Mar 8, 2011

Reverse Aging

One cause of the physical degeneration associated with aging involves telomeres, which are segments of DNA found at the ends of chromosomes. Every time a cell divides, its telomeres get shorter, and once a cell runs out of telomeres, it can't reproduce anymore and dies. There is an enzyme called telomerase that reverses this process and it is one of the reasons cancer cells live so long.

In November, 2010, researchers at Harvard Medical School announced in Nature that they had administered telomerase to a group of mice suffering from age-related degeneration. The damage went away and the mice didn't just get better; they got younger. Proponents of the Singularity see this as just a natural progression and predict that aging is just another problem that can be overcome, likely in the next twenty to thirty years. I agree.

Did You Know

If you hook Jell-O up to an EEG, it registers movements almost identical to a human adult's brain waves. March 17, 1993, technicians at St. Jerome hospital in Batavia tested a bowl of lime Jell-O with an EEG machine to confirm the earlier testing by Dr. Adrian Upton that a bowl of wiggly Jell-O has brain waves identical to those of adult men and women. Not sure why anyone would want to do this, but it is interesting.

Tiger Oil Memos

There is a number of absolutely wacky memos from irascible Edward 'Tiger Mike' Davis, CIO of Tiger Oil, written in the 1970s. Did some checking and he did exist and did have a terrible attitude toward his employees. If you think you have boss problems, they are minor, compared to this guy.

Sample:  "I swear, but since I am the owner of this company, that is my privilege...There will be absolutely no swearing, by ANY employee, male or female, in this office, ever." "Anyone who lets their hair grow below their ears to where I can't see their ears means they don't wash. If they don't wash, they stink, and if they stink, I don't want the son-of-a-b**ch around me." "We do not pay starvation wages, and there are some people left in this world who want to work. I am not fond of hippies, long-hairs, dope fiends or ­alcoholics." BTW, Tiger Oil went bankrupt. Not sure if it was related to Tiger Mike's memos.

Here is a LINK to these and more originals. I think some should be framed for posterity.

Mar 4, 2011

Happy Friday

It takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, and an entire life to forget them.

I spend my minutes, hours, and days trying to have and not forget a Happy Friday!

How Come

The oldest reference for "how come" in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is an entry in Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms published in 1848. The OED calls "how come" an American coinage, but the entry in Bartlett's indicates it originated in England: "Doubtless an English phrase, brought over by the original settlers." "How come" is believed to be a shortened from "how did it come about that," or "how comes it, then"  It makes sense, but has somehow been lost in current usage and many people do not really know what it means, but use it anyway. That phrase bugs me. How come people say how come instead of why?

Bacon Flavor Envelopes

It is time to show your good taste, but don't over lick the bacon flavored glue on the envelopes designed in classic bacon style. Lick, Lick, Yum, Yum!

Great Britain

Do you know the difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom? This video explains it all. LINK  Very fast talker, but interesting way to get the facts.

What's in a Name

Despite popular belief, the way that the buttons look a bit like the seeds of a berry has nothing to do with the name Blackberry device. The name was purely a marketing decision.

RIM wanted a name that would be distinctive, memorable, fun, and that would work well internationally and appeal to a wide range of customers. RIM decided to go with a connotative word for the brand name rather than a descriptive or invented word.

Employment Numbers

People actually employed per US dept of statistics:

Jun 2007 - 153, 072,000
Aug 2008 - 154,853,000
jul 2009 - 139,817,000
dec 2009 - 137,960,000
jul 2010  -139,860,000
dec 2010 - 139,206,000

Dental Devices

If you think going to the dentist is tough these days, check out these devices for pulling teeth. They were used until the early 1800s.

Pelicans are instruments for extracting teeth and it is generally accepted that they are so named because of the similarity of the claw to the beak of a bird although it appears in different shapes and with variable features. They was used to remove a tooth from the row sideways and with considerable force. The claw went over the tooth and the bolster pressed against the vestibular alveolar bone. To function well two strong and healthy teeth were needed for the bolster to react against. Ouch, more gas please!

Mar 1, 2011

Anesthesia

Nitrous oxide was discovered in 1772, but for decades the gas was considered no more than a party toy. People knew that inhaling a little of it would make you laugh (hence the name “laughing gas”), and that inhaling a little more of it would knock you unconscious.

In 1844, Horace Wells, a dentist in Connecticut, had an idea after witnessing a nitrous mishap at a party. A friend of Wells took some gas and fell and suffered a deep gash in his leg, but he didn’t feel a thing.

To test his theory, Wells arranged an experiment with himself as the guinea pig. He knocked himself out by inhaling a large does of nitrous oxide, and then had a dentist extract a bad tooth from his mouth. When Wells came to, his tooth had been successfully pulled.

After further experiments, Wells was jailed while high on chloroform and he committed suicide. In 1864 the American Dental Association formally recognized him for his discovery.

Speaking of Sleep

Dolphins and whales do not sleep for the first month of their life.

Giraffes. the tallest land-living animal, sleep only 4 to 6 hours a day.

Cats along with mice, pigs, and cheetahs can sleep for 12 hours per day.

Rats, gerbils and lions can sleep for 13 hours a day.

Squirrels sleep about 14 hours a day.

A human baby of age 1-12 months can sleep 16 hours a day (in between feedings and diaper changes).

The Lemur sleeps for 16 hours a day.

Owl Monkeys will sleep 17 hours a day.

Armadillos and tigers go to sleep for about 18-19 hours a day.

Brown Bats  sleep for 20 hours a day and Koalas sleep up to 22 hours a day.  I'm tired just thinking about this stuff.

Printing Skin

The range of uses for three-dimensional printers is increasing all the time, but now scientists have 3D "bioprinters" that print out skin, cartilage, bone, and other body parts. 3D printers print by depositing material line by line and then vertically layer by layer. They have been used to make sculptures and more.

Professor James Yoo, from the Institute of Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science his group is developing a system that will allow them to print skin directly onto burn wounds. Their research is funded by the US Department of Defense.

The bioprinter has a built-in laser scanner that scans the wound and determines its depth and area. The scan is converted into three-dimensional digital images that enable the device to calculate how many layers of skin cells need to be printed on the wound to restore it to its original configuration. The system has successfully printed skin patches 10 cm (almost 4 inches) square on a pig.

Day of the Geese

Antzar Eguna, is a Spanish tradition in which a greased goose is suspended over water and young men jump from boats and attempt to rip off the head of the goose. This competition serves as a way for young men to prove their strength and eligibility to females. The winner also gets to keep the goose. Although this tradition was once practiced all over Spain with live geese,  it is now only held during the San Antolin festival in Lekeitio, with a dead goose.