Alcor just won a lawsuit to allow them to disinter a body that had been buried for two years, and cryonically suspend the rotted head.
Yes, it’s pointless, as far as that patient went (as far as I’m concerned, his family murdered him), but Alcor had to do this, to assure their other customers that it would do whatever was necessary to fight for them, and fulfill its contractual responsibilities. It was also a useful reminder to obstreperous relatives that they have to obey the wishes of the deceased. What’s particularly disgusting about this is that it appears they did it for the money. I thought it seemed like chutzpah to prevent Alcor from fulfilling the contract, then demanding the money back for it.
People blessed with anti-ageing genes tend not to get seriously ill but die suddenly at the end of their lives, Prof Barzilai pointed out.
‘I’m seeing 100-year-olds who are not only 100 years old but in great shape,’ he said.
‘They’re driving and painting, and they say life is beautiful.
‘I have this bias that makes me believe we have the ability as a species to get to 100 if we prevent some of these age-related diseases.
‘The cost of treating 100-year-olds in their last two years of life is a third of what it costs to treat somebody aged 70 to 80. At the end of their life they die, basically, all of a sudden.
‘People who die between 70 and 80 are sick in the last few years of their life. Centenarians are dying healthy.’
Studies had revealed a strong association between reaching 100 years of age and very high blood levels of HDL, which appear to run in families, said Prof Barzilai.
Not only were HDL levels important, but also the size of the cholesterol particles. Centenarians with this HDL profile were powerfully protected against Alzheimer’s, one of the greatest causes of disability and death in old age. A similar effect was being sought by the drug companies targeting CETP.
Prof Barzilai described his “vision” as a once-daily pill which staved off the effects of old age and would probably be taken when a person reached their 40s or 50s.
Having moved away from Michigan a few years before, I never went, but it does seem ill conceived. As one commenter said, for a fraction of that amount of money, they could have put together the world’s best auto museum, with many classic cars, to rival or even exceed the Ford museum in Dearborn, and it might still be there. Government in action.
Just in case anyone was curious as to the resolution of my computer issues, I haven’t had a hiccup since I swapped the memory sticks with each other. I still can’t get into the BIOS, though, not that I have any immediate need to. I can live with it as is for a while.
OK, I don’t get it. I don’t take the input for my audio receiver and recording devices from my television — it comes from my satellite receiver. Functionally, the television is just a video monitor. Are they saying that they’ll be cutting off analog output on the satellite receivers/cable boxes as well?
[Update a few minutes later]
OK, I think I understand now. They’re saying “set top-boxes,” so I guess that means the cable box (though apparently satellites are going to be a separate issue). That would probably also apply to digital fiber from Verizon or AT&T. And the sets that are affected are the ones without digital inputs? I still don’t see how this prevents piracy, unless you don’t have HDMI or other digital inputs to your DVD recorder.
I’m running Fedora 11 on my primary desktop. The mobo is a couple years old. Lately, it’s started randomly freezing, or occasionally shutting itself down without warning. I was going to run memtest on it, but I can’t even get into the BIOS to change the boot sequence. I hit “del” repeatedly during boot, but it ignores me and always goes to the hard drive. Does anyone have any suggestions (other than just upgrading the board, processor and memory, which I’m considering…)?
[Wednesday morning update]
For those asking, no, it is not a wireless keyboard.
And so far, I’ve had no problems since swapping the memory sticks.