As if I needed any justification, here is SCIENTIFIC PROOF that being a crankypants is GOOD for you.
Meanwhile, Improbable Research.com, the same people who present the IgNobel Prizes (and who did NOT give an award to Barack Obama this year), looked into the question “Is Kansas flatter than a pancake?” and have come up with irrefutable SCIENTIFIC proof! You won’t see stuff like this on MythBusters, lemme tell ya. (Mostly because it doesn’t involve anything blowing up.)
“Dammit Jim! I’m a doctor not a….oh, wait… Barack Obama will probably cancel funding for further testing of the Ares rocket (here’s the video of the most-recent test, in case you missed it), but even if NASA does get to continue with preparations for sending a manned mission to Mars, they may not be able to overcome a newly-discovered hurdle: long-term spaceflight puts astronauts at greater risk for developing diseases.
And this story made the rounds the other day: naked mole rats do not get cancer. But they still go through life looking like giant, self-propelling penises with claws and teeth, so that’s a pretty fair tradeoff.
By Brian
Filed in News
Tagged with AFTRA, AMPTP, Blogs, cancer, CBS, CBS Evening News, entertainment industry, florida, fundamentalists, hoaxes, Katie Couric, OLPC, Sugar OS
May 20th, 2008 @ 1:36 pm
A few links related to some previous posts:
- This Ars Technica story from last week sums up what should be pretty obvious to anyone who has followed the OLPC story — they’ve screwed the pooch. Last week it was announced that the XO laptop will use Windows XP as its OS instead of the custom-designed “Sugar” OS, but between the hardware problems and the difficulties OLPC has had trying to sell the laptops to governments, plus the defection of many key execs, Ars Technica is ready to pronounce the whole program a failure. They had more luck selling the laptops to leftie bo-bos than anyone who actually NEEDED them. Nicholas Negroponte soldiers on, but it doesn’t look good for the program.
- I linked to Psiplex’s blog the other day and this post about the hard realities of cancer treatment. He followed up with this post about the encounters that he has had with health care professionals, almost all of which he says were extremely positive. That’s an encouraging message for anyone who might have to face extensive medical treatment. I know from my experience a few years ago that it can be a mixed bag and that the ones he calls “All-Business-Plus” really do make a huge difference.
- In this post a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that the union for radio and TV performers, AFTRA, was sitting down with the producers’ representatives, the AMPTP, to discuss contract terms. AMPTP walked out of earlier talks with the Screen Actors’ Guild, but industry experts believed that AMPTP would force AFTRA to take a bum deal, which would in turn bring SAG back to the table for a similar deal and avert an actors’ strike this summer. The AFTRA folks say that talks are not going especially well, and that negotiations could get long and difficult. Still no threat of a strike, but the contracts do expire June 6.
- The Katie Couric Death Watch has not stopped for a moment. The CBS Evening News’ ratings have dropped to their lowest point in the entire 45-year history of the broadcast, and substitute anchor Bob Schieffer has signed a new long-term contract with CBS, postponing his previously-announced retirement. This New Yorker article by TV critic Nancy Franklin considers what went so horribly wrong at Black Rock.
- Like a jillion other bloggers on the planet, I could hardly wait to post about the substitute teacher who was fired for “practicing wizardry” in Florida. Apparently some people who read the story decided to take it on themselves to call and harass members of the local school board as a result. Meanwhile, the superintendent released more details about the incident that revealed several other complaints about the substitute that he says led to the man’s dismissal AND the local TV station that broke the story admitted to playing up the “wizardry” angle as a hook for the story. And who started all of this? The substitute teacher himself, who called the TV station and offered his distorted version of events. This whole story offers a scary look at the reach of bloggers and how a badly-reported story can get out of hand quickly. There’s plenty of blame to spread around here, but everyone who overinflated this story, myself included, needs to own up to a little of it.
A couple of weeks ago I posted about the profile of Grant Achatz in The New Yorker, and one of the comments I received was from a fellow who calls himself “Psiplex” online. “Psiplex” also has Stage IV tongue and neck cancer and is also undergoing a chemo-radiation therapy similar to the one Achatz received.
Since he was nice enough to leave a link to his own blog, I have been reading “Psiplex’s” posts ever since. Mostly he focuses on how to tap into one’s creative energies, particularly in the face of adversity. To be able to be so articulate and thoughtful about such an immense subject is no mean feat. Yesterday, though, he stepped away from that particular dialogue to give this detailed and highly personal account of what it’s like to undergo radiation therapy. It is a worthwhile read and a sobering reminder that we are both resilient and fragile.
I wish “Psiplex” continued success and strength on his journey of recovery, and will continue to keep an eye on his posts.
Not quite a year ago came the first news that rising-star chef Grant Achatz was seriously ill. In what can only be called the cruelest irony I have ever heard, it was announced that he had Stage IV cancer of the tongue and might lose his tongue altogether to the only recommended treatment for the disease, radical surgery.
Then, a couple of months later, a news item that he had opted to decline the surgery in favor of a largely untried regimen of chemo and radiation therapy. (The WSJ link in that post still works, so I recommend reading it for background). Less than a month after that, the announcement of a book deal AND the news that the tumor had been reduced 80% by the chemo/radiation therapy.
Ten months after the original diagnosis, which came with the likelihood that he would die within weeks, Achatz’s tumor is gone. And, according to this excellent New Yorker profile from last week’s issue, so is most of his sense of taste (a side effect of the radiation therapy). But his tastebuds are slowly beginning to return, and his type-A level of determination and drive never left, and so he is back in the kitchen thinking up recipes, relying on a cadre of sous chefs to do his tasting for him. His prognosis is not certain; typically patients with this sort of oral cancer only have a 30% survival rate after three years, however patients who received the chemo/radiation therapy in an earlier trial had a 70% 3-year-survival rate.
Meanwhile, Achatz tells writer D.T. Max that he is fascinated by the process of having his palate return a little bit at a time. The ability to taste sweetness is the last taste sensation to go and the first to return. Doctors and researchers have observed that patients who lose their sense of taste eventually lose their desire to eat altogether, and the human instinct for eating sweet foods is perhaps our most deeply ingrained sensory experience. Over the winter, his ability to taste saltiness has begun to return, but his ability to sense fat remains elusive (we perceive fat as creaminess or richness in our taste). If he is lucky, all his tastebuds might return within a year. For now, he pushes on.
This Serious Eats post from a couple of weeks ago talks about Chef Grant Achatz and the book deal he has just put together for his new cookbook that will include an online community for people who buy the book so they can interact with the chef and with one another. People who pre-order will also have advance access to assorted online content prior to the Fall 2008 publication date.
Tucked into the post is also the news that the cancerous tumor in Achatz’s tongue has been reduced by 80% following his initial chemotherapy treatments. That has to be good news for him, even though he is not out of the woods yet. Clearly he’s optimistic enough about his treatment to be looking ahead to next fall and this interesting new venture.
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