Have Scientists Found a Cure For Diabetes?

If the news is true, a new cure for diabetes may be in the works. Scientist in a Toronto hospital have discovered a cure for diabetes in mice that cures them almost overnight.  If this can be translated to humans, the millions who suffer from diabetes may have a chance to recover and not have the intrusion that diabetes causes in their daily lives.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Dr. Michael Salter, a pain expert at the Hospital for Sick Children and one of the scientists. “Mice with diabetes suddenly didn’t have diabetes any more.”
The researchers caution they have yet to confirm their findings in people, but say they expect results from human studies within a year or so. Any treatment that may emerge to help at least some patients would likely be years away from hitting the market.
But the excitement of the team from Sick Kids, whose work is being published today in the journal Cell, is almost palpable.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Dr. Hans Michael Dosch, an immunologist at the hospital and a leader of the studies. “In my career, this is unique.”

Read the rest in the National Post.

Top 10 Scams For 2006

Consumer Affairs has come out with their top 10 scams of 2006. While most people will see through these fairly easily, they each ensnare thousands a year and can be devestating for those affected. Many of these scams occur online, so if you see one on the list, go to the article about it. They are safe sites, I promise.

1. Fake Lottery Scam
2. Phishing-Vishing Scams
3. Phony Job Scam
4. Negative Option Scams
5. Nigerian 419 Scams
6. Pump & Dump Scam
7. Bogus Fuel Saving Devices 
8. Grandparents Scam
9. Oprah Ticket Scam
10. craigslist Scam

Christmas Light House Goes Big Time

Remember the Christmas light house that made the rounds on the internet synchronized to light up in time with the music of the Trans Siberian Orchestra? Miller used the home in a Lite Beer commercial.

Well the creator of the home has taken it to the next step, and if you live near Cincinnati, Ohio you will have the opportunity to see the next generation of the show. The creator, Carson Williams, is creating a much larger display and will have it available for viewing, albeit at a price.

The new show, at the Heritage Oaks Park will cost 15 dollars per car, but will have over 25,000 lights and 12 minutes of music. He would have kept doing the show at his home, but the traffic was so bad it was a danger to the community and he was forced to find a neutral location.

View last years show.

Snopes on the Light Show

  

Bruce Willis … Looks Like there may be a sequal to Armageddon (Land on Killer Asteroid?)

The Guardian is reporting that “the US space agency is drawing up plans to land an astronaut on an asteroid hurtling through space at more than 30,000 mph”. Amazing how life imitates art imitates life.

It wants to know whether humans could master techniques needed to deflect such a doomsday object when it is eventually identified. The proposals are at an early stage, and a spacecraft needed just to send an astronaut that far into space exists only on the drawing board, but they are deadly serious. A smallish asteroid called Apophis has already been identified as a possible threat to Earth in 2036.

Didn’t Bruce Willis, Harry Stamper, already save the world back in 1998 in Armageddon? Why don’t they just watch the trailer and follow Stamper’s lead. However, this time can we have Ben Affleck stay on the asteroid and push the button?

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Coast Guard and HITRON Taking a Bite Out of Crime and Drugs

The US Coast Guard has been on the front line of defense in the war on drugs for years. Drug runners have headed for the US in specially designed speed boats. Many of these drug runners were easily able to out run the Coast Guard boats in the past. Creating a real issue in trying to get drugs of the streets.

The cavalry has arrived. There’s a new sheriff in town and his name is HITRON, Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron. The war on drugs playing field has been evened. It’s a start; however, we have a long way to go.

These aircraft employ the latest radar and Forward Looking Infrared sensors as well as state of the art Night Vision Goggles to pierce the night.  HITRON arms these helicopters with M-16 5.56mm rifles and M240 7.62mm machine guns for warning shots and self-protection, and the RC50 laser-sighted .50 caliber precision rifle to disable the engines of non-compliant suspect vessels.

One thing is for certain, the HITRON’s will not be out run. These heavily armed and extremely fast helicopters are taking a bite out of the drug runners. Working in conjunction with the Coast Guard fleet, they make a formidable team. Although, I do not think many of us would mind if you fired at the crew either.

Cut left — cut right — it doesn’t matter. The bad guys down below aren’t getting away.

“What you’re trying to do is stop the vessel… so that a boarding team can come on board and inspect it,” explained HITRON gunner AET John Deuster.

Along the St. Johns River, in the shadow of downtown Jax, they train three times a week for intense missions over the open ocean. Out at sea, they swoop in over speedboats loaded with drugs and thugs.

But their gunners don’t aim for the crew. They’re trained to blast out the engines on the back of a drug runner’s boat. (First Coast News)

(Hat Tip: RR)

Own A Prius? 1 in 4 Also Own a SUV

While it probably feels good to drive your Prius to show your environmental chops to your neighbors and co-workers, it may also be a bit of a front. A study found that one out of every four Prius owners also own an Sports Utility Vehicle.

That’s right: the megawatt popularity of hybrids is dimming and Americans are rediscovering their favorite automotive guilty pleasure, gas-guzzling SUVs. And here’s something even more shocking: a surprising number of Americans have it both ways. They own a hybrid and an SUV. According to an analysis for NEWSWEEK by researcher GfK Automotive, 24.2 percent of hybrid owners also have an SUV in their garage. Oh sure, plenty of hybrid owners like small cars, too. One in five of them has a diminutive gas sipper in the family fleet. But SUVs, from large to little to luxurious, are hybrid owners’ No. 1 stablemate, according to GfK, an affiliate of the Roper research organization.

So when your co-worker looks down their nose at your gas guzzling sedan, they may have a guilty secret in their garage back at home.

Calling Dr. Google … Calling Dr Google … Please Report to your PC

Dr. Google to the rescue … Now here’s a productive use of the internet. The way physicians have diagnosed recently, anything is welcome. Anything is a good thing as long as it’s reliable information. Let’s just hope the doctors don’t bring the PC into the operating room and start searching, “how to” operate on the heart.

Researchers found that almost six-in-10 difficult cases can be solved by using the world wide web as a diagnostic aid.

Misdiagnosis is still a common occurrence in the medical profession despite all the tools available such as the blood tests and state of the art scanning equipment. (Daily Mirror)

The only problem I see with this is actually teaching the doctor how to use the computer … speaking from experience, of course.

In the long run doctors are still ultimately responsible for making the diagnostic decision from experience and knowledge. Its good to know they have a new resource at their disposal.

Ten Most Common Passwords in the UK

There is a good reason for the technical people to be constantly carping at users to change their passwords. A study coming out of Britian shows the most common passwords over there and it is downright scary how common they are.

If you are using a common password, change it now. If not, your chances for getting hacked go up exponentially.

Top 10 Most Common Passwords in the UK (with percentages)

1. ’123′ (3.784‰)
2. ‘password’ (3.780‰)
3. ‘liverpool’ (1.82‰)
4. ‘letmein’ (1.76‰)
5. ’123456′ (1.63‰)
6. ‘qwerty’ (1.41‰)
7. ‘charlie’ (1.39‰)
8. ‘monkey‘ (1.33‰)
9. ‘arsenal’ (1.11‰)
10. ‘thomas’ (0.99‰) (via modernliferubbish)

It is nice to see monkey come in at number 8 though, we must have fans across the pond.

Now, go change your password to something more secure. There are many bad people out there and if 19 percent of the users in the United Kingdom use one of 10 passwords, you may be a sitting target if you have a very generic password.

Turn Back Your Clocks, And Use More Energy

Daylight Savings Time ended today, and in  the opinion of some of the experts that makes no sense at all. The use of daylight savings costs the  country a fortune in energy costs. Popular Mechanics goes into great detail on it this week at their blog.

Although it is observed in most U.S. states and over 70 countries around the world, DST can be pretty unpopular, especially with farmers, Aldrich says. But one thing’s for sure: It does save energy, which, in times of rising oil prices and energy costs, can only be a good thing.
The California Energy Commission has done extensive studies on the effects and energy savings of DST in the Golden State. In 2001, a report by Adrienne Kandel and Daryl Metz determined that having year-round DST (one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time in the winter and two hours ahead in the summer) would reduce electricity use by 1100 MW in the winter and 220 MW in the summer.
“It would save about 1 percent a day, which doesn’t seem like a lot,” Aldrich says. “But I think anything that saves energy so we don’t have to build more power plants is good in the long run. Every little bit helps.”
The federal Department of Energy is currently using Kandel and Metz’s study as a model to see how much the entire country would save on year-round DST. via  Popular Mechanics.

Its Official, Google Swallows up YouTube.com … This should be interesting.

Google adds YouTube to its stable. Agreements with media companies aside, the threat of copyright infringement lawsuits will always be there. As long as there is a lawyer, there is a potential lawsuit.

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