Friday, September 30, 2016

Maniacs Running the Asylum

Rodrigo Duterte vows to kill 3 million drug addicts and likens himself to Hitler
Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines president, appears to have compared himself to Hitler, saying he would be “happy to slaughter” millions of drug addicts in his bloody war on crime.

“Hitler massacred three million Jews ... there’s three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”
 Holy Shit.

Sane people do not say such things out loud.
It's as simple as that.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

A few for you

US drug company hiked price of acne cream by 3,900% in less than 18 months

Coffee-infused foam removes lead from contaminated water
Used Coffee Grounds Can Store Methane

A Health Benefit of Roller Coasters
In a unique, home-spun experiment, researchers found that centripetal force could help people pass kidney stones—before they become a serious health-care cost.

The Inevitable Evolution of Bad Science
A simulation shows how the incentives of modern academia naturally select for weaker and less reliable results.

I am surely hallucinating again

Arizona Rebublic Endorses Clinton

I cannot believe what I just read.   That was brutal.
This old desert rat needs to go lie down for a minute...

Why Alicia Machado Really Matters

Because she represents the entire predicament men have historically imposed on women.

They reward the first stage of a metabolic illness-  anorexia and mania.
They literally give girls jeweled crowns for that.
(And see nothing wrong with it.)

But they humiliate women who then progress to the next stage of metabolic dysfunction-  obesity and depression.
And coerce them into behaviors that actually accelerate the underlying illness.
(And claim it's a public service.)

Contrary to current wisdom, the cruelty doesn't cause the eating disorders, that is usually microbes. 
But men have always exploited the symptoms to control women.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Fun with Respiratory Infections

Retta @unfoRETTAble
 
THE SNIFFING! I thought it was HRC who had pneumonia. #MoneyCantBuyAnInsurmountableImmuneSystem

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

This is Why

Because I spent most of my (waking and sleeping) life trying to keep from crying and screaming.
And now that I know why-
It just makes me want to scream and cry some more.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

This and That

Can long naps cause diabetes?
People who slept more than an hour each day were 45 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, a debilitating condition associated with overweight and a sedentary lifestyle, the study found.

Can nicotine protect the aging brain?
Everyone knows that tobacco products are bad for your health. However, according to research, it turns out the nicotine itself--when given independently from tobacco--could help protect the brain as it ages, and even ward off Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease.

Activity trackers are ineffective at sustaining weight loss
Wearable devices that monitor physical activity are not reliable tools for weight loss, says a new study. The study specifically investigated whether regular use of commercially available activity trackers is effective for producing and sustaining weight loss. Participants without physical activity trackers showed nearly twice the weight loss benefits at the end of the 24 months.
Now that's funny.

Drugmakers fought state opioid limits amid crisis
The makers of prescription painkillers have adopted a 50-state strategy that includes hundreds of lobbyists and millions in campaign contributions to help kill or weaken measures aimed at stemming the tide of prescription opioids, the drugs at the heart of a crisis that has cost 165,000 Americans their lives and pushed countless more to crippling addiction.
...
The industry and its allies spent more than $880 million nationwide on lobbying and campaign contributions from 2006 through 2015 — more than 200 times what those advocating for stricter policies spent and eight times more than the influential gun lobby recorded for similar activities during that same period, the AP and Center for Public Integrity found.
See the Matrix.

Saturday, September 17, 2016

This is Why

Because a symptomatic Alzheimer's patient was able to "perform" the duties of President of the United States, and while in office he closed all the VA psychiatric out-patient clinics making thousands of demented old men like himself sicker and hastening their deaths.

And set into motion the insanity crisis we now see all around us.
The one that is heavily armed...

The medical establishment is an utter failure
And they are doing it again.  They have no clue how sick Trump really is.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Just a Suggestion

Here's an experimental protocol for someone:
Document the correlation between the incidence of pathogenic oropharyngeal biofilms and neckbeards.

Listen, Lady

I understand you were sick and didn't realize it at first and that makes one prone to risky behavior-
but you're in my territory now and this isn't negotiable:

You cannot go to work with an active pulmonary pneumonia diagnosis.   I don't care if you're running for President, and it's 9-11. You cannot go out in public with Pneumonia.   Especially if your job is MEETING AND GREETING PEOPLE.

Seriously, WTF?

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Funny, that.

I do think it's worth noticing that Hillary Clinton lost her discipline and got righteous and nasty when she came down with a respiratory infection.

Uh huh. Sounds familiar.
Pretty sure if I stuck a swab up Trump's nose I'd find a 65 year old colony of Strep pneumoniae.

Monday, September 12, 2016

Everything Old is New Again

Opposing Effects of Fasting Metabolism on Tissue Tolerance in Bacterial and Viral Inflammation
•Fasting metabolism is protective in bacterial, but not viral, inflammation
•Ketone bodies limit neuronal damage during bacterial inflammation
•Glucose utilization prevents neuronal damage during viral inflammation
Time to update the old saying:
It's now "Feed a Virus, Starve a Bacterium".
Heh.

Update: Here's a much better article.
What you eat when you’re sick may determine if you’ll get better
The findings may help explain the ancient adage that it’s best to feed a cold, but starve a fever. Colds are usually caused by viruses, while fevers would traditionally have been more likely to be down to a bacterial infection. Most diets were historically heavy on carbohydrates, which release glucose in our bodies.
The discovery may also save lives. Sepsis – a severe systemic inflammation of the body that often occurs in response to an infection – kills around a third of those who develop it. Efforts to fight sepsis with fasting or feeding have yielded no clear results. That could be because so far, none of these studies distinguished or recorded whether patients had bacterial or viral sepsis.

Uh huh.  Go figure.  You don't say.

For the conspiracy buffs

Hillary Clinton does not have Parkinson's disease. She's entirely too agile and lucid.
She actually speaks in sentences with subordinate clauses...
And none of the motions claimed to be Parkinsonian are actually valid. She shows none of the well documented symptoms of PD tremors.   As a matter of fact, the hand motion that has been used as an example would probably be impossible with Parkinson's.  The fingers want to curl.
I challenge anyone to maintain her travel schedule for a year without tripping, or being startled, or getting exhausted (or Walking Pneumonia),  

Trump flies in his own plane home to sleep in his own bed every night.   (And charges it to his campaign...)
 
I do think it's possible that Bill has Parkinson's.  He's looking and acting very much like my father did when he started taking L-dopa.
Emaciated. Paralyzed around the eyes. Halting motor movement and speaking. Moments of disproportionate elation.

That scenario is not nearly as exploitable though...

Sunday, September 11, 2016

Rerun

One of my faves.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Quote of the Day

From an email I received recently:
"I would get up to use the bathroom and eat cereal then immediately go back to bed."
Uh huh.

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Friday, September 9, 2016

End of the Line

Notice to all the die-hard skeptics in my world:   Evolution is real.  And it's really intuitive and easy to understand.
If you don't believe it, you're flat out being oppositionally defiant and willfully ignorant.
Stunning Videos of Evolution in Action
The MEGA-plate allows scientists to watch bacteria adapting to antibiotics before their eyes.
Your particular form of denial will kill us all.
I am instituting a zero-tolerance policy for your bullshit.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Brain Eating Zombie of the Day

Arwa Mahdawi

In the great gluten wars, I can't sit on the fence

It's a very vigorous and righteous rant about "Gluten Free Phonies".
Based on a report that the incidence of Celiac disease isn't rising

Too bad she didn't check the latest targeted research on this topic before she published.
Gluten sensitivity is real and not the same as Celiac. So celiac incidence is irrelevant.

I assume she will soon apologize just as profusely. Yeah, right.

Required Reading

Yes, this explains so much.

Bacteria lurking in blood could be culprit in countless diseases
Blood has always been considered free from microbes, because bacteria don’t grow when it is put in a culture dish. But recent DNA sequencing methods reveal that each millilitre of blood in fact contains around 1000 bacterial cells.
These bacteria are usually dormant. But they can be revived when iron becomes available in the blood, and begin secreting lipopolysaccharides (LPS) – molecules on their cell walls that are recognised by the immune system and stimulate inflammation.
Bonus related article:
Industrial air pollution leaves iron particles in the brain
If you live in an urban environment, chances are you’ve got nanomagnets on the brain—literally. New research suggests that most magnetite found in the human brain, a magnetic iron oxide compound, comes from industrial air pollution.

Monday, September 5, 2016

Honestly...

4 Studies Debunk The 'Don't Eat Before Bed' Myth: It's The Best Time To Eat

I am unable to sleep on an empty stomach. Never could understand this advice.


Update: Yeah don't forget the complementary advice- "Skipping Breakfast makes you gain weight"- has also been shown to be completely erroneous.

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Special Blog Commendation

Goes to


Big Doins in the Trailer Park

I am now planning another trip to Florida.
This time Madcap Miss will have a vendor booth and be a presenter at the Narcolepsy Network conference!

Our delightful friend will be telling how she recovered using a Gluten-free ketogenic diet.
And her mother did too.    And her son too...
It's my favorite story ever.   Wouldn't miss it for anything.

If you would like to come and hear her amazing tale of awakenings-
Or just hang out with us in the lobby-

The conference is in Orlando, October 21-23.    She will be presenting on Sunday, but we'll be there on Saturday too.

Friday, September 2, 2016

No Kidding

There is now a sixth taste – and it explains why we love carbs
Her team tested this by giving a range of different carbohydrate solutions to volunteers – who it turned out were able to detect a starch-like taste in solutions that contained long or shorter carbohydrate chains. “They called the taste ‘starchy’,” says Lim. “Asians would say it was rice-like, while Caucasians described it as bread-like or pasta-like. It’s like eating flour.”

The volunteers could still make out this floury flavor when they were given a compound that blocks the receptors on the tongue for detecting sweet tastes. This suggests we can sense carbohydrates before they have been completely broken down into sugar molecules.

When the volunteers were given a compound to block the salivary enzyme that breaks long chains of carbohydrate into shorter ones, they stopped sensing the taste of starch when given solutions containing only long-chain carbohydrates. This suggests that the floury flavor comes from the shorter chains.

This is the first evidence that we can taste starch as a flavor in its own right, says Lim.
 Yeah, low carb dieters already know this.   I can tell right away if something is suspicious.