Reinke Faces Life

http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-man-who-won-war-for-us.html

Friday, June 06, 2014

“The Man Who Won the War for Us”

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On D-Day, most of the landing craft that ferried troops and equipment ashore were the Higgins design, and many came from his yard in New Orleans.  The two-fisted, hard-drinking man who told the Navy it “didn’t know a damned thing about small boats” had revolutionized warfare.  No longer were amphibious forces required to attack through heavily-defended ports, to reach docks where troops and equipment could be off-loaded.  With Higgins’ LCVP (Landing Craft Vehicle/Personnel) and larger LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank), amphibious attacks could be planned over wider areas, complicating enemy defenses.  Even Adolf Hitler acknowledged Higgins’ contribution to the war effort, referring to him as “the new Noah.”  General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who led the Normandy  invasion, put it more succinctly, calling Andrew Higgins “the man who won the war for us.”  

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And as usual, he dies broke and forgotten!

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http://mosaicscience.com/story/medicine%E2%80%99s-dirty-secret

Medicine’s dirty secret
Bryn Nelson gets to the bottom of an emerging – and often shocking – therapy.

29 April 2014

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Some doctors have likened the recoveries of desperately ill patients to those seen with anti-HIV protease inhibitors in the mid-1990s. After the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, performed its first faecal microbiota transplant in 2011, a patient who had been bed-ridden for weeks left the hospital 24 hours later. And in 2013, researchers in the Netherlands halted a landmark C. diff. clinical trial early for ethical reasons when they saw that the overall cure rate of 94 per cent with donor faeces had far outpaced the 31 per cent cured with the antibiotic vancomycin.

Yet few other interventions elicit such disgust, revulsion and ridicule. Chronicling a potential advance by a team of Canadian scientists, one newspaper account warned readers: “Hold your nose and don’t spit out your coffee”. In 2013, the founder of a patient advocacy blog called The Power of Poop wrote an open letter to 13 gastroenterology associations detailing the story of a Kentucky man who contracted an acute case of C. diff. Despite his family’s pleas, his doctor dismissed the idea of a faecal transplant as “quackery”. The man died the next day.

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Perhaps Catherine’s testimony helped sway the FDA. Perhaps it was the deluge of bad press that caught the agency off-guard as it struggled to balance the growing evidence of benefits with a highly variable and virtually unregulated practice that had flown beneath the radar. On 18 June 2013, the FDA bowed to pressure and partially reversed course, agreeing to exercise “enforcement discretion” for faecal microbiota transplants used to treat C. diff infections that weren’t responding to standard therapy. They wouldn’t be FDA-approved, in other words, but neither would they be prohibited.

Since the small victory, Catherine and her foundation have continued to push for more faecal microbiota transplant (FMT) clinical trials aimed at other digestive disorders, more research funding and more public awareness and education. She and a few board members who share her sense of humour have also begun crafting slogans that might eventually adorn T-shirts or sweatshirts. Her favourites? “Poop is the Sh*t!” and “Give a sh*t. Donate to the Fecal Transplant Foundation.” Her site also features an FMT awareness ribbon. It’s brown.

“It is what it is,” she says with a laugh. “There’s no way around what we’re talking about or what we’re dealing with.”

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So the FDA backs off.

Guess the drug companies aren’t happy with a competition to their high priced drugs.

The Sheeple need to take back their power.

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http://www.impactlab.net/2014/04/25/disposable-houses/

April 25th, 2014 at 7:39 am
Disposable Houses
in: Architecture,Breakthrough Thinking,Business,Latest Trend,People Making a Difference,Photo Perspectives,Science & Technology News

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Here are a few reasons why having a disposable mindset may beneficial when it comes to real estate.

When moving across town, or to a new city, it makes much more sense to reprint a home in the neighborhood you want than to settle for what available.

Housing needs change as people move through different stages in life. Families with small kids need a different house than those with teens, and once kids move out, it changes again.

Whenever wind or hailstorms cause roof damage, it may be easier and cheaper to reprint a house than to repair it.

People who work from home can easily add an office or two when needed.

In places where flooding, fires, shifting soil, or termites cause major damage to buildings, the entire architecture can be reworked to compensate for those problems.

As people get older and no longer want to do steps, two story houses can be turned into ranch homes.

When driverless cars make owning cars obsolete, garages can be eliminated and reformed into other kinds of usable spaces.

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Given the movement to smaller micro housing, this is an amazing contribution to humanity.

It’s not that the McMansions are “bad”. They are just inefficient.

And, the debt one takes is just wrong.

Again the Gooferment’s “tax” “code” is the cause of the problem.

“tax” = theft

“code” = gibberish that is unintelligible to the average person

We need to level the playing field between savings and debt.

The Gooferment should be a “referee”; protecting the People. Not shearing the Sheeple!

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Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter, Wrongfully Convicted Boxer, Dies at 76

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the boxer whose wrongful murder conviction became an international symbol of racial injustice, has died at 76.

Mr. Carter spent 19 years in prison for three murders at a tavern in Paterson, N.J., in 1966. His ordeal and the alleged racial motivations behind it were publicized in Bob Dylan’s 1975 song “Hurricane,” several books and a 1999 film starring Denzel Washington.

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I wonder how much of his life he lost. Over and above the 19 years. Has to take a toll on you. Life is tough enough with having extra burdens placed on you.

Requiescat In Pacem, Hurricane.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaWA2GbcnJU

“He witnesses happiness. Reaches a deeper understanding. Feels the love. Receives what money can’t buy — a world made more beautiful,” the ad says.

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My pick for best internet video of the year! Maybe ever?

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http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-new-undergarments-that-could-revolutionize-eldercare.html

This Underwear Could Revolutionize Eldercare
AgingCare.com
March 27, 2014
5:00 pm

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When you think about paradigm-changing products, underwear typically isn’t top-of-mind, yet these under-appreciated undergarments may soon play a vital role in enhancing the health and safety of seniors living on their own.

Two top technology honorees at the recently-held 2014 SXSW (South By Southwest) Conference in Austin, Texas aim to elevate underwear beyond the mundane and into the medical care arena.

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Guess I better keep my eye on this!

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http://www.quora.com/Physical-Appearances-of-People/What-does-it-feel-like-to-be-an-unattractive-woman

What does it feel like to be an unattractive woman?
I know this exists: Attraction (interpersonal): What does it feel like to be unattractive and desired by none?

But there are hardly any women weighing in. Given that society places more emphasis on looks for women, I’d like to hear some thoughts about this.

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I read this answer that upset me.

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http://qr.ae/ncDtw

Stephanie Su
CS Undergrad at MIT
366 Votes by Shefaly Yogendra, Mallika Mathur, and 363 more.

I am ugly. I am unattractive. I know that my skin is awful, my hair is greasy, and society simply does not permit women to weigh as much as I do.

But, mind you, this is not the same as having low self-esteem. Because when I look in the mirror, I hate my body, not myself. I simply shake my head and think, “This isn’t me. This mediocre sack of meat isn’t me. I’m just renting it out, driving it around. It’s a tool. It’s a vehicle. I use it to take myself places that I need to go, and that’s all there is to it.”

Ok fine, I’m not Zen enough to actually believe I can escape with that train of thought. The truth is, I am frustrated with the irreconcilable disconnect between my pride and my presence. The acne mask and the fat suit egregiously fail to conform with my mental mockups of my perfectly badass self. I suppose the only real solution then, besides undergoing extensive surgeries, is to upload my conscience to a supercomputer.

{Extraneous Deleted}

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How can anyone feel that bad about themselves?

I’m speechless. 

{I can hear you saying: “Finally? Good!”}

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http://www.gretchenrubin.com/happiness_project/2014/02/which-of-these-10-categories-of-loopholes-do-you-invoke/

Which of These 10 Categories of Loopholes Do You Invoke?
The Happiness Project
Gretchen Rubin 

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1. False choice loophole – “I can’t do this, because I’m so busy doing that” – this is one I often use, myself
2. Moral licensing loophole — “I’ve been so good, it’s okay for me to do this”
3. Tomorrow loophole — “It’s okay to skip today, because I’m going to do this tomorrow”
4. Lack of control loophole — “I can’t help myself”
5. Planning to fail loophole, formerly known as the “Apparently irrelevant decision loophole”
6. “This doesn’t count” loophole – “I’m on vacation” “I’m sick” “It’s the weekend”
7. Questionable assumption loophole
8. Concern for others loophole — “I can’t do this because it might make other people uncomfortable”
9. Fake self-actualization loophole – “You only live once! Embrace the moment!”
10. One-coin loophole –“What difference does it make if I break my habit this one time?”

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I use all 10!

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http://www.lettersofnote.com/2014/02/ladies-gentlemen-of-ad-2088.html

Friday, 21 February 2014
Ladies & Gentlemen of A.D. 2088

Kurt Vonnegut

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Reduce and stabilize your population.
Stop poisoning the air, the water, and the topsoil.
Stop preparing for war and start dealing with your real problems.
Teach your kids, and yourselves, too, while you’re at it, how to inhabit a small planet without helping to kill it.
Stop thinking science can fix anything if you give it a trillion dollars.
Stop thinking your grandchildren will be OK no matter how wasteful or destructive you may be, since they can go to a nice new planet on a spaceship. That is really mean, and stupid.
And so on. Or else.

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Maybe we can start a KICKSTARTER project to get off this rock?

(My belief is that Gooferment keeps us on this plantation!)

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