Movie notes: Monte Walsh
Nov. 15th, 2015 05:07 pmIt's an old western with Lee Marvin, really a wonderful movie about a cowboy who looses everything but maintains his center, his calm and his kindness. It seems to be about the end of the Wild West. There's a fantastic and long riding scene in which the cowboy named Monte "rides the grey down". Humorous too. I liked it. My mom complains that it was slow. She already deleted it from her direct tv.
MERS and Camels
Jun. 6th, 2014 03:33 pmArabian peninsula = Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Leb¬anon, Oman, Palestinian territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
MERS is the viral infection that's causing severe respiratory disease in lots of folks over there. There have been just a few cases in the US, starting in May. I'm wondering if military personel are coming back sick? Apparently pretty much all of the camels on the Arabian peninsula have this virus. We don't know if it causes chronic infections, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did, considering what we are learning about viral DNA mingled with our own.
MERS is the viral infection that's causing severe respiratory disease in lots of folks over there. There have been just a few cases in the US, starting in May. I'm wondering if military personel are coming back sick? Apparently pretty much all of the camels on the Arabian peninsula have this virus. We don't know if it causes chronic infections, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did, considering what we are learning about viral DNA mingled with our own.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE RICE FINDING
**eat less rice
**vary rice products with other grains
**eat a varied diet and don't fret
**rinse before cooking
**cook differently: boil in excess water and then strain (removes 30% of inorganic)
**limit cereals to one serving/day esp for babies
**avoid baby formula containing domestic rice
( notes )
**eat less rice
**vary rice products with other grains
**eat a varied diet and don't fret
**rinse before cooking
**cook differently: boil in excess water and then strain (removes 30% of inorganic)
**limit cereals to one serving/day esp for babies
**avoid baby formula containing domestic rice
( notes )
Writer's Block: Free your mind
Jan. 17th, 2011 03:01 pm[Error: unknown template qotd]
NO. Because we are animals. Our instinct is to be wary of creatures that are much different. Unfamiliar races are too strange to our animal selves for us to ever completely override that instinct with intellect. It would take either a LOT of evolution as a global community, or substantial racial blending and homogenization, or both, to reduce this response. It appears to me that before either of these mechanisms is complete way we will have a substantial reduction in human populations and return to a more tribal way of living which will separate us and reduce the blending of races, thus slowing or reversing the process.
NO. Because we are animals. Our instinct is to be wary of creatures that are much different. Unfamiliar races are too strange to our animal selves for us to ever completely override that instinct with intellect. It would take either a LOT of evolution as a global community, or substantial racial blending and homogenization, or both, to reduce this response. It appears to me that before either of these mechanisms is complete way we will have a substantial reduction in human populations and return to a more tribal way of living which will separate us and reduce the blending of races, thus slowing or reversing the process.
This reading, from A General Theory of Love is helping me to understand myself. To summarize, mammals are the only creatures with a limbic brain, and it is where we form attachments--to our young, so that we will rear them, to our lovers, and to our other assorted dear ones notably including other mammals. Reptiles and amphibians don't attach the same way, they lay eggs and leave them behind. Birds care for their young but the attachment seems to be completely instinctive and not personal in the least. But mammals, we attach to individuals.
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And this causes them to both perform more dramatically, and crash harder, as evidenced in a new study conducted on skateboarders ranging from their teens to 35. Obviously, we say. It turns out that these same males had higher levels of testosterone in their saliva when observed by an attractive female researcher, compared to when they were watched by a male researcher.
( links and abstract of the study )
( links and abstract of the study )
Elegant Evolution
Dec. 4th, 2009 04:19 pmWe humans are not designed for the lives that we are living. We are designed to survive, a thousand or more years ago. Evolution is slow, and modernity is probably slowing it down or confusing it. What is the best way to survive in today's world? To be a soft sedentary thing that lives in your mind?
( caution: words )
( caution: words )

The 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act is the best way that a river can be protected in the US. A river designated "wild and scenic" cannot have roads built within 1/2 mile of the water. There can be no dams upstream. There can be no logging, mining, or construction of anything but trails along its banks. Non-commercial fishing and boating are permitted.
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Monkeys Glow with Jellyfish Genes
Jun. 2nd, 2009 09:43 pmGENETICALLY MODIFIED MARMOSETS GLOW IN THE DARK
and these monkeys will pass the trait on to their young.
They've already made glow in the dark mice.
They use retroviruses to insert the genes.
See here for pics and article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8070252.stm
( text of BBC article )
and these monkeys will pass the trait on to their young.
They've already made glow in the dark mice.
They use retroviruses to insert the genes.
See here for pics and article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8070252.stm
( text of BBC article )