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August 27, 2012 - 5:41pm — stevieslaw

Stevieslaw: Herbal Tea

I hadn’t seen Arnold Slanzky in years.  The last I had heard he was working toward a doctorate in Public Health with a thesis that purported to show that the pets of the top 1% had much better access to health care than did Americans earning less than $50,000 a year.  They had generally better outcomes as well.

I was surprised to see then, as Smokey and I drove through Southern Ohio, Arnie’s picture plastered on billboards every few miles.  It had his portrait---a smiling face on a balding head---with the boldly lettered statement, “Throw off the Yolk of Big Government.”  My old ultra-liberal friend Arnie was apparently running for Congress as a Tea Party Candidate with bad spelling.

We gave him a call and got to meet him for lunch at the local Dennys---his new favorite restaurant.  After we had caught up a bit, I asked him about his candidacy. 

“I was teaching and doing some research at a University,“ he said. Read more »

Stevieslaw: MItt's Motherboard Crisis

August 26, 2012 - 9:22pm — stevieslaw

Republicans fear that Mitt’s new motherboard, Empathy III, will not arrive from China in time for the convention. As you have no doubt heard, Empathy II fried during the Mitts attempt at a birther joke. Sal Hapatica, Mitt’s chief for computer simulation, agreed that a joke was a huge stretch for the available Mittsoftware.
“Actually, it was the giggle after the joke,” he told Smokey Diamond, our intrepid reporter. “We should have never tried to program the giggle.”
For those of you following the Mittepic, you may recall that Empathy 1 went bad during Mitt’s European trip—that sad business with the Brits and their Olympics.
“We need to have Mitt show great empathy with the American public—particularly with the poor and the middle class he doesn’t really give a damn about, and I fear the Chinese are just not taking this seriously.” “If they are late with the motherboard, we will have to go with Plan B.”
“And what’s Plan B?” asked Smokey.
“In Plan B we go with a silent Mittbot and an empathic ventriloquist, but the camera angles will be a nightmare.”
“It only has to work for an hour,” Sal whined. “just during the acceptance speech.”
“After that the MIttbot can just recite the party line as outlined in the Republican platform.” “That platform is as cold and as dead as Ayn (pave the planet) Rand’s philosophy.” “It’s perfect for a robot.”

Hey, give me those pig parasites, baby! Where do I sign up?

August 25, 2012 - 4:45pm — Bill

I have RA, Rheumatoid Arthritis. My case is manageable - but if I did not get my medicine, I would be a cripple, in constant and debilitating pain.

Well, at least I am one of the percentage that responds to the least expensive types of medications, yay!

Anyway, some years ago I started reading about a new idea for treating autoimmune disorders. (RA is an autoimmune disorder, your immune system starts to attack your joints and connective tissue.) Parasites, specifically certain types of worms, which send a biosignal that suppresses the autoimmune response with minimal side effects and excellent results.

Supposedly a company will soon be offering this parasite treatment. Available here in about 4 years? Man, sign me up!

If you had a chronic and potentially debilitating condition such as rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn's disease, and swallowing the eggs of a pig parasite could help, would you do it?

The team at Coronado Biosciences Inc is betting you would.

The Burlington, Massachusetts, company is developing what it hopes will be the first in a new class of treatments for autoimmune conditions. Each dose of the drug consists of thousands of microscopic parasite eggs, culled from pig feces, suspended in a tablespoon of saline solution to be swallowed.

In a pig, the eggs would grow into mature whipworms and reproduce, without harming their host. In humans, the same eggs barely survive two weeks. Yet in that short period they appear to modulate a patient's immune system and prevent it from attacking the body's own tissues and organs. Read more »

It's nice to see Pennsylvanians aren't as fickle and feckless as, say, Wisconsinites

August 25, 2012 - 7:35am — Bill

New poll shows Obama with a significant lead over Romney in Pennsylvania

Ten weeks before the election, a voter poll commissioned by The Inquirer finds President Obama leading Republican rival Mitt Romney by a significant margin in Pennsylvania, raising the question of whether the Keystone State is up for grabs on Nov. 6.

The Inquirer Pennsylvania Poll, led by a bipartisan team of top political analysts, concluded that if the election were held now, Obama would win the state by nine percentage points - 51-42 - with 7 percent of voters undecided.

 

What’s right is right what’s wrong is left

August 23, 2012 - 11:52am — Cybercorrespondent

What are we to think of Mitt Romney's pick for the next Vice President? He's not a graduate of Columbia University. He's not a graduate of Harvard. He wasn't selected as the President of the Harvard Law Review. He didn't get a special free quota scholarship ride to any prestigious university and, instead, had to work his way through Miami University of Ohio. For God's sake the man drove the Oscar Mayer Wiener Truck one summer and waited tables another!

One morning when Paul Ryan was sixteen years old he went in to wake his father up and found him dead of a heart attack. He didn't write two books about that experience (like Obama did). Instead, he assumed the role of adult at an early age, never having the luxury to pursue youthful drug use and the art of socialist revolution.

Instead, Paul Ryan and his mother took his grandmother, suffering from Alzheimers, into the household and served as the primary care provider for his grandma. His grandma wasn't the Vice President of the Bank of Hawaii (like Obama's) so she could offer nothing in return, except the element of "need".

Once Paul Ryan got his BA in Economics from Miami University of Ohio he was hired as a staff economist in Wisconsin Senator Kastin's office. The job must have not paid well because young Ryan moonlighted as a waiter and fitness trainer. No one offered him a "token honor" position at the University of Chicago and a $200,000 dollar a year salary.

When a still young Paul Ryan returned to Wisconsin to run for Congress he didn't demonize his opponent and dig up dirt to shovel against him. He waited until the standing Congressman vacated the office before seeking the office. Read more »

BBC documentary about fasting - cool stuff - I need to fast, lol

August 20, 2012 - 8:09pm — Bill

Seriously!

"Michael Mosley has set himself a truly ambitious goal: he wants to live longer, stay younger and lose weight in the bargain. And he wants to make as few changes to his life as possible along the way. He discovers the powerful new science behind the ancient idea of fasting, and he thinks he's found a way of doing it that still allows him to enjoy his food. Michael tests out the science of fasting on himself - with life-changing results."

 

I used to fast, when I was younger, as part of meditation exercises - it does have quite an effect, mentally. Still have a few books on it in my library.

Neat video, and an even neater concept. 

Now, what? reprised

August 17, 2012 - 1:42pm — schoolboardblog...

Regular readers will recognize the reference to Beetle Bailey, and General Halftrack's catch phrase when faced with the bizarre and inexplicable.

To what am I referring? Well, it could be one of several things, but I’ve already talked about Pennsylvania’s new teacher evaluation plan, so let's begin today with the Corbett administration's recent decision to place a moratorium on the PlanCon process.

There is just no way to say this politely: this decision is hare-brained on almost every conceivable level.

“PlanCon” is the procedure that school districts must follow if they want to receive partial state reimbursement for school construction projects. In State College, that amounts to about 9% of construction costs; in many districts, that number is considerably higher. It makes no economic sense for a school district to do a construction project of any significance without access to PlanCon funding.

At a time when architects and construction companies are looking for work – thereby creating a highly favorable bid environment - and interest rates are at historic lows, it’s nearly impossible to imagine a better scenario for undertaking a school construction project. It’s good for the economy because it “creates jobs” and it’s good for taxpayers because, well, it saves money!   Read more »

Romney way down in three polls, including FOX noise poll

August 11, 2012 - 1:54am — Bill

Aw, poor widdums romney! 

Three polls show Obama widening lead over Romney

A Fox News poll found the largest deficit, with Romney trailing by nine points (49 percent to 40 percent) That’s the widest gap Fox has reported all year. Its July survey had Obama up by four points (45 percent to 41 percent). Fox found that Obama’s increasing advantage comes mainly on the strength of a big bump from independents, who now support the president by 11 points, up from four points in July.

Twenty-six percent of voters described themselves “extremely” or “very” comfortable with the prospect of a Romney presidency, while 71 percent said they were either “somewhat” or “not at all” comfortable. Forty-one percent were extremely or very comfortable with a second Obama term, while 59 percent fell into the somewhat or not-at -all categories.

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Dr. Radut