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Category: Other
Other, strange, interesting or whatever does not fit into my other two favorite subjects.
Rush Limbaugh Makes Gay Joke About Barney Frank: “He Spends Most Of His Time Living Around Uranus” (AUDIO)
Rush Limbaugh has made what appears to be a joke mocking Barney Frank’s sexuality in response to Frank’s tough stance with a town hall protester Tuesday night.
Tuesday, Frank asked a protester who had compared President Obama to Hitler, “On what planet do you spend most of your time?”
On his show Wednesday (via Mediaite), Limbaugh responded, mocking Frank and asking, “Isn’t it an established fact that Barney Frank himself spends most of his time living around Uranus?”
Frank was the second openly gay member of Congress and is “one of the most prominent LGBT politicians in the United States,” his Wikipedia entry states.
From a Distant Comet, a Clue to Life – NYTimes.com
By KENNETH CHANG
Published: August 18, 2009
For the first time, a building block of proteins — and hence of life as we know it — has been found in a comet.That adds to the prevailing notion that many of the ingredients for the origin of life showered down on the early Earth when asteroids (interplanetary rocks orbiting the inner solar system) and comets (dirty ice balls that generally congregate in the outer solar system beyond Neptune) made impact with the planet.
In the new research, scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Md., detected the amino acid glycine in comet bits brought back in 2006 by the NASA space probe Stardust.
“It tells us more about the inventory of organics in the early solar system,” said Jamie Elsila, an astrochemist at Goddard who led the research.
Amino acids are small molecules that, when strung together into chains, form a diversity of proteins. For four decades, scientists have found a multitude of amino acids in some meteorites, the bits of asteroids that land on Earth. More recently, astronomers reported that amino acids might float throughout the cosmos, a belief resulting from their detection of the color signatures of glycine, the simplest of the amino acids, in distant interstellar gas clouds.
Some doubts remain about that claim, but if it is true, it would then not be surprising that when the clouds condense into stars and planets, the building blocks of life might be readily available there.
As for our solar system, meteorite data show that amino acids are present in its inner neighborhood, where asteroids orbit, but until now nothing has been known for certain about what might have formed farther out, where comets gather.
But on Jan. 2, 2004, the Stardust spacecraft flew through the tail of dust and gas of the comet Wild 2 (pronounced vilt two). Two years later, the probe returned to Earth, sending collected samples to the ground by parachute for scientists to analyze. Comets are thought to preserve material of the early solar system, largely unchanged for the last 4.5 billion years.
Within a few months, the Goddard scientists found glycine embedded in aluminum foil of the collecting apparatus. They had spent the time since then confirming that the glycine indeed came from the comet and not from contamination.
“It’s not necessarily particularly surprising,” Dr. Elsila said of her extraterrestrial glycine in a phone conversation Tuesday. “I would have been surprised if it wasn’t there.”
Dr. Elsila and her colleagues were able to show that the glycine from the comet had heavier quantities of the isotope carbon 13 than what occurs on Earth. They also detected a second amino acid, beta-alanine, but the quantities were too minuscule to confirm.
The findings were presented Sunday at a Washington meeting of the American Chemical Society and will be published in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science.
Donald E. Brownlee, a professor of astronomy at the University of Washington and principal investigator of the Stardust mission, said the discovery indicated that the chemical reactions that produce glycine, and presumably other amino acids, occurred throughout the early solar system.
“That means production of amino acids is fairly common,” Dr. Brownlee said.
That had not been a foregone conclusion, he said. Some scientists had suggested that the chemical reactions might have required warm and wet conditions that existed in early asteroids but not comets.
Scary Zombie-Walk Parades – Chill Out Point
Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security – NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON — The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics, military and intelligence analysts say.
[From Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security – NYTimes.com]
Video: Arrested for asking a policeman for his badge number | Environment | guardian.co.uk
Arrested for asking a policeman for his badge number
The Guardian has obtained this police footage of Emily Apple and Val Swain being arrested by surveillance officers after asking for their badge numbers at the Kingsnorth climate camp last year. The two women speak to Paul Lewis about their arrest, imprisonment and official complaint
[From Video: Arrested for asking a policeman for his badge number | Environment | guardian.co.uk]
3,000-year-old Michael Jackson statue? – Boing Boing
This Egyptian bust has become a popular attraction at Chicago’s Field Museum because it’s a spitting image of Michael Jackson, complete with a tweaked nose. It was carved between 1550-1050 BCE and depicts a woman. “Statue’s a Dead Ringer for Jacko” (NBC Chicago)
Marijuana Use Associated With a “Significantly Reduced Risk” of Head and Neck Cancers
For some 35 years the United States federal government has been well aware that cannabis possesses potent anti-cancer and anti-tumor properties. And for the past three years, government-funded researchers have speculated that these qualities may offer “protective” effects against the onset of various types of cancer in humans, including lung cancer.
Yet to date, virtually no investigators have taken the time to assess marijuana’s potential anti-cancer effects in humans — until now.
In a clinical abstract just published online on the Cancer Prevention Research website, a team of U.S. investigators report that marijuana use, even long-term, is associated with a “significantly reduced risk” of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
Satanist father and Christian mother fight for Sunday morning custody rights – Telegraph
Satanist father and Christian mother fight for Sunday morning custody rights
A custody battle between a Satanist and his Christian ex-wife has raised constitutional issues after both demanded the right to share their religion with their three young children.[From Satanist father and Christian mother fight for Sunday morning custody rights – Telegraph]
Poll: Majority don’t approve of Palin
(CNN) — Two days before Sarah Palin steps down from office, a new national poll indicates that a majority of Americans have an unfavorable view of the outgoing Alaska governor. But the ABC News/Washington Post survey released Friday also suggests that seven out of 10 Republican voters maintain a positive opinion of last year’s GOP Vice Presidential nominee.
Fifty-three percent of those questioned in the poll view Palin negatively, with four in 10 holding a positive view of her. The survey is the second this week, following a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll released Thursday, to find more than half of all Americans viewing Palin in an unfavorable light.
The ABC News/Washington Post survey suggests that there is doubt about Palin’s leadership skills and her understanding of intricate issues. Fifty-seven percent say they don’t think Palin understands complex issues, and 54 percent do not feel she is a strong leader. The poll finds that Americans are split on whether Palin shares their values and understands the problems most people face. A slim majority of people questioned in the poll say Palin is honest and trustworthy, with four in 10 disagreeing.
[From CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time – Blogs from CNN.com]
Forced Vaccinations Journalist Accuses WHO of Plan to Commit Mass Murder
Forced Vaccinations — A Real Threat Against Your Health and Freedom
A review of the documentation Burgermeister provides makes at least one thing crystal clear, and that is this: there are enough legal provisions already in place to make a mandated, forced vaccination program a reality, giving certain agencies the authority to go as far as using deadly force to ensure compliance.
And, in return for your submitting to the jab under duress, there are no actual guarantees of the safety of the vaccine, and if things do go wrong, you have no legal recourse whatsoever to sue anyone, anywhere, for damages.
This would be an absolute nightmare and nothing short of a crime, no matter how “legal” and “in the best interest of the people” it has been set up to appear.
So no matter how you feel about Jane Burgermeister or her allegations in totality, the real and urgent problem we face right now is the possibility of forced vaccinations against the swine flu – a threat that is being unreasonably hyped by WHO and health agencies around the world, despite the fact that your chances of being struck by lightning is 2,300 percent higher than your risk of contracting and dying from the swine flu…
Even former Presidential candidate, Congressman Ron Paul (who is also a doctor) has gone on record stating that the swine flu is little more than hysterical hype for financial gain. In his video address he also reminds you about the outcome of the last swine flu vaccination program, which took place in 1976.
At that time, one person died from the actual flu, while 25 people died by adverse reactions from the supposed life-saving vaccine, and several hundred people developed crippling Guillain-Barré Syndrome.
In his opinion – and I agree – when the swine flu is put into perspective of regular flu deaths, tuberculosis and other contagious diseases, the swine flu is a total non-event.
These massive, international, multi-agency and military countermeasures are absolutely out of proportion to the actual threat of this flu.
When you really consider all the facts and risks, the current crisis response to the swine flu does raise questions about motive. Why the overkill “precaution” of a mass vaccination program against a disease that causes MAINLY mild symptoms and has an extremely low risk of death?
Jane Burgermeister believes she has the answer, and that she can prove it. According to her findings, which are part of her package of criminal charges, the vaccine itself may pose a far greater danger than the virus itself.
Whether or not to believe it is up to you, and I recommend you review the evidence she provides for yourself, such as the criminal charges document and her bioterrorism evidence documentation.
But whatever the truth is, avoiding the implementation of a forced vaccination program is of high importance if you value your life and health and that of your children, friends, and family.
[From Journalist Accuses WHO of Plan to Commit Mass Murder ]
Reid: Senate Will Miss Obama’s Health Care Deadline
Health Insurance Lobby Cherry-Picks Data in Fight Against Public Plan – washingtonpost.com
The industry that helped scuttle health reform 15 years ago with its “Harry and Louise” ads is back, voicing support for a central element of the Obama administration’s plans: making sure everyone is covered.
That does not mean the industry is backing the administration. Indeed, the leader of the insurance lobby has sent lawmakers a message: Be careful what you change, because “77 percent of Americans are satisfied with their existing health insurance coverage.”
Karen Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), invoked the statistic to argue against the creation of a government-run insurance option. But the polls are not that simple, and her assertion reveals how the industry’s effort to defend its turf has led it to cherry-pick the facts.
The poll Ignagni was citing actually undercuts her position: By 72 to 20 percent, Americans favor the creation of a public plan, the June survey by the New York Times and CBS News found. People also said that they thought government would do a better job than private insurers of holding down health-care costs and providing coverage.
In addition, data from a Kaiser Family Foundation poll last year, compiled at the request of The Washington Post, suggest that the people who like their health plans the most are the people who use them the least.
Those who described their health as “excellent” — people who presumably had relatively little experience pursuing medical care or submitting claims — were almost twice as likely as those in good, fair or poor health to rate their private health insurance as excellent.
The level of satisfaction expressed with private insurance was essentially the same as that with Medicare, the government program for the elderly and disabled.
The industry’s stance against a public health plan revives shades of 1994, when it was instrumental in blocking President Bill Clinton’s health-care proposals.
“A government-run plan would turn back the clock on efforts to improve the quality and safety of patient care,” AHIP has argued. Such a plan “will ultimately limit choices and access,” the big insurer WellPoint contends.
But systemic problems have persisted for 15 years, and it is not clear how much private insurers have done, or can do, to solve them.
“Insurers promise choice, they promise innovation, they promise a lot of things, but I think they’ve delivered very little,” said Alan Sager, professor of health policy and management at Boston University. “I think net they give us very bad value for the 10 to 20 percent share of the health dollar they skim off the top.
[From Health Insurance Lobby Cherry-Picks Data in Fight Against Public Plan – washingtonpost.com]
Steele Struggles To Name His Own Health Care Provider
Steele Struggles To Name His Own Health Care Provider
[From Steele Struggles To Name His Own Health Care Provider]
Health-Care Firms Have Supported Lawmakers Debating Reform – washingtonpost.com
As liberal protesters marched outside, Sen. Max Baucus sat down inside a San Francisco mansion for a dinner of chicken cordon bleu and a discussion of landmark health-care legislation under consideration by his Senate Finance Committee.
[From Health-Care Firms Have Supported Lawmakers Debating Reform – washingtonpost.com]
Justice is served
Apple approves iPhone marijuana app on medical grounds – iPod/iPhone – Macworld UK
9 reasons why there wasn’t stress in the good old days | ZME Science
FDA: WARNING Finally the FDA is Getting Serious with Tylenol Risks to Your Health
Great action shots of Demonstrations
BBC NEWS | Health | ‘The myth of the chemical cure’
My Son Bought a Mac – Columns by PC Magazine
t was a somber day for the Dvorak family recently when my son switched to the Mac, likely never to return to the PC. I saw this coming. The family flag is flying at half mast.
“He didn’t want to tell you because he was afraid you’d get mad and talk him out of it,” said my wife on a dreary Washington state morning. “What? I wouldn’t talk him out of it!” I retorted as I gritted my teeth.
I was lying—I probably would have tried. That said, his was a smart move, since he was following the advice of pundits, technology writers, and everyone who ever gave advice about what to buy and why: “Buy solutions, not hardware.” In his case, the solution was a stunning piece of software called DEVONthink, which he needs for a book he’s writing.
This thing sucks up PDF files like crazy, first organizing and then sorting them into manageable database blocks. I’ll leave it to reviewers to fully explain its features, but let me just say that it’s about as close to a killer Apple app as anything I’ve seen since VisiCalc in the late ’70s.
You’d think there would be a PC version, but no.
Anyway, he ended up with a new MacBook Pro, one of the few laptops being sold that actually impresses me. It’s got that hard aluminum unibody that makes the thing feel like a rock. There is none of the flexing and bending of a typical laptop.
Apple had added multi-touch, developed for the iPhone, to the track pad. Two fingers on the pad and you can do all sorts of fancy moves that are slick and interesting. The display is gorgeous and crisp.
All these whiz-bang features make me realize that I have fallen behind. First of all, I have not assumed the position and moved to a laptop as my primary computer. I prefer a desktop machine loaded with memory and power. I still write reclined with a keyboard on my lap and my feet up on the desk. These days, everyone is hunched over a laptop.
When I do use a laptop, I prefer the lightest machine I can get hold of. I continue to use an old Toshiba R200 weighing in at 2.2 pounds. Toshiba pretty much owned the market for extremely lightweight machines but seems to have lost interest in the business altogether. Their ultra light machines are too expensive to sell well in the current market, and the rest of the line is moribund. The company has also totally missed the boat on the netbook, although the Libretto from years earlier could probably have been the genesis of the netbook. But the company cannot bring itself to mention this to anyone, so it is out of the game.
Then we have Dell, HP, and Lenovo. Somehow Dell found its way up the ladder along with HP and Lenovo. My son originally was considering one of the highly recommended Lenovo machines. That’s what I was going to talk him out of. I think the Lenovo machines are ugly and weird. On Cranky Geeks, I was moaning about all the holes they have on the bottom, when I was told that you can spill a glass of milk on the keyboard and the liquid gets flushed out through those holes. I was aghast. While I’ve heard of people carelessly spilling a drink on the keyboard, I have never done it in 20 years of laptop usage—why would anyone design for such a happenstance? Make the thing bullet-proof why don’t you? This is just dumb.
I was also thinking about the gorgeous $675 Gateway laptop. My other son nixed that idea, saying the thing flexed too much and it would undoubtedly result in failure. Nothing was as good as the MacBook Pro, and it had the DEVONtechnologies software.
He pulled the trigger and got it for $1,050 with a free iPod thrown in. If I was going to buy a machine this minute, it would probably be what I’d get, too.
His only complaint, and thank goodness he had at least one, was his experience at the Apple Store, which is evolving into a place where you have to endure structured sales. It’s like a car dealership in the ’70s, with layers of various salespeople, each trying to screw you. A recent episode of The Simpsons poked fun at the ridiculous pretension and snooty attitude of the store and its sales staff.
I actually think that the Apple Stores are barriers to sales, and people only buy Macs because the machines have clearly moved ahead in genuine usefulness. Overall, it’s a pathetic indictment of the entire PC scene.
