Goodbye Eartha... You were fantastic

 
from SeaTurtle's photostream on Flickr.com

Eartha Kitt died on Christmas Day, 2008.

I've seen Earth Kitt perform twice, both times at Jazz Alley in Seattle, in 2006 and 2007. My friends Bach, Aydin, Anna, Pepe and my fiancee Darci have all seen her perform on stage.

Aydin and I both agreed a long time ago... She could have had us in a heartbeat. All of our friends who saw her felt the same way.

No, seriously. We both had the hots for this 79 year old (and at the next performance, 80 year old) woman. She was that sexy. She was the consummate embodiment of hot blooded womanliness.

She was an amazing singer, an amazing person with an amazingly varied life. Well traveled, incredibly well educated, intelligent, fiery, funny and with a sense of class missing from most of today's life.

Today, I'm incredibly glad that I got the chance to see her in person. I'd never have known her incredible charm or magnetism if I hadn't.

Which just goes to show - see live performances. They're worth their weight in gold. You may never have the chance again. (I'm just glad that at least once in my life I've seen David Bowie perform in person - another person so charming, wonderful and down to earth, that he's someone I'd love to just sit down with for an hour or two and talk with in front of a roaring fire over drinks).

Eartha, I'll miss you. I'm sure you're out there, somewhere, drinking a martini and singing your lungs out.

Coming Soon... New Theories

One of these theories is an out-there what-if? And I don't have anything to back it up right now. But I'm going to try to piece together a mechanism that explains eczema and peanut allergies as a fungal battle going on inside your body. I can't find much research to back up this position, but I'll explain my logic.

 

Here's the bigger one. I've rediscovered some old studies from the 1950s that give a way to massively reduce nicotine and other withdrawal symptoms. I came across this through a happy accident mainly; I was looking for a way to reverse the side-effects of smoking on skin healing while I was still waiting for a good way to quit that didn't involve taking mind-altering drugs, as I appear to be particularly sensitive to them. That, and I've heard enough worrying things about Chantix, and I've got issues with Wellbutrin (I get visual side effects).

So a happy accident, and it's cheap, easy to get a hold of, has minimal side effects (or rather, minimizable side-effects.. they're actually not all that bad), and rumor has it, it will help with the weight-gain issues of stopping smoking as well.

And! as an extra bonus benefit, if you're an alcoholic? Apparently, according to the studies, it works for that too. Suffer from anxiety or a broken heart? It'll help. Crave sweets/starchy foods all the time? Yep, it should help with that. High HDL cholesterol? Check. Serotonin deficient? Hell yes.

What's more, it's probably already in your cupboard. All you need to do is up the dose. Carefully. And preferably under medical supervision (hey, I'm not a doctor. I don't claim to be one. Anything you do with this advice is your own look-out; tread carefully).

Sounds magical, no? Well, I'll lead into my next article (coming in a couple of days - I'm still experimenting on dosing patterns) by telling you what this magical substance is.

It's plain old Vitamin B3, a.k.a. Niacin. And from my own personal experience, it's already working 100x better than the Nicotine Patch that I used to quit smoking last time.

Who'da thought it?

HSV1 And Alzheimers: The Link is now Proven

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081207134109.htm

The team discovered that the HSV1 DNA is located very specifically in amyloid plaques: 90% of plaques in Alzheimer's disease sufferers' brains contain HSV1 DNA, and most of the viral DNA is located within amyloid plaques. The team had previously shown that HSV1 infection of nerve-type cells induces deposition of the main component, beta amyloid, of amyloid plaques. Together, these findings strongly implicate HSV1 as a major factor in the formation of amyloid deposits and plaques, abnormalities thought by many in the field to be major contributors to Alzheimer's disease. 

Why does medicine move so slowly in these areas? I've been saying this for a year and a half now - based in part on this team's earlier research. :)

Glad to see we're making headway though!

Next step: We need to officially tie herpes viruses to all of the other diseases that they cause. My list is here: http://www.accidentalscientist.com/2008/01/public-enemy-1-herpes-viruses-as.html

Meanwhile, if you are at risk for Alzheimer's, do the following:

• Ask your doctor to prescribe valcyclovir as an off-label treatment. If necessary, lie and say that you have genital herpes and need it for suppression.
• Avoid foods rich in L-Arginine, especially chocolate and peanuts. L-Arginine rich foods encourage the virus to replicate.
• Supplement your diet with at least 5mg L-Lysine daily - the virus mistakes this for L-Arginine, and produces inert viral particles as a result.
• Take Omega-3 fatty acids. I've found the Eskimo brand to be the most effective - the krill version doesn't seem to work as well, and is more expensive. Omega 3 fatty acids change the structure of the cell membrane, making it harder for viruses to enter and exit the cytosome through the lipid raft.
• Take Resveratrol supplements. Studies in rats have shown that Resveratrol interferes with the replication of the virus, and may destroy it.
• Take Curcumin supplements (or eat lots of foods containing Turmeric). Curcuminoids also interfere with replication of the virus.
• Make sure you're taking a good B-complex vitamin, particularly one with the non-cyanocobalmin form of B12. B12 in particular attacks the virus as it replicates.

The most effective of these is, of course, valcyclovir. The others just slow the virus down.

Random Chicken Garam Masala Curry

Tonight, as Darci is out of town in New Mexico visiting her mom, I decided to make some food that she doesn't typically like.

Curry!!!

It turned out great, although it was dicey for a moment there (I decided part way through that it just wasn't working without jalapenoes and diced tomatoes, so I needed to run out and get some). Here's the recipe.

Serves 3-4 (give or take). Total cooking time including prep: About 30 minutes.

Ingredients

1 chicken breast (diced)
1 can diced tomatoes & green chillis
2tsp diced canned jalapenoes
1 medium to large yellow onion (sliced into thin strips about 1.5" long)
5 or 6 fingerling potatoes (sliced into 2cm long chunks)
6 tsp Garam Masala powder
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tbsp Coconut oil
1/2 cup coconut milk
Rice (to taste)

Method

Boil the fingerling potatoes in some salted water.
Add the coconut oil to the frying pan, and melt over medium-high heat.
Add 2/3rds of the Garam Masala powder to the pan, and stir until it darkens.
Add sliced onions to the pan, and cook until translucent & soft.
Drain oil into a heat-safe container - you'll need it in a sec.
Transfer contents of the pan to a bowl.
Put the oil back into the pan.
Throw the chicken into the pan. Toss the chicken in the remaining Garam Masala powder, and saute until cooked through.
Drain any excess oil remaining (there won't be much) into a can and get rid of it.
Return the onions to the pan.
By this point, the thinly-cut fingerling potatoes should be cooked through, and the remaining cooking will do the rest of the job, so drain them and throw them into the pan as well.
Add the cayenne pepper to the pan and mix well.
Add the jalapenoes, and the diced tomatoes to the pan.
Stir well for a minute or so until everything heats up.
Add coconut milk, stir in, wait for it all to boil while stirring continuously, and then simmer for 5 minutes or so.

Serve with saffron-seasoned basmati rice if you want to. Will make great leftovers.

New Homepage is up...

http://home.earthlink.net/~simoncooke is the address.

It's nice and Spectrum-y :D

Of course, I still have to redo all of the pages that lead out from there, but it's a start.

I Hate Web Stuff - But I'm Doing It Anyway...

I've had a homepage on the Internet continuously (well, give or take 2 months when I lost my original host on Jumper.mcc.ac.uk) since 1994.

The last time I revamped it though was 1998, and even then, I didn't do much to it. So it's time for a retread.

The homepage currently looks something like this:

Here's what I'm thinking the new front-page will look like. I'm still working out how I want the rest of it to look - it probably won't be the same theme throughout - but this was too good an opportunity to miss.

Thoughts?