Proverb

For every pleasure, there is an equal but opposite pain.

West Nile Virus - Old Disease with New Money

Dead Crow Autopsies - Is Somebody Giving Us the Bird?

I lived on a farm as a kid. I'd see the occasional dead crow lying around in a field or ditch or wherever. I don't recall anyone summoning the county coroner to rush the bird's carcass in for an autopsy to determine cause of death, though.

Scientists are courted by large corporations that are out to prove or disprove something in order to make money. There is just such a company--a drug company--that has a vaccine for West Nile Virus. Now all they need to do is prove that it has a fairly plausible life cycle and can be transmitted by mosquitos. The mosquitos bite crows, which are fairly susceptible to the virus. And they bite people, some of whom become ill, and a few of whom die of West Nile or complications.

The point is, West Nile and the illness and death rate from it have quite possibly been around for thousands of years. We just never took dead crows this seriously before. Years ago, folks died of "consumption", "germs" and "viruses". Nobody really cared how the crows died. But now that some greedy pharmaceutical firm has desires on your pocketbook, they're using scare tactics to convince you that this horrible affliction could wipe us out.

I wonder which will get wiped out first: the world human population, the crow population, or maybe the stock value of the pharmaceutical company.

Bob Enderle
Enderle Perspective

Maybe Lamarck Was Right (Sort of)

Genotype Library Theory: Could People Grow Tails Again?

The prospect of growing a tail like your distant ancestors had is probably not all that appealing to you. But if my Genotype Library Theory (GLT) is correct, this has an infinitesimally small genetic chance of happening. Only about 8 percent of our genetic composition is expressed directly phenotypically (i.e., the way we look, blood type, sex, etc). The other 92% is a combination of three other types of genetic information:

• Interpreter DNA, which acts like a compiler of stored code in the Genotype Library, permitting expression of some ancient code, some not-so-ancient code, and even recent mutations brought on by chemicals, radiation, and other environmental factors.
• Expressor DNA, which is the product of the Interpreter DNA. Expressor DNA is the ultimate producer of the active 8% of our DNA, replicating it during mitotic cell division for less specialized cells.
• Repressor DNA acts to repress DNA code in the Genotype Library to prevent it from being read by Interpreter DNA. Some of our prehistoric gills, tail and other evolutionary organs, tissue types and even behavioral traits, are repressed from interpretation and subsequent expression.

At the heart of Genotype Library Theory is the hypothesis that any historic gene set could be labeled, interpreted and expressed by disabling its Repressor(s) and by triggering Interpreter DNA to recognize it as valid code.

A little farther out is the hypothesis that maybe cancer isn't intended to be all that bad in some cases. Cancer may actually be a reaction of a living organism's DNA in response to an environmental stressor. This concept was described in Lamarck's writings. There may be some foundation for this model

Bob Enderle
Enderle Perspective

Enderle Perspective - Dissolving Carbon Water Filters

Carbon Water Filters Create a Nasty Taste That May Pose Health Hazards

We had a Whole House water filter. I noticed that the plastic ends of the black carbon filters react with the water and dissolve into a black greasy goo. This stuff travels through the carbon filter and into the drinking water, giving off a horrible taste and stench like vynl chloride. I have no scientific indication of what the stuff is, but it leaves a brackish paste on the walls of the filter cover.

If you've experienced a similar problem with the black carbon type whole house water filter cartridges, let me know. I'd like to get some interested parties to chip in to have an impartial lab do a chemical test to determine whether the dissolved cartridge poses any health threats.

By the way, I removed the offending cartridge, along with the filter. Result: The water tastes better.

--Bob Enderle
The Enderle Perspective