I asked Bing Image Creator for an image of “A long cool woman in a black dress”. These were the responses:
I much prefer Barb in a black dress. Bing produced something I might expect to see in a horror movie. The poses are attractive though.
If it’s always been your dream to have the ability to live forever, you may be in luck as scientists believe we are just seven years away from achieving immortality.
Ellie Abraham
March 22, 2023
Humans predicted to achieve immortality within the next 8 years
Quoted in the article:
Kurzweil has also said he believes we will be able to “advance human life expectancy” by “more than a year every year and I think we can get there by the end of this decade”.
In an earlier book, IIRC, Kurzweil claimed we would reach this point by 2024. I hope the goalpost isn’t moved too much further. It is a very tough problem but there are some very promising results in rats and other lower life forms.
As uplifting as this is in a global sort of way, I always think of Eric when this comes up and I get a bit sad.
The study followed approximately 3,000 older white and black adults without dementia over an average duration of nine years, to find that white participants who frequently used sleep medications had a 79 percent increased risk of developing dementia compared to those who rarely used them.
George Citroner
February 22, 2023
Sleep Aids Linked to an 80 Percent Increased Risk of Dementia
Good to know.
You have to read most of the article to confirm that there is a causal affect from the medication to dementia and not just a correlation or even a causation in the other direction:
“We’ve known for a while that certain sleep medications like benzodiazepines are associated with an increased risk of dementia,” Percy Griffin, who holds a doctorate in molecular cell biology and is the Alzheimer’s Association director of scientific engagement
I have never taken any drugs for the purpose of aiding my sleep, but some people I am close to do.
Technically, this is eight blocks from what Barb and I consider ground zero on Mugme street, but this could be considered evidence the cancer has progressed this far since Barb and I last did an inspection.
Via a tweet from Sean D Sorrentino @SorrentinoSean:
CLOSE CALL: Once again, #Seattle crews cleared tents along 3rd Ave & Cherry St, block away from City Hall. I usually go back to see if anyone returned. Today, a deranged AXE WIELDING man came charging at me. Officials have to STOP this from coming back. @MayorofSeattle @GovInslee pic.twitter.com/3BTuI3aFnv
— Jonathan Choe Journalist (Seattle) (@choeshow) January 28, 2023
Do you know what stops charging “deranged AXE WIELDING” men? The proper application of multiple jacketed hollow points.
3rd Avenue between Pike and Pine is ground zero of Mugme Street. This happened near 4th and Pike on a Friday afternoon about 2:15 PM:
According to court documents, officers with the SPD were in the area conducting a narcotics surveillance operation when an officer saw Martin near a bus stop with a hammer in his hand. Martin’s actions concerned the officer, so they took a cellphone photo of Martin and sent it to the other officers in the area working the operation.
A plain-clothes officer also saw Martin in the area waving the hammer and having verbal altercations with other people in the area, court documents said.
Before the attack, the plain-clothes officer saw the 53-year-old who was killed “attempting to cut the lock off of a bike using an orbital grinder which was sending sparks into the air,” according to court documents.
Martin approached the man, documents said, and when the 53-year-old walked away, Martin followed.
Witnesses told police they saw Martin hit the 53-year-old in the head with the hammer. Court documents state the 53-year-old took “a hammer strike to the right temple area of the head,” resulting in a skull fracture.
Surveillance cameras in the area captured Martin “raising the hammer above his shoulder, swinging it at the victim’s head, and the victim collapsing to the ground,” according to court documents. The documents said Martin then stood over the 53-year-old, grabbed his backpack and walked away.
There are multiple clues in the quoted material to guide your plans for visiting Seattle.
The entrance to a building I used work in is within a couple hundred feet of the attack location.
See also this article. People are not shocked or even surprised this happened.
Follow up to Names you don’t hear anymore.
Via Brother Doug:
This was Mardelle Patterson on my father’s farm about 1956. She was a double first cousin to my father. Their mothers were sisters and their fathers were brothers so they shared all four grandparents. Mardelle was born just 2.5 miles from where I live today in the house where she would live in her early years. Mardelle and my father largely grew up in the same household during the Great Depression. For the last six years, Mardelle has been the sole survivor of that household. She introduced my parents to each other in July of 1953. My brothers and I all called her “Aunty Dell” even though she wasn’t really my father’s sister. Mardelle and her husband, John contributed several memories to my father’s biography when I was working on it a few years ago.
Mardelle passed away last night at the age of 91. Her passing marks the end of the Huffman family members that once lived together here in Cavendish and struggled through the dark years of the Great Depression. Although the adults remembered the Depression as a difficult time, the children had fond memories of those days. They had never known anything different, so growing up in poverty didn’t cripple them, it only made them stronger.
The depression era mindset of making things last was installed in us when we grew up on the farm. The tractor Aunty Dell is on is one I still use for moving dirt for Boomershoot and other things. Doug uses it, among other things, to clear snow from the driveway and parking areas.
For probably 10 years I’ve been nearly certain my children would have the opportunity to live forever. At first I figured I would just miss out. I’m now becoming more convinced I have a decent chance at having that same opportunity:
Scientists have reversed the aging process in mice: Are humans next?
A recent study published in the journal Cell found that by making DNA repairs on mice, scientists were able to drive age “forward and backward” thus manipulating the aging process.
“There is new research now showing that the aging process may be reversible,” Johns Hopkins health policy expert Dr. Marty Makary said on “Varney & Co.” Tuesday. “That is, that the body may carry a copy of a gene in your body that codes for a younger response to everything physiologically.”
On Tuesday night, at age 91, my aunt* Mardell died. I have never met another person with the name of Mardell. I’ve been a bit sad and nostalgic the last few days.
There are a lot of other names from my childhood I which I have never, or extremely rarely, hear anymore. I probably will only rarely again hear them associated with any living person. For some reason they are almost all on my dad’s side of the family.
All children of my great grandfather:
Others of the same generation:
My dad, his cousins, friends, and neighbors:
Friends of mine growing up:
* Technically, she was not my aunt. However, my father’s mother was a sister to aunty Dell’s mother AND my father’s father was a brother to her father. Also, for several years, both families lived in the same household. Dad was an only child but he had three double cousins he grew up with. My brothers and I called these siblings of his uncles and aunt.
** Although this was just nickname for Patricia, I don’t know that I knew her
real name was Patricia until years after she had passed away.
*** I know someone who named their dog Sadie. But I don’t know any living humans with that name.
I suspect the real numbers are about half this:
One of my daughters listens to the same books on the same account as I do and we talk about them. Still, those are larger numbers than I expected.
Today the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms regulation extending the federal prohibition on machineguns to “bump stocks” is unlawful, as Eugene noted in a post below. In Cargill v. Garland, the judges split 13-3 on the merits, and the 13 in the majority divided on the rationale. Eight of the judges concluded the statute is unambiguous. Five additional judges concluded that, insofar as the statute is ambiguous, it should be interpreted not to cover bump stocks under the Rule of Lenity.
As I have said before, it is not unreasonable to assert that my grandkids will be participating in machine gun sporting events in high school.
My dream will have been realized.
Here are a sample of the stories.
The new information is essentially the same in all articles:
A 28-year-old man, Bryan Kohberger, was arrested Friday morning in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains in connection with the murders of four University of Idaho students, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Sources said that authorities knew who they were looking for and had tracked Kohberger down to Pennsylvania.
A SWAT team entered the location where he was staying in order to take him into custody Friday. Kohberger appeared before a judge Friday morning.
Moscow police officers, members of Idaho State Police, Moscow city leaders and University of Idaho officials will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. local time Friday.
It will be interesting to find out how they came to suspect and track him to Pennsylvania. One of the stories suggest it was the white car:
But the case broke open after law enforcement asked the public for help finding a white sedan seen near the home around the time of the killings. The Moscow Police Department made the request Dec. 7, and by the next day had to direct tips to a special FBI call center because so many were coming in.
I wonder if I was close to the target with my suggestions.
A Ph.D. student by the same name is listed in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, which is a short drive across the state line from the University of Idaho. Messages seeking more information were left for officials at WSU.
Brother Doug has been doing some digging into our family history. This is a tidbit of interest he sent me.
In the battle of the Morrisites, north of Salt Lake City, on June 15, 1862, the sheriff shot Joseph Morris in cold blood AFTER he had surrendered. Mrs. Isabella Bowman rushed forward and said, “Oh, you horrible, blood-thristy murderer, what do you want to kill him for?” The sheriff said, “no one shall call me that and live”, then he shot Mrs. Bowman and killed her. The sheriff later stood trial and was acquitted, probably with an all Mormon jury. When W.W. Davies and his wife moved to Deer Lodge, Montana and had a child on June 17, 1866, they named him Joseph Bowman Davies. I believe he was named after Joseph Morris and Mrs. Bowman, who were murdered seconds apart almost exactly four years earlier.
As you know, you were named after your two great-grandparents. Thus I believe you were in part named after Joseph Morris.
More context:
The Morrisite War. Our family history of this is different than the official history. The family history is based on interviews of our great grandfather Joseph Davies, son of W.W. Davies. W.W. Davies was a witness to the shootings of Joseph Morris and Isabella Bowman.
W.W. Davies was the leader of a Latter Day Saint schismatic group called the Kingdom of Heaven, which was located near Walla Walla, Washington from 1867 to 1881.
W.W. Davies believed himself to be the reincarnated archangel Michael, and the biblical Adam, Abraham, and David. And after his sons, Arthur and David (reincarnated Jesus Christ and God the Father) were born, according to family lore, he declared himself to be the holy spirit* as well. Therefore, I am a direct descendent of God, the holy spirit.
Update: Brother Doug just sent me this from Grandma’s autograph book:
The book was given to her by her father, Joseph Bowman Davies.
Also this (the story about the kidnapping would be a complete blog post):
* The truth of this claim was disputed after both Arthur and David died of diphtheria and W.W. was unable to resurrect them.
At this point, we don’t know just how big of a deal Bruen is. Is it an existential threat to all our laws? … There are so many unanswered questions at this time.
Nick Wilson
Senior director for gun violence prevention at the Center for American Progress
November 27, 2022
[If he really doesn’t know “how big of a deal Bruen is” then he is in massive denial.
I have questions too, but mine are along the lines of, “When are we going to start prosecuting these criminals like Wilson?”
I have some expectations of having machine gun sporting events in our high schools in a decade or so. This will be the realization my dream as my currently youngest grandchildren enter high school.—Joe]
This is probably too good to be true. I would have thought someone would have noticed the correlation before if the consumption of certain foods reversed Alzheimer’s.
scientists at Tufts University are working to understand what might slow the progression of the disease. They tested 21 different compounds in Alzheimer’s-afflicted neural cells in the lab, measuring the compounds’ effect on the growth of sticky beta-amyloid plaques. These plaques develop in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s.
The team found that two common compounds—green tea catechins and resveratrol, found in red wine and other foods—reduced the formation of plaques in those neural cells. And they did so with few or no side effects.
The applicability of this to humans drinking green tea and red wine are somewhat tenuous. The experiments were done on an artificially grown 3D neural tissue model. I presume the treatment was done via the nutrient bath or some such thing. So there was no passage of the active compounds through the digestive system, into the blood stream, and through the blood brain barrier to the brain.
Still, the risk/reward ratio for drinking green tea and/or red wine (and/or eating grapes) is favorable.
More information on the tragic mass murder in Moscow Idaho last Sunday as been slowing dribbling out. It seems that the information raises as many questions as it answers.
Here are the points of interest I have found:
University of Idaho victim’s friend says dorm door-lock code wasn’t usually activated. I’m not too surprised. When my family lived in Moscow we always locked our doors. But I know people that leave the keys in the ignition of their vehicles when at home.
Over the last few days, police officers have come knocking at a local home improvement store to inquire about potential sales of a Ka-Bar knife – as they continue to try to locate the murder weapon. They appear to be specifically looking for a knife “with a smooth edge on one side and a serrated edge on the other.” But the picture they provide is of a knife without any serrations. My reading on Ka-Bar knives seems to indicate that Ka-Bar’s an not typically serrated.
Autopsies were conducted on November 17th. The Latah County Coroner confirmed the identity of the four murdered individuals and their cause and manner of death as homicide by stabbing. The coroner stated that the four victims were likely asleep, some had defensive wounds, and each was stabbed multiple times. There was no sign of sexual assault. This same posting tells us, “At this time in the investigation, detectives do not believe the two surviving roommates … are involved in the crime.” Also, there are over 128 people in law enforcement involved in the investigation. This includes the Moscow Police, Latah County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho State Patrol, and the FBI.
The 911 call that led to the discovery of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle’s bodies was not made by their roommates, I don’t really trust parts of this report. It could just be former LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman wanted another 15 minutes of fame and speculated on things for the camera.
One of the University of Idaho murder victims called the same person seven times shortly before she was killed, her sister claims… “Kaylee calls [the man] six times between 2.26am and 2.44am. From 2.44 to 2.52 Maddie calls [the man] three times, then Kaylee makes a final call to him at 2.52am,” Alivea said. If this was after the attack started, why didn’t they call the police? See also this report which identifies the person the victims called as “Jack”.
This hits harder than it would have had it happened in some distant city, I drove through Moscow on Monday night on my way to Boomershoot territory. I graduated from the University of Idaho as did my ex-wife, one of her sisters, and her mother. My brother and his three children all attended the U of I. My three children, my father, and numerous cousins and high school friends attended the U of I as well. I owned a home and lived in Moscow, at least part time, from about 1990 to 2012. One of my daughters and my ex still live less than 20 minutes away.
It got even more disturbing with this:
Fry said investigators believe two other roommates were home during the attack, but they were “not injured.” When asked if they had been involved in a hostage situation, Fry said no. He did not speculate on why the crime was not reported until noon when uninjured, living people remained in the home, and, to protect the “integrity of the investigation,” would not confirm if the surviving roommates were the ones who called 911. Fry did say that the roommates were still at the house when police arrived.
“We don’t know why that call came in at noon and not in the middle of the night. … We’re investigating everything still to try to pull all the pieces together,” Fry said.
I found out about the murders via a text message from Mike B. Mike played a big role in getting “campus carry” through the Idaho legislature. It didn’t help these students but it might give a number of students comfort and safety in the coming weeks.
One has to wonder… Since this is getting so much attention, and the murderer(s) have got away with something like a nine or ten hour head start on the police, if there will be copycats. Knives are almost completely silent, never need to be reloaded, unrestricted sales, no serial numbers, easy to make, found in every home, etc..
If the murders had been with a gun it would have been called a “mass shooting” and more calls for gun control would have been in the headlines before the bodies were cold. So what will the gun control advocates have to say if “mass stabbing” becomes a trend here? “Common sense knife control”?
What I will say about the potential for copycats is, “People, show any copycats why you don’t bring a knife to gunfight.”
UN warns up to 345 million people marching toward starvation:
The U.N. food chief warned Thursday that the world is facing “a global emergency of unprecedented magnitude,” with up to 345 million people marching toward starvation — and 70 million pushed closer to starvation by the war in Ukraine.
Because of the wettest and longest spring we have ever experienced, my brothers on the farm were only able to get about 1/3 of the spring crop in this year. The little bit of lentils they were able to plant did not yield nearly as much as usual. I think the mid-west yields are below average as well.
We live in interesting times.
I see the most amazing sunsets when I am in Idaho. I’m not certain why. I suspect it is because I spend more time outdoors and there are far fewer buildings obstructing the view.
Here is a sample of what I saw tonight. The only editing on the first two is that they are both cropped a little bit:
I took this one with my phone and is unedited:
I sent it to Barb and she said:
WOW!!!!!
That picture is insane.
Agreed.
From Neuroscience News:
Research led by Drs. Yuhai Zhao and Walter J Lukiw at the LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center and the Departments of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Neurology and Ophthalmology, reports for the first time a pathway that begins in the gut and ends with a potent pro-inflammatory toxin in brain cells contributing to the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). They also report a simple way to prevent it.
…
The highly potent neurotoxin BF-LPS is a natural by-product of GI-tract-based microbial metabolism. Bacteroides fragilis abundance in the microbiome, which is the source of the neurotoxin BF-LPS, can be regulated by dietary fiber intake.
“Put another way, dietary-based approaches to balance the microorganisms in the microbiome may be an attractive means to modify the abundance, speciation, and complexity of enterotoxigenic forms of AD-relevant microbes and their potential for the pathological discharge of highly neurotoxic microbial-derived secretions that include BF-LPS and other forms of LPS,” Lukiw explains.
The researchers conclude that an improved understanding of the interaction between the GI tract-Central Nervous System axis and the GI-tract microbiome and Alzheimer’s disease has considerable potential to lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in the clinical management of Alzheimer’s disease and other lethal, progressive, and age-related neurodegenerative disorders.
It has been estimated that Americans eat 10–15 grams of fiber a day on average. The USDA recommends that women up to age 50 consume 25 grams a day and men 38 grams. Over age 50, women and men should consume 21 and 30 grams daily, respectively.
Eat your lentils, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), and shredded wheat*. One half cup of lentils contains 7.8 grams of fiber. The same amount of Chickpeas contain 6.3 grams of fiber. One cup of shredded wheat contains 6.2 grams of fiber. Other sources of dietary fiber may be substituted.
* We grow lentils, chickpeas, and wheat on the farm.
This is from the most recent annual report of the electrical utility cooperative in north central Idaho:
Boomershoot is located in Clearwater county. There was nearly a 30% increase in cooperative members in just one year. People are leaving the blue states and moving to Idaho. I have posted about this before. But I did not know any county by county numbers.
Another indicator is that recently I was talking to a guy that works for a construction company out of Orofino (Clearwater County). They mostly do earth moving and concrete stuff. He said they have a three year backlog.
We live in interesting times. Prepare appropriately—If it is not too late.
