Adult Stem Cells grow blood vessels in rats

According to Bloomberg, Adult Stem cells, which are drawn from adult humans or the umbilical cord blood of newborns, are making advances in science. Researchers have been able to grow new blood vessels in mice.

"After one week, the cells spontaneously connected to one another and to the existing blood vessels of the rodents to form extensive networks that continued to transport blood over the next three weeks. The findings from Harvard Medical School were published in the journal Circulation." (Bloomberg)

"If the process can be proven safe and replicated in people, it could provide a way to repair blood-starved regions of organs that have been damaged by heart attacks or other conditions that impair circulation. Unlike other experiments that have coaxed adult cells to perform new functions, the Harvard team didn't perform any genetic manipulation, said Joyce Bischoff, an associate professor at Harvard and Children's Hospital Boston." (Bloomberg)

"Before the method can be tested in humans, researchers will need to show that the cells they've isolated and expanded are pure and uncontaminated by other cell types. The technique will need to be proven safe in many more animals and the process will need to be done in a completely sterile environment that's certified by regulators." (Bloomberg)

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

Quote of the Day 7-23-08

"I never give them [the public] hell. I just tell the truth, and they think it is hell."

Harry S. Truman

Congressional battles in Missouri's Ninth District

I do not live in the ninth Congressional District of Missouri. But the Republican primary battle has been hot in that district. There are several individuals running for the August primaries in hopes to go to D.C. Blaine Luetkemeyer and Bob Onder are both trading jabs. Dr. Bob Onder has stated that Blaine Luetkemeyer is in favor of Illegal Immigration amnesty. Luetkemeyer is claiming that Onder has gone negative and is using push polling.

I have had contact with Bob Onder's Internet Outreach Director. The position of their campaign is that Blaine Luetkemeyer is willing to show favoritism for illegal immigrants when it comes to a worker's visa. They do have a recording of Luetkemeyer stating something similar.

I would love to hear from someone in Blaine Luetkemeyer's camp. I am interested in their perspective on this issue. If their stance is that they are not for favoritism, then what did they mean. I am also interesting in their information on Bob Onder is using push polling.

I am hopeful to have an e-mail interview with either Bob Onder or someone in his campaign. I will be submitting questions in the next few days. I would also like to have an e-mail or phone interview with Blaine Luetkemeyer and the other entire district 9 candidate. In fact, I am willing to interview anyone running for public office. Please contact me through the e-mail in my profile.

My thoughts on the Immigration issue:

Immigration is a complex issue. We need to enforce the laws on our books. We need to find a way to secure our borders and our ports. We have failed in this security issue over the last 7 years. For me this goes way beyond illegals from Mexico. We need a way to know what and who are coming into our country.

We also need to find a way make it easier for people in Mexico to get work in the U.S. I believe that this will extensively help with illegal immigration. We need a worker program that will help both the U.S. and the Mexican population. It will have to have a method to weed out the bad seeds and reward those that obey the laws after they get their work permit. I do not believe that we should reward those in this country illegally by giving them favoritism.

Anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen. This will not change. There needs to be a way to keep families together. Maybe we should deport children if the parents are deported to keep the family intact but with the understanding that children can come back legally any time.

Building a wall around the U.S. is not very practical. It will be very expensive. Many of the sections of Mountains will be impossible to build. Building a wall will use a lot of U.S. resources in money and man power. I am not sure what the answer is here.

This is a complex issue that conservatives can disagree on. But the thought of showing someone that broke the law favoritism really does bother me.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

Go interviews Al

The fine folks at Go Magazine have an interview with Weird Al. They interviewed him about his concert at the fair next week. I have my front row tickets in hand and can not wait. It should be a blast. The interview has a very funny response which only Weird Al fans will get.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

Dark Knight Review @ Inconceivable!

I have my movie review of the Dark Knight on the blog Inconceivable! Check it out and let me know what you thought about this movie.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

6 Secrets to writing comicbooks

GAIL SIMONE wrote an interesting article for WizardUniverse.com about the 6 Secrets to writing comicbooks. If you have an interest in writing comicbooks, check it out. She gives some good advice to writers in general.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

I was wrong on yellowcake Uranium

I am man enough to admit when I am wrong. On my blog post about the yellowcake uranium, I was wrong. I read the article fully but mis-read a key part of the article. Below I put in bold what I mis-read and misunderstood.

"Israeli warplanes bombed a reactor project at the site in 1981. Later, U.N. inspectors documented and safeguarded the yellowcake, which had been stored in aging drums and containers since before the 1991 Gulf War. There was no evidence of any yellowcake dating from after 1991, the official said." (ABC)

The 550 Metric Tons of Yellowcake Uranium was already safeguarded by the U.N. Now I don't understand how it could be still in Iraq if the U.N. was safeguarding it. I can not believe that they left it in this madman's state and considered it safeguarded. But I was wrong on the implications of this yellowcake uranium. We knew about this before going in. I am still glad that it is finally out of Iraq and being used for Nucleuar power.

Anyway I was wrong and my wife will testify that is a common occurance.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

Reuters poll has Senator Obama up by 7 points

A Reuter’s poll released on Wednesday showed a 7 point over all lead for Senator Obama over Senator McCain in the general election. On the question of who would be the best to lead the economy, Senator Obama had a small lead. Senator Obama has a 3 point lead among independents which is way down from a previous 22 point lead.

"Obama led McCain among women, Hispanics, blacks, Catholics, young voters, suburban voters and union households. He pulled into a tie with McCain among men." (Reuters)

"McCain led Obama among white voters, born-again Christians, middle-income voters and older voters." (Reuters)

I am surprised that Senator McCain is only down by 7 points at this time. The economy is on a down turn, gas prices are still outrageously high, President Bush is extremely unpopular, and yet Senator McCain continues to make this a race. I believe it is because Senator McCain is a good candidate. My father in law believes that neither candidate is a good candidate and that is why it is a close race.

These have been a few political thoughts of my complex mind.

Photo of the Day- Eagle Nebula

This photo of the Eagle Nebula is from the Hubble Space Telescope and is on Space.com. It is beautiful.





These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

What do you get when you put Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Joss Whedon on the web together? It is "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog" of course. I am expecting to continually laugh out loud with these webisodes. Check out the trailer below. The first webisode premieres tomorrow.

These have been a few more geeky thoughts of my complex mind.

Heroes: Going Postal on the web

NBC has an internet Heroes series that started today. These webisodes are called Heroes: Going Postal. The main character is a Postman and he has a screaming ability. His powers are similar to Black Canary (DC) and Banshee (Marvel). Today's Webisode was about 3 minutes long. If you are a Heroes fan, you need to check it out.

These have been a few geeky thoughts of my complex mind.

Quote of the Day 7-13-08

"Men marry women with the hope they will never change. Women marry men with the hope they will change. Invaribly they are both disappointed."

Albert Einstein

Its my birthday and I will get up early if I want to

Today is my birthday. I always sleep in on my birthday but not today. Today I got up at 6:00 am. I did this for one reason: my nephew has baseball games in Mt Vernon (Missouri) that started at 8:00 am. I have not been able to attend any of his games so far this year. This tournament is his last of the baseball season. I am a good Uncle and I am willing to sacrifice my sleep on my birthday for my nephew.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

Quote of the Day 7-11-08

"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

Fictional Character Bilbo Baggins written by JRR Tolkien

New Trailer for new Webseries of Heroes

Here is the latest Heroes trailer for the new Webseries. The new character appears to be a Black Canary/Banshee like guy. He is a real scream.



These have been a few geeky thoughts of my complex mind.

Quote of the Day

"He may be mad, but there's method in his madness. There nearly always is method in madness. It's what drives men mad, being methodical."
- GK Chesterton

I am a proud Daddy of a strong daughter

My daughter stood at a cross roads. The neighbor boy came over and wanted to play. My daughter started playing with him in the front yard. Some of the older neighbor kids rode by on their bicycles to see them playing outside. These pre-adolescents stopped and started making fun of my daughter for playing with this boy. My daughter could have turned on the neighbor boy and rejected him for approval of the bigger kids or she could have run in the house crying because of the mistreatment. Instead she stood her ground and continued to play with this neighbor boy.

I discussed the situation with her later. She stated that the older kids were being "mean and stupid". She told me that she will not let other kids decide who she will play with. This neighbor kid is not in the inner crowd of the neighborhood. My daughter did not care because she was having fun playing. I made sure to praise her for reaction to this adversity.

There are those moments in time where you learn about yourself and your child. I am very proud of her reaction to the teasing. I am happy that she is growing up to be an independent thinking young lady.

These have been a few proud thoughts of my complex mind.

Vacation + Inlaws = Home Projects

As I have previously mentioned, my in-laws are in for an extended stay. I am taking this week off as a vacation to spend more time with them since we do not see them often. One of the great traditions of an in-law visit is home improvement projects. My father in-law is always ready to fix something that I have neglected since his last visit. This visit is no different.

Last week when I was at work, he put in two new sink faucets and fixed a water leak, which I had no previous knowledge of. This week we are tackling the screened-in back porch. Many of the screens have been ripped since we moved in seven plus years ago. We are replacing all of the screens.

My father in-law is a man of vision when it comes to these kinds of projects. He plans it out, then we go to the hardware store. I am usually slated to the assistant that holds boards and drills an occasional hole. I am very happy with this job because I am not mechanically inclined when it comes to home improvements.

We started this afternoon on our new venture. We made our first hardware trip (usually there are three or more before the end of the project). As per norm, I had to buy a tool that I do not own. “You have to have the right tool for the job” as my father in-law stated. I bought a manual staple gun. I wanted to grunt like Tim from Home Improvement- “Ar, Ar, Ar!” I may not be good with tools, but I do like to get new ones from time to time.

We pulled out the first screen and frame. We quickly realized that the frame was not being held in place well and we would need to secure it better. Also the frame was about half an inch to large to fit properly. Pops (what we call my father in-law) came up with his usual game plan. We only were able to finish the first screen, but we have a game plan for tomorrow morning. Hopefully we will finish this project tomorrow.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

There continues to be less of Larry

My pilgrimage in Weight Watchers continues with more millstones. This week I met two more goals. I forcefully broke past the 25 lbs mark by having lost a total of 28 lbs. I also blew past my 10% mark (I was closer to the 10% mark than the 25 lb mark). I am now less than 90% of the person I used to be. This means that I now weigh less than I have in this decade. I would like to thank everyone for all of your support in my weight loss venture.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.