Archive | November, 2009

Scientists Grow New Penile Tissue in the Lab

10 Nov

Hopefully this will ultimately result in a tightly regulated medical treatment and not  the male equivalent of a boob job.

Scientists Grow New Penile Tissue in the Lab
Rabbits implanted with new cells regained sexual function, study says
usatoday.com | By Jennifer Thomas HealthDay Reporter | Nov. 9, 2009

Researchers were able to restore sexual function to rabbits with damaged penises by growing new penile tissue in the lab and implanting it, a new study reports.

Though a human application is a ways off, researchers say the technique could one day be used to treat severe erectile dysfunction in men.

“We were able to show the tissue was able to integrate and function in the long term, which means we can start planning clinical applications [in humans],” said Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and senior author of the study. “Our hope is to be able to treat patients with many conditions, including congenital abnormalities of the penis, traumatic injuries, penile cancer and severe cases of erectile dysfunction that don’t benefit from drug treatments.”

The study is published in the Nov. 9 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

(more…)

Yuppie stroller an amuptaion machine-recalled

9 Nov
Finger chomping luxury ride.

Finger chomping luxury ride.

Parents suffering from afflu-enza were probably influenced by the perceived  safety and superiority of a $360 baby stroller.  After all Maclaren flaunts “above-industry standard safety features.” WRONG.  Money is no substitute for common sense, which smart parents would exercise when test driving a new stroller in the shop.

Maclaren Recalls 1 Million Strollers Due To Amputation Risk
November 9, 2009 | By Maggie Mertens | NPR.com

When you unfold your swanky Maclaren umbrella-style stroller, you don’t expect to sever a child’s finger. But a dozen kids reportedly lost fingers that way, prompting the maker of upscale strollers to recall about 1 million of them.

A Maclaren stroller recalled over a risk of finger amputation.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission released information on the affected strollers today.

The recall applies to every umbrella stroller Maclaren has distributed in the US since 1999. The specific models are: Volo, Triumph, Quest Sport, Quest Mod, Techno XT, TechnoXLR, Twin Triumph, Twin Techno and Easy Traveller.

The CPSC says the strollers’ hinge mechanism, “poses a fingertip amputation and laceration hazard to the child when the consumer is unfolding/opening the stroller.”

It’s a huge recall and one that strikes at the core of the company’s image with well-heeled consumers. The company Web site, which is pretty hard to access today amid the recall buzz, touts “the above-industry standard safety features” on the iconic strollers.

The company isn’t replacing or refunding money spent on the affected models. Instead, Maclaren asks consumer to stop using them “immediately” and call for a free “repair kit” to cover the hinge.

That could take a while. We just tried the recall hotline a bunch of times and got nothing but a busy signal.

Fingerprints help discover a new da Vinci work

6 Nov

Looking at this painting I can see da Vinci’s hand.

Privately owned painting called Profile of a Young Fiancee, thought to be a lost work by Leonardo da Vinci.

Privately owned painting called Profile of a Young Fiancee, thought to be a lost work by Leonardo da Vinci.

ldv2

How a ‘New’ da Vinci Was Discovered
time.com  |  Jeff Israely  |  Oct. 15, 2009

It’s the flip side to the multimillion-dollar counterfeit. The art world is abuzz with the recent discovery that a portrait thought to be the drawing of an unknown 19th century German artist is now being attributed to the Italian master Leonardo da Vinci. And the way the revelation was made is straight out of a Sherlock Holmes novel: researchers traced the portrait to the artist using a 500-year-old fingerprint.

The 13-by-9-inch portrait, which has now been dubbed La Bella Principessa, is a delicate profile of a young aristocratic Milanese woman, drawn with pen, chalk and ink on an animal skin known as vellum. It was bought two years ago by an anonymous Swiss collector at the Ganz Gallery in New York for about $19,000. Experts now put the possible value of the artwork at upwards of $150 million.

(more…)

One legged Tap Dancer Dies at 91

5 Nov

What a great man and what a great full life. This is by no means a current story, but it’s new to me, and probably to you. Farewell Mr. Bates.

Peg Leg Bates, One-Legged Dancer, Dies at 91
www.nytimes.com  |  By JENNIFER DUNNING  |  December 8, 1998
Correction Appended

Clayton (Peg Leg) Bates, a one-legged tap dancer who became a star, died on Sunday in Fountain Inn, S.C., where he was born. He was 91.

Mr. Bates was being honored by Fountain Inn and had danced there on Saturday in an event to raise money for a life-size sculpture of himself to be placed at City Hall. He was given the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest honor.

Mr. Bates lost his leg at age 12 in an accident at a cottonseed-gin mill where he worked. He had been dancing for his own pleasure from the age of 5, ”before I even knew I was tap dancing,” he told Rusty E. Frank in an interview for Ms. Frank’s 1990 book ”Tap!” ”After losing the leg, for some unknown reason, I still wanted to dance,” Mr. Bates told Ms. Frank. ”At first, I was walking around on crutches, and I started making musical rhythm with them.”

He began dancing again after his uncle whittled him a wooden leg. ”See, I did not realize the importance of losing a leg,” he recalled. ”I thought it was just like stubbing my toe and knocking off a toenail that was going to grow back.”

Mr. Bates went on to become one of the most popular tap dancers in the nation, an irrepressible performer who was as much acclaimed by his fellow dancers as by his audiences. He performed from the 1920′s through 1989 in a career that included vaudeville and clubs, stage musicals, film and television.

Unlike many tap dancers, Mr. Bates did not specialize in any one genre. Hard-working as well as ubiquitous, he mastered a variety of styles and pyrotechnical flourishes, reinventing everything for a wooden leg whose half-rubber, half-leather tip gave Mr. Bates’s tapping an unusually deep and resonant sound.

(more…)

Muslim women boxers to wear hijab at 2012 Olympics

4 Nov

Some have said that as Americans we must be respectful of the many nations and cultures that lag behind ours in terms of civil rights. However the incongruous combination of the  covered “precious jewels of Islam” brutally beating the tar out of another human in a traditionally male sport while veiled is ridiculous.

burka_box

Muslim women boxers to wear hijab at 2012 Olympics
Marie Woolf, Whitehall Editor  |  www.timesonline.co.uk  |  October 4, 2009

THE burqa boxers are coming. Young women are training in Afghanistan to fight in Islamic dress at the 2012 London Olympics.

Wearing hijabs beneath their headguards and clothes that cover their bodies, 25 female pugilists are preparing for their bouts in gruelling training sessions at Kabul’s Olympic stadium, once the scene of public executions by the Taliban.

The team, whose ages range from 14-25, were recruited by their coach, Fadir Sharify, a former professional boxer. He persuaded the girls’ families that it would not be inappropriate for them to take to the ring.

The 2012 summer Games will be the first time women have been allowed to box under the Olympic banner.

(more…)

In Cost-Cutting Move, Harvard Faculty Forgoes Cookies

3 Nov

Things are tough all over. I’d like to know what kind of cookies they were getting that cost $500 per meeting?

In Cost-Cutting Move, Harvard Faculty Forgoes Cookies
chronicle.com  |  The Chronicle of Higher Education  |  October 07, 2009

The Harvard Crimson reports that, in a belt-tightening measure, faculty meetings at Harvard University will no longer include complimentary cookies.

“This is the first time in modern times with no cookies,” said Harry R. Lewis, a member of the faculty council. “We are sharing the pain with the undergraduates.”

Michael D. Smith, dean of the faculty of arts and sciences, says cutting the cookies will save an estimated $500 per meeting. Tea and coffee, however, will continue to be served.

In other news, Harvard’s endowment is worth an estimated $26-billion.

Disney Upset over HO WHITE

2 Nov

Yeah because Disney WROTE and INVENTED Snow White, oopps, hey wait a minute…

Thanks to SF for sending me this.

ho_white4

ho_white2

ho_white3

‘Ho White’ Beer Ad Incurs Disney’s Wrath
news.sky.com  |  October 15, 2009  |  Huw Borland

A beer advertisement featuring Snow White blowing smoke rings while lying in bed with seven semi-naked dwarves has reportedly left Disney fuming.

The raunchy Jamieson’s Raspberry Ale ad renamed the fairytale cartoon heroine “Ho White”.

Loveable Disney dwarves, like Sleepy, Happy and Doc, were replaced with Filthy, Smarmy and Randy to portray different types of drinkers.

(more…)

Black Bear Heads for Beer Cooler

1 Nov

Spoiler alert “no it did not drink any beer.” Thanks to CC for this story.

bear1_

bear2_

bear3_

Bear chilled in Wisconsin beer cooler
www.digitaljournal.com  |  October 21, 2009  |  By Stephanie Dearing.

This ‘shopper’ is getting nods of approval from beer-lovers for choosing to spend time in a beer cooler. A Marketplace Foods grocery store in Hayward Wisconsin hosted the unexpected guest last week.

(more…)

Newer Entries →