November 21, 2014

headline on wtvd

"Obama spurns GOP with expansive immigration orders"

how rich is that after the past 6 years? it's like an abused wife finally moving out and the neighborhood saying "she abandoned him"

this is why i can't take corporate media anymore. it's too much bullshit. why not discuss what Obama did for the millions of undocumented workers trying to live without fear of losing everything even their families? aargh

October 30, 2014

From Ebola Researchers, An Anthem of Hope

http://directorsblog.nih.gov/2014/10/30/from-ebola-researchers-an-anthem-of-hope/

After watching this music video, you might wonder what on earth it has to do with biomedical science, let alone Ebola research. The answer is everything.

This powerful song, entitled “One Truth,” is dedicated to all of the brave researchers, healthcare workers, and others who have put their lives on the line to save people during the recent outbreak of Ebola virus disease. What’s more, it was written and performed by seven amazing scientists—one from the United States and six from West Africa.

The song’s main composer Pardis Sabeti, MD, DPhil, an NIH-funded New Innovator at the Broad Institute of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA, is a leading expert on using genomic data to uncover clues about the origin and evolution of emerging viruses, including Ebola. The African researchers singing along with Sabeti came to Boston this summer to learn Ebola surveillance methods—training made possible by the Human Health and Heredity in Africa (H3Africa) Initiative in which NIH is a partner. These scientists are now back in their home nations of Nigeria and Senegal, working hard to help fight this deadly disease.

But that’s not the only connection this song has to Ebola. Sabeti and her research team had been doing research on Lassa fever in West Africa for some time. When Ebola made its appearance in Sierra Leone this year, Sabeti turned her attention to the outbreak, using genomic sequencing to track the spread of the disease. Working with her friend and colleague, Sheik Humarr Khan of the Kenema Government Hospital in Sierra Leone, more than 70 samples from infected patients were obtained and sequenced, documenting the viral mutation rate and ultimately proving that the outbreak could be traced to an individual who died of Ebola in Guinea in December 2013.

more at link

August 16, 2014

does anyone else watch msnbc on their computer?

i can't get the video to load today and wondered if it was a site issue. thanks

August 15, 2014

tomorrow's Friday.

okay, it's today. i wonder if there's a protest planned around here (Raleigh Durham area).
i have an urge to march saying hands up, don't shoot...

July 18, 2014

i think we should see all the pictures

Rachel just did a commentary on how the worst pictures from disasters and tragedies and war mongering are kept from the public because we "don't need to see that."
well, i think we do. maybe if "we" are exposed to the full scope of the horror, more people will stop being so complacent about war and its attendant atrocities.
"we" aren't children; "we" are the people, and "we" need to know what happens in war. i almost feel as if it is a responsibility to look at all of it. don't clean it up, don't shield my eyes as if i'm a little girl who should not be exposed. Let me know what war is really all about: waste, destruction, unnecessary, premature, gory, horrible death of innocents.
it should not be easy to turn away. that's my opinion. i am very disturbed by what happened yesterday and don't want to forget it; i want to be able to affect some peace in this fucking world even as i feel utterly helpless to do so.

i feel this applies to the deaths of the children in Gaza and wherever war is raging in this fucked up world at any time. how do we get to peace?! maybe if more of us had a fuller apprehension of the horror of war we could get closer. i don't know.

this is coming from a bereaved mother who was excused from identifying the dead body of her daughter who died a violent death by car. i do not advocate seeing pictures that are personally identifying the victims because of the pain those would cause their loved ones. this is a conflict for me admittedly and i have not resolved it in my mind.

June 23, 2014

arrests happening now (Moral Monday)

live stream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/amirislive

June 11, 2014

on the old DU

you could favorite posters so you never missed a post by them. is that feature still around and i just haven't caught on to it? and if not, why not?
fly by night is waiting to find out if he'll be pardoned and i don't want to miss the news when it comes. and of course there are others. i really miss that feature. unless it's been resurrected and i missed that.
thank you.

May 24, 2014

help. we're dogsitting a 1-year-old yorkie

who has not been fixed yet. he is making life miserable for my 10-year-old chihuahua, and the 3 humans in this small apartment. if he is not trying to hump my dog, he is whining, barking, wailing and crying to get at him. either does not know or does not care that he's after another male.
it was funny at first.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10154163383850716&set=vb.538110715&type=2&theater

that was a couple days ago. any suggestions? he's here until Monday.
thanks DU!

April 30, 2014

Is everyone okay??

i just woke up and it looks like a tornado in durham; i'm in raleigh and hearing distant thunder...

April 26, 2014

I just voted

at Lake Lynn Community Center, about 1/2 hour before they close. no line, a few candidates and party members outside. i spoke to Blair Williams and complained about not being able to find endorsements on the democratic party's website. a republican politicked me as i was walking in the door and i complained about it (i know she's a republican because the name was not on my ballot) (besides which republicans seem to believe that the rules only apply to other people).

i was number 266 on the day. methinks we must do better. VOTE