Thanks for the answer - I don't have an answer for the length of body hair, but I can answer for the length of scalp hair. Maybe you meant that. It's determined mostly by the length of the anagen phase and that, in turn, is determined by a protein called FGF5 (Fibroblast Growth Factor 5). If you don't have it, you have a really long anagen phase and long curly hair. The angora mutation in mice and cats is actually an fgf5 mutation. So, if you want really long hair, you need to get rid of FGF5.
See all of the above. As a geneticist, I'm actually an avid proponent of genetic engineering. Hell, we should engineer anything we can get our hands on as long as it is for something that we can profit from: plants producing enzymes that cure otherwise incurable disorders, plants that do not need pesticides, animals that carry humanized organs... People who fear genetic engineering do so out of ignorance mostly. They do not realize that our efforts are piss-poor compared to what Nature is doing to all genetic material of all living organisms every day.
That said, I do not believe for a single second that genetic engineering will reach the home owner any time soon. Having to do something in the garden can actually be enjoyable, you know. But seriously, however useful it may be, you can betcher sweet *ss that green activists (Greenpeace comes to mind) will sow such fear and hate that GE organisms will not be available for common use for a long time to come. Who do you think came up with the term "Frankenfood"? Go tell to the poor kids who eat Golden Rice that genetic engineering is bad. And, to any fanatic who might be reading this post, before you embark on yet another hate-trip, please check here for a well-balanced discussion of the issue. Hunger is caused in large part by issues other than innate defects in Nature's gifts, but many of those are issues that are not going to be solved any time soon. You can be fundamentalistic about this or you can be realistic. Poor people loose in the first case.
The egg contains mitochondria, and, indeed, some motor neuron diseases are indirectly linked to mitochondrial dysfunction. If bad mitochondria cause the disease, problem solved, as the mitochondria are not from the person with MND. However, most motor neuron diseases that we know of and are connected to mitochondrial dysfunction are actually caused by problems in nuclear genes - case in point being amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (aka Lou Gehrig's disease), which is related to mutations in superoxide dismutase. The dysfunctioning of this protein in turn affects mitochondrial function leading to increased apoptosis, etc.. Apart from that, tackling degenerative disease using stem cells is probably not going to work in many cases - many of those diseases may not be caused by cell-autonomous processes, which means that whatever is killing the motor neurons is going to kill the stem cells as well. Stem cells may however be very useful for repopulating purposes, if we can get them to differentiate in the right way in the right place.
Now we know that slashdot is frequented by hordes and hordes of closet mac lovers. That will be some coming out when all the Linux geeks here finally come out of the closet and get a nice, shiny, cuddly mac mini:) I think they will succeed in/.-ing Apple's web site - which would be a first in Internet history methinks.
Something else - is there something similar available for the iMac's first introduction, or for the NeXT cube? I would like to have those.
I quote from a most informative pdf (get it here):
"A tin whisker is a single crystal of tin that
grows spontaneously from a surface a pure tin. They are typically only a few microns
(?m) in diameter but can grow to lengths of more than 10 mm (though lengths on the
order of 1 mm are far more common) [NIST Website, 2002]. Tin whisker growth is
spontaneous, not relying on external influences of current or electrolytic action, more
commonly associated with mechanisms like "dendritic" growth, conductive filament
formation and electromigration. While early studies believed that tin recrystallization
(which occurs at 50 deg C) played some role in whisker formation, recent studies have
reported as much, if not greater, propensity for whisker formation at temperatures as low
as room temperature [NASA Web Site, 2002].(....)Conventional wisdom attributes tin whiskering to internal stresses in the pure tin layer,
with a primary source being the compressive stresses caused by electroplating. However,
tin whiskers have also been reported from surfaces where tin has been applied by
methods other than electroplating. In the presence of compressive stress, whiskers are
extruded over time, as a stress release mechanism. Many factors may contribute to the
stress in the plating, including intermetallic formation, thermal expansion mismatches,
corrosion of the substrate, and externally applied forces such as bending, lead forming
and application of pressure. Defects such as scratches and nicks have been reported to
magnify the effects by causing local stress concentrations and possibly providing
openings in any protective surface oxide layers. In fact, these external factors may cause
whiskering in samples that may otherwise be resistant to the phenomenon. For example,
tin whiskers have been observed to form on tin finished surfaces that had been exposed to
hot oil dip to fuse the tin (a known mitigating process) [Cunningham and Donahue,
1990]. Adding a trace amount of another element (i.e. Pb or Bi) has been shown to reduce
the tendency of plating to grow whiskers."
Good point indeed but you misunderstood. DNA inside the cell IS changing all of the time although changes to its chemistry are being repaired all the time. Telomere change is something else, that happens at cell division. Higher-order structure, like folding, also changes. What the parent meant is that DNA, when taken out of the cell, is very very stable with most of its primary and secondary structure remaining intact over a long long time (see extraction from Neanderthal bones). However, the point of using DNA as a scaffold for the assembly of information is not in its stability per se. It's in its ability, per its repetitive structure with lots of nice modifiable side chains available, to direct assembly of other molecules. This is what is meant, methinks.
The operative word here being "presumably". Since we have no matter renderers or holographic projectors yet, I fail to see how he can sell any virtual procurements of his interesting mutant-infested island for real dollars that he can use in his real life. Unless, of course, he already sold that one. "Hi, since I have no real life anyway, I'm selling mine to the highest bidder. I'm off to my Nirvana". Puhlease....
... but naive.. Come on, what were you smoking? Of course the benchmarks/testing/what have you will be done in such a way as to out the product to be sold in the best possible position. Your question is naive. Even us scientists do this when providing paper plans for our bosses. We paint the best possible picture, do serious window-dressing and interpret our results in the most optimistic manner compatible with science. If you think that an advertising campaign will feature objective (if such a thing exists in benchmarking) performance comparison, you really need to get a reality check. Or, if your conscience is giving you problems, find a profession that doesn't require a conscience. I hear that law is rather profitable these days.
I'd like this in my home wireless network, please. And used by Apple in a nice streaming solution for video, so I can stream everything from my home server to my tv. I only use my phone for SMS and making phone calls, so I don't need this on the go. But for home multimedia, well, this really opens up nice possibilities!
I think that Steve is not intending to pay anything. If the guy is indeed convicted of cybersquatting, he won't get a small fee. He will get nothing at all. If I were him, I would have tried to settle this a long time ago. Although in that case, Steve would have probably sued my ass anyway:)
It's an interesting approach that should be extended to other languages than English. Most of the world's history is not about the US and it has certainly not been written down in English. What I would really like to have is a similar tool that can search, say, Greek, or Latin, (or whatever) handwritten text. Imagine being able to query Ovid for an item of interest without having to consult everything he's written. I can imagine that this might encourage people to study the classics (a pet peeve of mine is that many people lack historical sense...) and it would certainly facilitate research in this area.
If you can put the queries in English, with the search engine taking care of translation, it would be even better. Then, extended historical study comes within everyone's reach and the classical studies (or humaniora) might be transformed.
Well, it's not that simple actually. Thinking "harder" does not necessarily cause more brain activity in any kind of linear relation. Rather, what you see in the case of lying is specific activity in the areas of the brain that are involved in the regulation of the emotional response, including ones (such as the amygdala) involved in fear and planning (prefrontal cortex). Lying lights up these areas because the liar fears being found out, which involves a kind of "planning" and an emotional response following from it.
Could be useful for lie detection, if you get the scanner down to a manageable size:)
I second this. See my previous posts in this regard. A mitral valve prolapse in itself in unspecific. However, some signs noted here (and there I politely disagree with the parent post) MAY point in the direction of bacterial endocarditis. One can have that without elevated ESR. CRP should be elevated too. The way to diagnose this is cardiac ultrasound and multiple blood cultures taken when running a fever of more than 38.5 deg centigrade. That said, I agree with the parent in the red flag department. The self-diagnosis and doctor-hopping don't help. As noted in the previous Patrick Volkerding thread, he should stick with one doctor and let him/her check things out. If no abnormalities are found, the chance of there being a new rare disease is small. I know, because I have indentified several rare "new" diseases myself. Take my word for it: that is non-trivial and requires much double- and triple-checking. I'm worried, too.
Meanwhile, my best wishes for a speedy resolution.
Well, you can probably just run it on ordinary lighter fluid or other combustibles. It doesn't need to be fossil fuel you know. And your current batteries are charged with electricity generated using fossil fuel, or nuclear. I think the real advantage here will be size and weight. If the turbine problem is solved it might be possible to have many of those mini generators in one small package, generating as much power as a big battery. And, refueling is faster than recharging. For mobile use it's also much easier.
Well, if the peripheral is cool enough, the OS/hardware may not be that important. Ease of use and coolness factor count for a lot in the choice of gadget, you know. I do know for myself that the iApps (mostly iTunes these days, Picasa is quite good) are keeping me on the Mac. Although I wonder if the opposite happens: people who "defect" to Windows because iTunes/iPod also work with Windows and you can buy a hell of a lot more hardware four your dollar/euro in Intel/AMD land than in Applistan (example in point: my powerbook costs 3500 euro. I can buy a fully decked out Hypersonic EX7 for that amount of cash....). Anyone??
OK. I now read the rest of his letter. Didn't come through in the first go. It doesn't make things any better. Worse, really. While commendable, the googling is not helpful at all. His MD apparently believes in the presence of actinomyces WITHOUT culturing and is content with it being specified as israelii without grounds. Then, he gets prednisone (my guess would be to reduce dyspnea) after having started antibiotic treatment:
-without culture
-with a narrow spectrum antibiotic'
-to which many micro organisms are resistant.
Sloppy. If the antibiotics do not help the pred will make things worse. As stated in other posts (including by me) mr Volkerding needs to seek COMPETENT help and stop f*ckin around trying to doctor himself and going to people of questionable skill.
You're correct in assuming that prednisone is not something you want to give if suspecting an infection. As always, there are exceptions but in this case it seems like it is not a good idea. Mr Volkerding should go and have his complaints evaluated systematically by a good internist or perhaps lung specialist. And, as noted by other posters, stick with this doctor instead of re-iterating the process after premature termination every time. You get zombie processes this way and will end up one yourself.
Yes, I did read his story. If you read my comment you should have noted that. Please be aware that all is interpretation here. What is meant by "plaque"? Dental plaque? The kind of plaque that hangs over doors? Plaque is only a descriptive term in dermatology, elsewhere it is a diagnosis or an interpretation. Either way, not something I can handle in this context. "Sulfur nodules", again, is interpretation by Mr Volkerding himself. That he calls them that way does not mean that he is coughing balls of some kind of actinomyces (you do know that there are many different subspecies?). He may as well be coughing hair balls for all I know. A popping and draining feeling does not mean that something (an abcess?) has really drained. If you have abcesses in your lungs you ain't driving I can tell you. Hard to value, this one. Like I said - insufficient data to make a real diagnosis. And, like you said, he should go see a real good doctor and work things out.
As a qualified/. MD I can tell you that this is an oddnstory. Now, where the actinomyces bit comes from is a mystery because his letter doesn't mention it. The complaints he lists are not typical of anything but the consistently normal results of CT/Thorax and lab (the deviations he lists are not significant) suggest that some of it may be more mental than anything else. That said, some complaints can be consistent with a diagnosis of pleuritis/pericarditis or even pulmonary embolism. However, the additional investigations should have uncovered this. An infection is not very likely all considered. Why was nothing cultured? If Volkerding is expectorating, stuff can be cultured. Apparently no such material was available. In extremis, direct puncture of suspicious lesions can provide material for culture or PCR. Actinomyces species, to name one cause of infection that seems to be relevant to this discussion, causes lung abcesses that lead to spitting of blood and fever and such. It is also associated with immunosuppression, ie in HIV infection or when on organ transplant medication to name a few. In all, no convincing case for an infection. Lastly, I find this plea for help via the Internet rather odd. One might imagine that a well-educated person like mr. Volkerding should be able to find his way to proper medical care. The consistent failure of several doctors using pretty advanced technology to find any clear abnormality combined with the absence of typical symptoms suggests to me that mr Volkerding may not suffer from any physical abnormality at present.
Nice DYI stuff but it's a really big contraption isn't it? Our living room for instance is crammed with stuff including computers and toys. And while wall projection for us would be perfect (we have white walls in the living room) I don't think I would put up with such a HUGE projector. Might as well buy a nice and small Dell projector or some such. Costs more but the space savings more than make up for that IMHO (also ditched my hifi installation in favor of an iPod - small is beautiful:) ).
What you heard is that the specific impulse is way larger than with chemical, meaning that the exhaust velocity is very high. That means that you have a very efficient means of propulsion, with each particle of exhaust producing more thrust/particle than chemical rockets do. The exhaust being a tenuous gas however, the actual THRUST is very low (and the thrust/weight ratio even more so). Because it works in the vacuum of space and can run for years on end, the eventual velocity that this low thrust can impart on the craft is pretty impressive.
But it still will not give me what I need. And I think many others out there have the same needs (yeah mod me redundant for saying it again:)):
- WORKING ACPI support (it's a laptop, right?);
- Most importantly: a decent reference manager.
Lots of potential Linux users are scientists and they may even make up some really critical mass. But as long as we science types all have to use Lyx and LaTeX to handle bibkiographies (and yes, I know about sixpack and pybliographer - I tried everything to get them running on three different *NIX platforms but no go - maybe I'm stupid but I gave up for lack of time), instead of just grabbing EndNote for Linux and use it to insert references into OpenOffice we're not going to use Linux (or any other OSS OS) on a daily basis. Science these days is about content creation as much as anything else and in my experience OSS isn't very good about that yet. And Lord knows I tried. And don't tell me I have to use a Mac then. I USE a mac every day (PB G4 w/ 1GB RAM) and its performance is piss-poor when browsing and opening pdf's and the like, which is what I do all day. Windows is way faster at those tasks on comparable machines. Having Linux certified laptops is a decent first step, but it will not do for those who really need their laptops for actual work - see the above. Until that time comes I'm going to get me a really fat Voodoo laptop with XP to write my papers and make my figures (yes, I'm disappointed with the Mac's performance. I hate to switch but speed is everything these days).
Come on, with modern fiber technology we could do better than that. We could at least have the wiring integrated into the fabric, so you could just plug in all of your gadgets in a few handy sockets sewn into the pockets. And while we're at it, why no Bluetooth and 802.11 b/g integrated? It could even be washable. After all, clothing such as that is already being prototyped (here). I don't think that there is a market for the stuff that is being plugged here. I myself am decked out with electronics every day and I would only exchange my current solution (belt clips and doctor's smock with lots of pockets) for true wearable electronics.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks for the answer - I don't have an answer for the length of body hair, but I can answer for the length of scalp hair. Maybe you meant that. It's determined mostly by the length of the anagen phase and that, in turn, is determined by a protein called FGF5 (Fibroblast Growth Factor 5). If you don't have it, you have a really long anagen phase and long curly hair. The angora mutation in mice and cats is actually an fgf5 mutation. So, if you want really long hair, you need to get rid of FGF5.
See all of the above. As a geneticist, I'm actually an avid proponent of genetic engineering. Hell, we should engineer anything we can get our hands on as long as it is for something that we can profit from: plants producing enzymes that cure otherwise incurable disorders, plants that do not need pesticides, animals that carry humanized organs... People who fear genetic engineering do so out of ignorance mostly. They do not realize that our efforts are piss-poor compared to what Nature is doing to all genetic material of all living organisms every day.
That said, I do not believe for a single second that genetic engineering will reach the home owner any time soon. Having to do something in the garden can actually be enjoyable, you know. But seriously, however useful it may be, you can betcher sweet *ss that green activists (Greenpeace comes to mind) will sow such fear and hate that GE organisms will not be available for common use for a long time to come. Who do you think came up with the term "Frankenfood"? Go tell to the poor kids who eat Golden Rice that genetic engineering is bad. And, to any fanatic who might be reading this post, before you embark on yet another hate-trip, please check here for a well-balanced discussion of the issue. Hunger is caused in large part by issues other than innate defects in Nature's gifts, but many of those are issues that are not going to be solved any time soon. You can be fundamentalistic about this or you can be realistic. Poor people loose in the first case.
The egg contains mitochondria, and, indeed, some motor neuron diseases are indirectly linked to mitochondrial dysfunction. If bad mitochondria cause the disease, problem solved, as the mitochondria are not from the person with MND. However, most motor neuron diseases that we know of and are connected to mitochondrial dysfunction are actually caused by problems in nuclear genes - case in point being amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (aka Lou Gehrig's disease), which is related to mutations in superoxide dismutase. The dysfunctioning of this protein in turn affects mitochondrial function leading to increased apoptosis, etc.. Apart from that, tackling degenerative disease using stem cells is probably not going to work in many cases - many of those diseases may not be caused by cell-autonomous processes, which means that whatever is killing the motor neurons is going to kill the stem cells as well. Stem cells may however be very useful for repopulating purposes, if we can get them to differentiate in the right way in the right place.
That would be : "Scharf stinkende Pumascheisse" for something really untoward happening :)
Now we know that slashdot is frequented by hordes and hordes of closet mac lovers. That will be some coming out when all the Linux geeks here finally come out of the closet and get a nice, shiny, cuddly mac mini :) I think they will succeed in /.-ing Apple's web site - which would be a first in Internet history methinks.
Something else - is there something similar available for the iMac's first introduction, or for the NeXT cube? I would like to have those.
I quote from a most informative pdf (get it here):
"A tin whisker is a single crystal of tin that grows spontaneously from a surface a pure tin. They are typically only a few microns (?m) in diameter but can grow to lengths of more than 10 mm (though lengths on the order of 1 mm are far more common) [NIST Website, 2002]. Tin whisker growth is spontaneous, not relying on external influences of current or electrolytic action, more commonly associated with mechanisms like "dendritic" growth, conductive filament formation and electromigration. While early studies believed that tin recrystallization (which occurs at 50 deg C) played some role in whisker formation, recent studies have reported as much, if not greater, propensity for whisker formation at temperatures as low as room temperature [NASA Web Site, 2002].(....)Conventional wisdom attributes tin whiskering to internal stresses in the pure tin layer, with a primary source being the compressive stresses caused by electroplating. However, tin whiskers have also been reported from surfaces where tin has been applied by methods other than electroplating. In the presence of compressive stress, whiskers are extruded over time, as a stress release mechanism. Many factors may contribute to the stress in the plating, including intermetallic formation, thermal expansion mismatches, corrosion of the substrate, and externally applied forces such as bending, lead forming and application of pressure. Defects such as scratches and nicks have been reported to magnify the effects by causing local stress concentrations and possibly providing openings in any protective surface oxide layers. In fact, these external factors may cause whiskering in samples that may otherwise be resistant to the phenomenon. For example, tin whiskers have been observed to form on tin finished surfaces that had been exposed to hot oil dip to fuse the tin (a known mitigating process) [Cunningham and Donahue, 1990]. Adding a trace amount of another element (i.e. Pb or Bi) has been shown to reduce the tendency of plating to grow whiskers."
Good point indeed but you misunderstood. DNA inside the cell IS changing all of the time although changes to its chemistry are being repaired all the time. Telomere change is something else, that happens at cell division. Higher-order structure, like folding, also changes. What the parent meant is that DNA, when taken out of the cell, is very very stable with most of its primary and secondary structure remaining intact over a long long time (see extraction from Neanderthal bones). However, the point of using DNA as a scaffold for the assembly of information is not in its stability per se. It's in its ability, per its repetitive structure with lots of nice modifiable side chains available, to direct assembly of other molecules. This is what is meant, methinks.
The operative word here being "presumably". Since we have no matter renderers or holographic projectors yet, I fail to see how he can sell any virtual procurements of his interesting mutant-infested island for real dollars that he can use in his real life. Unless, of course, he already sold that one. "Hi, since I have no real life anyway, I'm selling mine to the highest bidder. I'm off to my Nirvana". Puhlease....
... but naive.. Come on, what were you smoking? Of course the benchmarks/testing/what have you will be done in such a way as to out the product to be sold in the best possible position. Your question is naive. Even us scientists do this when providing paper plans for our bosses. We paint the best possible picture, do serious window-dressing and interpret our results in the most optimistic manner compatible with science. If you think that an advertising campaign will feature objective (if such a thing exists in benchmarking) performance comparison, you really need to get a reality check. Or, if your conscience is giving you problems, find a profession that doesn't require a conscience. I hear that law is rather profitable these days.
I'd like this in my home wireless network, please. And used by Apple in a nice streaming solution for video, so I can stream everything from my home server to my tv. I only use my phone for SMS and making phone calls, so I don't need this on the go. But for home multimedia, well, this really opens up nice possibilities!
And if you RTFP you would have noticed that I said "IF he is convicted...". I never said he was.
I think that Steve is not intending to pay anything. If the guy is indeed convicted of cybersquatting, he won't get a small fee. He will get nothing at all. If I were him, I would have tried to settle this a long time ago. Although in that case, Steve would have probably sued my ass anyway :)
It's an interesting approach that should be extended to other languages than English. Most of the world's history is not about the US and it has certainly not been written down in English. What I would really like to have is a similar tool that can search, say, Greek, or Latin, (or whatever) handwritten text. Imagine being able to query Ovid for an item of interest without having to consult everything he's written. I can imagine that this might encourage people to study the classics (a pet peeve of mine is that many people lack historical sense...) and it would certainly facilitate research in this area.
If you can put the queries in English, with the search engine taking care of translation, it would be even better. Then, extended historical study comes within everyone's reach and the classical studies (or humaniora) might be transformed.
Well, it's not that simple actually. Thinking "harder" does not necessarily cause more brain activity in any kind of linear relation. Rather, what you see in the case of lying is specific activity in the areas of the brain that are involved in the regulation of the emotional response, including ones (such as the amygdala) involved in fear and planning (prefrontal cortex). Lying lights up these areas because the liar fears being found out, which involves a kind of "planning" and an emotional response following from it. Could be useful for lie detection, if you get the scanner down to a manageable size :)
I second this. See my previous posts in this regard. A mitral valve prolapse in itself in unspecific. However, some signs noted here (and there I politely disagree with the parent post) MAY point in the direction of bacterial endocarditis. One can have that without elevated ESR. CRP should be elevated too. The way to diagnose this is cardiac ultrasound and multiple blood cultures taken when running a fever of more than 38.5 deg centigrade. That said, I agree with the parent in the red flag department. The self-diagnosis and doctor-hopping don't help. As noted in the previous Patrick Volkerding thread, he should stick with one doctor and let him/her check things out. If no abnormalities are found, the chance of there being a new rare disease is small. I know, because I have indentified several rare "new" diseases myself. Take my word for it: that is non-trivial and requires much double- and triple-checking. I'm worried, too. Meanwhile, my best wishes for a speedy resolution.
Well, you can probably just run it on ordinary lighter fluid or other combustibles. It doesn't need to be fossil fuel you know. And your current batteries are charged with electricity generated using fossil fuel, or nuclear. I think the real advantage here will be size and weight. If the turbine problem is solved it might be possible to have many of those mini generators in one small package, generating as much power as a big battery. And, refueling is faster than recharging. For mobile use it's also much easier.
Well, if the peripheral is cool enough, the OS/hardware may not be that important. Ease of use and coolness factor count for a lot in the choice of gadget, you know. I do know for myself that the iApps (mostly iTunes these days, Picasa is quite good) are keeping me on the Mac. Although I wonder if the opposite happens: people who "defect" to Windows because iTunes/iPod also work with Windows and you can buy a hell of a lot more hardware four your dollar/euro in Intel/AMD land than in Applistan (example in point: my powerbook costs 3500 euro. I can buy a fully decked out Hypersonic EX7 for that amount of cash....). Anyone??
OK. I now read the rest of his letter. Didn't come through in the first go. It doesn't make things any better. Worse, really. While commendable, the googling is not helpful at all. His MD apparently believes in the presence of actinomyces WITHOUT culturing and is content with it being specified as israelii without grounds. Then, he gets prednisone (my guess would be to reduce dyspnea) after having started antibiotic treatment: -without culture -with a narrow spectrum antibiotic' -to which many micro organisms are resistant. Sloppy. If the antibiotics do not help the pred will make things worse. As stated in other posts (including by me) mr Volkerding needs to seek COMPETENT help and stop f*ckin around trying to doctor himself and going to people of questionable skill.
You're correct in assuming that prednisone is not something you want to give if suspecting an infection. As always, there are exceptions but in this case it seems like it is not a good idea. Mr Volkerding should go and have his complaints evaluated systematically by a good internist or perhaps lung specialist. And, as noted by other posters, stick with this doctor instead of re-iterating the process after premature termination every time. You get zombie processes this way and will end up one yourself.
Yes, I did read his story. If you read my comment you should have noted that. Please be aware that all is interpretation here. What is meant by "plaque"? Dental plaque? The kind of plaque that hangs over doors? Plaque is only a descriptive term in dermatology, elsewhere it is a diagnosis or an interpretation. Either way, not something I can handle in this context. "Sulfur nodules", again, is interpretation by Mr Volkerding himself. That he calls them that way does not mean that he is coughing balls of some kind of actinomyces (you do know that there are many different subspecies?). He may as well be coughing hair balls for all I know. A popping and draining feeling does not mean that something (an abcess?) has really drained. If you have abcesses in your lungs you ain't driving I can tell you. Hard to value, this one. Like I said - insufficient data to make a real diagnosis. And, like you said, he should go see a real good doctor and work things out.
As a qualified /. MD I can tell you that this is an oddnstory. Now, where the actinomyces bit comes from is a mystery because his letter doesn't mention it. The complaints he lists are not typical of anything but the consistently normal results of CT/Thorax and lab (the deviations he lists are not significant) suggest that some of it may be more mental than anything else. That said, some complaints can be consistent with a diagnosis of pleuritis/pericarditis or even pulmonary embolism. However, the additional investigations should have uncovered this. An infection is not very likely all considered. Why was nothing cultured? If Volkerding is expectorating, stuff can be cultured. Apparently no such material was available. In extremis, direct puncture of suspicious lesions can provide material for culture or PCR.
Actinomyces species, to name one cause of infection that seems to be relevant to this discussion, causes lung abcesses that lead to spitting of blood and fever and such. It is also associated with immunosuppression, ie in HIV infection or when on organ transplant medication to name a few. In all, no convincing case for an infection.
Lastly, I find this plea for help via the Internet rather odd. One might imagine that a well-educated person like mr. Volkerding should be able to find his way to proper medical care. The consistent failure of several doctors using pretty advanced technology to find any clear abnormality combined with the absence of typical symptoms suggests to me that mr Volkerding may not suffer from any physical abnormality at present.
Nice DYI stuff but it's a really big contraption isn't it? Our living room for instance is crammed with stuff including computers and toys. And while wall projection for us would be perfect (we have white walls in the living room) I don't think I would put up with such a HUGE projector. Might as well buy a nice and small Dell projector or some such. Costs more but the space savings more than make up for that IMHO (also ditched my hifi installation in favor of an iPod - small is beautiful :) ).
What you heard is that the specific impulse is way larger than with chemical, meaning that the exhaust velocity is very high. That means that you have a very efficient means of propulsion, with each particle of exhaust producing more thrust/particle than chemical rockets do. The exhaust being a tenuous gas however, the actual THRUST is very low (and the thrust/weight ratio even more so). Because it works in the vacuum of space and can run for years on end, the eventual velocity that this low thrust can impart on the craft is pretty impressive.
But it still will not give me what I need. And I think many others out there have the same needs (yeah mod me redundant for saying it again :)):
- WORKING ACPI support (it's a laptop, right?);
- Most importantly: a decent reference manager.
Lots of potential Linux users are scientists and they may even make up some really critical mass. But as long as we science types all have to use Lyx and LaTeX to handle bibkiographies (and yes, I know about sixpack and pybliographer - I tried everything to get them running on three different *NIX platforms but no go - maybe I'm stupid but I gave up for lack of time), instead of just grabbing EndNote for Linux and use it to insert references into OpenOffice we're not going to use Linux (or any other OSS OS) on a daily basis. Science these days is about content creation as much as anything else and in my experience OSS isn't very good about that yet. And Lord knows I tried. And don't tell me I have to use a Mac then. I USE a mac every day (PB G4 w/ 1GB RAM) and its performance is piss-poor when browsing and opening pdf's and the like, which is what I do all day. Windows is way faster at those tasks on comparable machines. Having Linux certified laptops is a decent first step, but it will not do for those who really need their laptops for actual work - see the above. Until that time comes I'm going to get me a really fat Voodoo laptop with XP to write my papers and make my figures (yes, I'm disappointed with the Mac's performance. I hate to switch but speed is everything these days).
Come on, with modern fiber technology we could do better than that. We could at least have the wiring integrated into the fabric, so you could just plug in all of your gadgets in a few handy sockets sewn into the pockets. And while we're at it, why no Bluetooth and 802.11 b/g integrated? It could even be washable. After all, clothing such as that is already being prototyped (here). I don't think that there is a market for the stuff that is being plugged here. I myself am decked out with electronics every day and I would only exchange my current solution (belt clips and doctor's smock with lots of pockets) for true wearable electronics.