Daily Archives: March 5, 2011

Mar 5 2011

Instances where womanhood is the BOMB!

Since I have Parkinson’s disease in my family, I must say…

Oh em gee - Best. News. Ever!

Want to keep your brain in tip-top condition for the Singularity? New research shows those who regularly take ibuprofen might be protecting themselves from Parkinson’s disease. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed more than 125,000 patients, and found that those who used the drug two or more times a week had a 38% lower chance of getting the disease than those who used other NSAIDs or acetaminophen. While it’s not known how the whole shebang works, the assumption is that ibuprofen protects against the slow loss of brain cells that causes the disease. [Read More]

OK, maybe only if you are NOT a guy.

Aspirin, ibuprofen linked to impotence
by Kate Melville

undefinedErectile dysfunction is often one of the first symptoms men with cardiovascular disease exhibit, leading Kaiser Permanente researchers to believe that drugs such as aspirin (often taken to help prevent heart disease) would benefit erectile function, but instead they found just the opposite.

Writing about their findings in The Journal of Urology, the researchers said that men who take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) three times a day for more than three months are 2.4 times more likely to have erectile dysfunction compared to men who do not take those drugs regularly. The study involved more than 80,000 Californian men from an ethnically diverse population aged between 45 and 69. [Read More]

But, hey…

*points to self* Female!

You know what that means?

We are back to, “Best. News. Ever!”

Womanhood is so awesome.

‘The Bomb’ really.

And sometimes more than others…

We may be headed for an all-female future civilization. For one simple reason: Women have two X chromosomes, while men have only one. For the most part, this isn’t a problem. But now it seems that this genetic setup could lead to a scenario where the elimination of one key protein could wipe out all men on the face of the planet, but leave women perfectly healthy. Or so a group of researchers says.

In certain respects, men and women are like fruit flies. They differentiate their genders through a paired set of chromosomes. Double X chromosomes mean that the baby fly’s clothes should all be a powder pink. An X chromosome paired up with a Y chromosome means that the baby fly can be pressured by his father to be an eagle scout. The same goes for humans. Two Xs make a girl. An X and a Y make a boy.

The problem is, there is some important stuff on the X chromosome and while girl’s; Xes work as a team, a boy’s single X has to struggle through alone. This means that some health conditions caused by defective X chromosomes are almost unknown in girls. If something’s wrong in a gene on one X chromosome, the other can step up. If a boy gets an X with a problem, there is no back-up.

Even in healthy males, the lack of an extra X may pose a problem. Genes can’t just sit around looking pretty. They have to be expressed; to form a functional product. There’s a whole mechanism that goes into taking the information on a piece of DNA and turning it into, say, a hand. If that mechanism is weak the human, or fly, it belongs to is in big trouble. In humans and flies, males only have one X that can be expressed, half the number that females do.

Scientists have suspected that males had a certain protein that increased the expression of the X chromosome, but the increase was thought to be small. Recently some researchers totaled up the expression of the X chromosome, compared to the other chromosomes, in male fruit flies. They found that the protein just about doubled the expression of the chromosome. Given the magnitude of the change in expression, the researchers believe that suppression of this protein could be the reason many medical conditions are found more commonly in men than they are in women.

The protein is called MSL, which sounds innocuous. It stands for Male-Specific Lethal, which emphatically does not sound innocuous. Without this protein, the males would die. Although it has only been studied in flies, researchers think that it works in human males just the way it works in fruit flies. If there were a way to completely suppress it, all men (And women, I think. And flies.) would be in a great deal of trouble. [Read More]

Oh, sorry guys.

On the bright so though?

You fellas still make more money than women in the workforce.

So you still have that.

The recent economic downturn has been dubbed the “Mancession” for its disproportionate effect on traditional male industries, such as construction and manufacturing. Meanwhile, women are outpacing men in the pursuit of undergraduate and graduate degrees and becoming a larger share of primary household earners. [Read More]

Oh, uh. Well? Huh.

You can still open jars…

*thumbs up*

That’s awesome!

Mar 5 2011

‘Pristine nature’ lie of bottled water – Do you buy into it?

Once upon a time…

There were two glasses of water.

Both equal in exact amounts, equally cold and equal in taste…

In that neither did, that is. Taste. Hello – Water!

However there was one stark different.

One glass was free (psst, its the one on the right)…

While the other cost $1,900.

Putting yourself in the shoes of millions of Americans, which glass of water would you choose?

hint: It’s not the one on the right.

Bottled water has been a big-selling commercial beverage around the world since the late 1980s. According to the Worldwatch Institute, global bottled water consumption has more than quadrupled since 1990. Today Americans consume over 30 billion liters of water out of some 50 billion (mostly plastic) bottles every year. The Beverage Marketing Association reports that in 2008 bottled water comprised over 28 percent of the U.S. liquid refreshment beverage market. The only bottled drinks Americans consume more of are carbonated sodas like Coke and Pepsi.

And frankly, yes, it is a ridiculous waste that we obtain so much of our drinking water this way when it is free flowing and just as good if not better for you right out of the tap.

The financial costs to consumers are high, too: According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), bottled water costs up to 1,900 times more than tap water. And the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reports that 90 percent or more of the money consumers shell out for it pays for everything but the water itself: bottling, packaging, shipping, marketing, other expenses—and, of course, profits.

EWG is particularly appalled at the lack of transparency by leading bottled water sellers as to the sources of their water and whether it is purified or has been tested for contaminants. According to a recent survey by the group, 18 percent of the 173 bottled waters on the U.S. market today fail to list the location of their source; a third disclose nothing about the treatment or purity of the water inside their plastic bottles.

“Among the ten best-selling brands, nine—Pepsi’s Aquafina, Coca-Cola’s Dasani, Crystal Geyser and six of seven Nestlé brands—don’t answer at least one of those questions,” reports EWG. Only Nestlé’s Pure Life Purified Water “discloses its specific geographic water source and treatment method…and offers an 800-number, website or mailing address where consumers can request a water quality test report.”

EWG recommends that consumer resist the urge to buy bottled water and go instead for filtered tap water. “You’ll save money, drink water that’s purer than tap water and help solve the global glut of plastic bottles,” the group advises, adding that it supports stronger federal standards to enforce consumers’ right to know about what’s in their bottled water besides water. Until that day comes, concerned consumes should check out EWG’s Bottled Water Scorecard, a free website that provides information on various bottled water brands, where they originate and whether and how they are treated to remove contaminants. [Read More]

The Story of Bottled Water, released on March 22, 2010 (World Water Day) employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand—how you get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when it already flows from the tap. Over five minutes, the film explores the bottled water industrys attacks on tap water and its use of seductive, environmental-themed advertising to cover up the mountains of plastic waste it produces. The film concludes with a call to take back the tap, not only by making a personal commitment to avoid bottled water, but by supporting investments in clean, available tap water for all.

Our production partners on the bottled water film include five leading sustainability groups: Corporate Accountability International, Environmental Working Group, Food & Water Watch, Pacific Institute, and Polaris Institute.

Mar 5 2011

The way mainstream media covers crime? Frustrates me to no end!

Take crime riddled Mexico as an example…

For them it’s all like, “Eh, what’s the big deal?” Business as usual-like mentality before they casually move on to the next story.

But let’s make no mistake about it, what is going on in Mexico is NOT business as usual and because they think they can treat it like it is?

States across the country, including Georgia and Oklahoma, where the legislatures debated immigration bills this week, have been mulling controversial Arizona-style immigration laws.Thirty-seven states are considering tougher immigration bills, with multiple bills pending in some states. [Read More]

Shows that the main stream media miss the point completely.

Take this story, it’s one Anguished Repose reported on awhile back. Remember that 20-year-old, who was the ONLY person brave enough in her city in Mexico to become police chief…

A 20-year-old college student hired as police chief of a Mexican border town has left the job and fled to the United States after threats, an official said Friday.

Marisol Valles Garcia left the town of Praxedis G. Guerrero with her family, the El Diario newspaper cited Jorge Gonzalez Nicolas, an official investigating the threats, as saying. [Read More]

yeah, well, she’s not anymore.

She quite. Bright side? She did it alive.

Isn’t it cute how they use the word “left” instead of “ran away in stark raving terror”. But eh, what’s a few off words here and there? This isn’t a big deal. She just left, so what? There is really no story here.

This is your basic story of a young college woman who police chief in Mexico…

Non-issue.

In REALITY however (a place main stream media rarely frequents) if you are a police chief in Mexico? It’s pretty much it’s a ‘death sentence. It is indeed THAT bad in Mexico. There is little law, there is no order, because the violence that is going on there on a daily basis is on an unprecedented scale…

And the only way for someone to read about its TRUE scope? Scattered articles listed on Google, which by no means, properly articulates the catastrophic crimes going on there:

Its this type of ‘crime’ whom those is the media are too much of a coward to share that gets casually brushed off frankly because it conflicts  with their agenda.

So yes, the way main stream media covers crime frustrates me.

Needless to say, on those few RARE occasions when someone in the media properly covers crime in the way it deserves?

Yes, I’m going to make it a point to point that out:

Police work as it should be reported

Darn straight – Good job!

Now if we can get such an accurate and truth editorial on what’s going on in Mexico?

Maybe the bulk of America, as well as the world, will begin to wake up to the problem that not only exists there…

But is getting worse every day.

Mar 5 2011

Facebook is bleeding into our ‘real lives’ in dangerous ways!

Facebook is a menace, and crazily?

It leads to all sorts of possible problems in real life. Well, that is IF you give it control over your real-life and surprisingly a lot of people do these days.

To a scary degree.

Don’t believe me? How about an example…

Naming no names, I will say in my real-life? I work for a law enforcement agency. (Again, no names.) In our town, a fight broke out, which got a ‘tad’ physical at a local restaurant. The fight was between 20-year-old children and what I assumed where suppose to be grown adults and all because?

Yes, stupid freaking Facebook.

Apparently the “adults” did not appreciate what the children were writing about their daughter, posting it to her wall.

So, being the adults that they were, in defense of their daughter’s “honor” they confronted one of the children, which only caused the 20-year-old’s to react…

Childishly.

Shocker.

How dumb can you get – Seriously?

Sadly, this is the type of society we are becoming – One that gets into ridiculous fights over a Facebook wall posting. Sadder still? Facebook is not only causing ridiculous fights…

But its ending marriages.

And not just some, but a LOT of them:

[via slashdot]“yes, in theory if you’re single, Facebook can help you meet that special someone. But for those in even the healthiest of marriages, improper use can quickly devolve into a marital disaster. A recent survey by theAmerican Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers found that Facebook is cited in one in five divorces in the United States. Also, more than 80 percent of divorce lawyers reported a rising number of people are using social media to engage in extramarital affairs.” [Read More]

How have we as a society, let something technological consume us so totally as to allow it take over our lives?

Honestly, I just don’t get it.

Mar 5 2011

A headache inducing illusion – But still very cool!

Thought someone might enjoy some fun, birthday or no birthday.

Illusions are always a nice treat.

But, wow…

Ouch.

Was it just me?

Sharp pain…

Right behind the eyes.

Want to see an illusion that will get your cogs turning?

In the video above, you can see three versions of a new illusion by Sung Ho-Kim at Rutgers University, New Jersey, that trick your brain into thinking circular patterns that shift across a screen are actually spinning. Make sure you are close to the screen to see the full effect.

In the first animation, the top and bottom halves of the shape should look like they are rotating in opposite directions. They switch directions as the motion of the pattern changes from left to right. In the second version of the illusion, a block covers half of the shape. This time it looks like the spokes of a wheel are rotating as the whole pattern travels left and right across the screen. In the final animation, two gears connected by a chain appear to be rotating together.

If you’re convinced that these shapes are actually turning, try tracking each of the short lines, and you’ll see that it’s an illusion. The physical trajectory of each line segment is purely horizontal and none of the circles are rotating.

Do you know why our brains trick us in this way? [Read More]