Ha.

'I once came within about 10 feet of hitting a balloon at 10,000 feet AGL.

The balloon was a child's balloon in the shape of a clown's head. The pressure differential at 10,000 feet caused it to expand into what appeared to be a grotesque, deformed mutant clown writhing in agony.

Convinced I was either suffering from the effects of hypoxia or witnessing the ascent of one of Satan's horrible minions from the depths of hell and into the heavens above, I headed back to the airport and sat down for a while.'

Teens Capture Amazing Shots 20 Miles from Earth's Surface With a Balloon

Interesting

'A German study showed that drinking cold water burns calories.

Drinking about 2 cups of cold water — no warmer than 72 degrees — used up roughly 25 calories.

About 40% of the burn was for bringing the water from drinking temperature to body temperature.

Drink a liter a day and you're losing 5 pounds a year.'

Drink the Pounds Away

Reminds me of 'Cloverfield'.

The Re-entry Of The Jules Verne ATV

Sad.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Cracks me up.

Watched 'They Live' the other night when I had a bought of insomnia, and this quote cracked me up.

Also, later in the film, Piper is aiming at a flying robot and says 'Momma don't like tattletales'.

Ha ha.

WTF?

I remember seeing the movie as a kid, but now realize what a low budget film it actually was.

Or looks now.

Table Of Awesoments

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From The Dapperstache.

Huh.

Who knew my work would be related to this?

Would you eat nano-engineered food?

Something to think about:

'Hansen said recent studies have shown that nano-sized particles in some cases can invade cells and breach the blood-brain barrier, and that some forms of nano-sized carbon could be as harmful as asbestos if inhaled in quantity.'

Nano-food fears: Scientists say ‘size matters’

Naked Juice

This week, for unknown reasons, I have been craving the Almond Smoothie from Naked Juice.

Tastes great and not too many calories.

But I have noticed that over the course of the week, I have had close to no appetite.

Wednesday, all I had was half a salad, and the smoothie.

Yesterday I only had a sun-dried tomato bagel and the smoothie.

Today, I finally broke down and ate a small bag of Smartfood Popcorn because my stomach was feeling queasy after this morning's smoothie.

[I'm not even hungry but just had to get something in to help sop up the smoothie.]

So in contemplating my queasy stommage, I realized that all week I have felt mildly ill with a funky taste in my mouth.

And really, really tired.

Like the first thought when I wake up is how I can't wait to get back home and go to bed.

Oh yeah, and I have belching A LOT.

Like to the point where occasionally I felt like I would vom.

So I am wondering if one of the ingredients in their concoction doesn't agree with me.

It's mostly just fruit juice but it has soy and whey protein in it.

Maybe I OD'd on whey.

What is whey anyway?

Anybody else get have the same experience?

Update: Looking at the Naked site, I don't even see the Almond smoothie as listed as one of their products anymore. Yikes.

....while I'm drinking soy milk....

Good thing I'm not planning on having any kids anytime soon.

Soy Linked to Low Sperm Count

'WEDNESDAY, July 23 (HealthDay News) -- Eating half a serving of soy food a day lowers sperm concentrations and may play a role in male infertility, particularly in obese men, Harvard University researchers report.

The reason for this relationship between soy and sperm count isn't clear. However, researchers speculate that soy increases estrogen activity, which may have a negative affect on sperm production and also interfere with other hormonal signals.

"There have been a lot of interest in estrogen and isoflavones in particular and a potential relationship to fertility and other reproductive disorders," said lead researcher Dr. Jorge Chavarro, a research fellow in the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Research in animals has shown that isoflavones and estrogen can have a potentially negative affect on reproduction, including decreased fertility, Chavarro said. However, there is very little evidence of how these findings apply to humans, he said.

The new research, he added, lends support to how results of animal studies apply to humans. But Chavarro considers the findings preliminary and inconclusive. "It's way too early to say stop eating soy foods," he said. "It's not time to worry about whether you're eating too much soy. There's not enough information to conclusively say that. "

His report was published in the July 24 online edition of the journal Human Reproduction.

For the study, Chavarro and colleagues collected data on 99 men who attended a fertility clinic for evaluation. The men were asked about how much of 15 soy-based foods they ate in the past three months.

The foods men were asked about included tofu, tempeh, tofu or soy sausages, bacon, burgers, soy milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream and other soy products like roasted nuts and energy bars.

Because different foods have different levels of isoflavones, half a serving of soy is equal to about one cup of soy milk or one serving of tofu or soy burgers every other day, Chavarro noted.

Chavarro's team found that men who ate the most soy had 41 million fewer sperm per milliliter of semen compared with men who did not eat soy foods. Normal sperm counts range between 80 million and 120 million per milliliter, according to a press release from the journal, a monthly publication of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology.

In addition, the researchers found that the link between soy and sperm concentration was stronger among overweight and obese men. Overweight and obese men produce more estrogen than thinner men, and soy may increase those estrogen levels even further, they speculated.

Moreover, the link between soy and sperm concentration was strongest in men with higher sperm concentrations. Men who have normal or high sperm counts may be more susceptible to soy foods than men with low sperm counts, Chavarro said.

Infertility expert Dr. Hossein Sadeghi-Nejad, an associate professor of urology at UMDNJ New Jersey Medical School and Hackensack University Medical Center, agreed that soy may be one factor affecting fertility, especially in overweight and obese men.

"When patients are overweight, the fat tissue converts male hormones to more female hormones," Sadeghi-Nejad said. "So, it is possible that the combination of this estrogenic source [soy] and the extra internal estrogen that is caused by the conversion of androgen to estrogen through the fat has a more deleterious effect in that group of patients."

In addition, Sadeghi-Nejad noted that although sperm counts decreased most among men who have the highest counts, that should not affect fertility, since sperm counts were still in the normal range.

"But this is a good reminder that if you have an overweight patient, with abnormal semen parameters, and a very high soy intake, it may be wise for them to decrease this factor," Sadeghi-Nejad said.'

Freaky/Creepy

Extinct, my ASS! from The Original Joe Fisher on Vimeo.

That would suck.

'Aquagenic pruritis is a condition that results after exposure to water of any temperature.

Symptoms develop within minutes and may include itching, burning or even a prickly sensation.

Most times there are no skin changes, although a faint, bumpy, itchy red rash may occur.

The symptoms last from 10 minutes to several hours, and usually are experienced on one or more of the following skin surfaces: Chest, back, arms or legs.

While the exact cause of this condition is uncertain, some investigators suggest it is a result of extreme skin sensitivity (but not allergy) to an added ingredient (chlorine, fluoride, others) or mineral present in the water.'

Allergic to Water?

McLovin' It

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Gallery Of The Absurd

Ack!

Zombies!

A dog's severed head maintains life with the use of an artificial heart and lungs.

Freaky.

I wonder....

if all that nuclear testing and Hiroshima and Nagasaki had anything to do with all those people who had cancer.

Cancer Death Rates Still Declining

But report notes rate of decrease slowed from 2004 to 2005, with 5,424 more

'WEDNESDAY, Feb. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Good news continues to come forth from the cancer front: U.S. death rates from the disease have declined by 18.4 percent among men and by 10.5 percent among women since mortality rates first started going down in the early 1990s.

In 2008, an estimated 1,437,180 new cancers will be diagnosed, and 565,650 people will die of the disease, according to a report released Wednesday from the American Cancer Society (ACS). Death rates were at their highest for men in 1990, and for women in 1991.

Although the rate of cancer deaths decreased from 2004 to 2005, there was an increase in number of actual deaths (5,424) in 2005 compared to 2004, the report showed.

"We do not know why the declines in death rate from 2004 to 2005 slowed, compared to the previous two years," said Ahmedin Jemal, strategic director for cancer surveillance at the ACS. "But we can say that this occurred for almost all of the major cancer sites for men and women, which include colon and rectum in both men and women, breast cancer in women, and prostate cancer in men."

"Death rates from cancer continue to decrease because of prevention, early detection and treatment," Jemal added. "These have been decreasing from the early '90s and, really, because of this decrease, over half a million deaths from cancer have been avoided."

Jemal is first author of Cancer Statistics 2008, which is published in the March/April issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. The report has been an annual fixture since 1952.

"This is both good news and bad news," said Dr. Louis Weiner, director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. "The good news is that cancer rates continue to decline, and that the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans have been saved over past 15 or 16 years as a result of this improvement in cancer death rates."

"The bad news is that more than a half a million Americans can be anticipated to die of cancer this year," Weiner continued. "That's equivalent to nearly the entire population of Washington, D.C., and losing more than the entire population of New Orleans in 2003. Viewed from that perspective, we have a long way to go."'

So basically....Mormons and Creationists.

'Clark says he's concerned that children who don't get an education in the sciences will end up becoming second-class citizens.'

Secret deal could be sign of things to come

Marvin The Martian!

Life on Mars or just a strange rock formation?

Super Balloons

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These balloons above an Ultimate Electronics store in Thornton, CO never deflate.

Even in 9 degree weather with a -14 wind chill.

I thought helium condensed when it got cold.

Must be filled with some super-gas from another planet.

They have been up since before Thanksgiving.

Da hooch is good for ya.

Drink to your health

The latest buzz on booze’s body benefits

'After years of flip-flopping, research seems to be settling in alcohol’s favor.

Attention, wine (and beer and martini) lovers: After years of flip-flopping, research seems to be settling in alcohol’s favor.

“The healthiest people do include moderate drinking in their lifestyle,” says Eric Rimm, Sc.D., associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. You can reap alcohol’s health benefits within weeks, and the gains accumulate over time. (Stick to one drink a day, and fewer than seven a week.)

To your heart!

Moderate drinking seems to raise HDL (“good”) cholesterol, helping reduce the risk for heart disease and possibly stroke, a study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston indicates.

Alcohol also makes blood platelets less sticky, so they’re less likely to form into potential heart-attack-inducing clots.

To your pancreas!

Enjoying a drink a day may help regulate insulin (and, therefore, blood sugar) levels, lowering your risk for type 2 diabetes, according to a study in the journal Obesity. It appears that alcohol can increase cells’ sensitivity to insulin, which in turn allows cells to burn glucose faster and reduce blood sugar levels.

To your joints!

Indulging in three or more spirits a week could protect against rheumatoid arthritis, research presented at the European Congress of Rheumatology in Barcelona suggests. Scientists report that alcohol may dampen inflammation and suppress the body’s immune response that can lead to the often painful condition.

To feeling great all around!

Women who imbibe alcohol of any kind are twice as likely to report better-than-average health than women who don’t drink at all, researchers at the University of Miami in Coral Gables say. One possible reason why: Alcohol often goes hand in hand with making strong social connections, which tend to reduce stress.'

Reminds me of a dream I had once.

There were these huge mutant scorpions on Earth and occasionally people would have to defend themselves against them. They mostly kept to themselves, but occasionally one would wander in to a city and cause havoc. It reminded me of Starship Troopers, but set in today's world.

Scientists find fossil of super-sized bug

Sea scorpion, which measured 8 feet long, was once world's biggest bug

'LONDON - This was a bug that you'd have to look up to and definitely couldn't step on.

British scientists have stumbled across a fossilized claw, part of an ancient sea scorpion, that is of such large proportion it would make the entire creature the biggest bug ever.

How big? Bigger than you, about 2.5 meters, or 8 feet, long.

The discovery in 390-million-year-old rocks also suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were much larger in the past than previously thought, said Simon Braddy, a paleontologist from the University of Bristol and one of the study's three authors.

"This is an amazing discovery," Braddy said Tuesday.

"We have known for some time that the fossil record yields monster millipedes, super-sized scorpions, colossal cockroaches and jumbo dragonflies. But we never realized until now just how big some of these ancient creepy-crawlies were," he said.

The research found a type of sea scorpion that was almost half a meter longer than previous estimates and the largest one ever to have evolved.

The study, published online Tuesday in the Royal Society's journal Biology Letters, also means that before this sea scorpion became extinct it was much longer than today's average man is tall.

Prof. Jeorg W. Schneider, a paleontologist at Freiberg Mining Academy in southeastern Germany, praised the study, saying it provides new information about how big the ancient scorpions became.

"These 2.5-meter ones were the last of the giant scorpions," said Schneider, who was not involved in the study. "These scorpions were dominant for millions of years because they didn't have natural enemies. Eventually they were wiped out by large fish with jaws and teeth."

Braddy's partner paleontologist Markus Poschmann found the claw fossil several years ago in a quarry near Prum, Germany, that probably had once been an ancient estuary or swamp.

"I was loosening pieces of rock with a hammer and chisel when I suddenly realized there was a dark patch of organic matter on a freshly removed slab. After some cleaning I could identify this as a small part of a large claw," said Poschmann, another author of the study.

"Although I did not know if it was more complete or not, I decided to try and get it out. The pieces had to be cleaned separately, dried and then glued back together. It was then put into a white plaster jacket to stabilize it," he said.

Eurypterids, or ancient sea scorpions, are believed to be the extinct aquatic ancestors of today's scorpions and possibly all arachnids, a class of joint-legged, invertebrate animals, including spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks.

In an interview, Braddy said the fossil was from a Jaekelopterus Rhenaniae, a kind of scorpion that lived only in Germany for about 10 million years, about 400 million years ago.

He said some geologists believe that gigantic sea scorpions evolved due to higher levels of oxygen in the atmosphere in the past. Others suspect they evolved in an "arms race" alongside their likely prey, fish that had armor on their outer bodies.

Braddy said the sea scorpions also were cannibals that fought and ate one other, so it helped to be as big as they could be.

"The competition between this scorpion and its prey was probably like a nuclear standoff, an effort to have the biggest weapon," he said. "Hundreds of millions of years ago, these sea scorpions had the upper hand over vertebrates — backboned animals like ourselves."

That competition ended a long time ago.

But Braddy said the next time you swat a fly or squish a spider at home "think about the insects that lived long ago. You wouldn't want to swat one of those."'