j7uy5 | July 26, 2007
href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-07/24/content_6424764.htm">These
are sooo precious...
The
one on the left is the cub. They are
href="http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Chrotogale_owstoni.html"
rel="tag">Owston's Palm Civets, Chrotogale
owstoni ...
They
are found in southern Yunan and southwest Guangxi provinces in
China; northern Vietnam; and northern Laos. The typical
weight is 2-3 kg (4.4 to 6.6 pounds), length 50-60cm.
10cm, by the way, is the width of my palm across the knuckles
(which is pretty convenient sometimes). …
j7uy5 | July 25, 2007Infections
with
href="http://www.wpro.who.int/media_centre/fact_sheets/fs_20050802.htm"
rel="tag">Streptococcus suis
have been reported in a cluster in Viet Nam, plus one
apparently-isolated case in China. This is not the first
outbreak of the pig-borne illness. A
href="http://www.who.int/csr/don/2005_08_03/en/index.html">larger
outbreak occurred in 2005 in Sichuan, China. In
2005, there were 205 reported cases, with 36 fatalities.
Earlier, a 1998 outbreak involved 14 deaths out of 25
reported human cases. Cases have been recorded dating back to
the 1960's. No cases have been…
j7uy5 | July 25, 2007
Today the US House of Representatives voted to pass
href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-2929">H.R.
2929:
To
limit the use of funds to establish any military
installation or
base for the purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of
United States Armed Forces in Iraq or to exercise United States
economic control of the oil resources of Iraq.
US. Representative
rel="tag">Barbara Lee introduced amendments to
this effect in 2005, and it went nowhere. She tried to
accomplish the same thing with various amendments in 2006, with no
success. In 2007,…
j7uy5 | July 23, 2007I was
reading about the
href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/24941.php">epidemic
of vitamin D deficiency, got curious
about albinism,
and ended up finding this picture of a white lion. It is
distributed under a
creative commons license, attribution required. The
photographer is
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Stano Novak.
The original, in much higher resolution (and not compressed
for the web) is in
href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:White_Lion.jpg"
rel="tag">Wikimedia.
This is not to be confused with the band named
href="http://www.…
j7uy5 | July 23, 2007
The latest American Research Group poll shows the lowest approval
rating ever for President Bush, a 2-point decline in the past month.
I
can't help but think
the statement about having the Justice Department ignore
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/23/AR2007072300579.html">contempt
citations has alienated even more voters.
UPDATE:
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/23/AR2007072301143.html?tid=informbox">Poll
Finds Democrats Favored On War
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/…
j7uy5 | July 23, 2007
href="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/3/e3">
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">This image
shows what can happen to your retina from a sudden increase in venous
pressure. What could cause such a sudden increase?
Jumping straight down, followed by sudden upward
acceleration. The patient initially had 20/400 vision in the
affected eye. After surgery it stabilized at 20/25.
The image, by the way, can be viewed full-size at the
open-access NEJM article:
href="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/3/e3">Macular
Hemorrhage from Bungee Jumping.
See for…
j7uy5 | July 22, 2007As
reported in the journal, The Lancet, a man has
been found who had a
small brain, but a normal life. The article is subscription
only so I am not even going to link to it. But it is still
noteworthy.
There is a fair summary in the online version of
href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,495607,00.html">Der
Spiegel, and it is even in English. It
describes the case of a 44-year-old man employed in a tax office.
He was married, father of two, holding down a job, seemingly
fine.
In 2003 he noticed some weakness in his left leg.
He ultimately was seen by Dr…
j7uy5 | July 22, 2007This
is from the transcript of a discussion with
href="http://snowe.senate.gov/public/" rel="tag">Olympia
Snowe on
href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/22/ftn/main3086832.shtml"
rel="tag">Face the Nation, earlier today:
SCHIEFFER:
Already we’re beginning to hear
American senior officers in Iraq say, `Well, we may not be able to tell
by September if all this is working.’ Will the Senate buy
that?
Sen. SNOWE: I don’t believe so, and, in particular, because
what is pivotal and central to the success of Iraq is the political
accomplishment by the Iraqi government. And…
j7uy5 | July 22, 2007
This morning's Washington Post has a headline:
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/21/AR2007072101359.html?hpid=topnews">
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Envoy Urges Visas For
Iraqis Aiding U.S.
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">
Targets of Violence Are Seeking Refuge
The idea is that Iraqis who aid the US cause need something to motivate
them. I have an idea. How about giving visas to US
troops so they can come to the USA? Now.
j7uy5 | July 21, 2007The
href="http://www.sanofi-aventis.us/live/us/en/index.jsp">Sanofi-Aventis
obesity pill,
rel="tag">rimonabant, will be labeled with
stronger warnings as a result of
href="http://www.irishhealth.com/?level=4&id=11864">a review
by The European
Medicines Agency (EMEA).
According to the
href="http://www.emea.europa.eu/humandocs/PDFs/EPAR/acomplia/32982607en.pdf">EMEA
press release on Acomplia (31 KB PDF file):
The
European Medicines Agency (EMEA) today recommended contraindicating
Acomplia (rimonabant) from sanofi-aventis, in patients with ongoing
major…
j7uy5 | July 21, 2007Someone
(Jim) at
rel="tag">Motley
Fool linked to the last LED lighting post.
Apparently he tracks the Cree Inc. stock. Anyway,
he linked to a site that has more information on the
href="http://www.lumecon.com/imsa_led_street_lighting_article.html">Ann
Arbor LED
street light project.
Part
of their interview with one of Ann Arbor's asistant managers, Mike
Bergren:
Q.:
The test site has been up for awhile. What are the results of this
experiment?
A.:
Let's talk about the cobra head first. We are getting excellent reports
that we don't have any light trespass. LED lighting is…
j7uy5 | July 20, 2007This
is marketed as a brush to be used for shampooing dogs.
However, it is also very good for dry brushing of cats.
It is particularly effective at getting those extremely fine
hairs from the undercoat.
It is
also effective for removing cat hair from furniture.
One nice thing about this brush, is that it encloses your entire hand.
So if the cat decides to swipe the brush with its claws, you
don't get hurt.
j7uy5 | July 20, 2007
The New York Times contained two statements, in different contexts,
that say opposite things. The first appears in their "most
blogged" box. It is from July 15:
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/business/15gilded.html?ex=1342152000&en=b93e1c0193b4182c&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss">The
Richest of the Rich, Proud of a New Gilded Age
By LOUIS UCHITELLE
Published: July 15, 2007
...These days, Mr. Weill and many of the nation’s very
wealthy chief executives, entrepreneurs and financiers echo an earlier
era — the Gilded Age before World War I — when…
j7uy5 | July 20, 2007Science
fiction has often centered on the theme of "what if?"
Many of the finest works have explored alternative futures,
based upon just one or a few changes in contemporary society.
Indeed, science does have a powerful influence on culture, so
some of these alternative futures are quite plausible.
Now, perhaps it is not really science fiction, but
a leading publication asks the question, "What if
href="http://www.whitehouse.org/administration/dick.asp"
rel="tag">Dick Cheney became President?"
(Courtesy of
href="http://www.superdickery.com/dick/5.html">Superdickery.com)
j7uy5 | July 19, 2007There
was an outbreak of botulism in the past several days in the
United States. The problem was traced to contaminated canned
chili sauce intended for use on hotdogs. Product from
Castleberry Food Company based in Augusta, Georgia is suspected.
But what is botulism, exactly, and how/why is it so lethal?
There
are actually three different ways to get botulism. The
most common occurs when a person eats improperly canned food, usually
food canned at home. It is also possible for human infants to
get botulism when they are fed something that contains live spores.
Most often, the…
j7uy5 | July 19, 2007It is
not taking off very quickly, but it could have a big impact.
rel="tag"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh%2C_North_Carolina">Raleigh,
NC agreed to the "
href="http://www.raleigh-nc.org/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_2_276_208_0_43/http%3B/pt03/dig_web_content/news/public/News-PubAff-Raleigh_And_Cree_Team_Up-20070214-090845.html">LED
City" initiative, joining with a company located nearby,
href="http://www.cree.com/">Cree Inc.
The initiative is to replace all civic lighting with
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-emitting_diode"
rel="tag">light-…
j7uy5 | July 19, 2007
Back in February, I
href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2007/02/now_what_i_thought_things_were.php">wrote
about the irony of the Bush Administration touting their
efforts to improve food and drug safety, while at the same time
planning to close 7 of the 13 FDA laboratories.
In the interim, we have had all kinds of food and drug mishaps.
The FDA did not close any labs, but they also did not say
they had canceled their plans.
The closure plans came to light in December 2006 when PEER (
href="http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=824" rel="tag">Public
Employees…
j7uy5 | July 18, 2007The
Pentagon needs to crack down on KBR and other contractors, said Dorgan,
head of the Democratic Policy Committee. "It requires a change in
mind-set at the Pentagon, for them to slam their fist down on the table
and say, 'We're not going to put up with this anymore.' "
What got US Sen.
rel="tag">Byron Dorgan so upset? Perhaps
it was the fact the KBR continues to steal money from the American
people. Or at least they try. According to USA
Today:
href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-07-16-iraq-auditors_N.htm">Largest
Iraq contract rife with errors
By Matt…
j7uy5 | July 18, 2007
There is new information
indicating that an
rel="tag">oxytocin
nasal spray could be used to
treat shyness. Oxytocin is a peptide hormone best known for
its role in childbirth and breastfeeding. These are known as
peripheral actions, meaning they take place outside of the central
nervous system (CNS).
However,
it also is
known as a neurotransmitter, having effects within the CNS.
It
has been touted as a chemical that can increase trust and reduce fear.
It also has been claimed to have a role in the difference in
how
href="http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/471090,CST-FTR-…