Tuesday 012610We had booked two different tours for this day through the same agent. The first was an 830100 tour by boat to a whisky making village and the Pak Ou caves famous for their many Buddha statues. The second was a 130500 tour by minivan to the Kuang Si waterfall and another local village. We knew booking the two tours might be cutting it fine but we figured since it was throug
Final day in Cairns onto Sydney
As we are due to fly to Sydney later on this evening we checked out of the hostel at 10am and spent the morning relaxing before catching the shuttle bus to the airport at 3.30pm.6pm the flight to Sydney was mostly smooth a few bouts of turbulence We were on board one of Virgin Blues newest planes it looked tiny from the outside very deceiving It was quite strange knowing we were due to loo
Kumbha Mela
La Kumbh MelaLe plus vaste plrinage religieux et disonsle le plus grand rassemblement humain qui existe sur terre. Un vnement unique en son genre qui n'arrive que tous les 12 ans .C'est l'alignement de la lune de la terre et de jupiter qui dicte le moment de cette runion mystique qui prend place 4 endroits correspondant aux lieux o selon la mythologie les gouttes de nectar d'immortal
Puerto Princesa
Caught a flight from Cebu to Puerto Princesa in Palawan the Western most Island of the Philippines. First thing I noticed was how clean the City is but also very full of visitors so had to walk around the city for a few hours to find somewhere nice to stay. Found great guesthouse overlooking the bay fabulous views Took a banca out to Honda Bay and visited few Islands. Pandan Island was amazing
humpridge track
the humpridge track is a 3 day 53km track that was planned and built by the community of tuatapere. a pretty incredible endeavour for a total population of 700. it was completed in 2001 and is run by a community trust. all of the fees for the track go into this trust which maintains the track and also supports community interests such as the hospital where jeff is workingthe track is a loop
Looking forward to departing on the 24th
Looking forward to arriving in Beijing on the 25th
Besuch
a paar fotos vom besuch
The Man from Jerusalem
I just met a man. He sets up shop in Gammeltorv the square just down the street and sells jewelry and hats. I hadn't planned on chatting I just wanted to buy an earring. As I wandered up to his stand he said Hello if you need help with something tell me I'll help you. Are you FrenchNo I'm Canadian. I know this is a lie but sometimes I lie about being from Canada. Occassionally esp
A Rwandan Rubik’s
So to start this update let me quote our favourite book of the moment The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski ldquoOur subject is Rwanda. It is a small country so small that in certain maps of Africa it is marked with only a dot. You must use the accompanying explanatory notes to discover that this dot indicates Rwanda.rdquo It is fair to say that Rwanda is a very tiny country
Our Nation’s Capital
Monday morning despite raining right into the early hours it was fine enough to pack up and move on. I can tell you I was pretty relieved Relieved to be moving on and relieved to see some blue skyWe managed to get moving at about 10.30 and headed on up Macquarie pass catching our last glimpse of the Illawarra from the top with mixed feelings.Being tourists and all we couldnrsquot drive p
Bed Breakfast .. I love you so much
Recently I went through internet for the search of bed and breakfast.. I got plenty of them and i chose http://www.homestayiq.com . I found some of the homestays in chikmagalur from this site. I got the a z details about them and then i called them.... It was Mr. George Bird from the valley of birds homestay in chikmagalur. I was really happy to speak to him.. I really loved the way he treated me. I
Darling the men just love me….
HelloIt's been a mad few days here in Injaaaaa. Spent 2 days In Mumbai and now doing this Golden Triangle thingy starting in Jaipur heading to Taj Mahalalabad tomorrow. I'm going to list a few memorable moments rather than waffle on about the Goats and Camels.One eyed kids asking for cocolate Surely that sht would just melt I can't carry a cool box with me tooTravelling in general by
Buenos Aires The Final Days
I cannot believe that I leave tomorrow I am sad because I now feel like I am starting to know the city how to get around where to go and it is time to go. But I also miss all of you and am excited to get back to Boston at least I dont have to go straight back to work The weather here has cooled down and gotten gorgeous too sunny skies and 60s. Yesterday I did a little shopping and th
Tom McClintock says no to Congressional earmarks for home district
"Stubborn ideology" getting in the way of local pork
Even local Republican county officials are a little upset at their new Congressman's latest move. Libertarian Reublican Rep. Tom McClintock has said forcefully, he has no plans to seek special earmarks for his District outside normal budgetary requests.
From the SacBee, "McClintock's refusal to accept earmarks hurts district, critics say" Feb. 8:
As the federal budget season heats up, some Placer County officials are grumbling that Republican Rep. Tom McClintock's ideological opposition to congressional earmarks puts their constituents at a disadvantage.
"It's already hurt us," Supervisor F.C. "Rocky" Rockholm said in a recent interview.
McClintock said he will not seek congressional earmarks – budget requests made outside of the budget process.
"I've made it very clear that I will fight for our district through the normal appropriations process," he said.
Principled but "extreme"
In an editorial, the SacBee opined:
Rep. Tom McClintock, a Republican who represents the congressional district that stretches from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe and from the Sierra Nevada to the Oregon border, has been nothing if not consistent on earmarks. These are funds that members of Congress request for specific projects. McClintock signed a "no earmarks" pledge in 2008, and he has kept to that.
But rather than reform the process, he would prohibit all earmarking. This is extreme. Local members of Congress know their communities better than anyone else in the nation' capital; they are best positioned to request federal projects (such as flood control, roads, wastewater treatment, research facilities, etc.).
Perry challenges the Feds yet again, EPA Regs on Greenhouse Gases
The State of Texas is now officially battling the Federal Government over regulation of greenhouse gases. Attorney General Greg Abbott filed suit in federal court to prevent the EPA from implementing proposed regulations.
From the Statesman.com:
Gov. Rick Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott are trying to get the federal Environmental Protection Agency to back away from a finding last year that greenhouse gases are a threat to public health. The finding sets the stage for regulation of the gases, which scientists have linked to global warming.
The Texas officials say curbs on greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide could cost state businesses and homeowners and jeopardize jobs. Texas leads the nation in carbon emissions. And they argued that the EPA had based its finding on faulty science.
The move is being meant with universal condemnation from leftwing bloggers, environmentalists and special interest groups.
But Texas libertarians and conservatives are cheering Gov. Perry and AG Abbott.
“Hats off to Governor Perry, Attorney General Abbott and Commissioner Staples for taking this step – they are protecting citizens by challenging this rogue agency’s actions which do not fall within the EPA’s jurisdiction,” said AFP State Director Peggy Venable . “This is regulation without representation and represents an end-run around Congress.”
Republicans pick up another point in Generic Congressional match-up
Just Released...
Rasmussen is reporting that the GOP has gained a point in the generic congressional match-up survey.
Republican candidates lead Democrats by nine points in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot.
The new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 45% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 36% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent. Voter support for GOP congressional candidates is up one point from last week, while support for Democrats held steady.
9p21…..ahem. Paynter et.al. Smackdown. Again.
Yeah, yeah, yeah........common variants don't work for heart disease.......We got it.
Rare variants matter more........
What we have here is a study on 101 SNPs and the association with heart disease followed OVER 12 years. This is precisely what I have been asking for from the dawn of these DTC SNP companies. I remember when all the wonks kept saying, well, we know just ONE snp is not that important as a predictor, but when we have panels of 100 SNPs, we will have the best predictive tools out there.......
In fact, deCode bet their livelihood on it as a diagnostics company.....This has to be the winning strategy, right?
Wrong.
That is the assessment of the current state from this Paynter paper, which IMHO was well written and was a likely outcome after the paper Paynter published in May 2009 which said that when you add 9p21 SNPs to current risk stratification models it added essentially nothing.
I do respect Dr. Topol highly, but I think to defend SNPs in CV disease like the recent rare variant in Obesity might be a bit premature.......
We have such robust models for assessing CVD risk, why not focus on things we do not have tools for assessing.
Every day we take family histories of all of our patients. We have hundreds of pedigrees. Non statistically I can tell you, if your parents were fat, had HTN, had AD, etc....there is an increased likelihood of your risk.......REGARDLESS of what some SNP scan says.
If you really want to make this tool useful, then use it for something useful and quit trying to make it fit in every hole!
The Sherpa Says: Face it, to get real personalized medicine we need pedigree studies. Tons and Tons of pedigree studies with candidate rare variants. And a set of "normals"
That costs big money, I get it. Now do you Francis?
Chemical stratification in the Orion Bar: JCMT spectral legacy survey observations (Corrigendum)
Authors: M. H. D. van der Wiel, F. F. S. van der Tak, V. Ossenkopf, M. Spaans, H. Roberts, G. A. Fuller and R. Plume.<br />Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol. 510 , page C1<br />Published online: 22/01/2010<br />
Keywords:
ISM: molecules ; ISM: structure ; ISM: individual: Orion Bar ; stars: formation ; errata, addenda.
Montserrat volcanic dome collapse seen from space! | Bad Astronomy
On the Carribean island of Montserrat is the Soufrière Hills volcano. This is the very same one that erupted in 1997 and did so much damage to the small island (and killed 19 people).
On February 11, just a few days ago, the growing lave dome on the volcano partially collapsed, sending a plume 15,000 meters (more than 8 miles!) into the air. A few hours later, the plume was caught by NASA’s Aqua satellite:
Holy, well, Haleakala! Click to Envesuvianate (and to see the full frame picture).
The plume is obvious, as is its shadow to the northeast. Two smaller, lower plumes can be seen rocketing out over the sea to the north and south, and the wind is carrying ash in beautiful eddies to the east, too.
From this view, high above the Earth, it’s eerily beautiful. I imagine seeing the pyroclastic flows from this event would have been underpants-soilingly terrifying from the ground, however. I’m not seeing much news about this, even though it happened days ago, and I haven’t heard of any deaths resulting from it.
When I see images like this, I have to lean back and revel at the forbidding power and terrible beauty of volcanic eruptions like this one. I’m fascinated by them, and hope one day to see an active volcano (though from a safe distance). It’s a good reminder that as much as we rail and froth, we are hardly the lords and masters of this planet. We live on its thin skin by the graces of geology and the whims of random events, and that can be taken away just as easily.
The good news is, by studying events like these, and learning all we can about the natural world around us, we can understand what makes these dangerous giants tick. I mentioned that when Soufrière Hills blew in 1997, nineteen people died. That’s on an island with a population of over 4000… so why were so few killed? Because volcanologists — scientists — knew the warning signs and were able to get most of the people out of harm’s way.
Science. It’s cool, and it makes our lives better. It sometimes even saves them outright.
Image credit: NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC.
Barefoot | The Intersection
A few thoughtful readers have emailed optical illusions since I posted Tsang Cheung Shing’s incredible coffee kiss last week. This my favorite so far (and I have a hunch the lovely Dr. Isis will approve!). Reader ‘Sue’ explains:
“this Christian Louboutin heel was painted on a woman’s bare foot by John Maurad and Jenai Chin when New York Magazine featured an article entitled, You Walk Wrong.“
