the strange planet inside my head
McCain/Obama Health Care Proposals Side-by-Side
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places to go, things to learn, decisions to make
the following is a great site to access a massive storehouse of arcane information called the USENET. there are thousands of newsgroups and experts that can answer almost any question you can think of. in order to post yourself or subscribe to the groups, you need to be a memeber of gmail, a web-based google-sponsered email service that affords you 1 gig of storage space. you can only join gmail with an invite, and each member is given 50 invitations to disperse. if you need or want an invite, let me know - i have 45 left.
www.groups.google.com
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according to a newspaper article by the associated press, felines are finicky eaters because apparently there is a dysfunctional gene that probably prevents cats from tasting sweets. the article states that the gene in question does not produce one of the two protiens needed to form receptors on a cat's tongue that allows them to taste sweetness.
the major taste sensations are salty, sour, sweet, bitter and umami. (umami is the taste of fermented soy products and MSG, among other foods.) every human tastebud is made up of 50-100 receptors.
the study was partially funded by Mars Inc., the National Institute of Health, the US Dept of Veterans Affairs and the National Science Foundation, although Joseph Brand, the author of the paper to be published, declined to divulge how much the project cost.
the point of this study is to make better tasting cat food and how to make food more palatable to sick cats.
i have no idea why the US Dept. of Veteran's Affairs would care, do you?
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not to mention sparky will kill for a taste of ice cream, the creme filling in oatmeal cream pies or a bite of cake. she LOVES sweets. i'm confused.
****
which segues into an article by Lindsey Tanner, of the associated press. she gave examples of disputed research to include hormone pills for post-menopausal women, (first they protected women from heart disease; a later study found they actually increase the risk), the benefits for the heart by taking vitamin E, (refuted by a more rigorous study) and the ever-popular belief that antioxidant substances found in teas, wine, fruits and vegtables reduce substantially the risk of heart disease when in fact, a later study showed the benefits to be more modest.
other things that come to mind are whether or not vitamin c cures or lessens the symptoms of a cold; eggs are good/bad for you; an apple a day may or may not keep the doctor away; green M&M's improve your sex life. (don't tell me you've never eaten them to find out, i know you have.)
the important message seems to be that a single study is not the final word and that treatments often become obsolete with medical advances. Dr. Catherine DeAngelis is quoted as saying "The crazy part about science is you almost never have something that's black and white. "
this is a quote from the editor of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association.)
does that scare you?
it scares me, a little.
so i guess the study on a cat's taste buds is still open to question.
****
direct marketers - you know those annoying people who call you in the middle of dinner, sex or a shower - now have a new list. a Do Not Call The Dead list. of course, they're doing this out of the kindness of their hearts, but in order to protect the public at large's best interests in recieving these calls, there will be a $1 fee to have a name removed due to death.
"We're concerned people will abuse the list, putting the names of friends on it, that kind of thing," says Pat Kachura, the Direct Marketing Association's senior vice-president for ethics and consumer affairs. so, you can't pretend to be dead in order to stem the flow of direct marketing phone calls.
rats.
the last time i got a phone call like that, the person asked for me by name and i said "I'm sorry, I'm not here right now."
it wasn't till i got off the phone and heard my son cracking up that i realized what i had said. we laughed until we howled and the tears poured down our faces. i wanted to call that person back up and say thanks for the belly laugh, it was worth the annoyance.
****
so there you have it, friends and neighbors. places to go, things to learn and decisions to make. have fun!
:)
www.groups.google.com
****
according to a newspaper article by the associated press, felines are finicky eaters because apparently there is a dysfunctional gene that probably prevents cats from tasting sweets. the article states that the gene in question does not produce one of the two protiens needed to form receptors on a cat's tongue that allows them to taste sweetness.
the major taste sensations are salty, sour, sweet, bitter and umami. (umami is the taste of fermented soy products and MSG, among other foods.) every human tastebud is made up of 50-100 receptors.
the study was partially funded by Mars Inc., the National Institute of Health, the US Dept of Veterans Affairs and the National Science Foundation, although Joseph Brand, the author of the paper to be published, declined to divulge how much the project cost.
the point of this study is to make better tasting cat food and how to make food more palatable to sick cats.
i have no idea why the US Dept. of Veteran's Affairs would care, do you?
****
not to mention sparky will kill for a taste of ice cream, the creme filling in oatmeal cream pies or a bite of cake. she LOVES sweets. i'm confused.
****
which segues into an article by Lindsey Tanner, of the associated press. she gave examples of disputed research to include hormone pills for post-menopausal women, (first they protected women from heart disease; a later study found they actually increase the risk), the benefits for the heart by taking vitamin E, (refuted by a more rigorous study) and the ever-popular belief that antioxidant substances found in teas, wine, fruits and vegtables reduce substantially the risk of heart disease when in fact, a later study showed the benefits to be more modest.
other things that come to mind are whether or not vitamin c cures or lessens the symptoms of a cold; eggs are good/bad for you; an apple a day may or may not keep the doctor away; green M&M's improve your sex life. (don't tell me you've never eaten them to find out, i know you have.)
the important message seems to be that a single study is not the final word and that treatments often become obsolete with medical advances. Dr. Catherine DeAngelis is quoted as saying "The crazy part about science is you almost never have something that's black and white. "
this is a quote from the editor of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association.)
does that scare you?
it scares me, a little.
so i guess the study on a cat's taste buds is still open to question.
****
direct marketers - you know those annoying people who call you in the middle of dinner, sex or a shower - now have a new list. a Do Not Call The Dead list. of course, they're doing this out of the kindness of their hearts, but in order to protect the public at large's best interests in recieving these calls, there will be a $1 fee to have a name removed due to death.
"We're concerned people will abuse the list, putting the names of friends on it, that kind of thing," says Pat Kachura, the Direct Marketing Association's senior vice-president for ethics and consumer affairs. so, you can't pretend to be dead in order to stem the flow of direct marketing phone calls.
rats.
the last time i got a phone call like that, the person asked for me by name and i said "I'm sorry, I'm not here right now."
it wasn't till i got off the phone and heard my son cracking up that i realized what i had said. we laughed until we howled and the tears poured down our faces. i wanted to call that person back up and say thanks for the belly laugh, it was worth the annoyance.
****
so there you have it, friends and neighbors. places to go, things to learn and decisions to make. have fun!
:)
Read/Post Comments (7)
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