Coming out of my cave into the daylight again after finishing my book ("Radicals in Their Own Time: Four Hundred Years of Struggle for Liberty and Equal Justice in America," Cambridge Univ. Press) and submitting it to the publisher week before last. Quite the relief.
I'm pleased with how it came out - should be out in bound book form in December or January.
A fresh path in the spiritual practice of nurturing: self-tracking made possible by ever-advancing technology.
You’ve got a ‘nix box set up. For some reason, you feel completely lost and powerless. It happens. Many a UNIX-related sob has been cried by confused and frustrated sysadmins, and it needs to stop. As a techie on the front lines of support, I’ve seen firsthand the issues that new and curious sysadmins seem to have. We have a lot of customers who like to dive head-first into a new environment, and we even encourage it. But there’s quite a learning curve.
In my four-month tenure at The Planet, I’ve come across a lot of customers who rely almost entirely on control panels like cPanel, Plesk and Parallels Small Business Panel to administer their servers. While those panels simplify some fairly complex tasks to the touch of a button, we all know that one day you’re going to have to get down and dirty in that SSH (Secure Shell) interface that so many UNIX server newbies fear.
I’m here to tell you that SSH can be your friend, if you treat it right. Graphical user interfaces like the ones used in control panels have been around for quite a while now, and despite the fact that we are in “the future,” the raw power of a command line is still unmatched in its capabilities. It’s a force to be reckoned with.
If you’re accustomed to a UNIX-based interface, this may seem a little elementary, but you and I both know that as we get accustomed to something, we also tend to let those all-important “basics” slip from our minds. If you’re coming from a Windows background and are new to the environment, you’re in for a bit of a shell shock, no pun intended. The command line is fantastically powerful once you master it … It just takes a little time and effort to learn.
Bookmark The Planet Blog and come back regularly to get the latest installments in our “UNIX Sysadmin Boot Camp” series. We’ll start slow and address some of the most common pain points for new sysadmins, and as we move forward, we’ll tackle advanced topics. Set your brain to “absorbent,” and visualize soaking up these UNIX tips like some kind of undersea, all-knowing, Yoda-like sea sponge.
Tune in on Monday when we’ll start our UNIX training with a crash course in SSH.
-Ryan
A riveting drama about the plight of a 60 year old who seeks to avoid death and stay forever young.
Jane E. Vennard on finding the still point within.
Ideas on planning and leading a contemplative retreat where silence, listening, and waiting are emphasized.
From Eric Dondero:
Sarah Palin has long been rumored to be a libertarian Republican. Her first campaign workers and manager for her races for Wasilla Mayor in the 1990s were libertarians. She was was viewed for many years as the unofficial leader of the Alaska GOP's libertarian wing. In 2005, early on in her race for Governor, her opponents on the conservative side, started a whisper campaign, "Palin is really not a Republican, she's a Libertarian." She was also criticized in the GOP primary for having once openly supported reform of marijuana laws and having defended bar and tavern owners from religious conservatives who wanted to zone them out of town.
Palin's extensive libertarian background
In 2005/06 she attended two meetings of the Libertarian Party of Alaska at the invitation of Party Secretary (and Anchorage Libertarian supper club chairman) Rob Crist. Later in the campaign 3 of the 4 Executive Committee members of the ALP endorsed Palin, including Chairman Jason Dowell (the 4th was serving in the Army stationed in Iraq at the time.)
Dowell (photo) even held a sign for her the day before the election, right by her side, for 3 hours on a busy Anchorage street corner. When he first arrived, Palin excitedly screamed to all her supporters, "The Libertarians are here... The Libertarians are here... They're backing my campaign!"
The Libertarian candidate for Governor Billy Toien officially backed Palin 3 days before the election, urging via email blast to all Alaska Libertarians "Don't vote for me; Vote for Sarah." This earned Toien a big bear hug for Palin upon her victory on election night in front of nearly 1,000 political watchers at the downtown Egan Center in Anchorage.
Very early on in the GOP primary races for President in 2007, Palin in an interview strongly hinted that she was leaning Ron Paul for President.
Early in 2008 Adam Brickly, a self-described "libertarian-conservative" along with Libertarian Republican Steve Maloney, formed Draft Sarah Palin for VP. Another self-described "libertarian" Glenn Beck was the first national Television News host to have Palin on his show as a guest.
During the 2008 Vice-Presidential campaign, Palin was identified as a libertarian Republican for the first few days after her selection, but then the media template quickly shifted to her being a member of the religious right.
It now appears that the libertarian Palin may be back in full force.
Passionate support for libertarian Republican Rand Paul
From The Hill:
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) on Wednesday night hailed what she said was a "libertarian streak" in American politics.
Palin praised Rand Paul's win in a Kentucky Republican primary for Senate earlier this week, saying that candidates like him would be key in this fall's elections.
“Seeing that libertarian streak of his — that is what we need to balance out the leftist liberal overreach of government that’s in power right now," Palin said during an appearance on the Fox Business Network on Wednesday night. "Rand is going to be great.”
Rand Paul is seen as more of a libertarian Republican in the mold of his father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who was also the Libertarian Party's candidate for president in 1988.
Radical for Capitalism
Later in the piece Palin emphasizes her hard-line free market philosopy:
“There’s no accountability [in government]," Palin said. "And that’s why people want to fire those people and bring in new people with a greater sense of what the free-market principles should be.”
Some have questioned Palin's libertarian credentials over the years. Purist libertarians, most assuredly those from the antiwar faction of the libertarian movement, have been particularly vitriolic in attacking Palin as "not really a libertarian" due to her pro-national security, pro-military stance.
This despite her extensive background as a movement libertarian.
Even so, her passionate support for Rand Paul's candidacy, and her most recent comments praising libertarians as published by The Hill, may now finally silence even the most hardened Palin critics in the movement.
Photo above Sarah Palin waving signs with supporters in Anchorage during the 2006 race for Governor.
Libertarian Party of Indiana Central Committee District 2 member, Ryan Liedtky, announces the publication of his book, Wisdom: A Prelude to Liberty.
Wisdom investigates hot-button political issues such as The War on Terror, education reform, justice, taxation, health care, and many more. “The working title was Think,” Liedtky said, “because the [...]
by Josh Painter
In a new post on her Facebook Notes page Thursday, Sarah Palin endorsed former NFL player Clint Didier, who won two Super Bowl rings as a member of the Washington Redskins:
The Right Game Plan for Victory in America with #86
I’m proud to support Clint Didier as he willingly puts it all on the line to serve Washington state in the U.S. Senate for all the right reasons! This selfless, inspiring commonsense constitutional conservative will help put our country on the right track.
Please visit Clint’s website here, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Let’s get behind #86!
- Sarah Palin
Didier's pro football career spanned much of the decade of the 1980s. He was a tight end for the Skins for six seasons, and also played one season with the Green Bay Packers. He now shares head coaching duties with Wayne Riner at Connell High School in Connell, Washington, where the two led the Eagles to the finals four times, winning the state championship in 2002 and 2009, and taking runners-up honors in 2006 and 2007.
Didier, a Tea Party candidate and libertarian Republican, seeks to dethrone incumbent Democrat Patty Murray from the U.S. Senate. When he's not coaching football and campaigning for the U.S. Senate, Didier runs the family farm he came home to work after the end of his NFL career.
Editor's Note - Josh is Publisher of Texans4Palin. Regular readers of LR may remember Josh as taking the lead in the investigations on the GM/Chrysler bail-outs last Spring.
Dave Weigel, and on-again/off-again friend of the libertarian movement, and Columnist for the Washington Post, reports:
The campaign of Col. Allen West (ret.), probably the 2010 congressional candidate with the biggest Republican fan base, releases an internal survey that has him leading by 2 points, 44 to 42 percent, over Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.). West ran in 2008 and got 45 percent of the vote, boosted by support from national conservatives but lacking real backing from the national party. This time he's got the support of the NRCC; this should be one of the 40 seats Republicans win if they take control of the House in November.
The District includes parts of Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale.) West is supported by prominent friends of liberty such as Ayn Randist Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs.
West has been labeled a "right-wing libertarian" (Crooks & Liars) for his staunch opposition to Islamo-Fascism and support for free market capitalism.
Kabir Helminski on recognizing beauty as something that draws us into relationship with the Divine.
Root's Big Tent Libertarianism gets bigger
From Eric Dondero:
The Libertarian Party will hold its national convention in St. Louis, Missouri over Memorial Day weekend. Thousands of delegates from all over the Nation are expected to attend. At main issue is the race for National Chairman. Bill Redpath will be stepping down after two terms. Candidates for Chair include Wayne Allyn Root of Nevada, Mark Hinkle of California and George Phillies of Massachusetts. Root appears to be garnering the greatest amount of support among the party faithful. He released an impressive list of endorsers yesterday which included former LP Presidential candidates Dr. John Hospers, Bob Barr, and State Chairmen for 8 different Libertarian Chapters including: Ohio, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Nevada. The list also includes two prominent Libertarian Party members who have been featured in the past here at Libertarian Republican: Edward M. Gonzalez, Libertarian and Republican candidate for US Congress in California, and Lex Green, Libertarian candidate for Governor of Illinois.
Root garnered some current elected office holders as well. Among them, an individual who is arguably the highest elected public officeholder in the Libertarian Party. (Though, Dan Halloran on the NYC City Council may also hold that title.)
"As an elected Libertarian officeholder in the 12th largest city in the nation, I understand what it takes to get elected, so I am enthusiastically supporting Wayne Root for LP National Chair. Wayne is the BIG TENT Libertarian leader, spokesman, rainmaker and CEO we so desperately need. I believe Wayne Root has the passion, vision and game plan to lead us to lead a Libertarian citizen revolution. We can elect Libertarians to office under Wayne's leadership. Therefore, I ask that you join me in voting for Wayne Root for LP Chair at this years National Convention"??
-Ed Coleman, Indianapolis City-County Councilman,
Highest-Elected Libertarian Officeholder in U.S.A.
Note - Coleman switched from Republican to Libertarian a year and a half ago. He is best known for successfully fighting a proposed city-side smoking ban in Indianapolis. He is also rumored to be a potential Libertarian candidate for President in 2012. Nationwide over 200 Libertarians hold elective office, another 200 or so hold appointive office.
Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman is a close friend and ally of current Democrat for Senate frontrunner Lt. Governor Lee Fisher. They're so close in fact, that Fisher got Coleman's wife a cushy job in the Ohio Dept. of Development, which she later had to resign from for rampant absenteeism. Some called it cronyism. Coleman has since enthusiastically backed Fisher's candidacy saying "[he] is exactly the kind of leader Ohio needs in the U.S. Senate."
Now according to Libertarian Republican blogger Nate Nelson at PitbullPatriots.com
Coleman on Wednesday banned all travel to Arizona funded by the City of Columbus. Apparently like the liberals in California (AKA the “Left Coast”) and Chicago, Coleman thinks Arizonans are racist for enforcing federal law on illegal immigration. And he is prepared to do what he can to hurt the Arizona economy in an effort to punish Arizonans. According to Mayor Coleman, respecting and enforcing the rule of law “is not the American way.”
I think there’s one simple question that Ohioans should expect Lee Fisher to answer, given his relationship with Michael Coleman and given that he wants to be our next U.S. senator.
Candidate Fisher, do you hate the rule of law, too?
Fisher is being challenged by Republican Rob Portman.
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day
William Shakespeare, Henry V, circa 1699
By Clifford F. Thies
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, has been caught in a lie. He said he served “in” Vietnam, when he did not. He says he meant to say “during,” and that he did not intend to mislead people as to whether he was a combat veteran.
I, like Blumenthal, was “during” but not “in.” Being a tad younger, I was not subject to Selective Service. I did not have to go through the process of seeking deferments, which he did five times, because of college enrollment or whatever. I notice that a lot of members of one or the other political party criticize members of the opposite party who sought deferments, but excuse members of their own party. Not me. They were merely doing what was allowed by the law.
Being a Republican and opposing the government making life and death decisions for law-abiding persons, I supported the replacement of Selective Service first by the Lottery and later by the voluntary military. Instead of the government deciding who would be drafted and who deferred based on its idea of each person’s expendability, upon the change to the Lottery, each person was given a draft number according to his birth day. My draft number was 365. But, as I was born in a leap year, I wasn’t as lucky as that might appear.
In 1973, President Nixon signed the All-Volunteer Military Act and, on the day he signed the act, I signed up for Army ROTC. Two years later, I took my commission. But, as things turned out, sometime before I graduated from Infantry Officer Basic School, the war was “Vietnamized.” I served in places like Texas and Germany, not Viet Nam.
Roll the clock forward a few years. The first time I was recognized for my military service was at a Pow-Wow. The Chief said his tribe was proud of its warrior heritage. He said his two sons were among the greatest warriors in the world, one a Marine and the other an Army Ranger. Then he invited all the warriors in the audience to join the warriors of his tribe in a war dance. First, he called for the combat veterans, then all who had served or were serving on active duty or in the Guard or the Reserves. I wondered what I was doing among the combat veterans. You see, I had held my manhood cheap for avoiding serving “in” Viet Nam. And, more than that, I had been judgmental of others who had avoided serving “during” Viet Nam, differentiating between degrees of avoiding.
Blumenthal certainly deserves to be criticized for his embellishing his military service. In these days of resume enhancement, cheating in school, marital infidelity, corporate scandal and political corruption, we must take a stand against all forms and degrees of dishonesty. But, the punishment must fit the crime.
Conversely, in these days of a voluntary military, all who wear the uniform should be recognized for their freely-made decision to stand between us and the enemies of our country. Nobody can, today, question their manhood.
Dr. Thies, now a professor of economics at Shenandoah Univ. in Virginia, was a Captain in the US Army. He is also one of the original members of the Libertarian Defense Caucus from the 1970s.
Another paper looks at some of the consequences of becoming obese. In a more fair and productive world, medical costs would be an individual responsibility rather than being socialized as they are at present: "The prevalence of adult obesity has increased in recent decades. It is important to predict the long-term effect of body weight, and changes in body weight, in middle age on longevity and Medicare costs in older ages. ... We predicted longevity and lifetime Medicare costs via simulation for 45-year-old persons by body weight in 1973 and changes in body weight between 1973 and 1983. ... Obese 45-year-olds had a smaller chance of surviving to age 65 and, if they did, incurred significantly higher average lifetime Medicare costs than normal-weight 45-year-olds ($163,000 compared with $117,000). Those who remained obese between ages 45 and 55 in 1973 to 1983 incurred significantly higher lifetime Medicare costs than those who maintained normal weight. ... Chronic obesity in middle age increases lifetime Medicare costs relative to those who remained normal weight. As the survival of obese persons improves, it is possible that Medicare costs may rise substantially in the future to meet the health care needs of today's obese middle-aged population."
View the Article Under Discussion: http://pmid.us/20473195
Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/
From the Technology Review: "Support cells in the brain called astroglia can be turned into functioning neurons. ... Researchers found that they could transform the cells into two different classes of neurons, and that the neurons could form connections with one another in a dish. Although the research is at an early stage, the finding suggests that scientists could someday recruit existing cells in the brain to repair the brain and spinal cord after a stroke, injury, or neurodegenerative disease. ... The addition of one specific gene generated excitatory neurons, which promote activity in other cells. By adding a different gene, they generated inhibitory neurons, which dampen cell activity. In principle, [you] could generate other types of neurons if you choose the appropriate factors ... The study adds to growing evidence that certain cell types can be transformed directly into other cell types without first being converted into stem cells. ... one of the next challenges is to determine whether these reprogrammed neurons can survive and function in a living brain. Fortunately, the brain seems to have a ready source of astroglia. When the brain is injured, these cells proliferate, similar to the way the skin repairs itself after a wound. The researchers found they could also derive neurons from injury-induced astroglia taken from the brains of adult mice."
View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/25353/
Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/
An evolving concept of cancer stem cells in tumor biology: a lecture (34:38 min) by Jeremy N Rich. Webcast of the initial presentation at an Educational Session on Cancer Stem Cells and Treatment Resistance, AACR 101st Annual Meeting, April 17, 2010. [FriendFeed entry].
Comment: Dr. Rich's research has a primary emphasis on Glioma Cancer Stem Cell and Brain Tumors. An example of a recent publication: Integrin Alpha 6 Regulates Glioblastoma Stem Cells by Justin D Lathia and 10 co-authors, including Jeremy N Rich, Cell Stem Cell 2010(May 7); 6(5): 421-32. [PubMed citation][FriendFeed entry].
One more sign of the increasing geriatric population - in 2009 the adult size diapers outnumbered the baby diapers at the U.S. waste sites for the first time.
From Twitter:
@drwalker_rph Who counted the diapers???
Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, follow us on Twitter and connect on Facebook.
Lasofoxifene is a part of a class of drugs known as nonsteroidal selective estrogen-receptor modulators (SERMs). It has already been shown to decrease the bone loss associated with osteoporosis, like other SERMs, including tamoxifen and raloxifene. But until now its effect on other health conditions commonly experienced by postmenopausal women was unknown.
The women who took lasofoxifene had an 81% lower risk of estrogen-receptor (ER) positive breast cancer, a 32% lower risk of heart-related events like heart attack, and a 36% lower risk of stroke. "This is the first SERM that reduces the risk of all of these conditions at once."
However, not all the results were positive. As with other SERMs, women taking lasofoxifene had double to nearly three times the risk of experiencing a serious blot clot of the deep veins.
References:
Osteoporosis Drug May Fight Several Diseases. WebMD, 2010.
Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, follow us on Twitter and connect on Facebook.
For many of you who are interested in pursuing medical illustration or just want to know more about the field in general, the Association of Medical Illustrators website (ami.org) is a resource rich information portal. It contains everything you need to know about medical illustration including career information, tutorials, artist galleries, graduate program information, and much more.
The AMI did an amazing job updating their website from what was once a very outdated resource so I highly recommend browsing through all of the fresh resources on the site. And if you’re in need of a medical illustrator, check out the online Medical Illustration sourcebook. Many of my favorite illustrators and animators are listed in it, including Hybrid Medical Animation, AXS, Anatomy Blue, and Bryan Christie.
The AMI is also introducing a trial membership for a special fee of only $100! This is a great opportunity to join the community and network for basically the price of a student membership. I highly recommend joining!
