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Viruses in your Mucus
Aug. 26th, 2013 02:48 pmThe Russians have known about phages and used them to treat severe infections since the 1930's. New research shows that lots of phages live in mucus. Wherever there is mucus there is likely to be a large population of phages--including mucus produced by other species such as sea coral, plants, etc.
Phages are viruses that use bacterial cells to replicate in. They can also insert new DNA into bacteria, and they are able to evolve quickly enough to keep up with changing resistance patterns. Big Pharma is not putting any money toward phage research because phage therapy would compete with antibiotic sales, and as we know, for them, the bottom line IS the bottom line. They want us to think that phages are dangerous. But according to Dr Mercola a normal human produces approximately a quart of mucus (snot) daily in the upper respiratory tract, most of which we swallow. So we are phage central already.
( notes from Mercola's new article on phages )
Phages are viruses that use bacterial cells to replicate in. They can also insert new DNA into bacteria, and they are able to evolve quickly enough to keep up with changing resistance patterns. Big Pharma is not putting any money toward phage research because phage therapy would compete with antibiotic sales, and as we know, for them, the bottom line IS the bottom line. They want us to think that phages are dangerous. But according to Dr Mercola a normal human produces approximately a quart of mucus (snot) daily in the upper respiratory tract, most of which we swallow. So we are phage central already.
( notes from Mercola's new article on phages )
Just yesterday I finally stopped ignoring the Middle East and looked up a few things. Like who is Shia and who is Sunni. And who has nukes and where. And what exactly an Islamist is. It was....a useful exercise. Anyone else out there taking an interest in this juncture of history? I'm ready to be educated.
It just seems to me, after one *ok a fraction of one* day of looking into it, that the majority Sunnis in most of the Middle East have been supremely frustrated trying to deal with their less conservative, more secular Shia neighbors. And it seems clear to me that America has at least attempted to enact a separation of church and state, even though those words do not appear in the constitution. It was in the First Amendment to the US Constitution that Congress was to "make no law respecting respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". As wikipedia points out, lots of nations have this idea in their code, and there is a great range of shades of gray in its execution. Here in America we do fairly well, but nowhere near a perfect score. For one thing, the constitution has no control over the states and what local laws might be passed. Which may be how we have gigantic crosses along Interstate 5 in Washington State. Not so different from other places, where religion is supposed to guide personal and political life. Here we seem only able to elect Christian presidents. We like to think that we are above it, but we are surely not.
So I know I am rambling and I will call it quits. If you have an opinion about what is the crux of what is going on--in Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Russia or any other involved party, feel free to comment and tell me! I'm building a mind map.
**Created Syria tag.
It just seems to me, after one *ok a fraction of one* day of looking into it, that the majority Sunnis in most of the Middle East have been supremely frustrated trying to deal with their less conservative, more secular Shia neighbors. And it seems clear to me that America has at least attempted to enact a separation of church and state, even though those words do not appear in the constitution. It was in the First Amendment to the US Constitution that Congress was to "make no law respecting respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". As wikipedia points out, lots of nations have this idea in their code, and there is a great range of shades of gray in its execution. Here in America we do fairly well, but nowhere near a perfect score. For one thing, the constitution has no control over the states and what local laws might be passed. Which may be how we have gigantic crosses along Interstate 5 in Washington State. Not so different from other places, where religion is supposed to guide personal and political life. Here we seem only able to elect Christian presidents. We like to think that we are above it, but we are surely not.
So I know I am rambling and I will call it quits. If you have an opinion about what is the crux of what is going on--in Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Russia or any other involved party, feel free to comment and tell me! I'm building a mind map.
**Created Syria tag.
Tags:
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- america,
- christianity,
- constitution,
- democracy,
- government,
- iran,
- iraq,
- islam,
- isms,
- middle east,
- nukes,
- religion,
- russia,
- saudi arabia,
- syria,
- tea party,
- tribes,
- war
Pussy Riot in a Cathedral
Jun. 27th, 2012 03:14 pmI didn't hear about these women until today. Perhaps you've already heard. Pussy Riot a Russian punk rock band who performed an anti-Putin song in the "main cathedral" of the Orthodox Church. Now they have been held in "pre-trial detention" for months. It is expected that they will serve years of jail time for the offense, which was, in a word, a sacrilege.
I don't know about you, but if someone did this in my sacred space, I would be offended. I don't mean that Russia's powers that be (government and church in cahoots) should be able to imprison people for years over this sort of behavior. I think not. I personally relish hearing the words Pussy Riot in the news, and am glad that women there feel powerful enough to do this. Putin's continuing reign is a far greater blasphemy than the most raucous of punk rock in a cathedral.
In spite of my sympathies for their causes, I would be totally pissed if somebody made this kind of noise in my sacred place. Blast that crap at the river? Get OUT. I understand anger, and suppression, and the need to eliminate Putin. And I understand the outrage against their methods. Too bad the punishment is so out of proportion with the offense.
Here's the NPR story: http://www.theworld.org/2012/06/anti-putin-punk-rockers-pussy-riot-to-stay-in-jail-await-trial/
I don't know about you, but if someone did this in my sacred space, I would be offended. I don't mean that Russia's powers that be (government and church in cahoots) should be able to imprison people for years over this sort of behavior. I think not. I personally relish hearing the words Pussy Riot in the news, and am glad that women there feel powerful enough to do this. Putin's continuing reign is a far greater blasphemy than the most raucous of punk rock in a cathedral.
In spite of my sympathies for their causes, I would be totally pissed if somebody made this kind of noise in my sacred place. Blast that crap at the river? Get OUT. I understand anger, and suppression, and the need to eliminate Putin. And I understand the outrage against their methods. Too bad the punishment is so out of proportion with the offense.
Here's the NPR story: http://www.theworld.org/2012/06/anti-putin-punk-rockers-pussy-riot-to-stay-in-jail-await-trial/
LJ plays a part in Russian rebellion
Apr. 7th, 2011 08:25 amAnother Russian language user just added me as a friend. I knew that there are a lot of Russians on LJ but until today I didn't know that LJ is playing a part in the efforts of the Russian intelligentsia to share information and circumvent state efforts to control all media. Learned of this thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
neptunia67. I hope that LJ can withstand the attacks and continue to serve as a mode of communication for these people.
Things have come a long way since Roman Leibov, a literary scholar and social critic, launched the first Russian-language blog on LiveJournal in early 2001. Ten years later, cyberspace has become a powerful force in Russia for community action. In fact, blogging on LiveJournal.com has become a potent force for checking the corruption and power of the Russian state. Yesterday, this blogging community - which has faced frequent attacks recently - came under an unprecedented "sustained and powerful" attack. At 2 pm (4/5/11?), a massive attack targeted the top 5 blogs on LiveJournal, including Aleksei Navalny's blog (whose has just launched a new crowd-sourcing website called RosPil to combat state corruption). As LiveJournal administrators were responding to this attack, hackers targeted another 30 popular LiveJournal bloggers and communities. The attack - a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) - was successful in knocking LiveJournal offline.
SOURCE
http://putinwatcher.blogspot.com/2011/04/cyber-war-on-russian-activist-bloggers.html
neptunia67. I hope that LJ can withstand the attacks and continue to serve as a mode of communication for these people.Things have come a long way since Roman Leibov, a literary scholar and social critic, launched the first Russian-language blog on LiveJournal in early 2001. Ten years later, cyberspace has become a powerful force in Russia for community action. In fact, blogging on LiveJournal.com has become a potent force for checking the corruption and power of the Russian state. Yesterday, this blogging community - which has faced frequent attacks recently - came under an unprecedented "sustained and powerful" attack. At 2 pm (4/5/11?), a massive attack targeted the top 5 blogs on LiveJournal, including Aleksei Navalny's blog (whose has just launched a new crowd-sourcing website called RosPil to combat state corruption). As LiveJournal administrators were responding to this attack, hackers targeted another 30 popular LiveJournal bloggers and communities. The attack - a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) - was successful in knocking LiveJournal offline.
SOURCE
http://putinwatcher.blogspot.com/2011/04/cyber-war-on-russian-activist-bloggers.html
Hello Russians, Ukranians, Who are You?
Oct. 30th, 2010 12:26 amI notice that people who have been adding me as a friend are posting in what looks like Russian language. Hello! Why are you interested in my posts? Who are you? Do you know each other? What is it that you are interested in? What do you believe in? Since I cannot read your posts, I know nothing about you.
Ayn Rand's Last Lecture, 1981
Oct. 11th, 2010 05:22 pmLove is your response to your values in another person.
--Ayn Rand
"In Ayn Rand’s final public talk, she exhorts a group of businessmen to stop apologizing, and stop supporting anti-capitalist institutions: 'It is a moral crime to give money to support ideas with which you disagree. It is a moral crime to give money to support your own destroyers.' See how the force of her ideas captivated an audience and drew a tumultuous response."
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reg_ar_sanction
The best way to help the poor is not to be one of them.
--Reverend Ike
--Ayn Rand
"In Ayn Rand’s final public talk, she exhorts a group of businessmen to stop apologizing, and stop supporting anti-capitalist institutions: 'It is a moral crime to give money to support ideas with which you disagree. It is a moral crime to give money to support your own destroyers.' See how the force of her ideas captivated an audience and drew a tumultuous response."
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reg_ar_sanction
The best way to help the poor is not to be one of them.
--Reverend Ike
A new enzyme (NDM-1) has been found in some bugs brought back to the UK by people who went to India and Pakistan for hospital procedures. The enzyme makes these microbes resistant to yet another type of abx (carbapenems, the last of the beta lactams that can beat bugs with beta lactamase). NDM-1 has been found in E.coli and they're worried that other microbes may gain this capacity because of the way that bacteria trade DNA (plamids). There are only 50 known cases in the UK but docs are worried. The future for the treatment of infections may not be antibiotic drugs. We may end up using naturopathic methods of increasing immune resistance, or perhaps even the introduction of bacteriophages. I would love to see phages investigated further but as long as antibiotics are the standard of practice for infections, nobody's got the time or money to investigate it. Except the Russians. They are all over a good idea.
The Haze in Oregon
Aug. 11th, 2010 09:54 amWhen I drove into Oregon a few days ago I noticed a thick white haze over Pendleton. A day or so later I heard on the NPR news that the widespread haze had blown here from extensive fires burning in Russia. Apparently it's ungodly hot there and the peat bogs are burning. Today I learn that people are getting worried that the burns in Russia are sending radioactive particulates into the air that has been stored in the biomass there since the Chernobyl accident 24 years ago. My goodness.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38648372/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times
Frankly, though, we Americans cannot point too many fingers at other nations who've made contaminating mistakes as long as we are actively engaging in toxic warfare for oil: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/toxic-legacy-of-us-assault-on-fallujah-worse-than-hiroshima-2034065.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38648372/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times
Frankly, though, we Americans cannot point too many fingers at other nations who've made contaminating mistakes as long as we are actively engaging in toxic warfare for oil: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/toxic-legacy-of-us-assault-on-fallujah-worse-than-hiroshima-2034065.html
On the Microwave Oven
May. 18th, 2010 03:12 pmThe Nazis invented them. And they're in 90% of US kitchens but are banned in Russia. There's a really good rundown here from Mercola on the hazards of using microwaves. Leaked radiation affects our hearts, causing changes in heart rate and in heart rate variability. And of course we're getting similar radiation from cell phone towers, which frankly surround my current home and tower above the school building where I now sit. I seem to always have a microwave, but not because I ever buy one. Everywhere I go somebody buys one for my kitchen and then leaves it behind.
Yoga in St Petersburg Metro Station
Apr. 15th, 2010 04:58 pmSee photos of yoga instructor practicing in an amazing building.
Yogini: Ekaterina Karmanova
Photos: Ilya Oblakov
Yogini: Ekaterina Karmanova
Photos: Ilya Oblakov
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Secret Oregon Hotsprings #412
Apr. 6th, 2009 01:52 pmJen and Eugene were in the hotsprings when we got there yesterday, Suz and M and I drove down there, a goodly ways down I-5 to highway 22 east and out to a town called "Detroit". I drove Suzanne's vehicle, because M's car is small and she drives like a Californian. I'm not sure how long it took us to get to the trailhead, but it was something like 2 hours. The trailhead is a pullout by the road, not far from the resort.
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What I did for the Weekend
Oct. 27th, 2008 07:58 amI had a pleasant weekend in good weather. Worked my hydro shift Saturday morning, then in the afternoon went up to Austin Hotsprings on the Clackamas River with M. The area of the springs has been recently rearranged by the owners using a bulldozer. The pools have all been filled with gravel and there are new concrete barriers blocking entry to the place. Rumor has it that a woman and two children were badly burned there about a month ago. Apparently the owner was trying to minimize his liability by destroying the pools, but somebody had already built a new pool and while we were there we were working on a second one. You can't stop a hot springs from coming up out of the ground, and you can't stop people from trying to get in it. People stay clothed at this hotsprings because it is so close to the road, and because a lot of Russians use it, and they are conservative.
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Climate Change? Question
Apr. 5th, 2008 10:04 amHere's an astounding story about black squirrels in Russia who attacked, killed and ate a stray dog. The locals say that the squirrels are agitated because there is a pinecone shortage. My question is: why is there a pinecone shortage?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4489792.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4489792.stm
America, Land of 1% Incarceration
Apr. 1st, 2008 10:32 amPelosi has told Shrub we should boycott the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in China to protest their poor human rights record. Merckel (Germany) and Sarcozy (France) are already planning to boycott.
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Awesome Interview with Garry Kasparov
Dec. 17th, 2007 10:50 pmThis is the chess master on Real Time with Bill Mayer, and he is....a genius. Not just about chess. I laughed hard, too, because he says things that are totally unPC in the US media, and gets away with it because....he's RIGHT.
(link disappeared, not sure where to find this now)
(link disappeared, not sure where to find this now)
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