I've been bad with posts lately because I've been reading a lot lately and this economic depression is starting to really hit me right now. I have run across a lot of really cool articles lately and I've been feeling a little guilty that I haven't been posting them. The link on this post is about 7 ways music affects your body.
I can speak from experience about music and its affect on your memory. When I go to sleep I listen to a playlist I've made of songs that are slow and that I really love. Most of it is lyrically kind of advanced and features an orchestra along with a few Mozart pieces (my favorite composer). When I'm lying in the dark with my headphones on for an hour I swear my nerves start to twitch in a funny way through out my body, my breathing gets heavy, and I start to recall memories that had been forgotten. If I fall asleep before I pull my headphones off I have really vivid dreams too. I don't doubt any of these things at all.
Too bad the medical industry is set up the way it is, because if they can't make a profit off of it they won't study it much. I would also link to the Musical Therapy documentary I uploaded on YouTube too, but it was taken down by the BBC or PBS. If you can find it, it is about the latest book from the guy who wrote and inspired "Awakenings" with Robin Williams. I'm not sure if we've talked about this already or not. Anyhow, if you're interested in this subject, then you'll likely appreciate this link. Do you have any stories to share about music in this sense? I'd love to here them.
I was at New Scientist a few minutes ago reading this article about animals using drugs which said the following:
"The marsupials of Tasmania have found a means of passing the time on Australia's island state that could also explain mysterious local crop circles. Wallabies have been munching the poppies grown for opium by the pharmaceutical industry.
"We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles," the attorney general was quoted in The Mercury newspaper."
Which somehow lead to me being on YouTube and running across the funniest man I've ever seen talking about how dangerous Australia is because of it's wildlife, as seen below.
If you watch this video of Neil deGrasse Tyson discussing Apophis, an asteroid that would make a 3 mile deep whole in the Pacific that was 3 miles across off the coast of Santa Monica, be sure to watch the second video that I think shows the effect he is talking about (I think). It is a drop of water filmed at high speed, doing something you would never expect it to do. I just happened to see the second video back in November and instantly thought about it when he mentioned the multiples. It's almost fractal.
Phantom limbs are a fascination of mine. There is a neuroscientist, Dr. Ramaschaundran, who specializes in this phenomenon and has several documentaries if you are interested. I likely spelled his name wrong. I just remember how it sounds because I had an economics professor with the same name. This story is 100% true. Click the headline to go to the article.
Because you are likely as cynical as I am, you will notice the date on that article is April 1st. Here is a link to the same story in Scientific American. This wasn't another BBC Spaghetti Tree Hoax again.
In my humble opinion, meditation is something that billions of dollars should be allocated to study. Since Eli Lilly can't find a way to charge us for what we do in our own homes, I suspect that will never happen. I had read about children who were shown an animated video about how the immune system worked and were taught to meditate were able to fight off infection at an exponentially improved rate.
This is a subject I am very interested in, but actual data is kind of hard to find. If you ever run across studies or unbiased reporting please send me the links.
Here in the midwest the past couple of years we've had a couple thunder snow events in the winter and I thought that snowy thunderstorms with lightening and all was weird and rare. I ran across this information at the National Weather Service that describes snow rollers:
"Unique combination of snow, wind, temperature and moisture needed to create them. They form with light but sticky snow and strong (but not too strong) winds. Some snow rollers are formed by gravity (i.e. rolling down a hill), but in this case, the snow rollers were generated by the wind."
I guess these are the winter's version of tumbleweed. These photos were taken by Tim Tevebaugh in Idaho. More here including more photos. I found a YouTube video of someone who found some snow rollers somewhere, but they didn't say where. That can be seen here. Fascinating stuff, huh?
I'm writing this post to help inform you guys specifically. So you will know a little more about the situation when this confronts you in reality. Mark my words, it will. From here on out I will be referring to Swine Flu as Novel H1N1, a strain of Influenza A, per request. It is the correct label after all.
I know everyone is liberal with the skepticism on the issue, but approach this comparison with an open mind: It is like living in New Orleans and Katrina is headed towards you. It is just a medium storm at first so you have the option of riding it out and you aren't really sure if it is going to hit NoLa or not. These things are unpredictable... That is where Novel H1N1 is right now. It is coming and the nervousness you are sensing from everyone else is just in preparation. This storm could climb to a category 5 and could hit us head on. Please don't dismiss it.
Federal authorities plan to launch a massive campaign in the coming weeks to convince Americans to get the swine flu vaccine and to erase any public skepticism about the flu's danger and the safety of immunizations.
This video is the best introduction to the current state of things. It is a production from Nova in their series Nova Science Now (the best tv show on earth). This was from 2006 when Avian Flu was a threat and everyone was scared. The whole segment is about the 1918 H1N1 Pandemic though. They are talking about a strain of the same virus and explain what happened then, and more importantly they discus the physiology of viruses. It also has the best description of hemagglutinin and neuraminidase I have ever seen. I wish I had seen it before I took virology.... So you have all that information at your finger tips now. You'll also learn about how it is spread and what the symptoms are.
It is separated into 2 parts, the second part starts off with excellent animation describing the importance of the "H" and "N"s. Keep in mind when you are watching this that the 1918 flu pandemic they are talking about was a similar Influenza A strain. They just keep referring to it as the 1918 flu.
I know a lot of people are paranoid about the vaccine due to mercury and other preservatives but I'm going to let you come to your own conclusions. I will tell you that scientists are questioning whether or not older generations really need it. They think it might be possible that immunity may have already been instilled in people from the Russian Flu (1946-1957) and then again from the late 70's with the H1N1 outbreak. Even if you didn't get sick, you may have had the vaccine to these flus which were similar Influenza A strains. Read more here.
One thing I don't like about the vaccine is the fact that it isn't going through a proper trial phase. I know there is no time, but by the time they find out if there are severe or even lethal side effects, thousands of people will already have had the shot. Another thing with the vaccine that you can't really count on, is by the time you get it, the sample they produced the vaccine with may not even be helpful in protecting you anymore. There is a real possibility that by the time it hits here badly, it may have mutated. Rendering the vaccine useless against this specific threat. Mutations are what make dealing with viruses in general so hard for medicine. -- A quick side-note, there is hope that causing HIV to hyper-mutate that it may destroy itself. That is being studied right now and if it is successful, it will have applications with every virus that ails us.
You should also know that the current strain of Influenza A, Novel H1N1, is resistant to a lot of stuff, which is one of the reasons why it is particularly dangerous. For example the CDC is stating that 13% of cases are Tamiflu resistant, which is a considerable change from the normal 1% resistance seen in Influenza A in the past. More here. It has been circulating more in the southern hemisphere from what I've been told, since it is winter there now. Which is where a lot of case studies will likely be coming from. Thankfully we have this time advantage and we aren't going to be as ignorant as they are now.
To address the skepticism that this is fear mongering and the media getting everyone freaked out, I will try to counter it with pointing out that this is a story that has been driven by the CDC and WHO. Every other scare tactic used against us has been originated and driven by the media. This information is coming directly from liberal people who are basing their claims in fact. Even when they address the issue of predicting the spread, they are getting the information from people like Nate Silver. More here and here.
One last thing. The FDA and FTC have issued a statement about fraudulent products from slimy people trying to take advantage of the situation. My guess is there are going to be lots and lots of scams playing on peoples' fear over this flu season. The FTC is ready to investigate and prosecute these people as they bubble to the surface. Press release here.
There seemed to be a lot more information I wanted to get across, but I can't seem to get this post right. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments and I will try to answer. Magnolia is a registered nurse so she might know the answers too.
Please see your doctor to discuss whether or not you should get the vaccine. Just don't walk in there ignorant. Remember it is completely possible for this to miss us. Just like it was possible for Katrina to swing a louis and head to Texas. I hope this is helpful, and didn't just scare anyone.
I was going to post about the fact that Mars was going to be at the closest position to Earth, 2 days before my birthday based on information that my mom gave. So I went get the specifics about Mars being as large as the moon on August 27th, but I found out this is a cyber hoax. Mars was at its closest point in 2003 and I actually remember smoking on my rear balcony in Indianapolis with my then best friend. I am pretty sure there was a comet at the same time. Hail bop? Did I just make that up? I may be thinking about that Hanson song.
Given that this is a hoax, I decided to still author a post on the same topic: Astronomy. -BTW that was the hardest class I've ever taken- The next total solar eclipse will be on 21 August 2017. It is nearly exactly 8 years away (counting fingers). This will be a total eclipse in the lower 48, folks! Here are some brief facts about this very special event:
The G-Spot will be in/at Christian Co., KY for 2 minutes and 40 seconds.
This is the first to sweep the entire country since 19-fucking-18!
The next to span our continent will be 8 April 2024.
On a personal note, this is 1 of 2 things I decided years ago that I needed to see before I die. The other being Macchu Pichu in Peru. So God can't let me pass until 21 August 2017 in the evening. It just wouldn't be the Christian thing to do.
Does anyone else have something they want to do or a place they want to go to before their ticket is up? This could make for very interesting conversation. Here is a map of the path of 2017 Solar Eclipse. It looks like it is going to come right over you Helen! Kerry aren't you in Washington too? Hopefully at that time I'll be in Portland myself, but I will travel to bumfuck, KY for this.
I've been bad with posts lately because I've been reading a lot lately and this economic depression is starting to really hit me right now. I have run across a lot of really cool articles lately and I've been feeling a little guilty that I haven't been posting them. The link on this post is about 7 ways music affects your body. 
