Stanford researchers find cause, possible cure for gluten intolerance. A team of investigators led by Stanford University researchers have discovered the cause and a potential treatment for celiac sprue, an autoimmune disease that leads to an inability to digest gluten, a major protein in wheat, rye and barley products. National Science Foundation [EurekAlert - Medicine & Health]

More about the 33-mer peptide that causes gluten intolerance. It affects 1 in 200 people and would indicate to me that eating grains is a rec our diet.  5:02:18 PM    

Home injury found to be a major cause of deaths, largest study of its kind finds. Home may be where the heart is, but it's also where danger lurks, new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill research shows. More than 20 million visits to emergency rooms, doctors' offices and clinics occur because of mishaps there every year. [EurekAlert - Medicine & Health]

This reminds me of the man who slept on the sofa every day because he heard most people died in bed. Where do people spend so much of their time? Of course, the reason more people die in NM than MA per thousand could be interesting, or may just have more to do with doctors per thousand. The article does not clarify.  4:57:09 PM    

Researchers find trigger for devastating digestive disease, propose treatment. Researchers have found a peptide molecule that triggers celiac sprue [^] a severe inflammation of the intestine that results from eating wheat and related grains [^] and propose a treatment strategy that relies on bacterial enzymes to break down the offending molecule in the digestive tract. [EurekAlert - Medicine & Health]

Another instance showing how recent the eating of grains must be, since we still have immune problemswith the plants. This is a fascinating study. The undigestible 33-mer protein will cause havoc with the immune system, since it is geared to react to anything that large that is not 'self' as a foreighn invader. Maybe all we need to do is colonize the gut with bacteria that can digest this protein. The bbegs the question, why does that not already happen?  4:54:58 PM    

Rome, AD ... Rome, DC: "They came, they saw, they conquered, and now the Americans dominate the world like no nation before. But is the US really the Roman empire of the 21st century? And if so, is it on the rise - or heading for a fall? Jonathan Freedland sifts the evidence." [From the Desktop of Dane Carlson]

What a hyperbolic article. It is a very labored argument to compare the US with Rome. I am sure you could make debating points by comparing it with the British empire or the Mongol hoards or just about anything you want. There is little precedent for what we are. And to act as if Rome was some bogey man, that was the bane of existence, seems to be an underlying current in the article. As if no other society creates myths of its ancestors. Here is my hyperbolic debating point: We have had more self-imposed constraints placed on our imperialism than any other. We are successful because we look for success anywhere we can find it. We fight the tendency of power to corrupt by changing our 'rulers' every 2-6 years. This makes us somewhat forgetful and often neglectful of our previous promises, but, so far, it has also prevented an accumulation of too much power. I will begin to worry if we elect another Bush or do away with most of the constitution. Our form of society has many more correcting safeguards than the Romans. Will it be enough? I am sure we will soon find out.  4:50:03 PM    

Blondes to die out in 200 years: "The last natural blondes will die out within 200 years, scientists believe. A study by experts in Germany suggests people with blonde hair are an endangered species and will become extinct by 2202. Researchers predict the last truly natural blonde will be born in Finland - the country with the highest proportion of blondes." [From the Desktop of Dane Carlson]

What a poorly written article. It does not say who is making this claim or how they actually arrived at it. The article claims that blondes are an 'endangered species'. News to me. Come on. The number of blondes found in the world may decrease, simply because there is greater gene flow than before (i.e. more Norwegians marrying Italians). The phenotypic expression of blonde hair may be reduced but the presence of the gene will not disappear. And then claiming, somehow, that bottled blondes are the reason??? Now, if blondes had less children than brunettes, thie lost of the blonde gene could occur. But they do not say this. In fact, if blondes do have more fun, they could have more kids, resulting in a higher frquency of the gene and a greater prevalence even irecessive.This looks lke an article that should have been published in the dog days of August.  4:10:24 PM    

The Stanford Prison Experiment

In 5 days, this experiment created bad men from a random pool of college students. This is why I get pessimistic sometimes about the (ab)use of power. It is just so easy to create an environment where decent people do evil things. In 5 days, there was a rapid descent of the participants into a hell that would be easy to dismiss as aberrant, if it was not so true. Humans with power can be utterly ruthless if not constricted by rules, by basic premises that MUST be followed. Anytime a powerful person complains about how they are prevented from doing what they want, I silently say 'good'. It should be very difficult for the powerful to do what they want. That is what the Founding Fathers understood when they devised our government and our constitution. They made it very difficult for our government to DO anything.

In the years since, many politicians have tried to get around those constrictions, and complained in the process. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus. Roosevelt tried to pack the Supreme Court. And these are two of my heroes! They were wrong and, luckily, we were able to make sure the constraints stayed in place. Johnson got the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. Watergate and Iran-Contra are two recent attempts by the powerful to ignore these constraints. The argument could be made that almost every attempt to subvert these constraints has led to short-term failures and sometimes to long-term tragedies.

The reason that constant vigilance is the price of freedom is that the powerful find slaves so much easier to manage.

Think how much more difficult it must be in a society without the rules we have, where the powerful and their desires are not restricted. College students became brutal in 5 days. What would years have produced? What have the powerful wrought in those countries where the powerful have no limits to their power? We should not view our role as a policeman, whose job is to remove the criminal. We must be a surgeon, removing a cancerous growth so that the patient can survive. Our job must be to save the patient, not simply destroy the cancer. Because the cancer will return unless proper treatment is in place. Simply cutting out the cancer every time it appears will not save the life of the patient, it only prolongs the inevitable and creates greater misery

It is easy to call the rulers 'mad men' and just dismiss them, or blow them up. They are 'mad men' but they should not be so easily dismissed. They are not aberrations. The Stanford Prison Experiment showed how easy it is to create monsters. Not everyone will succumb. Even some of the guards at Stanford were nice. But the brutal ones will be created, unless constrained. Without changing the environment, you do not prevent the creation of more monsters. There are many more who can fill the position. That is the real hallmark of any civilization. How well it prevents the creation of such monsters and how well it constrains the ones it does create. We have done a good job of this in our history. I pray that we can continue to do this job without creating more monsters in the process.  12:09:54 PM