My Blog (Verbose)

So what's with the "ring" thing here?

CarpenterNJ — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:05:13 GMT

It is all about the receptors folks. Highly protein bound moderately lipid soluble drugs act by polysynaptic pathway inhibition via interaction with specific receptors (GABA, BZ, Barbiturate modified Chloride channel) which enhance the inhibitory effect of GABA in the Reticular Activating System and Amygdala by increasing the open time of the Chloride channel. Barbiturates are synergistic (supra-additive) by increasing receptor affinity for Benzodiazepines. Inverse agonists cause wakefulness, anxiety, fear, and convulsions. The actions of both agonists and inverse agonists are reduced by benzodiazepine antagonsists such as flumazenil (Anexate). Two receptor subtypes; BZ1 in cortex, BZ2 receptors in the amygdala and hippocampus. Ain't brain chemistry fun!? Main effects are: CNS Depression - decreased anxiety, tranquility, sedation, anterograde amnesia, ultimately unconsciousness and respiratory depression. Anxiety reduced more than apparrent drowsiness. Sleep changes include delayed and reduced REM sleep and reduced stage 3 and 4 sleep, but increased overall sleep times. Anticonvulsant effects - mostly with Diazepam. Muscle relaxation - spinal polysynaptic pathway, ie no enhancement of NMBs. In general they work for me. Most benzos are class iV controlled substances. If you have a script that ends in the letter "C" then you are taking one. Leave it to the Germans to discover this stuff. On the Net: http://www.anaes.med.usyd.edu.au/lectures/tranquilisers_clt/tranquiliser.html Time for some Ativan... ;o)

A few notes on sleep and circadian rhythms (or the absence of them)

CarpenterNJ — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:27:06 GMT

A circadian rhythm is a roughly a 24-hour cycle in the biochemical, physiological or behavioral processes of living entities, including plants, animals, fungi and cyanobacteria bacterial circadian rhythms. The term "circadian", coined by Franz Halberg, comes from the Latin circa, "around," and diem or dies, "day", meaning literally "approximately one day." The formal study of biological temporal rhythms such as daily, tidal, weekly, seasonal, and annual rhythms is called chronobiology. Circadian rhythms are endogenously generated, and can be entrained by external cues, called zeitgebers, the primary one of which is daylight. That said, why can’t I sleep without drugs at night? I have “black-out” shades on my windows and yet I almost wake at 0300 hours every morning? Usually to urinate, maybe it is just a 54 year old prostate thing. With all the meds that I take I should sleep through the night and I don’t. I take two benzodiazepines to enhance the effects of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid, which results in sedation and also the sedative hypnotic Trazodone at bedtime, so why am I still awake? Perhaps it is stress; all I want is a quiet night’s sleep. No screaming dementors, no dreams of loves lost, or being chased in the dark like the Eloi. Just some downtime please. I do have some drug options here; there are a few hypnotics that suppress dreaming like Meprobamate which allow a moderated dream state. Or drugs like Klonopin (clonazepam) which will suppress them completely, dear god why does the get out of jail free card always have a benzo attached to it these days? I am beginning to believe that the benzodiazepines; like the Furies of the Norse myths come in threes. And they all have a unique carbon double hex bonded rings in common. Perhaps it comes from Mordor, and hence the addiction as well... One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, 1954, chapter 2 British scholar & fantasy novelist (1892 - 1973) Peace Namaste’ John :o/

Well it is Friday, November 13th, 2009

CarpenterNJ — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:22:30 GMT

I am not superstitious or anything like that, but I still believe in the supernatural to a degree. Hey, the universe is just too vast and largely unknown not to at least ponder the idea of strange things going on about in the woods. But as an engineer 13 is just a number, and it is the is the 7th prime in the series of positive integers (and yes IMHO 1 is a prime since it is divisible by 1 and itself). Just because the result is the number that you started with doesn’t make it not a prime in my book. As for -1/-1=1 that is part of number theory that I will not address here. The G-unit was annoyed that I got home early today, and he can just bite me! He had Molly locked outside in the cold and she was barking her brains out. Usually he works out between 1200 and 1300 hours when he is not irrevocably linked to his TV set. It is now 3:00 in the afternoon, and if he’d get off the damn computer and stop jerkin' off for a few minutes we would not have had a time conflict problem here. He refuses to workout when I am in the basement; and I have yet to understand why to be quite honest. But it is fine with me if he doesn’t, he plays his music way too loud fucking loud and I can't concentrate, and he is a tenant after all. This is my house and I am more than accommodating as such. If he and the pig decide to move out next month, all I will miss is the $500/month in rent that he pays. But not him. It will be a wash since we will no longer have to feed him, 1/3 fewer showers 1/3 fewer laundries, and we will not to have to come home to a kitchen of disasters every day anymore. Not to mention he won't be pushing the thermostat up to 80º during the day while Edward and I are at work. And the the trail of debris that seems to follow him everywhere he goes. He is in a word a slob. I have been working on a huge math project in Excel involving Shock Response Spectra for the past two days that will save me loads of time and major headaches. I have been doing it sort of under the radar because trying to explain what I am doing and why it not only saves me days worth of tedious calculations and the company loads of pissed away money. That it helps everyone involved (and mostly me). After all we can charge the customers for it, and data reduction is not free. I only let Miller (our chief engineer who is in his 70’s) know what I was working on and frankly he was amazed at the solution that I had come up with in Excel. It was rather complicated and involves calculus and multiple logarithms in 4 axis’s using acceleration, displacement, velocity, and frequency. Both of which I suck at, but I did it flawlessly (so far). X1 and Y1 were easy, X2 and Y2 were more complicated because I had to interpolate the values and draw them by hand. Tom looked at the plots and said; "WOW! How did you do that?!" Hey, I kick butt in Excel folks. In any event I got my +40 hours in this week and now I can just relax for a bit. And 13 is just another prime number it seems, so all and all, it was a good day. Now if I could just find a date for the weekend, life would be good... Peace Namaste’ John ;o)

Happy tales for some former fighting dogs

CarpenterNJ — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:37:11 GMT

By CHERYL WITTENAUER AP ST. LOUIS (2009-Nov-11) -- Dozens of American pit bull terriers netted in the largest dogfighting raid in U.S. history are finding homes despite some who predicted aggression or trauma would make them unsuitable as pets. More than 120 of the animals have been placed in foster homes or are headed there this week through the efforts of pit bull rescue groups throughout the U.S. An additional 117, like the scarred but smiling Tulip, await their turn. "They are not a vicious animal. They are the victims of abuse," said Debbie Hill, vice president of operations for the Humane Society of Missouri. "That face and their eyes tell the story. They only want to be in someone's home, on a couch, or sleeping at someone's feet, maybe chew up a rug or two for entertainment. They're learning for the first time how to be a dog." In the days leading up to the July 8 raid, the Humane Society secured a cavernous industrial warehouse in St. Louis that it transformed into an emergency shelter for the hundreds of dogs seized in Missouri and Illinois. About 100 dogs seized in other states were taken by rescue groups elsewhere. Once at the Missouri shelter, dogs were tested by a national team of certified animal behaviorists, taken on walks, and allowed to chew on bowling balls stuffed with peanut butter. Some finicky eaters were treated to home-cooked chicken breasts to supplement meals of dog food. The Human Society offered The Associated Press first access to the site Tuesday. During the tour, puppies born since the raid took turns playing tug of war with a chew toy in a play room. Humane Society staff members pulled a catering cart down a long row of dog cages, calling animals by name as they slid them bowls of food. Some, like Pacific, were shy, quivering in fear of new visitors. Others were extroverts, springing on hind legs to say hello. The foster homes will acclimate the dogs to the noises and rules of a household, and teach them basic manners. Animal behaviorist Pamela Reid, who was part of the team that evaluated the dogs, said a surprising two-thirds tested well for nonaggression and adoptability. She's fostering one puppy, although one her favorite dogs had to be euthanized because he showed aggression toward men. Hill said 160 dogs were put down because of injuries, illness or behavior. None of the puppies showed aggression, Reid said. Tim Rickey, who heads the Humane Society's anticruelty task force, said the raids proved the underground dogfighting industry is pervasive. "We scratched the surface," Rickey said. "We could have done several of these (raids) in Missouri alone." — On the Net: Humane Society of Missouri: http://www.hsmo.org/ I truly love my Stafford-shire American pit bull terrier Molly. She may be the best dog that I have ever had, nothing but rescue dogs for me from now on... ;o)

Telescopes Make Stunning Galaxy Photo

CarpenterNJ — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:34:32 GMT

www.Space.com (2009-Nov. 10) — A giant composite image of the Milky Way's center has been taken by NASA's three Great Observatories — the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The image, unveiled by NASA today, was made to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy, 400 years after Galileo first turned his telescope to the heavens. This is one of the most detailed images to date of the heart of the Milky Way. The galaxy's center is within the white spot near the right edge of the photo. NASA released the image Tuesday to mark the 400th anniversary of the telescope. It is a composite of images from three observatories: the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The pictures of our galaxy's hub combines a near-infrared view from the Hubble Space Telescope, an infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope, and an X-ray view from the Chandra X-ray Observatory into one multiwavelength picture. Experts from all three observatories carefully assembled the final image from large mosaic photo surveys taken by each telescope. This composite image provides one of the most detailed views ever of our galaxy's mysterious core. More than 150 planetariums, museums, nature centers, libraries, and schools across the country have received a giant 6-foot-by-3-foot print of the stunning image. Participating institutions also will display a matched trio of Hubble, Spitzer, and Chandra images of the Milky Way's center on a second large panel measuring 3 feet by 4 feet. The composite image features the spectacle of stellar evolution: from vibrant regions of star birth, to young hot stars, to old cool stars, to seething remnants of stellar death called black holes. This activity occurs against a fiery backdrop in the crowded, hostile environment of the galaxy's core, the center of which is dominated by a supermassive black hole nearly four million times more massive than our Sun. Permeating the region is a diffuse blue haze of X-ray light from gas that has been heated to millions of degrees by outflows from the supermassive black hole as well as by winds from massive stars and by stellar explosions. Infrared light reveals more than a hundred thousand stars along with glowing dust clouds that create complex structures including compact globules, long filaments, and finger-like "pillars of creation," where newborn stars are just beginning to break out of their dark, dusty cocoons. WOW that is just awesome! And it is not 2 million light years away, this is our home... ;o)

AMA Opposes Military's Policy on Gays

CarpenterNJ — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:33:11 GMT

Group Also Says Gay Marriage Bans Widen Health Gaps By LINDSEY TANNER AP CHICAGO (2009-Nov-10) -- The American Medical Association on Tuesday voted to oppose the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and declared that gay marriage bans contribute to health disparities. The nation's largest doctors' group stopped short of saying it would seek to overturn marriage bans, but its new stance angered conservative activists and provides a fresh boost to lobbying efforts by gay-rights advocates. "It's highly significant that the AMA as one of this country's leading professional associations has taken a position on both of these issues," said Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, a Washington-based advocacy group. The health disparities measure "in the long run, will certainly help efforts to win marriage equality," Carey said. Whether the AMA's lobbying power will hasten efforts to overturn the "don't ask, don't tell" law remains to be seen. President Barack Obama has said he is working with congressional leaders to end the policy, and the AMA's stance will likely help, although gay rights issues have been upstaged by Obama's health care overhaul battle. The AMA's vote took place at the group's interim policy-making meeting in Houston, a day after AMA delegates voted to affirm their support for health reform. The health disparities policy is based on evidence showing that married couples are more likely to have health insurance, and that the uninsured have a high risk for "living sicker and dying younger," said Dr. Peter Carmel, an AMA board member. Same-sex families lack other benefits afforded married couples, including tax breaks, spouse benefits under retirement plans and Social Security survivor benefits — all of which can put their health at risk, according to an AMA council report presented at the meeting. But Jenny Tyree, a marriage analyst for Focus on the Family Action, a conservative advocacy group, called it a health insurance problem, not a marriage problem. "We all know there are problems with health care so let's solve the problem of the uninsured, rather than messing with marriage," she said. Doctors who pushed the group to oppose "don't ask, don't tell" say the policy forcing gay service members to keep their sexual orientation secret has "a chilling effect" on open communication between gays and their doctors. "A law which makes people lie to their physicians is a bad law," said Dr. David Fassler, a University of Vermont psychiatry professor who attended the meeting. In other action Tuesday, the AMA moved closer to supporting medical marijuana, adopting a measure urging a federal review of marijuana's status as a controlled substance. That would make it easier to do research, which the AMA said could lead to development of marijuana-based medications that don't require smoking. The group said its position doesn't mean it supports legalizing marijuana. On the Net: AMA: http://www.ama-assn.org Inch by inch bois and gurls... ;o)

Did We Domesticate Dogs, or Did Dogs Domesticate Us?

CarpenterNJ — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:05:45 GMT

www.sphere.com (2009-Nov-06) -- A new book by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist Jon Franklin concludes that man's best friends may have been responsible for our emergence as the alpha dogs of the animal kingdom. We wouldn't be who we are without them. So we rewarded them with a lifetime supply of Snausages and Purina Puppy Chow. Well, it's a little more complicated than that. Franklin's book, "The Wolf in the Parlor" (Henry Holt, 2009), traces "the eternal connection between humans and dogs" through the millennia. His 20 years of research convinced him that we couldn't have made it without each other. Dallas critic Bill Marvel calls the author's deductions a stretch. "Franklin seems to suggest that while we were taming the dog, the dog was civilizing us," Marvel wrote. "He reminds me a little of the dyslexic churchgoer who worshipped Dog." But biological anthropologist Forrest Smith, a professor emeritus at the University of Akron, isn't troubled at all by the results of Franklin's detective work. "I agree with him 100 percent," Smith said. Wolves and man were once virtually equals at the top of the predatory food chain, he said. It's logical to believe that the species had to collaborate to survive. He said it's much the same conclusion that Michael Pollan reached in his book about plant life, "The Omnivore's Dilemma." "Did we domesticate corn or did corn domesticate us?" Smith asked. "We needed each other." Franklin's book is a blend of emotion and science. Which is a lot like his career. His book "Writing for Story" taught a generation of journalists to bolt past details to the emotional center of the story. Yet he's equally respected among scientists. "I've been carrying around something he wrote about the importance of science for more than 10 years," said Dr. Emilie Clemmens, a professor at Cascadia College near Seattle who has a Ph.D. in bioengineering. "It defines who I am." In an interview with Sphere, Franklin that he's shown the book to scientist friends and received little resistance to his results or his methods. "Science begins with emotion. Something triggers an emotional response, and then we investigate it." His emotional response was triggered when he met the love of his life, Lynn, in the late 1980s. "Love me, love my dog," was their unspoken pact. That's how the descendant of the wolf, a standard poodle named Charlie, came into his parlor. The marriage and his relationship with Charlie flourished. The feelings that grew toward the dog piqued his scientific curiosity about the link between the species. A decade earlier he had seen a photograph of the fossilized remains of a man who had been buried with a small dog or wolf cub in what is now Syria some 12,000 years ago. The man was reaching furtively toward the small creature. Franklin stuck the picture in a drawer until he met Charlie. Two more decades of research led to the book. Scientists generally agree that the first domesticated dogs appeared around 15,000 years ago, give or take a few dozen centuries. In those days, humans, as they still do, left a mess as they wandered about the planet. Some wolves found it was easier to follow the garbage buffet than to hunt for them. Dr. Ray Coppinger, an animal behaviorist expert, argued in the book "Dogs" that the wolves began to domesticate themselves as they learned to live around humans. "It was natural selection," he said in the New York Times several years ago. "The dogs did it, not people." Franklin suggested, though, that humans did play a role in the selection process. Sometimes, the wolf cubs made for a convenient dinner. The cuddly ones were less likely to meet the end of a club. He noted something else unusual was happening then. The man in the photo's death occurred near the end of the ice age. About the same time, fossils show, the human brain was shrinking by as much as 10 percent. Yet we got smarter. "Suddenly and inexplicably we began to herd, dig, build, draw, plan and invent ... we became uncontested masters of the planet," he wrote. He believes that our evolutionary dance with the wolves made it all happen. As wolves became dogs -- as the genetic research of Dr. Robert K. Wayne of UCLA has shown -- they herded our flocks. They warned us of nearby predators. They helped us hunt more efficiently. That gave us time to think. Dogs, Franklin reasons, made us better people. Just as Charlie nurtured him during their dozen years of walking together. It's a lesson for us all. "Just remember," Franklin said, "there's an animal on both ends of the leash." Stuart Warner, an aol.com editor, also teaches journalism at Case Western Reserve University. He has worked with Jon Franklin on several writing projects. Dr. Clemmens is Warner's oldest daughter. The chicken or the egg huh? ;o)

Hubble Gives Best View Yet of Star Birth

CarpenterNJ — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:03:40 GMT

www.Space.com (2009-Nov-05) — The Hubble Space Telescope's powerful new camera has taken the most detailed image yet of star birth in the nearby spiral galaxy M83. Nicknamed the Southern Pinwheel, M83 is undergoing more rapid star formation than our own Milky Way galaxy, especially in its nucleus. A new camera installed on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured this amazingly detailed view of stars being born. In galaxy M83, also known as the Southern Pinwheel, hundreds of young star clusters are present, especially in the nucleus. In this galaxy, the sharp eye of the Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) — newly installed this summer during the telescope's fourth and final servicing mission — has captured hundreds of young star clusters, ancient swarms of globular star clusters, and hundreds of thousands of individual stars, mostly blue supergiants and red supergiants. WFC3's broad wavelength range, from ultraviolet to near-infrared, reveals stars at different stages of evolution, allowing astronomers to dissect the galaxy's star-formation history. The new image reveals in unprecedented detail the current rapid rate of star birth in this spiral galaxy. The newest generations of stars are forming largely in clusters on the edges of the dark dust lanes, the backbone of the spiral arms. These fledgling stars, only a few million years old, are bursting out of their dusty cocoons and producing bubbles of reddish glowing hydrogen gas. Gradually, the young stars' fierce winds (streams of charged particles) blow away the gas, revealing bright blue star clusters. These stars are about 1 million to 10 million years old. The older populations of stars are not as blue. A bar of stars, gas, and dust slicing across the core of the galaxy may be instigating most of the star birth in the galaxy's core. The bar funnels material to the galaxy's center, where the most active star formation is taking place. The brightest star clusters reside along an arc near the core. The remains of about 60 supernova blasts, the deaths of massive stars, can be seen in the image, five times more than known previously in this region. M83 is located 15 million light-years away in the Southern Hemisphere constellation Hydra. What a kewl instrument Hubble is... ;o)

Baguette-Toting Bird Stalls Atom Smasher

CarpenterNJ — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:02:51 GMT

CNN (2009-Nov-09) -- This is too weird: A bird reportedly has dropped a "bit of baguette" onto the world's largest atom smasher, causing the machine to short out for a period of time. It's just the latest mishap for the Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, which scientists plan to use to get insight into the universe's origins. The LHC, which has a 17-mile track to circulate protons and is located underground on the French-Swiss border outside Geneva, Switzerland, is the largest particle accelerator in the world and cost about $10 billion. The Large Hadron Collider, represented here by a model at CERN (European Organization For Nuclear Research), was shorted out when a bird dropped part of a baguette into the atom smasher's external machinery. The LHC booted up in September 2008, but technical problems forced it to shut down shortly after its launch. When the mystery bird reportedly dropped a piece of bread onto the particle accelerator's outdoor machinery earlier this week, the device was not turned on, according to reports, and therefore did not suffer major damage. Had the machine been activated, the baguette incident could have caused the LHC to go into shutdown mode, the UK's The Register reports. The Register quotes Dr. Mike Lamont, a worker at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (or CERN), as saying that "a bit of baguette" had been dropped on the LHC, possibly by a bird. A call to CERN's press office was not immediately returned. ZDNet writes that the baguette in question did not have a chocolate filling: "The [CERN] spokesperson said the bread, which was 'naked and unfilled,' had caused a short circuit when dropped on an electrical installation that supplies energy to the massive experiment. While the bird was unconfirmed as the definite culprit, it had been spotted beforehand near the substation carrying bread, said the spokesperson." The avian accident has prompted a number of online parodies and jokes. CNET UK, a CNN content partner, writes jokingly that it's clear the bird was French since it was carrying a baguette: "We're not ones for crude for national stereotyping, but the detail that the bird dropped a bit of baguette suggests this must have occurred on the French side of the LHC. It's unclear whether the bird was actually riding a bike, or indeed wearing onions and a beret." A Discover blog exclaims: "Zut alors!" And CrunchGear says the strange incident shows the LHC is "so abhorrent to nature that the universe is contriving to snuff it out." Never a dull moment over there it seems... ;o)

It is Monday morning and I am a bit worse for wear

CarpenterNJ — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:28:50 GMT

1,000mg’s of Seroquel is just way too much, so it is back to 600mg’s in small steps. And today is the G-unit's 47th birthday. Not only did I not know that he is two years older than Edward, but for some strange reason I thought it was in February! Welcome to “The Valley of the Dolls” folks. God I really just dated myself there didn’t I? Seeing as I am totally broke right now all he got was a hug and a kiss. He wants me to fuck him but that ain’t happening. We shall have hot roast beef sandwiches for dinner and a cannoli cream cake in his honor. He is a Sicilian after all. For reasons unknown to myself his name is not really Giuseppe, it’s Joseph. Perhaps it makes him feel unique. And boy does it ever, folks in quite a few states know who G is, and have probably fucked him at least once. I know that when I was a lad that wished that I had been named Sebastian or Bartholomew. John seemed so boring, but it was my grandfather’s name and so I am II. Once again I had to take another unpaid sick day because of my doctor dicking about with my meds. Mercifully my job is very understanding about my health issues. And I appreciate it a lot, not many companies would put up with my high absenteeism. We came to an agreement that they would be flexible with my hours and I would be a part-time employee. I get no benefits, but I do have a job. Since the State of New Jersey pays for all of my meds and for my healthcare through ADDP and HICP, it is a win-win situation for us all. My only other option would be to go on total disability as Giuseppe is through Social Security and Medicaid. And that just won’t pay the bills. Even with all the medications that I am on (11 scripts last count) I still have days that I physically can’t get out of bed. Bi-polar Depression is truly a debilitating illness. Add to that child abuse, being bullied at school, being raped, HIV, and Hepatitis-B and then you have a fine kettle of fish. And fuck stigma, I am living with it everyday. I refuse to suffer in silence. Nor should anyone have to. My thanks to all of you who read what I write. It helps me get through the day, honestly. My lord Ganesh, remover of all obstacles. Hear my quite prayer. Clear our way to the true path. Until the time we meet. Peace Namaste’ Shri Ganesh John

Laundry, a nice cup of green tea, a Marlboro, and serious verbal diarrhea

CarpenterNJ — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:26:32 GMT

I can’t say that I have noticed a big difference at this dosing level (aside from my knuckles dragging on the ground). But the noises have basically stopped which is a good thing. There is a “nothingness” about it however. Folks on very high doses of anti-psychotics complain about becoming “disconnected” from the real world. I agree. I feel the “nothingness” as well. As one’s symptoms pass, so does one’s ability to experience anything. Maybe bad days are a “good” thing after all. As and engineer and an empirical scientist we rely on standards. Without a baseline, your data is basically garbage. Fortunately I have a “standard” of mental health in the G-unit. He has advanced AIDS dementia complex at age 45. He functions on the fringe fairly well. His new coffee machine makes him happy, so who cares if he keeps his pants up. And the Black Forest Dark Roast it makes will certainly put hair on your balls. I am having a cup of it right now, it will chase away some of the Temazapam cobwebs in my head. We are quite the crew it seems, but I would not have it any other way. My ex-lover Edward, a crazy demented roommate named Giuseppe, his pet pig Napoleon, and my Pit Bull Molly, Life is good. For the most part. All I can say is that I am happy today. Isn’t that enough? And yes G is peeing in his coffee cup. I like it, he is such a pig boy... Peace Namaste’ John ;o)

Partitions p(n)

CarpenterNJ — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:19:46 GMT

In number theory, a partition of a positive integer n is a way of writing n as a sum of positive integers. Two sums that differ only in the order of their summands are considered to be the same partition; if order matters then the sum becomes a composition. A summand in a partition is also called a part. The number of partitions of n is given by the partition function p(n). Examples The partitions of 4 are listed below: 1. 4 2. 3 + 1 3. 2 + 2 4. 2 + 1 + 1 5. 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 The partitions of 8 are listed below: 1. 8 2. 7 + 1 3. 6 + 2 4. 6 + 1 + 1 5. 5 + 3 6. 5 + 2 + 1 7. 5 + 1 + 1 + 1 8. 4 + 4 9. 4 + 3 + 1 10. 4 + 2 + 2 11. 4 + 2 + 1 + 1 12. 4 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 13. 3 + 3 + 2 14. 3 + 3 + 1 + 1 15. 3 + 2 + 2 + 1 16. 3 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 17. 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 18. 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 19. 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 20. 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 21. 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 22. 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 Yes this is all real hyper math geek stuff, but it is way kewl. And no it will not change your life in anyway, but he did solve the puzzle. Thank you Srinivasa The entire article is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_%28number_theory%29 ;o)

Srinivasa Ramanujan

CarpenterNJ — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:07:25 GMT

Born: December 22, 1887 Died: April 26, 1920 Ramanujan independently discovered results of Gauss, Kummer and others on hypergeometric series. Ramanujan's own work on partial sums and products of hypergeometric series have led to major development in the topic. His most famous work was on the number p(n) of partitions of an integer n into summands. Srinivasa Ramanujan was a mathematician par excellence. He is widely believed to be the greatest mathematician of the 20th Century. Srinivasa Ramanujan made significant contribution to the analytical theory of numbers and worked on elliptic functions, continued fractions, and infinite series. Srinivasa Aiyangar Ramanujan was born on December 22, 1887 in Erode, Tamil Nadu. His father worked in Kumbakonam as a clerk in a cloth merchant's shop. At the age of five Ramanujan went to primary school in Kumbakonam. In 1898 at age 10, he entered the Town High School in Kumbakonam. At the age of eleven he was lent books on advanced trigonometry written by S. L. Loney by two lodgers at his home who studied at the Government College. He mastered them by the age of thirteen. Ramanujan was a bright student, winning academic prizes in high school. At age of 16 his life took a decisive turn after he obtained a book titled “A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics". The book was simply a compilation of thousands of mathematical results, most set down with little or no indication of proof. The book generated Ramanujan's interest in mathematics and he worked through the book's results and beyond. By 1904 Ramanujan had begun to undertake deep research. He investigated the series (1/n) and calculated Euler's constant to 15 decimal places. He began to study the Bernoulli numbers, although this was entirely his own independent discovery. He was given a scholarship to the Government College in Kumbakonam which he entered in 1904. But he neglected his other subjects at the cost of mathematics and failed in college examination. He dropped out of the college. Ramanujan lived off the charity of friends, filling notebooks with mathematical discoveries and seeking patrons to support his work. In 1906 Ramanujan went to Madras where he entered Pachaiyappa's College. His aim was to pass the First Arts examination which would allow him to be admitted to the University of Madras. Continuing his mathematical work Ramanujan studied continued fractions and divergent series in 1908. At this stage he became seriously ill again and underwent an operation in April 1909 after which he took him some considerable time to recover. On 14 July 1909 Ramanujan marry a ten year old girl S Janaki Ammal. During this period Ramanujan had his first paper published a 17-page work on Bernoulli numbers that appeared in 1911 in the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society. In 1911 Ramanujan approached the founder of the Indian Mathematical Society for advice on a job. He got the job of clerk at the Madras Port Trust with the help of Indian mathematician Ramachandra Rao. The professor of civil engineering at the Madras Engineering College C L T Griffith was interested in Ramanujan's abilities and, having been educated at University College London, knew the professor of mathematics there, namely M J M Hill. He wrote to Hill on 12 November 1912 sending some of Ramanujan's work and a copy of his 1911 paper on Bernoulli numbers. Hill replied in a fairly encouraging way but showed that he had failed to understand Ramanujan's results on divergent series. In January 1913 Ramanujan wrote to G H Hardy having seen a copy of his 1910 book Orders of infinity. Hardy, together with Littlewood, studied the long list of unproved theorems which Ramanujan enclosed with his letter. Hardy wrote back to Ramanujan and evinced interest in his work. University of Madras gave Ramanujan a scholarship in May 1913 for two years and, in 1914, Hardy brought Ramanujan to Trinity College, Cambridge, to begin an extraordinary collaboration. Right from the start Ramanujan's collaboration with Hardy led to important results. In a joint paper with Hardy, Ramanujan gave an asymptotic formula for p(n). It had the remarkable property that it appeared to give the correct value of p(n), and this was later proved by Rademacher. Ramanujan had problems settling in London. He was an orthodox Brahmin and right from the beginning he had problems with his diet. The outbreak of World War I made obtaining special items of food harder and it was not long before Ramanujan had health problems. On 16 March 1916 Ramanujan graduated from Cambridge with a Bachelor of Science by Research. He had been allowed to enroll in June 1914 despite not having the proper qualifications. Ramanujan's dissertation was on highly composite numbers and consisted of seven of his papers published in England. Ramanujan fell seriously ill in 1917 and his doctors feared that he would die. He did improve a little by September but spent most of his time in various nursing homes. On February 18, 1918 Ramanujan was elected a fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society and later he was also elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of London. By the end of November 1918 Ramanujan's health had greatly improved. Ramanujan sailed to India on 27 February 1919 arriving on 13 March. However his health was very poor and, despite medical treatment, he died on April 6, 1920. If you have to have a number hero this is your guy. Hardy ripped him off by the way by stealing his work... Peace Namaste’ Shri Ganesh John

And today's show is brought to you by the letter "Z"

CarpenterNJ — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:09:16 GMT

This is very informal (and even just plain wrong in some respects). The Reimann Zeta function is very interesting as it relates one series of numbers, the integers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ... to another series of numbers, the primes: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, ... A prime number is one that can't be divided into equal whole numbers. 111 isn't a prime number, for example, because it is 37 multiplied by 3. Prime numbers are an important part of mathematics. Although it is dangerous to justify the study of mathematics for mere practical uses, one practical use of prime numbers is the encryption that allows you to make secure financial transactions over the Internet. Prime numbers have many fascinating properties (to mathematicians) and there are many unsolved problems concerning them. For example, one famous theory is that every even number (other than 2) can be written as two prime numbers added together. So, for example, 12 is 5 plus 7, and 30 is 17 plus 13. No one has ever found an even number that can't be made by adding two primes, but no one has proved that such an even number doesn't exist (it would have to be very large though, as computers have checked all the even numbers of 'reasonable' size). There is a large cash prize available to anyone who can solve this conundrum. Prime numbers don't follow any obvious pattern, and there is no known formula that is guaranteed to generate a prime number on demand. This is why the Reimann Zeta function is so tantalizing. It links the integers (normal counting numbers) to the primes, and so hints at a way that prime numbers might be generated to order... There is a snag though. The Riemann Zeta function is infinite: one side of the equation is infinity, calculated by adding simple functions of all the counting numbers (integers) together; the other side of the equation is also infinite, this time calculated by multiplying simple functions of all the prime numbers together. A function that says 'infinity equals infinity' doesn't look that promising at first, but mathematicians are tenacious beasts, and they are able to extract useful data from this seemingly intractable equation. And I'll leave it at that... HA! And this is why I love to hate Calculus… ;o)

Sunday November the 8th, 0300 hours

CarpenterNJ — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:42:46 GMT

After being on 1,000mg’s of Seroquel for two days I would have expected to be in a coma at this point. Curiously enough, I can’t sleep. Our brains are very complex electro-chemical systems. Start messing with the neuro-transmitters on such a grand scale and things get out of kilter rather quickly. Yes the Dementors are gone for the time being, but once I start trending into my manic phase they go away naturally all by themselves. I am going back down to 600mg’s for now; 1,000mg’s is just a ridiculously high dosage. Since I have been on this drug regime I rarely have -10 kinda’ days anymore. And when I do they almost always have triggers. My father left a message on my cell phone about a week ago and wanted to talk, which is unusual to say the least. I had the flu and just spent 5 days in bed. My ID guy suspects that I had H1N1 but the current tests yields a 60% false positive When I finally got back to my dad he mentioned that his cancer of the bladder was back again. Back again? When did it start?! I so want to slap my sister Judith for not telling me, this has been going on for over a year now it seems and not a peep! Just because I am a loony toon you don’t have to handle me with kid gloves. I’m a big boy now and I can usually deal with the truth. Well most of the time anyway. Geez Louise! <GRUMBLE> In any event I am setting my head meds back to where they were for now. They have been working fairly well so far and a bump in the road is no reason to take drastic action. Hopefully, in a few hours Edward will make bacon, he does make the best bacon. Very crispy and yet not burned. I will make a peanut butter and bacon sandwich, and all will be right with the world. And the peanut butter must be "super chunk" btw... Peace Namaste’ John ;o)

Now this is just fucked up, but I am not surprised

CarpenterNJ — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:39:59 GMT

Make sure you read to the end. You will be amazed. Of course the chart does not factor in research and development, marketing,overhead, etc....... Let's hear it for Costco! (This is just mind-boggling!) Make sure you read all the way past the list of the drugs. The woman that signed below is a Budget Analyst out of federal Washington , DC offices. Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredient in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues of Life Extension a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United States contain active ingredients made in other countries. In our independent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some of the most popular drugs sold in America . Celebrex:100 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60 Percent markup: 21,712% Claritin:10 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71 Percent markup: 30,306% Keflex:250 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39 Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88 Percent markup: 8,372% Lipitor:20 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37 Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80 Percent markup: 4,696% Norvasc:10 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14 Percent markup: 134,493% Paxil:20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27 Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60 Percent markup: 2,898% Prevacid:30 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77 Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01 Percent markup: 34,136% Prilosec: 20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97 Cost of general active ingredients $0.52 Percent markup: 69,417% Prozac:20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11 Percent markup: 224,973% Tenormin:50 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13 Percent markup: 80,362% Vasotec:10 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20 Percent markup: 51,185% Xanax:1 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024 Percent markup: 569,958% Zestril:20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89 Cost of general active ingredients $3.20 Percent markup: 2,809% Zithromax:600 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19 Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78 Percent markup: 7,892% Zocor:40 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27 Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63 Percent markup: 4,059% Zoloft:50 mg Consumer price: $206.87 Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75 Percent markup: 11,821% Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought everyone should know about this. It pays to shop around! This helps to solve the mystery as to why they can afford to put a Walgreen's on every corner. On Monday night, Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit , did a story on generic drug prices gouging by pharmacies. He found in his investigation that some of these generic drugs were marked up as much as 3,000% or more. So often we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs, and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lies with the pharmacies themselves. For example if you had to buy a prescription drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills. The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80, making you think you are saving $20. What the pharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may have only cost him $10! At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and he said that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs. I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get its online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own experience I had to use the drug Compazine which helps prevent nausea in chemo p atients. I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. I checked the price at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, I paid $72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08. I would like to mention, that although Costco is a 'membership' type store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there as it is a federally regulated substance. You just tell them at the door that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in. I am asking each of you to please help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your own e-mail, and send it to everyone you know with an e-mail address. Sharon L. Davis Budget Analyst U.S. Department of Commerce Room 6839 Office Ph: 202-482-4458 Office Fax: 202-482-5480

Well we had a bit of a scare yesterday that sent my doctors scurrying about for several hours

CarpenterNJ — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:49:51 GMT

In my many years as a "professional" patient I have learned the two best ways to get attention in a hurry. You either have chest pains, or you use the "S" word. Hey every so often one's doctors need to actually earn their money after all. And I "use" the system, I do not abuse it. I have not been keeping up with my mood charts as I should lately but yesterday was definitely a -10 kinda’ day. I talked with my buddy Chas at The Ryan White clinic for about an hour and that helped a lot. He’s a good listener. After much trial and tribulation I final got hold of my new shrink and his 1st impression was that I should go to the BH unit and have myself locked up for a few days. That was not an option. I don’t like the Hunterdon county behavioral health system, and quite honestly they don’t like me either. All that they would do would be to sedate me and then send me home after 5 days without any follow up care. It would cost me $1,250 out of pocket, and then they whack Aetna for $18,000! A pretty good haul for a babysitter and a handful of Ativan. Dr. Buddoff understands my resistance, as he use to be part of that system and he quit because it is run so poorly. So now we have Plan B. Bump the Seroquel up to 1,000mg and hope for the best until I can see him next week. I gave it a shot and 1,000mg is FUCKING HUGE dose of that stuff! 800mg I can do, on 1,000mg I can barely walk upright… We are going to need a Plan C, and rather quickly. Buddoff , like most psychiatrists, is a pill pusher plain and simple. He just treats my symptoms, generally not the cause. My problems are not totally “organic” in nature; I really need someone to talk to as well. He suggested that I find a good Psychotherapist to do the talking bit with and he will continue to write my scripts. That opens a whole new can of worms. I have been down this road before, I have as of yet been unable to find anyone who will listen to me when they are not the one medicating me. Can you say “Catch-22”? I can’t say that I blame them really, it has the potential for very hefty legal issues. I got Dr. Buddoff to give me 45 minute sessions instead of 15 for a while. We will see if that helps. I do pay him $50.00 a visit and he is raping Aetna $400 for his services. Asking how I am doing and then handing me a few scraps of blue paper isn't cutting it. So today I will be a happy vegetable and just relax with the dog. If I gotta’ be a nut case, at least I get to do it in the comfort my own home. It sucks having a nurse watching you go to the bathroom, and there are the bed checks every 15 minutes to make sure that I have not hung myself with my sheets. Ah, the simple pleasures of being somewhat mad… Peace Namaste’ John ;o)

Is there really a scarlet carson rose?

CarpenterNJ — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:31:44 GMT

The flower, Violet Carson, is notably featured in the graphic novel "V for Vendetta", but in the movie version, is renamed to the fictitious "Scarlet Carson" which was portrayed in the film by red Grand Prix roses. -TheDawg I never knew that actually. Kudos Dawg ;o)

OMG! I was so self absorbed

CarpenterNJ — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:14:02 GMT

I forgot that it was Guy Fawkes Day! Remember, remember, the 5th of November The Gunpowder Treason and plot ; I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot. Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'Twas his intent. To blow up the King and the Parliament. Three score barrels of powder below. Poor old England to overthrow. By God's providence he was catch'd, With a dark lantern and burning match Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King! Hip hip Hoorah ! Hip hip Hoorah ! A penny loaf to feed ol'Pope, A farthing cheese to choke him. A pint of beer to rinse it down, A faggot of sticks to burn him. Burn him in a tub of tar,' Burn him like a blazing star. Burn his body from his head, Then we'll say: ol'Pope is dead. But I am watching "V for Vendetta" so it is all good... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPbxYNwvsXc ;o)

Out of all of the sites that I belong to

CarpenterNJ — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:50:58 GMT

Bear411.com is the only one that I actually pay for with my hard earned cash. I have met a lot of good folks here on Bear411.com, and at $48/6 months is not a bad deal to be quite honest. My subscription expired the other day and I went back to limited access. *ACK!* It was strange not being able to see everyone’s pics and I didn’t like it much at all. So, last night I broke out the old plastic and signed up for another 180 days (membership is a non-recurring charge btw which is a good thing). Greg runs an excellent site (his Java scripts need a little tweaking, they hang Vista if you keep the Pal List open for too long) and we are 132,528 strong. Give or take. Even if only 10% of the members are paying subscribers he’s still pulling in almost $600,000/year. God I am so in the wrong business folks! I love the search features, I can hunt by city, state, area code, and even zip codes if I choose. I found 6 other homos in my town first shot, several hundred when I expanded to a 50 mile radius. And I can also just look for just tops only if I like (big plus there). The site has a lot of functionality even for non-members. You can view profiles, do searches, and chat with members for free. If you want to see all of a member’s pics, then you have to pay a bit. But for ~$0.26/day it is definitely worth the price. Hell for about ¼ of the cost of a daily lottery ticket I’m there lads! Peace Namaste’ John http://www.bear411.com/carpenternj CarpenterNJ@aol.com CarpenterNJ55@yahoo.com

Obama lifts ban on US entry for those with HIV

CarpenterNJ — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:59:51 GMT

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE AP WASHINGTON (2009-Oct-31) -- President Barack Obama said Friday the U.S. will overturn a 22-year-old travel and immigration ban against people with HIV early next year. The order will be finalized on Monday, Obama said, completing a process begun during the Bush administration. The U.S. has been among a dozen countries that bar entry to travelers with visas or anyone seeking a green card based on their HIV status. "If we want to be the global leader in combatting HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it," Obama said at the White House before signing a bill to extend the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program. Begun in 1990, the program provides medical care, medication and support services to about half a million people, most of them low-income. The bill is named for an Indiana teenager who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion at age 13. White went on to fight AIDS-related discrimination against him and others like him and help educate the country about the disease. He died in April 1990 at the age of 18. His mother, Jeanne White-Ginder, attended the signing ceremony, as did several members of Congress and HIV/AIDS activists. In 1987, at a time of widespread fear and ignorance about HIV, the Department of Health and Human Services added the disease to the list of communicable diseases that disqualified a person from entering the U.S. The department tried in 1991 to reverse its decision but was opposed by Congress, which went the other way two years later and made HIV infection the only medical condition explicitly listed under immigration law as grounds for inadmissibility to the U.S. The law effectively has kept out thousands of students, tourists and refugees and has complicated the adoption of children with HIV. No major international AIDS conference has been held in the U.S. since 1993, because HIV-positive activists and researchers cannot enter the country. Obama said that by lifting the ban, the U.S. will take a step toward ending the stigma against people with HIV/AIDS, something he said has stopped people from getting tested and has helped spread the disease. More than 1 million people live with HIV/AIDS in the U.S., and more than 56,000 new infections are reported every year. Obama noted his own effort several years ago to help combat the stigma. During a 2006 visit to Kenya, his father's native country, then-Sen. Obama and his wife, Michelle, publicly took an HIV/AIDS test. The 11 other countries that ban HIV-positive travelers and immigrants are: Armenia, Brunei, Iraq, Libya, Moldova, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Sudan, according to the advocacy group Immigration Equality. Several such groups welcomed Obama's announcement. Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, said the ban pointlessly has barred people from the U.S. and separated families with no benefit to public health. "Now, those families can be reunited, and the United States can put its mouth where its money is: ending the stigma that perpetuates HIV transmission, supporting science and welcoming those who seek to build a life in this country," said Tiven, whose organization works for fairness in immigration for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive people. Thank god Obama has extended funding for Ryan White. Now that Chris Christie is our new govenor he can't cut the program which all 3 of us depend on for our meds and insurance. It is a federal program, not state funded one. One for the good guys... ;o)

UPS worker says he was fired for not delivering pot

CarpenterNJ — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:57:44 GMT

Pontiac, Mich. -- Sometimes a boss' orders can be a little too by-the-book, as a UPS driver who was fired for not delivering a package of marijuana found out this summer. Former United Parcel Service driver Steven Mojica is suing the delivery company after he claims he was fired for not delivering a suspicious package that turned out to be marijuana, according to a Detroit News story. Mojica claims that a supervisor told him "he should have delivered the package, even if it contained illicit drugs." Mojica, 41, had a next-day package from Arizona on July 29 to deliver in Pontiac, Mich. He held on to the four-pound package, which his supervisors considered theft and reported it to the DEA for suspected drug dealing, and fired him, according to his attorney, Mark Porter. "It's nice to know UPS can guarantee delivery to drug dealers and fire employees that refuse to deliver their drugs," Porter told the Detroit News. A UPS driver for 17 years, Mojica was worried he was in harm's way so he returned the package to his truck, according to the suit. After being told by a supervisor to deliver it, even if it was illegal drugs, Mojica opened it and found what he thought was marijuana. UPS had no comment to the Detroit News on the firing or lawsuit, but said that drivers can contact their local operations office if they are suspicious of the contents of packages they're delivering. Oh things are going to get complicated with the new medical marijuana laws... ;o)

Man Gets 3 Years for Sex With Horse

CarpenterNJ — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:56:50 GMT

AP CONWAY, S.C. (2009-Nov-04) - A South Carolina man caught on video having sex with a horse was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison after pleading guilty for the second time in two years to abusing the creature. Rodell Vereen was also ordered never to go near the stable where the horse's owner caught him and held him for authorities at shotgun point over the summer. He apologized to the woman and to himself after admitting to buggery at the Horry County courthouse. Rodell Vereen, 50, was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison for having sex with a horse. Vereen, whose family said he has a history of mental problems, was already on probation after pleading guilty to buggery last year. "I'm sorry about what I've done. I didn't mean to do it. It's my fault. I'm sorry for what I've done to myself," Vereen said during Wednesday's court hearing. Vereen was arrested in July after Barbara Kenley caught him entering the barn at Lazy B Stables in Longs, about 20 miles northeast of Myrtle Beach. She had been staking out the stable for more than a week after setting up a surveillance camera and videotaping Vereen's assault on her 21-year-old horse named Sugar. Kenley said she became suspicious because her horse was acting strange and getting infections, and she noticed things were moved around the barn and dirt was piled up near the horse's stall. It wasn't the first time she'd caught Vereen. In late 2007, Kenley found him asleep in the hay after assaulting her horse. For that offense, he also pleaded guilty to buggery, received probation and had to register as a sex offender. On Wednesday, the judge sentenced Vereen to five years in prison, but he will only have to serve three years behind bars as long as he successfully completes two years of probation. Vereen also was ordered to undergo additional mental treatment after he gets out of prison and was told to stay away from Kenley's stable. Kenley told The Sun News of Myrtle Beach she was mostly happy with the verdict, but wished Vereen had got more prison time. "I've been through hell for the last year and it's caused a lot of hardship," Kenley told the newspaper. "There's a lot of ridicule and jokes going around about this thing. And a person can only take so much." Perhaps she was planning a "shotgun wedding" for Sugar and Vereen... ;o)

Sushi salvation: Startup sees future of fish farms in giant Kevlar spheres

CarpenterNJ — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:08:16 GMT

by Alex Salkever Daily Finance (2009-Nov-04) -- That luscious ahi tuna roll you chowed down on at your local sushi joint? It's the same as eating an endangered Siberian tiger. Well, not quite. But scientists are increasingly worried that ahi, the blood-red belle of the raw-fish ball, is being quickly fished to extinction courtesy of the never-ending quest for superior sushi. But now, a small startup in Hawaii has an ambitious goal to save the ahi. Its secret weapon? A giant, self-powered, Kevlar-coated ball that could prove a perfect way to raise tuna in captivity and supply discerning fish fiends with their piscine fix without further depleting wild stocks. The company, Hawaii Oceanic Technology, was founded by Paul Troy, a former professor of oceanography at the University of Hawaii. A tinkerer and inventor, Troy had long followed the plight of marine fisheries. Three years ago, he began to sketch a plan for a radical new form of fish farming that would appease hard-core environmentalists and provide restaurants and fish markets with a reliable supply of ahi and, potentially, numerous other forms of seafood favored by homo sapiens. Troy envisioned giant floating balls that could circulate and move up and down in the water column. He laid out a formal design for the system, filed patents, and started work on a prototype. Dubbed Oceanspheres, these balls will be constructed with an aluminum frame sheathed in Kevlar embedded with nanoscale anti-fouling particles. Kevlar was selected because water slips through it very easily, reducing drag on the cages, but the material is strong enough that sharks and other predators can't chew through it. As Reliance on Fish Farms Grows, So Does Environmental Cost Troy's timing is impeccable. No doubt, the world needs more righteous fish. Demand for seafood is rising at double the rate of population growth, according to the United Nation's Fisheries and Aquaculture Organization. But many wild fisheries have showed significant signs of strain and even collapse, including the Pacific salmon and the Atlantic cod and bluefin tuna populations. Much of the growing demand is being met through aquaculture, which provides 43 percent of the world's seafood according to the FAO. However, environmentalists and scientists have long held significant environmental and health concerns about current aquaculture methods. Most of the industry remains unregulated and practices vary widely from country to country. Onshore and near shore practitioners often use high doses of antibiotics to keep their fish alive and allow them to grow quickly in environments that could not normally sustain dense fish populations. Instances of fish farmers in Asia using chemicals toxic to humans in order to boost yields have caused significant reputational damage to the industry. And discharges of fecal matter from high-density farms have concerned health advocates and recreational fishermen alike. Additionally, many fish farms in coastal waters use species that are not endemic to the area. Often bred for rapid growth and weight gain, these farmed fish have the potential to cause problems for native species and potentially out-compete local populations if they escape from their pens or cages, a regular occurrence on many fish farms. The presence of farms in near-shore and coastal areas also creates conflicts with boaters and recreational fishermen. Great High-Tech Balls of Fish Troy believes his system can address all these concerns. Each Oceansphere will have a volume of 82,500 cubic meters and a diameter of roughly 50 meters, large enough to comfortably hold over 1,000 tons of seafood at densities that are very low compared to those found in traditional aquaculture. Unlike existing open-water aquaculture cage systems, Troy's system would require no tethers. The tops of the spheres would float roughly 25 meters below the surface most of the time. The spheres could be raised to the waterline for replenishment of feed pellets and restocking or harvest, and can drop well below the 25 meter mark to grow fish species more accustomed to deeper depths. Attached to the spheres will be small thrusters powered by ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). This is a system harvests the unlimited thermal energy of the ocean by sucking up colder water from below the sphere as well as warm water from above the sphere. The warm and cold water go into a type of heat exchanger, which converts the thermal differential into electricity to power the directional motors, telemetry, automated fish feed dispensers and other onboard systems. Similar systems are already used to power submarines and other submersible vehicles. The OTEC units allow the Oceanspheres to travel independently on predetermined courses, a capability that could alleviate concerns about fish feces by allowing for waste dispersal over wide areas. The self-propulsion and navigational capabilities also allow for Oceanspheres to be located in much deeper waters, where tethered cages can't be used. While the Oceansphere could accommodate any number of sea life species, as well as multiple types of sea life co-existing simultaneously inside the enclosure, Troy and HOT CEO Bill Spencer have chosen bigeye tuna as the first type of fish to raise. Stocks of tuna, which is popular for sashimi, have been in rapid decline due to overfishing. So precipitous has been the drop in both numbers caught and size of fish caught for the Atlantic bluefin that scientists now fear the giant fish may disappear from the ocean. Bigeye populations have not been as hard hit, but have begun to decline. Bigeye has become the most common source of ahi in sushi bars. The fish is well suited to the Oceansphere model because it moves up and down in the water column often and will be comfortable at any depth where the cage might be deployed. High-grade bigeye costs $10 to $12 per pound in Japan's wholesale fish markets, the premier seafood venue on the planet. HOT can produce the fish for roughly $3 per pound, including fish meal and the costs of maintaining and servicing the giant spheres and their inhabitants. In part, HOT can achieve these lower costs by raising the fish in lower densities and cleaner waters where disease is less of a problem and input costs for medicines or chemicals needed to sustain fish in less beneficial settings are avoided. HOT's tuna might be able to support even higher prices than the current market sustains because, Troy believes, the tuna will have much lower levels of mercury and PCBs than wild-caught tuna, due to the ability of HOT to closely control what the fish eat and to locate the cages in areas free of these hazardous contaminants. Even attaining an organic designation could be possible, should a program come into existence for seafood. Explains Troy, "Tuna farming today is a billion-dollar business. There are cages you can buy off the shelf that can moored to the bottom that are being used in Mexico. But they have to be moored close to the coastline in shallow depth. The whole idea of making this environmentally friendly is to ensure a lot of flushing of the effluents with clean water to promote oxidation and dispersion. The best way to do that is to be in the open ocean in very deep water." $120 Million Fish Farmers Spencer believes the company can derive annual sales of $120 million from a 120-acre site seeded with a handful of Oceanspheres and an initial gross profit margin above 50 percent. That factors in a half-dozen harvests per year of 100 pound fish. Hawaii is the only state in the country that has developed offshore permitting for aquaculture. There are already two other successful open-ocean aquaculture projects in the islands using tethered fish cages. Troy is working with researchers at the University of Hawaii Hill's Pacific Aquaculture Resource Center to develop new hatchery techniques that will allow HOT to harvest eggs from wild tuna, fertilize the eggs and grow the baby fish to fingerling size (in the five-pound range), a process that will take roughly a year. The fingerlings will spend that time in ocean-fed holding tanks before being transported out to the Oceanspheres. There divers will pump the fingerlings into the Kevlar enclosures using a modified system designed for aquaculture. This stocking technique is different than other tuna breeding operations which scoop up schools of young wild tuna and grow them in fish farms. That stocking technique depletes wild populations; the technique that HOT plans to use will not. The controlled hatching and fertilizing environments, likewise, should help agriculturists keep harmful heavy metals and other contaminants away from the fish at every stage of their life cycle. Ultimately, the goal is to perfect the sphere and operations required to maintain it and then begin to license the technology to partners in other parts of the world. Troy and Spencer have applications filed for 21 separate process and technology patents to protection the intellectual property of the spheres. Partners in Japan are the most obvious, due to the country's extremely high per capita fish consumption but other potential partners could bring the technology to Australia and the mainland U.S. Further development of laws regulating open ocean farming ventures will encourage more open-ocean aquaculture in territorial waters. Security will become more of a concern as farms are placed further offshore. To prevent pirates or thieves from stealing the contents of the Oceanspheres, each one will be equipped with a video camera mounted on a warning buoy. The cameras will transmit images via satellite to capture any evidence of wrongdoing, and the warning buoys will serve the dual purpose of warning off divers and fishing vessels. The Oceanspheres will sit deep enough to avoid the propellers and hulls of even the most deep-draft vessels. Spencer and Troy estimate that construction of the first sphere will cost $3 million or more. Already, the company is adding jobs in Hawaii and plans to continue construction and assembly of the spheres in the Hawaiian Islands once the company goes into full production mode. Down the road, Spencer would like to use this technology to reduce the $8 billion American fish buyers spend importing seafood. Already, Hawaii and Florida have set up legal systems to make it easier for open-ocean fish farmers to grow their crops in the deep blue. HOT's tuna: Coming soon to a sushi bar near you. Bring it on baby! ;o)

It has been a very lonely year for me

CarpenterNJ — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:04:26 GMT

But one of the men in this picture rode his Harley over 3,500 miles to share my bed with me. Thank you bud. It was the best sex that I have had in ages... ;o)