03.30.06
Posted in Environment, health at 9:11 am by site admin
Found this article at theglobeandmail.com titled Does power corrupt?. The article talks about people with a sensitivity to electricity. Symptoms include fatigue, headaches, poor sleep quality, ringing in the ears, dpression, difficult remembering things, skin rashes.
The change in power quality means more variable electromagnetic fields, and possibly more biologically active ones, are associated with electricity than there used to be. This is a possible explanation for the rise in electrosensitivity complaints in the view of Denis Henshaw, a professor at the University of Bristol in Britain, who is an international authority on the health effects of power transmission lines.
There has also been cancer research exploring the effects of electricity:
The cancer research has linked childhood leukemia to power-line magnetic fields. About 5 per cent of the U.S. population is regularly exposed to fields of the strength associated with leukemia in children, a percentage that is probably similar in Canada. For adult leukemia and brain tumours, some studies have found links to electricity, as they have with Lou Gehrig’s disease, but the research is less conclusive than that for childhood leukemia.
The article mentions one guy with MS who benefited from installing filters on the electrical wiring in his house. The article states that since MS is associated with poor sheathing on the nerves that the disease may be reactive to electricity.
This article doesnt suprise me- the body is a bioelectrical organism. Both electricity and magnetism will disrupt various bodily functions. Red blood cells are high in iron which can be affected by currents. The effects may not be immediately apparent, but these subtle causes can have long term effects on the body. One of the many health crazes today is the use of magnets to improve the energy flow of your body. Accupuncture uses needles to stimulate specific electric conduits in the body…
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03.26.06
Posted in health, Restaurants at 8:51 pm by site admin
I stumbled upon this brief discussion/explanation while surfing the internet. The article says that dog is eaten in the following south east Asian countries: China, South Korea, Phillipines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand.
“Dog meat is fine, tasty and can warm the body” (Beijing Youth Daily, September 16, 1999).
The article also states that dogges are slaughtered rather cruely- by baiting their flesh to soften their meat.
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03.23.06
Posted in Evolution, health at 12:28 pm by site admin
Short but informative article on: Bird Flu Resides Deep in Lungs, Preventing Human-to-Human Transmission
Article says that H5N1 binds to receptors deep in the lungs. Since it does not bind to receptors in the upper respiratory system (including nose and throat) it cannot be transmitted easily by coughing or sneezing. So far only the Hong Kong strain that caused an outbreak a couple years back had the ability to latch onto receptors in the upper respiratory system.
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03.22.06
Posted in Games, health, internet at 11:25 am by site admin
This article on wired.com explores a few aspects of how games are unleashing the human imagination. Games have a greater possibility space- rather than following linear story telling they are interactive worlds. The article does not present a completely fair discussion of the non-digtal alternatives. It is possible to go into the physical world, interact with it and let your imagination go wild. For example, many kids make sand castles (or other objects) at the beach, play with sticks, toys etc. It is a smaller possibility space, but all worlds have rules, and the real world still provides individuals the opportunity to understand an environment, experiment , and use their imagination to test their bounds. Its definitely not as mental of a experience, but it does develop other skills, e.g. mechanical and coordination.
In an era of structured education and standardized testing, this generational difference might not yet be evident. But the gamers’ mindset – the fact that they are learning in a totally new way – means they’ll treat the world as a place for creation, not consumption. This is the true impact videogames will have on our culture.
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03.21.06
Posted in internet at 8:23 pm by site admin
This article discusses some aspects of modern spyware and virus evil-doers. The article calls them hackers, but in reality, hacking is not breaking into other peoples computers. The term ‘cracker’ is the appropriate name.
The article talks about point and click and drag and drop interfaces for maintaing evil empires of infected computers. Theres big money in stealing information. Normal people simply cant compete with a well organized and knowledgable group exploiting common security flaws. The crazy thing is that you can get a virus or trojan doing just about anything or nothing. You can get junk simply having a computer plugged in to the internet (without a firewall). On the other hand, you have legitimate sites using similiar tricks/techniques to provide a quality user experience. So if you trust everybody, you get screwed. If you trust nobody you get screwed. (e.g. if you block cookies, many websites start behaving funny). A well-informed user must keep up-to-date with the latest versions of their web browsers. Needless to say, update and update often.
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Posted in Unfiled at 8:13 pm by site admin
This is not something I’m typically interested in, but after reading this
article and watching this slide show I thought it was worth of noting.
I had thought rising wealth in the world would eventually saturate the automobile market and the uber rice would move to greener pasture, e.g. private jets, islands, trips to space. I guess I was wrong. Everyone drives a car. And if you have to drive one daily, you might as well get a street-legal race car with all the ammenities.
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03.19.06
Posted in Environment at 11:11 pm by site admin
For some reason or another I have found myself fascinated with global problems such as extreme and/or bizzare weather patterns (include hurricanes and cyclones – which are really the same thing), epidemics (like H5N1 bird flu), the looming energy shortage, overpopulation, scarcity of resources, deforestation, etc..
Heres a link to the latest and greatest hurricane/cyclone: Australia’s Queensland Hit by Strongest Cyclone in 30 Years. Larry was a category-five cyclone, with maximum wind gusts up to 250 kilometers (175 miles) an hour- statistics similiar to Hurrican Katrina.
Now I have bad news for all you banana lovers:
Early reports suggest that “most of the plantations and most of the trees” on banana farms in the region were destroyed, said Bob Katter, an independent parliamentarian who holds the sugar-belt seat of Kennedy in Queensland state.
…
As much as 95 percent of Australia’s A$200 million ($145 million) to A$300 million banana crop is grown around Innisfail, Katter said.
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