Syrinx - Comments

Do migraine genes run on X chromosomes?

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:05:52 -0600

It occurred to me while watching "100 Greatest Discoveries:Genetics" last night on the Discovery Channel that the genetic tendency for migraines are probably passed through the X chromosome, given that more women than men seem to have migraines, and in Susan's case, the intuitive understanding that it was passed from father to daughter. I don't know if this idea has surfaced on the migraine boards, but you might want to ask your neurologist if any research has been looking at this. Shouldn't be too difficult to get some migraineurs to give up a few cheek cells for DNA extraction, PCR amplification, and hunting for specific genes. If they haven't already been doing that. Just seems logical. And I don't remember reading that in the article...the focus seemed to be mainly on the neuro and chemical pathways.

excellent science journalism

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:02:58 -0600

I was impressed by the style and substance of the science journalism writing in the article. Nothing fancy - just a series of straightforward questions and no-nonsense answers about the research and the implications, limitations, and so forth. Rare to find, but it would be so easy to emulate, since it's so obvious an approach, and so easy to understand.

and here's NASA's total Solar Eclipse website with webcast links

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:00:26 -0600

you gotta scroll way down for the web cast links and wake up early in the morning in order to see the eclipse in China, it would appear. http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2008/TSE2008.html

Where and how to see the eclipse - breaking news just in!

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:51:44 -0600

here's the link

thank you for posting this!

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:19:22 -0600

Thank you for this. It just firms up what I have suspected for so long. It is a new age we live in now. The contrast from when I used to seek med help 20 years ago is staggering. Sadly I have significant post traumatic stress from these bad encounters, and do not go easily to new doctors. I am working on being better about it, but the old school is still out there. I do remember one doctor, who I only saw once, about 20 years ago who was very enlightened and asked some of the most unusual questions about my condition. When I first met him, I thought he was the janitor, not a doctor. He was not at all self aware. But very patient aware. He asked if I noticed a pattern of yawning prior to onset of pain. He asked if I could recall the day before an attack if I had strange food cravings. He asked if I noticed when I was underwater (swimming of course) if my eye sight improved (the answer to that one is yes btw). He also wanted to know if I had spikes of intellectual insight and generally felt "smarter" a few hours prior to an attack. I was floored by that question because it was something my father talked about too. How we are so smart just before the worst attacks - he used to think it was punishment for being a smarty pants, (his words) but the doctor had a different idea on that. As I understand it, our brain stem has an influence on all the stuff I just mentioned. Could be the dr. that looked like a janitor, just may be right. Oh... and my father was a smarty pants - just for the record.

This is the Midtown Dickens and the tune

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:14:55 -0600

Saw them at SXSW at the Stephen Austin Hotel, an emergency vehicle with siren on went past on Congress while they were playing the song... told them they should keep the siren in future performances...this video was recorded at Bull City Headquarters in Durham January 27, 2008, a few months previous.

even more unabashed

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:35:46 -0600

http://nitsnbarbs.blogspot.com/2008/07/american-flag-as-fashion-statement.html

fotc!

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 09:26:28 -0600

Love it! That's one of the funniest Flight of the Conchords songs, in my opinion.

who he was...

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:09:09 -0600

When I was in junior high school he came to talk to our entire school. I was in grade six, and none of us had a clue who he was. The reason he came to Montclair Junior High - was because it was one of the first open concept schools in Canada. The teachers impressed on us the importance of this event, but we were not really clear on what he would have to say to us. It kinda backfired on the school as he stated he felt education needs structure and that was the opposite of what this school was trying to do. He said something to the effect of an open mind needs the information before it can be open. And went on to say you have to know the words, if you are going to speak. Plus he knew that teenagers are not going to be structured people. That really is the crux of the matter. If you can do what you want, you will. Heck dog training had better structure to it than that school. The students really liked him. The teachers did not. He was right. About 3 years after I left - the school was redone. No more open concepts. MP for Ontario, Bill Davis was the reason that the open school experiment even happened. It was a disaster on many levels - and I had to go to summer school to make up for the lost education that Mcluhan so rightly predicted would happen. While I did not actually meet him, it was impressive looking back that he would even come to our school. He did talk about media but I can't say I really remember what he said. I probably was thinking of what I would do with all my unstructured time.

love and hate this time of year

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:53:14 -0600

Love it because it's summer. Hate it because the days are now moving toward being shorter. thanks so much for posting this. Love that picture.

correction - at least two fawns in the herd

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:43:01 -0600

The other day I saw one doe with two fawns passing by along the feeding route past the back yard. So there must be at least two of them. Or I'm hallucinating. Today I only saw one fawn during the feeding session I observed.

Why do usability professionals hate web users?

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:10:40 -0600

quote from the BBC story above: "Web users are getting more ruthless and selfish" compare with this snippet of text from About.com's section on Psychology:

Projection is a defense mechanism that involves taking our own unacceptable qualities or feelings and ascribing them to other people. For example, if you have a strong dislike for someone, you might instead believe that he or she does not like you. Projection functions to allow the expression of the desire or impulse, but in a way that the ego cannot recognize, therefore reducing anxiety.

Well, that explains why it doesn't help to have TOO much theoretical knowledge or even insight to be a usability professional...

Re: all slicked up for the camera

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:08:00 -0600

Very cute indeed! Nice picture.

"no longer available" working again - good tune

Wed, 21 May 2008 14:42:36 -0600

update - hey it worked this time. will wonders never cease... i even saw a bit on cnn on the phenomenon today =================================================== i got a "we're sorry, this video is no longer available" message from YouTube. This usually only happens when I try to watch videos that present clips of John McCain contradicting himself on the campaign trail. Maybe it's just my internet provider protecting me from objectionable content - like Eric and John? or maybe because the link had "war" in it? and it crossed the border from Canada? who knows? I even tried using just the URL from YouTube and opening it in Internet Explorer instead of FireFox. Thank goodness the technology is so easy to use these days.

A Larkspur by any other name...

Thu, 08 May 2008 08:14:46 -0600

While it's interesting to know the true species of plant, I appreciate seeing the pictures you take of your garden just as much without that information. :) Thanks for contributing so much here.