Half of the world's human population is infected with Toxoplasma, parasites in the bodyand the brain. Remember that.
Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite found in the guts of cats; it sheds eggs that are picked up by rats and other animals that are eaten by cats. Toxoplasma forms cysts in the bodies of the intermediate rat hosts, including in the brain.
Since cats don't want to eat dead, decaying prey, Toxoplasma takes the evolutionarily sound course of being a "good" parasite, leaving the rats perfectly healthy. Or are they?
Oxford scientists discovered that the minds of the infected rats have been subtly altered. In a series of experiments, they demonstrated that healthy rats will prudently avoid areas that have been doused with cat urine. In fact, when scientists test anti-anxiety drugs on rats, they use a whiff of cat urine to induce neurochemical panic.
However, it turns out that Toxoplasma-ridden rats show no such reaction. In fact, some of the infected rats actually seek out the cat urine-marked areas again and again. The parasite alters the mind (and thus the behavior) of the rat for its own benefit.
If the parasite can alter rat behavior, does it have any effect on humans? Dr. E. Fuller Torrey (Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute) noticed links between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia in human beings, approximately three billion of whom are infected with T. gondii:
Toxoplasma infection is associated with damage to astrocytes, glial cells which surround and support neurons. Schizophrenia is also associated with damage to astrocytes.
Pregnant women with high levels of antibodies to Toxoplasma are more likely to give birth to children who will develop schizophrenia.
Human cells raised in petri dishes, and infected with Toxoplasma, will respond to drugs like haloperidol; the growth of the parasite stops. Haloperidol is an antipsychotic, used to treat schizophrenia.
Dr. Torrey got together with the Oxford scientists, to see if anything could be done about those parasite-controlled rats that were driven to hang around cat urine-soaked corners (waiting for cats). According to a recent press release, haloperidol restores the rat's healthy fear of cat urine. In fact, antipsychotic drugs were as effective as pyrimethamine, a drug that specifically eliminates Toxoplasma.
Are parasites like Toxoplasma subtly altering human behavior? As it turns out, science fiction writers have been thinking about whether or not parasites could alter a human being's behavior, or even take control of a person. In his 1951 novel The Puppet Masters, Robert Heinlein wrote about alien parasites the size of dinner plates that took control of the minds of their hosts, flooding their brains with neurochemicals. In this excerpt, a volunteer strapped to a chair allows a parasite to be introduced; the parasite rides him, taking over his mind. Under these conditions, it is possible to interview the parasite; however, it refuses to answer until zapped with a cattle prod.
He reached past my shoulders with a rod. I felt a shocking, unbearable pain. The room blacked out as if a switch had been thrown.. I was split apart by it; for the moment I was masterless.
The pain left, leaving only its searing memory behind. Before I could speak, or even think coherently for myself, the splitting away had ended and I was again safe in the arms of my master...
The panic that possessed me washed away; I was again filled with an unworried sense of well being...
"What are you?" "We are the people... We have studied you and we know your ways... We come," I went on, "to bring you peace.. and contentment-and the joy of-of surrender." I hesitated again; "surrender" was not the right word. I struggled with it the way one struggles with a poorly grasped foreign language. "The joy," I repeated, "-the joy of . . .nirvana." That was it; the word fitted. I felt like a dog being patted for fetching a stick; I wriggled with pleasure.
Still not sure that parasites can manipulate the behavior of host organisms? Consider these other cases:
The lancet fluke Dicrocoelium dendriticum forces its ant host to attach to the tips of grass blades, the easier to be eaten. The fluke needs to get into the gut of a grazing animal to complete its life cycle.
The fluke Euhaplorchis californiensis causes fish to shimmy and jump so wading birds will grab them and eat them, for the same reason.
Hairworms, which live inside grasshoppers, sabotage the grasshopper's central nervous system, forcing them to jump into pools of water, drowning themselves. Hairworms then swim away from their hapless hosts to continue their life cycle.
Not all science-fictional parasites are harmful; read about the Crosswell tapeworm from Brian Aldiss' 1969 story Super-Toys Last All Summer Long (the basis for the Kubrick/Spielberg film AI), which keeps people who overeat from becoming obese. Not to mention robots based on parasites. Read press release on evidence for link between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia, Suicidal grasshoppers. Story via blogger Carl Zimmer and his readers.
#5
a "disease" removes all responsibility of the afflicted. I think not. Assholes, thugs, brutes, misogynists of all stripes converge to a place that makes it OK to kill your raped daughter, throw acid in a women's face because she rejected your advances, forces women to cover becuz the guys ain't got any self-control.....
a disease? Fine - the cure is quarantine and eradication?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/13/2006 19:36 Comments ||
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Actually Fred, there is something to that contention. In the same way organisms and species are in a Darwinian struggle for finite resources, religions are in a struggle for bodies (their finite resource). Note that the term 'meme' was originated by Richard Dawkins, the prominent Darwinian scientist.
We can loosely define a disease as an organism that is harmful to other organisms (although where a disease stops and a predator starts is open to discussion). A disease meme is similarly one that is harmful to organisms, especially those organisms that don't hold the meme or hold other memes.
This leaves us with the question - How do memes that are harmful propagate since they are deleterious to other organisms and in a population being close to them results in your survival chances being reduced. I can think of two answers.
1. The meme is disproportionately deleterious to non-holders of the meme. So, while it conveys an evolutionary disadvantage to all organisms that come in contact with it, it imposes a relative disadvantage to those who don't hold the meme (and a relative advantage to those who do). This frees up finite resources that holders of the meme can then use.
2. The meme is parasitical. The meme incorporates elements that result in holders of the meme to aggressively take resources from holders of other memes that convey relative (i.e. genuine) benefit to their holders. Obviously, this works best (and will occur most) with memes that tolerate, and perhaps even encourage, this kind of parasitical behaviour.
I leave it to the reader to decide which religions fit this definition.
Many families and friends gather to celebrate Chinese New Year in China. This provided a good opportunity for people to promote the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party (Nine Commentaries) and to provide information about quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During the New Year, various methods were used to let more people know about the Nine Commentaries and the wave of resignations from the CCP... Take with salt. Article is very redundant.
#1
Some comments on the CCP - a few of my friends are members.
1) Not just anyone can get in. They only want the best students, etc.
2) Party dues. No fun.
3) If you don't work for the government, you don't particularly get a lot of advantages from your Party membership.
4) One of my friends helped to orchestrate the anti-US protests at his university after the EP-3 incident.
These sorts of satellite hijackings are becoming more common. It's just like Captain Midnight back in the 80s - beam a stronger signal, and overpower the legit one.
A disgraceful art exhibit in Milan has illustrated once again the deep affinity between the Left and the forces of the global jihad. In these days of Muslims the world over calling for the deaths of those who have insulted Islam, anyone who wants to see Oriana Fallaci beheaded need look no further than the Galleria Luciano Inga-Pin in Milan, which is exhibiting Giuseppe Venezianos American Beauty from January 19 through March 18. This is a series of paintings designed to highlight the weakness and perversity of the American way of life. It accordingly features straightforward, if somewhat lurid, portraits of Michael Jackson and Ronald McDonald, along with the distinctly non-American Harry Potter. Then comes a bizarre depiction of a nude man having sexual intercourse with the Pink Panther, five artistic renditions of the Abu Ghraib prison photos (each with American Beauty scrawled across the top), and Oriana Fallacis decapitated head. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
02/13/2006 15:00 ||
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I wonder how much govt. funding Giuseppe got for his exhibit?
No one who was paying attention to the opening of the 20th Winter Olympics could have missed the none-too-subtle message that was sent with regard to the Bush administration's foreign policy.
While first lady Laura Bush sat in the stands giggling with Cherie Blair, the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair the Olympic flag was carried into Stadio Olympico on Friday evening by actress Susan Sarandon, one of the most outspoken critics of the war in Iraq. Joining Sarandon to lift the corners of the flag were a group of prominent women that included Chilean writer and activist Isabel Allende, Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai and Cambodian human rights activist Somaly Mam.
The neoconservatives who guide public policy in the United States, and their apologists in the media, may have been offended by the showcasing of Sarandon and other women who have challenged this president's misrule of the United States and misguided approach to the world. But American citizens need not be.
The global rejection of the Bush administration's military misadventures abroad, its opposition to environmental protection initiatives, its corporations-first approach to global trade, and its disdain for democracy in the United States and abroad is not a rejection of America or Americans. It is a rejection of a president who has insulted American values and ideals as well as the broader spirit of international cooperation that defines the Olympic tradition.
As Marco Balich, the creative director for Friday night's opening program for the Olympics, explained, "We wanted to make a strong statement of peace tonight."
And so they did, with their choice of flagbearers, and with the surprise appearance of Yoko Ono. The artist and widow of John Lennon opened the Winter Olympics with a soft-spoken, yet stirring plea for peace. "Remember, each one of us has the power to change the world," Ono told the crowd of about 35,000. "Just start thinking peace, and the message will spread quicker than you think."
Ono was joined by British singer Peter Gabriel, who sang an inspired version of Lennon's "Imagine." The lyrics of that remarkable song speak to the spirit of the Olympics "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one; I hope some day you'll join us, and the world will live as one" but they also speak for the great mass of Americans who want very much to be part of the world community.
The United States is a good country badly led. Those who recognize that fact, and who act to change the circumstance, are the truest patriots. And just as we look forward to cheering for our Olympians in the days to come, so we look forward to the day when this country will have leaders who recognize that America can and must be an honest player in world affairs.
How far off is that day? Let us hope that, when Olympians meet next, in Beijing in the summer of 2008, this country will be well on its way to rejoining a world community in which it really is possible to "Imagine all the people, living life in peace." "Feces in their tea."
#1
"The neoconservatives who guide public policy in the United States, and their apologists in the media, may have been offended by the showcasing of Sarandon and other women..."
Then again, it's very possible that they don't give a candy-coated crap what that idiot bitch and the rest of her goofball buddies think.
Imagine whirled peas...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/13/2006 20:17 Comments ||
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#2
Some of us will imagine this country as one strongly led by a visionary group of leaders dedicated to America's peace and prosperity and willing to make the difficult decisions that insure that peace and prosperity by insuring our security as well.
Some of us will imagine this country without leftist halfwits like this writer, openly seditious and treasonous ex-Vice Presidents, actors, and know-nothing commentators who espouse "peace, peace" and sow their vicious hatred of everything America could, does, and will stand for in the world.
Some of us will imagine an America enshrined by a great President of this country as a "shining beacon on a hill" to all those who desire true freedom.
But if we all pull together, no Democrats will ever be elected again, and things will be much better.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/13/2006 20:31 Comments ||
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#4
Find out who authorized it and unless they tender their resignation, with no compensation, cut off ALL funding...it's not that hard to uncover the parasites
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/13/2006 20:35 Comments ||
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#5
Imagine: a song about the evils of materialism, written by a man who had a special temperature-controlled wardrobe built for his fur coats.
#6
If the Olympics organizers want to be petty schitz like that, then more Mr. Nice Guy. The US government should take over US broadcast rights negotiations. Instead of a US network paying $800 million (75% of the world total) for with winter games and $1.2 billion for the summer games, offer the IOC $1.00 and then the US gov can resell the broadcast to the networks. The IOC will take it and lick Uncle Sam's boots in the process, otherwise they will lose additional hundreds of millions of dollars in dropped corporate sponsorships. It's US eyeballs that pay the lion's share of the Olympic bills. It's well past time to say enough of this shit. If the IOC elites wish to continue, it won't be on America's dime.
Posted by: ed ||
02/13/2006 21:04 Comments ||
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#7
then no more Mr. Nice Guy
Posted by: ed ||
02/13/2006 21:12 Comments ||
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#8
Political statements my aching arssss. The events (political statement of) 0430, September 5, 1972 Munich Germany appear to be lost on them.
...In their book, The Life of General Francis Marion, Brig. Gen. Peter Horry and Parson Mason L. Weems (Yes, the same over-dramatizing Parson Weems who spawned the legend of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree) published a letter from British Colonel John Watson to Marion that reads:
Why sir, you must certainly command a horde of savages, who delight in nothing but murder. I can't cross a swamp or a bridge, but I am waylaid and shot at as if I were a mad dog. Even my sentries are fired at and killed on their posts. Why, my God, sir! This is not the way that Christians ought to fight!"
Marions purported response to Watsons letter stated that from what he knew of British officers, he was as duty bound to kill them as he was the wild animals of the woods.
A haunting nemesis is how author Robert D. Bass described Marion in his book, Swamp Fox. He usually struck at midnight, slaughtering and frightening and throwing his enemies into a panic...
#1
The southern campaign of the American War of Independence was also the first American civil war. The term "Tarlton's Quarter" demonstrated the gentlemans nature of that part of the war. It was returned with like concerned at the Battle of King's Mountain. After the Treaty of Paris a good number of crown loyalist departed the former colonies for the good of their health.
India and Pakistan have in the past fought four wars over J&K and held several talks to resolve the 56 year old problem, but till now no tangible results have emerged, except for a composite dialogue. Although, both India and Pakistan are trying to move the peace process ahead, yet there are very few indications in a policy shift. Pakistan continues to stick on to the line of Kashmir remaining a dispute territory and an unfinished agenda of Partition, India maintains its stand on J&K Accession document which remains final and complete and the problem which remains is cross border terrorism. Most conflicts around the world remain unresolved; however, there are exceptions and dialogues have resulted in signing peace agreements like the signing of the Aceh accord, the Northern Ireland peace accord and the diffusion of tension in the North Korean nuclear issue after the six party talks. Notwithstanding the above, tension is still rampant in a number of places after a brief spell of peace and sensibility.
There are no rear lines where democratic societies are safe and actually a war against terror is a misnomer, because it is difficult to wage war against an unknown enemy. The phases of conflict in J&K have followed different patterns and have been terrain and climate driven. The shift in strategies in the conflict has been dependent on the target and visibility, of a seen or an unseen enemy of a stable or an unstable Government and to apply appropriate pressures, the masters remotely separated from ground situation, at times apathetic, institute checks and balances through their respective styles of governance. In this overall process, the centre of gravity, the main focus of all strategies in combating terrorism, the people of J&K have become secondary and the Security Forces deployed for the security of the people, at times forget the purpose of their stay resulting in a paradigm shift in the overall security of the entire region. To offset the impasse, a continuous process of refinement, in policies with changed scenarios, keeping the new world order as a calibrated system of progression, is an inescapable commitment for bringing about peace and stability in the entire state of J&K.
Pattern of Conflict
The pattern of conflict has varied from a mix of seen and unseen enemy presenting different targets in the State of J&K, to a conventional type of declared war scenario. In the initial phases of the first conflict of 194748, Maj Gen Akbar Khan of the Pakistan Army orchestrated the infiltration of the Kabailies, who created mayhem, in looting and arson in the Kashmir Valley and at other places and tried to capture Srinagar. They nearly succeeded in their effort and could only be stalled in their tracks on the arrival of the Indian Army troops on the 27th of October 1947, a day after the signing of the Instrument of Accessation. In 1965m Operation Gibraltar with the Pakistan military disguised as civilians tried to make inroads and incite the civilian population to rebel and tie the security forces down while the Pakistani army would attack along the Line of Control, a mix of seen and unseen enemy. The 14 days war of 1971, which was fought in J&K was essentially a war with a visible enemy and then came a phase of an unseen, insular force which became difficult to identify a friend or foe and it is 16 years since, which has given birth to the concept of a proxy war or a limited war.
It will now be pertinent to see a shift in the pattern of the proxy war scenario from 1989 onwards and the jig saw puzzle of the change in locations of the thrust of the conflict will start making sense when the inputs of terrain and demography are meshed into it. The initial phase was concentrated in the Valley, with the insurgency movement gaining impetus with the kidnapping of the three Air Force personnel who were subsequently killed. The problem spread in the Kashmir Valley and the Security Forces came down heavily on them and the requirement of raising a force to deal with the problem was felt. The raising of the Rashtriya Rifles Force (RR) commenced in 1990 and now the force boasts of strength of over 60 Battalions. The conflict then gained impetus on the higher reaches of Shamshabari Ranges in the Kishtwar Warwan areas and though inputs on such camps were scanty, yet little action was taken to confirm reports and to deal with the situation. The focus shifted from predominantly Kashmir to Kishtwar and Bhaderwah areas of the Doda District and efforts were made by the insurgent tanzeems to become active during the second half of 1990s, while near normalcy returned to the Valley. With the attention of the security forces now focussed in the Jammu Region, Pakistan in the guise of mujahaddin, occupied the Kargil heights and tried to cut off the only life line to Ladakh. However, with the importance attached to clearing the opposition, the Pakistani designs were neutralised and again till 2001, the overall situation improved. With some respite to the security forces and with the requirements of the tanzeems showing their prowess, it became important for their to re-charge their struggle and the focus was once again to raise the ante in the Kashmir Region with infiltration attempts on the rise in the Jammu Division. However, when the situation became difficult for the Security Forces in 200203, Sarp Vinash which caught the head lines in the months of May 2003, when the Army launched Operation Sarp Vinash, which caught the headlines in May 2003. Later, that year a unilateral declaration of cease fire, along the Line of Control by Pakistan, and the ferocity of operation reduced considerably.
Kumar writes about Conflict in Jammu and Kashmir. Get more articles about social political issues on India Pakistan Relations at Himalayan Affairs.
How did the U.S. government perceive Islam as a political force in the old days? For an answer, I propose a look at a confidential 76-page study (declassified in 1979) published sixty years ago tomorrow by the Military Intelligence Service of the U.S. War Department.
The 1946 report, which I have posted online in pdf format (warning: it is a large document that may be slow to load), is the inaugural issue of a series of weekly reports titled simply Intelligence Review. This series presents current intelligence reflecting the outstanding developments of military interest in the fields of politics, economics, sociology, the technical sciences, and, of course, military affairs. Chapter headings in this first issue include: Transition of Major Powers to Peacetime Military Systems, Manchuria: Soviet or Chinese Sphere? and Wheat: Key to the Worlds Food Supply.
Of particular interest is an 11-page chapter that deals with Islam: A Threat to World Stability. It opens with some bleak observations:
With few exceptions, the states [in the Muslim world] are marked by poverty, ignorance, and stagnation. It is full of discontent and frustration, yet alive with consciousness of its inferiority and with determination to achieve some kind of betterment. Two basic urges meet head-on in this area, and conflict is inherent in this collision of interests. These urges reveal themselves in the daily news accounts of killings and terrorism, of pressure groups in opposition, and of raw nationalism and naked expansionism masquerading as diplomatic maneuvers.
The report then explains these two urges and rightly begins by focusing on the long shadow of the premodern period. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
02/13/2006 14:17 ||
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#1
With few exceptions, the states [in the Muslim world] are marked by poverty, ignorance, and stagnation. It is full of discontent and frustration, yet alive with consciousness of its inferiority and with determination to achieve some kind of betterment. Two basic urges meet head-on in this area, and conflict is inherent in this collision of interests. These urges reveal themselves in the daily news accounts of killings and terrorism, of pressure groups in opposition, and of raw nationalism and naked expansionism masquerading as diplomatic maneuvers.
And NOTHING'S CHANGED in 60 years.
Except they've gotten more dangerous weapons.
From us. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/13/2006 16:45 Comments ||
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#2
How could our intelligence services have been so correct 60 years ago, but today are unable to tell the time of day?
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/13/2006 17:53 Comments ||
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#3
Because then we had just been through a major war and knew deep in our gut just evil an enemy could be. I just got my new issue of Smithsonian and there is an article on Sayyid Qutb and his stay in that cesspit of lax American morals in the early '50s. Greeley Colorado. Now we know that the currrent problems did not start yesterday but if a magazine* like this is waking up to the problem then there is hope
*I don't know if you can call the Smithsonian political but its not exactly the New Repulic either
Families of 9/11 victims reacted with anger and outrage yesterday over the revelation that the city Department of Design & Construction failed to secure control of photos and video of Ground Zero that ended up in a documentary with topless women and naked men.
"To me, it sounds like the DDC made a colossal blunder," said Lee Ielpi, a member of the September 11th Families Association, whose son died in the terrorist attacks. "My concern is how do you copyright a tragedy? To me, nobody should copyright 9/11."
The Daily News reported yesterday that photographer Gregg Brown, who was paid about $300,000, refused to sign an agreement that would have given the city ownership of 30,000 photos and countless hours of videos - all captured while he was in an NYPD helicopter.
Instead, Brown registered the material with the U.S. Copyright Office for himself, then used some of the video in a documentary, "Words," The News reported. Some of his photos are being sold through a major photo agency.
Ielpi was especially critical that the general public is being denied unfettered access to the material, paid for with taxpayer dollars by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"It's forever lost - and it's his whim what he does with it," Ielpi said. "What a shame."
Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son Christian died doing his job that day, said Brown's juxtaposition of footage of a still-smoldering Ground Zero with scenes of topless women talking about their breasts and naked New Yorkers participating in a Native American sweat lodge ceremony "is certainly sacrilegious."
"It's really denigrating what happened that day - and the lives of the rescue workers and the innocent victims," she said. "This is history that the DDC lost and this man is using on his Web site. This belongs to the City of New York and the federal government."
Mike Burke, who lost a brother, FDNY Capt. William Burke, saw Brown's use of the material as further proof that "everybody uses this for their own purposes."
He pointed to Brown's claim that his experiences of flying over the ruins somehow allowed him to "know" what Sept. 11 families were going through.
"What did he say, that this affected him as much as anybody? The narcissism of that."
And Alice Hoglan of California, whose son Mark Bingham was one of the heroic passengers of Flight 93, said she was "horrified" that Brown would "take such an egregious advantage of a tragic situation. ... I'm really sorry that he's chosen to use his gripping photographs for commercial gain. It really disgusts me that someone would use this material in this manner."
Meanwhile, for much of yesterday, a Web site promoting "Words" was unreachable because too many people were trying to access it. A link to Brown's site had been included in the online version of The News story about his movie.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
