Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Quote of the Day

Technology adds nothing to art. Two thousand years ago, I could tell you a story, and at any point during the story I could stop, and ask, Now do you want the hero to be kidnapped, or not? But that would, of course, have ruined the story. Part of the experience of being entertained is sitting back and plugging into someone else's vision.

- Penn Jillette

Monday, February 19, 2007

Don't be Stupid Day - Mike Miur

I though this was pretty classic : -

"Sometimes you got to go to that extra level, take another step, step back, and get a running start on it. See right now I have to get to a point, a point most people won't go because it's a little bit to close to the truth, and the truth isn't something that's gonna benefit them in the way that the want it to be. See my dad taught me a long time ago, it's not what someone does it's why they do it that really matters.

And that's what you should judge them for. People can be the nicest person in the world, but that's only to get you to think they're nice, so they can let down the guard a little bit in your door and then you go in there door and they mess with your mind. Anyhow, too many people trying to get you to think the way they want you to think; what we say, is trying to get you to think, whatever way that may be, but to realize the way you're thinking may not be the right way and give it a little extra thought.

So with that in mind, the question is, what do we do why we do? Everyone's got a motivation and sometimes you got to judge that to see where their power's coming from or where they're trying to throw it. You see most people think they think but they're not really thinking so they start thinking cause they thought they already thought, but they never did in the first place so it's their own little safety level. So I sit down and said, if there's all these people so smart thinking so good, how come every day of my life there's so many damn stupid people doing stupid things.

See a wise man once told me, he said, Mike, there's two clubs, there's the stupid people and the smart people. There ain't nobody blocking the door at the stupid people entrance, anyone can go there. But the smart entrance, it's a little more exclusive. So what you wanna belong to? The country club, or the cardboard shack? The penthouse or the outhouse? Seems like an easy decision to me.

So what we're all thinking about right now is what we're talking about, what we're talking about is what we're thinking about, and that's the whole point: you should think before you talk. So where we're at right now is a place that we want to go: a little bit of help. See: everyday, everywhere you go, people do stupid things. Three hundred and sixty five days out of the year, people not thinking. People that have the ability to think, that aren't thinking.

So what we should do is nominate one day. Call it International Don't Be Stupid Day. Now what this is gonna do is be a little reminder, maybe we could wear a pin, maybe you could send a tape to somebody, and when they start to do something you say, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on there partner. Today is Don't Be Stupid Day, so you can't do that. So what we want you to do is just take a twenty four hours out of your life, think about all them dumb things that you just go right ahead and do, when you know damn well you wouldn't want anyone else to do it, if you really cared about them. So start caring about yourself, start using your mind, and as we say, start your brain."

Monday, February 12, 2007

Virgin boss offers $25m reward to save Earth

Save Earth


Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson

Sir Richard Branson today offered a $25m (£12.8m) prize for scientists who find a way to help save the planet from the effects of climate change.

Flanked by the former US vice-president Al Gore and other environmentalists, the boss of Virgin Atlantic airlines called for scientists to come up with a way to extract greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Describing the prize as the largest ever offered, Sir Richard compared it to the competition to devise a method of accurately estimating longitude. He denied that being the head of an airline prevented him from being concerned about climate change.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

And Another Quote

A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.

- Buddha

Another Quote for the Day

Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man—state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion.

Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.

- Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning


Excellent link to be found here : http://www.bloggernews.net/14352



Quote of the Day

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way…Seen from this point of view, the mental reactions of the inmates of a concentration camp must seem more to us than the mere expression of certain physical and sociological conditions. Even though conditions such as lack of sleep, insufficient food and various mental stresses may suggest that the inmates were bound to react in certain ways, in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone. Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him — mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp. Dostoevski said once, “There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings.” These words frequently came to my mind after I became acquainted with those martyrs whose behavior in camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom cannot be lost. It can be said that they were worthy of their sufferings; the way they bore their suffering was a genuine inner achievement. It is this spiritual freedom — which cannot be taken away — that makes life meaningful and purposeful.”

- Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

Living In A Spiritualized World

Found this pretty good song available here :

Two Worlds by Visioneers

Enjoy ...

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Scientists cure cancer, but no one takes notice (maybe)

I for one hope this turns out to be true :

Scientists cure cancer, but no one takes notice

EDITORS NOTE:

Since the original publication of this article we have been inundated with responses from the public at all walks of life. It is important to note that research is ongoing with DCA, and not everyone is convinced it will turn out to be a miracle drug. There have been many therapies that were promising in vitro and in animal models that did not work for one reason or another in humans. To provide false hope is not our intention. There is a lot of information on DCA available on the web, and this column is but one opinion on the topic. We hope you will do your own research into the situation. So, we have added links to resources at the end of this column. If you are arriving here form a linking website like Fark, then those links will not appear because they tend to grab only the text.

END NOTE

Scientists may have cured cancer last week.

Yep.

So, why haven't the media picked up on it?

Here's the deal. Researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada found a cheap and easy to produce drug that kills almost all cancers. The drug is dichloroacetate, and since it is already used to treat metabolic disorders, we know it should be no problem to use it for other purposes.

Doesn't this sound like the kind of news you see on the front page of every paper?

The drug also has no patent, which means it could be produced for bargain basement prices in comparison to what drug companies research and develop.

Scientists tested DCA on human cells cultured outside the body where it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but left healthy cells alone. Rats plump with tumors shrank when they were fed water supplemented with DCA.

Again, this seems like it should be at the top of the nightly news, right?

Cancer cells don't use the little power stations found in most human cells - the mitochondria. Instead, they use glycolysis, which is less effective and more wasteful.

Doctors have long believed the reason for this is because the mitochondria were damaged somehow. But, it turns out the mitochondria were just dormant, and DCA starts them back up again.

The side effect of this is it also reactivates a process called apoptosis. You see, mitochondria contain an all-too-important self-destruct button that can't be pressed in cancer cells. Without it, tumors grow larger as cells refuse to be extinguished. Fully functioning mitochondria, thanks to DCA, can once again die.

With glycolysis turned off, the body produces less lactic acid, so the bad tissue around cancer cells doesn't break down and seed new tumors.

Here's the big catch. Pharmaceutical companies probably won't invest in research into DCA because they won't profit from it. It's easy to make, unpatented and could be added to drinking water. Imagine, Gatorade with cancer control.

So, the groundwork will have to be done at universities and independently funded laboratories. But, how are they supposed to drum up support if the media aren't even talking about it?

All I can do is write this and hope Google News picks it up. In the meantime, tell everyone you know and do your own research.