Goodbye, Babar....

The Nairobi Star reports that 2000 elephants are killed for their tusks every year in Kenya alone. The Chinese desire for “ivory status symbols” stimulates the poaching that threatens to wipe out Africa’s elephants “in the next two decades.”

Soon after the blizzard....

U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000

Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000

New debt: $1,650,000,000,000

National debt: $16,271,000,000,000

Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000



Remove 8 zeros and pretend it's your household budget: 


Annual family income: $21,700

Money the family spent: $38,200

New debt on the credit card this year: $16,500

Outstanding balance on the credit card: $162,710

Total budget cuts so far: $385

I don’t know whom to credit for this, but it sure brings things into perspective…

Diet and Healthy Aging

A NEJM article points out that calorie restriction promotes longevity in many creatures, including dogs, monkeys, fish, mice, spiders, beetles, nematode worms, fruit flies, and yeast. Understanding the common mechanisms that seem to exist might lead to improved healthy aging for humans, and the evidence so far suggests that reduced caloric indicate is the key. For example, a 20-year study in monkeys showed that experimental animals receiving 30% less of the unrestricted diet of the controls were healthier as they aged (less diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and brain atrophy) and had fewer age-related deaths. This sounds good, but the probability that we would not be able to stick to such a restricted diet means we’re never likely to know if dietary restriction can extend healthy human life.

Twenty small hands raised in protest on Mass Turnpike billboard:

Proof in Gloucester, Massachusetts, that Christmas is coming....

Science and Evolution....

A Forbes article this year notes that only 40% of Americans believe in evolution. It’s quick to offer hope for improvement, however. Only 18% of Americans still believe the sun revolves around the earth, and a mere 500 years was all that was necessary to reach that figure.