So to start this update let me quote our favourite book of the moment The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski ldquoOur subject is Rwanda. It is a small country so small that in certain maps of Africa it is marked with only a dot. You must use the accompanying explanatory notes to discover that this dot indicates Rwanda.rdquo It is fair to say that Rwanda is a very tiny country
Monthly Archives: February 2010
The Man from Jerusalem
I just met a man. He sets up shop in Gammeltorv the square just down the street and sells jewelry and hats. I hadn't planned on chatting I just wanted to buy an earring. As I wandered up to his stand he said Hello if you need help with something tell me I'll help you. Are you FrenchNo I'm Canadian. I know this is a lie but sometimes I lie about being from Canada. Occassionally esp
Besuch
a paar fotos vom besuch
Looking forward to departing on the 24th
Looking forward to arriving in Beijing on the 25th
humpridge track
the humpridge track is a 3 day 53km track that was planned and built by the community of tuatapere. a pretty incredible endeavour for a total population of 700. it was completed in 2001 and is run by a community trust. all of the fees for the track go into this trust which maintains the track and also supports community interests such as the hospital where jeff is workingthe track is a loop
Puerto Princesa
Caught a flight from Cebu to Puerto Princesa in Palawan the Western most Island of the Philippines. First thing I noticed was how clean the City is but also very full of visitors so had to walk around the city for a few hours to find somewhere nice to stay. Found great guesthouse overlooking the bay fabulous views Took a banca out to Honda Bay and visited few Islands. Pandan Island was amazing
Kumbha Mela
La Kumbh MelaLe plus vaste plrinage religieux et disonsle le plus grand rassemblement humain qui existe sur terre. Un vnement unique en son genre qui n'arrive que tous les 12 ans .C'est l'alignement de la lune de la terre et de jupiter qui dicte le moment de cette runion mystique qui prend place 4 endroits correspondant aux lieux o selon la mythologie les gouttes de nectar d'immortal
Final day in Cairns onto Sydney
As we are due to fly to Sydney later on this evening we checked out of the hostel at 10am and spent the morning relaxing before catching the shuttle bus to the airport at 3.30pm.6pm the flight to Sydney was mostly smooth a few bouts of turbulence We were on board one of Virgin Blues newest planes it looked tiny from the outside very deceiving It was quite strange knowing we were due to loo
The Usefulness of the French and other curious behavior
Tuesday 012610We had booked two different tours for this day through the same agent. The first was an 830100 tour by boat to a whisky making village and the Pak Ou caves famous for their many Buddha statues. The second was a 130500 tour by minivan to the Kuang Si waterfall and another local village. We knew booking the two tours might be cutting it fine but we figured since it was throug
Living in Laos
Greetings from LaosSo we were supposed to travel to Luang Prabang via slow boat down the Mekong. Unfortunately something about dry season meant the boats might not have made it down the Mekong and some kids in our group were squeamish about stuck on the river over night. So we had to bus. And by bus I mean van. For 13 hours. It sucked. So hard. Probably the worst experience in a vehicle ever. Alt
Chinese New Year Celebrations
Today was a very strange day we went our separate ways for a couple of hours and met up later in the afternoon for the Chinese New Year Celebration.We looked around the craft fair markets etc and discovered Rob was born in the year of the Tiger and I was born the year of the Ox. What was more scary was how alike we are to the suggested traitsThe Ox HonestLoyal Popular Sincere and Reliable
Nambia Cheetah Park
Cheetah FarmTuesday 9th FebruaryCheetah Park is about 350 km from Spitzkoppe so we spend a lot of the day driving there. We make one stop at the town of Brandberg to pick up supplies where we lose Miro for a while when he shows a passing interest in some of the shiny stones the local boys are selling and is mobbed. Cheetah FarmCheetah Farm is a privately owned cheetah reserve based on a 15km2
The 5 year old Melisandre all grown up
The 5 year old Melisandre all grown upThe morning after the little one went to sleep. I went out for a run after all I do have legs. Yoursquod be surprised at the looks you get when yoursquore as white as I am tall as I am wearing shorts and an MP3 player and can run faster then the Tuk Tuks are driving. I think in total I woke Melisandre up four times this morning. All of which she quick
Bedridden in Bundi
ldquoNo no you canrsquot go outside now. Your fever is hot and your blood is very warm. Irsquove given you medicine for pain and you must sleep now. Irsquom sorryrdquo said Mama the owner of the 250 year old guest house in Bundi that I was staying in. During the bus ride from Kota to Bundi Irsquod started feeling weak and within an hour could tell that I was definitely coming
Attacked by a 5 year old and panicked
When you wake up in a panic sweating and trying franticly to find air you might think yoursquore having a heart attack. In my case you are wondering what the fuck happened to you why yoursquore laying in bed and where is your friend I decided to take a nap tonight instead of going out at 9 to start my regular bar experience. Tonight however is different. Irsquove been in Sihanoukville f
Tigerless Woods
The alarm went off at 5am and I dragged myself down the stairs and into the restaurant for some Indian style breakfast and tea. Camera glasses and the warmest amount of clothing layers I could muster in tow our 20seater cantor arrived at 645am to take us deep into the scrub forest of Ranthambore National Park for our tiger safari. There was only one problem I wasnrsquot actually there
Perry challenges the Feds yet again, EPA Regs on Greenhouse Gases
The State of Texas is now officially battling the Federal Government over regulation of greenhouse gases. Attorney General Greg Abbott filed suit in federal court to prevent the EPA from implementing proposed regulations.
From the Statesman.com:
Gov. Rick Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott are trying to get the federal Environmental Protection Agency to back away from a finding last year that greenhouse gases are a threat to public health. The finding sets the stage for regulation of the gases, which scientists have linked to global warming.
The Texas officials say curbs on greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide could cost state businesses and homeowners and jeopardize jobs. Texas leads the nation in carbon emissions. And they argued that the EPA had based its finding on faulty science.
The move is being meant with universal condemnation from leftwing bloggers, environmentalists and special interest groups.
But Texas libertarians and conservatives are cheering Gov. Perry and AG Abbott.
“Hats off to Governor Perry, Attorney General Abbott and Commissioner Staples for taking this step – they are protecting citizens by challenging this rogue agency’s actions which do not fall within the EPA’s jurisdiction,” said AFP State Director Peggy Venable . “This is regulation without representation and represents an end-run around Congress.”
Tom McClintock says no to Congressional earmarks for home district
"Stubborn ideology" getting in the way of local pork
Even local Republican county officials are a little upset at their new Congressman's latest move. Libertarian Reublican Rep. Tom McClintock has said forcefully, he has no plans to seek special earmarks for his District outside normal budgetary requests.
From the SacBee, "McClintock's refusal to accept earmarks hurts district, critics say" Feb. 8:
As the federal budget season heats up, some Placer County officials are grumbling that Republican Rep. Tom McClintock's ideological opposition to congressional earmarks puts their constituents at a disadvantage.
"It's already hurt us," Supervisor F.C. "Rocky" Rockholm said in a recent interview.
McClintock said he will not seek congressional earmarks – budget requests made outside of the budget process.
"I've made it very clear that I will fight for our district through the normal appropriations process," he said.
Principled but "extreme"
In an editorial, the SacBee opined:
Rep. Tom McClintock, a Republican who represents the congressional district that stretches from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe and from the Sierra Nevada to the Oregon border, has been nothing if not consistent on earmarks. These are funds that members of Congress request for specific projects. McClintock signed a "no earmarks" pledge in 2008, and he has kept to that.
But rather than reform the process, he would prohibit all earmarking. This is extreme. Local members of Congress know their communities better than anyone else in the nation' capital; they are best positioned to request federal projects (such as flood control, roads, wastewater treatment, research facilities, etc.).
Republicans pick up another point in Generic Congressional match-up
Just Released...
Rasmussen is reporting that the GOP has gained a point in the generic congressional match-up survey.
Republican candidates lead Democrats by nine points in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot.
The new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 45% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 36% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent. Voter support for GOP congressional candidates is up one point from last week, while support for Democrats held steady.
9p21…..ahem. Paynter et.al. Smackdown. Again.
Yeah, yeah, yeah........common variants don't work for heart disease.......We got it.
Rare variants matter more........
What we have here is a study on 101 SNPs and the association with heart disease followed OVER 12 years. This is precisely what I have been asking for from the dawn of these DTC SNP companies. I remember when all the wonks kept saying, well, we know just ONE snp is not that important as a predictor, but when we have panels of 100 SNPs, we will have the best predictive tools out there.......
In fact, deCode bet their livelihood on it as a diagnostics company.....This has to be the winning strategy, right?
Wrong.
That is the assessment of the current state from this Paynter paper, which IMHO was well written and was a likely outcome after the paper Paynter published in May 2009 which said that when you add 9p21 SNPs to current risk stratification models it added essentially nothing.
I do respect Dr. Topol highly, but I think to defend SNPs in CV disease like the recent rare variant in Obesity might be a bit premature.......
We have such robust models for assessing CVD risk, why not focus on things we do not have tools for assessing.
Every day we take family histories of all of our patients. We have hundreds of pedigrees. Non statistically I can tell you, if your parents were fat, had HTN, had AD, etc....there is an increased likelihood of your risk.......REGARDLESS of what some SNP scan says.
If you really want to make this tool useful, then use it for something useful and quit trying to make it fit in every hole!
The Sherpa Says: Face it, to get real personalized medicine we need pedigree studies. Tons and Tons of pedigree studies with candidate rare variants. And a set of "normals"
That costs big money, I get it. Now do you Francis?
