Like!

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Redistribution stinks. Read the article.

About that CEO/Employee Pay Gap

Holy Smokes.

Woah. I don't even know where to begin.

It's a beautiful day here today, so I decided to spend a little time out geocaching.

I'm driving down the highway on my way to the last cache of the day, a sneaky little hide that a few friends and I failed to find the other day.

All of a sudden, the black SUV about 30 yards ahead of me in the left lane veers off into the median, and over-corrects, causing their car to skid sideways into the right lane.

The gold sedan in front of me slams on their brakes.

I slam on mine, and realizing I'm going to hit the sedan, I quickly get into the left lane with only a couple of feet to spare.

I look into my rear view mirrors as I pull over into the median, and notice that the black SUV somehow ended up in the median facing traffic.

I ran up to their car, as the lady inside screams, "IT WAS A SPIDER!!"

The two little girls in car seats in the back seat are crying.

Their car didn't flip.
Gold sedan didn't hit them.
I didn't hit gold sedan.
Nobody was in my left lane.
Black car didn't hit any cars in the right lane.
Nobody behind us hit anybody
Did I thread the needle as the black SUV made a loop?

Holy smokes.

Somebody had their hand on that scene.
Thank You, Lord.

When the Professor Posts a 1-Hour Long Lecture as "Required"

What I Imagined Studying Nutrition Would Be Like

What it actually is.

Rain Wins, and Your Hobby Loses

So, we went to an art festival this past weekend.

What they can do. 

What we can do. 

Hiking in the Rain

How to Know if the Gym is Busy

Mushroom Farming

I recently looked up some stuff on how to grow mushrooms. The good kind.

It's a pretty easy system. You cut down a bunch of logs about a foot and a half long, and drill 2" holes all through them. You insert a little bit of mushroom spore into each hole, and then seal the deal with beeswax. The spore inoculates the entire log in the space of about a year, and exactly one year later, you're harvesting 2 pounds of mushrooms per log per year.

Anyways, it somehow got brought up at work, and my client told me that mushroom farming can be great, as long as you keep it outside.

It seems a friend of his had gotten into mushroom farming too. He had a basement full of these mushroom logs. All was going fine and dandy. He'd harvest a couple of mushrooms every morning, and take them down to the farmer's market to sell.

Eventually though, he went on a 2 week vacation.

When he came back, mushrooms had infested his entire house. They were everywhere. Doors, walls, wood flooring, the ceiling; he came back to a mushroom forest.

And he spent the next 40 days living in a hotel as his house was fumigated.

He moved his logs outside after that.

Where is Ebola Currently?

So, ebola has proven much more difficult to contain than we originally thought. At the moment, here are the countries with ebola patients:

1. Liberia
2. Guinea
3. Senegal
4. Nigeria
5. Democratic Republic of Congo

These are the ebola hotspots, where patient zero originated. Due to inadequate state infrastructure, a lack of access to sound healthcare, and really stupid thought processes (Liberian senators are arguing whether or not ebola is a real threat, or just a ploy to increase foreign monetary aide)

Below are the nations outside of Africa which have suspected ebola patients. 

1. Spain - A CNA has recently been diagnosed with ebola, and as of Thursday, her husband and 5 other medical workers on her case have been quarantined. Only the CNA is showing symptoms at the moment, but she seems to be doing well.
2. United States - All Americans that have contracted ebola so far, have done so via contact with African hotspots. The first American to die from ebola had just gotten back from a trip to Liberia. His family is currently being quarantined under armed guard after an escape attempt. 
3. Czech Republic? - A Czech business man has been quarantined at the moment, exhibiting ebola-like symptoms. Symptoms can often be very similar between different conditions though, so this could be something else entirely. 
4. Macedonia? - A British man died here from symptoms similar to those exhibited by patients with ebola. Lab results have yet to come in, however, to tell whether this was the case, or something else. 

You can check out a time chart of the spread here.

This is kind of interesting as well.

A Rough Look at Who's Fighting Ebola.

Ebola has continued to spread since the first outbreak was spotted, and my first post on it right here, complete with bloody eyeball video.

There were 518 confirmed deaths at that time, this past July. As of now, it's around 4000 deaths. And this particular strain isn't a 90% fatality rate as was initially spectated. It's closer to 48%. Here's some more facts on ebola.

That being said, here's a very rough look at who's doing what in the largest fight against ebola in human history.

United States

• $750 million pledged
• 4000 troops pledged, most of which come from the 101st Airborne Division
• 65 U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corp
• Around 2600 volunteers with government aid services

China

• 170 medical workers

India 

• $12.5 million pledged
• No personnel going to be sent

Russia

• 8 virologists, and protective equipment

South Africa

• A mobile ebola lab

African Union

• 75 medical workers

Uganda

• 15 medical workers

Japan

• $40 million pledged
• No personnel going to be sent

France 

• 15 French medics

United Kingdom

• 750 personnel to build clinics (1)

Doctors Without Borders, Samaritan's Purse, the Red Cross, and a host of other non-profit relief organizations are currently present as well. 

This is a major war going on over there at the moment. As mentioned before, pray!

The Cure for Cancer?

Now this is cool, so get ready.

Researchers from Juno Therapeutics as well as Novartis, both biotech companies, have found a way that they believe may be a potential cure for cancer. Close to 90% of patients with leukemia were healed after receiving experimental samples of CAR T-cell therapies.

What is this? Well, basically, blood is withdrawn from a cancer patient and the white blood cells are isolated. These white blood cells are then infected with an inactive virus that contains the genes that recognize specific cancer cells. These new and improved white blood cells are then grown in a lab for about ten days before they are put back into the original patient. The white blood cells multiply once they are within the body, and seek have a new thirst for cancer cell blood, resulting in the omission of cancer within the patient.

In short, the patient is healed.

The drawbacks? Well, there's a few.

For starters, at an estimated $500,000/treatment, this isn't going to be something that everybody can afford. Cancer treatments are incredibly expensive already between chemotherapy, radiation treatment, surgery, hospital stays, biopsies, etc. Adding an additional 500 grand to the tab isn't going to be a very practical solution.

Second, patients utilizing CAR therapies are at risk for cytokine-release syndrome, a situation in which blood pressure drops while the heart rate spikes. Two patients died in an initial trial due to this, so it is something to think about. Researchers claim that if the patient is healthy, CAR therapies should be relatively safe. The only question that then comes to mind is how is it possible to have cancer and be healthy?

Every treatment has side effects, however, as anybody who's ever watched a Zyrtec commercial can attest to. And if it really came down to it, I think that most people would agree that the risks are worth taking in this case.

Nevertheless, this is incredibly exciting. To see how God-gifted scientists have been able to find a very effective cure to certain types of cancers, is awesome to see. The therapy is currently under review by the FDA.

You can read more here.

New Insulin Pump Can Potentially Better Treat Diabetics

I'm always on the lookout for potential new cures to turn the tide against disease (it must be part of the whole grad school/public health thing), and when I found this the other day in the Wall Street Journal, I was pretty pumped.

A matchstick sized pump that gets inserted into the patient. With a year's worth of insulin, that's constantly being released into the patient in micro amounts to better regulate blood glucose levels. Now that's cool.

The little guy gets inserted right under the skin of the abdomen, and gives the patient 100% of the benefit of using the drug. No needles, no finger pricking, no anything. Just the little matchstick.

I work with a LOT of people with diabetes on a daily basis, and have seen how that disease completely transforms one's life. When a 15 year old kid comes in to see me with Type 2 diabetes, I know what lays in store for them if we can't radically change their life around for them (or they can't get their blood sugars under control). I've seen the diabetics in the nursing home. I've worked there. I've seen how they end up. Missing limbs, practically blind, or unable to talk due to the stroke that they had. It's a miserable state to be in.

Diabetes is nasty when uncontrolled.

And that's one of the reasons I love doing what I do. I get the chance to help people who are pre-diabetic be so no longer, help people be able to get off their meds, and help them to better live their lives.

Unfortunately though, exercise can't solve everything, and medications are often needed. But when you can find a way to still give somebody their meds without all the finger pricking and needle inserting, allowing them to better live their life and to have a happier, healthier one, I think that's pretty stinkin' awesome.