ABC News: U.S. Short at Least 500,000 Poll Workers

Who would have thought, with registrations running at an all-time high and interest in this election higher than any in recent memory, that we would need more poll workers? Apparently, not one politician or bureaucratic hack. 1/2 a million short. Well... duh!

Russian Expert Says Flu Epidemic May Kill Over One Billion This Year; WHO convenes emergency meeting

I've been saying for a year that this was coming in the next year or two, and while one Russian scientist does not constitute a consensus on just WHEN one is coming, I think it's interesting that WHO (remember, though, it's part of that organization that GWB hates so much) is convening a rather hasty summit. Perhaps the people who disdain the UN would rather just go this alone, also, rather than all countries co-operating to develop a vaccine for the H5N1 avian flu and manufacture it. Sure, we could do it all alone, assuming the profit was there to encourage our companies to bother to protect us. Isn't it nice to think that Pfizer and the rest's patriotism pretty much depends on the % profit they make? Much like Cheney and Halliburton, actually. They're good Americans as long as they get ample rewards to be good Americans. Otherwise, as Cheney so succinctly pointed out, we can go fuck ourselves.

Mad Cow or Chronic Wasting Disease or Scrappie or other prion diseases making headway while we sit, doing almost nothing

I've noticed a trend: yes, Mad Cow or CWD or scrappie or any of the other prion diseases becoming more common, yes, but that's not the trend I've noticed. I've been saying for years that the Chronic Wasting Disease that infects deer, elk and moose in this country is but yet another wake-up call for people, just like the AIDS virus was in monkeys.

The trend I've noticed is a repeat of the AIDS crisis: the governments keep telling us that there is nothing to worry about. Yet, the US government has investigated a cluster of CJ (brain wasting) in humans in the Northeast and found 'no problem' Ten people in one area, when the infection rate of CJ, an infection that we know nothing about, is supposedly less than 1 in a million, is just a bit much to look at and then say, "No problem."

The governments said that about global warming, yet there is a major report out that was a collaboration of eight nations, that says that not only is global warming real, but that it's already here, in a big way, and that it has come on much, much faster than anyone would have anticipated. Take, for instance, the ocean conveyor that the Gulf Stream is part of. I've been watching the Gulf Stream reports for a year, and for the past 6 months, the Gulf Stream strength has been described by the agency that monitors it, as 'strikingly weak'. The Movie "The Day After Tomorrow" was about the exaggerated effects of the ocean conveyor stopping, but they were only exaggerated, not imaginary. The problem is is that we are already past the point of no return on the ocean conveyor, but people still have their heads in the sand.

Politicians won't do anything major about these problems for 3 reasons: 1) it would panic the people if they were told the truth about what's coming and 2) it would cost a lot of money to reduce the coming problems - if we could and 3) the politicians would lose their job in a 'kill the messenger' move by the people.

So, we return to the Mad Cow/CWD problem. While the government has said, "No problem there for humans", a report from the AP in 2002, discusses 3 men who, as friends, at wild game together in the 1980's, only to die in the 1990's. However, it was enough of a problem for the CDC to investigate, though they did not come to any CWD-connected conclusion.

Yet, on October 27, 2004, the Rocky Mountain News, one of the 2 Denver papers, reported that the fear of CWD is waning.

People must not be paying attention. Take a look at the chart from the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center that runs through 2003: here. Like the AIDS crisis, it has started out slowly, but in just 6 years, the number of diagnosed cases has more than tripled. Remember, these are just the diagnosed cases. CWD/CJD/or whatever, can look an awful lot like Alzheimer's, so I would imagine that there are quite a few undiagnosed cases out there, and you can be the undiagosed have also tripled in the past 6 years.

This is, I believe, one of the major crisis of our time - long term, though the coming flu epidemic - perhaps as early as this year, is calculated to kill more than a billion people. In the long run, AIDS and CWD/CJD/whatever will kill far more.

Yahoo! News - AstraZeneca's Crestor May Harm Kidneys

Another screw up by the FDA
Yahoo! News - AstraZeneca's Crestor May Harm Kidneys

Scientists Reveal Significant Behavioral Impacts Of Early Life Stress, Study Therapies

I've said this since I worked at Inlet Drug Crisis Center in the early 70's in Houston. I think they will also find that 'in the womb' experiences are more influential than have been realized, because the neurotransmitters from the mother cross the placental barrier, so the baby actually feels what the mother feels, but has no idea why. Studies have show that babies of mothers who didn't want them act different from the moment they are born.

Perhaps we'll get away from this 'blame the victim' stuff and start dealing with what is really happening.

If the link above does not work, the original article may still be here.

Anesthesia Can Dim Patients' Minds

I've often said that my 2 neurosurgeries have caused a decline in mental functioning (no laughing from the peanut gallery, please!)

So, I don't think it's just the elderly that have to be concerned; I think it's everyone.

If the link above does not work, the original article might be here.

'Brain' In A Dish Acts As Autopilot, Living Computer

Perhaps this could help Bush!

If the link above does not work, the original article might be here.

Older father schizophrenia link

Just another reason that old men shouldn't try to act younger or pronounce their manhood by having (more) kids.

If the link fails, the original article may be here.

World Living Beyond Its Environmental Means

It's not really news that we're living high on the hog, nor should it be news that the earth cannot sustain even this level, much less the billions more expected soon. This is the best of times; remember it well.

If link above fails, the original document may be here.

Yahoo! News - Some Supplements Can Damage Eyes

Eyes going bad? Trouble focusing? Object near to you harder to focus on? Trouble picking up visual clues? It turns out that some herbal remedies can adversely affect the eyes. The original article was in the American Journal of Ophthalmology, October 2004.

here

Passive smoking turns out to be worse than thought

Passive smoking, in a major study of all the studies done on this subject, turns out to be worse than was ever thought.

To quote:
Breathing in secondhand smoke massively increases the risk of lung cancer and heart disease, an official report by medical scientists shows.
Ministers have sat on the results for months amid fears it will fuel calls for a ban on smoking in public places, claim campaigners.
(being from England, they have Ministers instead of Administration members)

Original article is here.

Talk about your long life span! 180,000 to 430,000 years!

Fungus from a deep-sea sediment core that is hundreds of thousands of years old can grow when placed in culture, scientists have discovered.
Indian researchers say the fungi come from sediments that are between 180,000 and 430,000 years old.

Then there are the bacteria from a salt cave in Utah that are over 250,000 years old that came to life and reproduced. (here)

The original article is here.

2nd original article here.

Biologists Hunt for Snakehead in Chicago

It seems that the frankenfish, as it's called, has established itself in America. I wish they could find the person responsible for this! This fish will change the lakes and rivers of America forever, so go fishing now, while there's still time, if you like that sort of thing.

Original article here