Live forever or die trying
ZZZ.com.ru is a great web site for finding cool new gadgets and concept machines. For example, they reported on a V-8 monocycle developed by Kerry McLean, and the “New Concepts Division” of Panda Precision Inc. of Wixon, Michigan.
Ran across this article on chimeras and mosaics. Here's a picture of a sheep/goat chimera:
In theory, it should be possible to create a human chimera (smoosh together an embryo from black parents and an embryo from white parents). If ensoulment occurs at conception, as certain rowdy Christians proclaim, would the resultant single embryo have two souls? Or one?
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/scotland.cfm?id=114884
James Doherty
IF YOU hope to live a long and healthy
life, then abandon all plans of marriage, forget about the trauma of
childbirth and dedicate yourself to climbing the career ladder to
achieve a disease-free old age.
A massive study of 15,000 middle-aged
men and women, carried out in Paisley 30 years ago, has given
researchers a unique opportunity to determine the factors which
contribute to a productive dotage.
And the startling results reveal that
women who have never married and never given birth have the best
chance of good health in their later years.
For men, career success seems to be the
elusive elixir necessary for sustained quality of life long
after-retirement age.
The ground-breaking study, carried out
by the University of Paisley, revisited some of the surviving 7,500
men and women who took part in the original research.
Professor Mary Gilhooly, director of
the Centre of Gerontology and Health at the university, told The
Scotsman that the two and a half year PREVAIL project was unique in
the world, because most other studies of its kind did not have access
to a pool of women subjects.
It was thanks only to the stubbornness
of a female factory worker who demanded that women be included in the
original survey that scientists today had ready access to such
valuable data.
Today?s research found evidence to
suggest that eliminating stress was a precursor for a healthy old age.
Professor Gilhooly said: “It seems that
having and caring for children is stressful for women and lack of
career progression is stressful for men.
“So low levels of chronic stress from
giving birth or a poor career are damaging over a lifetime.”
The study determined the factors which
allowed the 100 healthiest men and women, now in their seventies or
older, to live productive lives. “What is surprising is that of the 52
women we looked at 20 of them are childless, which is quite
astonishing,” added Prof Gilhooly.
“It appears that being unmarried and
childless is the better option for women who want to stay healthy in
their old age,” she said.
“It?s not a happy state to have lived
to 95, but to have spent 30 years in poor health.
“Giving birth is physiologically
demanding, but it is also time-consuming and stressful bringing up a
child, and for some of them it is very boring.
“We?ve got to remember that we?re
talking about a generation who had children and then were expected to
give up work.”
Throughout the past 30 years, studies
conducted into the Paisley Buddies, initially undertaken by
researchers at Glasgow University, have given valuable insights into
the prevention and treatment of heart disease and cancer.
The MIDSPAN study also examined the
effects of smoking, drinking and obesity on lifespan. Describing the
52 women looked at in the new study as the “healthy elite”, the
professor said those who were unmarried were a far cry from the
stereotype of the hard-nosed spinster.
She added: “They were not crabby old
witches. If anything, they were dynamic and leading interesting lives
with very strong social circles.”
Asked whether the prognosis for a
generation of women who juggle career and family commitments was poor,
Prof Gilhooly said: “Well, it could be worse. If the common
under-lying factor in our findings is stress, then it?s possible that
poor health may increase for those women when they reach old age.”
The professor explained that modern
women could benefit from increased salaries, better homes and better
diets, which could, in turn, balance out any negative impacts on
health associated with child-birth and marriage.
Professor Gilhooly added that her study
had thrown open some interesting results for her own future.
She admitted: “I?ve been married for 30
years and I have a son.
“I?m not childless and not unmarried,
but I have had career progression, so if I was a man, my prognosis
would be wonderful.”
The research project concludes in March
2002.
Loft beds are great space savers. San Francisco Loft Bed makes a queen size version for $549.00. You can get a Full Size for $259.
Rents are still exorbitant in the Bay Area, and my housemates and I are considering partitioning off part of our apartment to create another room. Since we rent, we obviously can't throw up some studs and gypsum board. We need temporary walls that are reasonably sturdy, go from floor to ceiling, leave no marks, and can hold a door.
In the New York area, two companies specialize in creating temporary separation walls for apartments–The Wall Company and Living Space,
Inc.. They provide exactly what we want. Here's a picture:
height=361 vspace=5 hspace=5 alt=”temporary wall”/>
Unfortunately, we live in Palo Alto. I haven't been able to find someone who provides a similar service in the Northern California area. However, it seems almost certain that such a business already exists. Do any of you know where I might find something like this in the Bay Area?
Robin Hanson posted some interesting observations to the Armchair Economist mailing list:
The Washington Post had two interesting articles yesterday about the
recent disaster changed public opinion, on happiness and on trust.
On happiness, when asked last weekend to rate the overall quality of
their lives on a seven point scale, more than 44% picked the highest
rating. In June that was 30%, and in December 1999 it was 31%. This
seems to me to be an enormous problem for those who want to measure
economic policies by how much they increase reported happiness. Was
this disaster good for the nation because it made people happier?!
On trust, when asked Sept 25-27, 64% of Americans now trust the
federal government nearly always or most of the time to do what is
right, more than double the percentage who said so in April 2000, and
the highest it has been for three decades. If we interpret this to
be a factual estimate by those questioned, rather than a statement
of values, this seems very hard to square with rationality. What
evidence of federal behavior in the last two weeks could possibly
be the basis for this huge change in opinion? The big info has to
be that the disaster was allowed to occur, and most federal action
since then has been a promises to do useful things, rather than
doing anything demonstrably useful. This seems to me a clear case
of wishful thinking, where people believe what they want to be true.
Robin Hanson [email protected] http://hanson.gmu.edu
Asst. Prof. Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,47127,00.html
Will It Be Cash, Check or Finger? By Julia Scheeres
2:00 a.m. Oct. 1, 2001 PDT
Fingerprints, long stigmatized by their association with crime scenes
and police stations, may get an image boost when people start using
them to pay for everything from Big Macs to groceries.
That's the philosophy behind Indivos, an Oakland, California, firm
that has invented software that uses fingerprint scanners to process
electronic payments.
“We're putting this in front of the mainstream consumer,” said Indivos
spokesman Frank Pierce. “You won't need cash or cards to pay for
anything. All you need is your finger and you never leave home
without it.”
Indivos has partnered with fingerprint sensor manufacturer Digital
Persona to test the service this fall at a “major fast food chain” in
California and supermarkets throughout the country, he said.
Fingerprints — which have been used to tag criminals for more than a
century — are increasingly becoming more prominent in the
non-criminal realm.
Many states now fingerprint people that seek driver's licenses or
welfare benefits in an effort to detect fraud. Schools fingerprint
would-be teachers to weed out pedophiles. In the corporate world,
fingerprints are used as biometric keys to access buildings and
computer networks. And in Pennsylvania, schools are testing finger
scanners that allow students to check out library books and buy food
in the cafeteria.
But the Indivos roll-out would be the first to encourage the general
public to give the cashier the finger at the supermarket or fast food
checkout counter.
Fingerprints are reliable identifiers because, like snowflakes, no two
fingerprints are alike, said Gary W. Jones, who worked as an FBI
fingerprint specialist for 33 years.
“They are only partially formed by genetics, which is why twins have
the same DNA but have different fingerprints,” he said. The whorls,
ridges, loops, and spaces between the ridges are determined by bone
growth, pressure in the womb, chemicals imbibed by the mother and the
environment.
But certain conditions degrade fingerprints, Jones said. Aging, as
well as continued exposure to harsh chemicals, gradually wears the
ridges down, making fingerprints harder to capture.
This is one of the reasons that the Indivos' system is suggested as an
alternative payment method — retailers who adopt the system will
continue to accept cash, checks or credit cards, Pierce said.
For consumers, the biggest draw of fingerscan payment is convenience.
Pierce offered a scenario where a jogger enters a store after a long
run and simply presses her finger against a sensor to purchase a cold
drink.
The system would also cut down on time wasted in checkout lines, while
some yahoo fumbles through his pockets looking for enough coins to buy
beer and chips.
And for retailers, fingerprint scanners could reduce costs incurred by
bad checks and stolen credit cards, Pierce said. After all, you can't
forge a fingerprint. Jones said the only way someone could duplicate
one is to make a cast of their finger.
To sign up, customers simply offer a finger, a payment option such as
a credit card or bank account information, and two forms of
identity. A fingerscan is taken on a sensor slightly larger than a
matchbox and the finger's topography is measured and converted into a
numerical code using a proprietary algorithm.
To pay, customers press their fingertip against the sensor and enter a
password, which is used to expedite the database search, explained
Digital Persona spokesman George Myers.
During a three-year test at Visa's headquarters in Foster City,
California, which included more than 400 employees and 50,000
transactions, the system didn't misidentify any of the enrollees, said
Chetan Patwardhan, who oversaw the pilot program.
“The first negative stigma vanished when it started working for them,”
he said. “It worked very well.”
The technology does suffers from minor hiccups, said a manager at
Scott's Seafood in Oakland, where the wait staff use it to place
orders and access the restaurant's cash registers. Fingers must be
placed squarely on the sensor for it to work and finger pads that have
been scuffed up from activities such as gardening can be difficult to
read, Michael O'Sullivan said. But the benefits outweigh the
drawbacks, and the management will continue to use the system, he
said.
Widespread use of biometric technology — which identifies people by
their physical characteristics — concerns privacy advocates who fear
the government could use the applications to track everyone from
political dissidents to deadbeat dads.
Fingerscans, which are the leading biometric application, will
represent 33 percent or $300 million of the market by 2006, said Frost
& Sullivan analyst Prianka Chopra.
The scanners themselves are relatively cheap — about $100 — compared
to other biometric readers such as face-scanners, and the negative
perceptions of fingerprinting will only be a temporary roadblock to
the technology's wide-spread acceptance, she said.
“It's just a matter of time before people get used to the process and
get over their privacy fears,” she said.