So the wheel turns ...

This is our home. It was our first. It was our marriage certificate and it was our anchor. For over a decade it has been much more than just a shelter.

Next week will see it becoming the stepping stone to our continued tree change project and hopefully it will also be the beginning of someone else's dream as it goes onto the market ...

[Reposted from xntrek]

Men beware: HDS could strike you!

From the "things wot at lunch I learns" category:

44 year old men, in particular, are "most at risk" to succumbing to a new social disease that is spreading across the country ... and you'll never guess who the carriers are!

[Reposted from xntrek]

I'm a butterfly!

[Reposted from xntrek]

The war of the grasses

See the full gallery on Posterous

I hope that my lawn growing skills transfer over to pasture growing because Damn! I need serious hardware to tackle this thing, like a solid metal brushcutter!

[Reposted from xntrek]

I'm not sure I want to shop here ...

[Reposted from xntrek]

Facebook is making fat jokes now ...

Asshole.

[Reposted from xntrek]

This is not, in fact, me.

I was sent this by a friend asking me if I had started modelling for Drizabone and R.M.Williams ... 

I know, I know, he looks like me ... and has a similar stance ... and i have the same jeans ... and similar glasses ... and the hat ... but other than that, we're nothing alike.

I have come to the conclusion that all fat, hairy, glass wearing rural guys look the same.

 

[Reposted from xntrek]

Well, shit, I guess I was duped ...

Well, to be more precise, I guess I was happy to believe a line about evil profiteering pharmaceuticals ...

After going back and doing a little bit more research about the previous post (Pharmaceuticals ignore cancer cure ...) I discover a more detailed analysis and response to the situation:

Unfortunately, the New Scientistarticle and articles in the Edmonton Sun featured headlines to that effect and quotes bythe investigator Evangelos Michelakis lamenting how he had had difficulties finding funding to do the next step, clinical trials in cancer. As a result of these sensationalistic stories, unscrupulous "businessmen" sought to bring DCA to the masses. A frenzy of sorts was unleashed, with desperate cancer patients scrambling to find DCA. If you're interested in the details, scroll to the end of this post for a list of the numerous blog posts that I did on the topic as the story was evolving. That's the past, and all the "Insolence" and science are there for you if you want to read it.

and read it I did.

One has to remember that cancer is not just one disease. Not only that, but even a single type cancer is often not just one disease. As I have written extensively about before, cancer is incredibly complex. Because of that complexity, it's incredibly unlikely that any one drug will be any sort of "magic bullet" to cure cancer. Worse, simply using a drug like DCA outside the auspices of well-designed clinical trials will virtually guarantee that we will never know for sure whether the drug actually works. Because of that, as frustrating as it is, as slow as it is, letting science take its course to determine if DCA works, how it works, and for what cancers it works is the best method to make sure that the most patients are helped and the fewest are harmed. I don't say this because I want DCA to fail; I say it because I want DCA to be shown to be an efficacious treatment for cancer.

-- read the full article at the source

[Reposted from xntrek]

Pharmaceuticals ignore cancer cure ...

Researchers at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada have cured cancer last week, yet there is a little ripple in the news or in TV. It is a simple technique using very basic drug. The method employs dichloroacetate, which is currently used to treat metabolic disorders. So, there is no concern of side effects or about their long term effects.

This drug doesn’t require a patent, so anyone can employ it widely and cheaply compared to the costly cancer drugs produced by major pharmaceutical companies.

Canadian scientists tested this dichloroacetate (DCA) on human’s cells; it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells and left the healthy cells alone. It was tested on Rats inflicted with severe tumors; their cells shrank when they were fed with water supplemented with DCA. The drug is widely available and the technique is easy to use, why the major drug companies are not involved?/p>

 [...]

Pharmaceutical companies are not investing in this research because DCA method cannot be patented, without a patent they can’t make money, like they are doing now with their AIDS Patent. Since the pharmaceutical companies won’t develop this, the article says other independent laboratories should start producing this drug and do more research to confirm all the above findings and produce drugs. All the groundwork can be done in collaboration with the Universities, who will be glad to assist in such research and can develop an effective drug for curing cancer.

-- source

[Reposted from xntrek]

1 in 8.

In the 200,000 years since Homo Sapiens took her first steps across the African plains, just 57 billion people have ever lived.Astonishingly that means over 12% of all the people ever born are walking the planet at this very moment. Or to put it another way: one in eight people who have ever been born are alive today.

-- Source

[Reposted from xntrek]

Wacky Wednesday Whine

This last week and a half has been hectic. I am in my usual situation of doing toooooooo many things and unable to give any of them up in fear that my life is very much a working reality special of a kerplunk game ... 

Which brings up another point. I realised that my entire life is run by fear. Fear, fear, fear and fear. It may seem strange to some people, but in all aspects of my life, fear is the biggest factor holding me back. They say that acknowledgement is half the battle ... but without Jedi powers, how is one supposed to face the rancor that is the beast inside?

Anyhow.

That aside, my mind space is filled with concepts that are fighting to come out. With the lack of either relaxation nor Internet connectivity or, for that matter, computing time ... I am failing to get the opportunity to release them into any form of solid form. It's an opportunity I need to make time for, because it is how I manage to solidify my thoughts and reshape my thinking.

Thinking. 

My mind, in all honesty, has not been the same since my breakdown a few years ago. My mental acuity, at least from a very subjective point of view, does not seem to be at the same level as it used to be. Mind you, the amount of stress is also no longer there ... so I sometimes wonder if the combination of stress, pressure, fear and drive created a constant "fight or flight" response that kept my mind at a level of activity that was (in hindsight) unsustainable, and thus my subjective view of my diminished intelligence and acuity? I don't know how to answer that.

There are too many rancors in my mind's dungeon ... and this team status meeting is almost over, so I better sign off and get back to the consulting gig I'm working on.

[Reposted from xntrek]

La La Laaaaa ...

We packed, moved and unpacked half our house this weekend ... so, that's all we did.

This week we are probably going to do the some more of the same every night as we discovered that since there is no TV, no internet and no computes at our place and while they are available at the rental place, there's no electricity there until Thursday ... that the range of pastime activities after 8pm come down to reading, sleeping and one other bedroom based activity. 

Among the list of tasks, I still need to:

• organise a gardener to spruce up the yards
• finish the side retaining wall and garden
• patch and paint the ensuite
• patch and paint the study
• fix the 3 skirting boards and one window architrave I have failed to fix
• organise the window guys to replace the two cracked panes
• organise a new front door
• hire some rental furniture
• List the property for sale

I also have to build some screens to put together a cat run at the rental as well ...

I may not be relishing this part of the "plan" ... I know that my goals require sacrifice, but this is ludicrous!  

Ah, well, I have no one to blame but my own dreamy self. I wanted this farm plan and eco home ... so I need to shut up and get on with it I guess.

[Reposted from xntrek]

One of the negative attributes of human psychology is our tendency to fight to the death to defend our beliefs, performing feats of mental gymnastics as we go

This is, in my not so humble opinion, one of humanities greatest weaknesses and one that infects every single one of us, including those who have dedicated themselves to seeking the truth and being objective.

 

See?

Sterling Grey Contact Lens

New eyes

So, when I was ordering my usual ninety day supply of daily disposable contacts, I was made aware of a buy 4, get 4 free offer on coloured lenses. Normally they don't have coloured lenses for far sighted (+3.00) prescriptions, let alone in toric configurations. Yet they did this time! So I bought them. I will now have sterling grey eyes for the next fortnight.

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.”

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.”

-- George Orwell, 1984

 

Every time you ignore one section of society and allow them to be treated as second class citizens, you take one step closer to authorising this behaviour.

Every time you turn away from this behaviour, you take one step closer to being the one kicked.

Dear Friday, stop trying to be Monday!

Between the lack of sleep, the huge storm last night that exasperated the already flood and rain damaged areas and roads, the three cancelled services and the humidity, today is not shaping up to be a good day. I'm already over 90 minutes late and I forgot my headphones.

Is it too early for fermented malt on ice?

Social media : the end of gender?

Imagine a media atmosphere that isn't dominated by lame stereotypes about gender and other demographic characteristics. Can you even imagine what that looks like?

Media researcher Johanna Blakley makes an argument today that seems a little bit crazy - social media will create the end of gender based media and advertising. 

It's an interesting concept - and one that I hope I will see the effect from in my lifetime.

Make work-life balance work ...

Extremely relevant to my, and your, interests.

Untitled

Truth, as found in a cookbook.

Snapped from my copy of "Building a Meal: From Molecular Gastronomy to Culinary Constructivism" by French Chemist and one of my personal food heros: Hervé This