Category Archives: Eugenics

James Lovelock to humans (again): "Go to Hell"

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Lovelock's solution. Photo: Nate Ritter/Flickr CC

Is a “false flag” eco-attack somewhere in the offing? — MB

The scientist who popularized the theory that the Earth is a single organism this week told the UK Guardian humans are too stupid to understand the threat of global warming.

He also said that only a very dramatic event — such as catastrophic flooding, which would surely take thousands of lives — may be necessary to get people’s attention:

“He thinks only a catastrophic event would now persuade humanity to take the threat of climate change seriously enough, such as the collapse of a giant glacier in Antarctica, such as the Pine Island glacier, which would immediately push up sea level.

‘That would be the sort of event that would change public opinion,” he said. “Or a return of the dust bowl in the mid-west.’”

via James Lovelock: Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change | Environment | The Guardian.

Scientists: Vaccines provide "herd immunity"

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Naked apes. Photo: Peter O'Connor/Flickr CC

By using “herd,” the scientific community belies its insensitivity, if not its outright contempt, for the rest of humanity.

Dose the kids, protect the “herd.” That’s the language hardhearted epidemiologists are using to describe how vaccinations work to protect human populations:

“An unusual study done in 49 remote Hutterite farming colonies in western Canada has provided the surest proof yet that giving flu shots to schoolchildren protects a whole community from the disease. Although previous studies have demonstrated what scientists call ‘herd immunity,’ none have been so incontrovertible, because they were done in less isolated places with more sources of flu passing through.

Stanhope to English, Irish, herd: "Go to hell."

Credit Canadian conspiracy historian Alan Watt, for noting how scientists use the word, “herd,” in a way that fails to jibe with any citation in popular dictionaries.

The scientists are, however, using the same, precise language of that obnoxious prig, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield,  Philip Dormer Stanhope (click the excerpt below, for the full text):

via NYT: Flu shots in kids provide ‘herd immunity’ – The New York Times- msnbc.com.

Deathwatch 2012: $27 million to keep elders "in place"

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Little help? Big gov spending aims to keep old folks afloat. Photo: Steve Evans/Flickr CC

The US federal government recently announced plans to help the elderly age “in place,” rather than at some godforsaken nursing home.  (I spent enough time around these dumps, particularly on the south shore of Long Island, New York, to know.)

The government is also spending millions in a new effort to help GLBT folks get the support they will need to avoid being warehoused in old age. More about that effort, later this week.

This is all  not to say that the government isn’t going to try to do it all on the cheap. The feds (see announcement, excerpted below, with a link) seems to require that non-medical folks take up some health care responsibilities.

The take-away, incredibly enough, is that we will need even more underpaid, poorly-trained,  elder care providers, than anyone imagined, to care for a generation of half-dead Americans (thanks to medications that prolong life, even as they enfeeble the body).

The intervention has been tested through randomized controlled trials and has been shown to be: i. effective at improving and/or maintaining the health status of older people; and, ii. suitable for deployment through community-based human services organizations and involve non-clinical workers and/or volunteers in the delivery of the intervention; 2) The research results have been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal; and 3) The intervention has been translated into practice and is ready for broad national distribution through community-based human services organizations.

via Grants.gov – Find Grant Opportunities – Opportunity Synopsis.

Our betters are shooting blanks

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Photo: Erik Mill. Flickr/CC

The question is, who is defining “high quality,” here:

“The results support the suggestion that genes that are good for males may often be bad for their mates. Therefore, in beetles at least, multiple mating does not award females with genetic benefits,” says Göran Arnqvist.

via Males Of High Genetic Quality Are Not Very Successful At Fertilizing Eggs.

NGO: Don't waste Tamiflu on old foks

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Photo: Tom Mulrooney/Flickr CC

Photo: Tom Mulrooney/Flickr CC

Let’s hope your best years are behind you.

Doctors may consider your age when deciding whether you are worthy of treatment for pandemic flu.

Mr. Merler said: “Although a policy of age-specific prioritisation of antiviral use will be controversial ethically, it may be the most effective use of stockpiled therapies. This is of particular importance for countries where the amount stockpiled is well below the WHO’s suggested level.

via The Rabbit Hole.

Sounds like the good doctor might have found a new way of saying, “unethical.”

Morgue: final resting place for the cash-strapped

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Photo: Pavel Tcholakov/Flickr CC

Photo: Pavel Tcholakov/Flickr CC

A Massachusetts woman can’t afford to give her brother a proper sendoff, the LA Times reports.

She’s just one of many  Americans who can’t even afford to dig a ditch for their departed family members.

This is the kind of story that might one day persuade folks to donate their bodies “to science,” rather than die, horrified, knowing that a hospital might just toss your body in the trash.

Last month, the coroner called his sister, Tarnya Baker, 41, of Amesbury, Mass., to notify her that Agosta, 43, of West Hollywood, had shot himself in the head. Although Baker was her brother’s next of kin, they had not spoken since he left Massachusetts for California 15 years ago. Only after he died did she learn that he was in debt. He shot himself as sheriff’s officials attempted to evict him. He left a note giving his possessions to the local AIDS clinic.

Baker said she wants to claim his ashes, but she and her husband have two children and a struggling glass-glazing business. During the last two years, they have had to lay off their two employees.

via More bodies go unclaimed as families can’t afford funeral costs – Los Angeles Times.

Cops scour the land for angels of death

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Photo: CC/tanya petrova

Photo: CC/tanya petrova

The “death with dignity” crowd in the US is in a state over law enforcement’s efforts to quash would-be Jack Kervorkians:

The internet is being kept under close watch by law enforcement to find more victims to back up their dubious prosecutions in Georgia and Arizona. Thus this is a time to be extra cautious and discreet. At trial, the defendants will be rigorously defended.

This harassment is most likely a right-wing backlash to our movement’s law reform successes in Oregon, Washington and Montana. We shall proceed.

via Law enforcement searching America for ‘assisted suicide’ cases | Assisted-Suicide Blog.

Deep Impact 08: Hurricane Wars

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Accuweather

Image: Accuweather

Hurricane 4 Gustav is shaping up like another Katrina, and so is Tropical Storm Hanna, to the East.

Accuweather

Image: Accuweather

AccuWeather.com – Weather News Headlines – Weather News
Gustav’s extremely dangerous impacts will stem from storm tides reaching at least 9-12 feet above normal and winds potentially of Category 3 status, or at least 111 mph, near the site of landfall. It is along the Louisiana coast, with its many canals, inlets and bays, that these winds and storm tides would wreak the most serious havoc while reaching farthest inland. And widespread flooding rainfall of 6-12 inches together with isolated tornadoes will substantially extend the storm’s impact inland.

Scanning faces for autism

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Computer scientists revive eugenics tool to spot brain damage

(SS scientists studied Tibetans' facial characteristics on an early expedition.)

University of Missouri computer scientists are sure to anger “neuro-diversity” advocates with this one: Hypothesizing that autistic kids have unique physical features, they will create a roadmap with head size and facial feature measurements for diagnosticians.

The research is being funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.

“Instead of looking at brain structures slice-by-slice in an MRI (magnetic resonance image), we developed tools to create 3-D representations of the structures in order to visualize and make comparisons,” said Kevin Karsch, a research assistant in Ye Duan’s computer graphics lab, in a recent announcement. “Using the 3-D representations, we are comparing the brain structures of autistic children to those of non-autistic children; no one has ever done that.”

Note: FXSmom last year blogged about using facial characteristics to diagnose genetic disorders.

MU Researchers Study Facial Structures, Brain Abnormalities to Reveal Formula for Earlier Detection of Autism | MU News Bureau
The U.S. Department of Defense awarded Duan, in collaboration with researchers at the MU Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, a $110,000 grant to create a facial imaging system that will make identical measurements of the faces of children with ASD. Additionally, the NARSAD Foundation, the world’s leading charity dedicated to mental health research, awarded Duan the prestigious Young Investigator Award and $60,000 to fund 3-D imaging of various segments of the brain in children with ASD. The projects also are supported by a $100,000 contribution from other MU sources and $30,000 in Research Scholar Funds.

We are developing a quantitative method that will accurately measure these differences and allow for earlier, more precise detection of specific types of the disorder,” said Ye Duan, assistant computer science professor in the MU College of Engineering. “Once we have created a formula, we can pre-screen children by performing a quick, non-invasive scan of each child’s face and brain to check for abnormalities. Early detection is crucial in treating children and preparing families.”

Radical new theory of aging: Gene drift

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(Feely rusty? Oxidative stress may not be what’s killing you, after all. Photo: Shane Anderson)

from Mark:

Put away your free-radical scavenging face cream and your anti-oxidant horse pills: Old age is not about “rust.” It is the result of a derailing of genetic pathways in older animals, according to a new study.

According to a group of Stanford University scientists who examined some very tiny worms, we are living beyond natural selection’s ability to get rid of those susceptible to this “developmental drift,” because they have already reproduced.

“We found a normal developmental program that works in young animals, but becomes unbalanced as the worm gets older,” said the lead scientist on the worm study. “It accounts for the lion’s share of molecular differences between young and old worms.”

The discovery might lead new anti-aging therapies, or “genetic counseling” for helpful parents at risk for condemning their children to a shorter lifespan.

Prevailing theory of aging challenged in Stanford worm study – Office of Communications & Public Affairs – Stanford University School of Medicine

Some tortoises lay eggs at the age of 100, he points out. There are whales that live to be 200, and clams that make it past 400. Those species use the same building blocks for their DNA, proteins and fats as humans, mice and nematode worms. The chemistry of the wear-and-tear process, including damage from oxygen free-radicals, should be the same in all cells, which makes it hard to explain why species have dramatically different life spans.

“A free radical doesn’t care if it’s in a human cell or a worm cell,” Kim said.