Friday, March 30, 2012

Bringing forth... or not.

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Male birth control pill 

soon a reality


Image via Whosright 
By John Schieszer - msnbc.com contributor

Forty-year-old Scott Hardin says he’s glad that men may soon have a new choice when it comes to birth control. But, he adds, he would not even consider taking a male hormonal contraceptive. Hardin is like many men who are pleased to hear they may have a new option but are wary of taking any type of hormones.
For the first time, a safe, effective and reversible hormonal male contraceptive appears to be within reach. Several formulations are expected to become commercially available within the near future. Men may soon have the options of a daily pill to be taken orally, a patch or gel to be applied to the skin, an injection given every three months or an implant placed under the skin every 12 months, according to Seattle researchers.“I would rather rely on a solution that doesn’t involving medicating myself and the problems women have had with hormone therapy doesn’t make me anxious to want to sign on to taking a hormone-type therapy,” says Hardin, who is single and a college administrator.
It largely depends on how funding continues. The technology is there. We know how it would work,” says Dr. Andrea Coviello, who is helping to test several male contraceptives at the Population Center for Research in Reproduction at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Coviello and her colleagues have found that a male contraceptive that releases testosterone over three months is potentially a safe and practical method of contraception. The Seattle researchers have been testing a sustained-released, testosterone micro-capsule, which consists of a thick liquid administered by injection under the skin.
I never had any real noticeable side effects. I didn’t notice any mood changes. I may have put on a little weight,” says Larry Setlow, a 39-year-old computer programmer with a small software company in Seattle. He has taken part in three male hormonal contraceptive clinical trials at the University of Washington and has received both pills and injections.
They all worked really well and I was able to look at my lab results and see my sperm count drop to zero,” says Setlow. Finally, it is the man's turn 
Women have had the option of a safe, effective and reversible form of contraception since the development of the female oral contraceptive pill in the 1960s.
Female contraceptives use hormones, estrogens and progestins, to shut off the release of eggs to prevent pregnancy. Male hormonal contraceptives work pretty much the same way: hormones, such as testosterone and progestins, are used to turn off sperm production.
It seemed like I was getting headaches and then there were times when I woke up sweating at night and I had to change my shirt. Other than that, I didn’t have any side effects,” says 45-year-old Quentin Brown, who lives in Los Angeles and has been a volunteer in a study of MHCs at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif.
Brown has been taking hormonal contraceptives for more than a year. He reports no problems with weight gain or acne, two side effects that occurred in earlier versions of MHCs tested in the 1990s.
Brown, who is married and has three children, hopes his kids will one day be able to benefit from the new technology. His would like his son, who is now 17, to one day have the option of taking a male birth control pill. Brown believes many men will see “their pill” as a good idea and will want to use it.
It is time for men to have some control. I think it would empower men and deter some women out there from their nefarious plans,” says Brown. “Some women are out there to use men to get pregnant. This could deter women from doing this. An athlete or a singer is someone who could be a target and they could put a stop to that.”
Studies conducted by the World Health Organization show that men from many countries around the world would welcome MHCs. The WHO has tested MHCs in hundreds of volunteers in various countries around the world and have not found it difficult to recruit volunteers for their studies. Researchers say many men are very willing to become involved in the studies and are anxious to see a male birth control pill on the market. 

A range of choices... 

Over the past 5 years, researchers around the world have had a great deal of success with male contraceptive pills, patches, implants and creams that deliver various amounts of hormones. It is now believed that an MHC in the form of a daily pill could be available on the market within 5 to 7 years and implants could arrive even sooner.
An injectible or an implant (similar to Norplant for women) will be the first to be approved. The big studies are now under way,” says Dr. Christina Wang, who is heading up the clinical trials of MHCs at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
She and her colleagues have found that a combination of progestin and androgen implants are safe, effective, inexpensive and entirely reversible.
The California researchers have tested several different products in hundreds of men and are also collaborating with investigators in China. A Chinese clinical trial is now under way at 10 different sites across China and includes 1,000 men. The Phase III trial involves a single injection given once every month. Wang hopes to start a similar trial in the United States within the next 2 years.
We are trying to find the best combination with the least amount of side effects and then the least amount of medication that may be required to get the maximum effects,” says Wang.
Wang adds that in some countries, a low-cost, reversible and long-acting form of an MHC could become commercially available within the next 3 years. However, she says it will probably be at least 5 years before one is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Interestingly, Wang says there is now greater interest in this technology than there ever was in the past and there is now more funding available worldwide than ever before.
But will men take it? Some say yes, some say only if their partners make them, and other say they would never even consider it.

Text via MSNBC 

Saved from Extinction?


Although extinct now for around 4500 years, the woolly mammoth was one of the most magnificent animals ever to walk the earth. Closely related to our modern day elephants, they were a much larger species often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long, course hair.
The largest known species, the Songhua River mammoth (Mammuthus sungari) , reached heights of at least 5 metres (16 ft) at the shoulder. Mammoths would probably normally weigh in the region of 6 to 8 tons, but exceptionally large males may have exceeded 12 tons. However, most species of mammoth were only about as large as a modern Asian elephant.

However, it may now be possible for mammoths to once again, roam the Earth. Why? Because scientists from from the Siberian mammoth museum and Japan's Kinki University are undertaking a Jurassic Park-style experiment in an effort to bring the woolly mammoth out of extinction. These scientists claim that a thigh bone found in August 2011 contains remarkably well-preserved marrow cells, which could form the starting point of the experiment. From there they plan to extract a nucleus from the animal's bone marrow and insert it into the egg of an African elephant. If succesful, the cloning could be complete within the next five years!
The Roslin Institute, famous for cloning Dolly the sheep, has published some thoughts on the possibilities of bringing extinct species back to life. It said it was extremely unlikely such an experiment would be successful, especially using an elephant surrogate: '...first, a suitable surrogate mother animal is required. For the mammoth this would need to be a cow (as best biological fit) but even here the size difference may preclude gestation to term.The success rate for such an experiment would be in the range of 1-5%. The second issue would be the need for viable whole cells.If there are intact cells in this tissue they have been 'stored' frozen. However, if we think back to what actually happened to the animal - it died, even if from the cold, the cells in the body would have taken some time to freeze. This time lag would allow for breakdown of the cells, which normally happens when any animal dies. Then the carcass would freeze. So it is unlikely that the cells would be viable...'


'...assuming that viable cells are found it becomes a numbers game. Let's say that one in a thousand cells were nevertheless viable, practical issues come into play. Given that we have an efficiency of 1% cloning for livestock species and if only one in a thousand cells are viable then around 100,000 cells would need to be transferred...'
Charles Foster, a fellow at Green Templeton College, Oxford, seemed more optimistic.
'...the idea of mammoth cloning isn't completely ridiculous. How the resultant embryos would fare beyond the stage of a few cells is more or less unknown. While most of the genetic coding of the embryo would come from the mammoth, some would come from the elephant ovum. We really don't know what the contribution of that cytoplasmic material is, or how it would interact with 'alien' DNA. It would however mean that, even if successful, the clone would be a hybrid rather than a pure mammoth...'

Text and images via Garden of Eaden 

UPDATE

South Korean and Russian Scientists 

Bid to Clone Mammoth

Russian and South Korean scientists signed a deal on Tuesday on joint research intended to recreate a woolly mammoth, an animal which last walked the earth some 10,000 years ago.

South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-Suk (L) shakes hands with Vasily Vasiliev, vice director of North-Eastern Federal University of Russia's Sakha Republic Photo: AFP/Getty Images
The deal was signed by Vasily Vasiliev, vice rector of North-Eastern Federal University of the Sakha Republic, and controversial cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-Suk of South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation.
Hwang was a national hero until some of his research into creating human stem cells was found in 2006 to have been faked. But his work in creating Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog, in 2005, has been verified by experts.
Stem cell scientists are now setting their sights on the extinct woolly mammoth, after global warming thawed Siberia's permafrost and uncovered remains of the animal.
Sooam said it would launch research this year if the Russian university can ship the remains. The Beijing Genomics Institute will also take part in the project.
The South Korean foundation said it would transfer technology to the Russian university, which has already been involved in joint research with Japanese scientists to bring a mammoth back to life.
"The first and hardest mission is to restore mammoth cells," another Sooam researcher, Hwang In-Sung, told AFP. His colleagues would join Russian scientists in trying to find well-preserved tissue with an undamaged gene.
By replacing the nuclei of egg cells from an elephant with those taken from the mammoth's somatic cells, embryos with mammoth DNA could be produced and planted into elephant wombs for delivery, he said.
Sooam will use an Indian elephant for its somatic cell nucleus transfer. The somatic cells are body cells, such as those of internal organs, skin, bones and blood.
"This will be a really tough job, but we believe it is possible because our institute is good at cloning animals," Hwang In-Sung said.
South Korean experts have previously cloned animals including a cow, a cat, dogs, a pig and a wolf.
Last October, Hwang Woo-Suk unveiled eight cloned coyotes in a project sponsored by a provincial government.
Text and image via The Telegraph

RELATED ARTICLES

Mammoth 'rebirth' 13 Jan 2011

What lies beneath...

 
Image via a-z animals 

Spoooky Reading 

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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Things Historical...

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Was there a second 

'Roswell Incident?'

UFO CRASH NEAR RIO GRANDE RIVER
UFO streaks past F-89 
jet fighter.
1955 UFO Crash Near Rio Grande River 

A retired U.S. Air Force colonel and former fighter jet pilot says that he chased a UFO across West Texas and watched it crash along the Rio Grande River near Del Rio, Texas. Shortly after, he visited the crash site and saw a metallic object unlike any aircraft he had ever seen “sticking into the side of a hill.” Decorated World War II and Korean War veteran Robert B. Willingham, 82, discloses his strange 1955 encounter in a new book titled "The Other Roswell: UFO Crash on the Texas-Mexico border," written by UFO researchers Noe Torres and Ruben Uriarte. The book is available onAmazon.com and at the publisher’s Web site, roswellbooks.com.
It’s one of the most amazing UFO stories I have ever heard,” said Uriarte, a 25-year veteran UFO investigator and director of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) in Northern California. “Rarely do you have such a highly credible eyewitness to an event of this magnitude come forward with information that is guarded so closely by various intelligence agencies.”
Willingham, who lives near Wichita Falls, was one of America’s earliest jet aviators, during the time when the military was transitioning away from propeller-driven planes. It was also a time when UFO sightings had become commonplace throughout the United States, especially in and around top-secret military bases.
He was flying as part of a group of F-86 fighter jets that were escorting a B-47 bomber across West Texas,” said Noe Torres, a lecturer, researcher, and member of the MUFON chapter in Texas. “It was a Cold War simulation designed to follow the route that bombers would take to reach Russia in the event of a nuclear war.”
A radio message warned Willingham and the others about a fast-moving UFO that was approaching Texas from the northwestern U.S. “Suddenly it came into their view, looking like an intensely bright light – like a bright star seen through a telescope,” Torres said. “It blazed across the sky past them, and everyone in all the planes saw it. But, because of the location of Willingham’s jet, he was in the best position to see what happened after the object flew by.”
Willingham estimated that the object was traveling at 2,000 miles per hour, and he saw it make a sudden 90-degree turn, without slowing down. As the UFO streaked toward the Texas-Mexico border, Willingham received permission to break from the formation and pursue the object in his F-86 fighter. Following the object’s vapor trail, Willingham followed it down to near Del Rio, Texas, where he saw it suddenly begin to wobble and descend rapidly.
UFO CRASH NEAR RIO GRANDE RIVERThe Other Roswell: UFO Crash on the Texas-Mexico Border
As the pilot watched in stunned silence, the UFO plunged toward the Rio Grande River, plowing into the ground just south of Langtry, Texas and digging out a 300-yard long furrow before finally coming to rest alongside a sandy hill. Uriarte said, “Willingham had heard a lot of discussion about UFOs, and now suddenly, he had one down on the ground. As he flew over the awesome scene, he decided that he was going to switch planes and return there as quickly as possibly to look at the thing up close.”
The aviator returned to the scene of the crash a few hours later, according to Uriarte. “They landed the small plane right alongside the crashed UFO and noticed that a large number of Mexican soldiers had already taken control of the crash site. They had cordoned off the area and would not allow Willingham or Perkins to approach the main part of the wreckage. However, what they were able to see and look at was so amazing that it forever changed their lives.”
Before being forced to leave the area by the Mexican military, Willingham picked up a chunk of strange metal debris that was about the size of a man’s hand. He later tried to burn it, cut it, and otherwise deform it, but he was not able to. “It was a piece of something not of this world,” Uriarte said.
Torres and Uriarte are active members of the UFO research community with many years of experience investigating UFO cases in the Southwestern U.S. and Northern Mexico. Their research has appeared on the History Channel's UFO Hunters and UFO Files TV shows. Their first book, Mexico’s Roswell: The Chihuahua UFO Crash, published in 2007, received wide critical acclaim and was the basis for a February 2008 episode of UFO Hunters, in which the authors appeared. The authors have appeared frequently on UFO-related TV and radio shows and have spoken at many conferences and events. 
For more information or to order the book: click on the title: The Other Roswell: UFO Crash on the Texas-Mexico Border
Text and images via UFO Digest 
CBS Documentary - 
The Homosexuals (1967)
Critical response of the time to the program was mixed. The New York Times, The Washington Star, and the Chicago Daily News praised CBS for addressing the subject. George Gent of the Times, however, commented on the anti-gay bias of the show, noting that it would "have been better to give the minority viewpoint that homosexuals are just as normal as anyone else a chance to speak for itself." The Chicago Tribune titled its review "TV No Spot to Unload Garbage" and attacked CBS for presenting such material to young and impressionable viewers.
More recent critical attention to "The Homosexuals" has also been mixed, trending to the negative. In one corner, anchor Mike Wallace is praised for debunking negative stereotypes about gay men. In the other, Wallace's commentary is condemned as "a string of gross generalizations and negative stereotypes [that] sounds as if it was scripted by Rev. Jerry Fallwell." 
In noting that approximately 20% of television viewers in the United States saw the program, LGBT activist Wayne Besen labels the broadcast "the single most destructive hour of antigay propaganda in our nation's history." He says: "['The Homosexuals'] not only had a devastating effect on public opinion but also was a nuclear bomb dropped on the psyches of gay and lesbian Americans, who, prior to this show, had never been represented as a group on national television."
Text via Wikipedia 

Ye Olde

Photoshoppe:

The first ever altered images... 

This includes two pictures stitched together 

to make iconic portrait of Abraham Lincoln!

By LEE MORAN
Here's the proof photo fakery is nothing new.
These days magazine 'artists' can indulge every whim of the vainest covergirls, but pictures involving celebrities have been modified for many a long year.
Take this 150-year-old portrait of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, in which he looks every bit the all-American hero. All is not as it appears - as although it is undoubtedly the 16th Commander in Chief's face staring at the camera, the body in fact belongs to a prominent southern politician.
It has led to claims the 1860 portrait, stitched together from two pictures as 'no sufficiently heroic portrait of Lincoln had yet been taken', could be the first ever Photoshopped image. And a study of interesting images from down the years show how the art of photograph trickery has developed over time.
This nearly iconic portrait (in the form of a lithograph) of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is a composite of Lincoln's head and the Southern politician John Calhoun's body 
Stitched up: This portrait of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln (above) is 
a composite of Lincoln's head and the body of southern politician 
John Calhoun (pictured below).
This nearly iconic portrait (in the form of a lithograph) of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is a composite of Lincoln's head and the Southern politician John Calhoun's body 

Mega Fake: 

fake
The photo above appears to be of General Ulysses S Grant in front of his troops at City Point, Virginia, during the American Civil War. It is in fact created from three pictures, the head from a portrait of Grant; the horse and body from Major General Alexander M McCook; and the background of Confederate prisoners. 
Digital forensics expert Dr Hany Farid said: 'Although we may have the impression that photographic tampering is something relatively new - a product of the digital age - the reality is that history is riddled with photographic fakes.' Farid, from Dartmouth College, said the air-brushing of images by brutal dictators took place as a matter of course.
He said Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Fidel Castro all indulged in a spot of pre-PC Photoshopping to eradicate enemies from pictures. He added: 'Although there are many historical examples of photographic fakes, time-consuming and cumbersome darkroom techniques were required to create them.
Spot the difference: In Mathew Brady's photograph General Sherman is seen posing with his Generals (left). But General Francis P Blair was in fact later added to the original picture
Spot the difference: In Mathew Brady's photograph General Sherman is seen posing with his Generals (left). But General Francis P Blair was in fact later added to the original picture.
Out of the picture: Russian dictator Josef Stalin routinely air-brushed his enemies out of photographs. In this snap a commissar was removed from the original photograph after falling out with him. 'And so it wasn't unreasonable for most people to believe they could put their trust in photographs.'
stalin
Farid has published a series of pre-digital age doctored photographs on his website. One appears to be of General Ulysses S Grant in front of his troops at City Point, Virginia, during the Civil War. 
Russia
Altering history: This World War II photo, in Russian magazine Ogoniok, shows Russian soldiers raising the Soviet flag atop the German Reichstag building. The magazine's editor-in-chief removed a watch from the soldier's right arm, because of suspicion it had been looted as he also wore one on his left.
All by himself: Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had the horse handler removed from the original photograph so he appeared more heroic
All by himself: Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had the horse handler removed from the original photograph so he appeared more heroic.
But, as he says researchers at the Library of Congress revealed, it is actually three different photographs merged together. The head is taken from a portrait of Grant, the horse and body are those of Major General Alexander M McCook and the background is of Confederate prisoners captured at the battle of Fisher's Hill, VA.
In a third picture, by famed photographer Mathew Brady, General Sherman is seen posing with his Generals, including Francis P Blairr - who was in fact later added to the image.
In and out: Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler had Joseph Goebbels (second from the right) removed from the original picture after he fell out with him
In and out: Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler had Joseph Goebbels (second from the right) removed from the original picture after he fell out with him. Also notice in the "doctored" version (above right) that the foot path continues into the midriff of the woman on the right.
doctored
Regal doctoring: King George VI was removed from the original photograph of himself, Queen Elizabeth and Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King in Banff, Alberta, because, it is believed, the PM wanted to paint himself in a more powerful light.
Text and Images via The Daily Mail 

What lies beneath...

Spoooky Reading 

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Monday, March 26, 2012

Unintentionally Gay

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Truly Unintentionally Gay

Supe is sure gonna have t'do 

a lot of fast talkin'!

Old-time comic book covers embraced the use of absurd and goofy scenarios to sell books. At the time they were very innocent, but looking back in retrospesdch
Accept-Language: en-US,en; very gay tendencies. You need to have an open (dirty) mind as you look at these, and a good sense of humor. That being said, here are a few Unintentionally Gay Comic book covers:

The year this issue was printed, the rainbow emblem wasn’t a gay pride symbol. Batman was ahead of his time with his bizarre array of rainbow costumes. Another glaring problem is that Bruce Wayne needed to have Robins eyes checked for color blindness. The suit isn’t red (like his own outfit), but instead is a very happy pink! 

Superman, Batman, and Robin look way too happy straddling these 
phallic shaped cannons. 'Nuff said. 

Robin is really excited about joining the sausage fest swimming party. The boys in the lake are anxious as well. I would expect this of Robin, but what is up with Superman and Batman? Both are giving each other the “Should We?” look. 

What can you say about this? It’s just wrong on every level. The kid is terrified that Superman is going to take advantage of him. Clark removing his clothes doesn’t make it any better. Sure it really is innocent, but the character postioning, along with my dirty mind, just makes this so gaily suggestive. 
Images and text via Sodahead 

The 30 of the Best 

Unintentionally Gay Record Covers

These guys look a little more than just "on the happy side." 

Will ya look at the eye contact?



...And those chicks 

are so totally oblivious!

Oh, mercy, boys!

Don't y'all have nice big baskets!


Seems like a good time 

was had by all!

I'm sure it did!

Too much information..!

Tino was in transition, 

moving from porn to Gospel.

'Nuff said!

Didn't know J.C. was gay.

I feel the same way 

about my guy...

PleaseLet's not go there.

Yup, no doubt about it,

they ARE the Gay Lords.

The songs are for him, 

not the dog!

Ewwwww!! Coming together should never happen with your mother 

and sisters!

I've had one or two 

gay amigos in my time.

...And I've visited 

the Gay Ranchero!

Awww... 

Contentment in their love.

I've said that on occasion!

Vienna IS so gay. 



That's where they have those gay continental dance parties.

No problem!

Oooooo-kee-dokey!

A hard nut is good to find...

and this guy has 5 of 'em!

What were these guys thinking?

These boys look mighty damn excentrique to me.

Love the pink glitter, boys.

No, I won't say it! 

Although I'd really like to.

Wouldn't that be incest?

These guys don't necessarily look gay... 

but they do look embalmed. 

Oh look!

Santa's elves on summer break.

The Jonas Brothers - 2032

Images via Buzz Feed 

Unintentionally gay, 

not so much...

Image via Cup of Joe 

Spoooky Reading 

What lies beneath...


Chuck Conners (a.k.a The Rifleman) really looks excited about Johnny Crawford holding his wood. And, I do have to admit, it really is a pretty impressive chunk o'wood. 

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