Some magnesium fabricators are roiling at tariffs to prevent dumping of the material on the U.S. market. Others say the impact is minimal if you use "more intelligent" processes that consume less raw material. Which is it (and why)?
The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Metals & Alloys, a ne
Lynn L. Caruso's blessing ceremony for an expectant mother and child, a gesture of gratitude.
Decades after the Chernobyl disaster, nuclear power seemed to be on the verge of finally shedding its negative public image and being embraced as a cleaner energy alternative to fossil-based energy. Then the Japanese earthquake and tsunami happened, and experts are predicting a shift away from nucle
Cybersecurity is one area that didn't make the list for potential government budget cuts — because it's high priority. In fact, the U.S. government can't find enough security pros with government security clearances because most work in the private sector. The issue of not enough qualified per
Is there a better way to advertise your increasingly expensive product while promoting the 2011 Autorai show than having British stuntman Steve Truglia do a complete 360 degree loop in a Fiat 500? Shell couldn't think of one, which explains the video you see here. Even though the only English to be found in this video comes from the British stuntman, weird car stunts clearly transcend language barriers. More »
Medicinal Plants in Thailand.
Cyathostemma micranthum (A. DC.) J. Sincl
ANNONACEAE
Thai name: Norn Maeo
Climber; young branches rusty-brown-tomentose. Leaf simple, alternate, oblong-lanceolate, 2-3.5 cm wide, 6-14 cm long. Inflorescence in terminal or axillary, 2-5-flowered cyme; corolla greenish-yellow, tomentose. Fruit aggregate, globose, turned yellow when ripe.
Roof: grind with small amount of water and topically apply for insect bites.
By: Medicinal Plants in Thailand
Volume 2
Researchers in Japan and Australia have managed to get teleportation right. We're now that much closer to a future where quantum computers will be on your desktop, which is to say not very close at all but still. More »
Socialist, Nanny-Stater, Islamist and a Black Panther Party aligned, Rapper Thug
Meet Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, a Democrat from St. Louis. She's been in the news of late for a verbal brawl with another legislator, ironically, a fellow Democrat at a rap concert.
From KPLR11, St. Louis, April 11:
"She clearly threatened me," said Nasheed, who represents part of St. Louis city. "She threatened me, she said 'If I had a knife I would cut your throat, your f-ing throat.' That's what she said to me."
But Chapelle-Nadal denies it, saying that Nasheed came into the corporate suit where the senator and some friends were watching a concert by hip-hip star Lil' Wayne at Scottrade Center.
"I tried to ignore her," said [Sen.] Chapelle-Nadal, whose senate district covers a part of St. Louis County. "She had said I was mentally unfit, so I turned around and said listen, if I was as mentally unfit as you say I am, then I would have done something as criminal as you did when you stabbed someone."
Nasheed has often spoken about how she was a gang member in high school, and once went to jail for stabbing someone in a fight.
Former state representative Jim Avery, a friend of both women, was in the suite at the time, and supports Chapelle-Nadal's version of events. "Jamilah came into the suite where we were from an adjoining suite to confront Maria..."
At issue is a dispute over local control over the city police department.
But on a whole range of issues she is what you might call a libertarian Republican's worst nightmare.
Nasheed was the keynote speaker last Saturday at a Pro-Sharia Law rally for Muslims at the State Capitol in Jefferson City.
From ColumbiaMissourian.com "Eastern Missouri ACLU hosts first Muslim Day at Capitol" April 15:
Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis City, spoke at a press conference for Muslim Day. She greeted the crowd in Arabic and went on to encourage them all to be active as Muslims in state government.
"[Islam] is about peace and harmony," Nasheed said. "Exercise your right at the polling places in November of 2012 because we can no longer allow for individuals to attack Islam in the way Islam has been attacked at the state Capitol."
The rally was organized to protest a Bill by two Republican State Reps. to block the institution of Sharia Law in Missouri courts.
She is a staunch supporter of Public Workers Unions, Teachers Unions, and compulsory education. (Insider Politics TheSource). She has also been a solid "Yes" vote on socialized health care, minimum wage increase, and increases funding for social services (Project Vote Smart).
On civil liberties issues she has proved just as bad. Rep. Nasheed is the prime sponsor of legislative efforts to hike taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products statewide in Missouri.
Watch a video or YouTube video of Rep. Nasheed advocating higher taxes on cigarettes.
Photos of Nasheed at a rally with the Black Panther Party and with 2008 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (MO Political News svc.)
In this episode, Chris Duke from Motorz TV shows you how to lower a Ford Mustang GT with coilovers, and how to install LED lights on both a Toyota Tundra and a Chevy 1500. Although Chris has lowered a Mustang on the show before, this episode features an Eibach kit for an adjustable ride height,
"too much government" doing too many things
From ABC4.com Salt Lake City, "Cautionary tale hits the big screen" April 16:
Chair of the Utah Young Republicans Daniel Burton says, “We've heard it's low budget but we still hope the principals that Ayn Rand talked about in her book are well displayed in the movie.”
Principals held strong by Utah’s Republican party; that a society where the individual is not free to create is doomed; that civilization cannot exist where there is too much government control. Burton says, “It's a cautionary tale. It's a metaphor for what can happen when too much government gets involved in doing too much for everybody.”
Editor's note - The Utah YRs website is headlining the premiere of Atlas Shrugged in SLC with a special exclusive showing for Young Republicans tonight, Mega-Plex Jordan Commons in Sandy , Theater #8, at 7:30 PM on Saturday, april 16.
It’s Caturday, and I have decided to expand my definition once again to include not just animals but also things that aren’t alive that look like things that are alive.
So I present to you angry slippers yelling at you:
What are they yelling about?
"C’mon, man, wash your feet first!"
"Keep us off the cold tile floor you jerk!"
"Store us next to those yakkity flip-flops again and we’ll make sure the cat leaves you a ‘present’ before you stick your feet in us next time!"
"We’re a pair of slippers, not a pareidolia of slippers!"
"Wear socks with us again and we swear we’re calling Stacey London!"
These slippers were a gift from my mother-in-law to The Little Astronomer, which just goes to show you the world’s a pretty funny place if you keep your eyes open and sense of humor primed.
Related posts:
- Xtolocaturday
- Caturday nights all right for fighting
- A foxy Caturday
- Languid Caturday
An Ayn Randian wing of the GOP
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer Cleveland.com "‘Atlas Shrugged’ Movie Is a Dream Come True for Sarah Palin" April 16:
The movie comes amid strong support nationally for many of its themes today – the dangers of an invasive government and the rights of the individual – that are at the core of movements like the Tea Party and parts of the Republican Party.
Long influential in the Libertarian Party and part of the Republican Party, sales of “Atlas Shrugged” have surged in recent years. According to the Ayn Rand Institute, the novel sold 500,000 copies in 2009 – well over the previous high of 200,000 in a single year – and more than 1 million have been sold since that year.
All the single ladies, all the single ladies…
Whales catch earworms, too, show scientists from the University of Queensland in Australia in a new study. Each breeding season, males start out singing a new tune, which might incorporate bits of golden oldies or be entirely fresh. These new songs are then passed from whale to whale for 4,000 miles, usually starting from the western edge of the Pacific near Australia, a veritable humpback metropolis, to French Polynesia in the east, a comparative hinterland: a possible cetacean case of cultural trends starting in the big city and propagating to the country. Another hypothesis from the Hairpin:
What if Michael Jackson was reincarnated as a whale and is now living off the coast of eastern Australia?
This MJ-style spread of songs is cultural transmission on a massive scale, a scale that hasn’t been seen beyond humans before. Over the course of 11 years, researchers saw (or rather, heard) these songs ripple across six whale populations and thousands of miles of ocean. One song even turned up in the Atlantic. There are several possibilities as to how, points out Wired Science: “The songs could be carried by ...
A lot of reflections "of what Rand wrote about"
From TodayNews24.com "‘Atlas Shrugged’ Movie" April 16:
Cuyahoga County Republican Party Chairman Rob Frost said he read “Atlas Shrugged” last year and was struck by her warnings of the dangers of extensive government and corporate welfare.
“People are seeing reflections of what Rand wrote about,” Frost said, though he cautioned that the story has more extreme examples than exist today.
“I don’t believe the American people would ever let it get as far as Rand portrays,” he said. “We’re seeing the electorate pushing back.”
From Eric Dondero:
The official premiere of Atlas Shrugged took place in Washington, DC this week, and according to one news source, there were a number of freshman, most likely Republican, congressman in the audience.
From the UK Independent, "Atlas Shrugged – and The Tea Party poured in to watch" April 16:
line after line of middle-age white people wearing tricorn hats, stars-and-stripes T-shirts and pin badges suggesting that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. This is the Tea Party, on a big night out.
The occasion was the launch of Atlas Shrugged, a film version of a novel written in 1957 by Ayn Rand. The book, a 1200-page parable espousing the author's robust libertarian philosophy, has for years been popular bedtime reading for members of the Republican right...
The trailer for Atlas Shrugged was unveiled earlier this year at Cpac, the annual conference for right-wing Republicans, driving thousands of fans to its YouTube page (versions of it have now surpassed two million "views"). Its official premiere, at a Washington railway station this week, was attended by several Tea Party-endorsed freshman congressmen...
No word on who the mysterious congressmen were? Only one former congressmen is confirmed to have seen the movie.
From Philly.com:
former Texas congressman Dick Armey, has launched a national effort to get Atlas Shrugged into as many theaters as possible. The FreedomWorks website exhorted visitors to "Demand Atlas Shrugged at a Theater Near You on April 15th!"
Reduce Taxes, reduce the "Nanny-State" on Business to get Cali's Economy back up to speed
A group of California lawmakers visited Austin, Texas last week to learn more about the State's booming economy. As the Austin Statesman points out "in the past three years, California has lost 1.2 million jobs; Texas has gained 164,000 jobs in the same period."
More from the Statesman.com:
"We got a great message: Regulatory oversight (in California) is too much, the taxes are too high, we need to streamline government and not become a 'nanny' state like we've become," said state Assemblyman Dan Logue, a Republican from the Sacramento area who led the delegation.
"We talked to businesses who tried to make it in California and relocated (to Texas) because it's nearly impossible to do it there. We have to identify the reasons why."
The group met with Governor Rick Perry and a number of business advocates. Reducing regulations and tort reform were the two most frequently mentioned suggestions.
Another Republican chimed in:
"There's opportunity here; you can smell it," Assemblyman Mike Merrell, a Republican from Rancho Cucamonga, told Texas business owners at Friday's hearing. "We need to follow your plan."
Even though it was an overwhelmingly Republican delegation, Democrat Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, the former San Francisco Mayor, also took part.
This Saturday and Sunday, why not make the trip out to Coney Island to take in some lectures and spirited discussions on the topics of the questionable delights of immersive amusements, human anatomy on display from fairground to museum, science for public amusement, dime museums and their place in the 21st Century imagination, and scholarship as artistic medium, featuring a variety of inspiring scholars, collectors, authors, artists and practitioners, and all housed provocatively within the immersive amusement that is the Great Coney Island Spectacularium?
Why not indeed!
The event--called the Congress for Curious Peoples and co-curated by The Morbid Anatomy Library --features many of my favorite scholars, artists, collectors and bon vivants, including (but not limited to!) Mark Dion, Norman Klein, Mark Dery, Lord Whimsy, John Troyer, Evan Michelson, Mike Zohn, and Laurel Braitman; I will also be on hand to present a brief paper and take part in a discussion, and, of course, there will be a scheduled break to take in the Super Freak Weekend Freakshow downstairs at Coney Island USA.
This is going to be a seriously unmissable weekend. Full schedule and line-up for the Congress for Curious Peoples follows. Can't wait, and hope very much to see you there!
The Congress for Curious Peoples
Saturday and Sunday, April 16th and 17th
The Coney Island Museum
1208 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn
Saturday April 16th
10:00 - 11:00 Keynote Speaker
Norman Klein, author of "The Vatican to Vegas: The History of Special Effects"11:30 - 1:30 "The New Curiosity": Scholarship as Artistic Medium
Mark Dion, Artist
Joanna Ebenstein, The Morbid Anatomy Library
Wendy Walker, author of "The Secret Service"
Moderated and introduced by Aaron Beebe, The Coney Island Museum
1:30 - 3:30: Lunch and Sideshow Visit
3:30 - 5:30: Immersive Amusements/ Scripted Spaces
Mark Dery, author "The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink"
Amy Herzog, author of "Dreams of Difference, Songs of the Same: The Musical Moment in Film"
Moderated and Introduced by Alison Griffiths, author of "Shivers Down Your Spine: Cinemas, Museums, and the Immersive View"
Sunday April 17th
10:00 - 12:00: The Fairground and The Museum: Human Anatomy on Display
Lisa Farrington, author of "Creating Their Own image: the History of African-American Women Artists"
Anna Maerker, author of "Model Experts: Wax Anatomies and Enlightenment in Florence and Vienna, 1775-1815"
Elizabeth Stephens, "Anatomy as Spectacle: Public Exhibitions of the Body from 1700 to the Present"
Moderated and introduced by John Troyer, author of "Technologies of the Human Corpse" (Forthcoming)12:00 - 1:00: Lunch
1:00 - 3:00: The 19th Century Dime Museum in the Contemporary Imagination
Will Baker, author of "Multiple Meanings and Values in Johnny Fox's Freakatorium"
Aaron Beebe, The Coney Island Museum
D. B. Denholtz, editor of "Shocked and Amazed: On & Off the Midway"
Evan Michelson, Obscura Antiques and star of TV's "Oddities"
Mike Zohn, Obscura Antiques and star of TV's "Oddities"
Moderated and introduced by Andrea Dennett, author of "Weird and Wonderful: The Dime Museum in America"
3:30 - 5:30: Science and Technology for Public Amusement
Laurel Braitman, author of "Animal Madness" (forthcoming)
Fred Nadis, author of "Wonder Shows: Performing Science, Magic, and Religion in America"
Simon Werrett, author of "Fireworks: Pyrotechnic Arts and Sciences in European History"
Moderated by Lord Whimsy/Allen Crawford, author of "The Affected Provincial's Companion, Volume One"
Tickets for the weekend are $25 and can be purchased by clicking here. To find out more about The Congress for Curious Peoples, click here. To find out more about The Spectacularium, click here and to read some recent reviews of The Spectacularium, click here and here.
Special thanks to the Andy Warhol Foundation, whose generosity helped to fund all of these fantastic events.
Also, the lovely poster was designed by the incomparable Lord Whimsy; click on image to see larger more readable version.
Vita-Salute San Raffaele University http://bit.ly/unisr01 is part of the San Raffaele Foundation which includes Hospitals, Research Centers and the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University. San Raffaele is well known worldwide for its excellence: it is a highly specialized center for molecular medicine, diabetes and metabolic diseases, as well as biotechnology and bio-imaging. The Hospital channels many of its resources into cancer treatment, cardiovascular diseases and numerous acute and chronic-degenerative diseases and a very efficient Emergency Department that serves a vast area.
The International MD Program builds on the institution’s solid presence on the international scene: San Raffaele healthcare centers can be found in many countries of the world, including Brazil, India, Uganda, Poland, Chile, Israel, Mozambique and Algeria.
This degree course provides medical-scientific education at the highest level, allowing students to improve their skills and to upgrade their knowledge. It also provides clinical and laboratory research opportunities and additional education in humanities and cultural sciences: philosophy, communication skills, cognitive neurosciences and psychology, which are the building blocks of human society, regardless of social status, race, or creed.
The International MD Program is designed to train a new kind of doctor: someone who possesses the necessary human, cultural and professional abilities to actively participate in healthcare and share ideas in today’s globalized world. Unlike other Medical Programs in Italy where clinical courses are held in Italian,
the International MD Program is fully in English, including classes, lectures, practicals and all clinical activities.
Students enrolled in the San Raffaele International MD Program have access to all the facilities of the Vita-Salute San Raffaele Institute and the San Raffaele Scientific Institute, including skills labs for practical training, a library with more than 20,000 books and several thousand scientific e-publications and resources, as well as to the clinical and research laboratories of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute http://bit.ly/scientificinstitute, the largest private research institute in Italy, that further expanded with the inauguration of DIBIT, a scientific facility for basic, translational and clinical research.
DIBIT is part of the largest biomedical science park in Italy, which includes the San Raffaele Hospital, Science Park Raf, created to support the foundation's development, and the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University.
Applicants who wish to enroll in the International MD Program are required to take an Admission Test.
64 places are available for Academic Year:
32 for EU citizens
32 for Non-EU Citizens.
The Admission Test will take place on April 28th in the following locations:
Milan, (IT)
New York, (USA)
Kuala Lumpur, (Malaysia)
Candidates who wish to take the Admission Test can visit the following website for detailed information:
http://bit.ly/mdadmissions.
The deadline is April 20th.
Here are the guidelines on the admission process for A.Y. : http://www.medicine.unisr.it/upload/file/Guidelines%20on%20the%20Admission%20Process%281%29.pdf
For more information on the International MD Program please visit the following website http://bit.ly/mdprogram.
Some numbers to consider, since everyone and their dog seems to be talking about the disposition of inordinately large sums of money - and little else - at the moment:
We all have our ideas as to how to spend money in ways better than the choices made by its current owner. It can be frustrating when the course ahead is so very clear indeed, yet not taken ... but that is what advocacy is for. When you have a vision, share it, persuade others, and make it happen. When you don't like the numbers you see in front of you, work to change them.
It is good to see some of the larger and better funded life science research communities showing interest in targeting mitochondria - the more people working on this the better, as mitochondria are important in degenerative aging, but there is presently relatively little ongoing research into the practical approaches to mitochondrial repair: "Mitochondria are cytoplasmic organelles responsible for life and death. Extensive evidence from animal models, postmortem brain studies of and clinical studies of aging and neurodegenerative diseases suggests that mitochondrial function is defective in aging and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Several lines of research suggest that mitochondrial abnormalities, including defects in oxidative phosphorylation, increased accumulation of mitochondrial DNA defects, impaired calcium influx, accumulation of mutant proteins in mitochondria, and mitochondrial membrane potential dissipation are important cellular changes in both early and late-onset neurodegenerative diseases. Further, emerging evidence suggests that structural changes in mitochondria, including increased mitochondrial fragmentation and decreased mitochondrial fusion, are critical factors associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and cell death in aging and neurodegenerative diseases. This paper discusses research that elucidates features of mitochondria that are associated with cellular dysfunction in aging and neurodegenerative diseases and discusses mitochondrial structural and functional changes, and abnormal mitochondrial dynamics in neurodegenerative diseases. It also outlines mitochondria-targeted therapeutics in neurodegenerative diseases."
