There’s a fine story out today about how mice life expectancies can be seriously extended by tweaking their DNA just so to mimic restricted caloric intake. Of course, people with 33-cents worth of will power could extend their own lives by simply eating a lot less, losing weight and doing a little exercise, but where’s the profit to be made in that? Nope, gotta be something that can be packaged and sold – that’s just how Western Medicine works these days: pill ‘em & thrill ‘em for the most part.
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The problem with life-extension technologies is that is causes huge problems for the economy. For one thing, people over 65 still eat, drive cars in many cases, and use utilities. So, the question is, how many people can an economy support that are not working at goods producing – or services producing – jobs?
I won’t bore you with a rehash of the Club of Rome Report on population “Limits to Growth” which came out back in 1972, but it seems to have become a touchstone of the illuminati types who seem determined to either make piles of money on living humans, or reduce the number of humans to just the bare number necessary to allow them to have someone to boss around and extract tribute from. Most place that number down around 500-million globally which means the number of excess eaters is up around 6.5 billion or so.
Not that this kind of quiet agenda should influence your decision on whether you get a flu shot to which things like mercury-based preservatives are being added, but…
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An article in the NY Times this morning under the headline “Swine Flu Spreading Widely, Worry Over Pregnant Women” is worth reading,. especially when you hook it up with the report that 28 pregnant women have died of swine flu…the scariness of it seems oddly coincidental to reports flu vaccine is now shipping.
No word on how a flu shot will impact the unborn, although a story that “Pre-Birth Exposure to 1918 Flu Raised Heart Risks, Study Finds” certainly raises a lot of questions, doesn’t it?
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In the end the relationship between flu, caloric intake of mice, and the number of dead people by a given age is one of those statistically interesting, but personally pointless areas of study. Restricting calorie intake makes sense (it’s cheaper) and people who restrict calorie intake live longer. But if you do that, then economics catches up with you and makes you broke, or near enough to it!
The comforting conclusion is that if you’re overweight a fair bit, then you shouldn’t need to work as hard (and maybe as long) since you won’t be around as long so you won’t need as big a retirement package.
Hmmm…I suppose that’s why Ponce De Leon was looking for both gold and the Fountain of Youth.
The more I think about this, the more I’m forced to the realization that economics is not the ‘dismal science’ – actuarial studies is the really grim one.
Say What?
“Did Apes descend from US” is the headline in The Star this morning. Doesn’t seem hardly possible. For one thing, they don’t speak, hold elections, run around killing one another in wars like we do. How could they possibly have evolved from us?
27+ MPG Airplane
A new light sport aircraft is coming from Sirius: 100 HP Rotax power plant, high winger. The $131K airplane has a collision avoidance system and recovery parachute and – the part I’m impressed with: At 116 knots cruise and 5 gallons per hour it pencils out to 27.46 MPG and no dodging the stater’s radars on the ground. This is cool. So is the 1,200 fpm rate of climb and the 58 db cabin noise level.
Astronomers Feedback
A number of astronomers responded to yesterday’s question with a “This guy has got to be kidding…” Nice to hear – and thank you. I can sleep better now, safe and sound in the comforting knowledge that our end will be at our own hands, not some random rock floating by. Gee, how comforting.
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Which reminds me – you saw where an 11-year old led cops on a 100 MPH chase?
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Send your comments to george@ure.net
The UrbanSurvival Mall:
Peoplenomics This Week:
Competing Uses of Cash
A number of readers have asked me (at various times over the past six months) “I have X dollars in my in my Y account…what should I do with them? This week we’ll start trying to get some ideas about where the economy is going by considering the views of those very bright people who work for the government (JASON Defense Advisory Group) which we tripped over in our circuitous adventure to the fringes of woo-woo areas last week. From there we will hit a number of other government agencies and see what their vision of the future looks like. (Hint: Screwier than yours or mine, which is not very comforting…). Ultimately we’ll draw some conclusions about the Zero Delusion, that once uniquely Zimbabwean monetary disease that spreading faster than swine flu on a formerly healthy Navy ship. We begin by developing….
MyGroPonics
My commodity broker JB Slear and I have written a simple book to get you started on high density hydroponics. It’s an example of how someone with a little creativity, access to a few ‘dollar stores’ and willing to try out some new farming techniques can grow an amazing amount of produce sin a very small space – like even an apartment balcony (if it gets some sunlight). Sound interesting? It’s just $10 bucks here…
Maxa-Cookie Manager
No, when you tell your browser to ‘empty your cookies’ of web sites you’ve visited, it probably won’t get them all. Why? Because there is a whole class of ‘browser-independent’ cookies that will gobble up space on your hard drive, but more important is they will sneak out information about you without you being aware of it. Ever week I get emails like this one:
“Thanks again for the Maxa Tools recommendation, I never knew how much additional garbage gets attached every time I browse. “
Test drive it free by downloading it. To upgrade to full functionality will be $35 bucks. Is your privacy worth it?
Once you try it out, click the upgrade button (!) on the upper right hand side for the $35 unlock to get it to remove even those nasty and highly intrusive ‘non-browser specific’ cookies. Bonus: You computer may run faster. I’ve taken 1,000 37,970 41,837 cookies off my machine now. It’s just amazing. (I might ask their CTO to add one more digit to the “Total deleted till now” window…)
Attn: Mac Drivers: MCM does support the Safari Browser, but that does not mean it is compatible with Mac OS. Maxa-Tools only support the Windows world….so far. Given Jens and the other engineers time…
Feeling Thorny?
Want to be a thorn in the side of the Old World Order? Simply click here and send a link to this site to everyone on your distro list…Nothing more dangerous than sharp, clear-thinking upstarts who ask a lot of questions, eh? Unless you believe WTC-7 fell over on its own, of course….
“Live on $10,000″ Updated
I’ve told you in the past to order my ebook “How to Live on $10,000 a year or less…” with the rationale that “We’re all going to live it shortly, anyway.“ Don’t know as you have looked lately, but the unemployment rate is up more than 3% since I wrote the first edition of that book and underpasses have never been more homely. Worth ordering? Just visit www.liveontenthousand.com or, click this little whizzie…
It’s an automatic download. It’s written in an information dense style: The whole thing runs about 65 pages, but it gives you a vision of how to not only live on the cheap, but also how to migrate up the economic foodchain if you have a little hustle left… Click here for the index and details.
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Last week’s report is here. For back issues of this site, click here. (Goes back to 1997!)
