E-Cigarettes, A Safer way to Smoke?

It seems like every time I sit down at the bus stop or any other public place there is someone there just puffing away on a cigarette. Nothing annoys me more than second hand smoke. I don't really care if it is unhealthy or not to breath second hand smoke I just don't like the smell. Needless to say I am big fan of those new smokeless e-cigarettes. The smoker gets their nicotine and I don't have to smell it. But is it any safer for the smoker? Common sense says yes. Since you are only inhaling vaporized nicotine there is no tobacco with all of its carcinogens. But you are still inhaling nicotine which could be a major a major health concern. The British Medical Journal says there is no conducive evidence either for or against e-cigarettes over the traditional ones. More studies must be done to prove that these are a truly healthier option. The guys trying to sell the new e-cigs may try to tell you that they are the exact same as the nicotine patch or gum except now you can retain the feel of smoking, but it is just not true. You are breathing in the nicotine so its delivery pathway is much different than that of the gum or patch which could lead to health problems more associated with smoking. But if any smoker out there really cared about their health they would stop smoking. So smokers there is no point yet in switching over to the new e-cigs for yourself just yet, but there are people all around you, like me, that wish you would. If you would like to be more well liked by the general population please switch to e-cigarettes.

Tibetan Terriers are More than Good Dogs

If you have ever owned a Tibetan Terrier you know they are amazingly wonderful dogs a little difficult to groom but lovable non the less. One problem with the breed though is that pure breds have a tendency to contract neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis or NCL which is a degenerative neurological disorder like Parkinson's in humans. The dog slowly loses vision and muscle control. Eventually the dog will begin to have seizures and can become irritable and aggressive as the disease takes its toll.Not a fun time. Luckily though a PhD student in Missouri located the faulty gene in the terriers so dogs can now be screened to see if they carry the mutated gene before they are bred. This should greatly reduce the number of Tibetan Terriers with the disease.

This is not only good news for dogs but humans as well. Researchers used the map of the terrier's genome to find what disease if any is associated with the equivalent human gene. And low and behold a form of Parkinson's is associated with the gene in humans. Since researchers know that NCL is caused by the bodies inability to breakdown and recycle some of its used up material which begins to build up in the brain causing the symptoms. They could believe that this same occurrence could be causing this form of Parkinson's and can hopefully start looking for cures or better medications to slow the effects of the disease.    

Free Energy Machine

To clear up any confusion all of the eggs were first soaked in vinegar to remove the shells. Then one egg was move to water bath, one egg was moved to water and food coloring bath, and one egg was moved to a salt water and soy sauce bath. I only show myself adding salt  because I did not think of adding soy sauce to get some proteins in the water until after I had finished filming. 

Water Diffusion

As promised in my previous post here is the video of the red dye diffusing in water at 80X real speed.

Osmosis: Mother Natures Biotech (Video Post)

For those of you who would like to watch the full diffusion I am still working on speeding up the video. It took about thirty minutes for the dye to diffuse and it is like watching paint dry right now. I should have it sped up and posted by Monday though.

Wag of my Finger to Johnson and Johnson

For most people when Johnson and Johnson is mentioned they think of baby shampoo. But Johnson and Johnson is also one of the largest medical device producers in the world. They make everything from stents and sterilizing equipment to imaging and EKG machines. Recently though J&J was caught bribing doctors, hospitals and governments in foreign countries across Europe and Asia to use or exclusively use J&J products. This is highly unethical not to mention illegal. J&J has opted to settle out of court for $70 million before the trial without admitting guilt. In all fairness these allegations were all made against J&J subsidiaries and when J&J found out they actually brought it up to the US government. So in all fairness J&J acted very ethically it was J&J's foreign  subsidiaries that deserve the wag of my finger. Bad J&J subsidiaries. It is nice to see that there is still companies J&J Corporate Headquarters who do the right thing in bad situations.  

Hangover Cure Part 2

After my very exciting e-days I collected my "experimental data" on hangover cures. My hypothesis was that enough water and vitamins the night before would cure any hangover. My test started Wednesday night with a control, I consumed normal amounts of water and vitamins that day with a lot of alcohol that night. I woke up the next day with a hangover as expected. I had a massive headache and nausea. Thursday I was sipping on water whenever I was not drinking. The next day I woke up slightly dizzy but not too bad off. Friday I consumed the same amount of water and alcohol with a multi vitamin to cap off the night. I woke up 100% fine, no hangover! Saturday I thought it might just be the electrolytes I got from multi vitamin so I consumed the same amount of water and alcohol except I switched to Poweraid instead of water for 12oz. Again I woke up 100% fine with no hangover. So my conclusion is that hangovers can be prevented with lots of water and a full range of electrolytes.   This is not by far a conclusive experiment but it is a good initial look. If you would like to continue this experiment and tell me the results I would be grateful to hear your insights. If you actually have some of the hangover pills and can compare it to sports drink and water for you. I found that they hangover pills would have been a waste of money since I prevent hangovers for much cheaper.  

A few of these guys did not have as hangover free of an e-days as me.