Slowing the Aging Process: Seven Biological Reasons we Grow Old

To what should one dedicate one’s life? I get excited about the idea of hacking human biology to eliminate the effects of aging.  If I were to choose a new career path right now, working on one of these seven biological causes of aging would be worth at least the next 20 year’s effort. All of these are fixable, which means death by old age is curable!

The seven types of aging damage proposed by de Grey.

1. Cancer-causing nuclear mutations/epimutations:

   These are changes to the nuclear DNA (nDNA), the molecule that contains our genetic information, or to proteins which bind to the nDNA. Certain mutations can lead to cancer, and, according to de Grey, non-cancerous mutations and epimutations do not contribute to aging within a normal lifespan, so cancer is the only endpoint of these types of damage that must be addressed.

2. Mitochondrial mutations:

   Mitochondria are components in our cells that are important for energy production. They contain their own genetic material, and mutations to their DNA can affect a cell’s ability to function properly. Indirectly, these mutations may accelerate many aspects of aging.

3. Intracellular junk:

   Our cells are constantly breaking down proteins and other molecules that are no longer useful or which can be harmful. Those molecules which can’t be digested simply accumulate as junk inside our cells. Atherosclerosis, macular degeneration and all kinds of neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer’s disease) are associated with this problem.

4. Extracellular junk:

   Harmful junk protein can also accumulate outside of our cells. The amyloid plaque seen in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients is one example.

5. Cell loss:

   Some of the cells in our bodies cannot be replaced, or can only be replaced very slowly - more slowly than they die. This decrease in cell number causes the heart to become weaker with age, and it also causes Parkinson’s disease and impairs the immune system.

6. Cell senescence:

   This is a phenomenon where the cells are no longer able to divide, but also do not die and let others divide. They may also do other things that they’re not supposed to, like secreting proteins that could be harmful. Immune senescence and type 2 diabetes are caused by this.^{[citation needed]}

7. Extracellular crosslinks:

   Cells are held together by special linking proteins. When too many cross-links form between cells in a tissue, the tissue can lose its elasticity and cause problems including arteriosclerosis and presbyopia.^[7]

Aubrey de Grey, British researcher on aging, claims he has drawn a roadmap to defeat biological aging. He provocatively proposes that the first human beings who will live to 1,000 years old have already been born.

A true maverick, Aubrey de Grey challenges the most basic assumption underlying the human condition — that aging is inevitable. He argues instead that aging is a disease — one that can be cured if it’s approached as “an engineering problem.” His plan calls for identifying all the components that cause human tissue to age, and designing remedies for each of them — forestalling disease and eventually pushing back death. He calls the approach Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS).

With his astonishingly long beard, wiry frame and penchant for bold and cutting proclamations, de Grey is a magnet for controversy. A computer scientist, self-taught biogerontologist and researcher, he has co-authored journal articles with some of the most respected scientists in the field. - ted

Blog: Enabling Gears and Https

WordPress.com is always making improvements and I enjoy trying them out. This blog is now more secure with https: encrypting my log in and I’ve enabled the “Trubo” option which uses Gears for firefox, so I should be able to add content faster. We shall see. I’ve been experimenting with a blogging add on called “Deepest Sender”. Will that still work with https?

Timing, that’s the key to most things.

Oops. Someone got busted. Know when to get in, when to get out. Be unpredictable. Read the Art of War.

Ah, so that’s how he did it. And my own blog ranking tricks

I found this on the Michael Psycho site. It seems he has somehow used proxy.org to vote for himself around 200 times.

Well, looks like at least for the time being, I’ve snagged the number one spot on the esteemed Sacramento Top 25 list. Amazing how many visitors have shown the love, eh? Thanks to all of me, I mean, you who have been so kind to click my page link and vote me up to the TOP, baby!

And oh yeah, on an, ahem, unrelated note, in my research on my previous accomplishment (namely, getting tagged up by Websense as NSFW) I got a line on a nifty site called proxy.org, which I would like to share with the workers of the world as a public service (at least until your company IT snoop calls you or drops by.) By all means, visit that site and it will help you surf your favorite sites without detecting your local IP address. And there’s probably a whole truckload of other uses for anonymous proxy servers as well, but gee, I can’t think of them off the top of my head right now!

… You see, being at the top of this list, week after week, makes certain site owners feel special about themselves. They look at their constant weekly number-one-to-number-three ranking as a reason to feel validated, nay, to feel alive. Oh, I’m not going to go into these silly allegations of how these paid actors are putting up advertorial blogs in order to generate money through these insidious shadow marketing sites because at this point, if they were actually stupid enough to do it, it would be chump change and irrelevant anyway. I also won’t rant about any self-made attention whores who center themselves on a single scapegoat and think that “controversial” has the same definition as “pandering.” No, we don’t need to go there.

But, troops… you need to understand. These folks need their top rankings and little mentions in the SacBee Blog Watch. Yes, I know, I’ve even been there (on 12/16/2007- oh and also linked by the Washington Post) and never made much of a big deal, but to other folks it’s a really special thing. So I don’t want anyone slitting their wrists just because they checked in on their Top 25 ranking and see my media terrorist ass sitting on top of their chance at fame and fortune because the local media was looking for yet another local blog profile type story and doesn’t notice you because you are (shudder!) number 2!”

I started getting massive web hits when put up a site with “finger butts” that got picked up by a major blogger. My site had over 2 million hits in one day, from all over the world, yes even Poland. (If someone used a proxy to view Xenophilia.com from there, I would not be surprised.) After the initial injection, word spread.

I’ve blogged almost every day for years, adding what I consider to be the world’s top stories, pictures and videos, from one strange perspective. I’ve also put the bressler.org “Top Sacramento” banner on every page I made. Most those pages are still up, bringing in new traffic daily. My article on cavities brought in a lot of traffic, as did one on the hollow earth which got hit by a mention of another site on the Art Bell radio show (2nd largest radio listener population in the US).

I’ve investigated and copied various other schemes of those at the top and have changed tactics after getting a message from the owner of the ranking site.

I found that linking to other sites in my articles/post brought in more traffic. I have many links because I like to cite sources. Spammers linking to their own viagra posts on my old blog drove up the hits too, until I figured out how to use a spam blocker with WordPress.

The traffic got so bad that I got booted off of my ISP not too long ago. I’ve used Myspace, links from various dating sites, and other traffic generating schemes like writing a new song and telling people to click the Top Sacramento sites to get to the song. I also bought the domain Xenophilius.org after the character came out in the last Harry Potter Novel, and that brings in new visitors.

All of this over time has given me high Google ratings for some searches, which brings in more hits from all over the world. I was amazed when I put up a visitor map on my WordPress blog a few years back. At the time, I thought it must just be spammers, crawlers, automated bots, or whatever. I still think that is responsible for a lot of traffic.

Another tip: add RSS feeds to your blog. When I post new articles now, that’s when my numbers go up. If I don’t post for a few days, the site rank drops.

So, Michael, you caught me. I do constantly look for new ways to market. I have done so for years. And perhaps the point about validation from being in the top of the list is a good one. Perhaps I secretly feel unloved, so I resort to Internet validation. Perhaps. I’ll look into that some time. But right now, I’m too interested in getting to the bottom of those Nazi UFO rumors as they may relate to the Roswell crash.

PS. Never heard of SacBee Blog Watch. Don’t make a cent from this. No advertising.

PPS. Michael, fix your music link. I’d like to hear it, but I get “HTTP 404: File Not Found” on AcidPlanet.

Update #1: Okay, I’ve checked it out and here is how to use proxy.org to increase your page rank:

1. Go to proxy.org
2. Put in your blog address
3. Click the [Go] button over and over until you finally get working proxy that displays your web site. (Took me 5 tries.)
4. Find your “Top Sacramento Web Sites” banner and click it!
5. Keep doing that over and over for hours.

It works because the site only allows each IP address to vote once a day or so, but this way, as long as you find enough new proxy sites, you can vote for yourself many times. Brilliant… I guess

Update #2: Cripes! A lot of those proxy sites try to infest your computer with malware. Use at your own risk.

Fair Use vs. DMCA issue hits Xenophilia blog

June 24, 2008: I can’t post anything new today. This is the message I am seeing:

Warning: We have a concern about some of the content on your blog. Please contact us as soon as possible to resolve the issue and re-enable posting.

So far my attempts at contact have been unanswered. Some person or persons at WordPress.com will only allow me to “Submit for review” instead of publishing. If one this blog goes down, check xenophilia.com for the link to the new blog. For example, this one at blogspot.

June 25, 2008: WordPress.com has asked that I remove one of my posts (the April fools jokes from the Museum of Hoaxes) due to what they consider a valid DMCA request. I’ve promptly removed that post, although I believe the post was fair use under the law. They have also asked that I remove “copied articles”. Parts of copied articles are allowed under the fair use provision of US copyright law. I’ve let them know this. We will see if WordPress cares about free speech and blogger rights enough to stand with me on this.

Extra Irony Points: This blog is largely me ranting against control freaks.

In other news, I’m up past 72,000 visits to this blog! Thanks for visiting. Stay tuned for more.

June 26, 2008: Blog enabled again by WordPress.com.

Follow up: This blog provides news aggregation, reporting, research and education, as well as entertainment and my personal notes on life. My understanding of the fair use provision is that it allows reproduction of content, even copying of entire articles, with certain limitations.

Actually, the law is far from clear and the issue is really heating up. It’s not just me. See: AP Blog Fair Use Guidelines.

… Quite often, blog posts… build from content created by the AP, NYT, WaPo, and others will wind up ranked higher in Google than the original content. This is due to the inter-linking that blogs do, the nature of permalinks, and a variety of factors that I don’t truly understand. It’s not hard to see why the AP would be irritated by that fact. If someone looking for information on the latest breaking news winds up at a blog that’s excerpting AP content rather than on a site displaying advertising that the AP is getting paid for, we’re costing them money.

At the same time, recirculating and commenting upon their content — so long as we link to the original — undoubtedly drives content to the AP’s affiliated sites and creates an additional audience for their work. What the trade-off is, exactly, I don’t know. - otb

In my research on this, I’ve found additionally that Blogger.com uses the same policy as google.com which seems to protect everyone’s rights the most. The legal question, however, is still murky.

… in a recent case (please see http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/legpolicy/opg_v_diebold/ for more information), a company that sent an infringement notification seeking removal of online materials that were protected by the fair use doctrine was ordered to pay such costs and attorneys fees. The company agreed to pay over $100,000. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether material available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first contact an attorney.

For those researching this topic, one comment by “Counsel” on OTB had a nice summary:

…(See www.copyright.gov) … the US Government states, “Copyright protects the particular way an author has expressed himself; it does not extend to any ideas, systems, or factual information conveyed in the work” and describes the 4-prong test in Section 107.
Namely, in determining “fair use,” the courts will look at:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Here are some related stories:

BLOGGING AND FAIR USE

Wire Service Theft

Court Overturns FCC’s Broadcast Flag Rule

C-SPAN Changes Copyright Policy after Pelosi Flap

YouTube, Copyright Law, and Political Speech

AP Announces Excerpt Fees

What Is A Fair Copyright Term?

They are Starting to Get It

Preparing For The Digital TV Transition

Secret Blog Wars

Cool, I can post again!

I think… test… yes it works. Okay, this is a busy week so I may not post much. These fires in Northern CA where I live are causing very unhealthy air. Be careful out there. Stay indoors. Use masks if you go outside and aren’t too embarrassed to wear one.  Asthma and even heart attacks can happen when the air gets this bad.

This temporary shutdown by WordPress is good in a way because it caused me to set up a back up blog.  If things really get crazy, as long as I’m able, you can the latest strange news from some link off of the main xenophilia.com page.

Surfing the apocalypse, I’m your host, Xeno.

Random Pictures from a day in the life of Xeno

You have new Picture Mail!, originally uploaded by xeno735.

Taxes. I owe, I owe.

Ugh. Like most of the rest of America, the housing disaster is kicking my butt.

I currently owe the bank $100,000 more than my home is worth, so I can’t even refinance. I just learned that I reduced my taxes too much each month. I did that to be able to pay my high interest-only mortgage payments. So, I messed up. I owe about $7,000 in income taxes this year! Time to sell my furniture I guess.

I paid $17,943 on my interest only loan in 2007, plus $3,239 in property taxes, plus $2,700 home owners association dues, plus $870 for water, sewer and garbage. So, the total cost for owning a home in 2007 for me was $24,752. That comes out to $2,062 per month or $1,612/mo if I have renter paying $450/mo. I’ve already poured all of my savings into this money pit. There is nothing more. So, now I have to destroy my credit and go through a foreclosure unless they take my deed in lieu offer.

I’ll have bad credit for the next 7 to 10 years and I will probably owe taxes on debt forgiveness of $100,000 or I’ll have to pay back the $60,000 HELOC in payments over the next 5 years. It all kind of makes me want to vomit. But at least I know I’m not alone.

I have to plan my next moves carefully. Before I hurt my credit with a foreclosure, I should sell my 19-mpg luxury car and get a 100-mpg 2009 Toyota Prius, a bicycle, and a cheap apartment. I might get married and have children to improve my tax situation in 2008 as well.

The coming world energy crisis will require a lot of flexibility over the next 10 years.

I really like the above design better than this one, which I think is more likely to be the 2009 model. Or one of them anyway. I’d like the body shape above to come in a 100-mpg version for under $30,000.

Update: My local Toyota dealership says the 100-mpg Prius will be out in 2010 and will only get that mileage with a special add on kit a user could have installed after the purchase. Car salesmen lie like there’s no tomorrow in my experience, so this may just be the thing they say to keep selling the 2008 models. I was told the 2009 model will be the same as the 2008 with no body style or mileage improvements. Hmm…

Lovely Weekend in the Mountains

Hello. No new strange news posts this weekend on this site since I will be camping out for a few days out of Internet and cell phone range.

With gas at or over $100/barrel it really is time to start rethinking our energy use. Instead of cutting back, I think people see the end of the age of oil in sight and so people are taking MORE trips… while they still can.

It looks like Obama will be president, don’t you think?

And isn’t it odd that the death of an officer in Clinton’s motorcade happened very close to where JFK was assasinated? How often do people die on motorcycles when they “clip a curb on a viaduct”?

Dallas police said 49-year-old Sr. Cpl. Victor Lozada-Tirado was thrown from his motorcycle when it clipped a curb on a viaduct near downtown. He was in the rear of the motorcade, police said, following it as it took a turn not far from Dealey Plaza, where John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

Clinton canceled an appearance in neighboring Fort Worth, telling about 2,000 people gathered outside the Tarrant County courthouse that it would be inappropriate to campaign in the wake of the accident. Instead, the New York senator visited Lozada-Tirado’s family at the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Chron

Stop back by for more strange news on Monday.

Blog situation

Aplus.net lost some of my WordPress tables: all the category and user data. I restored from my own backup so several years of posts are on here now! I did lose most post from Jan and Feb 2008. I’ll add them as time permits.

On the positive side, the billing department has been very cool. I now have the two web sites xenophilia.com and xenophilius.org extended to 2011 and 2012.  Plenty of space there to do some fun things.