Forger shows up in court with phony doctor note

A California woman facing nearly five years in prison for forging drug prescriptions showed up for sentencing with a phony doctor’s note seeking a delay in the proceedings.

Michelle Elaine Astumian was free on $45,000 bail and pleaded no contest in January to felony counts of forgery and using a fraudulent check.

The 41-year-old woman arrived Monday for sentencing in a San Luis Obispo County courtroom and presented a note with a doctor’s signature asking for a postponement.

Prosecutor Dave Pomeroy called the doctor, who said the note is a forgery.

The judge immediately ordered Astumian into custody and she collapsed to the floor. An ambulance took her to a hospital.

Pomeroy told the San Luis Obispo County Tribune that Astumian will be sentenced later, but he doesn’t know when.

via Forger shows up in court with phony doctor note.

Jordan battles to regain ‘priceless’ Christian relics

They could be the earliest Christian writing in existence, surviving almost 2,000 years in a Jordanian cave. They could, just possibly, change our understanding of how Jesus was crucified and resurrected, and how Christianity was born.

A group of 70 or so “books”, each with between five and 15 lead leaves bound by lead rings, was apparently discovered in a remote arid valley in northern Jordan somewhere between 2005 and 2007.

A flash flood had exposed two niches inside the cave, one of them marked with a menorah or candlestick, the ancient Jewish religious symbol.

A Jordanian Bedouin opened these plugs, and what he found inside might constitute extremely rare relics of early Christianity.

That is certainly the view of the Jordanian government, which claims they were smuggled into Israel by another Bedouin. …

The books, or “codices”, were apparently cast in lead, before being bound by lead rings.

Their leaves – which are mostly about the size of a credit card – contain text in Ancient Hebrew, most of which is in code.

If the relics are of early Christian origin rather than Jewish, then they are of huge significance.

One of the few people to see the collection is David Elkington, a scholar of ancient religious archaeology who is heading a British team trying to get the lead books safely into a Jordanian museum.

He says they could be “the major discovery of Christian history”, adding: “It’s a breathtaking thought that we have held these objects that might have been held by the early saints of the Church.”

He believes the most telling evidence for an early Christian origin lies in the images decorating the covers of the books and some of the pages of those which have so far been opened.

Mr Elkington says the relics feature signs that early Christians would have interpreted as indicating Jesus, shown side-by-side with others they would have regarded as representing the presence of God. …

tests by metallurgists on the badly corroded lead suggest that the books were not made recently.

The archaeology of early Christianity is particularly sparse.

Little is known of the movement after Jesus’ crucifixion until the letters of Paul several decades later, and they illuminate the westward spread of Christianity outside the Jewish world.

Never has there been a discovery of relics on this scale from the early Christian movement, in its homeland and so early in its history.

via BBC News – Jordan battles to regain ‘priceless’ Christian relics.

Harry Coover, creator of Super Glue, dies aged 94

The creator of Super Glue, Harry Coover, has died in Tennessee, aged 94.

Dr Coover, who died on Saturday, discovered the well-known adhesive by accident, while working for Eastman Kodak, his grandson Adam Paul said.

An assistant at the company noticed that two new refractometer prisms were glued firmly together by the substance.

Dr Coover and a colleague first realised the potential of the glue in 1951, according to the Super Glue Corporation website.

Cyanoacrylate, the chemical name for this glue, was actually discovered some years earlier.

During World War II researchers were looking for materials to make clear plastic gun sights. The website said researchers dismissed it for that purpose because it stuck to everything.

President Barack Obama awarded Dr Coover the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2010.

Dr Coover became vice-president of the chemical division for development at Eastman Kodak, where the team he worked with achieved more than 460 patents. He gained a place on the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Ohio in 2004.

Dr Coover was born in Newark, Delaware, and gained a degree in chemistry from Hobart College in New York and a PhD from Cornell University.

via BBC News – Harry Coover, creator of Super Glue, dies aged 94.

Thanks for all the things you’ve helped fix over the years Mr. Coover, including Ella-Grace Honeyman’s brain.

 

Teens warned of risks from ‘vodka tampon’ use

Police in the Baden-Württemburg city of Tuttlingen responded Tuesday to growing online chatter among teenagers that they could become intoxicated using the vodka tampons without having alcohol on their breath.

This is not true, police said, denying that it was an effective way to get drunk. They also warned girls that the alcohol could damage vaginal walls and increase the risk of infection. Boys have reportedly also been using tampons anally.

“I believe this is very dangerous,” head of a children’s clinic in Singen told southern German paper Südkurier last week. “For us this is a new thing.”

In early March a 14-year-old girl collapsed during a street festival in Konstanz, apparently highly intoxicated from using a vodka tampon, the paper reported.

Youth researchers have since found out that this form of alcohol abuse is trendy in the region.

But teens who believe they can hide the smell of alcohol consumption are wrong, experts told the paper.

The development shows a new dimension for alcohol abuse among teens, county social worker Axel Goßner told the Südkurier.

“Alcohol is no longer a stimulant, but a means to an end,” he said.

The trend arose among teens in the United States, where it is known as “slimming.” But it has reportedly caught on in Scandinavia and other places where alcohol is difficult for young people to acquire.

Some Facebook groups are even devoted to exchanging tips on the topic, complete with how-to videos and instructions. …

via Teens warned of risks from ‘vodka tampon’ use – The Local.

You still get the brain damage this way. Save some time and money and just hit yourself repeatedly in the head with a rock.

People who have been drinking large amounts of alcohol for long periods of time run the risk of developing serious and persistent changes in the brain. Damage may be a result of the direct effects of alcohol on the brain or may result indirectly, from a poor general health status or from severe liver disease. – nih

Some evidence suggests that low to moderate alcohol consumption may speed up brain volume loss. ^-link

Imaging the paintings under the paintings of the Old Masters

Gaze upon Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, or one of the great Dutch master’s famous self-portraits. Contemplate Caravaggio’s Boy with a Basket of Fruit, Supper at Emmaus, or the famed Italian artist’s Seven Works of Mercy. Admire Peter Paul Rubens’ Prometheus Bound, Portrait of Władysław IV, or the Flemish baroque painter’s The Exchange of Princesses.

Speaking at the 241st National meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, an international team of scientists today described use of a new technique to see the paintings under the paintings of Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Rubens, and other 17th Century Old Master painters. The report by scientists in Belgium, The Netherlands and the United States was among almost two dozen studies presented as part of a symposium on chemistry and art titled “Partnerships and New Analytical Methodologies at the Interface of Chemistry and Art.”

“The underpainting was the first and most important step in creating a work of art,” explained lead scientist Matthias Alfeld, who is with the University of Antwerp in Belgium. “It was the sketch that guided the artist through the creative process. The Old Masters generally used to roughly indicate light, shade and contours. Observation of the underpainting would allow us to see the first execution of the artist’s vision of the painting. It’s a more detailed look over the shoulder of the artist at work. But the underpainting has virtually escaped all imaging efforts. So far, our methods to visualize the underpainting, except in localized cross sections, have been very limited.”

Alfeld and colleagues described use of a powerful new technique called scanning macro X-ray fluorescence analysis that allows more detailed imaging of the composition of underpaintings. It is portable enough for use on-the-scene in museums and does not harm priceless artwork. The technology already has provided new insights into the nature of the paint that some Old Masters used in their underpainting.

An analysis of paintings from the workshops of Rembrandt and Caravaggio, for instance, led them to the conclusion that the Old Masters were more frugal than fussy about the paint used for the underpainting. The analysis suggested that this brown pigment mixture in underpaintings actually consisted of recycled leftovers from the artist scraping his palette clean.

“Using the new technique, we hope to disperse doubts about the authenticity of several paintings or to confirm that these paintings were not by the painter they have been attributed to,” Alfeld said. “It is nice to show that the world of art can intersect with chemistry. Chemistry is such an all-encompassing science. Imagine, chemistry isn’t just about molecules and reactions, but it also involves also the study of something as beautiful as great works of art.” …

via Imaging the paintings under the paintings of the Old Masters.

Cancer turns out to be a p53 protein aggregation disease

Protein aggregation, generally associated with Alzheimer’s and mad cow disease, turns out to play a significant role in cancer. In a paper published in Nature Chemical Biology, Frederic Rousseau and Joost Schymkowitz of VIB, K.U.Leuven and Vrije Universiteit Brussel describe that certain mutations of p53, an important tumor suppressor, cause the protein to misfold in a way that the proteins start to aggregate. This not only disrupts the protective function of normal p53, but of other related proteins as well.

p53 plays a central role in protection against cancer

In the study, the focus was on the p53 protein which plays a key role in protecting the body against cancer. If p53 works normally, it controls cell division. If p53 control ceases – e.g. when there is a mutation in the protein – the cells start to divide in an uncontrolled manner and this may result in a tumor. Mutations in p53 are observed in about half of cancer cases, making the protein an important target in the development of new cancer therapies.

Mutated p53 aggregates

“We have revealed a new mechanism for the action of mutant p53,” Joost Schymkowitz and Frederic Rousseau of VIB, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and K.U. Leuven say. “Mutations in p53 cause the protein to lose its protective function. The proteins change in shape, hook into each other and begin to aggregate. The active p53 disappears from the cell and can no longer carry out its control function properly.” The mechanism has been encountered in about one third of p53 mutations.

Complete switch of character

Moreover, the mutations cause p53 to assume a completely different character. From being a protective factor, the mutated p53 changes into a substance which in fact speeds up tumor growth. It seems to form aggregates with control substances (p63 and p73) in the cell, causing them to lose their function as well. …

via Cancer turns out to be a p53 protein aggregation disease.

Stanford researchers use river water and salty ocean water to generate electricity

 

 

Stanford researchers have developed a battery that takes advantage of the difference in salinity between freshwater and seawater to produce electricity.

Anywhere freshwater enters the sea, such as river mouths or estuaries, could be potential sites for a power plant using such a battery, said Yi Cui, associate professor of materials science and engineering, who led the research team.

The theoretical limiting factor, he said, is the amount of freshwater available. “We actually have an infinite amount of ocean water; unfortunately we don’t have an infinite amount of freshwater,” he said.

As an indicator of the battery’s potential for producing power, Cui’s team calculated that if all the world’s rivers were put to use, their batteries could supply about 2 terawatts of electricity annually – that’s roughly 13 percent of the world’s current energy consumption.

 

The battery itself is simple, consisting of two electrodes – one positive, one negative – immersed in a liquid containing electrically charged particles, or ions. In water, the ions are sodium and chlorine, the components of ordinary table salt.

Initially, the battery is filled with freshwater and a small electric current is applied to charge it up. The freshwater is then drained and replaced with seawater. Because seawater is salty, containing 60 to 100 times more ions than freshwater, it increases the electrical potential, or voltage, between the two electrodes. That makes it possible to reap far more electricity than the amount used to charge the battery.

“The voltage really depends on the concentration of the sodium and chlorine ions you have,” Cui said. “If you charge at low voltage in freshwater, then discharge at high voltage in sea water, that means you gain energy. You get more energy than you put in.”

 

Once the discharge is complete, the seawater is drained and replaced with freshwater and the cycle can begin again. “The key thing here is that you need to exchange the electrolyte, the liquid in the battery,” Cui said. He is lead author of a study published in the journal Nano Letters earlier this month.

In their lab experiments, Cui’s team used seawater they collected from the Pacific Ocean off the California coast and freshwater from Donner Lake, high in the Sierra Nevada. They achieved 74 percent efficiency in converting the potential energy in the battery to electrical current, but Cui thinks with simple modifications, the battery could be 85 percent efficient.

To enhance efficiency, the positive electrode of the battery is made from nanorods of manganese dioxide. That increases the surface area available for interaction with the sodium ions by roughly 100 times compared with other materials. The nanorods make it possible for the sodium ions to move in and out of the electrode with ease, speeding up the process.

 

Other researchers have used the salinity contrast between freshwater and seawater to produce electricity, but those processes typically require ions to move through a membrane to generate current. Cui said those membranes tend to be fragile, which is a drawback. Those methods also typically make use of only one type of ion, while his battery uses both the sodium and chlorine ions to generate power.

Cui’s team had the potential environmental impact of their battery in mind when they designed it. They chose manganese dioxide for the positive electrode in part because it is environmentally benign.

 

The group knows that river mouths and estuaries, while logical sites for their power plants, are environmentally sensitive areas.

“You would want to pick a site some distance away, miles away, from any critical habitat,” Cui said. “We don’t need to disturb the whole system, we just need to route some of the river water through our system before it reaches the ocean. We are just borrowing and returning it,” he said.

The process itself should have little environmental impact. The discharge water would be a mixture of fresh and seawater, released into an area where the two waters are already mixing, at the natural temperature. …

via Stanford researchers use river water and salty ocean water to generate electricity.

Women’s body image based more on others’ opinions than their own weight

Tracy Tylka – Women’s appreciation of their bodies is only indirectly connected to their body mass index (BMI), a common health measure of weight relative to height, according to recent research.

The most powerful influence on women’s appreciation of their bodies is how they believe important others view them, the study suggests. On the flip side, the more women are able to focus on the inner workings of their body – or how their bodies function and feel – rather than how they appear to others, the more they will appreciate their own bodies.

And the more a woman appreciates her body, the more likely she is to eat intuitively – responding to physical feelings of hunger and fullness rather than emotions or the mere presence of food.

“Women who focus more on how their bodies function and less on how they appear to others are going to have a healthier, more positive body image and a tendency to eat according to their bodies’ needs rather than according to what society dictates,” said Tracy Tylka, associate professor of psychology at Ohio State University and senior author of the study.

Other studies have suggested that about 50 percent of women appreciate their bodies. This work is geared toward examining how they arrive at their satisfaction with their bodies, and how they avoid any pitfalls that might interfere with their positive thinking.

Ultimately, the researchers say, it boils down to respect. If women are going to treat their bodies well – through nourishment, health screenings and exercise, for example – they first have to like their bodies.

“And it turns out we look to whether others accept our bodies to determine whether we appreciate them ourselves,” Tylka said. “It’s not our weight, but instead whether others in our social network appreciate us. That implies that people should be convinced to be less judgmental and to focus less on weight.”

Tylka performed the research with former Ohio State doctoral student Casey Augustus-Horvath, who is now at the Laureate Psychiatric Clinic and Hospital in Tulsa, Okla. The study is published in the current issue of the Journal of Counseling Psychology.

via Women’s body image based more on others’ opinions than their own weight.

Jesse Ventura reveals location of secret underground 2012 base?

YouTube – Jesse Ventura – Secret Underground 2012 Base at Denver Airport.

Indiana prosecutor told Wisconsin governor to stage ‘false flag’ operation

An Indiana prosecutor and Republican activist has resigned after emails show he suggested Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker stage a fake attack on himself to discredit unions protesting his budget repair bill.

The Republican governor signed a bill on March 11 that eliminates most union rights for public employees.

In an email from February 19, Indiana deputy prosecutor Carlos F. Lam told Walker the situation presented “a good opportunity for what’s called a ‘false flag’ operation.”

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism discovered the email among tens of thousands released to the public last week following a lawsuit by the Isthmus and the Associated Press.

“If you could employ an associate who pretends to be sympathetic to the unions’ cause to physically attack you (or even use a firearm against you), you could discredit the unions,” Lam said in his email.

“Currently, the media is painting the union protest as a democratic uprising and failing to mention the role of the DNC and umbrella union organizations in the protest,” he continued. “Employing a false flag operation would assist in undercutting any support that the media may be creating in favor of the unions.”

Lam resigned from his position after the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism published an article about his email. …

via Indiana prosecutor told Wisconsin governor to stage ‘false flag’ operation | The Raw Story.

Do politicians stage fake attacks for profit? Yes. There are many examples.