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

Gay Christian?

Is this a gay Christian fish symbol?

Because, that is how I'm choosing to interpret it ... 

Dear Commuter ...

who decided that just as the train is arriving was the right time to purchase a $50 ticket - with a bag full of 20c coins.

I’m sure it’s okay. I mean, all of the commuters behind you wanted to miss that train and catch the next train … no, really. 

This blog has moved on ...

Just a quick note to let you all know that I decided to consolidate all of my blogs into one place, and thus have moved them all to : http://xntrek.wordpress.com/

Pleasure Unit Theory and Free Will

Well, I was reading Scott Adam's Blog where he floated a working theory called the Pleasure Unit Theory as a means to describe why humans behave they way they do.

Of course, in doing so, Scott dismesses the concept of free will. Apparently, this has put a few noses out of joint.

The way I see this, everyone's right. It's a bit like the scientists arguing over wether matter was waves or particles ... till quantum proved it was both or either.

I think life is like that too - the reality is life is particles - I mean no one chooses to be born a leper or an STD ridden baby - that's the unfortunate luck of the draw. At every point in life, where we do have a choice to make, free will kicks in - and I think that's when the PUT kicks in ...

Let's imagine for a moment, a boy who was born on the wrong side of the tracks - he's lived a bad life, surrounded by crime and depravity. Now, he had no free will in his situation - but every choice he makes therafter is based on his decision tree. That decision tree is part of his "free will" ... but, I think Scott's theory works here, the decision tree is influenced by the boy's interpretation of the pleasure units he will recieve with each decision.

Thus human behaviour is created, and the circle is completed.

Adult Friends

Recently I started checking out some of those adult match making sites. Okay, maybe I should start from the beginning.

Nearly two years ago, my partner started playing the SIMS2 game. She got hooked. Before you could spell Maxis, she was making mods and getting into the whole community thing.

Long story short, she'd rather do that on the weekends than some of the activities I'd prefer. I wanted us to go out and get our open water diving certification, learn surfing, go hiking ... but she's not interested. In the end she told me to find someone else to do these activities with.

So, I asked the usual suspects among my group of friends and colleagues - but that wasn't fruitful. Thus I thought I'd give these sites a go to seek out potential new friends interested in the same thing.

Since I've also started traveling interstate for work again, I thought it might be good to open the net out for people to catch up with when traveling.

So, I hit a few sites and spend some time wrtting up profile that is pretty specific about what I'm after. Turns out I may as well not have bothered - but not the way you think!

Seems that regardless of what you write, people will begin contacting you willy nilly. In the last three days I've been contacted by a girl who's into public sex, another who wanted someone to humiliate her, a couple that wanted a bi-guy to join them and today harassed by some guy who wanted me to bonk his wife!

Even the so called friend finder network is not safe from these ... people ... of differing persuasions.

In the chat channels of friend finder, there seems to be too many guys (but yes a few gals too) who are way too interested in bonking each others brains out. Hey, good for them. It does however mean that it is difficult for someone like me to create friendships because everyone is too busy thinking with their libido or so used to battling them - its now reflex.

I think part of the problem I face is that I am in a strange space at the moment. I'm 32 and I have the experiences of most 40-somethings, the restleness of a 20 year old and I think my body is siding with my experiences when it comes too appearance and ailments.

Maybe this is what they call a mid-life crisis?

The other problem I have is that I'm a walking contradiction. Part of me is a traditionalist, another an eternal optimist, yet another a bitter cynic and finally a hapless romantic.

Within the context of this rave it translates to me thinking back to the chat systems of the BBS' of the 80's, the birth of synchronous chat and its supercedence by IRC at the turn of the 90's ... mainly I think about how they were community minded, how people remembered that someone was behind a keyboard on the other side of that screen name and how true friends could be created from those rooms.

Heck I was the best man to someone I met online and still consider one of my closest friends.

I miss that world and wish it could be like that again. Yet part of me wants to see what the future holds and what bubble of surprises and new experiences are in store for me.

Maybe I just need to chill - akuna mattana - and see if this tree will bear fruit.

if you're gonna flaunt it - then do so ... but only if you've got it!

Well, it's summer, and for those that know me, it means my fashion nazi police side comes out in force.

Primarily, most of my issues arise around female fashion.

Oh, it's not that the men don't give me cause for concern especially with the "faux hawk" (you know the one! That "not quite a Mohawk" cut that looks like someone shoved gel onto their hair and then proceeded to shove their head up a mate's behind to get "the look") and don't even get me started on the pink polo with the collar up!

But oh, women! The gender that is meant to have it all together and knows how to dress! What the hell happened!?!?

Did they accidentally burn their fashion sense with their bras in the 60's?

Have liberating free love vibes been clubbed to death by the prudish no sex please we're Christian virgins brigade only to be revived by a fashion senseless youth who haven't quite got it?

With the plethora of examples out there, I don't even know where to start ...

There's one thing I do need to begin with there's a recurring theme in my rant today - SIZE. Specifically, I'm talking the number on the label of your chosen piece of apparel. If you're meant to be a 10, then buy a ten - if you're meant to be a 14, then buy a fourteen - do not buy under the illusion that you'll "shrink into it"! If you drop from a fourteen to a twelve, then go out and buy a size 12! Until that moment, don't try to squeeze into one!

So. Other than size, where do I start? Oh! Wait! Looking out the window, I see my first example ...

White under white
Now, as a man, I really should not be complaining about this at all! If you want to wear tight white pants and let the whole world know you like to wear fairy floss G's while making it distinctly obvious what the shape of each your buttocks is, then please, by all means, continue to wear white underwear!

Perhaps, however, if this is not your intention, try beige.

Oh, and before the "purists" besiege me with cries of "beige isn't sexy", please try and remember one basic thing - men don't really care about the lingerie ... sure, we like certain types more than others, but really, when you get right down to the crunch - it's a momentary scenic attraction on the way to happy town ... it doesn't really become important until the initial passion and newness of a relationship wears off, and then they like to know that you still care enough to try and show off your assets in a new display case. Ooh, look at that two lessons for the price of one!

Hipsters
Now, personally I like the little schmoo protruder jeans. I've always said it - if you got it, flaunt it. However, here's the deal ... if you're a size 12 and you've got a nice waist and or hips and you want to show them off, then please, oh please, buy a size 12 pair of hipsters! A size 10 does not make you look more attractive, in fact it does quite the opposite!

See, because of the basic laws of physics, the pressure you've now placed your nether region under by squeezing them into a pair of pants a size or two smaller than your actual physical circumference requires a displacement of mass ... in short, things move. Usually this means one of three things - the entire waist area now "breaks out" over the jeans (aka a muffin top), just the gut breaks and hangs out over the top (aka a gunt) or it all moves to your ass make you look like a bubble butt.

Oh, and another thing - if you're gonna buy these sort of jeans, it is assumed that you want to flaunt something, are not overly self conscious and being the right size, they sit properly ... this means that you shouldn't have a requirement to walk down the street grabbing your beltline (is it still called a beltline at that height?) every three seconds and trying to pull it back up, looking like all the world that you're trying to give yourself a wedgie!

Mini Skirts
Oh, the little eenie meenie tiny weenie skirt flirtini! It's a wonderful piece of apparel ... for some.

The idea behind the old mini is to (first and foremost) show off your legs. It's second attraction is the age old phenomena of the illusion of nudity is far more intriguing than nudity itself.

So, back to basics - size, the correct size means it's not going to ride up (the riding phenomena is due to those basic laws of physics I spoke about earlier regarding materials under pressure) and thus no need for you to constantly tug at your hemline every other second as you walk down the street.

Also, at the risk of sounding (more?) like a male sexist pig ... the primary idea is to show off your legs. So, if you don't have good legs, or you don't believe you have good legs, then ... why the hell are you wearing a mini to begin with? Walking out onto a crowded, public, highly male populated promenade is the wrong time to be self conscious of the men staring or commenting on your legs ... think about that before you wear it and walk out of the house.

Crop Tops
Ditto the size, the self conscious, the constant tugging down, etc ...

Bikinis
Ditto the size, the self conscious, etc ... oh, to heck with it ... if you reeeealy want to wear a bikini a size smaller than your body surface area requires, bite the damn bullet and just go a g-string/v-string/t-box/thong!

Heck, do away with the top and just put on a couple of pasties while you're at it!

Just, (please, oh please!) don't go walking down the beach with a hand constantly up your backside trying to fish out a tiny triangle of material every three minutes when those laws of physics kick back in ...

Jeans
Here's the deal ... jeans come in a variety of shapes, sizes, cuts, styles and colours. This means, that somewhere out there is a variety of jeans that is designed for you - it will flatter your touche, your legs and your general appearance.

So explain to me then, why I am constantly seeing women walk down the street looking like all the world that they just took a dump in their drawers? Or, for that matter, jeans that separate and quarter their ass or legs looking like a bandaged ham?

Of course, by now, you should be more than aware about my feelings on size ... so I shan't repeat that once again.

Potato Sacks
Just to be different, I'm going to take the opposite side of the size debate here. If you're a size 12, then don't buy a size 14. Period.

If you're really interested in wearing volumeness, unattractive, unflattering clothes ... then dispense with the illusion of a distinct fashion sense by discarding the floral print and go right to a Hessian sack with a hemp rope.

You may as well, it has the same effect.

If you are self conscious about your body (or a puritan), then consider an Indian sari - stylish, elegant and distinctively feminine - yet can be defining and obscuring at exactly the same time.

If you're completely self-conscious, then maybe a burkha is more up your ally?

As for "baggy clothing" ... unless you're actively part of a recording and touring hip-hop group, a bag lady or just lost three dress sizes overnight - there's no excuses.

Now. If I haven't been hunted down and stoned by every female rights group, militant feminists, fashion journalists, the editors of Cleo, clothing store attendants, target catalogue fashion models or my friends ... maybe I'll post something else up next week ...

TTFN!

Addendums:
-----------

Ken dropped me a line (January 3^rd) - here are his additional thougts on the subject:

Lycra
Not everyone can wear this, in fact only a small percentage of the populus should wear this. Most people do not have a figure that lycra will consider complementary. Lycra is very revealing and should only be warn if you have something to reveal.

Males with underwear showing above their jeans
This is just stupid. If you don't want to ware the right size then accept people laughing behind your back. You might as well get use to them laughing in your face. I keep waiting on them to trip over their jeans as they get under their shoes. Think about this, if you are pulling up your pants all the time they don't fit. Buy a smaller pair or buy a belt. Your pants stay up and your hands are free.

Jeans or tracksuit pants under skirts.
If you are going to wear a skirt, do so. If you are going to wear jeans or tracksuit pants do so. These are not part of the same apparel and should not be treated like they are. If you are going to wear a skirt then your legs should be out there. If it is to cold then don't wear the skirt.

When talking fashion in todays world yer right ... It was hard enough only commenting on three things.

are you committed to sparkle motion?

Between one group of my (mad) friends, a topic was raised. It seems a tagline on an eMail one of them received stated "I doubt your commitment to sparkle motion".

We where intrigued ... what the hell is sparkle motion, and why should we have a commitment to it?

The line is actually a reference to the movie Donnie Darko. However, even in that movie - there's no reference to what sparkle motion actually is ... our minds have raced with the possibilities.

Our resident pervert suggested that our commitment should be to the stripper/porn actress by the same name.

I'm hoping there's a better use of our commitment.

Really, I just want a definitive answer to what sparkle motion is ... heck, make it up ...

Coming Soon

Something that has really got up my nose lately is a growing trend towards the overtly free utilisation of the "coming soon" phrase.

It's everywhere you go, in all of it's different variants!

New Movie! Your Favorite Genre! Your favorite stars! COMING SOON to a cinema near you!

Brand new store! Opening SOON!

New flavor! Appearing SOON!

Brand new Gadget! Released in the near future!

To show the ridiculousness of this concept, in November of 2004 a building was completed not a 10 minute walk from my house. Two huge billboards have gone up - LOCAL VETERINARIAN - Opening Soon!

That was over twelve months ago! We're still waiting!

At the Crown Casino, a storefront with the blazing letters announcing a store by the name of DOTCOM has been declaring that they'll be OPENING SOON for over three months now.

It's just plain ludicrous!

I want a law to dictate the use of the word SOON.

I nominate that soon cannot equal an amount of time greater than two months. That should be enough time for anyone!

I think based on the current liberal usage I can legitimately say things like:

• I will be irresistible to all women SOON!
• I will be richer than Bill Gates, SOON!
• I will be smarter than Stephen Hawking, SOON!
• I will be hailed as a God by all humanity, SOON!
• I will be finished on this rant, SOON!