Today in history – Know-Nothing party meet in Philly to nominate Pres. candidate

The headline covers almost everything that matters: this date in 1856 saw a convening in Philadelphia by the Know-Nothing political party to nominate its first presidential candidate.

The Know-Nothing movement began in the 1840s, when an increasing rate of immigration led to the formation of a number of so-called nativist societies to combat “foreign” influences in American society. Roman Catholic immigrants from Ireland and Italy, who were embraced by the Democratic Party in eastern cities, were especially targeted. In the early 1850s, several secret nativist societies were formed, of which the “Order of the Star-Spangled Banner” and the “Order of United Americans” were the most significant. When members of these organizations were questioned by the press about their political platform, they would often reply they knew nothing, hence the popular name for the Know-Nothing movement.

When their candidate, former President Fillmore, failed to win anywhere except Maryland, the party effectively ceased to exist. Although the name might lead you to think they merely changed their name to the Democrats, they really did go away (which I know some of you wish would happen to the Democrats).

[tags]Today in History, The Know-Nothing party[/tags]

Hateful spew != Great rant

A co-worker sent me a link to what he deemed a “Great Rant” and I went ahead and read it. It’s a great rant in the same manner that Howard Dean’s opposition to President Bush was “Great Leadership and Politicing” I think. The poster of the supposedly great rant is angry, and feels that anger and spewing is equivalent to offering anything worth reading or listening to. Complaining vehemently about the Democrats plans for preventing the Iraqi was surge plan, the writer vomits:

You Democrats, with far too few exceptions, are a disgrace to the sacrifices made by our forefathers, and you have no business referring to yourselves as Americans. Since when is it the Congress’s mandate to run foreign policy, anyway?

If I’m getting my dates right, I believe the US Constitution was penned in 1789. And in the Constitution, we can find that “The Congress shall have Power…

Continue reading “Hateful spew != Great rant”

Oooops. Crap. Now we might have a cancer cure

A serendipitous moment that was almost missed by the discoverer.

Her carefully cultured cells were dead and Katherine Schaefer was annoyed, but just a few minutes later, the researcher realized she had stumbled onto a potential new cancer treatment.

. . .

Schaefer was looking for drugs to treat the inflammation seen in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, both of which cause pain and diarrhea.

She was testing a compound called a PPAR-gamma modulator. It would never normally have been thought of as a cancer drug, or in fact a drug of any kind.

“I made a calculation error and used a lot more than I should have. And my cells died,” Schaefer said.

A colleague overheard her complaining. “The co-author on my paper said,’ Did I hear you say you killed some cancer?’ I said ‘Oh’, and took a closer look.”

They ran several tests and found the compound killed ”pretty much every epithelial tumor cell lines we have seen,” Schaefer said. Epithelial cells line organs such as the colon, and also make up skin.

It also killed colon tumors in mice without making the mice sick, they reported in the journal International Cancer Research.

So, let’s see what further research and testing bring out of this.  The article makes it sound like something similar already exists and has limited success, but perhaps further research can make something good happen with this.  Since my father died from cancer, anything that decreases cancer lethality interests me. (via /.)

[tags]Potential cancer treatment found via serendipity[/tags]

Why the Iraq war hurts the Republican party

A recent Op Ed piece in the Baltimore Sun has what I think is some very good insight into how the war in Iraq is hurting the Republican party. The author shows how much of the handling of the war is contrary to the expected values of the party.

According to the latest Gallup survey, Republican self-identification has declined nationally and in almost every American state. Why? The short answer is that President Bush’s war of choice in Iraq has destroyed the partisan brand Republicans spent the past four decades building.

That brand was based upon four pillars: that Republicans are more trustworthy on defense and military issues; that they know when and where markets can replace or improve government; that they are more competent administrators of those functions government can’t privatize; and, finally, that their public philosophy is imbued with moral authority. The war demolished all four claims.

He goes on to explain how the current situation shows the Republican party is viewed as performing opposite those typically held pillars.

[tags]How the Iraq war is breaking the Republican party[/tags]

Old-school gaming = hard to win

Most games these days are hard to lose.  Sometimes, though, you can find the simplest games are also some of the hardest.  Don’t believe me?  Check out all the ways to lose.

You have to be careful of the language, though.  You’ll get prompted several times to install Japanese language packs if you don’t have them installed and don’t have language pack prompting turned off.  If you don’t install the packs, your game will look a little different than what is in the above video.

[tags]Old school gaming – hard to win, A simple game that is very challenging[/tags]

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