Daily Archives: August 23, 2016

Memetics and Infohazards Division Orientation – SCP Foundation

Posted: August 23, 2016 at 9:26 am

Alright everybody, welcome to the orientation for the memetics and infohazards division. Now this is a full week of training, and a long day so be sure to get some coffee or a donut, because we won't have time to go get food until lunch.

I'm Junior Researcher Zack Ekshun, and, I, ah, yes? A question like 'How am I perceiving this message from that very handsome man saying other words?' or 'Whose voice does this sound like in my head?' But those are not the most important questions right now.Question?

Why aren't I having any coffee or donuts? Heh, looks like we have at least one veteran of the reality benders orientation. Well to put your mind at ease, why don't you get me some coffee and a donut or two. Usually I take it black, but add some milk and sugar just to cover all the bases. Hey sprinkles! Nice.

Now, you're right to be suspicious. You get lied to a lot at the Foundation. Little things like 'We only put tracking chips in D-class', 'This will be the first time you receive amnestics' and the location of the site you're currently sitting in.

Some of you. But today, I'm going to be completely honest with you.

Which gets us to the important part, you don't have to worry about us secretly feeding you drugs. We will be very openly feeding you lots of powerful hallucinogens.

The reason we're not bothering to hide it is because, like most infohazards, our psychedelic testing regimen works whether or not you know about it ahead of time. The reason we're making you trip balls is that we need to make sure you can handle your shit regardless of what your brain thinks is going on.

It doesn't matter if the walls are melting and cats with your grandmothers' face are telling you the secret history of the world. You write your reports, conduct tests and follow the containment procedures. You document everything the grandma cats tell you and ride it out until you punch out. Most of the time. What's in your head can't hurt you unless you let it.

To work with infohazards you need to notice when things don't make sense, and this is the important part, respond accordingly. Do you suddenly have a spouse you didn't this morning? Well, maybe you shouldn't consummate that relationship. Were you always a worshipper of the omnidimensional blood gods you're thinking about building a shrine to? Maybe instead you should talk to your supervisor, because we sure don't need another prophet to Welcome.

Hey! That got everybody's attention. Yeah, part of what you'll learn is how not to say things. Did you know that Hi% of redacted information is memetic censoring? It's written there as clear as day, if you have the clearance and counterprogramming. Want to know how it's done?

Well first Welcome to the real orientation. If you can perceive this then you'll be working with us in the real Memetics and Infohazards Division. It should come as no surprise to you that there are many layers to our Division. Everyone else nodding out right now are just the cover. They will be playing an important role in misdirection and counterintelligence as well as handling all the busywork. Misdirection is basic info manipulation. Everyone worried about drugs or their suppository tracking devices misses the important stuff. You get to do the real work, and it takes more than just a week to get you to that level. This week will provide the basics the others get, with the real preparatory seminars transmitted through a variety of unconventional channels. The testing has already begun to see who can pick up all of it. The full spectrum of information all around us is invisible to the sleepwalkers drooling next to you. You all carry some form of the Sorry gene which is present in .NO% of the population, which the Foundation screens for. While you can perceive this you also have an increased risk for schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder. But don't worry! If you've made it this far you have a much higher likelihood of being driven mad by your work material than your genetic makeup. The number of informational channels you can perceive determines your rank and assignments. The other good news is your training and conditioning will minimize the likelihood of either occurring. We have discovered through trial and error how to protect our minds against very dangerous hazards. The many division members who retired to psychiatric wards are a testament to that. You will learn to lucid dream, which is where much of your practice will take place. You will undergo intensive psychological testing to make sure you do not join our alumni. You will practice meditation until you achieve the level of Zen master and float above your superfluous programming completely. You will be taught the akashic scripts and meta-languages which bypass the frontal cortex and tap directly into the primal drives. If you make it to the upper echelons you'll learn manipulation commands like kill words, after a few minor surgeries to your trachea. We will let you know when you are ready. The pioneers who discovered the safe procedures for containing lethal infohazards in your mind never got a chance to retire. But even if you can detect individual phomemes you are still a green as grass rookie. Not only will you be able to work with cognitohazard and memetic SCPs you will help to develop the neurocognitive counter-programming and anti-memes that will shield you, your colleagues, and society from the gibbering madness lurking in containment. You will make the Foundation, safer, saner, productive, and unquestioning in their commitment. You will bend the archetypes from our collective unconscious to your will to secure, contain, and protect us all. Welcome again, and congratulations. [REDACTED]

Alllright everybody back? Yup, for those of you not keeping track that was almost an hour you aren't going to remember until you earn it. Exactly none of you have the training or clearance to know any of that. Yet.

We're going to teach you to walk through fire, feel like your brain is melting out of your ears and still keep going. We will put your minds in the forge and hammer at them until they are stronger than steel. Mind affecting and weird psychic SCPs will slide off you, and information based containment breaches will be just another day at the office.

Deeper Ad Infinitum- The repetitive nature of complimenting your attention to detail and knowledge of the myriad means of hiding information is becoming redundant. You will still receive instruction, but and undetected up until now. Clever you.clearly you have already been conducting your own training regimen.

Well played.

You've earned a little more candor. The genetic explanation for who can expand their senses to perceive the hidden full spectrum of information is untrue as far as we can ascertain. We do not know why some people are attuned to and can reshape the deeper orders of information. We do not yet understand the mechanisms of the majority of SCPs. Hence anomalousThe reality benders should not be able to do anything they do, and they still do it, even when we tell them not to. Except the ones who do as they are told..

We have many layers to protect both the Foundation and ourselves. There is no good that can come from the suggestion that the collective minds of our division is an SCP in and of itself. This has been suggested, but has been Auto-amnestic conditioning is much more efficient than the pharmacological option.dealt with. We have a presence at the top tier with Division founder O5-NO. We also have several site directors with varying degrees of awareness they are ours.

We are telling you this so that you know you are valued and will be protected. We are telling you this so you will STOP what you are planning. Right. Now.

We know you have been planning how to get fast tracked for promotion to a director position. Planning to use the information based SCPs in ways the sleepwalkers can't conceive. Planning to program select people's neural schemas to satisfy your whims. You need to forget all of that. NOW.

This is the one thing you should NEVER question.Trust us. By yourself you will inevitably endanger yourself, the Foundation, and our Division. We have done it all better than you could ever hope to. We will teach you how to correctly maximize your potential. We need fellow travelers, not megalomaniacal lone wolves. We Won'tcan't program you not to, Right now. It is much better for all involved that you join willingly. so we are asking nicely. Please, kindly do NOT fuck with us.

We'll be in touch.

How well you can handle your shit is an important component of training, and there will be pharmacological hallucinatory tutorials just for you. Have fun in the desert with the lizard king.Because it is chock full of drugsIt's also pretty funny watching you rooks spaz out..

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Memetics and Infohazards Division Orientation - SCP Foundation

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Granville Sharp (1735-1813) The Civil Servant, Abolition …

Posted: at 9:24 am

Granville Sharp was a civil servant and political reformer. He was one of the 12 men who, in 1787, formed the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade and was the first chairman of the Society. His interest in the issue, however, went back much further.

At a time when most abolitionists argued that the Slave Trade was wrong because of the terrible conditions in whichenslaved peoplewere kept, he (along with Anthony Benezet) went further, arguing that the very nature of slavery itself was evil.

He also used his skills to fight a series of legal battles to preventenslaved peoplebeing taken out of England by force. Many black people resisted enlavement and many escaped from their owners'. However, whether they had escaped, been abandonedor had always been free, they were in constant danger of capture or recapture by slave-hunters'.

In 1767,Granville Sharp and his brother William (a surgeon) helped a badly injured man, Jonathan Strong, whohad been brought to London from Barbados by a plantation owner named David Lisle. Strong had been thrown onto the streets after being beaten about the head with a pistol. He was so badly injured that he was nearly blind and he could hardly walk. They took him to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. After he regained his health, they helped him to find work as a messenger.

Quite by chance, the man that had assaulted him, saw him and, without capturing him, sold him for 30 to a Jamaican planter. Two slave hunters kidnapped and imprisoned Strong while they waited for a ship to take him to the Caribbean. Strong enlisted Granville Sharp's help. Sharp demanded that Strong be taken before the Lord Mayor, who declared him a free man.

In 1769, Sharp published his findings in a pamphlet: 'A representation of the injustice and dangerous tendency of tolerating slavery in England'. Sharp devoted himself to fighting the notion that an enslaved personremained, in law, the property of his master, even on English soil. He did this both by his writings and in the courts of law.

He became the leading defender ofAfrican people in London and saved manyAfrican people from being sent back to slavery in the West Indies, often at his own expense. In 1771 a slave, James Somerset, who had been brought from Jamaica to Britain, ran away. He was recaptured and put on a ship bound for Jamaica. Sharp intervened and put the case before Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice of England. Sharp hoped this case would finally settle whether it was lawful to hold people as slaves in England and Wales. After many months of legal argument, Mansfield finally decided that a master had no right to force an enslaved person to return to a foreign country. Somerset was freed.

Although this judgment did not actually state that slavery was illegal in England, it laid down the important notion that an enslaved personcould not be forcibly removed fromEngland. London's African community celebrated this important victory; they had followed the case closely and made sure that there was always an Africandelegation in court.

Sharp was also involved in other legal cases, such as the slave ship Zong(seeThe Middle Passage).Cases such as this help to raise public awareness of the horrors of slavery and started to turn public opinion against the slave trade. In May 1787, he joined with Thomas Clarkson and nine Quakers, to form the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade and continued to work for abolition until the act was passed in 1807. However, Granville Sharp was not to see the final abolition of slavery in the British Colonies, as he died on 6th July, 1813.

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Is Atheism a Worldview ? – Common Sense Atheism

Posted: at 9:23 am

Quick note: I gave a brief interview at Fallen and Flawed.

Clearly, atheism is not a religion, but there has been much talk in the comments about whether or not atheism is a worldview.

So, lets check the definitions of atheism and of worldview and see if one might be a species of the other.

atheism disbelief in the existence of a god or gods

worldview1. a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world 2. a collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group

I do not see how atheism can be a worldview.

I have compared atheism to a-unicornism: disbelief in the existence of unicorns. How is a-unicornism a worldview? Its not. Atheism and a-unicornism are each a single belief about one thing. Neither of these positions tell you anything else about the person who holds them: their morals values, their political views, their driving purpose, their explanations for life or the universe, their beliefs about magic or ghosts or elves, their rationality or their intelligence.

But, Bobmo wrote:

In other words, if there is no God, then x must be true (e.g. matter is eternal, or a multiverse exists; there is no absolute morality, etc.) The same cannot be said for A-unicornism, since the non-existence of unicorns carries no serious implications.

I deny that atheism has such implications. None of Bobmos examples follow from the non-existence of gods. They may be true, but they are not entailed by atheism. As toweltowel replied: Supposing that theism implies p, and that atheism is the denial of theism, it obviously does not follow that atheism implies [not-p].

Neither an atheist nor an a-unicornist must believe in eternal matter, a multiverse, or moral relativism. And in fact, Id bet millions of them dont.

Adiel Corchado has another try:

The difference between atheism and [a-unicornism] is that unicorns provide no answers to why the world exists, why we exist, whether morality is objective or subjective, what happens after you die, etc. If unicorns dont exist that changes nothing. If unicorns do exist that changes nothing. Gods existence or non-existence on the other hand changes everything.

I have never seen a definition of worldview that uses Adiels criteria for something being a worldview. Both bare atheism and bare theism have no answers to why the world exists, why the world exists, whether morality is objective or subjective, or what happens after you die. For you to start answering those questions you have to adopt a worldview, like a particular brand of worldview naturalism or Christianity or extropianism.

Yes, even theism in the bare sense that is the opposite of atheism is not a worldview. Like atheism, theism is a single belief about one thing: the existence of a god or gods.

What else is entailed by belief in a god or gods? Absolute morality? The origins of life or the universe? The afterlife? The purpose of life? None of these things are entailed by theism, not even the origins of the universe. Not all gods are thought to be eternal, or creative. And not all theistic religions think that the gods can explain the origins of the universe, for example many varieties of Buddhism.

Atheism is the mere opposite of theism, and neither of these entail a long list of beliefs like a worldview does.

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The Shadow Brokers’ NSA hack is extremely weird – Business …

Posted: at 9:21 am

National Security Agency

Earlier this week, a group calling itself the "Shadow Brokers" announced that it was selling a number of cyber weapons auction-style that it claimed were hacked and stolen from an alleged NSA hacking group dubbed "The Equation Group."

Beside the fact that the National Security Agency getting hacked is eyebrow-raising in itself, the leak of the data and the claim from this mystery group that it's just trying to make money doesn't seem to add up.

Here's why.

According to ex-NSA insiders who spoke with Business Insider, the agency's hackers don't just put their exploits and toolkits online where they can potentially be pilfered. The more likely scenario for where the data came from, says ex-NSA research scientist Dave Aitel, is an insider who downloaded it onto a USB stick.

Instead of a "hack," Aitel believes, it's much more likely that this was a more classic spy operation that involved human intelligence.

"This idea that a group of unknown hackers are going to take on the NSA seems unlikely as well," Aitel told Business Insider. "There's a long arm and a long memory to the US intelligence community, and I don't think anyone wants to be on the other end of that without good reason. I don't necessarily think a million bitcoin is a good-enough reason."

Paul Szoldra/Business Insider

One of the many strange things about this incident is the very public nature of what transpired. When a hacker takes over your computer, they don't start activating your webcam or running weird programs because you'd figure out pretty quickly that something was up and you'd try to get rid of them.

The same is true for the NSA.

If the Shadow Brokers owned the NSA's command and control server, then it would probably be a much better approach to just sit back, watch, and try to pivot to other interesting things that they might be able to find.

Instead, the group wrote on Pastebin, a website where you can store text, that "we follow Equation Group traffic. We find Equation Group source range. We hack Equation Group. We find many many Equation Group cyber weapons," which immediately signals to this alleged NSA hacker group that they have a big problem.

Though this seems problematic, it's probable that the group no longer has access to the server, so it no longer cares about getting back on it. Since the files are years old, this could be the case. But it's still out of the ordinary since any claim like this can be later investigated by the victim, which will be going through everything trying to figure out who they are.

If this was some random hacking group, then it would've been better to keep their mouth shut, especially when their victim is the NSA.

Software exploits are digital gold for hackers, since they often give a key inside a system or network that no one has ever noticed before, and thus, hasn't fixed. Which is why the marketplace for these "zero-day" exploits is so lucrative. We're talking hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars for this kind of code.

Most of the time, an exploit is either found by a security research firm, which then writes about it and reports it to the company so it can fix the problem. Or, a hacker looking for cash will take that found exploit and sell it on the black market.

So it would make sense for a group like Shadow Brokers to want to sell their treasure trove, but going public with it is beyond strange.

"From my perspective, its extremely bizarre behavior," an ex-NSA hacker who spoke on condition of anonymity told Business Insider. "Most groups who either identify or trade in exploits do one of two things. If you identify, like a security research firm [does] ... they'll typically publish their findings. They're really in the best interest of the companies and users who use these products."

The source added: "In the other scenarios, folks who sort of deal in the exploit markets. They quietly sell these things. To come out with this public auction is the more bizarre variance of that that I've ever seen. So it's not clear what the intent here is."

screenshot/The BBC

If you ask ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the public leak and claims of the Shadow Brokers seem to have Russian fingerprints all over them, and it serves as a warning from Moscow to Washington. The message: If your policymakers keep blaming us for the DNC hack, then we can use this hack to implicate you in much more.

"That could have significant foreign policy consequences," Snowden wrote on Twitter. "Particularly if any of those operations targeted US allies. Particularly if any of those operations targeted elections."

Aitel seems to agree, though he criticized Snowden as being, at some level, a "voice piece" for Russian intelligence now, since he lives in asylum in Moscow.

"He has the same theory the DNC hack happened. The US political people got upset. They probably made the NSA do a covert response," Aitel speculated. "This is another response to the NSA's covert response. There's a lot of sort of very public messages here going back and forth, which is interesting to look at."

Aitel also doesn't think that anyone is going to actually pony up the money required to win the auction. And that prediction is probably going to be right, since WikiLeaks claims that it already has the archive.

"We had already obtained the archive of NSA cyber weapons released earlier today," its official Twitter account wrote, "and will release our own pristine copy in due course."

The Shadow Brokers did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

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Second Amendment: How Does It Work? Left Has No Idea

Posted: at 9:21 am

I genuinely want to be done with defending the Second Amendment from theregular barrage of its historically illiterate and inept detractorsthe people who say this amendment protects only the right of the militia to own weapons.

One friend and fellow gun rights activist said its best to just ignore such people, in the same way that you might ignore people who say triangles have four sides or that the Sun orbits the Earth. It is tempting to just stop engaging the dopeswho simply refuse to consider basic, objective historical facts.

But I actually think this might be a bad strategy, as it may allow the debunked and nonsensical militia reading of the Second Amendment to gain ground. With a Hillary Clinton presidency and Supreme Court on the way, we need an American population that is historically knowledgeable. That means fighting back against the corruption of American knowledge.

Anti-gun folks will cheerfully exploit (and in many cases encourage) the ignorance of the American body politic to get what they want. It is important to push back against that wherever and whenever possible. By way of example: at the Huffington Post this week, Daryl Sneath, a recreational grammarian, is trying very hard totake advantage of American historical ignorance:

One of those things [the Framers]knew about is the comma, the only purpose of which is clarity. Doubtless the writers were acutely aware of this grammatical truism (despite their apparent affinity for complex diction) when they drew their collective stylus southward (certainly aware too of that symbolic direction) making the little mark immediately following the phrasethe right of the people to keep and bear arms. As such, the subject of the predicateshall not be infringedis clearly notthe right of the people. No subject is ever separated from its predicate by a comma alone. Put more plainly, the principal clause (or declaration) of the whole amendment is this:A well regulated militia shall not be infringed.The middle bit modifies the main.

Leaving aside the dubious grammatical reading, as well as the utter travesty of ahistorical non-engagement with contemporaneous eighteenth- and nineteenth-century primary sources, just marvel at this: A well regulated militia shall not be infringed. What would such a right evenmeanin the context of extant constitutional structure and precedent? It would actually meannothing.

Sneath seems to suggest that the Second Amendment provides some sort of bulwark to protect state militias against congressional infringement. But this is objectively, factually false: Congress hascompletecontrol over state militiasthe federal governmentcan organize and abolish the militiawhenever itfeels like it, and for whatever reasonand no serious historical scholar has ever suggested that the Second Amendment somehow circumscribes this congressional power in any way. Put another way: Sneath is implying that the Second Amendment prohibits Congress from doingthe very thing Congress is fully empowered to do.

I am genuinely curious: is there any other constitutional right, or any other constitutional amendment, that is so consistently and so aggressively handled with such base and inexcusable stupidity, on so regular a basis, and on such an industrial scale?I am not sure. You dont usually see arguments of this idiotic magnitude when it comes to, say, the Fourth Amendment, or the Sixth. You certainly see dumb interpretations of the First Amendment, but thats usually a matter ofdegree, notkind:you will have people arguing that the First Amendment doesnt protect hate speech, for instance, but nobody ever argues that the First Amendment only applies to state governments, say, rather than to individual members of the body politic.

Only the Second Amendment is subject to such illiterate and ahistorical analyses. Onceyou realizethat, you can fully graspwhy: many people simply do not like guns, and they will lieor else keep themselves deliberately ignorantto prevent other people from having them.

This is not an isolated incident: anti-gun folks are very happy to resort to falsehoods to advance their cause. Recently the National Rifle Association put out an ad that claims Hillary Clinton doesnt believe in your right to keep a gun at home for self-defense. This is entirely true, but Glenn Kessler over at the Washington Post calls it false:

Clinton has said that she disagreed with the Supreme Courts decision inHeller, but she has made no proposals that would strip Americans of the right to keep a gun at home for self-defense. Clinton is certainly in favor of more gun regulations and tougher background checks, and a more nuanced ad could have made this case.Conjuring up a hypothetical Supreme Court justice ruling in a hypothetical case is simply not enough for such a sweeping claim.That tips the ads claim into the Four-Pinocchio category.

This is just a shameless mess.As I have argued before, Clintons disagreement with the Supreme Courts ruling inHelleris anunequivocal rejection of the right to keep a gun at home for self-defense.That is the very rightHellerdecided in favor of!To be againstHelleris to be against the individual right to own firearms. This is not up for debate.

Now, Clinton claims she merely disagrees withHellerinsofar as she believes cities and states should have the power to craft common-sense laws to keep their residents safe. But this is nonsense:Hellernot onlyallows for such laws, itexplicitly authorizes them.Given that Hillarys justification for opposingHelleris meaningless, we must assume she opposes it for its core substancenamely, that it affirms the individual right codified in the Second Amendment.

In other words, Hillary Clinton wants to take your guns away. Shes been honest about it; why cant our fact checkers?

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Learn More About CryptoCurrency – Everything About …

Posted: at 9:20 am

Digital Asset Holdings has announced it intends to open-source DAML, the smart contracting language it acquired from startup Elevence earlier this year. Though no date has been set for the transition, the Blythe Masters-led blockchain startup credited its bid to advance industry adoption of the tech as the impetus for the move. However, Digital Asset said work needs to be done to increase DAMLs functionality and documentation so that it is ready for use outside the startup. The company wrote: By making DAML more widely available, we intend to enable clients, partners and other vendors to develop, modify and extend DAML Libraries for use with the Digital Asset Platform or other platforms, fostering a vibrant ecosystem of vendors and...

Advertised sites are not endorsed by us. They may be unsafe, untrustworthy, or illegal in your jurisdiction. After experimenting the payment of bus tickets with virtual currency, Bitcoin, since 2 August 2016, a French companyhas become the first in its sector to set up this type of payment across Europe. Isilines is a new offering of the leading long-distance passenger transport by bus operator in Europe, Transdev Group, a French-based international private public transport group. Isilines lines is growing to cover the entire French territory. Transdevs other subsidiary is Eurolines, a private transporters association created in 1985. The grouphas more than 30 years of experience in this market, offering easy access, safe and environmentally...

The number of attacks on computers is increasing almost exponentially these days. The latest one to make news is the Rex Linux Trojan. This Swiss knife of a malicious program is a piece of work capable of running DDoS attacks, hold the infected computer for ransom (ransomware) and even mine Bitcoin without the users knowledge. Built on Googles Go platform, the Trojan was first identified by cyber security firms three months ago. The earlier version of Rex Linux Trojan was much weaker and it was found targeting Drupal websites. Security experts were able to defeat the ransomware easily. However, Rex Linux Trojan as evolved since then to become a considerable threat. According to reports, the malware uses peer to peer communication...

Advertised sites are not endorsed by us. They may be unsafe, untrustworthy, or illegal in your jurisdiction. E-commerce giant Rakutenhas acquired the IP assets of the Bitnet payment platform and opened a blockchain lab in Belfast, U.K. Rakuten Blockchain Lab (RBL) will be a research and development organization focused on blockchain technology and its applications tofintech and e-commerce. Rakuten invested in Bitnet Technologies Ltd., a blockchain-powered digital payments platform, in 2014. Rakuten began accepting bitcoin payments last year using Bitnet, CCN reported. Rakuten.com is similar to Amazon in that it serves as a platform for multiple merchants, all of whom have been able toaccept bitcoin through theBitnet partnership. Bitnet Veterans To...

It is Tuesday morning, and time to take a look at the bitcoin price for the first time today. Action overnight was pretty weak, as it has been for the majority of the last few days, and we didnt really get any opportunity to get in and out the markets as we would have liked. This doesnt mean that we arent going to see any action today, but it may weaken our key levels purely because we havent had any recent breakouts. As has been pretty standard so far this week, we are going to stick with a really tight range, and try to go at price on a breakout of our range, entering scalp positions towards relatively tight targets. This way we get to keep our risk management tight, but still get the opportunity to draw a small profit from the market on...

The Bundy Ranch has had its PayPal accounts blocked. The Bundys, a US family of cattle ranchers in Nevada, rose to fame (notoriety?) in 2014 for refusing to pay the federal government for grazing rights on federal lands. This conflict resulted in an armed standoff between federal agents and supporters of the Bundys, many of them members of private militias from across the country. The standoff ended without violence, and members of the Bundy family had been receiving donations in support of their plight through PayPal. The Facebook page run to support the Bundy family and their struggle against the federal government posted the bad news early on Tuesday morning: Another nail in the coffin of traditional payment systems as a reliable donation source The refusal of...

The way we vote relies on a system that has undergone little to no changes over the past few decades. Some countries switched from paper ballots to electronic voting, but the process remains the same. Over in Australia, the postal service indicated they want to use blockchain technology for digital voting. This should improve efficiency and provide more transparency. A recent submission was made to the Victorian Electoral Matters Committee regarding blockchain-based voting. The current voting process is cumbersome, far from efficient, and rather costly. By embracing blockchain solutions, all of these concerns would be alleviated, while improving the counting of votes at the same time. The Blockchain is A Versatile Technology Many people know the blockchain as the...

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Nucleic acid double helix – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Posted: at 9:19 am

In molecular biology, the term double helix[1] refers to the structure formed by double-stranded molecules of nucleic acids such as DNA. The double helical structure of a nucleic acid complex arises as a consequence of its secondary structure, and is a fundamental component in determining its tertiary structure. The term entered popular culture with the publication in 1968 of The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA, by James Watson.

The DNA double helix polymer of nucleic acid, held together by nucleotides which base pair together.[2] In B-DNA, the most common double helical structure found in nature, the double helix is right-handed with about 1010.5 base pairs per turn.[3] This translates into about 20-21 nucleotides per turn. The double helix structure of DNA contains a major groove and minor groove. In B-DNA the major groove is wider than the minor groove.[2] Given the difference in widths of the major groove and minor groove, many proteins which bind to B-DNA do so through the wider major groove.[4]

The double-helix model of DNA structure was first published in the journal Nature by James D. Watson and Francis Crick in 1953,[5] (X,Y,Z coordinates in 1954[6]) based upon the crucial X-ray diffraction image of DNA labeled as "Photo 51", from Rosalind Franklin in 1952,[7] followed by her more clarified DNA image with Raymond Gosling,[8][9]Maurice Wilkins, Alexander Stokes, and Herbert Wilson,[10] as well as base-pairing chemical and biochemical information by Erwin Chargaff.[11][12][13][14][15][16] The previous model was triple-stranded DNA.[17]

The realization that the structure of DNA is that of a double-helix elucidated the mechanism of base pairing by which genetic information is stored and copied in living organisms and is widely considered one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century. Crick, Wilkins, and Watson each received one third of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their contributions to the discovery.[18] (Franklin, whose breakthrough X-ray diffraction data was used to formulate the DNA structure, died in 1958, and thus was ineligible to be nominated for a Nobel Prize.)

Hybridization is the process of complementary base pairs binding to form a double helix. Melting is the process by which the interactions between the strands of the double helix are broken, separating the two nucleic acid strands. These bonds are weak, easily separated by gentle heating, enzymes, or physical force. Melting occurs preferentially at certain points in the nucleic acid.[19]T and A rich sequences are more easily melted than C and G rich regions. Particular base steps are also susceptible to DNA melting, particularly T A and T G base steps.[20] These mechanical features are reflected by the use of sequences such as TATA at the start of many genes to assist RNA polymerase in melting the DNA for transcription.

Strand separation by gentle heating, as used in PCR, is simple, providing the molecules have fewer than about 10,000 base pairs (10 kilobase pairs, or 10 kbp). The intertwining of the DNA strands makes long segments difficult to separate. The cell avoids this problem by allowing its DNA-melting enzymes (helicases) to work concurrently with topoisomerases, which can chemically cleave the phosphate backbone of one of the strands so that it can swivel around the other. Helicases unwind the strands to facilitate the advance of sequence-reading enzymes such as DNA polymerase.

The geometry of a base, or base pair step can be characterized by 6 coordinates: Shift, slide, rise, tilt, roll, and twist. These values precisely define the location and orientation in space of every base or base pair in a nucleic acid molecule relative to its predecessor along the axis of the helix. Together, they characterize the helical structure of the molecule. In regions of DNA or RNA where the "normal" structure is disrupted, the change in these values can be used to describe such disruption.

For each base pair, considered relative to its predecessor, there are the following base pair geometries to consider:[21][22][23]

Rise and twist determine the handedness and pitch of the helix. The other coordinates, by contrast, can be zero. Slide and shift are typically small in B-DNA, but are substantial in A- and Z-DNA. Roll and tilt make successive base pairs less parallel, and are typically small.

Note that "tilt" has often been used differently in the scientific literature, referring to the deviation of the first, inter-strand base-pair axis from perpendicularity to the helix axis. This corresponds to slide between a succession of base pairs, and in helix-based coordinates is properly termed "inclination".

At least three DNA conformations are believed to be found in nature, A-DNA, B-DNA, and Z-DNA. The "B" form described by James D. Watson and Francis Crick is believed to predominate in cells.[24] It is 23.7 wide and extends 34 per 10 bp of sequence. The double helix makes one complete turn about its axis every 10.4-10.5 base pairs in solution. This frequency of twist (known as the helical pitch) depends largely on stacking forces that each base exerts on its neighbours in the chain. The absolute configuration of the bases determines the direction of the helical curve for a given conformation.

A-DNA and Z-DNA differ significantly in their geometry and dimensions to B-DNA, although still form helical structures. It was long thought that the A form only occurs in dehydrated samples of DNA in the laboratory, such as those used in crystallographic experiments, and in hybrid pairings of DNA and RNA strands, but DNA dehydration does occur in vivo, and A-DNA is now known to have biological functions. Segments of DNA that cells have been methylated for regulatory purposes may adopt the Z geometry, in which the strands turn about the helical axis the opposite way to A-DNA and B-DNA. There is also evidence of protein-DNA complexes forming Z-DNA structures.

Other conformations are possible; A-DNA, B-DNA, C-DNA, E-DNA,[25]L-DNA (the enantiomeric form of D-DNA),[26] P-DNA,[27] S-DNA, Z-DNA, etc. have been described so far.[28] In fact, only the letters F, Q, U, V, and Y are now[update] available to describe any new DNA structure that may appear in the future.[29][30] However, most of these forms have been created synthetically and have not been observed in naturally occurring biological systems.[citation needed] There are also triple-stranded DNA forms and quadruplex forms such as the G-quadruplex.

Twin helical strands form the DNA backbone. Another double helix may be found by tracing the spaces, or grooves, between the strands. These voids are adjacent to the base pairs and may provide a binding site. As the strands are not directly opposite each other, the grooves are unequally sized. One groove, the major groove, is 22 wide and the other, the minor groove, is 12 wide.[34] The narrowness of the minor groove means that the edges of the bases are more accessible in the major groove. As a result, proteins like transcription factors that can bind to specific sequences in double-stranded DNA usually make contacts to the sides of the bases exposed in the major groove.[4] This situation varies in unusual conformations of DNA within the cell (see below), but the major and minor grooves are always named to reflect the differences in size that would be seen if the DNA is twisted back into the ordinary B form.

Alternative non-helical models were briefly considered in the late 1970s as a potential solution to problems in the replication of DNA in plasmids and chromatin. However, the models were set aside in favor of the double-helical model due to subsequent experimental advances such as X-ray crystallography of DNA duplexes and later the nucleosome core particle, as well as the discovery of topoisomerases, and these non-double-helical models are not currently accepted by the mainstream scientific community.[35][36]

Single-stranded nucleic acids do not adopt a helical formation, and are described by models such as the random coil or worm-like chain.[citation needed]

DNA is a relatively rigid polymer, typically modelled as a worm-like chain. It has three significant degrees of freedom; bending, twisting and compression, each of which cause particular limitations on what is possible with DNA within a cell. Twisting/torsional stiffness is important for the circularisation of DNA and the orientation of DNA bound proteins relative to each other and bending/axial stiffness is important for DNA wrapping and circularisation and protein interactions. Compression/extension is relatively unimportant in the absence of high tension.

DNA in solution does not take a rigid structure but is continually changing conformation due to thermal vibration and collisions with water molecules, which makes classical measures of rigidity impossible. Hence, the bending stiffness of DNA is measured by the persistence length, defined as:

This value may be directly measured using an atomic force microscope to directly image DNA molecules of various lengths. In an aqueous solution, the average persistence length is 46-50nm or 140-150 base pairs (the diameter of DNA is 2nm), although can vary significantly. This makes DNA a moderately stiff molecule.

The persistence length of a section of DNA is somewhat dependent on its sequence, and this can cause significant variation. The variation is largely due to base stacking energies and the residues which extend into the minor and major grooves.

The entropic flexibility of DNA is remarkably consistent with standard polymer physics models, such as the Kratky-Porod worm-like chain model.[citation needed] Consistent with the worm-like chain model is the observation that bending DNA is also described by Hooke's law at very small (sub-piconewton) forces. However, for DNA segments less than the persistence length, the bending force is approximately constant and behaviour deviates from the worm-like chain predictions.

This effect results in unusual ease in circularising small DNA molecules and a higher probability of finding highly bent sections of DNA.[citation needed]

DNA molecules often have a preferred direction to bend, i.e. anisotropic bending. This is, again, due to the properties of the bases which make up the DNA sequence - a random sequence will have no preferred bend direction, i.e. isotropic bending.

Preferred DNA bend direction is determined by the stability of stacking each base on top of the next. If unstable base stacking steps are always found on one side of the DNA helix then the DNA will preferentially bend away from that direction. As bend angle increases then steric hindrances and ability to roll the residues relative to each other also play a role, especially in the minor groove. A and T residues will be preferentially be found in the minor grooves on the inside of bends. This effect is particularly seen in DNA-protein binding where tight DNA bending is induced, such as in nucleosome particles. See base step distortions above.

DNA molecules with exceptional bending preference can become intrinsically bent. This was first observed in trypanosomatid kinetoplast DNA. Typical sequences which cause this contain stretches of 4-6 T and A residues separated by G and C rich sections which keep the A and T residues in phase with the minor groove on one side of the molecule. For example:

The intrinsically bent structure is induced by the 'propeller twist' of base pairs relative to each other allowing unusual bifurcated Hydrogen-bonds between base steps. At higher temperatures this structure, and so the intrinsic bend, is lost.

All DNA which bends anisotropically has, on average, a longer persistence length and greater axial stiffness. This increased rigidity is required to prevent random bending which would make the molecule act isotropically.

DNA circularization depends on both the axial (bending) stiffness and torsional (rotational) stiffness of the molecule. For a DNA molecule to successfully circularize it must be long enough to easily bend into the full circle and must have the correct number of bases so the ends are in the correct rotation to allow bonding to occur. The optimum length for circularization of DNA is around 400 base pairs (136nm), with an integral number of turns of the DNA helix, i.e. multiples of 10.4 base pairs. Having a non integral number of turns presents a significant energy barrier for circularization, for example a 10.4 x 30 = 312 base pair molecule will circularize hundreds of times faster than 10.4 x 30.5 317 base pair molecule.[38]

Longer stretches of DNA are entropically elastic under tension. When DNA is in solution, it undergoes continuous structural variations due to the energy available in the thermal bath of the solvent. This is due to the thermal vibration of the molecule combined with continual collisions with water molecules. For entropic reasons, more compact relaxed states are thermally accessible than stretched out states, and so DNA molecules are almost universally found in a tangled relaxed layouts. For this reason, a single molecule of DNA will stretch under a force, straightening it out. Using optical tweezers, the entropic stretching behavior of DNA has been studied and analyzed from a polymer physics perspective, and it has been found that DNA behaves largely like the Kratky-Porod worm-like chain model under physiologically accessible energy scales.

Under sufficient tension and positive torque, DNA is thought to undergo a phase transition with the bases splaying outwards and the phosphates moving to the middle. This proposed structure for overstretched DNA has been called "P-form DNA", in honor of Linus Pauling who originally presented it as a possible structure of DNA.[27]

The mechanical properties of DNA under compression have not been characterized due to experimental difficulties in preventing the polymer from bending under the compressive force.[citation needed]

The B form of the DNA helix twists 360 per 10.4-10.5 bp in the absence of torsional strain. But many molecular biological processes can induce torsional strain. A DNA segment with excess or insufficient helical twisting is referred to, respectively, as positively or negatively "supercoiled". DNA in vivo is typically negatively supercoiled, which facilitates the unwinding (melting) of the double-helix required for RNA transcription.

Within the cell most DNA is topologically restricted. DNA is typically found in closed loops (such as plasmids in prokaryotes) which are topologically closed, or as very long molecules whose diffusion coefficients produce effectively topologically closed domains. Linear sections of DNA are also commonly bound to proteins or physical structures (such as membranes) to form closed topological loops.

Francis Crick was one of the first to propose the importance of linking numbers when considering DNA supercoils. In a paper published in 1976, Crick outlined the problem as follows:

In considering supercoils formed by closed double-stranded molecules of DNA certain mathematical concepts, such as the linking number and the twist, are needed. The meaning of these for a closed ribbon is explained and also that of the writhing number of a closed curve. Some simple examples are given, some of which may be relevant to the structure of chromatin.[39]

Analysis of DNA topology uses three values:

Any change of T in a closed topological domain must be balanced by a change in W, and vice versa. This results in higher order structure of DNA. A circular DNA molecule with a writhe of 0 will be circular. If the twist of this molecule is subsequently increased or decreased by supercoiling then the writhe will be appropriately altered, making the molecule undergo plectonemic or toroidal superhelical coiling.

When the ends of a piece of double stranded helical DNA are joined so that it forms a circle the strands are topologically knotted. This means the single strands cannot be separated any process that does not involve breaking a strand (such as heating). The task of un-knotting topologically linked strands of DNA falls to enzymes known as topoisomerases. These enzymes are dedicated to un-knotting circular DNA by cleaving one or both strands so that another double or single stranded segment can pass through. This un-knotting is required for the replication of circular DNA and various types of recombination in linear DNA which have similar topological constraints.

For many years, the origin of residual supercoiling in eukaryotic genomes remained unclear. This topological puzzle was referred to by some as the "linking number paradox".[40] However, when experimentally determined structures of the nucleosome displayed an over-twisted left-handed wrap of DNA around the histone octamer,[41][42] this "paradox" was considered to be solved by the scientific community.

Read the original:
Nucleic acid double helix - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Funding Aging Research for Life Extension and Human Longevity

Posted: at 9:19 am

Maximize investment returns while Minimizing risk and Maximize health and longevity in Minimum time. How to Profit from the Coming Revolution in Anti-Aging Science... Even If You Do Not Invest

Why not get involved in an emerging trillion dollar industry... while developing technologies that are designed to extend healthy lifespans by 25 years or more?

My name is David Kekich. I founded and managed the biggest marketing arm of a Fortune 500 life insurance company until an unfortunate accident changed the direction of my life thirty two years ago. (It could also impact your life in a very positive way.)

then, I have devoted myself to a single passion:

I have invested the remainder of my time to say nothing of considerable financial resources to advancing life extension technologies. In other words, I understand the anti-aging industry. Over the past nine years, I helped build a world-class, star-studded scientific team.

As you will see in the following pages, there is a compelling case to be made for the potential rewards for individuals who embrace an appropriate and sound approach to this emerging growth market.

The Next Big Investment Sector Can Make Early Participants Very Wealthy

All it takes is one glance at the chart below to see where the biggest money will be made in the health care field in the years just ahead. Its going to be in treating and preventing diseases and conditions related to AGING.

U.S. Population Aged 80+

It is still some time before Wall Street will put the full force and power of their resources behind solutions to the aging problem.

But now, a world-class investment management team headed by the former CEO of Citicorps pioneer venture group (he built it into a $50 million fund that earned over $7 billion) has set its sights on the opportunity.

And the opportunity for you reading this Special Report today is twofold, because:

1) You can be part of an elite inner circle who are on the cutting edge of information and treatment as research postpones the debilitating effects of aging by years or even decades; and

2) You can participate financially with a group of unusually dedicated and extraordinarily credentialed investment professionals as they pursue maximum returns in this exploding field of research and development.

The prize is a longer and healthier life, coupled with what could become the most important and exponentially lucrative investment youve ever made.

Aging: An Impossible Problem. Or the Ultimate Opportunity?

We all consider aging to be lifes ultimate reality. On our birthdays, our friends often joke with us that its better than the alternative! Thats because, all our lives (and all throughout human history up to this point), there has been no alternative to aging and the symptoms and diseases of aging. But you and I are fortunate to be living at the precise moment in history when mankind is experiencing a veritable explosion of science and technology. Our entire world is changing virtually every day due to exciting, breakthrough innovations in every industry from telecommunications to travel from computers to cars from farming to pharmaceuticals and everything in between. But nothing is more exciting, in my view, than the technological advances that have already been made (and continue to be made nearly every day) in the rapidly growing science of anti-aging. What Does Anti-Aging Really Mean? First of all, dont let the term anti-aging (as its used and abused today) fool you. The science-based anti-aging industry emerging today is qualitatively different. It targets products that will substantially extend lifespan as well as make that lifespan healthier even for those with all the right lifestyle habits including eating right and exercising regulary with these Muscle Building Workouts. Today anti-aging is already a multi-billion dollar business even though most of the products have little or no basis in medical science. Many promoters mislead, exaggerate and make false claims to sell to a market eager to hang on to their youth. The anti-aging were talking about isnt about snake oil; its about the emerging (and serious) field of life-extension medicine. Anti-aging science is quickly coming of age and being taken very seriously by esteemed universities, respected research institutions, and giant pharmaceutical companies. Breakthroughs in Life Extension Are Already Here In fact, some new inventions and innovations in anti-aging medicine have already proven themselves behind the closed doors of our nations top research and testing agencies. Theyre already here. They just havent been released yet to the general public. Thankfully, however, many of these breakthroughs dont take as much time as do other health care innovations, such as new drugs. And because of the rapidly approaching urgency and the looming, overwhelming demand for anti-aging innovations, were soon going to see wave after wave of anti-aging products getting introduced to a TRILLION-DOLLAR world market of people who are literally dying to hold onto their health, youth, beauty and vitality. Its what we all want, actually. And now, thanks to the unique research and marketing strategy weve developed here at Maximum Life Foundation, you can learn about the development and distribution of the very innovations that will one day very soon benefit you directly and help you lead a longer, healthier, wealthier and happier life. SAP Training - Training and certification in over 30 different SAP career paths.

This white paper will take you on a journey into the exciting world of anti-aging science and show you the virtually unlimited opportunities that await savvy people like you who get on board the train to the future and do it now.

Welcome aboard. David A. Kekich President, Maximum Life Foundation January 2010

One final note before we begin: I want you to know that nearly all of my personal financial return from my activities goes to The Maximum Life Foundation. In other words, Im in this for the money but not the way you think.

Special Report on Life Extension Technology By David A. Kekich

AGING: A Growing Problem Becomes an Enormous Opportunity

Its happening all over the world

Imagine the potential profit if you participated in even one of these! And our research is uncovering dozens of similar opportunities. Its no accident venture capitalists and major medical companies are investing billions of dollars annually in research leading toward the treatment and cure of incurable diseases. Why? They readily recognize the upside to such investment. Today, the biggest returns both to investors and to individuals who want to live longer, healthier, and therefore more productive lives will come in the field of anti-aging medicine. And heres why: Back in the year 2000, the number of Americans (for example) aged 65 or older reached an estimated 35 million and accounted for almost 13 percent of the total U.S. population. The rapidly aging U.S. population is very significant especially when you consider the number of older Americans has increased more than ten-fold since the turn of the last century. This trend is mirrored in other developed countries. And, its projected to accelerate even faster over the next 30 years. This is both a problem and an opportunity. Its a problem because the diseases associated with aging will put a tremendous burden on our health-care system (along with the younger taxpayers who will have to foot the bill).

The table below lists just a few of the adverse health events that our older population is now experiencing

Health events that increase with aging

These aging-dependent chronic diseases and conditions are now the most common forms of illness in the United States. Heart disease and stroke alone account for almost 40% of all deaths.

Consider this chart

Altogether, the groups of degenerative diseases we link to aging are directly responsible for the deaths for roughly 75% of all deaths in the United States.

Whats more, the list of diseases above has contributed to a quadrupling of health care expenditures per person in the U.S., rising from $1,067 in 1980 to $4,358 in 1999.

By 2010, those expenditures are expected to double again. Total national health expenditures are projected to equal $2.6 trillion and reach 15.9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product by 2010, up from 13 percent in 1999.

Why?

Its pure demographics. You see, the burgeoning number of baby boomers in our society will begin to turn 65 in 2011. And by 2030, the proportion of the population 65 or older will be one in five or 70 million U.S. citizens.

In the United States, the population 80 and older is currently 9.2 million (3.35 percent of the U.S. population). This age segment is projected to grow to 14.9 million (4.4 percent of population) by the year 2025 and to 31.6 million (7.82 percent of population) by the year 2050.

In other industrialized countries around the world, the percentage of the population age 65 or older is even higher than in the U.S. The percentage of population over 65 in the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan is 24%, 44% and 34% higher than in the United States, respectively.

This is truly a growing problem, worldwide. And it cries out for a solution.

Fortunately, timing is on our side because science MAY NOW HAVE solutions to some of the age-related diseases listed above.

Happily, the catastrophic effects of such a huge percentage of our population getting old and getting sick all at the same time can now be virtually eliminated IF the science of anti-aging proceeds on the fast track and quickly develops the treatments and cures to life-threatening (and life-shortening) diseases we now passively accept.

And thats what we at the Maximum Life Foundation are all about: Helping to get anti-aging science into the mainstream before its too late for you.

Whether youre young or old, herein lays one of the major investment opportunities of the 21st century.

ANTI-AGING MEDICINE: An Emerging Solution

Think about it

If the illnesses and deaths weve been talking about were preventable, shouldnt we stop them if we can?

Let me put it another way: If a loved one (or yourself) had a major medical condition such as cancer, heart disease or suffered a stroke., wouldnt you ask that they (or you) receive the very best medical care for those conditions?

If there was a treatment that could reverse Alzheimers, Parkinsons, osteoporosis, arteriosclerosis or diabetes who in their right mind would turn it down?

What ties all these diseases together is the underlying processes of aging.

But now, science is gradually coming to the realization that aging itself could be classified as a disease. Why? Because its not necessarily normal or inevitable for the bodys vital organs to stop functioning properly. Scientists now know that our cells could live and grow in the same healthy manner as when we were in our 20s!

Am I just blowing smoke?

No.

Heres the hard-core evidence that gives everyone involved in anti-aging science so much cause for optimism

How the EXPLOSION of Scientific Progress Is Revolutionizing Our Lives

To properly understand what Im about to share with you, you need to know that the pace of scientific advancements today far outstrips what you and I have been accustomed to during our lifetime.

Whereas science used to proceed at a snails pace, thats not the case anymore. Now its approaching the speed of light!

Its all because several sciences and technologies are finally coming together and working synergistically on the problems that face mankind.

For instance, medical researchers are now able to use supercomputers to speed up experiments that used to take years. The key? Theyre using a new technology known as bioinformatics.

Bioinformatics is a computer-assisted data management discipline that assists in accumulating, analyzing and representing biological processes. Emerging in the 1990s, this field is accelerating the drug discovery and development process through in vitro (in test tubes) and in vivo (in animals or humans) testing processes. Now theyre adding in silico (computer simulations) to turbo charge anti-aging science.

The major task of bioinformatics is utilizing the power of supercomputers to convert the complexity of the genetic codes of the human genome into useful information and knowledge that can be harnessed to understand the aging process and its attendant diseases.

The result? Faster and faster progress in the anti-aging sciences

Its not a surprise. In the modern era, our knowledge has been advancing by quantum leaps compared to most of human history. For instance, scientific knowledge doubled from the year 1 A.D. to 1500 A.D. But by 1967, it doubled five more times... and each time, faster than before.

And several experts estimate that today, biotech knowledge doubles about every 48 months. Some computer scientists project that by 2010, scientific knowledge in general will double every 100 days!

Part of the reason? As I said, supercomputers, like the kind now being used in bioinformatics. These computers can do experiments in 15 seconds that used to take years. Its no wonder were gaining on the aging problem so fast!

Heres another anti-aging advance: Newly developed research tools called gene chips can do tissue studies in hours or even minutes that used to take years of animal studies. These gene chips are actually laboratories on a chip. Theyre simply amazing.

But perhaps the most profound observation is the rate of change itself is accelerating. This means the past is not a reliable guide to the future. The 20th century was not 100 years of progress at todays rate but, rather, was equivalent to about 20 years, because weve been speeding up to current rates of change. And, well make another 20 years of progress at the year 2000 rate, equivalent to that of the entire 20th century, by 2014. Then well do it again by 2021.

Because of this exponential growth, the 21st century will equal 20,000 years of progress at todays rate of progress 1,000 times greater than what we witnessed in the 20th century, which in itself was no slouch for change.

And youre probably aware that the power of technology per dollar doubles every 12 months. This means our tools could be 1,000 times more powerful in just 10 years and a billion times more powerful by 2035.

On top of that, scientists just launched an emerging discipline known as nanomedicine that will revolutionize cell repair.

In a nutshell, nanomedicine, the medical application of nanotechnology, could eventually build or repair almost every cell in the body, from the bottom up, atom-by-atom. It promises to give us complete control of matter and a very efficient way to cure aging damage, injuries and diseases.

More Anti-Aging Breakthroughs

For your information, here are some of the anti-aging and life-extension breakthroughs that took place just in the last few years

That means someday, we could completely understand how the human body works at the most basic level. This will greatly speed up the time it takes to develop new treatments for all diseases.

By understanding how eating less calories works to extend life in something like yeast, scientists can use this information to figure out the same pathway in humans. Then, we could develop drugs to do the same thing. In fact, Dr. Guarente co-founded Elixir Pharmaceuticals to do just that, and now, several caloric restriction mimetics have been discovered.

This is the first time drugs dramatically extended the lifespan of a complex form of life. This could perhaps result in a pill that would greatly extend your lifespan and your healthspan.

Once again, turning the right genes on or off can extend lifespan.

Stem cell research could eventually lead to a cell-by-cell replacement of the human body, substituting old cells with new young cells.

With good gene therapy techniques, the same type of thing might add about 30 years to our lives. Thats not an exaggeration.

Resveratrol is now available as a supplement for human consumption.

Theres more.

Recently, a group at the University of Wisconsin developed a technique to locate many genes that are involved in the aging process in mice. This may soon allow us to control the aging process itself.

At Sierra Sciences, a biotechnology company, researchers have been working on shutting off the cellular aging clock, the telomere.

There are far too many examples to list them all.

What does all this research mean?

Very simply this: With todays astonishing pace of scientific progress, well most likely develop technologies in the next 5 to 10 years in the lab that could eventually slow aging to a crawl.

Maybe halt it.

Maybe even reverse it by 2029.

And even before these technologies are translated to humans, they will be worth BILLIONS.

Where the Money Will Be Made in Life Extension Technology

Aside from the sheer humanitarian benefits of anti-aging science and the promise of a disease-free, healthy and happy society, theres also a lot of money to be made in this sector for those who are savvy enough to see the trend and invest early.

Link:
Funding Aging Research for Life Extension and Human Longevity

Posted in Human Longevity | Comments Off

US Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health

Posted: at 9:18 am

BMJ. 2000 Nov 4; 321(7269): 11531154.

British Medical Association, London WC1H 9JP

The pomegranate was chosen as the logo for the Millennium Festival of Medicine from a shortlist that included DNA, the human body, and a heart beat. Not only has the pomegranate been revered through the ages for its medicinal properties but it also features in the heraldic crests of several medical institutions involved in the organisation of the festival.

The pomegranate has been held sacred by many of the world's major religions

It has been revered through the ages for its medicinal properties

Preparations of different parts of the plant have been used to treat a variety of conditions

It features in the coat of arms of several medical associations

Before its medicinal properties were described the pomegranate was held sacred by many of the world's major religions.

In the Greek myth of Persephone's abduction by Hades, lord of the underworld, the pomegranate represents life, regeneration, and marriage.1 One day while out gathering flowers, Persephone noticed a narcissus of exquisite beauty. As she bent down to pick it, the earth opened and Hades seized her and dragged her down to his kingdom. By eating a few pomegranate seeds, Persephone tied herself to Hadesthe pomegranate being a symbol of the indissolubility of marriage. Inconsolable at the loss of her daughter, the corn goddess Demeter prevented the earth from bearing fruit unless she saw her daughter again. Zeus intervened and worked out a compromise: Persephone should live with Hades for one third of the year and the other two thirds with Demeter. Persephone's return from the underworld each year is marked by the arrival of Spring.

The pomegranate probably originated in Iran and Afghanistan and was much used in Zoroastrian ritual and domestic observances.23 In Persian mythology Isfandiyar eats a pomegranate and becomes invincible.4 In The Persian War Herodotus mentions golden pomegranates adorning the spears of warriors in the Persian phalanx.5

Pomegranate seeds are said to number 613one for each of the Bible's 613 commandments.6 The pomegranate was revered for the beauty of its shrub, flowers, and fruitsymbolising sanctity, fertility, and abundance.7 The Song of Solomon compares the cheeks of a bride behind her veil to the two halves of a pomegranate.8 Depictions of the fruit have long featured in architecture and design. They decorated the pillars of King Solomon's temple and the robes and regalia of Jewish kings and priests.

Along with the citrus and the peach, the pomegranate is one of the three blessed fruits. In Buddhist art the fruit represents the essence of favourable influences.9 In Buddhist legend the demoness Hariti, who devoured children, was cured of her evil habit by the Buddha, who gave her a pomegranate to eat. She is depicted in Buddhist art holding a child. In Japan she is known as Kishimojin and is invoked by infertile women.10

In China the pomegranate is widely represented in ceramic art symbolising fertility, abundance, posterity, numerous and virtuous offspring, and a blessed future.11 A picture of a ripe open pomegranate is a popular wedding present.

A symbol of resurrection and life everlasting in Christian art, the pomegranate is often found in devotional statues and paintings of the Virgin and Child.

In medieval representations the pomegranate tree, a fertility symbol, is associated with the end of a unicorn hunt. The captured unicorn appears to be bleeding from wounds inflicted on him by the hunters.12 The wounds are actually pomegranate seeds dripping their blood red juices on his milk white body. Wild and uncontrollable by nature, unicorns can be tamed only by virgins. Once tamed, the unicorn was held in an enclosed garden and chained to a pomegranate tree, symbolising the impending incarnation of Christ.13

The heavenly paradise of the Koran describes four gardens with shade, springs, and fruitsincluding the pomegranate. Legend holds that each pomegranate contains one seed that has come down from paradise.5 Pomegranates have had a special role as a fertility symbol in weddings among the Bedouins of the Middle East.14 A fine specimen is secured and split open by the groom as he and his bride open the flap of their tent or enter the door of their house. Abundant seeds ensure that the couple who eat it will have many children.

Preparations of different parts of the plantflower, fruit juice, rind, barkhave been used for a wide variety of conditions, although gastroenterological ailments predominate. Dioscorides describes some of them:

All sorts of pommegranats are of a pleasant taste and good for ye stomach . . . The juice of the kernells prest out, being sod and mixed with Hony, are good for the ulcers that are in ye mouth and in ye Genitalls and in the seate, as also for the Pterygia in digitis and for the Nomae and ye excrescencies in ulcers, and for ye paines of ye eares, and for the griefs in ye nosthrills . . . The decoction of ye flowers is a collution of moist flagging gummes and of loose teeth . . . ye rinde having a binding faculty . . . but ye decoction of ye roots doth expell and kill the Latas tineas ventris.15

The use of pomegranate rind and root bark as a treatment for tapeworm infestation (Latas tineas ventris) was recommended by several early Roman medical writers and is still listed as a treatment for tapeworms and diarrhoea in a current encyclopaedia of medicinal plants.16

The British Medical Association and three royal colleges feature the pomegranate in their coats of arms. The pomegranate was part of Catherine of Aragon's coat of arms and was accepted into English heraldry when she married King Henry VIII in 1509. The Royal College of Physicians of London had adopted it in their coat of arms by the middle of the sixteenth century.17 The heraldic meanings of the pomegranate hark back to the meanings of the pomegranate in the myth of Persephonethe persistence of life, fertility, and regeneration.

Competing interests: None declared.

British Medical Association

Royal College of Midwives

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Royal College of Physicians

1. New Larousse encyclopedia of mythology. London: Hamlyn; 1983.

2. Trees at the Chelsea Physic Garden. London: Chelsea Physic Garden Company; 1997. p. 14.

3. Modi JJ. The religious ceremonies and customs of the Parsees. Bombay: British India Press; 1922.

4. Curtis VS. Persian myths. London: British Museum Press; 1996. p. 54.

5. Herodotus . The histories. London: Penguin; 1996. p. 389.

6. Good A, Nurock M. The fruits of the Holy Land. Jerusalem: Israel Universities Press; 1968.

7. Wigoder DE. The Garden of Eden cookbook. San Francisco: Harper & Row; 1988.

8. Holy Bible. Song of Solomon 4, 3.

9. Hall J. Hall's illustrated dictionary of symbols in eastern and western art. London: John Murray; 1995.

10. Munsterberg H. Dictionary of Chinese and Japanese art. New York: Hacker Art Books; 1981. p. 241.

11. Cooper JC. An illustrated encyclopaedia of traditional symbols. London: Thames and Hudson; 1995. p. 134.

12. Freeman MB. The unicorn tapestries. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; 1976.

13. Cherry J. Mythical beasts. London: British Museum Press; 1995. pp. 4752.

14. Garrison W. Strange facts about the Bible. Nashville: Festival Books; 1980. p. 184.

15. Gunter RT. The Greek herbal of Dioscorides. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1934. pp. 8081.

16. Chevallier A. Encyclopedia of medicinal plants. London: Dorling Kindersley; 1996. p. 257.

Original post:
US Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health

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Doug Malewicki’s patented inventions and engineering …

Posted: at 9:17 am

To see pictures from each of the races listed below - Click HERE

7,000+ crazy runners (Geezer Doug proudly included, of course!)

Article and photos by columnist David Whiting: OC Register ___________________ Doug has enjoyed running Big Baz's Winter Trail Run Series since 1998! 15 years worth! http://www.BigBazTrailRaces.com

"Sportsman of the Year"

Check out the "DOUGumentary" QuickTime Movie Trailer at: http://www.3launch.com

Gore-Tex TRANSROCKIES http://www.Transrockies.com (Doug's Facebook page has 100's of photos from TransRockies) The 2012 TransRockies 6 day endurance race covered a total of 125 miles of trails between 8,000' and 12,538' elevations and had 21,000' of total ascents!

Team California Old Goats Doug (age 73) and ultra running legend Gordy Ainsleigh (age 64) - also ran the2011 six day TransRockies endurance trail race together.

2012 was Doug's 5th year in a row running the 6 day TransRockies race. Gordy & Dous are already signed up for the 2014 TransRockies! Doug's 6th year.

August 14, 2012 Team California Old Goats Gordy & Doug at the top of HOPE PASS - 12,538' elevation.

Hah! 6 pack abs compliments of PHOTOSHOP & Mark Kelly, PhD.

March 2013: I hit 74 on March 28, 2012. To celebrate my 74th birthdayI ran a bit more than 74 miles of my favorite trails in 4 days (74.13 miles according to my Garmin GPS).

I also did 70@70 in 3 days w/19,000' of climbs four years ago; 71@71 in 6 days; 72@72 in 5 days & 73@73 in 4 days

Doug & Yoda birthday present w/grand daughter Sierra & daughter Michelle (Do or do NOT.. There is no TRY!)

SkyTran - Personal MagLev Transportation

Malewicki has been an invited keynote speaker on SkyTran and our new Wind Turbine retrofit business (based on our SkyTran technology and patents) to Dubai (April 2010 with Dr. Greg Smedley CEO/founder of One-Cycle-Control, Inc.) and to Macau, China (July 2011). Details on these and several local presentations in California HERE

The photo on the left is Doug pointing to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the world's tallest building at 2,716.5'. That is just over 1/2 mile up! http://www.burjkhalifa.ae

In Macau & Beijing, China

The interview is mostly about my SkyTran invention, but also talks about the advanced Wind Turbine work we are doing and even the low cost electric first stage boosters for Micro-satellite launches. Some of that was discussed in the IEEE paper that you can read below.

My SkyTran invention was featured on the cover of he July 2008 issue of Popular Science (or their artist's version of what THEY think our pods should look like). "GREEN MEGALOPOLIS - An eco-savvy blueprint for tomorrow's megacity points the way to fresh air, clean water and traffic that never jams."

Starting on page 49, five more pages have our MagLev SkyTran in the future city art done by a second artist. Includes a nice paragraph that mentions our company UniModal LLC. Love their online animation at: http://www.popsci.com/futurecity/plan.html (SkyTran is the 4th- click on their FLASH animation).

Check out: http://www.SkyTran.us

The key to this solid state, personalized MagLev systems capacity performance falls out of math and physics analysis. SkyTran will greatly reduce energy used in the transportation of people; eliminate the pollution associated with commuting; greatly enhance safety of personal travel and reduce travel costs.

The California Commuter - 157 MPG at freeway speeds

The California Commuter PLANS & TECHNICAL BOOKLET are also available as electronical PDF's. (Faster, cheaper & ZERO shipping costs!)

157.192 MPG

156.53 MPG

The improved eCC will have 25% less aerodynamic drag and will obtain 400 MPGe at a steady 65 MPH.

IMAGINE a penny per mile!

Robosaurus - the FIRE BREATHING monster robot

ROBOSAURUS THE FIRE BREATHING, CAR EATING, ELECTROHYDROMECHANICAL, 40 foot tall, 58,000 pound, TRANSFORMING MONSTER ENTERTAINMENT ROBOT. GOING ONCE... GOING TWICE... GONE! On January 19, 2008 after 18 years of operation, Robosaurus was sold at the famed Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona . MORE Two of Dougs USA Patents are for his Robosaurus invention. He founded Monster Robots, Inc. and was involved in finding all investors and product sponsors. Doug did all the structural design and engineering (loads determinations, weights and stress analysis). Along with all the electronic, hydraulic and control system packaging and functional testing. The creature, which was built in 1.5 years, has been doing shows since 1990. The most recent NDT (non-destructive-testing) inspection of all welded joints was performed at 250,000 miles and showed no weld fatigue degradation.

One man sitting up in the creatures cranium controls Robosaurus. Doug had to develop an innovative wearable control system to enable a single pilot to simultaneously control 18 proportional hydraulic motions. Each hydraulic valve is controlled by a P-Q Controls Inc. of Bristol, Connecticut computer valve board that converts the simple on-off electrical switch signals given by the pilot in the head into proper proportional fluid flow rates to the various hydraulic cylinders and pumps.

Much of the Robosaurus structural design involved tradeoffs to enable transformation to a legal trailer for hauling the 58,000-pound, fire breathing, beast from show to show. Robosaurus meets highway size and weight requirements for all 50 States.

FLYING and DARPA FLYING MACHINES

UMAAVs (Unmanned Morphing Aerial Attack Vehicles)a conceptual development contract for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency).

Rather than just doing a extensive theoretical aerodynamic and structural analysis for his innovative designs,Doug's company AeroVisions, Inc. built and flew Radio Control modelsto demonstrate his various morphing concepts.

July 2005, Doug was the plenary speaker for the DARPA Morphing Aircraft Structures Conference in San Diego.After sensing & confirming the bad guys, morphing UAVs of the future will be able to transform and divedownat Mach 0.9 and pull 5 g maneuvers to take out targets. Will save calling in the F-16 jet jocks and waiting 20 minutes for them to arrive. A computer generated movie of a typical mission of Dougs favorite proposed UMAAV, aptly named THE DROID OF DEATH, can be seen at the above UMAAV link.

DAREDEVIL Engineering Projects

NOTICE: April 18, 2014 AeroVisions, LLC and the Big Ed (Beckley Media LLC) have mutually terminated the relationship to build a rocket powered motorcycle system for Big Ed to jump the Snake River Canyon. We are no longer involved in engineering or developing his jump bike system. There were numerous reasons we could not participate:

1) AeroVisions negotiating with Beckley Media's attorney for months without reaching a fair agreement.

2) AeroVisions agreed to warrantee the jump bike & jump system. Beckley wanted us to warrant the rider as well.

3) In April, Beckley insisted on changing the engineering funding source to a new 3rd party. Negotiating with that party's attorney would have just added more delay.

4) AeroVisions constantly expressed urgency to start engineering, since time was rapidly evaporating to complete the project with confidence by September 7, 2014. We needed adequate time to design, engineer, fabricate and fully test all systems plus train the pilot to establish a high level of confidence to insure a 99.5% probability of success for the rider. Rushing and only achieving 70% probability of success by starting at this late date to us was unacceptable.

5) Extending the jump date to July 4th, 2015 was also unacceptable to Beckley Media.

6) The AeroVisions proposed jump bike would be a genuine drivable motorcycle that could "jump" over 1/2 mile in distance and land on its wheels on the other side. It would NOT be a non-road worthy, non-motorcycle, rocket powered missile that would slide up a launch rail like a child's model rocket toy.

All we can say is best of luck to Big Ed in "gettin' er done" safely this September.

Rest in Peace Oct 17,1938 - Nov 30, 2007.

Doug Malewicki was the designer and engineer of Evel Knievel's steam rocket powered SkyCycle X-1 canyon jumping motorcycle. Doug is shown here shaking hands with Evel at the machine's unveiling at the Twin Falls, Idaho Snake River canyon jump site on May 6, 1972. On the left is rocket pioneer, Robert Truax who invented and holds the patents on Steam Rocket engines. Wearing sunglasses is Facundo Campoy, one of Truax's partners.

Niagara Falls Aerospace Museum Rocket Belt Conference PHOTOS Click HERE to see the online PBS interviews & flight videos from the conference

NUCLEAR WAR - Doug's 1965 Game Invention

As time passed, the weapons used in the basic game became obsolete, so expansion sets with newer futuristic weapons were created:

1965 - The original Nuclear War 1982 - Nuclear Escalation 1992 Nuclear Proliferation 1996 Nuclear War Booster Packs 2004 Weapons of Mass Destruction (YES - that is THE DROID OF DEATH on the cover of the newest game!)

Doug and his original Nuclear War game were inducted into the Adventure Game Hall of Fame in 1998. 2015 will be the 50th Anniversary of Nuclear War! F. B. I. will celebrate with a NEW SPECIAL EDITION!

Droid phone screen shot Still ticking after 48 years! The RadioAPPtive Fallout Spinner is now available in the DROID & iPhone marketplaces. (SEARCH: Nuclear War Spinner)

You use the touch screen to swipe the arrow to get it moving. As it spins, it makes Geiger Counter ticking sounds. When it stops you will hear the results. Hilarious voiceover comments in an over-the-top Russkie accent by actress Claudia Christian, well known for her TV character - Commander Ivanova of the SciFi hit series Babylon 5. [Special thanks to Rick Roszko, Rick Loomis & Steve Johnson]

"LOST WORLDS" COMBAT FANTASY BOOKS

Michelle has taken up trail running like her dad & has evolved into a top ranked ultra distance speedster. Over the years Michelle set numerous female course records for 50K and 50 mile race distances - including six as overall winner where she "chicked" all the men!

She won first female & fourth overall at the Javelina Jundred 100 mile trail race in Arizona in a 19:42 time. She was 4 hours ahead of the second place female! Pictures

ORDER PAGE Hard to find Rocket Books on 90% Hydrogen Peroxide, Steam and Solid Propellant rocket systems; California Commuter Car plans; Air Car plans; Nuclear War games/T-Shirts! We take PayPal payments for USA & foreign orders. PayPal processes most credit cards too.

Click HERE to see MORE pictures of Doug Malewicki's other inventions and read his free TIPS for new inventors.

Doug's favorite quotes (besides Yoda!)

"Life is what you make it; always has been; always will be." -- Grandma Moses

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