It's Hard to do the Right Thing!

Stem Cells FAQs

New York Times
January 24, 2006
A Conversation With Douglas Melton
At Harvard's Stem Cell Center, the Barriers Run Deep and Wide
By CLAUDIA DREIFUS

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - To enter his laboratory at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute here, Douglas Melton must use a special key card that electronically checks his identity.

Even before President Bush barred federal financing for most human embryonic stem cell research in August 2001, the work of Dr. Melton was mired in controversy.

And once the ban was enacted, a new set of barriers rose, extending the scientists' challenges far beyond the test tube.

At Dr. Melton's lab, embryonic stem cells from fertilized human eggs are part of a search for a cure to Type 1 diabetes.

Though Dr. Melton's research is privately financed, he must certify that no federal money supports any of his efforts. Hence the key cards. They provide a kind of barrier against people and things that have a federal tie.

"Running a stem cell lab is a little like keeping a kosher kitchen: you've got to really keep things separate," said Dr. Melton, who is 52. "Actually, a kosher kitchen is probably easier."

Q. Last month, after the Korean stem cell cloning scandal broke, a Roman Catholic scientist-theologian, the Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, told The Boston Globe that too many researchers in this renegade branch of science had been playing down the grave ethical concerns for much too long. What is your response?

A. My first response is, There's nothing unethical about what we're doing here. We think embryonic stem cells can be made to become pancreatic beta cells and that they will be able to help diabetics produce their own insulin. I've never once doubted the morality of this work.

This is all about differing religious beliefs. I don't believe I have the right to tell others when life begins. Science doesn't have the answer to that question; it's metaphysical.

Now it's true, we use fertilized human eggs to derive embryonic stem cells. And those fertilized eggs have the potential, under certain circumstances, to become a living person. There are many who believe that there's a moral imperative to use that potential to try to help living sick people.

I hold with them.

Q. You have a child at home with diabetes, right?

A. It's a little bit uncomfortable to talk about this. But it's not a secret. My interest was, for many years, in basic embryology.

When my son, Samuel, was about 6 months old, he came down with Type 1 diabetes, which means that his pancreas couldn't make insulin. About four years ago, my daughter came down with this same disease.

Like any parent, I asked myself, What can I do? The answer was to shift my research to an area that might help them.

I wanted my children to know I was doing everything I could for them.

Q. Does the Korean stem call scandal surrounding the stem cell research of Hwang Woo Suk make your work harder?

A. It has to raise, in the public's mind, the question as to whether there's legitimacy to this kind of science. Fortunately, stem cell research is not dependent on one discovery. Even though Hwang's findings turned out to be fraudulent, nothing he claimed was a fundamental challenge to the principles of embryonic stem cell research.

Hwang claimed to have successfully cloned human embryos, which was only a technical accomplishment. It's something that's already been done in animals.

If you ask me what really holds this research back, I'd say that the policies of the Bush administration have affected us more significantly than the Hwang debacle. The lack of federal support keeps many of America's brightest young scientists from working in this area.

Q. Were you ever skeptical of Dr. Hwang as he reported a succession of breakthroughs in human stem cell research?

A. I'd like to tell you I suspected something. I didn't. When his papers were published, I read them carefully. I was impressed by the speed and the efficiency by which he'd cloned a human embryo. We hadn't done those experiments ourselves. So I didn't know how difficult it would be in humans.

I met Dr. Hwang and his colleagues several times. He didn't seem nutty, squirrely or deceptive or anything like that.

Q. How exactly has President Bush's ban on federal financing for most embryonic stem cell study affected your research?

A. It made it more difficult, to say the least. Long before Bush's speech, we had planned stem cell experiments. Afterward, we were able to go forward because the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Juvenile Diabetes Association and Harvard alumni provided private funding.

However, because of administration policy, we had to set up this whole new laboratory that was separate from everything else here at Harvard.

And we had to separate the money in a really scrupulous way. We have an accountant who makes sure that not a penny of federal funds goes to embryonic stem cell research. We have separate everything - light bulbs, computers, centrifuges.

This can be burdensome. Most of the activities at this university receive federal money in some indirect way. So you have to ask yourself, "How can you do the research without any imprint of federal funding?"

And we're not just talking about equipment and real estate; it's people. Let's suppose there's a graduate student who's receiving a federally funded fellowship, can he or she participate in thinking about this research or even look at the data? The answer is no.

Q. Some say that your laboratory's existence proves that the Bush administration's directive didn't stop research in this controversial area. Are they right?

A. Listen, I'm a tenured professor at Harvard, where I have a president who backs my freedom of inquiry - and puts money behind it. If I'd been at a state college, it would have been a different story. Though some states are now keen to support stem cell research, state governments, at first, were very worried.

The bottom line here is that it's unlikely that one person or one lab will solve a problem as big as degenerative diseases, which is what stem cell researchers are trying to do.

It takes a community of people in an area to solve a big problem. If you were trying to solve cancer at two places, no one would think that was enough.

Q. Your lab created 30 stem cell lines and offered them free to any scientist who wanted them. Why?

A. Because in his speech, President Bush said that he was going to permit federal funding for scientists to work with some 60 pre-existing stem cell lines and it turned out that there were probably only about 10 usable lines. Maybe a few more.

And many of those were problematic. Some had abnormal chromosomes, like a cancer cell might. If you're using stem cells to create pancreatic beta or muscle or nerve cells, you want to begin with high-quality normal cells.

All the pre-existing lines were grown with mouse cells - which probably means you can't ever use them with human patients to treat diseases. Some of the lines, when researchers asked for them, came from a biotech company or some investigator who wanted to impose onerous restrictions on their use.

So we made our cell lines because we thought there aren't enough human stem cell lines around for researchers to really explore their properties.

We offered them free of charge because there's a long scientific tradition of making the fruits of one's research available to others.

Q. How far have you gotten in your quest to find a way to make pancreatic cells that will produce insulin for patients?

A. I'd say we've made progress. We don't know exactly how much because we don't yet know how many pieces there are in the puzzle we're trying to solve. I'm an optimist, though. I don't think we'll fail.

Bushisms

---

A neat place, check it out: http://www.internetweekly.org/

The Nation

Finally, it has started. People have begun to speak of impeaching President George W. Bush--not in hushed whispers but openly, in newspapers, on the Internet, in ordinary conversations and even in Congress. As a former member of Congress who sat on the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon, I believe they are right to do so.

I can still remember the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach during those proceedings, when it became clear that the President had so systematically abused the powers of the presidency and so threatened the rule of law that he had to be removed from office. As a Democrat who opposed many of President Nixon's policies, I still found voting for his impeachment to be one of the most sobering and unpleasant tasks I ever had to undertake. None of the members of the committee took pleasure in voting for impeachment; after all, Democrat or Republican, Nixon was still our President.

At the time, I hoped that our committee's work would send a strong signal to future Presidents that they had to obey the rule of law. I was wrong.

Like many others, I have been deeply troubled by Bush's breathtaking scorn for our international treaty obligations under the United Nations Charter and the Geneva Conventions. I have also been disturbed by the torture scandals and the violations of US criminal laws at the highest levels of our government they may entail, something I have written about in these pages [see Holtzman, "Torture and Accountability," July 18/25, 2005]. These concerns have been compounded by growing evidence that the President deliberately misled the country into the war in Iraq. But it wasn't until the most recent revelations that President Bush directed the wiretapping of hundreds, possibly thousands, of Americans, in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)--and argued that, as Commander in Chief, he had the right in the interests of national security to override our country's laws--that I felt the same sinking feeling in my stomach as I did during Watergate.

As a matter of constitutional law, these and other misdeeds constitute grounds for the impeachment of President Bush. A President, any President, who maintains that he is above the law--and repeatedly violates the law--thereby commits high crimes and misdemeanors, the constitutional standard for impeachment and removal from office. A high crime or misdemeanor is an archaic term that means a serious abuse of power, whether or not it is also a crime, that endangers our constitutional system of government.

The framers of our Constitution feared executive power run amok and provided the remedy of impeachment to protect against it. While impeachment is a last resort, and must never be lightly undertaken (a principle ignored during the proceedings against President Bill Clinton), neither can Congress shirk its responsibility to use that tool to safeguard our democracy. No President can be permitted to commit high crimes and misdemeanors with impunity.

But impeachment and removal from office will not happen unless the American people are convinced of its necessity after a full and fair inquiry into the facts and law is conducted. That inquiry must commence now.

---

Read the rest at The Nation:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060130/holtzman

The Impeachment of George W. Bush
by ELIZABETH HOLTZMAN
[from the January 30, 2006 issue]

The NationMart

With memorable artwork by John Carr, this image appeared on The Nation's cover on September 13, 2002 and became an instant classic.

Vomit

President Bush continues practice of taking audience questions

From today's cnn.com online article, just the most nauseating of the quotes:

He also ruled out any future run for office by his wife, Laura, in response to a plea from a fan who called her "one of the best first ladies we've ever had." And he disclosed that Mrs. Bush designed the rug in the Oval Office.

Bush has taken a wide variety of questions in three appearances during the last six weeks. Many of the people he has called on have fawned over him, thanking him for his wartime leadership, saying they pray for him and bringing best wishes from other fans in their family who couldn't be there.

TUG Knows Best

NOT VINTAGE!

Grasshopper

A dog sports a costume of a grasshopper, by a Russian designer Valentina Mokrushina during a dog fashion show in the Russia's southern city of Stavropol.

December 21, 2005.
REUTERS/Eduard Korniyenko

Bush Explains Medicare Drug Bill

WOMAN IN AUDIENCE: 'I don't really understand. How is it the new plan going to fix the problem?'

Verbatim response: PRESIDENT BUSH:

'Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculated, for example, is on the table. Whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to that has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, supposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red.'

Artwork from: http://www.dc37.net/news/PEP/6_2005/medicareD.html

Live in NY?

You Know You're From New York (tug and little m., is this TRUE?)

When... You're 35 years old and don't have a driver's license.

You ride in a subway car with no air conditioning just because there are seats available.

You take the train home and you know exactly where on the platform the doors will open that will leave you right in front of the exit stairway.

You know what a "regular" coffee is.

It's not Manhattan...... It's the "city".

There is no north and south. It's "uptown" or "downtown."

If you're really from New York you have absolutely no concept of where north and south are....

And east or west is "crosstown."

You cross the street anywhere but on the corners and you yell at cars for not respecting your right to do it.

You move 3,000 miles away, spend 10 years learning the local language and people still know you're from Brooklyn the minute you open your mouth.

You return after 10 years and the first foods you want are a "real" pizza and a "real" bagel.

A 500 square foot apartment is large.

You know the differences between all the different Ray's pizzas.

You are not under the mistaken impression that any human being would be able to actually understand a p.a. Announcement on the subway.

You wouldn't bother ordering pizza in any other city.

You get ready to order dinner every night and must choose from the major food groups which are: Chinese, Italian, Mexican or Indian.

You're not the least bit interested in going to Times Square on New Year's eve.

Your internal clock is permanently set to know when alternate side of the street parking regulations are in effect.

Someone bumps into you, and you check for your wallet.

You don't even notice the lady walking down the road having a perfectly normal conversation with herself.

You pay "only" $230 a month to park your car.

The presidential visit is a major traffic jam, not an honor.

You can nap on the subway and never miss your stop.

The deli guy gives you a straw with any beverage you buy, even if it's a beer.

Happy Hoyan

Posted Jan. 01, 2005
By Lee Reinsch
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers

Oneida custom helps celebrate New Year’s Day
Tribe members visit homes, greet with ‘Hoyan’

It’s the holiday season and along with cheerful greetings of Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and Happy New Year is one you might not have ever heard — Happy Hoyan!

Hoyan is a traditional New Year’s festival celebrated by the Oneida during which tribe members visit each other’s homes where delicious treats are laid out for them to eat and drink. They greet each other with Happy Hoyan or simply, Hoyan.

“On New Year’s Day, my grandfather and neighbors would take the sleigh and horses, and we’d go from one home to another,” said Pearl McLester, an Oneida.

“The houses were few and far between then, and we greeted each other with, ‘Hoyan!’ They’d invite us in for something hot to drink and doughnuts. Homemade doughnuts.”

There was always something hot waiting for visitors. For children, “something hot” meant cocoa, and for adults, tea.

“People had more tea back then than they had coffee years ago,” McLester said. “Today, people go for a sleigh ride or a hayride, and they take bobsleds that are full of hay, so they stay warm.”

This holiday season, McLester and her family will hold their own Hoyan celebration at the parish hall, with Indian corn soup, homemade doughnuts and “something hot to drink.”

The family of Oneida member Barbara Skenandore has made and handed out homemade banana doughnuts for more than three generations. “We’ve been doing this since I was very little,” Skenandore said.

“My mom did it and my grandmother before her did it,” Skenandore said.

“We have them ready by 7 a.m. New Year’s Day. It usually goes till around 1 p.m.”

They get the doughnuts ready and wait for people to knock on the door and yell, “Hoyan!” she said.

Skenandore said she believes the word Hoyan means “and again,” or “and another,” as in another year.

Jerry Hill, an Oneida, said Hoyan has always been something not to be missed.

“The kids would get hot chocolate or cookies. It was always a fun thing, as cold as it was, we’d be sure to make the trip down the road,” Hill said. “Of course, there were always a couple people who always had the best cookies — big and thick with frosting, all decorated with Santas or Christmas trees.”

Lee Reinsch writes for the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

hmmmmmmmmmmmm

A woman goes to the doctor for her yearly physical.

The nurse starts with certain basic items.
"How much do you weigh?" she asks.
"115," she says.
The nurse puts her on the scale. It turns out her weight is 150.

The nurse asks, "Your height?"
"5 foot 8," she says.
The nurse checks and sees that she only measures 5' 3".

She then takes her blood pressure and tells the woman it is very high.
"Of course it's high!" she screams,
"When I came in here I was tall and slender! Now I'm short and fat!"

Grind my Teeth!

Quoted from Maureen Dowd's New York Times column, dated 1-4-2006:

And since the imperial presidency is run by the vice president, W. has a lot of free time to do the things he likes to do. Confined with his wife and mother-in-law at the Crawford ranch, he spent his Christmas vacation mountain-biking and clearing brush.

He left the ranch for a brief visit at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where he kidded in a way that again showed his jarring lack of empathy with the amputees from Iraq and Afghanistan:

"As you can possibly see, I have an injury myself - not here at the hospital, but in combat with a cedar. I eventually won. The cedar gave me a little scratch. As a matter of fact, the colonel asked if I needed first aid when she first saw me. I was able to avoid any major surgical operations here, but thanks for your compassion, colonel."

Animal Cell-Free Stem Cell Lines

01/01/06

WISCONSIN SCIENTISTS GROW TWO NEW STEM CELL LINES IN ANIMAL CELL-FREE CULTURE

MADISON - Scientists working at the WiCell Research Institute, a private laboratory affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have developed a precisely defined stem cell culture system free of animal cells and used it to derived two new human embryonic stem cell lines.

The new work, which is reported today (Jan. 1, 2006) in the journal Nature Biotechnology, helps move stem cells a small step closer to clinical reality by completely ridding the culture medium in which they are grown of animal products that could harbor viruses or other deleterious agents.

Successfully growing living cells outside the body generally requires providing the cells in a lab dish with the right mix of nutrients, hormones, growth factors and blood serum. But those methods have often depended on animal cells - such as those obtained from mouse embryos in the case of embryonic stem cells - and other animal products to keep the cells alive and thriving in culture. Some scientists worry that animal viruses and other problematic agents might be taken up in the human cells and infect human patients, should those cells be used for therapy.

"All of the concerns about contaminating proteins in existing stem cell lines can essentially be removed using this medium," says the Nature Biotechnology paper's lead author, Tenneille Ludwig, a UW-Madison research scientist working at WiCell who led the effort to develop the
new culture media. "This work helps us clear some of the major hurdles for using these cells therapeutically."

"We've been optimizing (culture) media on the existing stem cell lines since 1998, but it has only been recently that there have been dramatic improvements," says James Thomson, the senior author of the new study and a UW-Madison professor of anatomy who seven years ago was the first to successfully grow human embryonic stem cells in the lab. "This is the first time it has been possible for us to derive new cell lines in completely defined conditions in medium that completely lacks animal products."

Other groups, Thomson notes, have cultured established human embryonic stem cells in animal-product free media, but those efforts included the use of poorly defined or proprietary products, and no one has previously demonstrated derivation of new cell lines in defined conditions.

The two new Wisconsin stem cell lines have survived for more than seven months in the new culture medium. Thomson says one of the new lines had an abnormal chromosome at four months, while the second line initially was normal but developed an abnormality by seven months.

In addition to testing the new stem cell culture medium on new lines, Thomson's group successfully cultured four existing stem cell lines in the new culture mix for extended periods, and their chromosomes remained normal.

"It is unclear how much these changes are related to the medium at this point, as we have occasionally observed similar changes in previous culture conditions," he says. "However, these changes do indicate that that further work is needed to understand chromosome stability of stem cells during long-term culture."

In early 2005, WiCell scientists reported that they were able to culture stem cells in the absence of mouse feeder cells, the most prominent animal product in stem cell culture systems. The new work effectively removes remaining animal products such as bovine serum and replaces them
with products of human origin in a recipe that is completely defined.

But while the new Wisconsin work represents an important advance for stem cell technology, the ability to now grow embryonic stem cells in cultures free of animal products could accentuate the debate over federal funding for research on additional stem cell lines. The Senate is expected to take up the issue early in 2006 when it debates legislation that would expand funding to lines derived after August 2001, when President Bush imposed a compromise enabling federal funds to be used for the first time to study a limited number of established stem cell lines.

"Derivation and culture in serum-free, animal product-free, feeder-independent conditions mean that new human (embryonic stem) cell lines could be qualitatively different from the original lines, and makes current public policy in the United States increasingly unsound,"
the authors of the new Nature Biotechnology report conclude.

While the 2001 compromise effectively opened up the field of embryonic stem cell research in the United States, researchers have been calling for expanding the number of lines approved for federal funding because existing lines have been shown to accumulate genetic mutations that, while not a serious impediment to scientific research, make the lines questionable for therapeutic use. What's more, some scientists say additional lines are needed to ensure broad diversity in order to better match patients with cells and gain a more comprehensive understanding of disease as it affects people with different genetic backgrounds.

The original five stem cell lines derived by Thomson in 1998, like many subsequently derived lines, depend on tissue culture technology that was established in the 1950s. In addition to mouse feeder cells obtained from mouse embryos, the original embryonic stem cell cultures depended on bovine serum products.

The two new Wisconsin stem cell lines were derived from five blastocysts, embryos less than a week old and which were donated for research with the informed, written consent of patients who were no longer undergoing treatment for infertility. The experiments were reviewed and approved by the UW-Madison's institutional review board, a panel that oversees work with human subjects.

All of the work to derive the new stem cell lines was conducted at the privately funded, not-for-profit WiCell Research Institute using WiCell employees, facilities and equipment.

WiCell is operated by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), a private, not-for-profit organization that manages intellectual property on behalf of UW-Madison faculty and staff researchers. WARF holds the patents for stem cell technology based on Thomson's pioneering stem cell ork.

The only thing left is green tea!

Jan 3, 4:26 PM EST

Studies: Statins Don't Lower Cancer Risk
By CARLA K. JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO (AP) -- Two new studies deal a double blow to hopes that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs could help prevent cancer as well as heart disease.

In one report, researchers analyzed 26 rigorous, randomized studies involving more than 73,000 patients and concluded that drugs such as top-selling Lipitor and Zocor had no effect on the risk of developing or dying from any form of cancer.

The findings appear in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The other study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found that cholesterol-lowering drugs, including statins, were of no benefit for preventing colorectal cancer.

"We were very hopeful that we would verify there was an anti-cancer effect," said C. Michael White of the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy, who led the analysis appearing in JAMA. "We ended up showing no change in cancer or cancer death."

White said the new findings - as well as the rare but potential side effects of statins, which can include liver damage and muscle pain - should discourage doctors from prescribing them solely to prevent cancer.

People should continue taking them to lower cholesterol and prevent heart attacks, he said. "It really is a great drug for heart disease," White said.

Hope for statins as cancer fighters was sharpened by the fact that so many people already take them to lower cholesterol and the drugs are widely considered safe. Previous research, including animal studies and observational studies of people, had suggested statins might prevent various types of cancer.
For example, researchers looked at medical records for 1.4 million patients treated at 10 Veterans Affairs centers and found that those taking statins had lower rates of breast, prostate and lung cancer than those who hadn't taken such drugs.

And a study of Israeli patients published earlier this year showed a 47 percent lower risk of colorectal cancer in people who used statins for at least five years.

However, these were not randomized studies - meaning patients were not randomly picked to receive statins and then studied to see what effects the drugs had. Researchers consider randomized studies to yield the best evidence.

The colorectal cancer study was observational - the weakest sort of evidence - but very large. Researchers found no link between statin use and colorectal cancer when they looked at data on more than 132,000 people enrolled in the cancer prevention study.

In an accompanying editorial, John McLaughlin of the Prosserman Centre for Health Research in Toronto, wrote "... it remains premature to conclude that a large chemoprevention trial with statins that is aimed at reducing colorectal cancer risk is warranted."

White also believes it is time to stop spending money on more studies of cancer and statins.

However, Dr. Stephen Gruber of the University of Michigan, who led the Israeli study, said the new analysis is valuable but suggests that more research is needed.

"When you see contrasting conclusions like this, it's often an opportunity to learn more," Gruber said.

Not GWB

"WISDOM--Contains knowledge, understanding, patience, intuition and a dash of skepticism."

Top 10 GWB New Year's Resolutions

Top Ten George W. Bush New Year's Resolutions
From the "Late Show with David Letterman"

10. Fewer decisions based on wild, drunken hunches

9. Have N.S.A. find out what really happened between Nick and Jessica

8. Stop using Situation Room monitors to play X-Box 360

7. More C-SPAN, less "Yes, Dear"

6. Team up with leading scientists to make Cheetos even cheesier

5. To capture and bring to justice King Kong

4. Beat the twins at beer pong

3. Respond to reporters questions with, "Bitch, don't go there"

2. Scale back on grueling 12-hour work week

1. "Who needs resolutons? Everything is fine"

Bobby - dear brother

The true underlying secret to dying well is living well – including being ever-present to the reciousness of our days and “attending well and faithfully to at least a few worthy things.”

Kalidasa, a third-century Hindu poet:

Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the
verities and realities
of our existence:

The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendor of beauty;
For yesterday is but a
dream
And tomorrow is only a
vision;
But today, well lived,
makes every yesterday
a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow
a vision of hope.
Let us look well, therefore,
to this day.

Though I am not a Christian, I've always felt something for this prayer:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4244755

A Psalm as Salve for the Modern World (NPR and Rabbi Harold Kushner )

The Twenty-third Psalm

A Psalm of David
The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul:

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for

His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me;

Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:

Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Valley of the Shadow of Death

Roger Fenton

British, Ukraine, 1855

Salt print

10 7/8 x 13 3/4 in.

84.XM.504.23

http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/objects/o67114.html

From http://www.answers.com/topic/valley-of-the-shadow-of-death

valley of the shadow of death

An expression from the Twenty-third Psalm (“The Lord is my shepherd”).

Figuratively, the “valley of the shadow of death” stands for the perils of life, from which God protects believers.

---

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me....

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now, I see.

T'was Grace that taught...

my heart to fear.

And Grace, my fears relieved.

How precious did that Grace appear...

the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...

we have already come.

T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...

and Grace will lead us home.

The Lord has promised good to me...

His word my hope secures.

He will my shield and portion be...

as long as life endures.

When we've been here ten thousand years...

bright shining as the sun.

We've no less days to sing God's praise...

then when we've first begun.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me....

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now, I see.

To: MOMO
From: Bobo
Remember the lemurs?

To: Mummy Roberts
From: Bobo the Clown Roberts

Message:
I WOVE YOU MUMMY

Old American Century

My Dad

http://www.uwp.edu/departments/university.relations/annualreport/03annualreport/value.pdf
The second show was a memorial retrospective of the work of Steve Vasy, a
retired tool and die maker who attended UW-Parkside for 22 years and was
made an honorary member of the Art Department faculty. The show included
his work, plus work done about Vasy by a host of alumni and faculty members.


Vasy found elements everywhere for his art
BY SHERRI L. JACKSON, Nov. 21, 2001
RACINE -- Your trash and junk could very well have landed in Stephen Vasy's house.

He combed the streets in search of stone, wood and metal that he could use to make sculptures. "He picked up anything he thought he could make something out of," said Marjorie Vasy, Stephen's wife of 55 years.Stephen, 83, died Monday at his home that is filled with the art he's created since 1980.

Vasy, a sculptor and printmaker, had been creating art since retiring from tool-and-die making in 1980. The first art class he took was sculpture. It was sort of like tool making, where you shape the material.

"He retired and wanted to do something. He had never done art before. He tried until he found something he could do," Marjorie Vasy said.

Besides Vasy's love of art, he was a longtime member of the YMCA and an art student at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside from 1979 to 2001.

In May 1998, he was made an honorary professor in the university's art department, which has established a scholarship in his name.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday at Draeger-Langendorf Funeral Home, 1910 Taylor Ave. Relatives and friends are invited to meet with the family from 2 p.m. until the time of the services.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Parkside's art department for the Vasy scholarship.

UW-Parkside hosts renown print show
BY JEFF WILFORD, January 27, 2000

Compared to the art museums and universities of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside appears outclassed. That is, unless, your art is printmaking. Parkside hosts one of the year's most prestigious print exhibitions, this weekend, attracting nearly 100 artists to its campus.

What started out as a way to attract national attention to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside has blossomed into a prestigious annual event.

The National Print Show displays artwork by some of the biggest names in American printmaking. It is the only juried print show in Wisconsin and one of only a few in the United States.

"I think that I've found the people throughout the United States, if I tell them I teach at UW-Parkside, they say, 'Oh, I know your print show,'" says Doug DeVinny, an art professor and the person responsible for organizing the exhibit.

The show highlights all types of print media -- lithographs, etchings, screen prints and digital prints to name a few, DeVinny says.

The exhibition started years ago after university administrators solicited ideas for projects that would bring national attention to the school. DeVinny had experience working with prints, so he put together the initial funding and started the show.

That was 14 years ago. The first print show was by invitation. The 13 since then have been juried.

This year's show features 116 works by 99 artists from 47 states. Artists were selected by a judge from a field of about 800 prints by almost 300 artists, DeVinny says.

The works are an eclectic blend of surrealism and realism, of hope and despair, of bright and dark colors. A pageful of fake billion-dollar bills. A print of a man, daughter and dog all wearing gas masks. A graphic depiction of a man and woman contemplating a sexual encounter.
It's entirely possible that some of the biggest names in the print medium have works hanging next to works by college undergraduates, hanging next to works by UW-Parkside faculty, DeVinny says.

Among the artists in the show are five Racine artists:

Margaret Suchland, print-maker.
This is not Suchland's first appearnce in the National Print Show. She has been juried in several times before.

"I've been very fortunate," she says. "But it doesn't matter. Each time is a wonderful feeling."
Maybe a little more wonderful since her print, "Alphabet," won a purchase award this year.
"Alphabet" is a collage. Each letter is represented three times, in different fonts, giving it the appearance of a ransom note assembled from letters cut out of magazines. Suchland designed the letters on computer then printed them on oriental paper.

Suchland also etched the pattern in the background of "Alphabet" and layered it to give the effect of multiple images. The work was inspired by her fascination with the alphabet -- with the different forms, symbolism and personalities of each letter.

"The pattern on the piece that's combined with the alphabet is based on ancient civilization and the symbolism attached to mark-making and the alphabet," she says. "I'm not trying to express anything profound. It's oftentimes an element of design. And a lot of times, it's strictly experimentation ... And I thought it was kind of exciting to take a traditional medium, like etching, and combine it with something digitally."

Alan Goldsmith, assistant art professor, UW-Parkside.
It wasn't until a few weeks before the entry deadline that Goldsmith settled on what print he would make.

Goldsmith, who has a degree in Russian, started by developing a print of the czar of Russia. The print would use tiny double-headed eagles instead of dots to form the image.
Too obscure, he thought. Nobody would get it. He needed something more contemporary, more recognizable.

The result: "Monopoly Money: A Page of Bills."
The work consists of a series of billion dollar bills, front and back. On the front, instead of the face of a president, is the face of Microsoft founder and president Bill Gates. Above him are the words "In Greed We Trust." On the back is a picture of Gates' mansion.
"I guess I always thought of Bill Gates as being more a money man and marketer than an innovator," Goldsmith explains.

He studied a typical dollar for features to incorporate, and researched Microsoft and Gates online. He designed the work on and printed it from his computer.

"Not a Windows machine," Goldsmith points out.

James S. Adams, United States Postal Service letter carrier.
Adams came upon the idea for his print, "Digital Encounter," by accident. It happened while he was scanning some of his art -- usually cast paper and plaster molds -- onto his computer to document them.

"I was just kind of playing around one day, inverting the colors, and I thought 'Wow, look at that," he says. "I like to experiment with color, yes. I would say those were deliberate colors. I wanted something positive."

Thus the surreal scheme of bright colors in "Digital Encounter," which appears as a handprint on a circuit board. Adams took his inspiration for the subject matter from a magazine article he read about surgically attaching mechanical hands to amputees.

To make the print, Adams scanned in images of his hand and a computer board on a computer. He also used images of an old Journal Times printing plate and some of his molds, although those may be difficult to spot.

Making prints on a computer is more flexible than making molds and has a wider variety of outcomes, he says.

"With the other process, it's kind of straight forward , start to finish, and once you get there, you're done," Adams says. "And there's nothing to do except major surgery to change it.
"With the computer, it's completely different ... There are so many possibilities with a computer that you can get lost."

Stephen Vasy, retired tool & dye maker

Vasy makes his first appearance in the National Print Show, although he has been making prints and sculpting since 1980. That's when he retired and took an art class to fill his time.

Vasy didn't limit himself to just one technique when creating his print, "I Think I Need This."
"It's a little bit of everything," he says. "Some dry point ... also cut-out sections and overlay."
The print depicts a police officer and three other people, including one with a pipe raised over his head. A razor wire fence occupies the bottom corner of the print.

The subject? "I guess violence, more than anything" Vasy says. "Things get out of hand."
The idea for the image came from a magazine or newspaper picture. Vasy can't remember exactly what the photo was or where he saw it. But it left an impression of violence, of one person beating another.

Vasy came up with the colors part by chance, part by design.
"Most of the time, I use red, blue and yellow and white. I use them almost always," he says. "In that particular print, I thinned out the ink with thinner... and that way the inks would flow together, blend."

David Holmes, professor of art, UW-Parkside.
"Rhinoceros" is a three-dimensional linocut sculpted in the shape of, well, a rhinoceros. The print is made of 10 pieces of paper, all tabbed and glued together.

"I don't want to say it's like a paper doll," Holmes says. "But it's like one of those turn-of-the-century paper models where you put tab A into tab B."

Each piece of paper bears a relief print. The work was inspired by 16th century artist and print maker Albrecht Durer, whom Holmes admires.

"Mine is a little bit more funky," Holmes says. "His is certainly much more academic."
He worked on the project for three weeks. The most difficult part was putting the paper together to resemble a rhinoceros.

Holmes came up with the idea because of work he is doing as part of a fellowship for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Center of 20th Century Studies. The theme of the fellowship is "Representing Animals."

This is the third year that Holmes' work has been accepted into the show.
"It's always a thrill," he says. "I think it's important, no matter how big a cheese you get to be, you exhibit locally."

SABCS

Photos From: Jamie Elizabeth Lang
Blog: http://www.jamieq.blogspot.com//
Regular: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamieq/

Bush's Bubble

From Interview with Brian Williams (NBC News):

"Williams: This says you're in a bubble. You have a very small circle of advisors now. Is that true? Do you feel in a bubble?

President Bush: No, I don't feel in a bubble. I mean, you feel in a bubble in the sense that I can't go walking out the front gate and, you know, go shopping, like I'd love to do for my wife. Although I may, I'm not going to tell you what I'm going to buy her.

Look, I feel like I'm getting really good advice from very capable people and that people from all walks of life have informed me and informed those who advise me. And I feel very comfortable that I'm very aware of what's going on.

I just talked to the president-elect of Honduras. A lot of my job is foreign policy. and I spend an enormous amount of time with leaders from other countries. And they come right here in the Oval Office and tell me what's on their mind and I tell them what's on my mind. This is the first time I'm seeing this magazine. "

Newsweek online is @ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10417159/site/newsweek/

Cody

Cody
Sponsored by: LindaR
Sponsored: December 7, 2005

I'm a ten-year-old border collie, but I still have spunk aplenty. I am intelligent, devoted, handsome....and modest!

Thanks to my angel, Linda, for recognizing all the wonderful qualities older dogs possess.

4 TUG

Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures - ah, the days of Ackermann's Fxn and the Traveling Salesman Problem....

and TUG, from the FOLDOC (Free On-Line Dictionary Of Computing)

algorithm
<algorithm, programming> A detailed sequence of actions to perform to accomplish some task. Named after an Iranian mathematician, Al-Khawarizmi.

Technically, an algorithm must reach a result after a finite number of steps, thus ruling out brute force search methods for certain problems, though some might claim that brute force search was also a valid (generic) algorithm. The term is also used loosely for any sequence of actions (which may or may not terminate).

Jack Benny

Hazard Rate

Hazard function(instantaneous failure rate, conditional failure, intensity, or force of mortality function):

The function that describes the probability of failure during a very small time increment (assuming that no failures have occurred prior to that time). Hazard is the slope of the survival curve – a measure of how rapidly subjects are having the event (dying, developing an outcome etc).

Hazard Rate:

It is a time-to-failure function used in survival analysis. It is defined as the probability per time unit that a case that has survived to the beginning of the respective interval will fail in that interval. Specifically, it is computed as the number of failures per time units in the respective interval, divided by the average number of surviving cases at the mid-point of the interval.

Hazard Ratio (Relative Hazard):

Hazard ratio compares two groups differing in treatments or prognostic variables etc. If the hazard ratio is 2.0, then the rate of failure in one group is twice the rate in the other group. The computation of the hazard ratio assumes that the ratio is consistent over time, and that any differences are due to random sampling. Before performing any tests of hypotheses to compare survival curves, the proportionality of hazards assumption should be checked (and should hold for the validity of Cox's proportional hazard models). (See also Log-rank test).

American Stroke Association

Stem Cell Research
AHA Policy

The American Heart Association funds meritorious research involving human adult stem cells as part of our scientific research grant program.

We do not fund any research involving stem cells derived from human embryos or fetal tissue.

The American Heart Association recognizes the value of all types of stem cell research and supports federal funding of this research. We are committed to supporting medical and scientific research to help us pursue our mission to reduce death and disability from cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

The New Medicare Law

American Society of Consultant Pharmacists Join Call to Protect Impoverished Americans from Going without Medications When Transitioned to Medicare Drug Coverage

Check out MRR's brief: http://www.medicarerights.org/12-05-05_Declaration_of%20Melinda_Roberts.pdf

Give Bush a Brain Game

Click the link, turn on your sound, and have fun.

Childhood

LI’L JINX
Medium: Comic Books
Published by: Archie Comics
First Appeared: 1947
Creator: Joe Edwards

Not sure I ever met her, but I think she is my kind of gal.






Jinx represented the "high-spirited" end of the spectrum (with Iodine at the opposite end).
Jinx was about six or so years old, born on Halloween (just like Edwards's own son). Her best friend was a boy named Charley. She was the only child of Hap and Merry Holliday, who were typical of comic book parents except for one thing. Hap was a comic book collector. No big point was ever made of the fact, but in one story, he pulled out some ancient back issues to show to Jinx.

Jinx's series continued for years, not just in the back pages of Pep but as fillers in other comics as well. She had her own title 1956-57, but after a half-dozen issues it was replaced.

Semper Canum

NUMBER: 1433
AUTHOR: William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
QUOTATION: Eye of
newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog.
ATTRIBUTION:
Macbeth. Act iv. Sc. 1. [text]

Only human

Plastic Surgery