Saturday, September 22, 2012

Marijuana And Cancer: Scientists Find Cannabis Compound Stops Metastasis In Aggressive Cancers

   Good Day Humboldt County!

I’ve been following news on medicinal marijuana for years and this study is a culmination of others I’ve read that indicates marijuana helps treat cancer.

I’ve been ridiculed many times when I run an article about the connection of marijuana and cancer treatment, but the negative “nellies” are starting to fade away these days. Perhaps it’s information like this that is finally turning the tide on how important a medicine marijuana is. See what you think:

A pair of scientists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco has found that a compound derived from marijuana could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer, potentially altering the fatality of the disease forever.

"It took us about 20 years of research to figure this out, but we are very excited," said Pierre Desprez, one of the scientists behind the discovery, to The Huffington Post. "We want to get started with trials as soon as possible." The Daily Beast first reported on the finding, which has already undergone both laboratory and animal testing, and is awaiting permission for clinical trials in humans.

Desprez, a molecular biologist, spent decades studying ID-1, the gene that causes cancer to spread. Meanwhile, fellow researcher Sean McAllister was studying the effects of Cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-toxic, non-psychoactive chemical compound found in the cannabis plant. Finally, the pair collaborated, combining CBD and cells containing high levels of ID-1 in a petri dish.

"What we found was that his Cannabidiol could essentially 'turn off' the ID-1," Desprez told HuffPost. The cells stopped spreading and returned to normal. "We likely would not have found this on our own," he added. "That's why collaboration is so essential to scientific discovery." Desprez and McAllister first published a paper about the finding in 2007. Since then, their team has found that CBD works both in the lab and in animals. And now, they've found even more good news.

"We started by researching breast cancer," said Desprez. "But now we've found that Cannabidiol works with many kinds of aggressive cancers--brain, prostate--any kind in which these high levAngel Raich and medical marijuanaels of ID-1 are present." Desprez hopes that clinical trials will begin immediately.

"We've found no toxicity in the animals we've tested, and Cannabidiol is already used in humans for a variety of other ailments," he said. Indeed, the compound is used to relieve anxiety and nausea, and, since it is non-psychoactive, does not cause the "high" associated with THC.

While marijuana advocates will surely praise the discovery, Desprez explained that it's not so easy as just lighting up. "We used injections in the animal testing and are also testing pills," he said. "But you could never get enough Cannabidiol for it to be effective just from smoking."

Furthermore, the team has started synthesizing the compound in the lab instead of using the plant in an effort to make it more potent. "It's a common practice," explained Desprez. "But hopefully it will also keep us clear of any obstacles while seeking approval." (source)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Friday, September 21, 2012

The Republican War On Chairs: We Are All Chairs Now!

 The entire Progdom is up in arms since the Chair Wars started with Clint Eastwood's unprovoked attack on an innocent chair at the RNC. Instead of acting as a policy expert like all the Prog actors do, Mr. Eastwood presumed to act as an actor and delivered an acting performance. What a bizarre idea!
Unbeknownst to Eastwood, that was actually the 5th or the 6th most interesting chair in the room. It had enough capacity to seat not just our invisible president, but also millions of jobs that had been saved or created, as well as undocumented voters, necroproxies, and all the fake Twitter followers.

Implying that Obama was an empty chair was as nonsensical as saying "The Emperor has no clothes!" But the Emperor "episode" has been thoroughly debunked by the progressive historians, who proved that the Emperor was, in fact, wearing a magnificent dress, visible only to the smart and the enlightened, and that the boy's heckling was manufactured by the Republican machine, paid for by the Koch brothers. Just like that non-story, Eastwood's attack on all chairs is bound to the ash heap of history, along with capitalist greed and American imperialism in general.

                                                      We are all chairs now!
Below are some helpful visuals prepared by our Department of Visual Agitation to be used in the fight. No Pasaran!
~
                                                                UPDATE:
The incumbent chair - COTUS (Chair of the United States) - is now available on transparent background, for you Photoshoppers to use in your own tactical maneuvers.

 

Drill, Baby, Drill Regardless of the Consequences - Fueling the Addiction

A cartoon image

             Good Day Humboldt County!

Thirty national parks face the prospect of future oil and gas drilling within their borders.

The BNP Petroleum Corporation's gas rig (shown below) on Padre Island National Seashore, Texas. Oil and gas drilling in national parks has the potential to be devastating to natural wildlife and poses risks to environmental safety and public health.

A natural gas rig on a national seashore in Texas

See more: Drilling Could Threaten Our National Parks by Jessica Goad

Cartoon By Ann Telnaes, the Cartoonist Group

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Patriotic Pause: Homer Simpson casts his vote for president

Homer Simpson is doing his civic duty once again this election season.

In a new "Simpsons" short released on YouTube Wednesday, the doughnut-loving goofball heads to the polls to decide whether to vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney ... and he's not too pleased with having to do so.

"Why do we have to choose our leaders?" he gripes. "Isn't that what we have the Supreme Court for?"

Oh, snap!

The digs about politics and the

Homer does it again…
elections keep on coming after that, with references to new voter ID laws, health care reform, religion and more.

Homer also targets Obama and Romney with his insightful observations.

"He promised me death panels and Grandpa's still alive!" he complains of the president.

As for Romney, "I hear he wears magic underpants," Homer says suspiciously.

But after some serious consideration, he does finally cast his vote ... and instantly regrets his choice. Check it out. (source)

Alert To All Bloggers! Are you getting comments on your posts from Anonymous sources in your mailbox with a link to bad places?

For over a week now I’ve noticed something new and troubling in my email box:

I’ve been getting comments from anonymous sources -regarding my blog posts - saying real nice things and providing a link to their website and asking me to visit them.

The first time I thought it was odd and looked up the post the email was referring to so I could see if the comment was there. Guess what? It wasn’t. I knew something was rotten in Denmark right then. The emails have been coming daily now.

Today (below) I got another suspicious email shortly after I posted something. This time the hoverlink didn’t just have garbled letters, it was an ad from the UK! I don’t know if that means the bastard who did it is from there or what.

I do know these spam emails with suspicious links could prove to be a real problem if opened. I have not opened one yet, nor will I open one at any time. I’ll just continue to be wary of them, document them, and to look for more information about them.

I mainly want to warn my blogger colleagues that this threat is out there. It’s relatively new as far as I can tell. So far, I haven’t heard or read anything about this spam approach. If you, or someone you know is experiencing the same thing please let me know. Knowledge is power. The more people who are aware of this cyber scam the better. Past this post along if you agree.

In my Email Box this morning shortly after my first post of the day:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post

"Yes, the Rich Are Different – Pew Research study shows”:
It's a shame you don't have a donate button! I'd certainly donate to this fantastic blog! I suppose for now i'll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account.
I look forward to brand new updates and will talk
about this site with my Facebook group. Chat soon!
Here is my web site :
Hoverlink was here leading to a bogus website

Yes, the Rich Are Different — Pew Research study breaks down the numbers

       Good Day Humboldt County!

With all the talk lately about the secret Romney tapes I thought I’d take a scientific look at the differences between the rich and the rest of us as presented in this recently taken Pew Research survey.

It’s been an uphill battle since Day One trying to convince people that Romney could relate to the common American. He’s managed to increase the gap between the haves and have nots in a short conversation with wealthy donors during a fundraiser. His view of 47 percent of Americans is pretty bleak. But among that circle of wealthy donors his attitude was par for the course for someone who can afford to pay $50,000 for a lunch.

Pew Research has released the results of a survey done last month on the differences between the rich and the rest of us. The survey results didn't really break any new ground, but did throw some light on who Americans think the rich are and what they're like. Some highlights:

  • The total U.S. median annual income for a "wealthy" family is $150,000, but that varies between $200,000 in the Northeast to $150,000 in the Midwest and South.
  • 43% of respondents said the rich are more likely to be intelligent and 42% said they are more likely to be hardworking.
  • 55% said the rich are more likely to be greedy and 34% said they are less likely to be honest.
  • Still, 92% of the self-described middle class and 84% of the self-described lower class say they admire people who get rich by working hard.
  • 58% say upper income people pay too little in taxes.
  • 44% of Republicans said upper-income people pay their fair share of taxes compared with just 13% of Democrats.
  • More than three-quarters of Democrats say upper-income people pay too little in taxes, and (perhaps surprisingly) 33% of Republicans say the same thing.

    A large number of respondents - 65% - say the income gap between rich and poor has gotten larger in the past 10 years and 57% say that is a "bad thing."

    Finally, on the coming elections, 71% of respondents said Mitt Romney's policies would benefit the wealthy, while just 40% said the policies would benefit the middle class and 31% said his policies would benefit the poor. According to 37% of respondents, President Obama's policies would benefit the rich, and 50% said his policies would benefit the middle class and 60% said the policies would benefit the poor.”

    Time for me to walk on down the road…

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Okay Boys and Girls let’s meet the members of the Congressional Science Committee–please don’t be alarmed that they’re all clueless

Introducing the ad campaign most likely to result in scatological jokes

image

Ad campaign voted most likely to result in scatological jokes.

Also: see the "person" in the Persian Siamese cat "costume" in the top panel?

Note how the shape of the cat head does not conform to the shapes of the human heads on display.

The unnatural angle of the neck. And the cat is looking with its living "costume" eyes!
Plainly, this is a encoded warning against aliens among us!
(
source)

image

Historian says piece of papyrus refers to Jesus' wife

                          Good Day Humboldt County!

For those of you who believe Jesus Christ was a virgin all of his life, news like this may seem sacrilegious. As more questions are asked about this discovery a controversy brews…

A historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School has identified a scrap of papyrus that she says was written in Coptic in the fourth century and contains a phrase never seen in any piece of scripture: "Jesus said to them, 'My wife …'"

The faded papyrus fragment is smaller than a business card, with eight lines on one side, in black ink legible under a magnifying glass. Just below the line about Jesus having a wife, the papyrus includes a second provocative clause that purportedly says, “she will be able to be my disciple.”

The finding is being made public in Rome on Tuesday at an international meeting of Coptic scholars by the historian Karen L. King, who has published several books about new Gospel discoveries and is the first woman to hold the nation’s oldest endowed chair, the Hollis professor of divinity.” (Story here)

Image: Papyrus fragment

A historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School has identified a papyrus fragment in Coptic that she says contains the first known statement saying explicitly that Jesus was married. The fragment also refers to a female disciple.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Ain’t it a shame? Pakistani protester dies from breathing smoke of burning US flags

Protestors burn a U.S. flag during a protest near the U.S. Embassy in Tunis on Sept. 12 (© Hassene Dridi/AP)

  Aww shucks…this makes me feel terrible…NOT!

It’s called Karma. I wish a few other idiots involved in killing Americans would take some hefty snorts from burning American flags themselves.

“A protester in Lahore, Pakistan has died after inhaling the fumes from the American flags he burned on Sunday. Abdullah Ismail was part of a demonstration protesting the Islam-trolling film "The Innocence of Muslims" in front of the U.S. Embassy. According to his fellow protesters, Ismail "complained of feeling unwell from [breathing] the smoke" of the burning American flags and was transported to Lahore's Mayo Hospital where he later died. More than 10,000 people filled the streets to protest the film and its blasphemy, blocking traffic for over six hours.” [Source]

'Bigfoot' Killed by Car in Montana Baffles Even Police

bigfoot

A man dressed up as Bigfoot (or Sasquatch) was struck and killed by two cars Sunday night while he was trying to provoke a sighting in Northern Montana. I am not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Randy Lee Tenley put on a full military style "Ghillie suit" and stood in a lane in the highway, waiting for someone to call in a Bigfoot sighting. WTF? Sorry, but seriously. This isn't a laughing matter as a man is dead, but come ON. These suits are specifically designed for camouflage. What did he think might happen?

As bizarre and dumb as it is on one hand, it's also sad if you look at it another way. Maybe Tenley wanted to put a little magic back in people's lives. Maybe he wanted us to believe in something. Still, he picked a dangerous way to do it. (source)

Turns out he couldn’t take it with him – Dead man found in house loaded with $7 million in gold coins

          Good Day Humboldt County!

The following story is about a recluse who dies with his gold. It reminded me of someone I knew back in the mid 1980s – Harry O’Malley. I knew Harry for the last two years of his life. I was the editor of a weekly newspaper in 29 Palms, California, and for whatever reason Harry befriended me and my family.

He was what we called a “desert rat” and lived alone in a big rambling house he built over a period of years in Wonder Valley. That was exactly in the middle of nowhere. It took about thirty minutes of driving east of 29 Palms to reach Wonder Valley.

When he died the only two friends in the world he had were me, and a lawyer named Ralph Carrel. We had been helping him out for over a year with his finances (he was suffering from dementia) and Ralph had access to his bank account as a trustee. After seeing to his funeral Ralph discovered bank books in Harry’s old house. A dozen accounts in Harry’s name. They added up to over two million dollars!

An attempt was made to contact a relative, his sister in Greece, but she didn’t want any part of his money! What a story that must have been. Meanwhile, the county and state converged upon his estate, and gobbled it up!

And now Walter Samaszko Jr.s story:

“When Walter Samaszko Jr. died at his home in Carson City, Nev., he had $200 in a bank account. But as officials later discovered, Samaszko had about $7 million stored neatly around his home, the Nevada Appeal reported.

In late June, neighbors called authorities because of a smell emanating from Samaszko’s home. He was a recluse who had told them he hated the government and feared getting shots, but still, it had been a while since they had seen him, according to the Appeal.

According to the coroner, Samaszko, 69, had been dead for at least a month. He died of heart problems, the Las Vegas Sun reported. In came the cleanup crews, which discovered boxes of gold in the garage. They found gold coins and bullion, tiny dos-pesos, $20 gold pieces, Austrian ducats, Kruggerrands and English Sovereigns dating  to the 1840s – enough gold to fill two wheelbarrows.” (Read the story here)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Monday, September 17, 2012

Spot The Object: Find the “King” among these animals

Here’s a great optical illusion puzzle by Donald Rust: Can you find the King in this painting?

When you’re done, just please don’t tell! Instead, comment you found him.

Let’s see how long it does  take before you see him!

BTW: don’t forget to check other illusions by Rusty

Nude News: San Franciscans can no longer grin and bear public nudity

Naturist George Davis (who is wearing underpants) chats with his friend in the Castro district of San Francisco, where he resides, on September 16, 2011 in California (© Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images)

                    Good Day Humboldt County!

Must be all this nice weather along the north coast because people like going places and getting naked. But people in San Francisco are tired of the nudies making a spectacle of themselves and have reversed a law that allowed them to cruise around au natural.

I can’t say I blame them. It was an odd law, unlike any one in any city that I’ve ever heard of. If people want to run around naked there’s plenty of places to go where it’s legal and discrete. Check out the link below about the nudist convention in Vegas, or the nudist colony seeking members.   

“Call it a different kind of “crack” problem: Public nudity in San Francisco’s Castro is getting old. Supervisor Scott Wiener, who represents the district, has tried to be tolerant.

Last year he drafted the “skid mark law,” which forbids nudists from using any public seating without putting down a towel first. But now locals say the nudists have crossed the line, reportedly engaging in public sex acts, charging tourists money for photos and using genital jewelry or props to draw extra attention to their area downstairs.

Wiener says the nudist problem has become the issue his constituents complain about most often, more than homelessness, and Wiener and the people he represents are sick of locals happy to grin and bare it.” [Source]

Read more:

No shirt, no pants, no problem at Vegas nudist convention

Nudist colony tries youthful tactics to flesh out membership

Sunday, September 16, 2012

AS IT STANDS: Distracted pedestrians: Oops! There goes another one!

           By Dave Stancliff/For The Times-Standard
Nostalgia moment; remember the old phrase,“…so and so can’t walk and chew gum at the same time?” It’s time to update it, and bring it into the 21st Century.
Now we can say, “…so and so can’t walk and text, tweet, play video games, and talk on the phone at the same time.” And we have statistics to prove it. One more thing, it’s called “distracted walking,” but I think that’s too nice a way to put it.
 Some readers may question why I’m bringing up this subject. It’s only been a month since I complained about a new texting and driving law in California. Some of you may wonder, “What’s the deal with Dave? What does he have against technology?”
 The answer is, nothing. It’s the idiots who don’t use modern technology safely because of a lack of common sense who interest me. I’m not really worried about getting walked over by a “distracted walker” as I’m sure I’ll see him or her before they see me. I’ll get out of the way. It’s when they step out into traffic (Hey! I’ve seen it happen on Broadway in Eureka) that I can’t help cringing.
Distracted walking is a greater problem than I realized. Data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that pedestrian fatalities rose by 4.2 percent from 2009 to 2010, and injuries increased by 19 percent during the same period.

You may remember I pointed out a report on traffic fatalities caused by “distracted driving.” The first three months of this year saw a 13.5 percent jump in drivers dying because of distracted driving. Sobering data to say the least.
 Recent information indicates that “distracted walking is emerging as a public health concern. In 2011 alone, 1,152 people were treated for injuries caused by distracted walking, according to data collected by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. That number is likely a gross underestimate since doctors or nurses may not have asked whether the patient was using a mobile device at the time of the accident, according to a July 30 Associated Press (AP) report.

 "We are where we were with cell phone use in cars 10 years or so ago. We knew it was a problem, but we didn't have the data," Jonathan Atkins, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Assn., told AP in an interview.
Here’s more revealing information: researchers at the University of Maryland identified 116 cases in which pedestrians were killed or seriously injured while wearing headphones. Two-thirds of those injuries involved men under the age of 30, and half of them involved trains.

 If you go to YouTube there are endless videos of distracted people walking into things, or off them. Great for laughs. Funny stuff, right? Cathy Cruz Marrero, the woman who tumbled into a fountain while texting and walking in a mall in Pennsylvania, didn’t think it was too funny.
She’s a star on the internet now. She wasn't injured, but she told CBS News that she cried for days after footage of the accident landed on YouTube, where it was viewed more than 2 million times.

There’s another popular YouTube video starring distracted walker Bonnie Miller, a Michigan woman who recently fell off a pier while texting and walking. "I can't let pride get in my way of warning other people to not drive and text or walk and text. It's quite dangerous," Miller told ABC 57, a local television station in South Bend, Ind.
There was nothing funny about her husband and a 19-year-old bystander jumping into the cold water to save her. She wasn’t laughing when Firefighters and the Coast Guard arrived and threw them floatation devices. Lucky for her it was just a humiliating experience and she’s alive to talk about it.
 Another lucky distracted walker whose story has gone viral since it happened in 2009, is Alexa Longueira, of Staten Island, N.Y. This teenager fell into an open manhole while reading a text on her friend’s cell phone. According to a report by WABC, she fell 6 feet into four inches of raw sewage.
As It Stands, unlike distracted driving, I don’t think there should be any laws against distracted walking; it’s probably an effective way to thin out the gene pool!

It's Time to Pay Up Donnie!

It's looks like there will be some prime real estate going on the market soon in New York City. Convicted rapist and former president ...