Apparently gay people should have headaches. That's why the right-wingers are pissed at the folks at Tylenol PM, for advertising in The Advocate. But maybe it's okay for queers to buy the generic equivalent? See, I'd think we should all be boycotting Tylenol for taking drugs that people can buy at much lower cost, putting them into a fancy box, and charging three times as much for them.
A survey of troops returning from the Iraq war found 30 percent had developed mental health problems three to four months after coming home, the Army's surgeon general said Thursday.Thank you, Bush administration, for insuring me job security for the next fifty years.
Frist thinks stem cells are cool now, proving that even Harvard-trained transplant surgeons can pull their heads out of their asses every once in a while.
Since schizophrenia and the reward system isn't enough, D2 may now play a huge role in depression therapies as well:The brain's mood, reward, and motivation circuits are mainly governed by dopamine and have been regarded as potential alternative targets for treating depression. Many of these functions are integrated by the medium spiny neurons of the striatum, which lie below the cortex of the brain and respond to dopamine. Dopamine exerts its function in target cells through five known subtypes of dopamine receptors to regulate motor control, stereotypic behaviors, arousal, mood, motivation, and endocrine function. Impairment in the function of dopamine D2 receptor is implicated in various neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia and drug addiction.
I question somewhat whether therapies targeted specifically to dopamine pathways will be any more effective than current treatments, since neurotransmitters do not live on islands. Serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine all live in the same neighborhood, and their regulation seems likely related to one another. And given that SSRIs obviously do not actually work because they are SSRIs, I figure we might already be targeting dopaminergic pathways without even realizing it. Still, three cheers for dopamine!
Here is a story of a Utah woman who's won her right to express her love of gays on her car bumper. What will they come up with next?
Best prevention of metastasis? Blow up all the avenues leading out of a tumor. Cool stuff.
Those of you not familiar with the Onion's What Do You Think Section might find these offensive, but I think they're hillarious.
Dalia Lofton (Systems Analyst) says "The sad thing is, London may now develop anti-Pakistani racism for the first time in its history."
Carolyn Allen (Fire Inspector) says "Are the Brits flying into a blind rage and invading an oil-producing country for no reason? Well, why not?"
Rodney Price (Daycare Operator) says "As an Irishman, I think whoever's behind this should be found and punished if it isn't us."
As I've been accepted to study theology at the University of Oxford this fall, I've taken the time to go through my old journals and correspondance from my previous stint across the water, and to share a bit on my blog.
This week I'm reminescing about how my Christian faith brought me to turn left on the American political spectrum. Some readers (and blog members!) who would like to give up on religious folks as hopelessly red-state bigots might find it interesting...
(Not that I was, mind you, a die-hard Republican, or a bigot!)
Many of the British people apparently just don't think religion in general or Christianity in particular has any meaning to offer their lives.Next week: Why I liked Kinsey.
Frankly, given all the people who wander around preaching about sin, hell, heaven and judgment all the time, I can understand that. I mean, does anyone under fifty stop to think about heaven unless they’re being told they should?
Reuters reported early Monday that Osama bin Laden had been spotted by senior intelligence officials outside the NFL franchise Miami Dolphins' training camp. The Saudi terrorist appeared to be in good spirits and apparently apologized to his fellow teammates. He is also quoted as saying that he no longer smokes marijuana.
Clinton expresses regret in Rwanda:"I express regret for my personal failure," he said before touring the museum. "I think it faithfully, honestly, painfully presents the truth of the Rwandan genocide," he told reporters after seeing the museum which his Clinton Foundation partially funded.
I just can't see Bush doing this in 8 years, touring Iraq and apologizing for personal failures. I'm not saying Iraq is Rwanda or genocide, but I think it's sad that I live in a world where it is truly shocking to hear a president admit a mistake. Anyway, if anyone wants to put money on the whole Bush regret thing just let me know. I'll even give you 10 years and 2 to 1 odds.
When my poor Camry died, I fought long and heard with myself whether to be a good liberal and buy a Prius or to be a good democrat and buy a CRV. The Michigan weather and the need for Derby cage-space (and finally the absurd insurance premiums) pushed me towards the CRV, but the hybrid tax credits made it a pretty hard fought battle in my head. And the tax credits made sense, as tax credits are a wonderful way for the government to encourage certain healthy behavior without infringing upon anyone's right to choose in the free market.The 2005 Honda Accord hybrid gets about the same miles per gallon as the basic four-cylinder model, according to a review by Consumer Reports, a car-buyer's guide, and it saves only about two miles a gallon compared with the V-6 model on which it is based. Thanks to the hybrid technology, though, it accelerates better.
Now, I think it's pretty cool that someone could buy a 4-cylinder with a hybrid engine and get the same power as a 6-cylinder engine, but I don't know if someone deserves the same tax credit as someone buying a fuel efficient commuter vehicle. Time to tweak, one way or another.
Hybrid technology, it seems, is being used in much the same way as earlier under-the-hood innovations that increased gasoline efficiency: to satisfy the American appetite for acceleration and bulk.
Despite the use of hybrids to achieve better performance with about the same fuel economy, consumers who buy the cars continue to get a tax credit that the Internal Revenue Service allows under a "clean fuels" program that does not take fuel savings into account.
An interesting article about a gay medical student from Atlanta who's now being charged with three counts of reckless felony and possibly 10 years in prison for having consensual unprotected sex without informing his partners he's HIV positive. The article definitely brings up a few questions about who should be responsible for the HIV epidemic. Should the government--particularly an openly homophobic one--intervene in such manners? While it is undeniably tragic that this guy infected partners who didn't know he was HIV+, doesn't it take two to engage in consensual unprotected sex? Just as HIV positive individuals should feel responsible for disclosing their status, shouldn't HIV negative persons also be responsible for protecting their health? I don't mean to sound completely insensitive towards the HIV- partners who were deceived and infected, but creating a law requiring HIV+ individuals to disclose their status won't do anything I don't think except encourage HIV- individuals to put the responsibility of their health in other people's hands.
Liberal groups, however, say Roberts has taken positions in cases involving free speech and religious liberty that endanger those rights. Abortion rights groups allege that Roberts is hostile to women's reproductive freedom and cite a brief he co-wrote in 1990 that suggested the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 high court decision that legalized abortion.He's no Roy Moore. He's no Alberto Gonzalez. He doesn't even sound like an Anton Scalia. He may, in fact, be one of the more reasonable choices for a 'conservative' nominee. Another portion of the same article is a little more encouraging:
"The court's conclusion in Roe that there is a fundamental right to an abortion ... finds no support in the text, structure or history of the Constitution," the brief said.
Roberts' nomination to the appellate court attracted support from both sites of the ideological spectrum. Some 126 members of the District of Columbia Bar, including officials of the Clinton administration, signed a letter urging his confirmation. The letter said Roberts was one of the "very best and most highly respected appellate lawyers in the nation" and that his reputation as a "brilliant writer and oral advocate" was well deserved.So we'll see whether, as a Supreme Court Justice, if bringing down Roe would become a priority or not. Scanning the liberal 'sphere quickly, I'm guessing that this guy's history of anti-abortion activity will probably prove to piss me off royally. But my official stance as of now: could've been worse.
Roberts's name appears on the government's brief defending the gag rule under which federally funded family-planning clinics were barred from offering abortion counseling. The brief (Rust v. Sullivan) argued in passing, as the Bush administration contended at the time, that Roe v. Wade should be overturned. In another case, Mr. Roberts argued for the government that the activities of abortion protesters did not constitute discrimination against women. (Washington Post, June 7, 2001)Dickhead.
I won't give any plot spoilers, but after 10.5 hrs I've just finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was awesome! If you haven't picked up your copy yet, what are you waiting for?!?!?!
Good things about this book: the plot moves fast! Harry finally stops complaining all the time (that was definately annoying in book 5) and it definately plays with your emotions in a stronger way than any of the previous 5 books have. Oh yea, and the two big secrets (who dies and who's the half-blooded prince) aren't revealed until after page 600, so just keep reading!!! And once you think you've gotten all the little twists figured out, J.K. Rowling throws one more at you to keep you on the edge for a few more years... when does book 7 come out again?
My assessment: Definately a better use of my time than studying OB/GYN all day :)
Garrett Update: check out Mugglenet for all your HP needs.
