coquina

This same thing happened on another forum in which I particpate, the following day when I went there, there was an obnoxious cartoon that said the site had been hacked and shut down by the "boys from Brazil". I sure hope nothing like that is happening here.

http://www.infoaging.org/b-tel-home.html Many things play a part in cancer - but here is my hypothesis. Cells have a limited number of telomeres, and they are used each time the cell has to reproduce. A toxic substance kills cells which causes the remaining ones to have to reproduce more frequently than normal, using up the telomeres prematurely. As the telomeres shorten, and the entire number of replicatable cells decreases, the body receives a message that it needs to be able to make more cells - by hook or crook, so to speak. The cells receive a message to start making telomerase, these cells begin to replicate wildly, and just by the increasing of the odds, are more likely to have mutations that cause them to become cancerous. The other thing I have read about cancer is about tumor angiogenisis. When the tumor gets to a critical mass, it starts making its own blood vessels, so that it is able to provide nutrients and oxygen to the malignant cells. Once this happens, the malignant cells are able to travel through the blood stream and the cancer spreads.

The earth may spin a tiny bit faster for a little while, but when mass is subducted one place it is extruded somewhere else. That is why the earth has stayed to same size for so long, and why there are only a very few rocks on the earth that are truly ancient. The rest of them have been subducted into the mantle and recycled. For example the oceanic plate off South America is subducted beneath the landmass - taking the ooze from the ocean floor with it. When it reaches a sufficient depth, the water in it turns to steam, which causes volcanoes to form along the coastline - ie, the Andes, and in North America, the Cascades. However, the major sites of rifting and extrusion are at the mid oceanic ridges where new oceanic crust is continually being formed.

Did this quake cause them to grow significantly? If there was a rupture in the plate off Sumatra, causing it to shift north, would this cause increased subduction at the northern boundary - raising the Himalayas significantly higher? I found this - http://www.virtualexplorer.com.au/2003/12/7/html/ But I'm not that familiar with the structural geology of the area - only that the Himalayas are still rising. I wonder if this quake caused them to take a significant jump. They've put a GPS on the summit of Everest - won't it be interesting to see if data shows a significant movement. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1511/is_5_21/ai_61692486 http://www.gisdevelopment.net/proceedings/asiangps/2002/overview/cds002pf.htm This graphic is particularly interesting: http://departments.oxy.edu/biology/bbraker/courses/bio105/images/15.3A,B%20Earth's%20crustal%20plat.JPG Note the locations of the words split developing.

Below is a quote from this site: http://sickle.bwh.harvard.edu/malaria_sickle.html You need to go to the site and look at the figures.

Bettina - I bet a lot of those "old people" are "involuntarily unspoused" - as I am. Music brings back memories - every time I hear Jimmy Buffet I remember the week my husband and I spent "cruisin' the islands, fishin' the pilin's and drinking green label each day." We had taken care of aging parents our whole lives and we said that the day we could retire, we were going to sell everything and travel, and that nobody would see anything of us but a dustrail or a wake, depending on whether we were in the motor home or on the boat. He never got the chance to do that. I sing in the church choir too - and our contata contained "Oh Holy Night" - I looked down into the congregation into a group of people who mostly grew up "working the water" - fishing, crabbing, and oystering. Hard, hard work that gave them wrinkles before their time. I saw plenty of tears running down those wrinkles when that song was sung, and those guys are as tough as they come. Christmas is a very difficult time of year for people who have lost their loved ones - New Year's Eve is even worse. The last place I want to be that night is in a room where everyone has someone to kiss at midnight, except me. Luckily, I have a dear friend who is a widower, and we will be spending it together - having dinner, and watching a movie, and sharing memories between us of happier times.

I wonder if it has anything to do with variations in the earth's magnetism. Many animals are capable of magnetoreception: http://soma.npa.uiuc.edu/courses/physl490b/models/magnetoreception/magnetoreception.html Wouldn't the shifting of plates during an earthquake interfere with the earth's magnetic field? BTW - ophie - have you heard of "earthquake lights"? http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf074/sf074g14.htm If there is enough energy rising from the ground to cause a luminosity - there must be other forms of energy that we are not able to discern. Maybe the animals can. I read that a lot of studies were done in Japan and China to test how animals predicted earthquakes - but, for one thing, their "fight or flight" response is triggered much more easily. While the human stands there gaping with a "WTF?" look on his face - the animal has already started to run.

Women are the child-bearers, but they don't have to be the exclusive child-carers. I think that if a man and woman decide to have a child, the should make arrangements equally regarding its care. Both genders of children will do better if both parents take an active role in child rearing. When the parents are doing work around the house, they ought to invite (and from time to time insist), that the children help. Sons and daughters will both be better off if they both know how to sew on a button or fix a flat.

The tsunami that has caused so many deaths in Maylasia would be a very small ripple in comparison. The bolide that struck the area where the Chesapeake is now located sent a tsunami to the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains - 180 miles away.

Regarding neural pathways - my mother was a classically trained pianist and organist. She could remember learning to read but she could not remember learning to play. (Her father was a very accomplished organist who gave recitals all over the British Isles, including Westminster Abby.) Have you ever watched and organist play - one hand going on the top manual, the other on the bottom, and both feet playing the pedals - reaching up to change the stops (the buttons which make the organ sound like an oboe or a trumpet.)? Mother had a very serious stroke, but recovered with only a slight limp. Her neurosurgeon couldn't figure out why her right side wasn't more seriously affected - until I told him about the organ playing. Mother had already trained much more of her brain than most people ever use. When she broke her hip at age 95, they gave her some mental tasks to figure out whether they should attempt to do surgery or just let her remain bedridden - they brought her a tray with 30 items on it - she not only remembered all 30 items, but where each one was placed on the tray. My grandson was having problems with multiplication, and I taught him the same way my dad taught me - by having him arrange blocks in rows. I think one of the hardest things about teaching a classroom is that you don't have time to wait and let kids think things through. When grandson was about 4 he asked me about a nautical chart. I was showing him that the blue represented water, the yellow land and the red lines were roads. Then I showed him a place where a red line crossed from yellow, over blue and back to yellow and asked him what it was. He pondered it for a couple of minutes, then looked up at me with his eyes just shining and said, "It's a bridge, grandma!" I think teaching has suffered, because so much of it involves the teacher at the head of the class sending information out. Even when she asks a question, the child might be able to answer, if he is given enough time and doesn't feel pressure from the other kids in the group. Their brains are like sponges - they have to soak in the information. The teacher can't unscrew the top of their heads and pour it in. One last anecdote about reading. We took our grandson camping with us - he asked me what a sign said - I said - you try to figure it out. I'm going to dump the trash - when I come back, if you still don't know, I'll tell you. When I came back, there was that big grin and flashing blue eyes - when I asked him what the sign said he replied, "Flush water, do not drink." (It was at the sewage pump out station.) He was about 2nd grade, so I thought it was pretty good that he could figure out "flush" and "drink"

I don't know that an early warning system would have made much difference in this situation - but if one is implemented it must be accompanied by drills and education so that the populace knows what evacuation route to take. I live in an area that is subject to being hit by hurricanes - we have days to prepare to evacuate, and yet still, the roads are hopelessly clogged. With only twenty minutes or so of warning, I'm afraid as many people would have been trampled to death as were drowned. I have seen some programs about tsunami prone cities in Japan that have built extensive sea walls and flood gate systems - I don't know that any of them have every been put to the test.

I was lucky ... that my mom didn't have any boys. I am quite sure that if my dad had a son I wouldn't be where I am now. (He was, in many of his opinions, an oinker to the max.) I took those spatial tests too. All those flattened shapes - one had to tell them what it would look like folded. Aced them. In 1966, the guidance councilor told me that "if I were a man, she would recommend that I go into engineering" she didn't know what the heck to do with me. IMHO - what has to happen is that students should be exposed to hands on jobs early. It's a problem, what with the child labor laws, my insurance could be canceled if I even allowed a young person in the machinery areas. Machines are dangerous - but they are no darned worse than automobiles. Somehow, practicality has to outweigh absurdity. BTW - I used to keep my nails "man-short". I now make a practice of having them professionally done. Not long and dagger-like, but shaped and just a little longer than the ends of my fingers. At the moment, in honor of the holidays, I have gold polish with glitter on top. Usually - I go for the very neutral tones. Regardless, I enjoy showing my hands to someone who thinks "blue collar work" equates to dirt under the fingernails. So many erroneous preconceptions - how do we dispell them???

Does Bawdsey ring a bell? http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/restoration/profiles/?15 Bawdsey is the place I visited when I went to England. Did your dad do any work there? My dad worked on the Ranger - the first aircraft carrier to have radar.

Look at this image: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4125481.stm#map When an earthquake like this occurs, is only one huge tsunami generated, or are there several, like ripples formed when you throw a rock in a pond. If the latter is the case, the tsnuamis must have piled up one on top of the other, because the water had no where to go.

Another big problem about getting women (and men) to be interested in "the trades" is that in the US, the quality of a high school is graded on how many people are accepted into a college. (Not on how many graduate from said college - one just has to get in.) Therefore - guidance councilors push their stundents towards college, even though some of them are not good candidates for it. Of course - this happens even more often with women students than it does with men. Many students go to college, and a lot of them flunk out - more of them come out with a degree in a profession that is so flooded with qualified people, that they cannot earn a decent living. What is really sad, is that parents waste a bundle of money on a college education that turns out to be virtually worthless, while if a person went into a trade and becomes an apprentice, he is paid to learn. Machine shop apprentices learn on the job in the shop and go to school a couple of nights a week to learn blueprint reading, shop math, CAD/CAM (computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing), some metallurgy, and some physics. The employer usually pays for the classes. A journeyman machinist must be very intelligent and motivated to learn these skills. There is absolutely no reason that a woman cannot be just as successful in the trade as a man. Further - if one decides to further one's education, going on to earn an engineering degree, or a certificate in Project Management, makes one a highly desired commodity. I went to a meeting at the vocational education section of our local community college. The director has asked me to go with him to talk to the students at local high schools - especially young women, about what a machinist does and what kind of job they can expect to get when they become a journeyman.... and to encourage them to enter the trade. OK - I'm off my soapbox.

I posted a thread under news, but it hasn't showed up. I gave links to wire service reports. Any - so far 3,800 confirmed dead. Do we have any members in that part of the world. Hope everyone is OK.

Over 3,500 confirmed dead as of this point. USGS Earthquake Hazards site: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/ Drudge report: http://www.drudgereport.com/ A/P wire: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBVC24673E.html http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INDONESIA_EARTHQUAKE?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Sky news: http://www.sky.com/skynews/home Update: Over 120,000 reported dead.

You might consider straw bale construction to conserve energy: http://www.txses.org/epsea/straw.html In what part of the world will this house be situated - so much depends on hours of daylight and typical amount of cloud cover for solar to be efficient. I know a woman who is an ecologist. She is fixing to build a straw bale home on the side of a mountain in western Virginia. It will have a trussed roof, covered with a waterproof membrane, then planted with sod.

Jamestown, Virginia - 1st permanent English settlement in the New World Williamsburg, VA - Home of the College of William and Mary - 2nd oldest College in America Yorktown, Virginia (with humble apologies to the Brits at the site) where the American Revolutionary war was won. All within 30 miles of where I live. Oh - yeah - 400' beneath me - The Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater - 2nd largest crater in America.

I have several friends who are Ob-Gyn's - they have been practicing for many years. I asked them about this. They told me they had never performed a PBA, nor seen one done. They also said the most common reason for performing it is when the child is hydrocephalic and gets stuck in the birth canal and there is no other way to get it out. Due to ultrasound, this very rarely happens any more. I approve of abortion when it is done as soon as the woman learns she is pregnant and before the end of the first trimester. I think it is better to eliminate an embryo than to bring an unwanted and unloved child into the world. Think about it - why would a woman want to carry a baby almost to term and then abort it? I guess the only logical explanation would be a teenager who hoped to keep her pregnancy hidden and managed to do so until her parents found out late in the pregnancy. So - suppose the mother is a 12 or 13 year old child - does she have the right to make that decision? Do her parents have the right to make it for her? In our town, a college student managed to hide her pregnancy from all around her, delivered a healthy infant, and left it on the window sill to die. Several years ago, a teenager delivered a baby in a high school bathroom and went back to the dance. (I still can't figure that one out - I've had a child, and the last thing I felt like doing was standing up. - the classic line when a man asks a woman what it feels like to give birth is to reply, "it's like pooping a watermelon.") Anyhow - leaving babies on windowsills and in dumpsters is illegal. But it doesn't stop people from doing it. These are the kind of people who will seek PBA's unless something is terribly wrong with the mother or the child. I know of two cases when the fetus died just a few days prior to full term. In both cases the mother was given labor inducing drugs and had a vaginal delivery. For both of those women, it was the most difficult thing they ever had to do - to go through all that agony to deliver a dead child. I would be in favor of a PBA if the child was already dead and dissecting it in utero would make the delivery easier and keep the woman from having to have a C-section. One of the people this happened to was the wife of a dear friend of mine, who wife has now died of cancer. He was with her in the delivery room - this happened years ago, but he still cried when he told me about it. He has terrible memories and nightmares about the incident. If a PBA could have been done to eliminate that kind of agony - I think it should have been done, with the mother anesthetized and the father not present.

Hope you and your families all have a great day.

I have been where you are. My God, I think I have been everywhere and done eveything in the over 50 years I have lived on earth. Listen to me - read what I write... I too thought my life was hopeless... I O'D'd and survived. My God - I am so glad I did. I cannot begin to tell you the wonderful things that happened after that. Every time one happened, I remembered to say to myself "Aren't you glad you weren't successful in killing yourself, you would have missed this?" Vijun - I'm going to be out for awhile, but I will check when I get back. I am facing the holidays alone too. All of my family are now dead. If you want to talk, PM me and I will give you a way to contact me. Do not give up! I know you don't believe it now, but there is a wonderful, magnificent world out there, waiting for you to discover it. I know - I have been to hell and back, including waking up to find my husband of 31 years dead beside me in bed. I am not feeding you a trite line of bull shit. Please trust me.

I think this is the most important part of being able to choose your family physician (or group) that will interact with your physical problems throughout your life. When a doctor has been treating a patient for 30 years, s/he knows you as well as your family does, and can talk to you in the same manner. This can't happen in a situation where group coverage dictates you see the "doc du jour" - the guy doesn't know diddly about you, your personality, or whether you prefer quality of quantity of life. My mother's doc was our family doc, and my friend. When push came to shove, we together decided not to prolong an immensely painful situation that was destined to the same outcome. It is a terrible, terrible shame, that more people cannot have that same relationship with their family doctor. As far as I'm concerned "playing God" doesn't come into it. A doc "plays God" (I'm not criticizing, please understand) when s/he recommends a cutting edge technology that may or may not extend a person's life. There has to be a point that a patient and doc come to the understanding that more treatment is fruitless. When that point comes, the decision to be made is whether the patient endures the end cold turkey, or benefits from whatever medicines are available to alleviate pain and suffering.

I am 55, been there, done that, got every kind of shirt you can imagine. I f*ked up, big time. Regardless, I made my life worth living. I don't know how much I can improve your life, but I am willing to give you perspective. Honest to God, from my own experience, perspective. Now - you must realize that from "my own experience" doesn't mean that it is right for you. You have to decide that for yourselves. I will tell you that my own mother lived to be 95. She had a marvelous mind and she taught me sooooo... very much. She died last year and I wish I had her with me now. When I was in high school, she said the same things, but I didn't listen. When I got older, and had the perspective of an adult, I realized just how sage her advice was. So, you see, you are not getting just the benefit of what I learned from the school of hard knocks, but what my mom and dad learned too. This is my Christmas gift to you all. I don't have all the answers, but I will answer you to the best of my ability and research your questions. No holds barred. Merry Christmas everyone.