments, and other conservation groups to prevent coastal development from entering the surf zone.
The Problem
Some of the world’s best surfing waves have vanished forever, buried by large coastal developments. Killer Dana, Petacalco, La Barre, all were among the world’s best, and yet they were buried without much of a fight. As the world population of surfers grows, overcrowding in the line-up has become a pervasive problem. Most surfers will concur that what this world needs is more places to surf, not less of them.
The culprit in most of these cases has been the construction of marinas (Dana Point) or jetties (La Barre, Petacalco), which either bury a spot or vastly alter the natural sand flow patterns. If these developments had been given the proper coastal impact studies, these waves might still exist. Today, there are many other waves in the world that are facing a similar fate (see our list of endangered waves).
There are also numerous places in the world where the water is too polluted to surf, yet another of the ocean’s most pervasive environmental threats. Save the Waves works to protect surfers from whatever might keep them out of the water.
What We Do
Save the Waves uses many tactics to promote the argument that surf spots have a very high social and economic value. Every threat to a surf spot is different dependent on the country where it is occurring, local laws and culture, and the enforcement of environmental law. Each campaign is approached in a careful and unique manner, taking all of these factors into account. Our objective is to achieve the goal of complete surf spot protection. To do so, we often create alliances with local or international environmental organizations, and join forces to create a campaign that will most effectively ensure the protection of surfing resources. To read more about all the programs we are currently involved in, click here.
How We Are Different
Save the Waves Coalition is the only non-profit that protects the rights of surfers on an international scale, no matter where the problem might be. We are close partners with many other organizations that do work similar to our own, such as the Surfrider Foundation, and differ only in our intense focus on protecting the surf zone, and the international scope of our campaigns.
Go sign the petitions.
I hate being home, I’m like a cat on a hot tin roof. I have not been home for more than three weeks since freshman year of college and all I am doing is sleeping.
I love that expression. ” cat on a hot timn roof”
I am only home for three weeks so employment was not an option this time around but I am getting a job as soon as I get back to school, the wallet is getting thin.
Got to see an old friend who moved away to Colorado in ninth grade but somehow got stuck here through New Year. Long story.
Went to see my lovely internist/diabetologist today; she is a wild women. I feel like I’m heading to a gossip session whenever I go to see her.
According to this on discovery channel Surfing is safer than soccer, safer than most sports.
“the sport poses less of a risk to the human body than other sports,”
This is what my mother needs to read she worries incessantly.
“wave size and bottom type were significantly associated with a great chance of injury - When large waves or hard bottoms were present, this risk more than doubled”
She doesn’t need to read this because then she will be scouring for information on every place I go throughout the world.
I played soccer and lacrosse from the time I was in fifth grade and she never seemed concerned that someone could break my neck with a lacrosse stick or that my brain could be damaged due to heading the ball but me in the water makes her fear moniter go off.
I’m planning to go back to Costa Rica to spend the week surfing during spring break, no one I know is off that week and none of my college friends surf - which is what happens when you go to school in the mid-west. I’m going alone and will attend a surf school. I prefer it to going to some lame island and drinking myself silly.
Something happened to the theme so I had to change it.
It sucked so I can’t say I ‘m sorry.
As usual the last ten days of a term and I am getting sick, half of my professors are sick, the cook in our house is sick, he has been out all week and we are not allowed to use the kitchen , even though our money is taken and applied to meals at the house; if he doesn’t come in we starve or better have money to eat somewhere else.
Took a practice Psych GED.
This week is just backed up badly.
I’m exhausted,taking a ten minute break.
Some squeak, some purr, and some grate, but however they sound, voices often speak louder than words. What can you get from a phone conversation’s introductory “Hello”? PT moves beyond mere semantics. You Sound SymmetricalPeople with bilaterally balanced bodies have voices that are rated more attractive. According to Gordon Gallup Jr., professor of psychology at the State University at Albany, “Voice is, in effect, a medium for the transmission of biological information.”Voices Weigh In
People can estimate a speaker’s height, weight, and age from his voice as accurately as they can after viewing his photo.
Sizing Up the Competition
When men are in the presence of someone they deem less physically dominant, they assert themselves and their voices drop in pitch. However, when intimidated, their voices go up.
Libido’s Lilt
Want to know how sexually promiscuous someone is? People with attractive voices have had more sexual partners and report an earlier age of first sexual encounter. They’re also more likely to cheat.
Listen Closely, Stat!
Malpractice has a certain ring to it. Subjects in a Harvard study identified surgeons who had been sued for malpractice after listening to their voices for 40 seconds. The most litigated doctors tended to share voices that were dominant: “deep, loud, moderately fast, unaccented, and clearly articulated.”
Sounds Like Seduction
What separates the voices of Don Juans from those of average Joes? Men who score with women can more flexibly modify aspects of their voices like pitch and volume throughout a flirt session—opening up with a dynamic, loud voice and later becoming softer and more monotone to suggest tenderness.
Publication: Psychology Today Magazine
Publication Date: Nov/Dec 2006
Last Reviewed: 1 Dec 2006
(Document ID: 4203)
I’m going to a “formal” later tonight. Haven’t been to one of those in awhile, don’t know how I got myself hooked into it. The sororities here have them routinely.
Before you get all up in my ass about fraternities and sororities remember two things.
Robotman belongs to one.
There’s nothing else to do here.
This is a small place, yet it is more racially and ethnically diverse than most colleges in America, going to events like this allows for a pleasant mix; it also allows me to play I’m a GQ model and encourages clean if not new underwear
Another thing, we do not have to suffer TA’s because all of our professors possess terminal degrees and some even play kick ass bass guitar.
Don’t know how the women would feel I brought them all I love my clit tee-shirts, but after reading coopers post I think I’ll let them buy their own.
Three more weeks for me.
to be continued
I had nine days off, and accomplished nada.
This is an in between week, the “slow incline toward finals” hell.
Lost my glasses, two boxes of contact lenses, a box of needles, my cell phone and a partially finished research paper disappeared from my saved documents.
Found my cell phone and my glasses.
I need rat poison; I know I have rats in this loft.
Don’t have time to write much, very busy.
I have nine or ten days off for Thanksgiving, much work to do before Friday.
Only three weeks off for winter break which sucks.
Driving home after class Friday, unless plans change.
Will see a few people, something I failed to do when I came home, for a week, after working at the beach this summer. I always mean to see people but I end up sleeping, getting my laundry done and going out to eat with my parents two or three times.
I’ll see coop and d but they are different and sustainable and both will be there this year. If you read this and aren’t listed as sustainable it is through no fault of your own.
All things are my fault, always have been; I take full responsibility.
Happiest countries in the world.
1. Denmark
2. Switzerland
3. Austria
4. Iceland
5. The Bahamas
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. Bhutan
9. Brunei
10. Canada
11. Ireland
12. Luxembourg
13. Costa Rica
14. Malta
15. The Netherlands
16. Antigua and Barbuda
17. Malaysia
18. New Zealand
19. Norway
20. The Seychelles
The US is twenty-three.
Costa Rica has been my number one on my list for “places to move after college” for some time. The people are awesome, I speak the language poorly, but they are patient and the surf is pretty decent.
I posted this so you could plan your future.
Interesting study promotes picture book reading.
TODDLERS LEARN COMPLEX ACTIONS FROM PICTURE-BOOK READING, SAYS NEW RESEARCH
Antidepressants And Lower Child Suicide Rates Linked
Researchers report an inverse relationship between antidepressant prescriptions and the rates of suicide in children and adolescents — a finding that contradicts the Food and Drug Administration’s “black box” warning for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor medications, also known as SSRI drugs.
In 2002, 264 children and adolescents ages 5–14 died by suicide in the United States, the fifth leading cause of death. Of these suicides, 260 were in the 10–14 year age group, making suicide the third largest cause of death behind accidents and malignancy. Although 60% of suicides in the general population occur in the midst of a mood disorder, usually untreated, little is known about the relationship between treatment of mood disorders and youth suicide.
The FDA recently linked adverse event reports of suicidal ideation among children and adolescents in randomized controlled trials to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and consequently required a change in labeling that included a black box warning regarding SSRI use for all age groups. Given that the age-adjusted suicide rate is about six times higher in 15–19 year olds compared with 10–14 year olds, the risk-benefit ratio may be different in younger children. Therefore, this study examined the association between antidepressant medication prescription rate and suicide rate in children ages 5–14 prior to the FDA findings by analyzing associations at the county level across the United States.
METHOD: National county-level suicide rate data among children ages 5–14 were broken down by sex, income, and race during the period 1996–1998. National county-level antidepressant prescription rate data were expressed as number of pills prescribed per person.
The primary outcome measure was the suicide rate in each county expressed as number of suicides for a given population size.
RESULTS: After adjustment for sex, race, income, access to mental health care, and county-to-county variability in suicide rates, higher SSRI prescription rates were associated with lower suicide rates in children and adolescents.
CONCLUSIONS: The aggregate nature of these observational data precludes a direct causal interpretation of the results. More SSRI prescriptions are associated with lower suicide rates in children and may reflect antidepressant efficacy, treatment compliance, better quality mental health care, and low toxicity in the event of a suicide attempt by overdose.
You can get the whole paper here through your school library but the studdy seems to be valid and is interesting, to me at least.
This won’t deter them.
I get some small satisfaction filling it out and clicking send anyway. I have enough problems with my real paypal account I don’t need my email filled up with this shit.
I’m at Cooper’s, I can only take so much sushi,
No seriously this is delicious. 
US warns about fake diabetic blood test strips
WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - U.S. health officials warned diabetics on Friday not to use counterfeit blood sugar test strips that were distributed nationwide and could provide inaccurate results.
The test strips are being sold for use with various models of LifeScan Inc. One Touch brand blood glucose monitors, the Food and Drug Administration said. LifeScan is a unit of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N: Quote, Profile, Research).
“The counterfeit test strips potentially could give incorrect blood glucose values - either too high or too low - which might result in a patient taking either too much or too little insulin and lead to serious injury or death,” an FDA statement said.
No injuries have been reported to date, the agency said, adding that FDA officials were still investigating the matter.
The counterfeit test strips included those sold under the brand One Touch Basic Profile with lot numbers 272894A, 2619932 or 2606340. English, Greek and Portuguese writing was displayed on the outer carton.
Another fake batch was sold under the One Touch Ultra name with the lot number 2691191. English and French text appeared on the carton.
The fake test strips were sold in 50-count packages, the FDA said.
Consumers should stop using the fake test strips, replace them immediately and contact their physician, the agency said.
The FDA said the test strips were distributed to pharmacies and stores nationwide but primarily in Ohio, New York, Florida, Maryland and Missouri. The agency said the test strips were distributed by Medical Plastic Devices, Inc. of Quebec, Canada, and Champion Sales Inc. of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Officials at Medical Plastic Devices were not immediately available for comment. Efforts to reach Champion Sales Inc. were unsuccessful.
LifeScan said it had immediately notified the FDA once it learned about the counterfeit test strips and was “vigorously pursuing legal actions.”
This is pleasant, I don’t use this type but I wonder howmany people this affected? Type 1 diabetics can die from this kind of stuff.
I have four days off and was planning on driving home because I need to pick up some winter clothing.
It happens to be cold as fuck h