Artistic Savant: Stephen Wiltshire Draws Tokyo In 360 From Memory

"The autistic savant is one of the most fascinating cognitive phenomena in psychology. "Autistic savant" refers to individuals with autism who have extraordinary skills not exhibited by most persons. Historically, individuals with these exceptional skills were called 'idiot savants,' a French term meaning unlearned (idiot) skill (savant). In a 1978 article in Psychology Today, Dr. Bernard Rimland introduced a more appropriate term 'autistic savant,' which is the current label.

The estimated prevalence of savant abilities in autism is 10%, whereas the prevalence in the non-autistic population, including those with mental retardation, is less than 1%.

There are many forms of savant abilities. The most common forms involve mathematical calculations, memory feats, artistic abilities, and musical abilities. A mathematical ability which many autistic individuals display is calendar memory. They could be asked a question like: 'What day of the week was May 22, 1961? and they can determine the answer within seconds--Monday. Others can multiply and divide large numbers in their head and can also calculate square roots and prime numbers without much hesitation.

Examples of some memory feats include: remembering everything about presidents (birth/death, term in office, names and birth dates of family members, cabinet members, etc.), memorizing the U.S. highway system, and remembering everyone's birth date, even after meeting the person once and not seeing him/her for 20 years.

Some autistic individuals with savant abilities are incredible artists. Dr. Rimland's son, Mark, is quickly establishing himself as an excellent watercolor artist. A child named Nadia drew beautiful pictures of horses, and her drawings have been compared to those of Rembrandt. Interestingly, she lost her drawing abilities when she started to learn to speak. Another artist with autism, Richard Wawro, who was described in an issue of Reader's Digest, is legally blind and draws in crayons. His works sell for up to $10,000, and even the Pope owns one of his paintings.

Music is another common savant ability. Many performers with autism have perfect pitch and also have a great memory for music. In some cases, a person can hear a classical piece once and play it back in its entirety. Tim Baley, who also has Fragile X, is a concert pianist and the piano player for Hi Hopes, a musical group of singers and performers with autism and/or mental retardation. Hi Hopes played at the Los Angeles autism conference a few years ago and have even played at the White House. (Tim's mother wrote a book about his life. If you would like to obtain a copy of her book or learn more about Tim, you can write to: Mrs. Baley, Box 8207, Anaheim, CA 92812).

The movie Rain Man exposed millions of people to autism as well as the autistic savant phenomenon. (Unfortunately, some people now have the impression that all autistic individuals have these abilities.) In the movie, Raymond displayed a great memory for ball player statistics, memorized parts of the telephone book, and counted cards in Las Vegas. One wonders why this year's national autism conference is being held in Las Vegas!

The reason why some autistic individuals have savant abilities is not known. There are many theories, but there is no evidence to support any of them. For example, Dr. Rimland speculates that these individuals have incredible concentration abilities and can focus their complete attention to a specific area of interest. Admittedly, researchers in psychology feel that we will never truly understand memory and cognition until we understand the autistic savant."

From Autism.com...

James C. Collier

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Cobb GA Mother Arrested For Tattooing 10 Year-Old Son

From the video above, it is clear that Chuntera Napier, the arrested, while well-meaning, is also very ignorant. At minimum, the recipient of such needs to be eighteen to legally bear the risk of contracting any number of potentially fatal diseases, like hepatitis, from getting a tattoo. The misdemeanor charged Ms. Napier clearly misunderstands, like many folks, that all rights, including those of parenting and religion, derive from the constitution, not the bible, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, or the back of a cereal box. This is a good example of where children, and their desire to make adulthood decision, need protection. I hope the example of Ms. Napier's prosecution sends a strong signal that tattoos are for adults, period.

UPDATE: Police are looking for the alleged tattoo artist, but Ms. Napier is not cooperating, so far. The artist could face criminal charges, and so could Ms. Napier, for obstruction.

James C. Collier

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#17 Why Do Blacks Love Fried Chicken?

I see this question a lot. It is best answered with the form of another question, why do people from the southern US love fried foods? The Europeans that settled the south, prior to slavery, were largely Scottish, and they brought the well-established practice of frying food in animal fat, from Scotland. This penchant was unlike the English, who preferred boiling and baking their fowl.

This question gets black-focused airplay in the north and western US, while rarely heard of south of the Mason-Dixon, where asking it would signal unrestrained ignorance. Beyond the south, non-southern whites use the question to disparage geographically transplanted blacks, as though fried-chicken has some magical hold on black people. It does not. It is easily and economically prepared, and it taste good.

If the higher calorie and fat content of fried foods is well known, the better question is why higher educated and higher income Blacks continue behaviors, like eating fried-chicken (see study here), when the inevitable result is poorer health? In general, education, economics and social customs conspire to keep blacks tethered to the mind set where any tasty food is good for you, as long as there is plenty of it.

The study does not say, but it may be that better off blacks, who have assimilated certain key behaviors in order to advance (for example speech and dress) seek to experience nostalgia, or to ‘keep it real’ in one of the few places, the dinner event, that holds no immediate threat of disqualification.

Other ideas?

James C. Collier

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Random African-ness: Antelope Takes Out Cyclist

"Evan Van der Spuy, a 17-year-old member of Team Jeep, was flying in the Time Freight MTB Express Mountain race Sunday near Pietermaritzburg when a leaping Red Hartebeest, or antelope, ran smack into him. Travis Walker, his trailing teammate, happened to have a camera strapped to his bike."



James C. Collier

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Seeing Patients:Unconscious Bias In Heath Care

There are few people I looked up to more, during my time at Harvard and living in Boston, than HMS Professor Augustus "Gus" White, MD, PhD. "Gus" holds many 'first' distinctions, including his tenure as the first black chief surgeon (orthopaedic) at a Harvard teaching hospital (Beth Israel).

When Gus speaks, smart people listen. He has written a book (pictured) on racial bias in medicine. The book is part autobiography, but in typical fashion it is also a challenge for change. He writes how minorities, particularly blacks, receive different treatment than whites, from pain medications to operations like lung cancer, hip replacements, angioplasty, and also recommended preventive treatments, including flu vaccines and colonoscopies. While never one to shy from controversy, Gus reveals how even the best-intentioned physicians in our society continue a bias that has them fail their oath to do no harm.

James C. Collier

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Blue Eyes Don’t Lie, Do They?

I am reading one of multiple books by psychologist Paul Ekman, the “Lie To Me” guy (here). Ekman is an expert on the non-verbal, involuntary signaling we do with our bodies. He focuses particularly on our faces, in relation to the words out of our mouths.

Eyes of lesser pigment (like those of stippled actor Z.Efron), be they blue, green, or otherwise, put the pupil on full display (over brown eyes) and this is more telling than you might think. It seems that our pupils, which control the amount of light that enters the eye, are under the control of our autonomic nervous system. When we are in love, or attracted to someone our pupils dilate – get bigger – so we can take in more of a good thing. Evolutionary instinct makes us more, or less, consciously aware of watchful eyes, but we often miss this subtlety in the mad rush.

Lighter eyes more readily show emotional response, and blue eyes show it the best. This is mostly good, but sometimes bad. Our pupils also dilate when we are afraid, or lying. So, in matters of the heart light eyes will likely betray false words, communicating to the audience the person’s truer intent. By example, some high-stakes poker players wear dark glasses, so any dilations do not give away their true position on any given hand, during the game.

So, if you follow Dr. Ekman, the next time a blue-eyed suitor/suitress is listening to you go on and on, with big pupils, take it as a positive sign. But if they are talking, with big eyes, be wary, there is a good chance they are lying their pants off, and perhaps yours too.

James C. Collier

FTR, brown eyes lie, too.

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Abortion: Black Genocide vs. Performance Gap

There is a growing right-to-life strategy, in America, of labeling legal abortions as racism and genocide. Nothing could be further from the truth. The disproportion in black abortions reported is not due to a conspiracy of whites, in general, or Planned Parenthood specifically. Rather, it is the direct result of black women and men, together, shifting the responsibility of whether or not to potentially make a baby until after conception. I suggest that this is a performance gap (of responsibility).

According to the US Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), black women, as just over 12% of the US population, have 36% of the total abortions. Hispanic women in equal percentages have 25% of the abortions. White women, at 69% of the population have but 36% of all abortions. In all cases, these abortions are the choice of the mother, courtesy of Roe v. Wade and the right granted by the Supreme Court for women to control their own bodies.

In keeping with the disparity in baby decision-making between whites and blacks, white contraception usage in the US is 65%, versus 55% for blacks, and 59% for Hispanics, according to the US Census Bureau.

Beyond the evangelical hype, genocide is when one group of people goes about killing another group. In this case, black women are forcing themselves, at higher numbers, into an after-the-fact abortion decision, rather than a before-the-fact contraception decision with their sexual partner. This is not genocide, but rather it is a crude, emotional, and expensive form of birth-control.

Right-to-life organizations are certainly within their own rights to continue to wage their battle to overturn Rowe v. Wade on religious and moral grounds, but the manufacture of a race-card defense is neither moral nor religious. The accusation of whites, by whites or blacks, of purposely killing black babies for the purpose of extinguishing the group is wrong-headed and plays upon the blacks-as-forever-victims-of-the-white-man meme, even if by their own hands.

James C. Collier

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Racial Battle Fatigue?

No one in their right mind would argue that our society is free of racism. But is every act influenced by race deserving of the accusation, and all that it brings? Contrary to what I read and hear, my answer would be no. Like it or not, ethnicity, as indicated by race, describes difference that can be meaningful, as well as meaningless, or both, in the case of personal preference like dating, worshipping, or joining a private club.

A few months ago I was waiting to join a friend for dinner, in the lobby of a nice San Francisco hotel, when an older white gentlemen and his wife approached me as though I was the doorman. I politely directed them, with their questions, to the actual doorman, a young white man uniformed as such. I was annoyed for that instant, but felt immediately better when I move away from the door to a seat near the restaurant. My friend arrived thereafter and we had a nice evening meal.

Now, in my younger years, this event would have clouded the evening as an indication of the pervasive nature of racism in this country. In allowing the negative wake of the man’s ignorance to remain, I would have pushed my blood pressure up, and set off a host of stress responses that would ultimately shorten my life. The daily influence of these types of incidents is evidenced in a recent article (here) entitled, “Constant Race-Based Discrimination Can Lead to 'Racial Battle Fatigue' for African-Americans”.

What I think the study misses is the power and control of perception that resides with the recipient of these alleged discriminations. In most cases, the intent of the discriminator is immaterial to the greater damage that the recipient allows the slight to inflict. I prefer the water on the ducks' back approach, except for the circumstances where my rights are reduced. Freedom from ignorant people who annoy us is not guaranteed by the constitution.

James C. Collier

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Little Black Girl White Girl Heaven

We see terrible HD visuals everyday to the point of numbness. But then again on very rare occasions we get lucky and spot something so beautiful and real that we freeze ‘alive’ in our tracks. This happened to me this past Sunday, after my workout. I was not delirious, even though 50 minutes of standing intervals on a spin bike, breathing only through the nostrils, is known to make one tipsy. I was actually sitting in the open jacuzzi when two five year old girls cautiously edged into the water.

All the adults present, both men and women, saw it at the same time. One girl was very dark-skinned, with the clearest brown doe-eyes, and the thickest long dreadlocks – not the kind you buy over the counter. The other girl was flawlessly-pale white, with long blond hair, bleached in streaks only by the sun, and with the bluest of blue eyes. The two were glued to each other in the way only little girls know how to do – they moved as one. My first thought, who's got a camera? Then I remembered, CAMERAS NOT ALLOWED! Damn!

These little ladies were apprehensive to the stir they created in the adults, who just earlier were happy to simmer aging muscles quietly in the 100 degree bubbling pool. Each grown-up took their turn dropping verbal wonderment onto the two. When it was my turn, all I could say was that they made a perfect post card, as I framed them with my hands. At this gesture, the two smiled in unison toward me such that I relived that rare and speechless first moment when my own daughter was born. Just totally amazing.

Don’t tell me we can’t do way more than get along, if we try. No better motivation than those two darlings, and all the rest.

James C. Collier

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Jack LaLanne: 1914-2011

I never met Mr. LaLanne, but I am a Board member of the Berkeley YMCA where he was a long-time member and supporter (emeritus). I certainly watched him on television, as a kid, and always marveled at his 'feats of fitness'. Our society owes him a huge debt of gratitude for helping to lead the way to the importance of a fit and healthy body.

James C. Collier

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Ten Ways to Know You Are NOT a Mama’s Boy

I have been researching matriarchal societies/cultures and the degree to which they result in males with dysfunctional attachments to their mothers, including the havoc this rains on the family. This has me thinking and writing about my own mother, and I figured she might get a chuckle out of some of my thoughts, given her most recent health events.

You are NOT a mama’s boy if…

1. The day you broke your arm playing little league baseball, the ER nurse called your house and your mother’s first words were, “I don't care how much it hurts. Don’t cut that shirt off that boy, it’s brand new!”

2. After you blew out the candles on your 16th birthday cake, your mother exclaimed, “only two more years and you are out of here!”

3. Your mother said these, or similar, motivating words, “you better learn how to do something, or no woman will ever want you." (I assumed this included her too)

4. As a little league football running back, you could count on your mother to sprint the sidelines yelling for you to run faster, because, “they’re catching you!”

5. When you got stitches for a bad cut on your face, your mom comforted you by saying girls like boys with scars, because it means they are tough. (Kind of hard to whine after that little bit of comfort).

6. Your mother was famous for saying, “wait until your father hears about this”, knowing that you would fill in the sobering blanks with, “he is going to whip your behind, good!”

7. Only once did your mom ever bring home a package and tell you to put it in your closet and not open it until she said the ‘coast was clear’.

8. She called you one day in college, out of the blue, and asked you if you were being a ‘nice guy’, and said that if the answer was no, then you better “straighten-up, and go back and apologize, before it’s too late”.

9. Your mom has never ridden shotgun in a car which you were driving, and that also contained your fiancé, or wife.

10. After suffering a mild stroke, she demanded that you stop calling her every day, ‘just to check in’.

Good health to you mom! (I love you)

James C. Collier

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Why is Black Hair Curly, Kinky, and/or Nappy?

The single biggest driver in human evolution was the challenge of matching the demands and capacities of our out-sized brain against the relative limitations of a weak physique. When researching the ‘whims of mother nature’, nothing is arbitrary. Sure, there are variances and distributions, but you can be sure that somewhere in the mix resides an objective mean – defining form and substance with a purpose.

Hair, like skin, is part of our genetically malleable, adaptable, outer layer, protecting us from the elements, the heat, cold, wetness, dryness, and utilizing the visible and not-so-visible light (energy) spectrum. Early primates and proto-humans had straight hair, which was an asset in low exertion foraging environs of ranging temperature, but not conducive to extending our physical endurance in the competition for food and survival, especially in mid-day Africa. Tightly coiled, moisture resistant head-hair created an enhanced barrier to ultra-violet (UV) radiation by turning many times on itself. This configuration also allows the release of perspiration droplets into a more optimal evaporative state whereby the droplets capture the heat of air moving around the coils before the perspiration rolls off and evaporates said heat away from the body. Presto! Cool scalp, cool brain, and greater endurance.

Conversely, straight hair was a liability, as it is more moisture absorbent, becoming heavy and causing it to stick to adjacent hair shafts and the scalp, effectively blocking the airflow required for heat exchange and dissipation. The straight hair of those precursors to modern humans would have made them less able to exert themselves for survival and advancement.

So with all due respect to Chris Rock, there is no such thing as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ hair. Curly, kinky, or nappy hair adaptation meant survival and prosperity as a species, in the birthplace of humanity. Moreover, just as coiled hair and pigmented skin conveyed advantage in Africa, straight hair, and light skin adaptation did the same moving north, in logical ways and for discernable reasons (more on this later). And for the record, Don Imus (here) is a true moron. The Rutgers ladies (pictured) are infinitely more appealing than his sorry behind.

Reference: Nina Jablonski, PhD., "Skin:A Natural History".

James C. Collier

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Why Are Black People Black-Skinned?

While asking the question ‘Why are White People White?’ (here), I touched on that black people are black by the same mechanism. However, my explanation was too brief, and the question deserves its own full answer. Keep in mind this evolutionary cheat-sheet: first, there was panting and hairiness, and then came limited sweating and hairiness, and now we have full-body sweating and no hair (little hair).

To begin, earlier hairy primates, or proto-humans, living in Africa were less efficient at dissipating the body heat that resulted from strenuous exertion (hunting, gathering, and avoiding predators). Panting is the way most mammals cool themselves, rather than through sweating. As an evolutionary alternative, sweat glands appeared first over hairy bodies and then over less-hairy bodies, allowing for rapid cooling and quick evaporation. Evaporative cooling pulls heat away, countering the insulating effect, whereby the moisture stays on the skin, trapped by hair, and increasing in temperature from both the sun and internal exertion.

Indeed, sweat glands were an improvement over panting, allowing for greater exertion, but there was another hurdle. Full-body hair on proto humans grew out of ‘white (non-pigmented) skin’ underneath, in combination to regulate Vitamin D(3) production, for bone and reproductive health. Without the hair to block the sun, the skin had to take on this critical task by itself, via melanin production, thereby making the evolutionary case from fully covered, dark haired, white-skinned, proto-humans into hair-less dark-skinned humanoid descendants. Viola, black people!

It was relentless large brain demands (thinking) of proto-humans that drove body evolution to change and advance. Hairlessness, sweat glands, and dark-skin proved a potent combination in response, allowing humans to run greater distances, fight longer fights, dehydrate at a slower pace, and recover normal body temperature more quickly. Humanoids quickly became formidable foes, as their body capabilities ‘caught up to’ their brainy demands.

Reference: Nina Jablonski, PhD., "Skin:A Natural History".

James C. Collier

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Why are White People White-Skinned?

Being black, I scarcely wondered why I was black, but I did often wonder why white people were white. I never believed in the ‘God wanted it that way’ answer. It seems very natural that whites and blacks would harbor the same question, however taboo it is to toss it into conversation. Indeed, science has provided us with an answer, but I hardly see it in print for non-scientists.

The scientific record shows relatively hair-less humans evolving from hairy primates in Africa. At the time when hairy proto-humans ‘loss’ their hair and developed sweat glands for cooling their big brains, they also needed to adapt their production and regulation of the pro-steroid hormone, Vitamin D(3), which was critical to healthy bones and reproduction. The result was an adaptive higher level of melanin in the skin, turning it dark. Viola, healthy dark-skin humans to populate the world!

As early Africans migrated north to Eurasia, with its lessened sun intensity, dark skin posed a problem. Vitamin D(3) fell to unhealthy levels, except that built-in genetically adaptive skin traits quickly kicked-in to lightened skin responsible for producing the required D(3). The farther north they ventured the lighter the skin needed to be to absorb the right amount of sun. It really is that simple. There is a great book that explains all of this in detail, written by recognized skin authority, Nina Jablonski PhD., called “Skin: A Natural History” (here).

So there it is - latitude (north/south position) on the globe pretty much dictates skin color (here). There are a few exceptions to this rule, associated with levels of Vitamin D in the diet. By example, the Inuits (indigenous Arctic people) are relatively darker, even at such a high latitude, because of oily-fish diets laden with Vitamin D(3). Aborigines in continental Australia, arriving via the ‘intercoastal migration’, maintained their melanin through similar fish-rich diets, on the coast, coupled with the fierce demands of an intense interior desert sun.

As a side bar, and from a Vitamin D(3) healthiness perspective, the continental US is (on average) too sunny for most fair whites, and not sunny enough for most brown-skin blacks. Everyone needs Vitamin D management for good health.

James C. Collier

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Disparity of Weight Perception, by Ethnicity

I was leaving Trader Joe’s the other morning at the same time as an obese White family. After loading the food in the back of the van, the woman removed what looked like a can of Pringle's potato chips, opened it, and handed the full container to the seated child. I have seen Black women do exactly the same thing. This scenario had me curious to the intersection of obesity and perception, and specifically that Blacks and Whites perceive fatness differently, even as they pursue it with the same behavior.

If I was to venture a guess, the White woman surveyed about her weight would snarl ‘yes, I’m fat and it’s none of your freakin’ business’. A Black woman, alternately, might say that she is ‘big-boned’ and her weight is normal for her – and then say it is none of your freakin’ business. But, in a way, it is all of our business. More than seventy-percent of America is overweight and obesity is literally killing our health care system, and us along with it.

I found a study (here) that measures the difference in weight perception across sex and race. The research proves perception differences are significant. Blacks and Latinos see fat differently than Whites, but the researchers do not postulate why. It would not be PC. So, I will take a SWAG (scientific wild-ass guess). Black Americans, with the lingering influence of their geographically challenged West African location of ethnic origin, continue to seek fat storage as a positive indicator of health and longevity against the historical threat of famine. Simply put, fat black women look and feel like better mates under this view, and the behavior of Black men backs this up (and vice versa). Of course, Black folks like sitting on their butts, in front of HDTV flat-screens, just as much as White folks, so perception is just one part of the influence.

White men and women are less influenced by famine perspectives and seek slimness for the more empirically realized longevity and health benefits, resulting from stable agricultural societies (see Fertile Crescent). Hence, the obese White woman with the Pringles is more likely to defend herself and her behavior purely with attitude, and not argument.

Other thoughts on the subject? Remember, these are musings. Rubber bullets please.

James C. Collier

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Syndrome Gives Blacks Blue Eyes

A recent commenter on this blog suggested that the blue-eyed Black boy, in an earlier post, may present Waardenburg Syndrome, a rare autosomal genetic disorder that has possible bright blue eyes as one of its qualifying criteria, along with possible deafness (common). Actually, the cause of the blue eyes is a form of albinism that may include patches of non-pigmented skin or forehead hair, regardless of ethnicity.

There are four types of Waardenburg Syndrome, with a mix of possible characteristics as the determinant. Medical challenges increase with type. The boy in the picture is displaying two major symptoms of type 1, as does the previous boy (perhaps) (here); bright blue eyes and dystopia canthorum, a condition where the inner corners of the eyes are set more widely apart, but with normally distanced eyes.

Waardenburg occurs once in every 42,000 births, and is a deficiency inherited from a single parent, who may or may not display similar characteristics. Regarding the eye, color abnormalities come in three forms; heterochromia (multiple colors), bilateral isohypochromia (pale blue eyes), or fundus (reflective) pigmentary alterations (spottiness).

So, besides naturally occurring genetic blue eyes in dark skinned people, as previously discussed, understanding Waardenburg's is another avenue of accurately recognizing phenotype (gene expression) in eye color.

James C. Collier

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TSA Body Scan Safety OR Grope My Wife, Please!

I had to fly to Chicago for a meeting last week, and as luck would have it, I was singled out for a full security going-over, courtesy of Oakland TSA officials. With this selection, I had the choice of the default full-body scan or the alternative ‘pat-down’. Of course, all the propaganda I had read and heard said that the body scan delivers a low level of radiation and is entirely safe. But, I also witnessed the pilots throwing fits over these things, along with the feel-my-crotch pat-down back-up. So what to do?

Although I opted for the scan, I wondered, as I stood there getting zapped, if I need to up my daily dose of Vitamin D, to give my body some extra cancer fighting moxie, in response. Well, the answer I came up with in my uninformed mind was wrong – after reading the article I have attached (here). I now think these machines could be very dangerous and they should be avoided.

Frankly, I would prefer stripping down to my underwear for a visual inspection, rather than getting irradiated or molested. I think some intrepid fashionista should come up with security underwear that is comfortable to fly in, not too revealing in a same sex security area, but also security-friendly. Until then, I will opt for the grope and avoid those questionable, allegedly safe, surface radiation gizmos. I suggest y’all do the same. Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. I chose this particular scanner image because the other images I found were so so unappetizing, equally pornographic, and we should know what those TSA guys are seeing, or not.

7/20/2011 UPDATE: TSA has begun implementing a software update that shows agents a generic picture of subject passengers, including any suspicious anomalies. Note that this change does not mitigate the health and safety concerns of the scanners.

H/T Mangans

James C. Collier

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The Great Cancer Myth: War on Cancer

In 1961, John F. Kennedy boldly declared that the United States would put a man on the moon in the next decade. The US poured $170 billion (in 2005 dollars) into a project that delivered success in the NASA moon landing and safe return in 1969. In contrast, Richard Nixon declared ‘war’ on cancer with the National Cancer Act in 1971 with the goal of a cure by 1976, but after some 40 years and $200 billion spent, we can safely say that cancer has kicked our collective butts a distance equal to that traveled by Apollo 11– nearly one-half million miles.

This year, cancer is slated to surpass cardiovascular disease as the country’s leading killer. In fact, since Nixon’s pronouncement, cardiovascular related mortality has fallen 70% against a drop of just over 7% for cancer deaths. To be sure, people are living better with cancer than earlier times, but they ultimately die of it in disappointing numbers, nonetheless. Even the reported progress, in terms of a cure, is a bit misleading, as much of the advancement comes in the form of additional longevity measured in months, after a diagnosis. A new drug that prolongs a cancer patient’s life by a few months is deemed a success, by profit-hungry drug companies who pay doctors to prescribe particular drugs.

There are recurring areas of cancer research that are often cited as contributing to the dismal results. The first is that scientists are not recognized and rewarded for saving lives, per their research efforts. The rate of useful therapies per research discovery is very poor compared to other diseases. Cancer research has also stuck for too long with animal models that many people say are irrelevant to humans with cancer. The National Cancer Institute, a major research funder, is known for preferring ‘safe’ research, study that is more status quo and less innovative. The leading complaint is that private funders of research are focused on ‘home run’ solutions that can be patented and will deliver boatloads of money, rather than training their focus on something much more doable, but less profitable - preventing cancer from the outset.

The real tragedy of the war on cancer is that it effectively could have been won, if the objective of those involved was to simply save lives, rather than to profit from saving lives. The human immune system is evolved to keep cancer in check, if only it is kept healthy and strong to do the job. The problem with this approach is that no one gets rich from true prevention – people just go on with their lives. The cancer industry has substituted profit-making early detection and life-extending therapies, in exchange for a focus on nutrition and behaviors that would prevent up to 77% of all internal cancers (here). However, if the current industry took this better approach, ironically, we would have to start calling them the anti-cancer industry.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: The Great Cancer Myth: War on Cancer, Nixon, Cancer Industry, War on Cancer, Acting Black, Acting White

The Great Cancer Myth: Cancer 101

If you believe noted scientist and science-fiction writer Issac Asimov, our bodies contain an estimated 50 trillion cells – 50 thousand billion! They live, duplicate themselves, and die in a very balanced process, covering the time from our birth to death. Inside each cell is a strand of DNA, our unique three-quarter gigabyte instruction set for how we are put together. Cell replication, the ultimate, is the process that gets the instructions from the old cells to the new, again and again, as we age, everyday.

Replacing trillions of cells each month, over decades, where each cell contains 3 billion base pairs, is a daunting task carried out with amazing efficiency and accuracy. Even so, cell replication produces predictable errors that would doom us all, with certainty, if it were not for built-in safeguards. When we die of cancer, it is not because we got it – it was always there - rather our internal evolutionary safeguards have failed, too often (but not always) due to some form of neglect or abuse, conveniently obscured from our view.

So the issue with cancer is not about getting it, but about accepting that it is already there and that we should pursue keeping it under control everyday of our lives. Each cell is pre-programmed to copy itself a certain number of times and then die. When a cell errantly exceeds its copy limit the body deems it cancerous, and a healthy immune system steps in to manually tell the cell to die. But what happens when our immunity is compromised by some deficiency? Cell replication spins out of control and cancer gains the upper-hand. Chemotherapy and radiation, crude man-made mimics of what a healthy immune system does with pin point accuracy, await us ready to spring into swash-buckling action, for profit.

Keeping our evolved internal safeguards working in original condition is not profitable. Letting our bodies fall into disrepair, so that this or that product/procedure can snatch us from the jaws of death (maybe) - now that is a way to make a butt-load of money! So let cancer be the bogeyman in the closet that everyone is too frightened to open and too distracted to thoughtfully consider. Let’s promise people a cure to get their pledges, their donations, and investments. Let’s wrap our quests for branded, proprietary, profit-laminated Nobel-prize winning solutions in pink ribbons, sappy optimism, and compromised scientific mumbo-jumbo. And let's do this while people die needlessly, expensively, and profitably. Cancer industry, indeed.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: The Great Cancer Myth: Cancer 101, DNA, Cancer Industry, Immune, Acting Black, Acting White

The Great Cancer Myth: Introduction

I do not worry about getting cancer. I have it. I have cancer in my colon. I have cancer in my prostate. I have cancer in my lungs. I have cancer in my bones. I have cancer in my entire body, from the day I was born, till now, and until the day I die. It is not a monster hiding in my closet, waiting to jump out and get me. It is a part of me that I no longer fear. I have it, yes, but it does not have me, by design or my action, and I live each day to keep it that way.

The idea that cancer is something I may get, and if it is detected in sufficient time (by some expensive gizmo) I might be saved, is nothing more than one of the greatest medical miscarriages ever perpetrated on modern humankind. The truth of this is magnified for Blacks, as the group suffers disproportionately from the disease. In this series I will talk about cancer and how we have been taught to view it to our health detriment, and for others to financially exploit.

This miscarriage, which has blossomed into the ‘cancer business’, was introduced to us with good intention wrapped in medical ignorance, but those intentions and ignorance have long since been replaced by greed. What drives this business is the lust for money, return on investment, or whatever the investor community wants to call it. The desire to profit from that thing which scares us the most, dying, is at the base of this trillion dollar economic engine. It is high time that we started calling it what it is, an industry. When I see pink buckets of KFC being sold in the alleged fight against cancer, I say enough already.

And I hate that word cured too. The public has been sold that cancer can be cured - it cannot - it can only be crudely stalled in particular situations, via crude procedures. Truly curing cancer, that is, ‘fixing’ cell replication processes to eliminate errors, is infinitely more difficult than curing the common cold, or malaria. The last time I checked, both of these ‘simpler’ maladies were still going strong, even while their cures would be worth zillions.

Just know, as I start down this road, I challenge the producers of the fight, not the actors. I have tremendous sympathy for those battling cancer, and also for those who are tools of this pretense of a good fight. However, I refuse to let people, who should know better, off the hook, just because some are clever enough to wrap their charade in a pink ribbon, colored wristband, or non-clever bucket of fried chicken. Stay tuned…

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: The Great Cancer Myth: Introduction, Chemotherapy, Cancer Industry, Malignant, Acting Black, Acting White