(CFD.net.au – Contract for Difference, Share, Forex, ETFs, Commodities Traders) –

By Vivien Lou Chen

“Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae now own or guarantee an overwhelming share of originations,” bank senior economist

John Krainer

wrote in a paper released today. “At the same time, non-agency mortgage securitization and loans retained in lender lender portfolios have largely dried up.”

The paper underscores the challenge that economists at the San Francisco Fed, one of 12 regional Fed banks, believe that the economy faces as it begins to emerge from the worst recession in seven decades. Bank researcher

Glenn Rudebusch

concluded in another paper this month that the economy is not likely to return to full employment soon even though the recession is “almost certainly” over.

The U.S. government seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in September 2008, after a surge in mortgage defaults threatened to topple the companies. The Treasury Department has committed as much as $400 billion to keep the two enterprises afloat while President

Barack Obama’s

policy makers figure out how to restructure their operations.

“With the vast majority of current mortgage lending now intermediated in some form by the GSEs, it will be difficult for the housing market to return to normal,” Krainer wrote.

The San Francisco Fed is led by

Janet Yellen

, who told reporters in June that the possibility of leaving the benchmark U.S. interest rate near zero for years is “not outside the realm of possibility.”

To contact the reporter on this story:

Vivien Lou Chen

in San Francisco at

vchen1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 26, 2009 13:15 EDT

Source: Housing Market Faces Hard Road to Normal, Fed Economist Says

I had just emerged from the subway and was starting my journey home.  I walked by the park benches.  A young couple was sitting in the night air – arms and legs entwined. I smiled.

“Norah?” My friend Malcom, the EMT, came up from behind me and startled me a bit.  Malcom was African American and about 5′6″ tall and fairly stocky.  I sometimes I wondered how he hoisted bodies into ambulances. He smiled at me from behind his round, wire rimmed glasses.

“Hey, baby,” I said, giving him a big hug.

“Hey, boo, whassup?”

“Oh, same old – work, home, wake up, work again.”

“Listen,” he said in a kind of whisper, “Can we take a walk?”

“Sure.  The park fine?” He looked a little nervous to me. I thought, maybe work was getting to him. I wondered if he needed a spell or something.

“”Norah.  You still a producer over at CAB?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I think I might have a story for you.”

Oh my goddess, I thought – another friend with another “great idea” for me.

“Malcom,” I said, ” I can’t always give attention to local stories.”

“Sure, Norah. I know, but I think this one might interest you – since it has to do with chemical warfare and kids.”

He had my attention. “Oooaaakaay…” I said, catching my breath.  “What about it?”

“I know you have a son, Norah, and I just know you’d care about this one. Patrick is under 10 right?”

“He’s 8.”

“Okay, so here’s the deal and I have proof of it.  In the event of a chemical attack, EMT’s are being instructed not to treat kids under the age 10 in what is called, ‘the hot zone.””

My arms were covered with goosebumps. I was hanging on his every word. This was 2002 and New Yorkers were experiencing severe post-traumatic stress disorder.  A lot of us were in a state of constant hypervigilance – as if that would help.

“Malcom, what kind of proof do you have?”

“I have the training manual that states it, Norah.”

“Wow. Okay.  When can you get it to me? I’m definitely interested.”

“If you’re not, I can always pass it on to Barbara,” he said as incentive to get me going on this right away. Barbara was a mutual friend who worked for a TV station in New Jersey.

“M, cut it out. Barbara can’t do shit with this.”

He laughed. “Meet you at the Donut Pub tomorrow. When do you get off work?”

“Around 7,” I said.  “Bring the manual and we’ll take it from there. Let’s say 7:30 to be safe.”

“You’ll find me in my office – the table in the back. They let me sit there for hours, ” he said.

***

It was 8:00 when I hopped on the subway. It seemed I was always apologizing for lateness – the nature of news.  Luckily the doughnut shop was 3 stops away.

I spotted Malcom immediately.  He was spread out all over a table in the back.  I leaned over the table and kissed him on the cheek.

“Hey.” He hugged and patted me.

“Sorry I’m late –”

“Norah, please, I know you,” he laughed.

“Just a sec while I grab a glazed french and some coffee. You want anything, while I’m up?” I asked.

“Well, now that you mention it,” he said, pulling money out of his pocket.

“M, it’s on me.”

“Old fashioned then.”

I was exhausted, but fascinated by the idea of local government instructions to not save the lives of children.  What was that about?

I came back with the treats. “Okay, Malcolm. Talk to me.”

“What about?” he joked.

“Well for starters, when did you get this manual?”

“It’s brand new. I snuck a copy out for you. Just be careful who sees it.  I don’t want it coming back to me.”

“Don’t worry, baby.  That won’t happen,” I reassured him.

On my third eye, I could see an exercise taking place. I saw EMT’s rushing down into a subway station.  People were panicking, coughing.  Some were just lying there.

“You were instructed during an actual exercise?”

M nodded. “It was effed up, Norah. I have 2 sons who are teenagers, Norah, but they were under the age of 10 at one time.”

“How do you guys treat people?  What’s the procedure?”

“Some of it is crowd control,” he started.  “If people are showing symptoms of having inhaled the chemical and they can walk, we help them away from , what is called ‘the hot zone.’ It’s where the chemical was first dispersed.”

“Okay, so let’s say this happens on a subway,” I said.

“You’re thinking of the sarin attack in Tokyo.  By the way, sarin is a biological agent.”

“I am thinking of the Tokyo attack.  Didn’t someone open a bag with a cane?”

“I don’t know, but it flashed through my mind just now,” Malcom said.

“You must be psychic,” I joked. “So, you walk people away and there are people still lying there.  What do you do?  Do you help them breathe? What happens?”

“We have this kit of what are called auto-injectors. Each ambulance is equipped with like 100 of them.  One has atropine in it and the other hs something called 2-PAM – or something like that. You’ll see it in the manual.  Anyhow, the atropine subsides the symptoms – the running eyes, the rushing heartbeat, the coughing – whatever. And the 2-PAM cleanses the nervous system.  The main thing is the atropine.  We can get the people over to the hospital for the 2-PAM part.”

“Wow. Okay, so that’s a lot to digest.  Just tell me, why are the kids not to be treated?”

“Because,” Malcom said sadly, “We don’t have child size auto-injectors and they say the adult dose would kill the kids.”

“Which doses are you missing in child size?”

“Both the atropine and the 2-PAM.” M took a bite of his doughnut. “Do you think you can help these kids Norah? I’d like to see it change.”

“I hope so, M.  Let’s work on it.”

Finding your long lost family members, friends, Co-workers, or Classmates can sometimes be difficult depending on where you start, and how you search.

Searching for Family and Friends

There are 3 most important things you need to know before you start your search or journey, and also remember.

FIRST; You must not expect your journey or search to be easy if you are not willing to put yourself in a position to help them find you.  They may also be looking for you while you are searching for them.

SECOND; Never try to do everything yourself.  You will always need people to help you achieve your goals throughout your life, whether they are small or large.  Bill Gates is one of the wealthiest men in the world, and wouldn’t be where he is today if just a few people didn’t believe in his Microsoft idea years ago before Microsoft was ever born.

THIRD; You must also realize that contacting one person won’t connect you to your long lost loved ones.  Infact, you don’t always reach or get the person you want when you call a person’s house number.  And, most times, lots of funding is required when you’re trying to do everything on your own, and very little is needed when you allow others to help you.  Infact, I found it to be a lot easier doing it this way after creating a profile online in a Social Networking Community and started searching for my long lost family members.  Many of them I would’ve never found without their brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, husbands, or wives finding me and being connected to them through their own personal profile.  This Social Network Community saved me time and money, paid me during my search, and is now paying me to stay in-touch with my long lost and found family members, friends, co-workers, and classmates.

You can find more details about this community at the following site http://mailbox.eCa.sh/SocialNetworkCommunity

Tom was getting used to the middle of the night phone calls and my time spent skrying into my black mirror and trancing out with my tarot cards.  Still, I was grateful to have a night alone.

Some journalists, although they’d never admit it, surround themselves with pictures of crime victims.  A producer I worked with, back in my TV days, once confessed that he asked a homicide victim for direction in solving her murder. “I’d say to her, Jennifer, I  know you’re out there.  I need your help.”

I prefer crystal balls and black mirrors.  I started out with a tarot reading that night.  Sometimes that gives you a lead.  I laid out a Celtic cross.  Queen of cups crossed by the 2 of swords.   Laila had two roads she could have taken. Beneath, her foundation, was was the Empress – a mother figure.  A motherless child perhaps.  Perhaps a foundation of no female role model had left her blind when it came to dangerous situations with men.  Above her was Justice – the law.  It all made sense so far.  Behind her was The Devil – addiction.  Her own?  Jared’s?  Laila was addicted to her work, certainly.  Maybe this whirlwind romance was a part of love addiction.  I sighed.

“Addiction?” I asked. “Or maybe it meant ‘watch your step,’” I smiled weakly.  I could feel her warmth.

Before her was Death.  It was clear she was transforming. How she viewed herself – ace of pentacles, fertile, full of ideas, ready to start a new life, a new home.  Family and friends, the 7 of swords – paranoia, concern.  My heart warmed up.  Their protectiveness touched her deeply. Even now. Hopes and fears – 2 of rods – good news, gifts from out of the blue.  “I hope for the same,” I whispered.  The outcome – The Judgment.  Her family awaited divine judgment.

“Okay, baby,” I said, climbing on my bed with the black mirror.

A black mirror must never be exposed to light. It’s a concave plate made of shiny, black glass and witches use it like a crystal ball.  Some witch upstate made this one.  When you stare into the mirror at just the right angle, you see clouds.  Then the clouds part and right before your very eyes, images as clear as HDTV, and sometimes even clearer, start fading in and out of the dish.

I watched the night clouds part.  A few stars dotted the sky.  And when they cleared, I saw the inside of a bar with mahogany walls and huge, old mirrors behind the bar itself.  Jared was chatting up one of the waitresses.  She seemed to be aurically pushing him away.  If only I could place the bar.  He could have been anywhere.  I tried to zoom in on the couple. They were outside now and she was handing him a ring.

* **

“Sean?”

“Jesus, Norah. It’s 11:00. I get up early to write.”

“I’m sorry. It’s important.”

“Okay, what’s up?”

“Well, I was skrying, like I’ve been.”

“Skrying. Norah, speak English and breathe.”

I laughed and tried to settle down. “It’s a wiccan and occult way of trancing out until you see things – like crystal ball gazing.  I was using a black mirror – I’ll explain it some other time.  It’s a black plate and you see things after staring into it.  Anyhow, I saw Jared in a bar and he was talking to a waitress. It was definitely a girlfriend situation. You need to find her.  Please?”

“I’ve already checked out his watering holes, babe.”

“Well, check again, Sean.  Look for a waitress or a bartender with shoulder length, wavy, dark hair.  She wears it in braids sometimes.  He proposed to her at one point, because I saw her place a ring in his palm and close his fingers around it.  They were standing outside the bar.”

“Street? Avenue? Steps? No steps?”

“I’m not sure.  It looks like maybe that bar with the harp outside on the upper west side.”

“Thanks, kiddo.  Thanks.”

I sighed.  “Better?” Sean asked.

“Much. Thanks for taking my call. Sorry. I wasn’t thinking again. Time for bed, eh?”

“Good night, Norah.”

***

It was the end of a pretty quiet night shift. For some reason, I’m always exhausted when things are slow. It’s an adrenaline thing, I guess – or just boredom.

My cell started playing, “May This Be Love,” a ringtone I’m sure everyone around me had grown sick of. It was Sean.

“Hey, Sean,” I said tiredly.

“Slow night, eh?”

“You guessed it. Whassup?”

“I’m outside that bar you saw – the one on 72nd and Amsterdam.”

“And?”

“And there’s a waitress here who fit that description, so I asked if we could talk after her shift.  You know, told her about the book and stuff. We met outside and – are you there?”

“Yeh, I’m all ears.”

“Okay, so she starts telling me how Jared was kind of a serial proposer.  She wasn’t the only one he proposed to and apparently he used the same ring over and over again,” he chuckled.

“Not one nibble?”

“Doesn’t sound like it.  She knew of one other woman, but she wouldn’t give up her name. Both of them told him he was crazy. She said he popped the question after dating her only a few weeks.”

“Goddess. Same as Laila.”

“Exactly.  I used to think he was doing it because he was in desperate financial straights, Norah, but I’m not sure anymore. He just sounds violent and nuts.”

“That’s my editor on the other line, Sean. Talk tomorrow?”

“Sure, baby.  Talk soon.  Have a good rest of the night.”

In a conversation I had with a woman in her late 50s who was describing the abusive childhood of a loved one, she repeated a commonly used excuse for the irresponsible behavior of the parents.  How often have we heard this phrase: “They did the best they could with the knowledge they had”?  That phrase is usually followed or preceded by a horror story of child abuse or some other atrocity.  I decided a long time ago that I despise that phrase, that excuse. 

I do realize that we often do things out of ignorance and on some level that will always happen and cannot be helped.  No one can know everything or understand any situation fully but God.  Perhaps that’s why God is infallible?  He knows everything and sees each situation from all sides.  But I don’t mean to get into a theological discussion of God’s perfection, so moving on…  As I was saying, I do understand that each person will make mistakes out of ignorance and this is to be expected.  The reason I so despise the phrase mentioned is because it’s often is used to excuse behavior that is reprehensible.  When a small child is beaten with a board full of nails for saying a curse word he’s heard his father use a million times before, then forced to “confess” by repeating that curse word and is so frightened he can’t remember it, is then forced to guess what curse word he said then beaten for each incorrect curse word he guessed until he’s nearly dead – that is inexcusable.  Don’t tell me the father didn’t know any better.  No one is that stupid.

I heard that phrase many times while I was growing up in the form of, “I’m sorry I hurt you.  I did the best I could with what I knew to do.”  And I decided I hated it.  I was not the one beaten with boards, thank God!  But in a pastor’s house, you hear horror stories every day.  People bring their problems to their pastor and as I child I paid attention.  Ignorance was sometimes an excuse, but it struck me as totally unreasonable.

I made a decision somewhere around the age of fourteen that I would not let that be an excuse for bad behavior in my own life.  If I didn’t know something, I would find out.  And I have built my life on that concept.  I’m a researcher.  It may appear that I make quick decisions and don’t take the time to think them through.  I am a decisive person.  But what many don’t realize is the number of hours I’ve spent searching for answers to questions I don’t have to answer yet, so that when the day comes that I do have to make a choice, I can choose wisely.  I rarely decide anything without much research and forethought.  When I do, I usually regret it. 

Ever since the day my brother was born when I was nearly eleven years old, I have known that I want to be a mother.  I began to research parenting and did all I could to apply the principles I learned to the children around me.  When I was in my early twenties, I finally put down the parenting books because I realized I was driving myself crazy with all this theory and no one to practice on.  I haven’t picked up another parenting book since then, but I’m a really good babysitter and aunt! 

The point is, I didn’t want to make parenting mistakes out of ignorance when the time came.  I haven’t picked up any more books since then, but I’ve been a diligent student of my friends with children.  I’ve watched how they do things, asked questions, and made mental notes for myself. 

In my mid-twenties, a friend challenged me with a really unique understanding of Scripture as it relates to the end times and Christ’s return.  She walked me through the Scriptures to prove her point of view.  As she did this, I realized that I disagreed strongly with her, but I couldn’t articulate why.  I KNEW she was wrong, but I couldn’t walk her through Scriptures myself to show her why.  I became furious and had to walk away from the conversation before I lost my temper.  I wasn’t angry with her, but with myself for not knowing more to be able to discuss it with her.  I’d been a Christian all my life, was a pastor’s daughter, the product of several Christian schools, and had even spent a year in Christian college.  Yet I was mute before her argument.  That realization drove me nuts.

A few years later I enrolled in seminary.  The major paper I did for my last systematic theology class was on this very subject.  I was determined to understand it and refute it.  When I finished that paper, I felt such a sense of accomplishment!  I went back and talked to her about it and was finally able to explain why I disagreed with her.  I didn’t change her mind (darn it!), but I was no longer ignorant either.

Proverbs 13:15 says, “Good understanding gains favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard.”

What good would it have done for me to have yelled and shown my anger toward my friend that day when I didn’t know what to say to her, just knew I disagreed with her?  I kept my mouth shut until I had good understanding.  She had no idea I had been so worked up by what she said.  When I went back to her years later, we had an intelligent conversation about it and she was touched that I cared so much about her ideas that I went and studied the matter out to be able to answer her.  We are still great friends to this day and every once in awhile have to acknowledge our different opinions on the end times.  This is done with no animosity, but respect.

Proverbs chapter four is full of admonitions to get wisdom and to make sure we understand things. 

Proverbs 4:5 Get wisdom! Get understanding!
      Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
       6 Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you;
      Love her, and she will keep you.
       7 Wisdom is the principal thing;
      Therefore get wisdom.
      And in all your getting, get understanding.
       8 Exalt her, and she will promote you;
      She will bring you honor, when you embrace her.
       9 She will place on your head an ornament of grace;
      A crown of glory she will deliver to you.”

We often do shameful things out of ignorance; things we are embarrassed about later.  We can’t explain why we did them except, “I didn’t know any better.”  But Proverbs urges us to seek out wisdom and understanding.  Instead of shame, it promises that we’ll have an ornament of grace, a crown of glory on our heads. 

I try to live my life by the words of Proverbs 4:13, which states, “Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; keep her, for she is your life.” 

What would the world look like if we all sought after wisdom and understanding?  If we all tried to understand the best way to do something before we did it?  What would the church look like if just the Christians did that?

There’s no way I’ll ever know all the things I’m interested in, curious about, or need to know.  I wish I could, but when would I sleep?  I realize how little I know, which drives me to learn more and apply myself to getting instruction.  Ignorance may be bliss, but knowledge is power.

(CFD.net.au – Contract for Difference, Share, Forex, ETFs, Commodities Traders) – The Queensland Police Service (QPS) says it will look into a Taser manufacturer’s directive that the weapon should not be fired at a person’s chest.

The directive from Taser International says police officers should aim at the back, lower abdomen or the legs.

The Australian distributor of the device, George Hateley, says police in one Canadian province are following the advice.

He says it is based on the findings of a single researcher who drilled into a pig’s heart to test the Taser’s effect on the animal.

“That’s going way beyond what you need to, and certainly pigs are different to humans,” he said.

“There have been about 2 million people who have been exposed to Taser – probably a million in training – and no-one’s been affected.”

Source: Australian distributor downplays Taser advice

The BBC speaks to Matthew Atha, who studies drug consumption patterns, about cannabis farming in the UK…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: farm. The blog is also related to: farm.

The scientist is in the mirror

Anyone who has read my blog up to now (71 people and counting!) will notice that I like to label people as scientists or researchers, but I feel I need to explain the difference between the two.

Researcher

A researcher, as defined by me, is anyone who works on funded studies with the intention of publishing their results.  Researchers are the people who dedicate their lives to science.  It is what they spend almost all of their waking time on and it is how they make their living.  They are just as worried about where they can get funding for their next project as how they can organize their results to get them published in the highest tier journal.  Researchers make up the workforce of science and they are the leaders who carry the standards of progress.

Scientist

This is a much more encompassing term.  A scientist is anybody who ever thought critically about a problem, and solved it empirically.  Have you ever wondered what would happen if you put a cd in the microwave, and then put a cd in the microwave?  You are a scientist.  Being a scientist has nothing to do with intelligence or ability, only the mind to ask a question and the courage to find the answer for yourself.  Most people in the world can be considered scientists under this definition, however the connotation of scientist has become synonomous with researcher and so people feel disconnected with the scientific community.

People don’t know they’re scientists and so they feel powerless when the world, as it so often does, confronts them with scientific problems.  It is sad to think that the worlds biggest problems are the ones being worked on by the fewest amount of people.  It has been shown in the past that regular people are willing to get involved in research, and can indeed provide a great help in discovery.  You can find several examples in the article The Growth of Citizen Science by Darlene Cavalier and Alex Soojung-Kim Pang.  All we need to do is give people a chance to get involved and they will jump at it.

The biggest tradgedy in the world is that we have so many scientific problems and billions of sleeping scientists

Silvertown J (2009). A new dawn for citizen science. Trends in ecology & evolution (Personal edition), 24 (9), 467-71 PMID: 19586682

Hullo,

When the second line signaling ’positive’ appeared on the home pregnancy test, it was a bit of a shock. Even if you are ‘trying’. Even if you want it. Even if you think you are prepared. It’s a shock. 

So what do you do, if you are a researcher? If you are a reader? If you are a thinker? You try and process the complicated thoughts in your head by writing. So here it is folks, a feminist blog reflecting on pregnancy. 

Yes, we feminists sometimes have babies too!

Though their use remains controversial, new research and innovative procedures indicate that stem cells may be applicable in more situations than previously thought. Stem cells are immature cells with the ability to grow into any type of tissue. Scientists have worked for years to perfect methods of extracting and directing these cells to grow into different tissue types to heal injuries and cure diseases. In addition to human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), methods of using patient specific cells in regenerative medicine are being refined. Like embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) have the potential to become any type of cell in the body. Because iPS cells are made by “rewinding” adult cells to their pluripotent state – a state from which they can grow into other types of tissue – they can be created from a patient’s own tissues, thus lessening or eliminating the risk of rejection. According to the Los Angeles Times, iPS cells could be used to grow insulin-producing beta cells for patients with diabetes or nerve cells for patients with spinal cord injuries.

Using this type of “adult stem cells,” researchers at the Wayne State University School of Medicine have developed a procedure to increase mobility and quality of life for patients with spinal cord injuries. The process involves the use of progenitor cells from a patient’s own nasal tissue, thus lessening the chances of rejection, tumor formation, and disease transmission sometimes experienced when using donated tissue. Twenty patients with severe chronic spinal cord injuries took part in the Wayne State University study, led by Associate Professor Jean Peduzzi-Nelson. Each received a treatment of partial scar removal in combination with transplantation of nasal tissue and physical rehabilitation. Results from participants, including one paraplegic individual who is now able to ambulate with two crutches and knee braces, indicate that the transplantation of nasal tissue (an “olfactory mucosal autograft”) is an effective and safe treatment for individuals with chronic spinal cord injuries.

Other types of adult cells have also been used for transplantation to damaged tissues. At the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, fat stem cells from a 14-year-old boy were used to form cheekbones that the young patient lacked. This new technique has the potential to benefit approximately seven million people in the United States, including individuals with various forms of cancer, and those injured in conflict situations. A section of bone from a donated cadaver was shaped to resemble zygomatic bones and act as a support structure for the growth of new tissue. Mesenchymal stem cells from the patient’s fat and a growth-encouraging protein were injected into holes in this bone base. Before implantation, the research team wrapped the grafts in periosteum tissue, which helps encourage stem cells to produce bone tissue. Stem cells were harvested from fat tissue as they exist in similar proportions as in bone marrow tissue, but do not require invasive procedures to gather them.

Using embryonic stem cells from mice, researchers have been able to successfully create a “heart patch” to repair damage caused by heart disease. Bioengineers at Duke University created a 3D mold and used it to grow heart muscle cells or cardiomyocytes. In addition to the mold used to ensure that the cells would not grow as a disorganized mass, cardiac fibroblasts, which comprise up to 60 percent of the heart, were added. These cells helped to guide the growth of the patches and properly align the cells so that they would have properties similar to heart tissue. The heart patches created displayed critical features of heart muscle – the ability to contract and to conduct electrical impulses.

Studies indicate that transplants using pigment-containing visual cells derived from hESCs have also had some success. In individuals who underwent these procedures, structure and function of the light-sensitive lining and the eye (retina) were preserved. For millions who lose their sight or experience low-vision, this type of cell-replacement procedure could prove beneficial. Jennifer Elisseeff, associate professor in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University, and her team have also utilized stem cells to repair damaged and deteriorating knee cartilage. In addition, Elisseeff’s team is working to enable stem cells to reconstruct muscle and fat lost during surgery or trauma and developing an eye patch constructed of special biomaterial derived from collagen to help repair damage to a patient’s cornea.

The use of hESCs remains controversial, though the Obama administration has lifted Bush-era restrictions on federal funding for research based on their use. iPS cells offer an alternative that may prove as beneficial or more so as there is no risk of rejection of the transplanted tissue. For patients with spinal cord injuries, deteriorating vision, compromised heart function, and many other health concerns, treatments using stem cells may offer an opportunity to heal that would otherwise not be available.

Discuss This and Other Medical Treatments in the iCons in Medicine Forums

“As a comic, Billi Gordon used his girth to get laughs. Now it’s imprisoning him, but he plans a breakout.

“Billi Gordon is 6 feet 1 and weighed 701 pounds when he was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center last month. Offering directions to his room, he couldn’t resist adding, “I will be the large black man in the hospital bed.”

“For most of his adult life, he has been that large black man, never denying his girth, using it to disarm and entertain, creating a theatrical comedy career — in drag — before pursuing research in neuroscience.”

Click to read the rest of the article in the LA Times…

HER TURN: Dr. Carol W. Greider is a researcher at Johns Hopkins.

Q. IS IT TRUE THAT YOU WERE DOING LAUNDRY WHEN YOU GOT THAT EARLY MORNING CALL FROM STOCKHOLM?

A. Yes. I don’t usually do the laundry so early in the morning, but I was already up, and there was all this laundry staring at me. I was supposed to later meet two women friends to take our morning spin class. People had speculated that sometime in the next five years, something like this might happen. And last year people said, “Maybe, it will be, ” and it wasn’t. Reuters had made this prediction that we might get it this time. But I really didn’t have any idea. Maybe it would never happen. There are important fundamental discoveries that never get prizes. After I got the call, I sent my friend an e-mail: “I’m sorry I can’t spin right now. I’ve won the Nobel Prize.”Q. DID YOU ALWAYS WANT TO BE A BIOLOGIST?

A. My parents were scientists. But I wasn’t the sort of child who did science fairs. One of the things I was thinking about today is that as a kid I had dyslexia. I had a lot of trouble in school and was put into remedial classes. I thought that I was stupid.

Q. THAT MUST HAVE HURT.

A. Sure. Yes. It was hard to overcome that. I kept thinking of ways to compensate. I learned to memorize things very well because I just couldn’t spell words. So later when I got to take classes like chemistry and anatomy where I had to memorize things, it turned out I was very good at that.

I never planned a career. I had these blinders on that got me through a lot of things that might have been obstacles. I just went forward. It’s a skill that I had early on that must have been adaptive. I enjoyed biology in high school and that brought me to a research lab at U.C. Santa Barbara. I loved doing experiments and I had fun with them. I realized this kind of problem-solving fit my intellectual style. So in order to continue having fun, I decided to go to graduate school at Berkeley. It was there that I went to Liz Blackburn’s lab, where telomeres were being studied. (Read More Here)

Can the idea of ‘green motorsport’ actually work? Yes, according to EPSRC funded researcher, Dr Kerry Kirwan at the University of Warwick, who led the research team which designed and built the worldfirst fully sustainable Formula 3 racing car.

Source:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091005123048.htm

Laila Mueller was a Block Island native where her dad was a photographer  and her mom, a school teacher.  She left the island to go to college in Manhattan and she never looked back.  Her first job was waitressing in a West Village pub – not far from where she went to school.  Within 10 years, she had started her own, small management consulting firm in Soho and that company soon blossomed into a firm that handled million dollar accounts.  Mueller was a shrewd businesswoman who had little time for a personal life.  When she did date, the relationships were short and ended abruptly after a few months.  Clearly, her career was her first priority.  That was until she met Jared.

He was also a self made businessman.  He had made millions in the dot com boom and he was down on his luck when the market dried up.  It was then that he met Laila.  They were set up on a blind date by mutual friends.  Laila fell head over heels, friends said.  They were concerned about the whirlwind romance and Jared’s motives.  There was no changing Laila’s mind, though.

I put down the clips and  picked up the phone.  “Have you talked to her friends yet?”

“Whoooah.  Hello Norah.”

“Why, hello Sean.  Have you t-a-l-k-e-d t-o h-e-r f-r-i-e-n-d-s y-e-t?”

“Which ones?”

“New York, for starters.  New York employees.  New York folks who set them up on the date.  Sounds like she didn’t have much of a social life.”

“No shit.  And I’ve talked to friends and family about the relationship.  Her brother and dad were suspicious from the start. They thought he was a fortune hunter – much younger and things were going too quickly – same as everyone says.  Something didn’t feel right.  They just didn’t know what.”

I started to feel I was being choked. It made me cough.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, except I feel like someone’s choking me is all.”

Sean laughed.  “Is that all?  She wasn’t strangled, ya know.”

“I don’t care. She’s showing me she can’t breathe.  Please ask about it.  Ask her brother.”

“Okay, Norah. I promise.”

“Time for bed?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah.”

“Sweet dreams.” I kidded.

“Get some rest, Norah.”

***

It was one of those days when you wonder why you didn’t sleep at the paper. The coffee wasn’t working at all and the vending machine coffeecake was gross and stale.  My phone was ringing.

“Trib.”

“Norah, it’s Sean.”

“Let me call you back on my cell,” I said, practically hanging up on him.  I needed a walk anyhow.  I called out to my editor to say I’d be right back and I lifted up my cell on the way out to let him know he could reach me.

“Hey, Sean, what’s up?” I said as I stepped off the elevator.

“Hey, Norah, sorry to bother you at work, but I knew you would want to know I talked with Tim, Laila’s brother, last night.”

“And?”

“And he told me an interesting story about a date that happened about 3 weeks into the relationship.  Apparently after dinner out,  they were walking down a street in the Village when Laila disagreed with Jared about something.  Next thing she knew, he had her in a choke hold and she couldn’t push him off of her.  It freaked her out so bad, she secretly called Tim that night and said she was worried for her safety.”

“But as always, we ignore – did you say choke hold?”

“Uh huh.  I think that’s what you were feeling.”

“Oy. Why do powerful women attract men who are going to squelch that power? Oh, did I say squelch? I meant kill.” I saw this again and again in stories and I was feeling a bond with Laila already. I felt angry on her behalf.

“Norah, not every –”

“Okay.  I know.”

“I’m as sorry as you are, hun.”

“I know, Sean. Thanks.”

“The finding is strong and counterintuitive,” said researcher Jose Tapia Granados from the university’s Institute for Social Research. “Most people assume that periods of high unemployment are harmful to health.”

Source:
http://in.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idINTRE58R5TZ20090929

One of the worst, most expensive lies told to us on a regular basis (other than the need for health care reform) is “global warming”.  The evidence of it falls apart on examination… assuming, of course, you can get the data to examine.

This is going to leave a mark.

Layman summary: It took him years of wheedling and wrangling to get the complete data set used by some respected researchers incompetent/malevolent bozos and now we know why they were so reluctant to give it up. Key elements showing the blade end of the hockey stick were cherry picked for maximum effect. When the whole, with all points present was examined, the blade vanishes.

Significant modeling and other researcher’s work was based on this fraudulently presented data and analysis that hinged on about 10 cherry picked tree ring measurements.

Steve McIntyre proves AGW "hockey stick" proxy data was cherry picked

When a newspaper publishes an article about a recent scientific study concerning humans, it is almost expected that people with a political agenda will pick and choose parts of the article that support their view, and ignore those parts that invalidate it. The science writers may even intentionally and deliberately insert clarifications and disclaimers to make sure the article is inconsistent with a popular incorrect political view, but people with an agenda will ignore the clarifications and disclaimers because they don’t understand it, they reject nuances, or because they simply ignore information that does not fit into their worldview.

However, sometimes members of the public will also take into account the public’s tendency politicize controversial studies, and then accuse the study’s researchers of “knowing” that their study could be used to support a political agenda and conducting the study with the “intention” to stir up controversy and support said political agenda.

Of course, this is a complete misunderstanding of how scientific research works. Almost all scientific studies are not done to educate the general public; they are done to explore the unexplored territory in the field. The primary audience of a scientific paper is other scientists in the field. Only after the original paper endures years of debate and replications among the scientific community do the new findings make it into the canon of an undergraduate textbook. Most published studies do not make it into this canon, and are read by only a small circle of specialists.

In other words, many members of the public assume that scientific studies are conducted for them instead of for other scientists. Given this assumption, it is not too much of logical leap for them to suppose that the scientists conducted a particular controversial study with the nefarious intention to advance a political (e.g., right-wing) agenda.

One way to avoid the possibility of misinterpretation is to hide the results of scientific studies from the general public, but this is unethical, it keeps the general public scientifically illiterate, and it creates distrust when information is restricted to an elite few.

Another way to avoid misinterpretation is to somehow teach the general public that scientists are even more aloof and detached from practical concerns than they had initially assumed. Scientific studies are not conducted for the general public and taxpayer in mind, but for other scientists to discuss among themselves. The literature generated through government-funded scientific research does not benefit the public directly, but indirectly, after a collection of scientific studies finds a practical application in some indeterminate time in the future. However, this explanation is complex, requires an understanding of the sociology of science (which is another poorly understood topic), and may also generate public distrust.

Noticing a person’s skin colour is natural. You are not “color blind” when it comes to race.

An example is the politically controversial notion that humans process skin colour at a basic perceptual level, i.e., vision-enabled humans cannot be “color blind” when it comes to skin colour. There are many psychology and neuroscience studies that support this. However, since the general public assumes that noticing race makes you racist, such studies could be interpreted as suggesting that racism is innate and natural.

Again, hiding these studies on race perception from the general public is unethical, and telling the general public that the study was not intended to be read by the hoi polloi is offensive. White liberals may object to the study’s coverage because it could support the right-wing idea that racism is natural, so it is okay to be racist. However, by preventing this research from reaching the general public, white liberals would also be protecting the common, white-privileged, and white liberal idea that they can and should be racially “color blind”.

In other words, the idea that it is natural for humans to notice skin colour would be perceived as a “right wing” idea by a typical white liberal, but the same idea would be perceived as “left wing” by a typical anti-racist person of colour who is sick of white liberals preaching racial “color blindness” and assuming that the problem is race instead of racism. By suppressing or dismissing such studies that do not fit into the standard white liberal discourse, white liberals again ensure that they direct the liberal conversation about race, and define what is and is not a progressive racial idea.

• Seeing Race and Seeming Racist? Whites Go Out of Their Way to Avoid Talking About Race (APA)

It is a very gratifying day…after almost 5 years of pushing, cajoling, encouraging, developing and shouting about, there are finally nationally recognised awards for those who work in the production side of UK radio and audio!  The RADIO PRODUCTION AWARDS have just been launched, a joint effort by the Radio Independents Group (the trade body that represents UK independent radio production companies) and the Radio Academy.  Sponsored by HILL DICKINSON LLP, the awards aim to bring some much needed recognition to the hard working, underpaid and over-stressed producers, researchers, engineers and others who make UK radio happen 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

It is a strange thing, but radio is the only entertainment media that to date has failed to award its production staff.  TV does it at the BAFTAs, film does it at the OSCARs, the music industry does it time and again.  Which is odd, because radio is the one medium that is run on small teams (often just one person being the writer, producer, editor, etc…) and ridiculously low budgets.  Yet for years now the industry, through the SONY and NEW YORK and PRIX ITALIA awards have recognised the on-air talent, the programmes, the stations and even the programmers…but not the writers, producers, engineers, etc…  And radio is, just like TV and film and music, an art that generally requires some technical help to bring the talent to the public.  I could name countless celebrity radio presenters who only sound so slick and professional on-air because they have someone ‘running the desk’ for them, and aproducer prepping the show in advance.  And in production radio…documentaries, dramas, music specials…not a single ‘expert presenter’ or broadcaster would be heard reporting on the latest cultural trend, or great actor heard in an afternoon play, or fantastic band heard in an ‘as live’ set if it weren’t for the producer and engineer making the programme.

So it has always bewildered me why our industry…one which has for years made a big thing of its small production teams, one-person-bands,fast-turnaround production ability, low budgets…has failed…yes, FAILED…to reward the tireless and poorly paid efforts of the real talent behind the airwaves.  The on-air talent makes the money, gets the gigs, receives the press and the plaudits, while the production teams get the aggravation, the insults, the long hours, the stress and the low wages.  The very least the industry can do, since it can’t guarantee jobs, offer training, or seemingly fight for its own continued existence, is to give a few award statues to some production personnel!

And that is what is happening…at last.  And it has happened because of the independent radio production sector.  Radio indies produce approximately 10% of the national BBC radio output (not much compared to TV indies getting to make well over 25%!), have been around for several decades, develop new talent, find UK-wide programming ideas and do all this against a backdrop of political apathy for the sector and resentment from the BBC for having to work with us.  So we’ve felt for some time that we wanted to improve the lot of those we represent, and those we employ.  For indies the on-air talent is a bolt-on, but the production teams are our bread-and-butter…they keep us going, they win us work, they make the programmes that earn us money.  We love and appreciate our production teams – hell, most of us ARE our production teams!

I recently stepped down as Chair of RIG, after spending 5 years helping to establish the trade body and make it truly representative of the indie community.  There are many things I am proud of achieving, but the Radio Production Awards is one of the proudest achievements.  It has taken a good few years of voluntary work by a group of 5 or so indie colleagues to make it a reality.  We have had financial support from a wonderful legal firm called HILL DICKINSON LLP, and now the Radio Academy has partnered with us to jointly organise and produce the annual event – adding weight and legitimacy to the awards (the academy also run the Sony Awards!)

The aim is to make it as cheap to enter and to attend as possible, since those entering are individuals and don’t have access to marketing budgets!  The awards night will be part party/part networking event. The whole thing is to be far less bloated and over-long than other media awards events.  We are talking small but beautiful!

AND it is open to everybody on the production side of UK radio, whether you work for an indie, the BBC national networks, BBC in-house production teams, local BBC radio, national commercial radio, local and regional commercial radio, AND those podcasters who aspire to produce output of radio-quality.

So…fancy taking your go at entering?  Why not?  And this is just year 1.  I hope to watch these awards grow in stature as the years pass.  Here’s the flyer, and a link to the relevant website for entries.  Good luck, spread the word…and join me in a hearty hooray for the production teams…we simply wouldn’t have any radio without them (an since 90% of the UK listen to radio every week, it would be a shock to the system!)

http://www.radioindies.org

http://www.radioacademy.org