Geek Times Infinity

Found this on Gizmodo. It puts into perspective the awesome achievements of mankind:

Click the image to see some really cool details.

Don't Worry, I'll Grow More

Being the son of a man who had a heart transplant (and a bad ticker since his 40s - I'm now 45), I've been hoping for some medical breakthrough to make bypass surgery and, you know, stuff related to the heart ... um ... well ... easier. More reliable. Less intrusive. And all that jazz. At least five years ago I read reports about a patch of your own tissue, grown in a lab, that could be slapped onto the side of your heart where your arteries are clogged and it would start growing blood vessels and create your own bypass. No taking veins from your legs and making them act as arteries for your heart. Well, over five years later, I haven't heard anything new about that procedure. In fact, I don't hear anything at all about it anymore. Instead, doctors are using balloons to enlarge clogged arteries and placing stents in there and still doing "old-fashioned" bypasses.

But now I'm hoping the trachea has just opened the door for, not only the heart, but all kinds of "regenerative" surgery for one's body. In case you haven't heard about it, click here to read a CNN article about it. They used her own stem cells to grow a windpipe for her and then transplant it into her body. Now I'm not expecting them to grow new organs, but why couldn't they grow your own blood vessels for grafting onto your heart? I sure don't know, I ain't the science guy, but I would think it's getting closer to reality. And if they're just trying to graft a section of your own lab-grown tissue, could it not be attached non-surgically? Instead of stitching it into place, you "glue" it over the clogged arteries and wait for it to start attaching blood vessels to your heart. Maybe that could mean some type of arthroscopic heart surgery instead of the full-blown open-heart surgery.

And maybe monkeys'll fly out of my butt. Though, honestly, I'm guessing new heart procedures are much closer to reality than anus monkeys.

Thank You Very Much

Well, I guess we should thank them. These three men helped usher in the new Democrats. Without them, Dems wouldn't be running all three [sorry, just two - executive and legislative] branches of government (well, as of January 20, 2009). So thanks, fellas.


I'm still undecided, however, how to characterize them. Are they evil or just incredibly stupid? Or both. And I'm being serious. I would love to know if they were going about the destruction of the country (and parts of the world) thinking they were doing the right thing, but were simply too stupid. Or did they set out to help their friends (corporation, oil, etc.) and they just didn't care what the hell happened to the country or the world? I lean towards thinking that Iraq was all a ploy to drive up the price of oil to give Bush's oil buddies one last hurrah. Even these numbnuts know that oil is on a downward slide. Alternatives must (and certainly will) be found (I hope). So Bush did everything he could to make sure his buddies got their golden parachutes before the world heads away from an oil economy.

Now we have the Democrat Triumvirate [nope, no triumvirate, as noted earlier]. I honestly feel immensely relieved. But I'm also scared. Yes, Dems govern better than Republicans, but when you're the sole power, it's so easy to get full of yourselves. So to Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi, all I have to say is: Don't be jackasses. Do the right thing. Remember that the MAJORITY of this country is in the middle. We have the right-wing nuts and the left-wing wackos, but most of us are stuck in the middle. Don't be too liberal, or the House will be back in Republican hands by 2010 or 2012. As with most things in life, moderation is a good thing. Yes, we'll need bold immoderate leadership in the beginning to get us out of this hell that Bush put us in. But please, please, please remember where most of us live ... in the middle.

A New Hope

Man, I haven't felt this much pride in my state

or my country in a long time. It doesn't wash away the Bush years, unfortunately, but it is a time of hope and relief.

The Early Worm

UPDATED November 4, 2008 - HAPPY ELECTION DAY

As of yesterday, November 3, here are the stats for early voters in Colorado:

Percentage of registered voters sent mail-in (absentee) ballots: 62% (wow)
In-person ballots cast: 365,215
Mail-in (absentee) ballots cast: 1,339,065 (82% have been cast)

That's 64.6% of registered voters.

Click here to go there.