Happy 4th!

Happy Independence Day!

Michael Jackson

I can't wait until I stop hearing about Michael Jackson. Why would anyone hack away at their own face until they looked like a burn victim I ask you? It's like watching a horrible Stephen King movie only this is real. The man was handsome from birth but made himself look dreadful. How can anyone look at what he did as a positive thing I ask you? It's a perfect story of someone who had more money than common sense and obviously had some kind of self hatred to put himself though all this surgery. The man was very good looking and ended up looking like a Frankenstein's monster. His nose bled because he hacked it away so there was nothing to cover the cartilage. It almost makes me cry.

Susan Boyle records her first track

Susan Boyle records her first track
Friday, July 3, 2009, 11:51 [IST]


London (ANI): Britain's Got Talent runner-up Susan Boyle has recorded her first track, which has already been praised by the toughest critic on television Simon Cowell.


"I've cut one track with her and she sounds fantastic on record. She's so good, the album is not just going to be showtunes. We're going to take our time with this," the Sun quoted Cowell as saying. When Boyle had first appeared on Britain's Got Talent, she said that she aspired to become a musical theatre singer "as successful as" Elaine Paige.


The 48-year-old had performed a rendition of 'I Dreamed a Dream' from Les Misérables in the first round of the third series of Britain's Got Talent, which was watched by over 10 million viewers when it aired on 11 April 2009.

Hang onto your Honey or loose your mind?

How being married can cut your risk of Alzheimer's in later life

By Jenny Hope
Last updated at 1:56 AM on 03rd July 2009

Being married protects you against Alzheimer's in later life, claim researchers.

People who have a partner in middle age are at half the risk of developing dementia as those who live alone, says a study.

Getting divorced and becoming widowed in mid-life raises the risk three-fold.


People who have a partner in middle age are at half the risk of developing dementia as those who live alone, a study has revealed

The study by Swedish researchers is one of the first to focus on marital status and the risk of dementia.

Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, which cause shrinkage of the brain, affect more than 700,000 people in the UK.

Previous research has suggested social isolation or lack of personal contact carries an increased risk of dementia and mental decline.

An American study last year found significant links between feelings of loneliness and the chances of suffering Alzheimer's.

In the latest study, researchers, led by Professor Miia Kivipelto from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, interviewed 2,000 people aged 50 on average and then again 21 years later, drawing conclusions from three quarters of those initially involved.

They found that middle-aged people who live alone have double the risk of dementia compared with those who are married or have a partner.

Those living alone in middle-age and who are widowed or divorced have the highest chances of developing dementia.

They are three times more likely to develop diseases such as Alzheimer's, as are people who are single during middle-age.

People living with a partner or married in mid-life were less likely than the single, separated or widowed to have dementia in later life.

The experts suggested women overall had less chance of dementia than men, but called for more research into differences between the sexes in a report in the British Medical Journal.

The report said: 'There is a substantial and independent association between marital status in mid-life and cognitive function later in life.'

The researchers speculate that the stress of becoming widowed may play a part in declining mental functions.

Precisely what the connection is between being alone and Alzheimer's remains an unanswered question.

But experts suspect that constant social interaction between marriage partners may keep brain cells in better working order.

Other studies have revealed that the risk of dementia can be reduced by exercise, a healthy diet and a 'rich social network'.

Dr Susanne Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said 'Evidence suggests that remaining socially active may reduce your risk of dementia and living with someone is certainly a good way of doing this.

'However, single people shouldn't worry. There are many other ways to reduce your risk of dementia.

The best evidence is around eating a Mediterranean diet, exercising regularly, and getting your cholesterol and blood pressure checked regularly.'

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: 'In societies where divorce and separation are growing trends, we need to examine how we help people adjust to living alone.

'Those who are widowed are at a much higher risk, and interventions soon after their loss may have a significant preventive effect. Much more research is needed.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1197191/How-married-cut-risk-Alzheimers-later-life.html

I think this is bad science!

Soay rams photographed by Beth Maxwell Boyle on Hirta in 2007.

Although I think global warming is real I think this theory is bunk. I have been to Hirta and there is a British military base there and there are many other factors that could lead to problems with the sheep loosing size including food quality. There is always a human presence on Hirta and these sheep are semi-domestic dating to Viking times not wild animals. Not only that, they over graze the island and then they die back because of it when the cold weather sets in each winter season. I was told by a sheep researcher there they have up to a 70% die back of the population every winter which shows clearly the gene pool is shrinking. If you raise sheep as I do you know inbreeding is one the fastest ways to shrink a sheep. I have lost size in my flock of sheep due to lack of genetic variation from time to time because I keep a rare breed in North America and cannot always find new genetic material to bring into my flock. I think this article is bad science.

"Climate change is causing a breed of wild sheep in Scotland to shrink, according to research."

Scientists say milder winters help smaller sheep to survive, resulting in this "paradoxical decrease in size".

Classic evolutionary theory would predict that wild sheep gradually get bigger, as the stronger, larger animals survive into adulthood and reproduce.

Reporting in Science journal, the team says this shows the "subtle interplay" between evolution and the environment.

Scientists first began studying Soay sheep, on the island of Hirta in the St Kilda archipelago, in 1985.

Since then, the sheep have decreased in size by 5% - their legs getting steadily shorter and their body weight decreasing.

This strange phenomenon was first reported in 2007, but the reason for it remained under debate.

'A natural laboratory'

The lead researcher in the study, Tim Coulson from Imperial College London, said the island provided an ideal opportunity to tease apart the factors driving the sheep's physical change.
In the past, only big, healthy sheep... could survive the harsh winters on Hirta
Tim Coulson
Imperial College London


"The island is almost like a natural laboratory - there are only the sheep and the vegetation there," he said.

He and his team had access to detailed information about the sheep that had been collected over more than two decades.

"We have so much great data," said Professor Coulson, "that we were able to write a ledger of how much of an effect each of the different factors had on the sheep."

They used a formula called the "Price equation", which was designed by evolutionary theorist George Price to predict how a physical trait, such as body size, will change from one generation to the next.

With all of this data, the team was able to "rearrange the equation" and use it to work out how much of a contribution each driver made to the sheep's body size.

They found that the local environment had a stronger effect on the animals than the evolutionary pressure to grow larger.

"In the past, only the big, healthy sheep and large lambs that had piled on weight in their first summer could survive the harsh winters on Hirta," said Professor Coulson.

Because of climate change, he explained, grass for food is now available for more months of the year on the island.

"Survival conditions are not so challenging - even the slower growing sheep have a chance of making it, and this means smaller individuals are becoming increasingly prevalent in the population," he said.
"Young mums" tend to give birth to smaller lambs


The team also found that younger sheep tended to give birth to smaller lambs - a phenomenon they termed "the young mum effect".

This effect, said Professor Coulson, combined with environmental changes had "overriden what we would expect through natural selection".

As for the future of the sheep, the team believes that they are still shrinking.

"The next step is to extend our description of past change into a predictive model," said Professor Coulson.

"But it's too early to say if, in 100 years, we will have chihuahuas herding pocket-sized sheep."

MADOFF MAY HAVE BEEN MOVING FUNDS TO ISRAEL

Wayne Madsen Report - The failure of federal prosecutors to bring conspiracy charges against Bernard Madoff, the mega-billion dollar Ponzi scammer who pleaded guilty March 12 to eleven counts of fraud and other crimes in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, is providing cover to those who pulled the strings on Madoff's illegal operation.

WMR spoke to a former close aide to Madoff who related how he handled a number of transactions personally for Madoff. The source said that Madoff was running a special type of "pump and dump" scheme. The source said Madoff would "pump money out of the system and dump it out to another place." When asked what that "other place" was, the source replied, "Israel."

The source believes that no conspiracy charges were brought by the federal government against Madoff because it is the government and not necessarily Madoff that is trying to protect his "network and superiors.". . .

WMR has learned how some of Madoff's international operations were conducted. At 3:30 pm every day Madoff Investment Securities employees would call banks in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, and tell them to "roll the accounts." That was insider language for "lend the money."

In some cases, money was moved to the Belize Bank, which was described by a Madoff insider as a "back side" for secretive banking operations in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland.

Madoff would also dispatch messengers to 55 Water Street in New York's financial district to pick up securities bearer bonds that could fit into an "Army duffle bag."