Friday, February 23, 2007

Kamikaze Research

Has anyone got any ideas for some (dangerous) research I can personally do?

Got the idea from people who have done this in the past - specifically the first people who made links between diet and health...e.g.

Dr William Stark - in 1769, Stark began a series of dietary studies in which he was his own subject. At the start of his 24 experiments, he was a healthy, 6-foot young man.
In his first experiment, Stark ate bread and water with a little sugar for 31 days. Felt dull and listless. He consumed a more varied diet for a few weeks. When he felt better, however, the experiments resumed. Gradually, he added other foods to this regimen, one at a time. He added olive oil, milk, roast goose, boiled beef, fat, figs, and veal. After the first two months, his gums were red and swollen, and they bled when pressure was put on them. Stark did consider testing the effects that fresh fruits and vegetables would have on his health, but decided instead on honey puddings and Cheshire cheese.
After 8 months of experimenting, Stark died of scurvy in 1770, aged 29. He did not discover anything new about scurvy, but, through his experiments and record-keeping skills, he showed to what extent human scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C in the diet. James Carmichael Smyth published Stark's experiments eighteen years after his death.

Dr Joseph Goldberger - In 1914, Goldberger was asked by the US Surgeon General to investigate pellagra, an endemic disease in the Southern US.
Goldberger's theory was that pellagra was associated with diet. The medical world insisted on it being infectious.
So he deliberately caused some prisoners to contract pellagra by restricting their diet.
Still no-one believed him.
So he tried to give himself pellagra by ingesting the mucus, blood, faeces and scabs of infected people, he even injected his wife, but couldn't contract the disease.
Still no-one believed him.
So he gave it to his dogs. Because they hated the traditional southern food, he added yeast to their diet. This was the answer...niacin. Now niacin is in all flour.

Victor Herbert - 1959 - a haematologist who experimented on a strict diet of boiled chicken, frankfurters, marshmallows and jelly (i.e. no folic acid) and gave himself amenia in 5 months. Realised it was a lack of potassium - just before he dies he takes potassium and recovers in 48 hours. Folic acid now compulsory in flour in many countries.

Hugh Sinclair - 1956 - after studying the Eskimo diet, published a paper arguing that it was too little fat not too much that caused heart disease. Was mocked for this idea.
For the next 20 years he set up a nutritional institute and then in 1976 performed the Eskimo diet (of seafood, seal liver and blubber) on himself. Like the Eskimos increased his risk of haemophilia and showed that the Omega 3 in essential fatty acids was vital.

Any ideas for something I could do?

Friday, February 16, 2007

Family films girl fighting baby brother!

4 women in Plymouth forced 2 toddlers to fight each other to fight each other while they filmed it.
The film shows a sobbing 2-year old boy in a nappy being punched in the face by his 3-year old sister, while the women cajole him to fight back by saying "don't be a wimp" and calling him "a faggot".
One woman said: "I could not see any harm in toughening them up. I've done the same with my own children."

Question is: what would you do if you were the judge?
Forced sterilisation?
Nothing? It's a question of their own personal responsibility.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Monday, February 05, 2007

The disproportionate media coverage of religion

The Christian Research English Church Census, 2005 recorded just over 3 million people attended church in that year (and the numbers are falling fast). In the census of 2001 about 2.5 million people claimed to be either Muslim, Sikh, Hindu or Jewish. So I'd guestimate from those figures that about 8% of the population consider religion to be an important part of their lives. So why the fuck does it get so much media coverage? And why are we constantly given quotes and views from their representatives?

I appreciate that sometimes religion justifies some newsprint but we seem to be looking at it to play an active part in society even though it no longer plays an active role in the overwhelming majority of people's lives. I'm all for minorities having a voice but this is supposed to be a democracy. More people smoke cannabis than pursue religion but you don't see Howard Marks giving his view every time a moral issue springs up.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Social Scans

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_headline=give-pregnant-mums--social-scan-&method=full&objectid=18515937&siteid=50082-name_page.html

"PREGNANT women should be given a "social scan" to prevent their children growing up on the wrong side of the law.

This would be a risk assessment, looking at whether they have any debt problems, whether alcohol is a feature in their lives, is there someone in their life who is violent?
These all have significant effects on the ability of a mother to be a mother and on the child.


... many of society's most intractable social problems, including crime, drugs misuse, unemployment, poor skills and endemic unhappiness, are rooted in the experiences of children during their first five years of life."

And then what?
Forced adoptions at birth because the parents have negative equity, or even worse forced abortions?
ASBOs for children still in the womb?
Licenses for childbearing?

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Test tube meat

Can’t wait to tuck into lab grown meat in a couple of years…no animals being slaughtered, no land being wasted on greedy meat eaters, no BSE and best of all, reduced saturated fats and added omega oils – yum.

What is the fuss about? Willow trees used to cure headaches and now the molecular pattern is synthesised so we can just take a pill – our kids will laugh at our distaste - excuse the pun.

Build me the protein sheets, I say.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Socialism or death!

Much as I doubt the outcome of the revolution in Venezuela, I do in many ways admire the plucky Hugo Chavez. It's always interesting to watch someone impress themselves upon a nation, and indeed the globe. I fear it will end badly myself.

It is affordable on an oil windfall. The essential obstacle to socialism is motivation, and without the windfall it would become a paper display. But for those of us with the luxury to observe it from a distance it is comparative politics in the making. People will write about this experiment for decades to come.

So big up the revolutionaries... just not in my back yard. Even Blair is better than that kind of risk.

But what about the tourists going to support this revolution? Why is it that the stereotypes for leftsis and facists work so well, and why do they both love dictators?

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Racism is good for ratings

Is calling someone who is brown - ' the Indian' - a racist comment?
Is mimicking an Indian accent racist?

Other comments!
Put the scabs in her curry
Indians can't eat - thats why they are skinny!
Indians can only eat with their hands!
Indians cant cook, they get skinny from food poisening.
I hate that pakistani.

Ofcom have received 2000 complaints.

Yes, I am talking about Big Brother. And yes before you all start, I know that it is full of hideous caricatures - it is still exceptional this year in understanding the worse kind of 'lord of the flies' group bullying and racism. channel 4 - the high brow channel - love it. Their ratings are up. The radio and papers are talking about it.

As a British Asian, I am getting bored with this social experiment - a load of racist chavs picking on a bollywood actress and slowly pick her personality apart and totally assasinate her character.

yeah, yeah, i know what you are going to say - switch it off. i will now. watching it last night made me very sick and very angry.
very depressed.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

BNP and Sharia: match made in heaven

How come everyone is up in arms about the BNP ballerina being on a public payroll, but the government is happy to endorse faith schools – faith schools not only hold a belief in socio-political systems that differs from the mainstream, but they actually teach it to young people.

We’re just an utterly hypocritical society – we allow the BNP to exist, we believe that people are allowed to hold whatever view they want, and then we persecute them for doing so.

Instead of slamming this slightly divvy individual, surely we should be discussing the real merits of allowing fascist parties to exist in our strange democratic system. And if we allow the fascists to have a legitimate political party, why aren’t we allowing the Muslims to have a Sharia party? They are exactly the same: the BNP believe that many Brits should be expelled from the country. The Islamists believe that many Brits should not have the right to vote.

I vote for buying Sealand, expelling both the BNP and the UK Islamic Sharia Council there, and letting the dramas begin!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Rant : How do they get away with it?

Christ alive, am I the only one who HATES beyond hate the government endorsed filth peddling that goes on every time I switch the stinkin’ telebox on?? What am I on about? Fucking nicotine replacement treatments, that’s what.
I cannot believe that they are allowed to actively promote ‘using’ one of the most addictive drugs we know of to help people stop being hooked to exactly the same fookin drug. It’s ludicrous. Anyone who has stopped smoking using such treatments has quit in spite of them, not because of them.
The very way the advertisements are presented is an insult to our collective intelligence. All that “This will help you to break the habit” – what a load of SHITE. I am in the habit of driving on the left but when I go abroad I find that habit very easy to break. It’s the fuckin nicotine I’m addicted to you bastards, not the habit of smoking a cigarette. If it were then I’d smoke herbal fags all day long and leave the lung cancer ta very much. They know full well that most smokers using their therapies end up addicted to the bloody things and still smoke fags as well. They just don’t give a shit as long as they get paid.
Don’t get me wrong, I realise that all marketing is to some degree the spawn of satan (tongue firmly planted in cheek) but these nicotine patches etc really take the piss. If these treatments work, why the fuck aren’t they prescribing alcohol laced food products for alcoholics?

Apologies for the rant, I feel slightly better even though I’m down to my last pack of nicorette so I’d best get some more in quick…

Thursday, January 04, 2007

God tells of new 9/11

God (the supreme deity, 13.8 billion years old, favourite colour: indigo) has kindly informed US TV evangelist (and all-round good Christian) Pat Robertson that there will be another 9/11 style attack this year. It is unclear whether contact was made via phone, email, fax, dream, angels etc.

It will be similar to a nuclear attack and will be some time after September - God refused to specify a date, and claimed: "If I told you everything it wouldn't be any fun!"

Pat said: "Sorry, sometimes he's a bit of a cunt like that."

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Bush vs Mexicans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SaBxb8ZBQk
you'll piss yourself!

So long and thanks for all the funk

R.I.P James Brown.

I'll miss you and your freebasing, wife-beating ways!

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Bastard flyers

I just can't understand why these travellers at the airport are bitching!
Extreme weather is extreme weather - what the fuck are the airports supposed to do?? There isnt an airport in the world that could handle this fog.
Heathrow has set up marquees, put people in hotels, provided blankets, sleeping mats, hot drinks and food, childrens toys...and still flyers are whining. "I dont want to come on holiday and have to stand in a queue"
Oh really? Thanks for those words of wisdom - I'd never have guessed! Usually when I go on holiday I like to stand in a queue at the airport for a few days...maybe travel agencies should start asking customers if this is a requirement or not?
I can grumble and complain with the best of them but when we start calling for people to be sacked because of the weather we're taking the piss.
Get a grip and realise that shit happens!
Bastard flyers!
PS Obviously the real answer is that we need more than two runways at Heathrow (all Euro ones have 3, 4 or 5)...but I bet then it would be the same bastard flyers turning into tree-huggers and complaining about the bastard effect on the bastard environment.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Monoglot Europe: post-post English imperialism?

The European Union is adding 3 new languages to its official languages list next month, bringing the total of official European languages to 23.

What a charming celebration of diversity and a heart-warming tip of the hat to cultural difference. Diversity in language is a beautiful and emotional connection to history and nation. Languages are a stamp of heritage, intellectual and political development, a window into the values and aesthetics of a culture.

Languages cost the EU €1.1 billion last year in translation and interpretation costs. Is there not an opportunity-cost argument for balancing heart-warmth with pragmatism?

Everyone is learning English – in Europe and beyond, a quarter of the world in fact. How long can Brussels cling to its Francocentric inspired linguistic diversity policy before it all goes belly-up? What really is the point of translating everything into Irish? Would the Romanians not rather have more jobs, than EU documents in Romanian?

Am I being a complete Anglophone Anglophile? – well, I would probably be just as happy if we adopted French or German as our ‘working’ European language – at least that would make us self-obsessed English learn more languages, which would be a great thing for global cohesion and development overall! I think it is arrogant, stupid and sacrilegious that foreign languages are no longer compulsory in schools after the age of 14. However, for the sake of pragmatism and money well spent, English makes more sense as like it or not, it is also the first language of the USA as well as being the first choice for a second language world-wide: 20% of 5 year olds in Japan are enrolled on English language courses!

Correspondingly, why are we in the UK spending so much of our well-earned taxes on translation services for our new nationals that can’t be bothered to learn English? Even worse, why are we spending so much of our well-earned taxes on translation services for our OLD nationals that can’t be bothered to learn English? – the Bangladeshis have been here for over 30 years, we are well into the third generation! Why are we still pandering to their self-absorption? A friend of mine asked me only two weeks ago to help him find a translator to put the slogan “join our basketball club” into Bengali. But he was targeting teenage girls; how does such an exercise promote integration or engagement? It serves only to divide us further.

Two thirds of all EU documents are now drafted in English. This is a sad legacy of imperialism, but let’s look forward I say and focus on integration, development and cohesion. Let’s divert translation funds into providing language classes for all, English for all, and other languages for English speakers. There are many ways to celebrate diversity, spending money on vain translations is not one of them.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Why are Jews at the 'Holocaust Denial' conference?

Should these guys be lambasted for attending what has in the main, been promoted as an event that denies the holocaust or should they be commended for at least representing a Jewish view regardless of how narrow that may be?

Scanning the media, it seems most believe the conference to be a network of racists but the attendance of this small group of Orthodox Jews is a strange one. They have clearly stated they do not question the holocaust but believe the exploitation of it to justify the state of Israel as being against key Jewish teachings.

According to them, the Talmud teaches that believers may not use human force to create a Jewish state before the coming of the Messiah and therefore in the interests of lasting peace, should be dismantled.

Surely it's better to be part of the debate than just accuse these guys of treason?

Friday, December 15, 2006

People's Court?

We've all been bitching about ridiculous lengthy court battles, police inability to deal with issues immediately etc.
I saw some ex-UN negotiator General sort out that problem down in Billericay between the Gypsies and Residents.
Is there some way we/someone could set up a peoples court that citizens could pay a small amount to have their issue decided (they have to accept the decision, a la Judge Judy)?
Any ideas?

Was Diana murdered?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/news/newsbeat/061214_diana.shtml
I know we don't really give a shit on a personal level but we cant have MI6 bumping people of like the Al-Fayed suggests.
So: Do you believe the conspiracy theory that Diana/Dodi were murdered?
My vote: No.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

You Asked:

You asked me once what it was I want
but what I need is more prescient

I need to live your love expressed
comfortable, painful, beautiful

I believe that we are meant to be
I need you now and always to know

Life with any other is a lie
Built to hide the truth impossibly.

For a time I rudely attempted
To love enough for the both of us

But on comatose reflection
I discovered I had drowned your voice.

I am ready to hear you again
Over the din of my strident heart.

I apologise for each hurdle
That we are oft forced to overcome

Though I treasure each experience
As growth has flourished in we through us.

Destiny proffers a range of choice
For our exertion to exploit.

I ask us to seep through the iced block
And sink into the blissful depths

Where our effulgent cores beat in step
With good playfully bound in passion.

To achieve a time where we construct
Dreams to reality for all

Until with age we are surrounded
In libraries of truth now practiced

Telling stories to our abundant
Grand-children, eagerly drinking bliss.

In love, remorse, and calm gratitude
Flowering in your rich hearts' garden.

Sincerely,

Monday, December 11, 2006

Condoms 'too big' for Indian men

This is embarassing!!

A survey of more than 1,000 men in India has concluded that condoms made according to international sizes are too large for a majority of Indian men.
The study found that more than half of the men measured had penises that were shorter than international standards for condoms.
It has led to a call for condoms of mixed sizes to be made more widely available in India.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6161691.stm