Archive for March, 2010

Could we use a legal BIG DRUG?

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Drugs are all over: Mexico is in the news, Afghanistan grows poppies, the US had a war on drugs, governments are buckling, some enjoy the stuff, more are  suffering, big money are made. We are not handling this well. Policies are inconsistent. Some are easing up with some success, others are clamping down with varying success. International coordination is sorely lacking. This complex situation will persist.

The money involved is huge, the number of people using drugs are huge, the activity is criminalized, debate is hugely emotional with overtones of many kinds.

The list of natural and synthetic drug compounds is getting longer as time passes.

Researchers know a lot about drugs and their effects. This knowledge should be used, and more research should be undertaken.

Many writers have talked about drugs in their books – often in connection with mind expansion and changes. They evoke mystery, hidden forces, exalted states of mind as well as deep relaxation.

Drugs seem to have been here always, and possibly will continue to be.

Frank Herbert’s book Dune is set in a society where an all-pervading drug exists and is used widely, openly and with government support. It is expensive so if you have a lot you are rich. It is addictive, if you stop using it you die, and it makes your eyes deep blue.

The book goes into some detail about the drug:

  • Geriatric – you can live very long
  • Heigthens your vitality and awareness
  • Gives prescience and therefore aids safety
  • Taste is good and renews itself
  • Gives you pleasure and makes you glad
  • It is natural (like life)

Other characteristics could also be put on the list:

  • Relaxing
  • Excite you
  • Improve your psychic powers
  • Expand conciousness
  • Mind control

The list could be made much longer.

If we were to find such a natural substance, should we let people use it? Privately? At work? As a food supplement? Is it immoral or unethical?

Our thinking about drugs need development, but the theme can not be debated sensibly today. How do we break the deadlock?

The drug circle must be broken by sensible regimes in all areas – knowledge, research, controlled production, controlled but legal use, more research, transparency, taxable incomes from sales, medical services, getting rid of harmful substances and so on.

If people use it, bring it out in the open, decriminalize it, do what needs to be done to reduce harm – be sensible.

Positive peer to peer

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

The Norwegian state broadcasting company is using bittorrent technology to distribute free TV programs – mostly the big ones so that they can save bandwidth. They explain the technology – how to do it – so that even your grandmother can understand it – as well.

They are not making money from it, but technically it works fine – customers are satisfied it seems.

See link: NRK Beta

The discussion around it is positive – and what else can we use bittorrent for – suggestions are forthcoming from users.

The commercial world should try this approach as well. Long term thinking combined with innovation may lead to value for your customers – and you learn the technicalities and thinking of the new world. Pulling your customers into courts is very alienating.

Other broadcasters are looking into bittorrent too – there is movement.

So all you film, record companies of the world – get the bittorrent feeling – try it. It is coming your way now. Giving away free combined with paid services may make a strong team if you are clever! Start by setting up bittorrent for your advertising and demos – and some old stuff?

Build some value for your customers in the process?

The systematics of biology – and you

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

We all hear about the work going on within the field of genomics and DNA sequencing – great hopes and some fears are coming up. According to some a new future is dawning.

But  remember there are several more -omics in biology. There is a hierarchy of -omics, about 8 at the moment – they are fairly new and maybe more may be coming up.  Proteomics and metabolics are two of these.

Proteomics is about proteins and the processes they are involved in in the body, and gives a better understanding of the functioning of the body. The genome of a man is almost constant, but the proteome is constantly changing depending on what you do, eat, etc.

Metabolics is the study of the metabolites in the body – there are probably about 3000 metabolites or sorts of substances at work in the body to a varying degree.These are being mapped now, upon which further study of their workings will follow.

The mechanics of the body and cells are there too – mechanome and mechanomics.

Both genomics, proteomics and metabolics may lead us to better understanding of human health, new lifestyles and medicines.

What about the physics side – surely there is a physics side to the bodily functions as well – physicanome and physicanomics – the quantum mechanics, currents, electromagnetic radiation of the system of cells, the circuits of the biological computers, the light going into your eyes? Maybe the cosmic powers, the memory and consciousness also belong here?

The broad systematic approach is already giving results – more will come – soon.

Mission Zero

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

How can your company reduce your carbon footprint to zero? Do you know the emission numbers for your company? What energy do you use? Do you produce waste and just throw it away? Are the materials etc. you use for your production ecologically sound?

You can make this part of your strategy and business model development and innovation practices.

What about your private household? You don’t know? Well then start thinking – it could be both fun and useful!

Helpful websites: CO2 Benchmark , Carbon Footprint Calculator

The personal web – use it now

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Now things really are moving: Services, apparatus, software ….. more and better. Connectivity to all devices is approaching – simpler, faster, cheaper: it’s a wonderful world.

The web will be more personal, you can choose, the system will make suggestions, you will be linked to others, you can integrate stuff. Scarcity will disappear so that everything will be available and you can see movies you never thought of and get acquainted with new musical artists, read your own kind of books, get your own news, find exciting services and more. Sites will allow sharing of stuff you have bought – increase availability.

The power of social networks will be used to connect you to your “extended friends” – life will be much more efficient.

The business models will become more mature and sustainable, copyright practices will start to fall into place with a much more flexible copyright structure, payment solutions will be acceptable, services are good.

These are breaking times, and so they said a hundred years ago – and in a hundred years from now this will all be seen as rather unsophisticated.

But keep it going – we live now – use what we have now – don’t wait.

Trendwatching – yes, but keep using what’s there now!

Are we forgetting electromagnetic pollution?

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

The Earth’s magnetic fields are out there – always – and influencing our lives. The fields and radiation humans produce may influence us as well- some are static, others have a pulsed radiation.

Electromagnetic fields EMF and electromagnetic radiation EMR come in all sizes and shapes. Some of these fields and radiations are in the visible spectrum, others are invisible.

The spectrum of radiation is wide:

  • X-rays, radiation from nuclear activity, ultraviolet radiation,
  • visible rays
  • infrared, microwave, radio-waves, radar, mobile telephone, WIFI,
  • extra low frequency radiation ELF

If you look around you there are lots of uses:

  • battery driven equipment
  • homes full of electric equipment
  • electrics for industrial tasks
  • power rails for cranes, trains
  • power lines for distribution, transformers
  • detectors, door openers,
  • radio transmitters of many kinds
  • shortwave equipment, mobile telephones and their antennas,
  • radars, beacons, TV-towers
  • W-LAN-routers in your home and office
  • radio-controlled cars etc.
  • induction heating systems in industry and homes
  • radon
  • X-rays and other medical radiation
  • and more ……..

Do we see biological effects from this massive radiation – is there a risk of discomfort, illness or death? Electric pollution is no doubt present – we are taking part in a giant experiment! Nobody is at the moment checking the combined consequences of electric pollution – the evidence of damage is therefore slight.

Rules for admissible levels of radiation vary – it’s OK if you are not cooked (US)  or it not OK if you feel discomfort (Russia).

The medical side is getting more attention. The Russians are active – they have found stress hormones, depressions, etc. US researchers have seen negative reactions in rats with levels of radiation that is lower than in an ordinary office, subliminal reactions are seen in people. The endocrine, metabolic and cardiovascular systems may be affected, as well as growth systems and immune response. Rumuors of cancer rates going up are found.

Military people are working on radiative weapons using pulsed radiation, big powerful antennas are found in many places. They are also using ELF extra low frequency signals of 30-100 Hz that have been shown to cause chronic stress and reduced disease resistance.

There are lots of available protection equipment for some of this radiation, but technical changes should be considered as to the way power lines, microwave antennas etc. are built.

Energy levels for all frequencies should be set, e.g. 100 microtesla for 50Hz. Magnetic fields in a typical house could be 0.1 microtesla.

Heating of tissue has been seen under the influence of radiofrequencies, and a value of 0.02 degree Celsius is allowed.  Researchers in Sweden claim to have seen cancer as a consequence of radiation. Non thermal effects are not generally considered.

Electropollution may harm the the stability and functioning of the electric currents and magnetic fields in the body.

The precautionary principle is violated now – the trouble is that we can’t see, touch, hear, feel, taste, smell these signals.

We need transparency – measurement – follow up routines in this area!

A new cancer regime

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Cancer is coming up to be the most common disease of all. The WHO estimates that 9 mill. will die from it in 2010, and that the number will increase to 16 mill. in 2020. One can say there are about 110 types of cancer, one for each type of cell in the body.

Cancer follows age, and 90% of all cancers are diagnosed in persons more than 50 years of age (90% for men and 85% for women).

Bluntly, it seems that if you get operated on very early you will have a good chance of survival, but if you are put on radiation and chemotherapy your chances of five year survival are slight, less than 10%. There is no cure for cancer at the moment, and the knowledge of the processes in the cells is not fully developed. New medicines are coming to the market and some are resulting in improvements.

It is said that a number of substances used in food, cosmetics, foods, smoking etc. are carcinogenic and will lead to cancer, and some say we are bombarded by chemicals. It is said that physical exercise is good for you in relation to cancer. Nutrition containing fruits and vegetables are beneficial. These factors are not fully documented.

Research into cancer is about understanding cell processes and cycles, inhibit negative processes, finding DNA structures and DNA replication, finding out about control mechanisms in the cells/body and coming up with new medicines that can cure the disease.

There seems to be well structured communication systems in cells, both internally and between cells. We don’t at present understand a lot of the processes – why they sometimes stop and start, cancer disappears, if it will metastate etc.  Research has been going on for about a hundred years, and many Nobel prizes have been awarded.

The work is done by biochemists in the hope that the solution is to be found in that realm. So far the results have been unsatisfactory, although progress is being made.

Another possible line of inquiry could be biophysics – or checking out the physical processes of the cells. Biophysics is already used in modern computer design, and research is going on into using cell structures, their control mechanisms, communication systems and wiring to create superfast computers – they are using the concept of the integrated circuits of the cell and cell structures. An open mind about what directions research should take must be essential now.

In this situation the alternative treatment industry is doing well. When the mainstream does not work so well this will happen. Natural medicinal compounds are used widely, alternative treatments are practiced by doctors

Another factor is the regulatory regime in medicines today. Testing and approval procedures are extremely expensive. A change of rules should be considered to allow testing on a wider scale.

The cost of treatment is extremely high, and is a severe burden on treatment costs.

Cancer is now considered an enigma – we don’t understand it and we can’t cure it, we can only prolong life for people with cancer, although chemotherapy is intolerable.

This all sounds pessimistic, but changes are possible: Carcinogenic substances must go, nutritional programmes must be developed, research must be better coordinated and broadened to include all possibilities, activists must be allowed to voice their concerns, international cooperation must be encouraged, innovative thinking should be part of it and public, independent bodies should ask more, the development of drugs should be be better coordinated and placed in the public realm.

The cancer situation as it is now is humiliating and an insult to human intelligence.

http://www.kreftregisteret.no/Global/Bilder/Logoer/cancerregistry_weblogo.gif

There are many aspects of research that will ultimately lead to the prevention of cancer in man.

  • Cancer Biology (processes of promotion, progression, signal transduction, apoptosis, genomic instability, growth factors, cell and molecular biology, mutation, DNA repair, genetics, etc.)
  • Molecular Epidemiology (genetic predisposition to cancer, and epidemiology)
  • Cancer Prevention (molecular dosimetry, chemoprevention, etc.)
  • Carcinogenesis (viral, chemical and physical carcinogenesis, metabolism of carcinogens, formation, detection, identification and quantification of environmental carcinogens)
  • Cancer Physics (optics, electric currents, signal, cell circuitry, communication procedures, etc.
  • Cancer Physical Training (the specifics of training regimes)
  • Cancer Nutrition (the effect of food on the metabolism, specifics related to cancer)

Cancer is now considered an enigma – we don’t understand it and we can’t cure it. We can only look forward and if changes are made – we will get there.

Humans are biochemical, bioelectric and in tandem with the electric Earth

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

The complexity of humans are greater than we think – and simpler to understand! Humans can see without eyes and hear without ears, psychology can heal illness, bones can grow when stimulated with electricity, the placebo effect has a natural explanation. See – it all fits together.

There are DC systems and electromagnetic fields in the body that controls and monitors the processes in our body.

We can stimulate the regrowth of bone structure by adding electricity, we can measure brain-activity by means of electrodes, acupunture works because of electric currents in the body, piezo-electric effects can be measured by putting pressure on bones.

The paths of these currents are structured – there are lines and points that are conductors and amplifiers, there are DC power sources, they have polarity, the heart is surrounded by an electric field – there are very low-power electric systems in our bodies.

Reactions and thoughts produce currents and applying magnetic fields will alter these currents, and touch and pressure will alter these currents.

Experiments show that pain is felt through the nerve system, and that this system is connected to the electrical system of the body, but with a delay.

The attention of other people – care and touch – will influence these electric systems. This can explain the role of placebo, shamans, healers, yogic control of pain. Extrasensory effects seem to be influenced by psychic intent.

These fields work on both the conscious and the subconscious levels – allowing us to understand emotion and memory and the non-rational side of humanity.

It is also well known that the earth has magnetic fields, and these will affect the electric and electromagnetic fields of the human body.

The Earth’s magnet field is a complex construction: It is driven by the planets’ structure and the charged gas of the ionosphere, the cycle of planets, solar flares, lightning, condenser effects with electrostatic fields between the surface of the Earth and the ionosphere, and sectors are changing due to the changes in the sun’s magnetic fields.

Cosmic rays from the sun have effect on the psyche of people, so that changes in magnetic fields cause changes in behaviour.

All creatures tend to like a stable and wellknown electromagnetic environment: homing of pigeons, people synchronizing with the fields where they live and needing time to adapt to new places.

This can also have to do with the “spark of life”, what created cells with the complexity  we know today, this further leads us into the world of semiconducting crystals , information contained in developing matter and organisms, the creation of networks of cells, growth of nervous systems, the likelihood of a central control mechanism in the form of a high-speed digital system – a hybrid system of chemistry and physics, a biomagnetic mechanism.

Remember also that the electromagnetic world we live in is spectrally very narrow, and that we can not sense what is going on outside this narrow band of electromagnetic spectrum.

So this is new to you? Well, it needs deeper digging and more research to be fully understood and integrated. Maybe biophysics can lead us to the answers of life that we are searching for at the moment.

Research into computers are considering these factors as well. Bioelectronic interfaces where biosensors can detect signals via nanowires from biochemical environments are being studied. A multidisciplinary future is foreseen! See Video from MIT

More will follow. Se book “The Body Electric” by Decker, Selden.

Waste no more – eat it!

Monday, March 15th, 2010

How do you get rid of surplus food? Well, let somebody – perhaps yourself – have it and eat it, of course.

A new trend is gaining force – the food left over from supermarkets etc. are being collected and eaten: The freegans are going into the containers and other dumps to dig out the edible food. How many these people are is difficult to tell, but attention is being drawn to this side of a modern society.

With strict rules for dato marking foods a lot is thrown away. Estimates vary a bit, but some say that about 40% of the food taken into a city is thrown away – not eaten. This surely has all the un-s attached to it: ethical, economic, ecological and is inefficient too.

FREEGANINFO

I am a freegan YouTube

Quote: “A Freegan is a person who, in reaction to the statistic that the west wastes 25% of all it’s resources, get items from the trash that are perfectly good. It is often smelly, but hundreds of items can be found, perfectly fine, that otherwise would be wasted. Is often linked with environmentalism and activism. Often have regular jobs, but just eat out of trash.

Man, I met this guy and he was a Freegan. He was also an executive at this company. Serious, he was so loaded ’cause he doesn’t buy food.”

And you can give it to the homeless.
Now this principle can be extended – all sorts of leftovers can be taken into use somehow: clothes, cars, books….  You can make the list as long as you like! And you can go even deeper – find leftovers and undeutilized reources for your whole life.
Be a Freegan! It is where the future is. Everything will cost you less.

Urban agriculture

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Good cities often have much greenery. Large plants like trees and bushes are used for decorative purposes and to give a sense of natural habitat to city dwellers.

The planting is traditionally done on the street level, but is also now found on many levels in all kinds of building. The aim is to soften the image, make the building seem ecological. Architects increasingly use “greening” as a tool in their work – often as part of landscaping and developing sustainable cities.

Now another force is coming up: Growing plants for food in cities, distributing and consuming them locally. This is small scale agriculture aiming to be ecological and fully sustainable. It is now being developed through projects in several cities.

This is called community based agriculture, and is utilizing new concepts of thinking and technology. Among these are criticism of the unsound global economic food production system, edible landscape thinking, grow food where people are, create pretty neighbourhoods, hydroponics.

The places used are rooftops, greenhouses, allotments, community gardens, roadsides, parks, hydroponic installations.

On a larger scale this becomes quite complex – the physical environment, landscaping, economics, social considerations, the ecology. City regulation and educating people must be part of it. Schools often find a special place in these developments.

Agriculture is also animals, so rearing animals for food is part of the plans.

The ecological side weighs heavy – no pesticides, organic growth, water and waste management.

The aim is both to employ people and feed them, make products locally available so that little transport is needed.

The choice of produce is important – products must suit the urban conditions and restrictions – so fruits require trees, vegetables can be harvested, flowers, herbs etc. Animals must be small – chickens for eggs – but milk production can be possible, rearing and slaughtering big and many animals may be difficult.

These processes have started – we are learning and progressing.

And what about beekeping in the city: non-aggressive bees that is?  See New York Times