This is a first. Epigenetic changes can cause cancer. You don't have to have a gene mutation for cancer to arise. This was seen in fruit fluies, and was a transient loss of Polycomb components, which cause a loss of transcriptional silencing that was irreversible.
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Why Asia Stopped Having Kids. The author has some wild theories. First of all, the assumption that Asians are all adherents of Confucius-type beliefs. He says "To the extent we want to say that East Asians share a culture, I think the theory must be that the people of these nations have certain traits in common." "So yes, East Asians share a common culture." "the fact that Confucius appealed to East Asians in the first place is itself kind of weird. The guy’s entire philosophy is 'Hey just listen to your parents and government, ok guys? Things will go much easier that way.'” "Much can be explained by the idea that East Asians struggle without a script, which is related to being high on conformity." (What?) "The idea that they struggle without a script can explain why in the United States, Asian females are about three times more likely to marry whites than are Asian men." So he concludes that the problem is conformity and that Asians lack a script. I don't think so. What I notice is a sense of gloominess in much of Asia, and in Japan, the men have favored an androgynous girlie-look. The era of manly men has long past, and I have noticed that this started around that time of the economic crash in the 1990s. When Japanese men felt demoralized and ashamed. But my observations are not a researched academic study, and there are probably complex factors at play.
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So it's recognized that America has a doctor shortage. Gee, they shouldn't have fired those doctors who didn't want to get the experimental jab. So what does the government propose now? Take in foreign docs right away, without making them do a residency first, to make sure they're a good fit. No, they can start on day 1. Think of who is likely to want to leave home for another country. Probably those who can't find a job locally. The successful ones will stay where they are. But the ones who aren't successful are likely to apply for an overseas job. At least make them do one year of residency. I love the justification of this idea with anecdotes of how good Dr. So-and-so was. I've known doctors who clearly did not have the background and training that American doctors go through. But the Democrats will likely pass this, because standards have been lowered for everything else, so why not?
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Here's another advocate for universal basic income. I've been through this before, where there is an unassailable fact, like up is up, and not down. Or evil is bad and good is good. And someone will make some argument based on isolated circumstances that support the argument that sometimes evil can be good, or sometimes red can be blue. This is like that. Just giving money to people without it being earned has to mean involuntarily taking it away from someone else. You can't create wealth from thin air. I know that the Federal Reserve does it to shore up the house of cards that is the fractional reserve banking system, but that doesn't mean the practice should be expanded. It never makes sense. The argument that it makes some particular person happier if they get free money doesn't convince me. Supporters of this idea should all pool their own money and give it away. Leave mine alone. And once you start a broad program like this, and get politicians involved, it is near impossible to reverse and abrogate. It becomes another tax, on top of everything else. And our country has such as poor handle on the number of mouths that need feeding that we can't even begin to figure out how much this is going to cost.
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Oregon school officials search for solutions to funding crisis. The school system wants more money, even as it bleeds students. Now they are feeling the effects of people fleeing the public schools, which are no longer places to get a good education anymore. The state is discovering that there isn't enough people to fund all the things they want to fund.
Steve Duin makes a good point about how Portland treats the wealthy, upon whom much of their tax revenue is dependent.
This is a great summary of what the Trump conviction was all about. Trump has raised over $200 million in 24 hours since his conviction. He is unstoppable. The cheating and dirty tricks will have to be more blatant. Because the thought of Trump being president again is simply intolerable to the Democrats. Well, enough politics.
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This is how Japan deals with the problem of high salt intake. Develop a spoon that sends an electric current to your tongue to fool it into signaling that there is salty food. Is this a joke, Japan?
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We're toast. So the U.S. is short on munitions. Maybe we shouldn't have given so much to Ukraine? And we no longer have the largest military. China and India have larger military personnel. The U.S. is third, but with DEI and transgender people in service, it's not clear how well the military will function. Tiny North Korea is not far behind and neither is Russia. If WWIII actually breaks out, I'm not confident that we will prevail.
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A male contraceptive gel that you rub on your shoulder may be safe and effective. Where have I heard that phrase before? Well, as the sperm says: "You have to be lucky every single time. I only have to be lucky once."
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