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New films

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A couple of neat films have been released this week.

The first is short, about 6 minutes long, is from the American Museum of Natural History about human population growth over the last 200,000 years, called Human Population Through Time. It is a relaxing view.

Watch it by clicking here.

The other is from Leonardo DiCaprio as he explores the topic of climate change. This one is longer, about 1.5 hours, but I think it is well worth it. This is an excellent movie, in my opinion, and we should really thank Leonardo DiCaprio for the time and money he spent on this film.

You can see it by clicking here, to go to into YouTube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=90CkXVF-Q8M

or even watch it here directly.

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Don’t try to extend your life span, instead, improve your health span

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Dr. Vijg, an expert on aging at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, says humans will never get older than 115. The paragraphs below are from this New York Times article.

New York Times 06 October 2016, Science section

Some of those improvements have come from quitting smoking and having better diets. Antibiotics and drugs for chronic disorders like heart disease have also helped. But all of the improvements of modern life, Dr. Guarente and others argue, have not turned back the underlying biological process of aging.

Based on his own experimental research, Dr. Vijg describes aging as the accumulation of damage to DNA and other molecules. Our bodies can slow the process by repairing some of this damage. But in the end it’s too much to fix.

“At some point everything goes wrong, and you collapse,” Dr. Vijg said.

The best hope for our species is not to extend our life spans, Dr. Vijg argues, but to lengthen our years of healthy living — with healthy habits and perhaps drugs that can repair some of the cellular damage that comes with time.

“There’s a good chance to improve health span — that’s the most important thing,” Dr. Vijg said.

You know how…. the old standards do work. Watch your diet, do regular exercise, beware of stress (perhaps meditate) and visit your doctor at least annually.

“Your experiences today will influence the molecular composition of your body for the next two to three months, or, perhaps, for the rest of your life. Plan your day accordingly.” – Steve Cole

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Some thoughts from October 2016

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Random quotes from magazines.

Nature 20 October 2016 World View

It’s worth noting that a conscious superintelligent AI might actually be less dangerous than a non-conscious one, because, at least in humans, one process that puts the brakes on immoral behaviors is ‘affective empathy’: the emotional contagion that makes a person feel what they perceive another to be feeling. Maybe conscious AIs would care about us more than unconscious ones would.

There is a chance that the first superintelligent AI will be the only one we will ever make. This is because once it appears – conscious or not – it can improve itself and start changing the world according to its own values.

Science 21 October 2016 Science Lessons for the Next President

As the world warms, its oceans are swelling by an average of 3.2 millimeters a year; they have risen by nearly the height of a playing card since 1993. Some 40% of this increase stems from the physical expansion of water as it heats. The rest is mostly caused by melting mountain glaciers and retreating ice sheets in Greenland.

Because of regional geology, ocean currents, and shifts in gravitational pull caused by changes on Earth’s surface, such as the melting of massive ice sheets, the ocean does not rise evenly everywhere. Much of the East Coast is sinking as Earth’s mantle continues to adjust in complex ways to the disappearance of weighty ice age glaciers. …. These forces mean East Coast sea levels are rising at double the global rate, and at triple the average in Virginia and many points north.

Just a quote

“People worry that computers will get too smart and take over the world, but the real problem is that they’re too stupid and they’ve already taken over the world.” – Pedro Domingos in his 2015 book The Master Algorithm

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Fall, Snow, Fall

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Fall, snow, fall; sunlight wither and die
Away to warmth geese fly
Fire crackle in the hearth
Snow drifts on the sleeping earth
As cold blows by, an icy branch quakes
My wet tongue catches falling flakes
The buffeting wind speaks to my soul
As my frostbitten toes rest by hot wood coal

by Jamie
September 2016

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American Values by Larry Kirby

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Larry Kirby, a WWII veteran, aged 91 years, was on NPR’s OnPoint with Tom Ashbrook program on May 26, 2016. I luckily was able to hear that program and heard Mr. Kirby give an eloquent talk on American values and how things have changed, in his eyes, since WWII. It was the most meaningful essay I have heard in my lifetime. Mr. Kirby has shown the spotlight on what ails our society in a most honest way. I agree with and applaud Mr. Kirby’s address. I recommend you take about 6 minutes and listen to Larry Kirby’s speech yourself.

You can see the NPR article with pictures at OnpointRadio.

You can read the full essay at Foreign Policy.

Perhaps the audio will get through the WordPress filters here. Click this link, then click the red box in the next screen to make it play.

//embed.wbur.org/player/onpoint/2016/05/26/wwii-vet-larry-kirby

Click here to get your own copy of the MP3 file from my Dropbox file. Please bypass the Dropbox sign-in advert.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin.

“Be yourself; everybody else is already taken.” – anonymous

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Happiness Genes Discovered

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According to a publication in the Journal Nature Genetics, for the first time in history, researchers have isolated the parts of the human genome that could explain the differences in how humans experience happiness.

Now, before we all run out to get our genes changed via CRISPR, realize these genes do not make you happy. And in fact, epigenetics can influence how genes are expressed. The researchers found three genetic variants for happiness, two variants that can account for differences in symptoms of depression, and eleven locations on the human genome that could account for varying degrees of neuroticism. The genetic variants for happiness are mainly expressed in the central nervous system and the adrenal glands and pancreatic system.

I have not seen the full article yet, it is behind a pay firewall. So be leery of what I say next. A previous study using data from the World Values Survey in 2014 found a correlation between the allele value “A” in the “FAAH” gene rs324420. Nations with the highest prevalence of the “A” allele were also those who perceived themselves happiest.

So just for fun, I decided to look up values for this allele in 23andme data for some of my family members. Here are the results:

  • AA – Sandra
  • AC – Courtney, Debra, Jamie
  • CC – Jim, Rachel

What fun!  I better watch what I eat!   I’m looking forward to finding a copy of the full study to see what the 16 real alleles are.   Meanwhile, Rachel and I had better practice smiling! 🙂  BTW, this is a real tongue in cheek posting.  Nothing said herein should be taken seriously.  My biorhythms are just running high today.

zoozimp2_251_243

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Rain Light

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by William Stanley Merwin, Poet Laureate

All day the stars watch from long ago
my mother said I am going now
when you are alone you will be all right
whether or not you know you will know
look at the old house in the dawn rain
all the flowers are forms of water
the sun reminds them through a white cloud
touches the patchwork spread on the hill
the washed colors of the afterlife
that lived there long before you were born
see how they wake without a question
even though the whole world is burning

Yes, I saw him recite this poem on PBS the other day and was really affected.

You can see it too by clicking here
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/poetry/w-s-merwin/

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Pork Chops and Sauerkraut

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Yield: 4 people

Ingredients

  • 4 Boneless Loin Pork Chops
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Dried Sage Powder
  • 2 cups Sauerkraut
  • 1 Sweet Onion – chopped
  • 1 Slice Thick Pepper Bacon (natural if possible) – chopped
  • 1 Apple – Peeled and Grated

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Rinse the pork chops and pat dry with paper towels. Heat a cast iron skillet (or other ovenproof skillet) over medium high heat. Sprinkle salt, pepper and sage on one side of the pork chops. When you can flick a drop of water off your finger tip into the pan and it sizzles and evaporates immediately, the pan is ready. Place the pork chops seasoned side down in the pan. Add salt, pepper and sage to the now ‘up’ side of the meat. Let the meat sear and carmelize in the pan 4-6 minutes per side (turn them only once) depending on the thickness of the chops. You are not cooking them all the way through – just searing the outside. Remove the chops to a plate and reserve. Place the chopped bacon directly in the same pan and cook over medium heat until crispy. Add the onions and the apples and sauté until the onions are soft. Add the sauerkraut. If necessary, add some chicken broth or a bit of water to give the pan some liquid at the bottom (about 1/8th of an inch or so). Add the pork chops back into pan and smother with the sauerkraut mixture. Cover the pan with a piece of foil and place in the oven for 30 minutes to allow the pork chops to tenderize and cook all the way through. Serve immediately or reserve and reheat the next day.

Unknown's avatar

Sandy’s Scones

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Orange Cranberry Scones

  • 2 c. Flour
  • 10 tsp. Sugar
  • 2 tsp. Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp. Salt
  • 1/3 tsp. Baking Soda
  • 1 tbs. Grated Orange Peel
  • 1/3 c. Cold Butter
  • 1 c. Dried Cranberries
  • 1/4 c. Orange Juice
  • 1/4 c. Half/Half Cream
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbs. Milk
  • 1 c. Confectioner sugar
  • 1 tbs. Orange Juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sift flour, 7 tsp. sugar, baking powder, salt and soda together in large bowl.  Stir in grated orange peel.  Cut in butter until coarse crumbs.  Set aside.

Combine cranberries, orange juice, half/half cream and egg.  Add to flour mixture and stir until soft dough.  Turn onto floured surface and knead 6-8 times.

Either drop by tablespoon or form dough into 8″ circles and cut into 10 wedges.  Separate wedges and put on ungreased baking sheet.  Brush with milk; sprinkle with remaining sugar.

Bake @ 400 for 12-15 minutes.

Cool.  Glaze with mixture of 1 cup Confectioner’s sugar and 1 tbs. orange juice.

Yummy 🙂

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January heats up

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The T-V and newspaper news outlets tend not to report news about Climate Change these days. I guess it isn’t confrontational enough. But the Nature magazine isn’t afraid to be non-confrontational! In this weeks Feb 25, 2016 issue, Nature told us about a report just produced by NOAA. I am setting here in 77 degree weather in Pacific Grove, CA in February during a supposedly super El Nino season thinking how I shouldn’t really be enjoying this. To relieve my guilt, I will pass this “news” forward.

Last month was the world’s hottest January since records began in 1880, and the ninth month in a row to break a global monthly temperature record, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on 17 February. The average global temperature was 1.04 Celsius above the twentieth-century average for January, beating the previous record, from 2007, by 0.16 Celsius. In the Arctic, which was remarkably warm for the time of year, sea ice was at its lowest January extent since records began in 1979, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Center.

I don’t need NOAA to tell me about February — I can tell this will have been a warm month too.

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Technical Words

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thinking in 2016 – second decade in the twenty first century CE (the first century of the 3rd millennium)

CRISPR is a genetic editing tool. The name stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. The CRISPR interference technique has enormous potential application, including altering the germline of humans, animals and other organisms, and modifying the genes of food crops.

(germline in organisms refer to those cells that may pass on their genetic material to the progeny. For example, gametes such as the sperm or the egg are part of the germline.)

In the current thinking, many people feel that using CRISPR to modify germline cells in humans would be wrong. The fear is that we would be stepping into the world of “designer babies”, especially where the rich “one percent” would be able to create a master race, similar to Hitler’s breeding program.

The alternate view is that we could use CRISPR to eliminate genetic diseases, removing BRAC1/2 cancer causing genes for example, from a family line. We could potentially stamp out many of our most formidable illnesses.

Using CRISPR to modify food crops is much less controversial. We could, for example, eliminate the spoiling/browning of apples, bananas and mushrooms. Or we could create drought tolerant plants, useful in the global warming scenarios.

My view? Go for it! Eliminate diseases and the need for deodorant, stamp out mosquitoes, and let me be healthier longer.

“The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism.” – Sir William Osler

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Gravitational waves detected just as Einstein predicted

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The news was announced today, February 11, 2016. The actual detection happened about 5 months ago. It took this long to verify what happened.

Just over a billion years ago, a pair of black holes collided. They had been circling each other for aeons, gathering speed with each orbit. By the time they were a few hundred miles apart, they were whipping around at nearly the speed of light. Space and time became distorted. In the fraction of a second that it took for the black holes to finally merge, they radiated a hundred times more energy than all the stars in the universe combined. They formed a new black hole, sixty-two times as heavy as our sun and almost as wide across as the state of Maine. Then space and time became silent again.

The waves rippled outward in every direction, weakening as they went. On Earth, dinosaurs arose, evolved, and went extinct. The waves kept going. About fifty thousand years ago, they entered our own Milky Way galaxy, just as Homo sapiens were beginning to replace our Neanderthal cousins as the planet’s dominant species of ape. A hundred years ago, Albert Einstein, one of the more advanced members of the species, predicted the waves’ existence, inspiring decades of speculation and fruitless searching. Twenty-two years ago, construction began on an enormous detector, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). Then, on September 14, 2015, at just before eleven in the morning, Central European Time, the waves reached Earth. This morning, in a press conference in Washington, D.C., the LIGO team announced that the signal constitutes the first direct observation
of gravitational waves.

Above text quoted from The New Yorker Magazine. CLICK HERE to read the complete story.

You can see that super simulation of the block hole collision in the following Youtube video. Or CLICK HERE if you are viewing this in the email announcement produced by WordPress.

If you want to read more about this amazing discovery, CLICK HERE and you will be taken to an excellent web site called SXS which stands for Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes.

—-

I posted this here tonight because if this is true, this is one of the biggest “discoveries” of the last few years!  It needs to be remembered that some people really did notice.

My wife asked why it is important.  Well hey, if gravity really is made of waves, then maybe those people who saw flying saucers weren’t crazy after all.  Because of course they  would travel by skimming on the edges of the waves, just like surfers at the beach.  It would be much more efficient, and would not create as much pollution as rocket ships!  All we have to do now is figure how how to build gravity wave skimmers.

We should also be able to build “telescopes” that see gravity waves instead of light waves and then maybe we can see where all the dark matter is at in the universe.  We might even be able to “see” black holes!  Perhaps the edge of the universe would show up too.

The only creepy part about this is that those two black holes crashed into each other so long ago.  Like, what are they doing now?  The only disappointing thing is that the gravitational waves only travel at the speed of light.  This discovery won’t let us travel to Mars any faster.  No short cuts here….

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WHY WE CAME TO THE USA

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The following is by Dick Eastman. at blog.eogn.com

 I learned in school that our ancestors came to the New World in the 1600s in search of religious freedom. While I still believe that to be true, I now believe the full story is a bit more complex than the reasons given in grammar school textbooks.

Religious freedom was a motivation for Puritans, Pilgrims, Quakers, and others, but thousands of other immigrants were members of the established church in England and had no interest in other theologies. What motivated them?

Perhaps the simplest answer is that living in England was very difficult at the time. The upper classes lived comfortably, but the majority of citizens had difficulty eking out even a mere subsistence. Starvation was not unknown, and even those who did eat regularly had diets that most of us today would reject. Without refrigeration or modern canning techniques, even those with some financial security had monotonous diets in the winter and early spring. The thought of eating turnip soup three times a day for weeks on end seems appalling today but was common in the 1600s. The Irish more likely ate potato soup. Continue reading →