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Got $6,000 For A Camera With No Lenses?

If you have $6,000 for a camera and no lenses, then you ought to take a look at the new Nikon D4.  Here is a video shot exclusively with the camera.  It is, I'm told, the best thing on the market.

 

Emulsified Stool Inserted Through Nasal Tube?

As disgusting as it sounds, injecting someone elses stool in through your nose could be the only cure for a rare, but devastating medical condition.

After 52 years of marriage, Pat Shoop thought she'd shared every intimacy possible with her husband, Bob.

But that was before she became so ill with a Clostridium difficile infection last year that doctors suggested that a spousal stool transplant -- yes, a dose of Bob’s feces -- might be the only way to save her life.

Shoop, a longtime schoolteacher, was suffering from recurrent C. diff infection, a potentially life-threatening bacterial illness that causes severe diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. It comes back again and again, resisting most treatments, except, as it turns out, an infusion of stool from a healthy donor.

A new review of more than two dozen scientific reports involving 317 patients, some dating back 50 years, finds that fecal bacteriotherapy, commonly known as fecal transplant, cured the problem in 92 percent of the cases. Nearly all got better after just one treatment. That's a better record than other treatments, including probiotics, toxin-binding molecules and an experimental vaccine.

The review offers the most comprehensive evidence so far in favor of the repugnant-sounding practice in which stool from a healthy donor is emulsified, usually mixed with water or saline, and transferred via a nasal tube or enema to the gut of a seriously ill C. diff patient. Once transplanted, the healthy fecal bacteria help restore balance to the patient’s bowels.

C. diff infections typically develop after the intestinal flora is disturbed, usually by overuse of certain antibiotics. [MSNBC]

New Warning About BPA In Plastic Food/Water Containers

The researchers measured BPA in 244 Cincinnati-area mothers' urine twice during pregnancy and at childbirth. The women evaluated their children at age 3 using standard behavior questionnaires.

Nearly all women had measurable BPA levels, like most Americans. But increasingly high urine levels during pregnancy were linked with increasingly worse behavior in their daughters. Boys' behavior did not seem to be affected.

The researchers said if BPA can cause behavior changes that could pose academic and social problems for girls already at risk for those difficulties.

"These subtle shifts can actually have very dramatic implications at the population level," said Joe Braun, the lead author and a research fellow at Harvard's School of Public Health.

For every 10-fold increase in mothers' BPA levels, girls scored at least six points worse on the questionnaires.

The study was released online Monday in Pediatrics.

BPA has many uses, and is found in some plastic bottles and coatings in metal food cans. It was widely used in plastic baby bottles and sippy cups but industry phased out that use.

Braun said it's possible that exposure to BPA during pregnancy interferes with fetal brain development, a theory suggested in other studies, and that could explain the behavior differences in his study. Why boys' behavior wasn't affected isn't clear. But BPA is thought to mimic the effects of estrogen, a female hormone. [YahooNews]

Is It Time To Re-Think Marijuana Laws?

Little by little the penalties for possession and use of marijuana have been lessened or eliminated in various states.  But because it is illegal here and elsewhere there is now a bigger threat to the health of those looking for some euphoria, "fake marijuana".  In one story today a mother tells of the horror of her son's instant insanity.

Some convenience stores, head shops, liquor stores and gas stations across Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati are selling what officials describe as "synthetic marijuana."

If the mother and grandmother of 19-year-old Chris Allen can change that, they will. The young man they raised in Florence and Independence went on a two-day binge three weeks ago that led him into a Kentucky state psychiatric hospital with delusions and paranoia. The two are on a mission of informing parents how dangerous and deadly the stuff can be.

The drugs supposedly mimic the effects of the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, and are known as herbal spice, K2, spice incense and "fake pot" - even innocent-sounding "potpourri." Other names include Seven-H and Funky Monkey, said Van Ingram, executive director for the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy. Other brands sold locally are Dead Man Walking, Apocalypse, Stuff, "Boo-Berry Fragrant Potpourri," and California Kronic. [NKy.com]

There can be no doubt that this story reveals but one of the unintended consequences of our current anti-marijuana laws in the United States.  Another story tells of perhaps a more widespread consequence.

For thousands of years, until 1883, hemp was the world’s largest agricultural crop, from which the majority of fiber, fabric, soap, lighting oil, paper, incense, and medicines were produced. In addition, it was a primary source of essential food oil and protein for humans and animals. Hemp seeds contain all the essential amino acids necessary for health. The oil from hemp seeds has the highest percentage of essential fatty acids and the lowest percentage of saturated fats.

An acre of hemp produces more paper than an acre of trees. Paper made from hemp lasts for centuries, compared to 25-80 years for paper made from wood pulp. The US Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.

Industrial hemp contains less than 1% of THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana (which is also called cannabis). Trying to get high on industrial hemp is akin to trying to get drunk on non-alcohol beer. Hemp was forced from the market in the late 19th century by a campaign launched by newspaper magnates who also held controlling shares in the paper mill and cotton industry. It remains as one of the most scandalous yet least spoken about examples of fraud in world history. [Didyouknow.org]

In a day and time when most admit that the "war on drugs" has failed to accomplish the perceived goal of eliminating marijuana usage in the United States, when the border issues with Mexico are complicated by drug smuggling, when prison costs and prosecution costs are gobbling up precious resources which are then unavailable for bridge repair, debt retirement and to make social security more stable, is it time to re-think our marijuana laws?

If people will ingest over the counter stuff just to get stoned, risking hallucinations and paranoia and ending up in a mental hospital, is it time to re-think our marijuana laws?

I'm perfectly aware of the arguments for trying to keep America healthy and sober, and I agree with both those goals. And my question is not advocacy for repeal, but advocacy for re-thinking.  And thinking, accompanied by free and open discussion without fear, is about American as it gets.

What Was That I Was Saying About An Asteroid Collision?

Yesterday I kinda squinted a bit as I wrote the story about the "Coincidence" between Obama's empty schedule and NASA's prediction of an asteroid collision this weekend.  But then this morning I read an article on Breitbart which seemed to be an attempt to calm fears about an asteroid crashing into earth.

The article was copyrighted back in 2008.  Why publish it now?  Is there more to the collision story than those "in the know" are telling us?  And who could do anything about it anyhow?  Oh well, at least you might find a few extra minutes for prayer, just in case.

Coincidence? You Be The Judge

First, this report:

[A] fabricated scenario was the setting for a full-scale exercise performed by D.C.'s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency Wednesday, allowing a wide swath of District agencies to practice their response to a massive city-wide emergency.

On the grounds of RFK Stadium, members of the Metropolitan Police Department, D.C. Fire and EMS and the D.C. Department of Human Services were on hand to perform various drills in order to coordinate and execute emergency operations, gathering data to refine the city's procedures in the event of a real emergency.

In the concourse of the stadium, the D.C. Department of Human Services was in charge of a "mega-shelter" that filled with volunteers mimicking the roles of displaced residents.

Then this:

And finally look at this website which tracks asteroids in orbit and calculates the likelihood of collision with earth.

On or about October 1 there is scheduled to be a collision between earth and an asteroid known as 2011 SO5. Google it.

According to the government, the collision is "certain".

Maybe its just the size of an old dead satellite that burns up in the atmosphere never to be heard from again.  Maybe.

EPA = "Extreme Powers Agency"

Get a load of this:

Once again an Obama regulatory agency tries to give itself wild new powers, powers that would crush American energy and natural resource development, powers meant to quash the business sector.

A press release from Resourceful Earth News imparts a warning about the Environmental Protection Agency’s newest powergrab. A left-wing Democrat Senator is asking the EPA to accept the idea of taking upon itself the power to deny mining or development of other natural resources before any scientific studies or any permitting procedures even begin. This Senator wants the EPA to just say no because, well, simply because it feels like it.

If the EPA decides to try this new tact to quash American energy production and mining of natural resources, then it would from this point forward be able to wholly dispense with any need to rely on scientific facts to determine the viability of the culling of our own natural resources, those resources that made this country great. The EPA would have the precedent to shut down the use of any land merely because it deems it should be done.

But there's hope on the horizon.  Read more here about the "TRAIN ACT".

 

Honey, I Have A Headache

Honey bees have been disappearing.  This is an alarming development.  The significant decrease in bee populations threatens our food supply.  A recent article suggests that the cause of this problem might be due to fraud within the EPA.

A leaked EPA memo is being cited by scientists as smoking gun evidence of likely cause of the massive die-off of honeybees. The culprits, these researchers claim, are Bayer CropScience and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The memo details how Bayer performed facially inadequate testing on the pesticide clothianidin and then EPA accepted the results to release the pesticide without adequate proof that it would not harm the bee population. The EPA gave conditional approval in 2003 and let Bayer sell the product.

The EPA memo dated November 2, 2010 says that the EPA accepted the flawed research and only told the company to complete further safety testing by a certain deadline. The company did not complete the research for years and instead fought to get extensions on its conditional permit. The final testing was reportedly flawed — performed in another country with bees that were located on a small patch of treated crops surrounded by thousands of acres on untreated crops. The EPA quickly embraced the defective study and gave full registration to clothianidin in 2007 during the Bush Administration. Yet, even in the Obama Administration in November, 2010, the EPA did not act when the company filed for another extension. [Jonathan Turley Blog]

Beshear To Varnish Kids Teeth With Poison

First, there was this:

About 25,000 school children in 16 Eastern Kentucky counties will receive a free fluoride tooth varnish treatment this school year in an effort to improve the region’s high rate of child tooth decay.

Gov. Steve Beshear, speaking at a news conference at the University of Kentucky Dental School, said the program is the latest effort of an initiative he created in 2009 called Healthy Smiles Kentucky. [Bluegrass Politics]

Now for the rest of the story:

First of all, it needs to be stated that the 'substance' referred to as 'Fluoride' is a misnomer - there is no such substance listed in the periodic chart of the elements, nor in the prestigious CRC handbook, nor in the sacred 'bible' of the pharmaceutical industry - the illustrious 'Merck Index'. Instead, we find a GAS called Fluorine - and from the use of this gas in various industries such as aluminum manufacturing and the nuclear industry -certain toxic byproducts are created which have 'captured' fluorine molecules. One such toxic, poisonous 'byproduct' is called sodium Fluoride - which according to the Merck Index is primarily used as rat and cockroach poison and is also the active ingredient in most toothpastes and as an "additive to drinking water". But sadly, there is much more to this sordid tale.

Did you know that sodium Fluoride is also one of the basic ingredients in both PROZAC (FLUoxetene Hydrochloride) and Sarin Nerve Gas (Isopropyl-Methyl-Phosphoryl FLUORIDE) - (Yes, folks the same Sarin Nerve Gas that terrorists released on a crowded Japanese subway train!). Let me repeat: the truth the American public needs to understand is the fact that Sodium Fluoride is nothing more (or less) than a hazardous waste by-product of the nuclear and aluminum industries. In addition to being the primary ingredient in rat and cockroach poisons, it is also a main ingredient in anesthetic, hypnotic, and psychiatric drugs as well as military NERVE GAS! Why, oh why then is it allowed to be added to the toothpastes and drinking water of the American people?

Historically, this substance was quite expensive for the worlds' premier chemical companies to dispose of - but in the 50's and 60's - Alcoa and the entire aluminum industry - with a vast overabundance of the toxic waste - SOMEHOW sold the FDA and our government on the insane (but highly profitable) idea of buying this poison at a 20,000% markup and then injecting it into our water supply as well as into the nation's toothpastes and dental rinse. Yes that's right folks, a 20,000% markup. Consider also that when sodium Fluoride is injected into our drinking water, its level is approximately 1 part-per-million (ppm), but since we only drink ½ of one percent of the total water supply, the hazardous chemical literally 'goes down the drain' and voila - the chemical industry has not only a free hazardous waste disposal system - but we have also PAID them handsomely in the process!![Greater Things]

Way to go Stevie.  Anything for a photo op during campaign season.  Don't forget to have all the little kidies smile.

"Snuffed Out"

The Space Shuttle undocked from the International Space Station for the last time and shoved off, headed back to earth as four pairs of eyes pressed against the window from inside the station.  Now I have a question.  How will they get home?  I guess the Rooskies can still get there, but what do we have?

No, seriously, without the space shuttle, how do we get to and fro?  Is this now just the Russians up there?  Have we developed enough in the way of privately sponsored space travel to service the ISS?

I know the answer, but you might want to ponder these questions and "google" them yourself.  What you find will be pretty interesting.

It's as if America first lost its love of the automobile, and now, we've lost our zeal for near space travel.

When Kennedy said the torch had been passed to a new generation of people, I had no idea it would be snuffed out so quickly.