CrooksandLiars points out two more offensive recess appointments: Andrew Biggs, an aggressive proponent of privatization, as head of the Social Security Administration, and Susan Dudley, an opponent of federal regulation, as head of the Office of Information and Regulatory affairs. As Jon Stewart said about John Bolton, it's like appointing Captain Ahab to be the head of "Save the Whales'.
Oops! The button read "This button supercedes all previous buttons". Aparently I've learned the lesson so thoroughly that I can't spell it wrong now even when I try.
Re bureaucracy: I use the piece of furniture and think bureau-cracy.
And I just noticed your very neat "spelling reference" aid for commenters. I don't think I've seen that elsewhere.
When I was in college, there was a time when people wore buttons with clever sayings (much like they now wear t-shirts). Some friends and I starting making buttons to sell and 4th or 5th one we came up with was "This button supersedes all previous buttons". We'd paid to have 250 made before we realized the error. That was the end of our button project.
As a fan historic note, the company we used to make the buttons, Hodges Badge and Button, has become the major supplier for decorative ribbons for science fiction conventions. We used them for the early Boskones and the news spread. Currently located in Rhode Island, at that time they were near Fresh Pond in Cambridge.
I was thinking of Lamont this morning, and am glad to see this eloquent tribute to him.
My 83-year-old dad lives in CT (where I grew up) and registered as a Dem for the first time this fall so he could vote for Lamont in the primary.
It's sad he didn't win, but he really was a hero.
I liked Forty Signs of Rain. It showed the day-to-day workings of scientists coping with the real world of government funding and bureauocracy.
In the Boston area, we've just set the record for the most rain in a two-month period (and June still isn't over and it's raining today). We're over 22 inches for May and June, which about 4 times the usual 2-month total and about half of our normal yearly total.
A few words about diabetes blood tests. Anon very correctly points out that the interpretation of test results varies depending on when you have most recently eaten. That's why the more accurate blood test is taken as a fasting test, when you haven't eaten for 12 hours. For a fasting test, the normal range is 70-99 mg/dL, 100-125 is considered impaired glucose tolerance (where you should start thinking about diabetes prevention), and 126+ is considered to be diabetes.
An even more accurate test is the 2-hour glucose test. In this test (which I get once a year as part of the study), they take a fasting measurement, then feed you a measured amount of sugar (in the form of an icky sweet drink), and then wait and measure your glucose exactly 2 hours after getting the drink. This shows how well your body processes the glucose. In this test, normal is 70-139, impaired glucose tolerance is 140-199, and diabetes is 200+.
Great article with one of the clearest explanations I've seen about the effects of diabetes and the difference between Type I and Type II.
For the past 6+ years, I've been a subject in the Diabetes Prevention Program, a long-term study to see if Type II can be prevented or delayed. The study followed large numbers of people with "impaired glucose tolerance" (which means that our sugar levels were high, but not yet in the range considered to be diabetes), and divided them into 3 groups. One was a control, one used diet and exercise to lose weight, and one took a common type II diabetes drug.
The study showed that diet and exercise was extremely effective - reducing the incidence of Type II by 58% in they study group. The drug (metformin) was also quite effective, although not quite as good as diet and exercise.
The important point to make is that Type II diabetes comes on in a slow progression, especially if you gain weight as you get older. But you can take steps to keep it at bay. The diet and exercise group in the study lost only an average of 5% of their body weight, yet showed a dramatic reduction in the incidence of diabetes. This is really a situation where your fate is mostly in your own hands.
I join in urging everyone over 40 to get a fasting glucose blood test, especially if you are overweight or have a family history of diabetes.
A similar-looking native plant is Angelica, which grows very tall and is in the same family (Umbelliferae) as the Giant Hogweed.
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|---|---|
| 2007 | 4 |
| 2006 | 2 |
| 2005 | 3 |
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