And your point?

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:28:20 GMT

It's 21 degrees but feels like 9 degrees. Brrrr

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:37:25 GMT

Every once in awhile, Google comes up with a useful lab product and I liked this one.

http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/

Blindingly fast overviews of headline pages of top newspapers.

Army of Women

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:55:12 GMT

Recruiting an army of volunteers; Dr. Susan Love has a goal: Get 1 million people to enroll in breast cancer studies. She's well on the way.

Recruiting an army of volunteers; Dr. Susan Love has a goal: Get 1 million people to enroll in breast cancer studies. She's well on the way.

Kendall Powell
1173 words
11/16/2009
Los Angeles Times
Home Edition
E-3
English
Copyright 2009 The Los Angeles Times
Beverly Howey and her identical twin sister, Karen Duncan-Sherman, each found a breast lump in 2007. Howey's was cancer. Duncan-Sherman's was benign. The two women, now 45, couldn't have more similar genetics, and they live in the same place, Wall, N.J. Why did one develop cancer and not the other? Such questions have plagued breast cancer researchers for decades.

Inherited genetic mutations, such as those in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, make up only 5% to 10% of breast cancers. And though there's a clear link between a woman's natural estrogen exposure and her breast cancer risk, there's no magic level that equals cancer.

"Known risk factors only account for about 30% of all breast cancers. That means we really have no clue as to what causes it," says Dr. Susan Love, a clinical professor of surgery at UCLA and author of the bestselling "Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book." "To find the causes . . . we need to look both widely and wildly."

That's why the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation created the Army of Women, an Internet-based campaign aimed at connecting volunteers with breast cancer researchers. Set up in partnership with the Avon Foundation for Women and scientists, the Love/Avon Army of Women takes all of those who sign up online: healthy women, women with a breast cancer diagnosis, women of all ages, shapes and colors, and even men with breast cancer. Its goal is to recruit one million volunteers.

Love says that to find the causes of breast cancer, researchers need access to all types of people from across the U.S. Researchers want to compare those who didn't get breast cancer with those who did. They want to analyze women with a lot of genes in common but who live in different environments. And they want to follow healthy participants who may eventually receive a breast cancer diagnosis to see if they can figure out key triggers.

But recruiting research subjects is one of the most difficult and time-consuming parts of research. That's especially true in the case of healthy women because there's less motivation for them to seek trials and no clear way to approach them and sign them up the way there is with patients who are visiting clinics regularly.

Researchers seeking out even more specific populations, such as healthy women who've never been pregnant, often give up in the face of the time and money it takes to locate these women, let alone convince them to participate.

But Love has a knack for finding willing women. "Finding women who've never been pregnant? Easy, go to the nuns!" she says. Finding women who are willing to be guinea pigs even though there's nothing directly in it for them? Also easy, she adds. "I knew that there are women willing to do this and that we could get them," she says. "Doing it online meant we could do it efficiently."

So far, more than 319,500 people have signed up since the Army of Women launched one year ago. That number includes participants ages 18 to 100, from all 50 states and from many ethnic groups, although the majority are middle-age, white and college-educated. Surprisingly, 86% have never had breast cancer and 75% have no family history either.

When a woman joins, she simply agrees to receive e-mails about research studies and the minimum eligibility requirements to participate. Interested and eligible volunteers can then go to the Army's website ( www.armyofwomen.org) to volunteer for a study. Participants can also forward messages to neighbors, cousins and best friends' daughters who might be eligible.

The effort already has significantly sped up some studies.

Catherine Carpenter, an epidemiologist at UCLA, needed 20 women for her pilot study testing whether weight loss and exercise could lower the risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women. "Normally, recruitment is really challenging," says Carpenter, who might receive one or two calls per week after running an ad about her study in the newspaper.

But after Army of Women volunteers were alerted to her recruiting needs, "in one 24-hour period, 21,000 women were interested and ultimately we ended up with a list of 140 local women ready to go," she says. "My colleagues are totally amazed."

Kathleen Arcaro, an environmental toxicologist at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, wants to analyze genetic changes in the breast tissue cells present in the milk samples from 250 women. She needed women who were currently breastfeeding and who needed a breast biopsy for a suspicious lump.

If her team had sought women through the normal channels -- such as doctor's offices and breastfeeding support groups, the project would have been too costly. But she has now enrolled 144 women, 80% of whom came from the Army of Women. "In less than a year, we've processed [samples from] 93 women in a study that people said we wouldn't be able to do," she says.

Dale Sandler, chief of epidemiology at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C., used the Army of Women to help close out the enrollment of 50,900 women in the so-called Sister Study, focused on sisters of women with breast cancer. That project had been recruiting for several years but was still a few thousand shy of its enrollment goals. The word-of-mouth Internet campaign helped Sandler quickly reach enough sisters to finish off recruitment.

Sandler says that the Army of Women approach is not a good fit for all types of studies, such as hospital-based studies, clinical trials of new cancer drugs or a study that needs a true reflection of the total population. "But," she says, "the army does have the added benefit of creating an awareness of the importance of studies and legitimizes studies that are recruiting."

Howey and Duncan-Sherman of New Jersey were eager to sign up. Duncan-Sherman, who has never had breast cancer, has already participated in one study. "When Bev was diagnosed, I felt completely helpless," she says of her sister. "This is something I can do to not only help Bev but maybe myself and others in the future."

She calls the time she spent filling out questionnaires, doing phone interviews and giving blood and toenail samples "a drop in the bucket, if it is to help even one person."

--

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:34:48 GMT

Clay Balls

A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.

He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!

Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.

Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!

It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.

We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.

There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay.

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:13:35 GMT

http://www.planforyourhealth.com/health-benefits-dummies-guide

A free copy of the 2nd Edition of the Navigating Your Health Benefits For Dummies guide, offered by Aetna and the Financial Planning Association

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:59:09 GMT

I saw a mama deer and her baby running across the road the other day. I slowed down to watch them sprint across the field and into the woods. I know, I am goofy but I couldn't help myself.

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:21:03 GMT

Saw these at Fresh Market today.

Wed, 20 May 2009 19:05:21 GMT

If you are a Coldplay fan, you can download a free live album of some of their songs

http://lrlrl.coldplay.com/leftright.html

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:33:43 GMT

I arrived safe and sound in my new home. Here are a couple pics of the traffic trying to get out of DC on Friday evening.

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:03:14 GMT

Your result for Which Supreme Court Justice Are You Test...

You are Justice John Paul Stevens

John Paul Stevens (born April 20, 1920) is the senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He joined the Supreme Court in 1975 and is the oldest member of the Court. He was appointed to the Court by Republican President Gerald Ford. Although Stevens is widely considered to be on the liberal side of the court, Ford praised Stevens in 2005: "He is serving his nation well, with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns." He is also the only current Justice to have served under three Chief Justices (Warren E. Burger, William Rehnquist, and John G. Roberts).

Early in his tenure on the Supreme Court Stevens had a moderate voting record. He voted to reinstate capital punishment in the United States and opposed the racial quota system program at issue in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. But on the more conservative Rehnquist Court, Stevens tended to side with the more liberal-leaning Justices on issues such as abortion rights, gay rights and federalism. His Segal-Cover score, a measure of the perceived liberalism/conservatism of Court members when they joined the Court, places him squarely in the ideological center of the Court. A 2003 statistical analysis of Supreme Court voting patterns, however, found Stevens the most liberal member of the Court.

Stevens' jurisprudence has usually been characterized as idiosyncratic. Stevens, unlike most justices, usually writes the first drafts of his opinions himself and reviews petitions for certiorari within his chambers instead of having his law clerks participate as part of the cert pool. He is not an originalist (such as fellow Justice Antonin Scalia) nor a pragmatist (such as Judge Richard Posner), nor does he pronounce himself a cautious liberal (such as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg). He has been considered part of the liberal bloc of the court since the mid-1980s, though he publicly called himself a judicial conservative in 2007.Stevens was once an impassioned critic of affirmative action, voting in 1978 to invalidate the racial quota system program at issue in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. He also dissented in 1980's Fullilove v. Klutznick, which upheld a minority set-aside program. He shifted his position over the years and voted to uphold the affirmative action program at the University of Michigan Law School challenged in 2003's Grutter v. Bollinger.

Take Which Supreme Court Justice Are You Test at HelloQuizzy

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:06:40 GMT

I am giving up my Floridian status to become a Pennsylvanian next Friday. I start a new position up there on April 13th and I am very excited. Once I get up there I may picture spam you all on occasion. <g>

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 21:03:22 GMT

Its official " Porn in the USA: Conservatives Are Biggest Consumers. 8 of Top 10 Porn-Consuming States Voted Republican in 2008 Presidential Election"

"Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by," Edelman says.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Business/story?id=6977202&page=1

Ben Dunlap's Lecture of a Lifetime

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:14:00 GMT

In this past Readers Digest, there was a reprint of an article originally published back in 2007 on Sandor Teszler. If you get a chance, give it a read. This is a man I would have loved to have met and had a conversation with.

www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/ben-dunlaps-lecture-of-a-lifetime/article114714.html

Daddy, Get a Job

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:36:49 GMT

Very cute kids and this guy was smart to market himself on CNN

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-217283?ref=email

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:20:23 GMT

I was in the drug store today and I love Valentine's as much as the next person but it looked like a Valentine's bomb went off in the middle of the place. Anyway, hope everyone has a good Valentine's Day

Wii

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:27:16 GMT

So I got a Wii a few months back and I have to say this game system is great for the casual gamer. I got NCAA Football 09 and the mascot game is a hoot to play. Plus some of the mascots are just too adorable.

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:55:19 GMT

I don't agree with everything she says but its free and you can pick what you want out of her books to follow

Suze Orman's Free Book Download
Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan

Get your copy of Suze Orman's latest book, Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan, for free!
Download Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan in English.* PDF
This book is copyrighted. You may view and download the file, but you may not copy the file or share or forward it to any other person. Offer expires at 11:59 p.m. CT on Thursday, January 15.

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20081119_tows_bookdownload

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:06:39 GMT

From a forum I visit. I love cats when they have two different eye colors.

Happy New Year (just a little late)

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:42:15 GMT

:-( I am five days late in wishing everyone a good New Year but I have been sidelined by a nasty little bug since before Christmas. I do hope everyone had a good holiday and who knows maybe this year I will post more than a hand full of entries.

Gingerbread houses

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:24:28 GMT

DSCI0628
Originally uploaded by killingtime2

While I was up in Pennsylvania during Thanksgiving we went to a display of gingerbread houses. I am always amazed at the creativity and ability of people. Most of them were made by kids.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/killingtime2/sets/72157610797554959/

Its been a long time since I posted

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:19:14 GMT

There Are 2 Gaps in Your Knowledge

Where you have gaps in your knowledge:

Philosophy

Science

Where you don't have gaps in your knowledge:

Religion

Economics

Literature

History

Art

Do You Have Gaps in Your Knowledge?

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:40:25 GMT

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:17:09 GMT

Fate alone saw the meaning of the web it wove, the might of it, and its place in the making of a world's history.
Frances Hodgson Burnett

George Bush "Imagine"

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:43:24 GMT

This must have taken awhile to piece together the audio and video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n41bRHlr76Y

Women In Art

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:12:07 GMT

This is a video that is up for nomination of the 2007 Youtube awards. I thought it was pretty cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUDIoN-_Hxs