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Showing posts from June, 2008

HeLa : the Case of the Undying Cancer

This is a wild intersection of cells that seem to keep dividing; the medical industry and a sprinkling of prejudice and bitter spirits. Here is what Wiki says of the case of Henrietta Lacks : Henrietta Lacks (August 18, 1920 – October 4, 1951) was the involuntary (and likely unknowing) donor of cells from her cancerous tumor , which were cultured by George Otto Gey to create an immortal cell line for medical research . This is now known as the HeLa cell line. On February 1 , 1951 , just days after a march for a cure for polio in New York City , according to Michael Rogers of the Detroit Free Press and Rolling Stone Magazine , Henrietta Lacks visited Johns Hopkins Hospital because of a vaginal discharge. That day, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer . She was treated but died on October 4 , 1951 at the age of thirty-one. Mrs. Lacks was buried without a tombstone in a family cemetery in Lackstown. Henrietta Lacks has been recognized as an unintentional contributor to...

Killing Trees, Saving the Planet

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slimy Liberal scam / Why does it take so much paper to send my household the environmental carbon tax rebate? These are coming to the same household, adressed to separate people. Why not spare us the proproganda? So how am I going to spend my $100? Gasoline (thanks for newest tax-- too bad it won't keep Gordon Campbell from gassing up and driving drunk); and cigars. Will all of your wankers (NDP, Saanich Municipality, countless charities) stop trying to pry my windfall from me?

Colbert Opening Segment Phrases

The Colbert Report have these great phrases at the end of the opening credits. The one from last night looked good-- but too fast for me to catch it. So, I will make another attempt to grab it. Here are what they have done so far: Grippy (October 17, 2005–February 9, 2006) Megamerican (February 21–April 6, 2006) Lincolnish (April 17–August 24, 2006) Superstantial (September 11, 2006–January 8, 2007) Freem ("freedom" without the "do" in it, which Stephen has claimed is his favorite featured word, although no one knows who came up with it) (January 9–February 15, 2007) Eneagled (February 26–March 29, 2007) Flagaphile (April 9-June 28, 2007) Good (July 16-August 23, 2007) Gutly (September 10-October 18, 2007) Warrior-poet (October 29, 2007-March 6, 2008) President Bush Have a Hotdog With Me (March 10, 2008-April 10, 2008; April 21-present) (a reference to Stephen's jealousy that President Bush had a hot-dog with John McCain) Self-evident (April 14-18, 2008, from Ph...

Identity Theft : The Victoria Edition

So I got a call from my Credit Union tonight. They've deactivated my card because it was compromised-- or used at a compromised location. They couldn't say where, they couldn't say when and they couldn't say by whom. So, let's play " DATA BINGO! " Below is a list of places and times where I used my card in the last couple months. Did you get a call from your credit union? Are you a Blogger? How about you post a list of places you where you made purchases. Then, leave a link to your list in my comments for this post-- or better yet: post it with the tag of "databingo" to make it easy to find. I think the chances are good that if two or three bloggers post these lists we can dial in which place hires scammers or has practices so poor that their Interac terminals are behind a Magineaux Line of security. One of these places on Vancouver Island hired a scam artist and you paid the price for their mistake. Help me narrow it down: MACS 1177 VICTORIA ...

All I have is a lousy severed foot

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My parents went to British Columbia and all they got me was this lousy severed foot.

Cthulhu is Closer

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Cthulhu Overhead 2 Originally uploaded by dewolfe0001 I have to do a little more sanding, then I need to do: one layer of overall coloration; a layer of coloration details some paint and then two coats of clear resin and then it done! Done. DONE!!! I will thensee if anyone out there wants to buy this rough hewn figure of extra-dimensional evil and allow me to tidy my patio for the first time in 15 frakkin' months.

Happy Father's Day!

My wife and daughter conspired to give me a nice day today: I woke up to a bag of clay products (sculpey and plasticene) along with a copy of Rampage for the Wii and 2000 Wii Credits (200 quatloos on the newcomer!) Dim-sum brunch (wifey collected items from the Fisgard Market) I puttered on my PLR Hub module for Drupal (to tie into a nearly complete PLR Exchange module-- more on that later on my tech blog ). When the sun hit Cthulhu , I went out there, applied green-stuff putty in key spots; then laid down the remainder of my fibreglass. I came in, did some more work on the PLR Hub module; then kiddo and I started worked on the principal character for our upcoming, stop motion project (working title, "Crazy Frog on a Rocket"-- I refuse to divulge plot points). I did a quickie proof-of-concept demonstration of the claymation animation process in action. Happy Father's Day!

Where now?

BSG SPOILER ALERT. There.

Battlestar Galactica Thoughts

I have been a geek of BSG since 1978. In the 80s, I winced at disco flashbacks. The new series took a while to grow on me; and now I love it. With tonight's mid-season finale, Revelations , out there, I thought I'd share some of the my BSG thoughts. Survivor Count With 40,000+/- survivors, this isn't a society or a nation. It's Duncan. Duncan, BC parcelled into spaceships and launched into the void. Everytime I watch an episode I think, "this is Duncan in space with a modest nuclear weapons capacity." Earth For a few years ago, I've wanted to make a BSG video. They land on Earth. They look around. They see a sign. It reads, "Moved to the Firefly Star System. Follow at your Goram Peril." The Final of the Final Five Deanna (Lucy Lawless), said that the last of the five was not in the fleet. So this give me two options: President Laura Roslin (who was not in the fleet at the time of the statement); or Admiral Helena Cain (who seems like someone wort...

Happening Spoiler

Did you want to spare yourself the disappointment and learn now what's up with Night Scamalamlanading-dong's The Happening? Get to the all spoiler review here!

Semi-NSFW Video

THE BPA 'TOE JAM' FEAT. DAVID BYRNE & DIZZEE RASCAL

Media and the Heisenberg Effect

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reporter Originally uploaded by triviaqueen Are bloggers reporters? If they document current events for distribution to an audience, what differentiates them from schmoes who work two floors up from a printing press? Two things make the difference-- or you think they do. First, reports and newspaper photographers get paid. Bloggers don't get paid in any more than online cred. The truth is much blurier. In real cities (I do not live in a real city-- I live in a town with Tiny-Man syndrome-- a town called Victoria), reporters earn good incomes-- five digit and maybe even six-digit salaries. In Victoria, some reporters trade across from reporting to careers at Subway where the money is the same, but the hours and job security are better. Photographers largely go unpaid as volunteers who get the privilege of special access to special events. Bloggers are also mostly unpaid. For every Perez Hilton, there are 10,000 Mike DeWolfes. My blog is my surrogate for a blanket email to people; pe...