I agree that BP won't get off free, but I also think that consumers will be paying higher prices. BP will likely be paying billions in fines and clean up costs. BP will have to either raise prices or cut costs in order to meet those charges. Those costs will divert resources from ad campaigns, building new service stations, exploring for new wells, etc. Either way, this will ease competitive pressure on the other oil companies. If BP raises prices to pay for clean up, the other companies can raise their prices somewhat too, and still beat BP's prices (since they don't have to pay clean up costs). In addition, the other companies will likely be spending a lot more money upgrading and inspecting their equipment in order to avoid BP's fate. The spill will also likely make regulatory costs much higher, and prevent oil companies from exploring new territories. As a result, they will have to find more (expensive) ways to extract oil from existing sites.
allowing random people to decide what they can take when they want has a definite negative effect on the society at large
But are prescription controls the best way to combat drug resistance?
There are two potential causes of harm:
1. You could take an antibiotic when you don't really need, thereby hastening drug resistance.
2. You could fail to take an antibiotic when you really need it, and thereby suffer or die from the bacterial infection.
Prescription laws may help with 1), but they may harm via 2) due to people failing to get antibiotics they need due to the cost of getting a prescription. Prescription laws for antibiotics would only be justified if the harm of 1) outweighed the harm of 2). How do you know that the harm of 1) outweighs the harm of 2)?
In any case, the drug resistance argument applies only to antibiotics. We could eliminate prescriptions on all other drugs without worrying about increasing drug resistance.
Re:Tiny speech changes make big difference
on
The Power of Persuasion
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Ugh. I detest the gratuitous use of the word "friend". Nothing turns me off faster than when I see an email from someone I don't know who uses it in the intro.
Actually, the Mormons did form a state (State of Deseret), printed their own money etc. But for the most part, the members didn't want to secede, they just wanted to be left alone to practice their religion.
Note that secession is considered a "last resort" option by most FSPers. The hope is that if the FSP does win elections, they will be able to negotiate "opt-outs" from bad Federal laws. Secession would only be considered if such efforts were unsuccessful.
Over 384,440 people voted for Harry Browne in the last presidential election, and several million more voted for Libertarian candidates in state elections. Maybe the FSP won't be attract 20K people to move to the state (although I'm optimistic), but I think it's worth a try. Certainly, libertarian political efforts for the past 20 years have been largely ineffectual, so we should try something else.
As a person who has signed up for the FSP, I have no problem paying for national defense (albeit with less waste than we have now). However, national defense is only 16% of the federal budget. Most of the budget goes toward entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security) which I have no interest in supporting.
A yurt is semi-permanent, cylindrical shelter made out of a rigid frame (wood, metal) and a sturdy fabric. They're quite inexpensive (for example, a 24 ft diameter shelter from Pacific Yurts costs less than $6500, see Pacific Yurts). Yurts have been around a long time--Ghenghis Khan probably slept in one (see Mongol Yurt Association).
I strongly suspect SF's strict zoning laws would make setting up a yurt illegal.
You personally know people who have been killed in a western state because they put a liberal bumper sticker on their car? If so, you have my sympathies.
However, I think that rural areas shouldn't be judged by anecdotes alone. Rural violent crime rates are 4 times lower than those of urban areas. See the paragraph just above Table 2 at http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/dr ugfree/v1donner.htm. While I'm sure "out and proud" liberals are sometimes harassed, I think that on the whole, they're safer in rural areas than in the cities.
I also think a lot depends on where you live, just as it does in a large city. Sandpoint, Idaho, for example, used to have a large Aryan Nations compound. For a time, it probably wasn't the most safe area for an outspoken liberal to live.
However, in my experience, most rural residents have a "live and let live" attitude, and tolerate a far wider range of behaviors than city dwellers will allow. For example, try setting up a yurt on your land in SF, or converting your front lawn into a garden in LA.
I think that many of our current problems stem from our currently limited time horizons. After all, why should you care about where that toxic waste ends up, or the destruction of the ozone layer, global warming, or rain forest destruction? You'll likely be long dead before any of these things has any appreciable negative affect on you. On the other hand, if you knew that you had a reasonable expectation that you would have to live with the consequences of your actions for say, a thousand years, it seems to me that you will likely be a better steward of the environment.
As for the desire to live a really long time--doesn't it seem a bit of a waste that you will spend decades mastering your profession, then poof, you're gone, and all of the experience and knowledge you've painfully acquired goes with it? Also, I don't know about you, but I love learning and experiencing new things, and life's far too short to do even a small fraction of them.
Yes, I agree with you. In my opinion, those currently cryopreserved and those who are cryopreserved in the near future will be in a very precarious position until enough people are interested in the idea to support a robust business and social infrastructure. By my estimation, only about 1000 people have been signed up to be cryopreserved by any organization, so there's still a long way to go.
That said, you have to start somewhere. And if it can be shown that those who are cryopreserved have a decent chance of good recovery, then I think offering cryonic suspension/recovery services will be a very lucrative business. After all, if it works, cryonics will vastly increase the one resource that's strictly limited for everyone, no matter how wealthy they are--time. How much would you pay for an extra 100 years of healthy life?
With such large amounts of money involved, it seems to me that cryonics organizations will have a strong incentive to come up with mechanisms for ensuring successful (very) long term care and recovery of their patients.
I saw a presentation by Stephen Valentine on the TimeShip idea. The $180 million price tag is the expected price for the final completed project. Although it is not mentioned in the article, the TimeShip is designed to be modular. Initially, the Timeship will be much smaller than its final dimensions--only the core services will be constructed (research facility, one storage module). As demand increases, more modules can be added until eventually it reaches its final dimensions.
However, in my opinion, cryonics will remain a small, financially precarious community of true believers until it has been demonstrated to work. It's going to take a lot of research to demonstrate that it will work.
Therefore, if you're interested in helping cryonics succeed (even if you're skeptical of the TimeShip project) here are some suggestions:
Learn more about the practice of cryonics. You can find links to most of the available online information from the Cryonet home page.
Donate money to the Life Extension Foundation (LEF), with the proviso that it be earmarked for cryonics research. Saul Kent is also the co-founder of the LEF.
Join Alcor or the Cryonics Institute or the American Cryonics Society. All of these organizations are small, and a single activist can have a big influence. Help raise funds for scientific research.
Write a polite letter to the president of the Society for Cryobiology, urging him to strike the blanket ban, barring individuals who support cryonics from membership in the society. (See Section 2.04 from their bylaws.
Actually, there are about a dozen or so companies outside of aD that have based a large portion of their business around ACS consulting. Granted, they're small (I believe none of them employ more than 20 people), but they could support aD's clients if need be. You don't even have to use Oracle if you don't want to--the ACS has been ported to PostgreSQL.
Tcl is a minority language to be sure, but it's not that small. As for the ACS's use of AOLserver, if you've already got a substantial investment in Apache, you can still use the ACS if you install mod_aolserver. In any case, it shouldn't be that difficult to translate the principles learned at the aD boot camps to another language, if need be.
As for speed/stability, I don't believe any benchmarks have been done on the ACS's performance. I would point out however, that the principal factors limiting the speed for a database-intensive website are a) size of the site's data pipeline b) speed of database read/writes.
Oracle is used to back 9 out of 10 of the most popular websites. PostgreSQL (to which the ACS has been ported) is used to back SourceForge (which switched from MySQL due to speed/transaction issues). AOL uses AOLserver to serve most of the pages for their corporate web sites. All of the components of the ACS have been field tested under high load conditions.
Actually, with mod_aolserver, you can use the ACS with Apache. However, it's developed native to AOLserver, so you get more support/fewer bugs if you use AOLserver.
I also second the recommendations for D&D--I certainly had fun playing it when I was younger, and while there can be elements of competition, that's generally not the point.
The law shapes the kinds of environment that we live in, regardless of whether we're making money or not.
As with any business, traditional companies lobby, both in
court and in the legislature, for laws to protect their interests.
Often the laws these companies advocate hinder open source software
development, or are otherwise antithetical to the values of many
members of the open source community. Among the legal defeats that the open source
ommunity has suffered:
Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) bans on reverse
engineering
Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act
Although not strictly related to open source softare, many open source
programmers are also sympathetic to efforts to oppose other efforts to
restrict online freedoms:
future versions of the Communications Decency Act
Carnivore
internet gambling statutes
Hiring competent lawyers, lobbyists, and fundraisers
to fight these laws will be expensive, and many supporters of laws damaging to the open
source community have deep pockets. They include organizations such
as:
Recording Industry Association of America
Federal Bureau of Investigations
Business Software Alliance
Software and Information Industry Association
Disney Corporation
Microsoft Corporation
Non-profit organizations that help defend our online freedoms, such as
the Electronic Frontier Foundation, League for Programming Freedom, the Free
Software Foundation, and the ACLU get their funds from companies and
individuals who share values with them, e.g. open source companies and
programmers. If the individuals and companies sympathetic to
these organizations are impoverished or go bankrupt, the non-profits
can't effectively fight for the freedoms we want.
Charles Guthrie, in 1908, and Vladimir Demikhov in the
1950's successfully transplanted smaller dog heads to the necks of larger
dogs. In the early 1970's, Robert
J. White, head of neurosurgery at Case Western was the first to successfully transplant the head of
one monkey to the body of another monkey whose own head had been
removed. You can see a picture of the surgery in progress at
http://img.coasttocoastam.com/ img/whitemonkey.jpg. His research was
also reported on slashdot last year:
http://slashdot.org/articles/99/08/30/2146203.shtml. Of course, the
usefulness of the procedure is still limited by a) the fact that the surgeons can't
yet cause the spinal cord to reconnect successfully, b) immunological rejection.
For those so inclined, here's some references to the original
literature prepared by AJ Annala::
Subject: REQUEST: Literature on Isolated Brain Perfusion Experiments
From: A J Annala (annala@neuro.usc.edu)
Date: Thu 04 Apr 1991 - 08:52:03 BST
I am writing a review paper describing the history (through the present
day) of experiments designed to provide artificial support for maintaining
normal brain activity following total circulatory or respiratory collapse.
The ultimate goal of such research is to preserve normal brain function
across lengthly periods (weeks/months) of cardiac or respiratory arrest.
There is a very substantial scientific literature (a brief chronology of
which is provided below) describing an increasingly successfull series of
experiments where animal brains have been supported by artificial methods
after complete circulatory and respiratory failure.
If you are aware of any additional literature which should be included in
this review or if you have comments regarding the appropriateness of this
technology for current laboratory / distant future human clinical therapy
please reply with an email note to annala@neuro.usc.edu.
1812 -- Legallois put forth the original idea for resuscitating decapitated
heads through the use of blood transfusion.
1836 -- Cooper showed in rabbits that compression of the carotid and vertebral
arteries leads to death of an animal; such deaths can be prevented if
the circulation of oxygenated blood to the brain is rapidly restored.
1857 -- Brown-Sequard decapitated a dog, waited ten minutes, attached four
rubber tubes to the arterial trunks of the head, and injected blood
containing oxygen by means of a syringe. Two or three minutes later
voluntary movements of the eyes and muscles of the muzzle resumed.
After cessation of oxygenated blood transfusion movements stopped.
1887 -- Laborde made what appears to be first recorded attempt to revive the
heads of executed criminals by connecting the carotid artery of the
severed human head to the carotid artery of a large dog. According
to Laborde's account, in isolated experiments a partial restoration
of brain function was attained.
1912 -- Heymans maintained life in an isolated dog's head by connecting the
carotid artery and jugular vein of the severed head to the carotid
artery and jugular vein of another dog. Partial functioning in the
severed head was maintained for a few hours.
1928 -- Bryukhonenko and Cechulin showed life could be maintained in the
severed head of a dog by connecting the carotid artery and jugular
vein to an artificial circulation machine.
Chute-AL, Smyth-DH. Metabolism of the isolated perfused cat's brain. Quart
J Exp Physiol 29:379-394 (1939).
Geiger-A, Magnes-J. The isolation of the cerebral circulation and the
perfusion of the brain in the living cat. Am J Physiol 149:517-536 (1947).
*Geiger-A. Correlation of brain metabolism and function by use of a brain
perfusion method in situ. Physiol Rev 38:1-20 (1958).
Geiger-A. Technique of brain perfusion in situ. Methods Med Res 9:248-254
(1961).
Demikhov-VP. Transplantation of the Head. "Experimental Transplantation of
Vital Organs". Consultants Bureau, New York (1962) translated from
Russian by Basil Haigh.
*Meder-R, Massopust-LC-Jr, White-RJ, Verdura-J, Albin-MS. Isolated brain
perfusion--electromechanical system requirements. Proc 16th Ann Conf Eng
Med Biol 5:28-29 (1963).
*White-RJ, Albin-MS, Verdura-J. Isolation of the monkey brain: in vitro
preparation and maintenance. Science 141:1060 (1963).
*Gilboe-DD, Cotanch-WW, Glover--MB. Extracorporeal perfusion of the isolated
head of a dog. Nature 202:399-400 (1964).
Sano-K, Terao-H, Hayakawa-I, Kamano-S, Saito-I. Experimental transplantation
of the head: two-headed dogs. Neurol Medicochir (Tokoyo) 6:35-38 (1964).
*White-RJ, Albin-MS, Verdura-J. Preservation of viability in the isolated
monkey brain utilizing a mechanical extracorporeal circulation. Nature
(Lond) 202:1082-1083 (1964).
*Gilboe-DD, Cotanch-WW, Glover-MB. Isolation and mechanical maintenance of
the dog brain. Nature (Lond.) 206:94-96 (1965).
*White-RJ, Albin-MS, Locke-GE, Davidson-E. Brain transplantation: prolonged
survival of brain after carotid-jugular interposition. Science 150:779 (1965).
*White-RJ, Albin-MS, Locke-GE, Davidson-E. Transplantation of the isolated
canine brain. Physiologist 8:304 (1965).
Suda-I, Kito-K, Adachi-C. Viability of long term frozen cat brain in vitro.
Nature 212:268 (1966).
*White-RJ, Albin-MS, Locke-GE. Vascular preparation of the isolated canine
brain. Anatomical Record 154:441 (1966).
*White-RJ, Albin-MS, Locke-GE. Whole brain preservation near 0 degrees C.
Cryobiology 2:315 (1966).
*White-RJ, Albin-MS, Verdura-J, Locke-GE. Prolonged whole brain refrigeration
with electrical and metabolic recovery. Nature 209:1320 (1966).
*Allweis-C, Abeles-M, Magnes-J. Perfusion of cat brain with simplified blood
after filtration through glass wool. Amer J Physiol 213:83-86 (1967).
Andjus-RK, Suhara-S, Sloviter-HA. An isolated, perfused rat brain preparation,
its spontaneous and stimulated activity. J Appl Physiol 22:1033-1039 (1967).
*Sloviter-HA, Kamimoto-T. Erythrocyte substitute for perfusion of brain.
Nature (lond) 216:458-460 (1967).
Taslitz-N, Acosta-Rua-G, White-RJ, Albin-MS. The rat brain as an isolated
organ preparation. Anat Rec 157:332 (1967).
White-RJ, Albin-MS, Verdura-J, Locke-GE. The isolated monkey brain: operative
preparation and design of support systems. J Neurosurg 27:216-225 (1967).
*White-RJ, Albin-MS, Locke-GE, Davidson-E. Preparation and metabolic
performance of the transplanted brain. Surgical Forum 18:463 (1967).
White-RJ, Albin-S, Yashon-D, Austin-J, Austin-P, Taslitz-N. Mechanical
circulatory support of the failing brain. Trans Amer Soc Artif Int Organ
14:349-351 (1968).
*White-RJ, Albin-MS. Mechanical circulatory support of the isolated brain.
White-RJ. "Experimental transplantation of the brain." Human Transplantation
(Rapaport-FT, Dausset-J eds). pp 692-709 (1968).
Thompson-AM, Robertson-RC, Bauer-TA. A rat head-perfusion technique developed
for the study of brain uptake of materials. J Appl Physiol 24:407-411 (1968).
*White-RJ, Albin-MS, Yashon-D. Neuropathological investigation of the
transplanted canine brain. Transplant Proceed 1:259 (1969).
*Clark-LC, Kaplan-S, Becattini-F, Benzing-G. Perfusion of whole animals with
perfluorinated liquid emulsions using the Clark bubble-defoam heart-lung
machine. Fed Proc Am Soc Exp Biol 29:1764-1770 (1970).
Taslitz-N, White-RJ, Wolin-LR, Yashon-D. Adequacy of single carotid
perfusion of the brain. Anatomical Record 166:388 (1970).
*White-RJ, Albin-MS, Yashon-D, Verdura-J, Austin-JC, Austin-PE-Jr, Demian-YK.
Autoregulation in the isolated brain during profound hypothermia and
hypercarbia. Brain and Blood Flow (Ross-RW ed). Pitman, London. pp.209 (1970).
Horst-WD, Jester-J. The use of isolated perfused rat brain in a study of
14-C-L-Dopa metabolism. Life Sci 10(I):685-689 (1971).
*Jahnchen-E, Krieglstein-J. Die aufnahme von promazin, chlorpromazin und
deren desmethylmetaboliten in das isoliert perfundierte rattenhirn. Naunyn-
Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmak 268:300-309 (1971).
Mukherji-B, Turinsky-J, Sloviter-HA. Effects of perfusion without glucose
on amino acids and glycogen of isolated rat brain. J Neurochem 18:1783-1785
(1971).
Sloviter-HA, Yamada-H. Absence of direct action of insulin on metabolism
of the isolated perfused rat brain. J Neurochem 18:1269-1274 (1971).
Vasan-NS, Abraham-J, Bachhawat-BK. Sulphate metabolism in acute EAE rats
using isolated brain perfusion technique. J Neurochem 18:59-66 (1971).
*Zimmer-R, Lang-R, Oberdoister-G. Post-ischaemic reactive hyperaemia of the
isolated perfused brain of dog. Pflugers Arch Ges Physiol 328:332-343 (1971).
Fleck-WV, Krieglstein-J, Urban-W. Zwei apparaturen zur perfusion des
isolierten rattenhirns. Arzneim-Forsch 22:1225-1230 (1972).
Ghosh-AK, Mukherji-B, Slovitar-HA. Metabolism of isolated rat brain perfused
with glucose or mannose as substrate. J Neurochem 19:1279-1285 (1972).
Krieglstein-G, Krieglstein-J, Stock-R. Suitability of the isolated perfused
rat brain for studying effects on cerebral metabolism. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's
Arch Pharmacol 275:124-134 (1972).
Krieglstein-G, Krieglstein-J, Urban-W. Long survival time of an isolated
perfused rat brain (Short Communication). J Neurochem 19:885-886 (1972).
Stock-R, Krieglstein-G, Krieglstein-J. Studies on energy metabolism of an
isolated perfused rat brain. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 274:R112
(1972).
Zivin-JA, Snarr-JF. A stable preparation for rat brain perfusion: effect of
flow rate on glucose uptake. J Appl Physiol 32:658-663 (1972).
Zivin-JA, Snarr-JF. Glucose and D(-)-3-hydroxybutyrate uptake by isolated
perfused rat brain. J Appl Physiol 32:664-668 (1972).
Fleck-W, Krieglstein-J, Reichmann-M. A two-circuit apparatus for the
perfusion of the isolated rat brain. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol
278:319-322 (1973).
Gruner-J, Krieglstein-J, Rieger-H. Comparison of the effects of chloral
hydrate and trichloroethanol on the EEG of the isolated perfused rat brain.
Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 277:333-348 (1973).
Krieglstein-J, Stock-R. Comparative study of the effects of chloral hydrate
and trichloroethanol on cerebral metabolism. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch
Pharmacol 277:323-332 (1973).
Krieglstein-J, Stock-R, Rieger-H. Influence of therapeutic and toxic doses of
neuroleptics and antidepressants on energy metabolism of the isolated perfused
rat brain. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 279:243-254 (1973).
Krieglstein-J, Stock-R. The isolated perfused rat brain as a model for
studying drugs acting on the CNS. Psychopharmacologia 35:169-177 (1974).
White-RJ. Hypothermic preservation and transplantation of brain.
Resuscitation 4:197 (1975).
Woods-HF, Graham-CW, Green-AR, Youdim-MBH, Grahame-Smith-DG, Highes-JT. Some
histological and metabolic properties of an isolated perfused rat brain
preparation with special reference to monoamine metabolism. Neuroscience
1:313-323 (1976).
Woods-HF, Youdim-MBH. The isolated perfused rat brain preparation--a
critical assessment. Essays Neurochem Neuropharmacol 3:49-69 (1978).
Dirks-B, Krieglstein-J, Lind-HH, Rieger-H, Schutz-H. Fluorocarbon perfusion
medium applied to the isolated rat brain. J Pharm Methods 4:95-108 (1980).
*Llinas-R, Yarom-Y, Sugimori-M. Isolated mammalian brain in vitro: new
technique for analysis of electrical activity of neuronal circuit function.
Fed Proc 40(8)-2240-2245 (1981).
Shapovalov-AI, Shiriaev-BI, Tamarova-ZA. "A study of neuronal activity of
mammalian superfused or intra-arterially perfused CNS preparations."
Electrophysiology of isolated mammalian CNS preparations (Kerkut-GA, Wheal-HV
eds). pp 367-394 (1981).
--------------End of Annala's List -----------------------------------
Acta Endocrinol Suppl (Copenh) 1972;158:200-16
Preparation and mechanical perfusion of the isolated monkey brain.
White RJ
White RK, Albin MS, Locke GE, Davidson E.
Brain transplantation: prolonged survival of brain after carotid-jugular interposition.
Science.
1965 Nov 5;150(697):779-81.
White RJ, Wolin LR, Massopust LC Jr, Taslitz N, Verdura J.
Primate cephalic transplantation: neurogenic separation, vascular
association.
Transplant Proc. 1971 Mar;3(1):602-4.
White RJ.
Brain transplantation.
Surg Neurol. 1985 Apr;23(4):449.
Krieglstein G, Krieglstein J, Urban W.
Long survival time of an isolated perfused rat brain.
J Neurochem. 1972 Mar;19(3):885-6.
White RJ, Wolin LR, Massopust LC Jr, Taslitz N, Verdura J.
Cephalic exchange transplantation in the monkey.
Surgery. 1971 Jul;70(1):135-9.
Spinal cord repair:
M. E. Schwab and D. Bartholdi. "Degeneration and regeneration of axons in the lesioned spinal cord." Physiol. Rev. 76 (2):
319-370 (1996).
M.E. Schwab. "Bridging the gap in spinal cord regeneration." Nature Med. 2 (9): 976-977. 1996.
It seems to me that many of the long term intractable problems we face stem from the currently limited time horizon most individuals have. If you're going to be dead in 75 years anyway, why should you care what happens afterward? If you can expect to live 1000 or more years, you may be more reluctant to use cheap barrels to store that toxic waste....
Also we tend to keep repeating the same mistakes because the people who lived through the first mistakes die, and the new people don't read history much. Does anyone doubt that the 21st Century will have its versions of Stalin, Mao, or Pol Pot?
I also note that even if everyone in the U.S. gave up meat and started wearing sack cloth and ashes, it would not save the starving people in Ethiopia. In most cases, the problem is not insufficient food (enough food rots on the docks), but insufficient distribution, due to grossly incompetent government officials, or deliberate efforts to starve insurgent populations during times of war.
You kind of gloss over this point. You forget that the Republicans were a very young (less than 10 yrs old) party at this point with very radical ideas
at the time (abolutionists...). Heck, it would be about the same as
the Libertarians or Reform parties doing the same about now.
Yes, it's a bit disturbing to me
that Republicans would not likely have been able to given oust the Whigs,
under current campaign laws. How many issues as important as
abolition have been suppressed as a result of such laws?
You point about people perfering only Republicans and Democrats for
the past 150+ years is kind of disingenous as well. Whenever a third
party comes along that attracts any kind of attention the two major
parties absorb the ideas of these parties. Take a look at the push
toward deficit reduction which was a major part of Perot's campaign in
'88. No one was talking about it then, now the Republicans bring it up
all the time, and Gore runs on it as one of the Clinton
administrations major achievements.
I agree that third parties can sometimes push the major parties agendas, but
for the most part, third parties are ignored. Keep in mind that Perot was a
billionaire, who could afford to pay for essentially unlimited air
time. I would like to make it easier for third parties to hold the
major parties toes to the fire.
Great, if you live in a smaller state, you will never be a part of a federal election.
Do small states play a particularly big part in federal elections now?
I currently live in Idaho, which has 4 electoral college votes.
Neither Bush nor Gore even visited our state. (Cheney stopped by in
Boise for a brief visit). Changing the "winner takes all" system
would give them at least some incentive to campaign in smaller
states.
The founders of this country were acutely aware of the parlimatarian system, and chose not to implement it. I don't think the majority of
Americans would be too hip to voting for parties without knowing who they were voting for.
Yes, of course, a political system that originally excluded half the
population (women) and allowed slaves could not possible be improved.
upon.
Ah, God forbit we let the plebians vote. If you aren't educated on the
issues, do us a favor and don't vote.... or just vote Republican:)
Given the fact that the benefits from voting to an individual voter are
generally small and diffuse and adequately educating oneself takes a
lot of time and effort, there's great incentive to remain
rationally ignorant about most issues. If voter's could delegate
their votes, then there is much greater incentive for the delegate to
become well educated about the issues.
The process for selecting electors varies throughout the United
States. Generally, the political parties nominate electors at their
State party conventions or by a vote of the party's
central committee in each State. Electors are often selected to
recognize their service and dedication to their political party. They may be State elected officials, party leaders, or persons who have a personal or
political affiliation with the Presidential candidate. Then the voters
in each State choose the electors on the day of the
generalelection. The electors' names may or may not appear on the
ballot below the name of the candidates running for President,
depending on the procedure in each State.
What I'm proposing is that instead of having a bunch of party hacks
elect the president, the president be elected by a majority of the
popular vote with an instant runoff. I also want to be able to
delegate my vote so that instead of me going into the election booth, and
pulling the lever to express my preference for candidates whose
positions I might only have a vague grasp, I could give my
vote to the Libertarian party. The LP delegate could then vote
twice--once for himself, once for me, and once for anyone else who
decided to delegate their vote for him. It's still a popular vote
(every individual has the same voting power), but hopefully one informed by more intelligent and educated voters.
I think the vote swapping idea is great, but I think that it is a political kludge. One option to achieve real reform might be for third parties to band together to launch a class action anti-trust lawsuit against the Democrats and Republicans.
After all, many people get all in a tizzy over Microsoft's dominance of
software operating systems. Yet the last time the Republicans or
Democrats did not control both the Congress and the White House (and
indirectly, the judiciary) was in 1854, when the Republicans ousted the
Whigs.
Perhaps Americans have truly preferred the Democrats or Republicans
for the past 146 years, but I'm inclined to believe the system is
rigged.
Indeed Richard Wringer, editor of Ballot Access News argued that
U.S. voting system is so rigged that it violates international law:
In reality, America's ballot-access laws are so stringent, and third parties are repressed to such a degree, that the U.S. is probably in violation of the
Copenhagen Meeting Document, an international agreement the U.S. signed in 1990 that requires nations to:
"Respect the right of individuals and groups to establish, in full freedom, their own political organizations and provide such political
parties and organizations with the necessary legal guarantees to enable them to compete with each other on the basis of equal treatment
before the law and the authorities."
The Libertarian and Constitution party have already banded together to
launch a lawsuit seeking to establish the constitutional illegality of
the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Commission for Presidential
Debates (CPD), and the federal campaign funding system, by overturning
the Buckley v. Valeo decision. There's an excellent summary of the
unfair barriers the Democrats and Republicans have raised to third
parties at http://www.realcampaignreform.org/.
See also Richard Winger's article, The Importance of
Ballot Access. (Spring 1994 Long Term View, Massachusetts School
of Law, Andover, MA.) available at http://www.ballot-access.org
Other reforms I'd like to see:
elimination of the electoral college, to be replaced by direct popular election
institute preferential or Borda voting instead of winner take all
proportional representation should be instituted for seats in the House and Senate
ballot access should be open to anyone willing to pay the marginal cost of adding the candidates name to the ballot
option to delegate one's vote to someone else. Why? Because, on most issues, I have neither the time, interest, or skill to adequately evaluate who or what is most likely to achieve the goals I want. However, I do know individuals who do have the time, interest, and skill whose judgement I trust, and I would like them to decide. As it is now, a man who uses a bookmark to read People magazine has the same influence has as a man who has a PhD. in economics.
I think the third parties should band together to launch a class action anti-trust lawsuit against the Democrats and Republicans.
After all, many people get all in a tizzy over Microsoft's dominance of
software operating systems. Yet the last time the Republicans or
Democrats did not control both the Congress and the White House (and
indirectly, the judiciary) was in 1854, when the Republicans ousted the
Whigs.
Perhaps Americans have truly preferred the Democrats or Republicans
for the past 146 years, but I'm inclined to believe the system is
rigged.
Indeed Richard Wringer, editor of Ballot Access News argued that
U.S. voting system is so rigged that it violates international law:
In reality, America's ballot-access laws are so stringent, and third parties are repressed to such a degree, that the U.S. is probably in violation of the
Copenhagen Meeting Document, an international agreement the U.S. signed in 1990 that requires nations to:
"Respect the right of individuals and groups to establish, in full freedom, their own political organizations and provide such political
parties and organizations with the necessary legal guarantees to enable them to compete with each other on the basis of equal treatment
before the law and the authorities."
The Libertarian and Constitution party have already banded together to
launch a lawsuit seeking to establish the constitutional illegality of
the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Commission for Presidential
Debates (CPD), and the federal campaign funding system, by overturning
the Buckley v. Valeo decision. There's an excellent summary of the
unfair barriers the Democrats and Republicans have raised to third
parties at http://www.realcampaignreform.org/.
See also Richard Winger's article, The Importance of Ballot Access. (Spring 1994 Long Term View, Massachusetts School of Law, Andover, MA.) at http://www.ballot-access.org
Other reforms I'd like to see:
elimination of the electoral college, to be replaced by direct popular election
institute preferential or Borda voting instead of winner take all
proportional representation should be insituted for seats in the House and Senate
ballot access should be open to anyone willing to pay the marginal cost of adding the candidates name to the ballot
option to delegate one's vote to someone else. Why? Because, on most issues, I have neither the time, interest, or skill to adequately evaluate who or what is most likely to achieve the goals I want. However, I do know individuals who do have the time, interest, and skill whose judgement I trust, and I would like them to decide. As it is now, a man who uses a bookmark to read People magazine has the same influence has as a man who has a PhD. in economics.
Your suggestion that cryonics companies should be freezing "test animals" is a good one, and at least one cryonics company, Alcor, does have a few animals cryopreserved for just this purpose. In addition, a (relatively) large number of pets (cats and dogs) have been frozen by the existing cryonics organizations.
As for whether cryonics is a scam, isn't it a bit too early to tell? After all, isn't the premise of cryonics that medical technology 50-100 years in the future will be able to repair the freezing damage? How do you know what future medicine can/cannot do?
Admittedly, I think the odds are fairly low (< 1%) that current patients will be revived with > 90% fidelity (however you define the term.) within the next 100 years. However, all existing cryonics organizations point out that they don't if or when you will be revived, if at all, nor how well your identity will be recovered. So if you sign up anyway, and you are not successfully revived, how have you been defrauded?
At worst, I see cryonics as a form of religion--instead of resurrection by God, some cryonicists expect to be revived by the benevolent nanotechnologists of the future. But I don't think that makes them scam artists or frauds.
Finally, anyone familiar with the finances of cryonics organizations will tell you that cryonics is a terrible way to make money, even assuming it is a scam. I don't know what the exact numbers are, but less than 700-800 people have signed up to be frozen in the 38 years since the Robert Ettinger published The Prospect of Immortality (the first book to seriously propose cryonics.) Of those less than 100 have been frozen. Historically, most people who work for cryonics organizations are volunteers or make little money. For example, the December 1990, Cryonics magazine reported that the Board of
Directors of Alcor voted a 25% pay cut for all of the staff, so they could keep their budget balanced. Many of the Directors are also on
the staff. The salaries after the cut ranged from $22,500 annually for highest paid full-time employee (the President) to $14,400 for
the lowest-paid full-time employee.
Just a note of clarification. Although it is true that ice crystallization causes extensive cellular damage, it does not do so by causing cells to explode as the ice expands. Rather, at freezing rates possible in tissues, ice tends to form in the extracellular space first. As ice crystals form in the extracellular space, the chemicals in the unfrozen extracellular fluid become increasingly concentrated (because ice freezes as pure water). Osmotic forces cause water inside the cell to cross the cell membrane. So the cell actually dehydrates and shrinks during freezing. If the cell dehydrates too much, the cell membrane irreversibly collapses into a gel state. (It is true however, that the expansion of ice causes damage to macroscopic structures, such as capillary beds.)
Please see this excellent review article by Ken Storey, in which he reviews the mechanisms of freezing damage, and discusses naturally freeze tolerant organisms such as the wood frog, Rana sylvatica.
In my opinion, the currently most likely near term pathway to suspended animation lies in the use of vitrification. Vitrification involves introducing a sufficiently high concentration of cryoprotectant into an organ such that upon cooling, the fluid within the organ forms a glass instead of a crystal, thereby avoiding the problem of ice crystallization altogether. Please see this review article Organ Cryopreservation by Greg Fahy, PhD. for a succinct review of the approach and numerous references to the available literature.
Finally, I would caution that the New Scientist is not a particularly discriminating science news source. For example, see the September 28, 1996 New Scientist article (p.22) regarding Olga Visser, a South African perfusionist at the University of Pretoria, who claimed that she had found a technique for successfully cryopreserving rat hearts at liquid nitrogen temperatures. In cryobiology circles, this is like someone claiming a cure for cancer. It is one of the "big problems" in cryobiology, that a number of scientists have spent decades trying to solve. Visser's claim could not be duplicated and were never published in a peer reviewed journal. Even worse, Visser later claimed that the same drug she used to achieve the holy grail of cryobiology, dimethylformamide, was also a cure for AIDS.
The Iowa Electronic Markets is legal, but they got special permission from the SEC as an educational experiment. In general, as I understand the law, idea futures markets would be considered illegal.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree that BP won't get off free, but I also think that consumers will be paying higher prices. BP will likely be paying billions in fines and clean up costs. BP will have to either raise prices or cut costs in order to meet those charges. Those costs will divert resources from ad campaigns, building new service stations, exploring for new wells, etc. Either way, this will ease competitive pressure on the other oil companies. If BP raises prices to pay for clean up, the other companies can raise their prices somewhat too, and still beat BP's prices (since they don't have to pay clean up costs). In addition, the other companies will likely be spending a lot more money upgrading and inspecting their equipment in order to avoid BP's fate. The spill will also likely make regulatory costs much higher, and prevent oil companies from exploring new territories. As a result, they will have to find more (expensive) ways to extract oil from existing sites.
allowing random people to decide what they can take when they want has a definite negative effect on the society at large
But are prescription controls the best way to combat drug resistance?
There are two potential causes of harm:
1. You could take an antibiotic when you don't really need, thereby hastening drug resistance.
2. You could fail to take an antibiotic when you really need it, and thereby suffer or die from the bacterial infection.
Prescription laws may help with 1), but they may harm via 2) due to people failing to get antibiotics they need due to the cost of getting a prescription. Prescription laws for antibiotics would only be justified if the harm of 1) outweighed the harm of 2). How do you know that the harm of 1) outweighs the harm of 2)?
In any case, the drug resistance argument applies only to antibiotics. We could eliminate prescriptions on all other drugs without worrying about increasing drug resistance.
DIY grappling dummy (Plus lot's of other homebrew equipment).
Ugh. I detest the gratuitous use of the word "friend". Nothing turns me off faster than when I see an email from someone I don't know who uses it in the intro.
Actually, the Mormons did form a state (State of Deseret), printed their own money etc. But for the most part, the members didn't want to secede, they just wanted to be left alone to practice their religion.
Note that secession is considered a "last resort" option by most FSPers. The hope is that if the FSP does win elections, they will be able to negotiate "opt-outs" from bad Federal laws. Secession would only be considered if such efforts were unsuccessful.
Over 384,440 people voted for Harry Browne in the last presidential election, and several million more voted for Libertarian candidates in state elections. Maybe the FSP won't be attract 20K people to move to the state (although I'm optimistic), but I think it's worth a try. Certainly, libertarian political efforts for the past 20 years have been largely ineffectual, so we should try something else.
As a person who has signed up for the FSP, I have no problem paying for national defense (albeit with less waste than we have now). However, national defense is only 16% of the federal budget. Most of the budget goes toward entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security) which I have no interest in supporting.
Kidding aside... Softpanorama has lots of papers, links to papers about open source.
I detail some of the flaws I see with open source software in my paper The Wall Street Performer Protocol.
I strongly suspect SF's strict zoning laws would make setting up a yurt illegal.
You personally know people who have been killed in a western state because they put a liberal bumper sticker on their car? If so, you have my sympathies. However, I think that rural areas shouldn't be judged by anecdotes alone. Rural violent crime rates are 4 times lower than those of urban areas. See the paragraph just above Table 2 at http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/dr ugfree/v1donner.htm. While I'm sure "out and proud" liberals are sometimes harassed, I think that on the whole, they're safer in rural areas than in the cities.
I also think a lot depends on where you live, just as it does in a large city. Sandpoint, Idaho, for example, used to have a large Aryan Nations compound. For a time, it probably wasn't the most safe area for an outspoken liberal to live.
However, in my experience, most rural residents have a "live and let live" attitude, and tolerate a far wider range of behaviors than city dwellers will allow. For example, try setting up a yurt on your land in SF, or converting your front lawn into a garden in LA.
I think that many of our current problems stem from our currently limited time horizons. After all, why should you care about where that toxic waste ends up, or the destruction of the ozone layer, global warming, or rain forest destruction? You'll likely be long dead before any of these things has any appreciable negative affect on you. On the other hand, if you knew that you had a reasonable expectation that you would have to live with the consequences of your actions for say, a thousand years, it seems to me that you will likely be a better steward of the environment.
As for the desire to live a really long time--doesn't it seem a bit of a waste that you will spend decades mastering your profession, then poof, you're gone, and all of the experience and knowledge you've painfully acquired goes with it? Also, I don't know about you, but I love learning and experiencing new things, and life's far too short to do even a small fraction of them.
That said, you have to start somewhere. And if it can be shown that those who are cryopreserved have a decent chance of good recovery, then I think offering cryonic suspension/recovery services will be a very lucrative business. After all, if it works, cryonics will vastly increase the one resource that's strictly limited for everyone, no matter how wealthy they are--time. How much would you pay for an extra 100 years of healthy life?
With such large amounts of money involved, it seems to me that cryonics organizations will have a strong incentive to come up with mechanisms for ensuring successful (very) long term care and recovery of their patients.
I saw a presentation by Stephen Valentine on the TimeShip idea. The $180 million price tag is the expected price for the final completed project. Although it is not mentioned in the article, the TimeShip is designed to be modular. Initially, the Timeship will be much smaller than its final dimensions--only the core services will be constructed (research facility, one storage module). As demand increases, more modules can be added until eventually it reaches its final dimensions.
However, in my opinion, cryonics will remain a small, financially precarious community of true believers until it has been demonstrated to work. It's going to take a lot of research to demonstrate that it will work.
Therefore, if you're interested in helping cryonics succeed (even if you're skeptical of the TimeShip project) here are some suggestions:
Actually, there are about a dozen or so companies outside of aD that have based a large portion of their business around ACS consulting. Granted, they're small (I believe none of them employ more than 20 people), but they could support aD's clients if need be. You don't even have to use Oracle if you don't want to--the ACS has been ported to PostgreSQL. Tcl is a minority language to be sure, but it's not that small. As for the ACS's use of AOLserver, if you've already got a substantial investment in Apache, you can still use the ACS if you install mod_aolserver. In any case, it shouldn't be that difficult to translate the principles learned at the aD boot camps to another language, if need be. As for speed/stability, I don't believe any benchmarks have been done on the ACS's performance. I would point out however, that the principal factors limiting the speed for a database-intensive website are a) size of the site's data pipeline b) speed of database read/writes. Oracle is used to back 9 out of 10 of the most popular websites. PostgreSQL (to which the ACS has been ported) is used to back SourceForge (which switched from MySQL due to speed/transaction issues). AOL uses AOLserver to serve most of the pages for their corporate web sites. All of the components of the ACS have been field tested under high load conditions.
Actually, with mod_aolserver, you can use the ACS with Apache. However, it's developed native to AOLserver, so you get more support/fewer bugs if you use AOLserver.
I also second the recommendations for D&D--I certainly had fun playing it when I was younger, and while there can be elements of competition, that's generally not the point.
As with any business, traditional companies lobby, both in court and in the legislature, for laws to protect their interests. Often the laws these companies advocate hinder open source software development, or are otherwise antithetical to the values of many members of the open source community. Among the legal defeats that the open source ommunity has suffered:
- legal recognition for software patents
- UCITA
- Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) bans on reverse
engineering
- Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act
Although not strictly related to open source softare, many open source programmers are also sympathetic to efforts to oppose other efforts to restrict online freedoms:- future versions of the Communications Decency Act
- Carnivore
- internet gambling statutes
Hiring competent lawyers, lobbyists, and fundraisers to fight these laws will be expensive, and many supporters of laws damaging to the open source community have deep pockets. They include organizations such as:Non-profit organizations that help defend our online freedoms, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, League for Programming Freedom, the Free Software Foundation, and the ACLU get their funds from companies and individuals who share values with them, e.g. open source companies and programmers. If the individuals and companies sympathetic to these organizations are impoverished or go bankrupt, the non-profits can't effectively fight for the freedoms we want.
For those so inclined, here's some references to the original literature prepared by AJ Annala::
Subject: REQUEST: Literature on Isolated Brain Perfusion Experiments
From: A J Annala (annala@neuro.usc.edu)
Date: Thu 04 Apr 1991 - 08:52:03 BST
I am writing a review paper describing the history (through the present day) of experiments designed to provide artificial support for maintaining normal brain activity following total circulatory or respiratory collapse. The ultimate goal of such research is to preserve normal brain function across lengthly periods (weeks/months) of cardiac or respiratory arrest.
There is a very substantial scientific literature (a brief chronology of which is provided below) describing an increasingly successfull series of experiments where animal brains have been supported by artificial methods after complete circulatory and respiratory failure.
If you are aware of any additional literature which should be included in this review or if you have comments regarding the appropriateness of this technology for current laboratory / distant future human clinical therapy please reply with an email note to annala@neuro.usc.edu.
-------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------
-------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------
- Chute-AL, Smyth-DH. Metabolism of the isolated perfused cat's brain. Quart
J Exp Physiol 29:379-394 (1939).
- Geiger-A, Magnes-J. The isolation of the cerebral circulation and the
perfusion of the brain in the living cat. Am J Physiol 149:517-536 (1947).
- *Geiger-A. Correlation of brain metabolism and function by use of a brain
perfusion method in situ. Physiol Rev 38:1-20 (1958).
- Geiger-A. Technique of brain perfusion in situ. Methods Med Res 9:248-254
(1961).
- Demikhov-VP. Transplantation of the Head. "Experimental Transplantation of
Vital Organs". Consultants Bureau, New York (1962) translated from
Russian by Basil Haigh.
- *Meder-R, Massopust-LC-Jr, White-RJ, Verdura-J, Albin-MS. Isolated brain
perfusion--electromechanical system requirements. Proc 16th Ann Conf Eng
Med Biol 5:28-29 (1963).
- *White-RJ, Albin-MS, Verdura-J. Isolation of the monkey brain: in vitro
preparation and maintenance. Science 141:1060 (1963).
- *Gilboe-DD, Cotanch-WW, Glover--MB. Extracorporeal perfusion of the isolated
head of a dog. Nature 202:399-400 (1964).
- Sano-K, Terao-H, Hayakawa-I, Kamano-S, Saito-I. Experimental transplantation
of the head: two-headed dogs. Neurol Medicochir (Tokoyo) 6:35-38 (1964).
- *White-RJ, Albin-MS, Verdura-J. Preservation of viability in the isolated
monkey brain utilizing a mechanical extracorporeal circulation. Nature
(Lond) 202:1082-1083 (1964).
- *Gilboe-DD, Cotanch-WW, Glover-MB. Isolation and mechanical maintenance of
the dog brain. Nature (Lond.) 206:94-96 (1965).
- *White-RJ, Albin-MS, Locke-GE, Davidson-E. Brain transplantation: prolonged
survival of brain after carotid-jugular interposition. Science 150:779 (1965).
- *White-RJ, Albin-MS, Locke-GE, Davidson-E. Transplantation of the isolated
canine brain. Physiologist 8:304 (1965).
- Suda-I, Kito-K, Adachi-C. Viability of long term frozen cat brain in vitro.
Nature 212:268 (1966).
- *White-RJ, Albin-MS, Locke-GE. Vascular preparation of the isolated canine
brain. Anatomical Record 154:441 (1966).
- *White-RJ, Albin-MS, Locke-GE. Whole brain preservation near 0 degrees C.
Cryobiology 2:315 (1966).
- *White-RJ, Albin-MS, Verdura-J, Locke-GE. Prolonged whole brain refrigeration
with electrical and metabolic recovery. Nature 209:1320 (1966).
- *Allweis-C, Abeles-M, Magnes-J. Perfusion of cat brain with simplified blood
after filtration through glass wool. Amer J Physiol 213:83-86 (1967).
- Andjus-RK, Suhara-S, Sloviter-HA. An isolated, perfused rat brain preparation,
its spontaneous and stimulated activity. J Appl Physiol 22:1033-1039 (1967).
- *Sloviter-HA, Kamimoto-T. Erythrocyte substitute for perfusion of brain.
Nature (lond) 216:458-460 (1967).
- Taslitz-N, Acosta-Rua-G, White-RJ, Albin-MS. The rat brain as an isolated
organ preparation. Anat Rec 157:332 (1967).
- White-RJ, Albin-MS, Verdura-J, Locke-GE. The isolated monkey brain: operative
preparation and design of support systems. J Neurosurg 27:216-225 (1967).
- *White-RJ, Albin-MS, Locke-GE, Davidson-E. Preparation and metabolic
performance of the transplanted brain. Surgical Forum 18:463 (1967).
- White-RJ, Albin-S, Yashon-D, Austin-J, Austin-P, Taslitz-N. Mechanical
circulatory support of the failing brain. Trans Amer Soc Artif Int Organ
14:349-351 (1968).
- *White-RJ, Albin-MS. Mechanical circulatory support of the isolated brain.
- "Organ perfusion and preservation." (Norman-JC, Folkman-J, Hardison-WG,
Rudolf-LE, Veith-FJ eds). Appleton-Century Crofts, NY. (1968).
- White-RJ. "Experimental transplantation of the brain." Human Transplantation
(Rapaport-FT, Dausset-J eds). pp 692-709 (1968).
- Thompson-AM, Robertson-RC, Bauer-TA. A rat head-perfusion technique developed
for the study of brain uptake of materials. J Appl Physiol 24:407-411 (1968).
- *White-RJ, Albin-MS, Yashon-D. Neuropathological investigation of the
transplanted canine brain. Transplant Proceed 1:259 (1969).
- *Clark-LC, Kaplan-S, Becattini-F, Benzing-G. Perfusion of whole animals with
perfluorinated liquid emulsions using the Clark bubble-defoam heart-lung
machine. Fed Proc Am Soc Exp Biol 29:1764-1770 (1970).
- Taslitz-N, White-RJ, Wolin-LR, Yashon-D. Adequacy of single carotid
perfusion of the brain. Anatomical Record 166:388 (1970).
- *White-RJ, Albin-MS, Yashon-D, Verdura-J, Austin-JC, Austin-PE-Jr, Demian-YK.
Autoregulation in the isolated brain during profound hypothermia and
hypercarbia. Brain and Blood Flow (Ross-RW ed). Pitman, London. pp.209 (1970).
- Horst-WD, Jester-J. The use of isolated perfused rat brain in a study of
14-C-L-Dopa metabolism. Life Sci 10(I):685-689 (1971).
- *Jahnchen-E, Krieglstein-J. Die aufnahme von promazin, chlorpromazin und
deren desmethylmetaboliten in das isoliert perfundierte rattenhirn. Naunyn-
Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmak 268:300-309 (1971).
- Mukherji-B, Turinsky-J, Sloviter-HA. Effects of perfusion without glucose
on amino acids and glycogen of isolated rat brain. J Neurochem 18:1783-1785
(1971).
- Sloviter-HA, Yamada-H. Absence of direct action of insulin on metabolism
of the isolated perfused rat brain. J Neurochem 18:1269-1274 (1971).
- White-RJ, Wolin-LR, Massopust-LC, Taslitz-N, Verdura-J. Primate cephalic
transplantation: neurogenic separation, vascular association. Transplantation
Proceedings 3:602-604 (1971).
- Vasan-NS, Abraham-J, Bachhawat-BK. Sulphate metabolism in acute EAE rats
using isolated brain perfusion technique. J Neurochem 18:59-66 (1971).
- *Zimmer-R, Lang-R, Oberdoister-G. Post-ischaemic reactive hyperaemia of the
isolated perfused brain of dog. Pflugers Arch Ges Physiol 328:332-343 (1971).
- Fleck-WV, Krieglstein-J, Urban-W. Zwei apparaturen zur perfusion des
isolierten rattenhirns. Arzneim-Forsch 22:1225-1230 (1972).
- Ghosh-AK, Mukherji-B, Slovitar-HA. Metabolism of isolated rat brain perfused
with glucose or mannose as substrate. J Neurochem 19:1279-1285 (1972).
- Krieglstein-G, Krieglstein-J, Stock-R. Suitability of the isolated perfused
rat brain for studying effects on cerebral metabolism. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's
Arch Pharmacol 275:124-134 (1972).
- Krieglstein-G, Krieglstein-J, Urban-W. Long survival time of an isolated
perfused rat brain (Short Communication). J Neurochem 19:885-886 (1972).
- Stock-R, Krieglstein-G, Krieglstein-J. Studies on energy metabolism of an
isolated perfused rat brain. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 274:R112
(1972).
- Zivin-JA, Snarr-JF. A stable preparation for rat brain perfusion: effect of
flow rate on glucose uptake. J Appl Physiol 32:658-663 (1972).
- Zivin-JA, Snarr-JF. Glucose and D(-)-3-hydroxybutyrate uptake by isolated
perfused rat brain. J Appl Physiol 32:664-668 (1972).
- Fleck-W, Krieglstein-J, Reichmann-M. A two-circuit apparatus for the
perfusion of the isolated rat brain. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol
278:319-322 (1973).
- Gruner-J, Krieglstein-J, Rieger-H. Comparison of the effects of chloral
hydrate and trichloroethanol on the EEG of the isolated perfused rat brain.
Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 277:333-348 (1973).
- Krieglstein-J, Stock-R. Comparative study of the effects of chloral hydrate
and trichloroethanol on cerebral metabolism. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch
Pharmacol 277:323-332 (1973).
- Krieglstein-J, Stock-R, Rieger-H. Influence of therapeutic and toxic doses of
neuroleptics and antidepressants on energy metabolism of the isolated perfused
rat brain. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 279:243-254 (1973).
- Krieglstein-J, Stock-R. The isolated perfused rat brain as a model for
studying drugs acting on the CNS. Psychopharmacologia 35:169-177 (1974).
- White-RJ. Hypothermic preservation and transplantation of brain.
Resuscitation 4:197 (1975).
- Woods-HF, Graham-CW, Green-AR, Youdim-MBH, Grahame-Smith-DG, Highes-JT. Some
histological and metabolic properties of an isolated perfused rat brain
preparation with special reference to monoamine metabolism. Neuroscience
1:313-323 (1976).
- Woods-HF, Youdim-MBH. The isolated perfused rat brain preparation--a
critical assessment. Essays Neurochem Neuropharmacol 3:49-69 (1978).
- Dirks-B, Krieglstein-J, Lind-HH, Rieger-H, Schutz-H. Fluorocarbon perfusion
medium applied to the isolated rat brain. J Pharm Methods 4:95-108 (1980).
- *Llinas-R, Yarom-Y, Sugimori-M. Isolated mammalian brain in vitro: new
technique for analysis of electrical activity of neuronal circuit function.
Fed Proc 40(8)-2240-2245 (1981).
- Shapovalov-AI, Shiriaev-BI, Tamarova-ZA. "A study of neuronal activity of
mammalian superfused or intra-arterially perfused CNS preparations."
Electrophysiology of isolated mammalian CNS preparations (Kerkut-GA, Wheal-HV
eds). pp 367-394 (1981).
--------------End of Annala's List -----------------------------------Spinal cord repair:
It seems to me that many of the long term intractable problems we face stem from the currently limited time horizon most individuals have. If you're going to be dead in 75 years anyway, why should you care what happens afterward? If you can expect to live 1000 or more years, you may be more reluctant to use cheap barrels to store that toxic waste.... Also we tend to keep repeating the same mistakes because the people who lived through the first mistakes die, and the new people don't read history much. Does anyone doubt that the 21st Century will have its versions of Stalin, Mao, or Pol Pot? I also note that even if everyone in the U.S. gave up meat and started wearing sack cloth and ashes, it would not save the starving people in Ethiopia. In most cases, the problem is not insufficient food (enough food rots on the docks), but insufficient distribution, due to grossly incompetent government officials, or deliberate efforts to starve insurgent populations during times of war.
Yes, it's a bit disturbing to me that Republicans would not likely have been able to given oust the Whigs, under current campaign laws. How many issues as important as abolition have been suppressed as a result of such laws?
You point about people perfering only Republicans and Democrats for the past 150+ years is kind of disingenous as well. Whenever a third party comes along that attracts any kind of attention the two major parties absorb the ideas of these parties. Take a look at the push toward deficit reduction which was a major part of Perot's campaign in '88. No one was talking about it then, now the Republicans bring it up all the time, and Gore runs on it as one of the Clinton administrations major achievements.
I agree that third parties can sometimes push the major parties agendas, but for the most part, third parties are ignored. Keep in mind that Perot was a billionaire, who could afford to pay for essentially unlimited air time. I would like to make it easier for third parties to hold the major parties toes to the fire.
Great, if you live in a smaller state, you will never be a part of a federal election.
Do small states play a particularly big part in federal elections now? I currently live in Idaho, which has 4 electoral college votes. Neither Bush nor Gore even visited our state. (Cheney stopped by in Boise for a brief visit). Changing the "winner takes all" system would give them at least some incentive to campaign in smaller states.
The founders of this country were acutely aware of the parlimatarian system, and chose not to implement it. I don't think the majority of Americans would be too hip to voting for parties without knowing who they were voting for.
Yes, of course, a political system that originally excluded half the population (women) and allowed slaves could not possible be improved. upon.
Ah, God forbit we let the plebians vote. If you aren't educated on the issues, do us a favor and don't vote.... or just vote Republican :)
Given the fact that the benefits from voting to an individual voter are generally small and diffuse and adequately educating oneself takes a lot of time and effort, there's great incentive to remain rationally ignorant about most issues. If voter's could delegate their votes, then there is much greater incentive for the delegate to become well educated about the issues.
After all, many people get all in a tizzy over Microsoft's dominance of software operating systems. Yet the last time the Republicans or Democrats did not control both the Congress and the White House (and indirectly, the judiciary) was in 1854, when the Republicans ousted the Whigs.
Perhaps Americans have truly preferred the Democrats or Republicans for the past 146 years, but I'm inclined to believe the system is rigged.
Indeed Richard Wringer, editor of Ballot Access News argued that U.S. voting system is so rigged that it violates international law:
The Libertarian and Constitution party have already banded together to launch a lawsuit seeking to establish the constitutional illegality of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Commission for Presidential Debates (CPD), and the federal campaign funding system, by overturning the Buckley v. Valeo decision. There's an excellent summary of the unfair barriers the Democrats and Republicans have raised to third parties at http://www.realcampaignreform.org/. See also Richard Winger's article, The Importance of Ballot Access. (Spring 1994 Long Term View, Massachusetts School of Law, Andover, MA.) available at http://www.ballot-access.orgOther reforms I'd like to see:
After all, many people get all in a tizzy over Microsoft's dominance of software operating systems. Yet the last time the Republicans or Democrats did not control both the Congress and the White House (and indirectly, the judiciary) was in 1854, when the Republicans ousted the Whigs.
Perhaps Americans have truly preferred the Democrats or Republicans for the past 146 years, but I'm inclined to believe the system is rigged.
Indeed Richard Wringer, editor of Ballot Access News argued that U.S. voting system is so rigged that it violates international law:
The Libertarian and Constitution party have already banded together to launch a lawsuit seeking to establish the constitutional illegality of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Commission for Presidential Debates (CPD), and the federal campaign funding system, by overturning the Buckley v. Valeo decision. There's an excellent summary of the unfair barriers the Democrats and Republicans have raised to third parties at http://www.realcampaignreform.org/. See also Richard Winger's article, The Importance of Ballot Access. (Spring 1994 Long Term View, Massachusetts School of Law, Andover, MA.) at http://www.ballot-access.orgOther reforms I'd like to see:
As for whether cryonics is a scam, isn't it a bit too early to tell? After all, isn't the premise of cryonics that medical technology 50-100 years in the future will be able to repair the freezing damage? How do you know what future medicine can/cannot do?
Admittedly, I think the odds are fairly low (< 1%) that current patients will be revived with > 90% fidelity (however you define the term.) within the next 100 years. However, all existing cryonics organizations point out that they don't if or when you will be revived, if at all, nor how well your identity will be recovered. So if you sign up anyway, and you are not successfully revived, how have you been defrauded?
At worst, I see cryonics as a form of religion--instead of resurrection by God, some cryonicists expect to be revived by the benevolent nanotechnologists of the future. But I don't think that makes them scam artists or frauds.
Finally, anyone familiar with the finances of cryonics organizations will tell you that cryonics is a terrible way to make money, even assuming it is a scam. I don't know what the exact numbers are, but less than 700-800 people have signed up to be frozen in the 38 years since the Robert Ettinger published The Prospect of Immortality (the first book to seriously propose cryonics.) Of those less than 100 have been frozen. Historically, most people who work for cryonics organizations are volunteers or make little money. For example, the December 1990, Cryonics magazine reported that the Board of Directors of Alcor voted a 25% pay cut for all of the staff, so they could keep their budget balanced. Many of the Directors are also on the staff. The salaries after the cut ranged from $22,500 annually for highest paid full-time employee (the President) to $14,400 for the lowest-paid full-time employee.
For a good review of the problems that need to be overcome to achieve suspended animation, see The Contributions of Low Temperature Science to Cryobanking and the Prospect of Suspended Animation for Manned Space Travel by Michael J. Taylor, Ph.D., Debra J. Battjes Siler, M.S., John R. Walsh, Ph.D., Kelvin G.M. Brockbank, Ph.D. in Graft, May 2050, volume 3, issue 3 (also known as Volume 3, Issue 3, May/June 2000).
In my opinion, the currently most likely near term pathway to suspended animation lies in the use of vitrification. Vitrification involves introducing a sufficiently high concentration of cryoprotectant into an organ such that upon cooling, the fluid within the organ forms a glass instead of a crystal, thereby avoiding the problem of ice crystallization altogether. Please see this review article Organ Cryopreservation by Greg Fahy, PhD. for a succinct review of the approach and numerous references to the available literature.
Finally, I would caution that the New Scientist is not a particularly discriminating science news source. For example, see the September 28, 1996 New Scientist article (p.22) regarding Olga Visser, a South African perfusionist at the University of Pretoria, who claimed that she had found a technique for successfully cryopreserving rat hearts at liquid nitrogen temperatures. In cryobiology circles, this is like someone claiming a cure for cancer. It is one of the "big problems" in cryobiology, that a number of scientists have spent decades trying to solve. Visser's claim could not be duplicated and were never published in a peer reviewed journal. Even worse, Visser later claimed that the same drug she used to achieve the holy grail of cryobiology, dimethylformamide, was also a cure for AIDS.
The Iowa Electronic Markets is legal, but they got special permission from the SEC as an educational experiment. In general, as I understand the law, idea futures markets would be considered illegal.