Filed under: Random
The title for today’s blog is an homage to spammers.
I have nothing but random thoughts to offer this evening…
- Breakfast in America. I was thinking this morning, as I went on my walk around Pigspittle, about my encounter with a former member of Supertramp. It was just days after 9/11 and I was attending a performing arts conference in Minneapolis. The Supertramp guy, whose name escapes me, was there to represent his light/sound extravaganza. We sat at the same table with some other folks for breakfast. I nearly blurted something stupid about having “breakfast in America,” but like I said, it was maybe four or five days after 9/11 and we were all too gloomy and a little traumatized by traveling. I’m guessing the Supertramp guy had heard enough puns on “Breakfast in America” to last a lifetime anyway. (more…)
Filed under: Life, in general
Wikipedia lists six different kinds of flux:
- Momentum flux
- Heat flux
- Chemical flux
- Volumetric flux
- Mass flux
- Radiative flux
Those are just the kinds of fluxes used in transport phenomena. There are other fluxes—for biology, medicine, electromagnetism. For every kind of movement, there is a kind of flux, I suppose.
I’m in psychological flux. Yesterday, I started a new job doing grant writing. I’m still working at my old job, too, until November. I’m floating between two offices (one which is not yet mine), trying to remember which deadline is for which job. All of this is actually good. I like to float.
Filed under: Science
It’s All in Your Head. Diagnostic testing for multiple sclerosis has been notoriously difficult and not entirely reliable over the years. New studies, however, may add to the tools available to neurologists. Traditionally, the disease is diagnosed through the use of MRIs and lumbar punctures (“spinal taps”), looking for brain lesions and abnormal spinal fluid, respectively. According to today’s Science Daily, “In their search for the cellular and molecular causes of multiple sclerosis, an Italian-German research team has identified a subgroup of protective immune cells (suppressor cells) which are strikingly reduced in number in patients with this nervous system disorder.” The researchers believe “that reduced numbers of CD39 suppressor cells may be indicative for the disease,” giving doctors a new method for identifying MS. Another study announced this week that advancements in understanding of T1 lesions may help to diagnose MS and identify its progression more accurately.
