I note with interest that yesterday the TED spread went below 1% for the first time since mid August

TED spread

"For thousands of years, losing teeth has been a routine part of human aging. Now the Washington Post reports that researchers are close to growing important parts of teeth from stem cells, including creating a living root from scratch, perhaps within one year. According to Pamela Robey of the NIH. 'Dentists say, "Give me a root and I can put a crown on it."' In a few years dentists will treat periodontal disease with regeneration by using stem cells to create hard and soft tissue; they will take out a tooth that is about to fall, and reconnect it firmly to the regenerated tissue. Although nobody is predicting when it will be possible to grow teeth on demand, in adults, to replace missing ones, a common guess is five to ten years. Baby and wisdom teeth are sources of stem cells that could be 'banked' for future health needs, says Robey. 'When you think about it, the teeth children put under their pillows may end up being worth much more than the tooth fairy's going rate. Plus, if you still have your wisdom teeth, it's nice to know you're walking around with your own source of stem cells.'"

Slashdot | Tooth Regeneration Coming Soon

the dilemma

edchap150mmweb64.jpg (JPEG Image, 640x555 pixels)

The fighting, death and destruction in Gaza is painful to watch. But it’s all too familiar. It’s the latest version of the longest-running play in the modern Middle East, which, if I were to give it a title, would be called: “Who owns this hotel? Can the Jews have a room? And shouldn’t we blow up the bar and replace it with a mosque?”

Op-Ed Columnist - The Mideast’s Ground Zero - NYTimes.com

I thought I’d begin 2009 with a movie, so on its first freezing afternoon I went to see Gus Van Sant’s “Milk,” starring Sean Penn in a breathtaking performance as a smart, wry gay-rights politician whose whimsical effectiveness arouses murderous ire.
...
Was this really the same Sean Penn who’d just penned a fawning tribute to the grim Cuban president, Raúl Castro, a dictator presiding over a 50-year-old revolution that once dispatched gays to labor camps to correct their “counterrevolutionary tendencies?”

Yes, it was, despite the fact that “Milk” is precisely about the sort of grass-roots political movement that would be impossible in the Cuba of the Castro brothers, despite the fact that the “inalienable rights” of hundreds of Cuban political prisoners are trampled daily and despite the fact that the pursuit of happiness for most Cubans has been reduced to eking out an existence on $20 a month.
...

A gift for detachment is as important to the journalist as a gift for empathy is to the actor.

art and politics rarely if ever mix well
I tried to think of a single instance of a great artist who was a great politician and couldn't think of a single instance. There were great artists that have used art to bring social themes and issues to public consciousness like Dickens but not an example of a practical every day political leader and who was also a great artist. Havel sprang to mind and examples of great artists with lousy political instincts like Neil Young and even malign political instincts like Wagner. So maybe art is too emotive. Any suggestions?

Op-Ed Columnist - Dangers of the Penn - NYTimes.com

NASA has named the rocket Ares I, as in the god of war — and its life has been a battle from the start.

Ares I is part of a new system of spacecraft being designed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to replace the nation’s aging space shuttles. The Ares I and its Orion capsule, along with a companion heavy-lift rocket known as the Ares V, are meant for travel to the Moon and beyond.

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

the NYT on the current state of play regarding the next gen launch vehicle for manned missions

The Fight Over NASA’s Future - NYTimes.com

If we knew what we were doing it wouldn't be research. -Albert Einstein

If we knew what we were doing it wouldn't be research....

Congrats to Rattle and his lovely new bride!!:) Many Best wishes!!

CONGRATS NICK AND YUN!!!!!

Every year, as the Queen's New Year honours list approaches, the Today programme sets out to nominate the great successes of the past year.

But this year, with the great and the good having presided over what might be one of the worst recessions since the Great Depression, we thought it might more suitable to celebrate lack of achievement.

"There are advantages to sitting around and doing nothing," says Tom Hodgkinson, editor of The Idler magazine, which has been promoting the cause of idleness since it first went to press in 1993.

"All the great creative breakthroughs come when people are sitting around, or lying in bed in the morning half awake.

"Idleness is a wellspring of creativity, is enjoyable for its own sake and there are health benefits as well."

BBC - Today

merry christmas