It sounds almost too good to be true: a cheap and simple drug that kills almost all cancers by switching off their “immortality”. The drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), has already been used for years to treat rare metabolic disorders and so is known to be relatively safe.

It also has no patent, meaning it could be manufactured for a fraction of the cost of newly developed drugs.

Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and his colleagues tested DCA on human cells cultured outside the body and found that it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but not healthy cells. Tumours in rats deliberately infected with human cancer also shrank drastically when they were fed DCA-laced water for several weeks.

That does sound too good to be true.

Well, shit... Maybe I should take up smoking again.

Cheap, safe drug kills most cancers - health - 17 January 2007 - New Scientist

The average person needs about 1,500 to 1,800 calories per day to keep alive, even if they just lie in bed and do no exercise. People doing very heavy work, such as an Arctic or Antarctic explorer pulling a sled across frozen trackless wastes, needs to eat about 10,000 calories per day. Even then, they have difficulty in eating enough food to get their necessary 10,000 calories per day. When Mike Stroud and Ranulph Fiennes crossed Antarctica on foot in 1992, they could eat only 5,500 calories each day. That's more than double the intake of the average person, but even so, they each lost about 23 kilograms in weight.

With Elvis, you can forget about your average 1,500 to 1,800 calories per day, or even the 5,500 calories per day of your average Antarctic explorer. Before he died, Elvis was eating about 100,000 calories per day! That's more than enough to keep your average multi-tonne Asian elephant alive - or, enough to keep you or me alive for nearly 60 days!

Can the human body even digest 100,000 per day? This article also says constant fidgeting burns over 3x more calories than running 10 km.

Great Moments in Science - Fat Dead Elvis

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Meth Coffee, a rebel coffee company in San Francisco, opened for business today with the launch of its hard- hitting coffee roast for energy addicts and caffeine freaks. Meth's super- caffeinated beans are amplified by the addition of yerba mate, a powerful natural stimulant and antioxidant used by shamans of the Amazon for boosting stamina and mental clarity. Boasting an intense buzz and cocoa-tobacco finish, Meth Coffee is fresh-roasted within 48 hours of shipment to jumpstart workaholics, thrill seekers, artists, and subversives seeking an exciting new fuel for their endeavors.

Unique Taste and Buzz with Antioxidants

The flavor of Meth Coffee's Arabian and South American beans with yerba mate starts as a smooth, herbaceous attack that runs to a soft tobacco-cocoa finish. Yerba mate's presence produces a gradual buzz arc for periods of intense play and creativity that some drinkers find more cerebral than coffee alone. Research has shown that yerba mate contains mateine, an alkaloid stimulant similar to those found in coffee and chocolate, as well as significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds.

Meth Coffee's Origin

Meth Coffee was the brainchild of a self-styled anarchist, caffeine addict, and conspiracy theorist known only as The Roaster.

"I see the corporate 'corner cafe' coffee klatch scene as guilty of lulling drinkers with mediocre beans, burnt roasts, and free napkins -- it's psychotronic mind control, pure and simple," said The Roaster. "Combining the smoothest beans with yerba mate's animal buzz has created an intense new drug for coffee addicts who are searching for the highest quality junk."

Where to Buy Meth Coffee

Meth Coffee is available immediately on the Internet at $12 per 10-ounce bag in ground or whole beans at http://www.methcoffee.com/coffee.

About Meth Coffee

Founded in San Francisco, Calif. in 2006, Meth Coffee comprises paranoid conspiracy theorists, headbangers, goths, and other caffeine freaks dedicated to detonating the typical gourmet coffee scene. A hand-crafted blend of super-caffeinated coffee beans and yerba mate, a powerful natural stimulant and antioxidant kept secret by Amazonian shamans for centuries, Meth's intense formula is guaranteed to enhance energy and concentration for coffee addicts, spazzes, and workaholics. Meth Coffee is fresh-roasted within 48 hours of shipment and can be purchased online at http://www.methcoffee.com/coffee. Affiliate and dealer programs available. For more information, visit http://www.methcoffee.com/coffee.
Website: http://www.methcoffee.com/

Meth Coffee :: Meth Coffee Launches with Super Caffeinated Brew

WASHINGTON - The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday fined the marketers of four weight loss pills $25 million for making false advertising claims ranging from rapid weight loss to reducing the risk of cancer.

FTC fines weight loss pill firms $25M - Yahoo! News

MADRID, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- A study says 94 percent of all euro bank notes currently in Spain have traces of cocaine on them because of their use in drug trafficking.

The BBC said Spain has one of the world's highest rates of cocaine use, and the report discovered that the contaminated bills, which dated no earlier than 2002, carried an average of 25.18 micrograms of the drug.

While many of the bills likely got the cocaine residue from direct contact when they were rolled up and used to snort the drug, experts attached to the study said many others could have been contaminated via counting machines, the BBC said.

The new cocaine study based in Spain, which has 475,000 regular cocaine users, comes after similar studies found similar conditions in nearby countries.

In 2003, a survey found that euro bank notes in Germany showed similar traces of the narcotic.

The BBC said that in 1999 experts in London found that 99 percent of all 5-pound notes had cocaine traces.

United Press International - NewsTrack - Most Spanish euros have cocaine traces

More than one-third of poor, inner-city toddlers are overweight or obese, according to a survey in Chicago and 19 other cities.

This is an evolutionary oddity... Why don't we send our poor to other countries and breed out starvation? Almost like human cactus.

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State :: Poor and overweight

And Marcia Mittleman, 88, who took Epoch's course twice, complete with graduation ceremony and medal, said that psychologically, it "filled a void," because "you had to really focusn"
Asked if her cognitive function improved, she replied, "Did it make me smarter? No."
Suddenly, she scanned the room and asked, "Did anyone see my walker?"

Boomers will buy anything. It's a bit to late to do these brain exercises. The rot set in decades ago.

deseretnews.com | Is 'brain training' slowing aging?

NEW YORK - Scientists have identified a genetic defect that prevents some people from feeling any physical pain, while leaving them perfectly normal otherwise. Sound like a blessing? It's not.

We need to breed more circus freaks.

Genes keep some people from feeling pain - Yahoo! News

Through the Guru, one can obtain The Knowledge. Through the Guru, the collective whole can find Peace and Happiness. Through the Guru, one can attend "Millenium '73," a three-day conference at the Houston Astrodome in which the Guru and his Holy Family would appear to lead his American sheep into fits of peaceful meditation and Christian-like stadium singing led by his brother's rock-n'-soul band Blue Aquarius. Through the Guru, one can attend a Knowledge Session to finally, if they are chosen to do so, Receive The Knowledge. And oh, the people, the desperate, desperate people, the people who panic when they may not Receive the Knowledge before their flight leaves Texas, the people who freak out when they touch something that the guru has touched, the people who cannot comprehend why it is that the Rest of America thinks they are all mislead crazies under the spell of a prankster.

It is said, in Lord of the Universe, that when the Guru was about to move to the United States from his home in India, barely an adolescent, it was requested of his followers that they send any "extra appliances" they may have to his new home on Long Island. Yes, God lives it up, with a big house and fancy cars (that I don't think he was able to drive yet?) and many gadgets. He's a rich guru, could ya believe it?

I couldn't even really explain the wealth found in Lord of the Universe. Seeing is believing. Thank god, the ex-Premies (followers) have created a site with video clips. See it for yourself. Rennie Davis and Abbie Hoffman both make appearances in the film, with Hoffman delivering the best (and most sense-making) line of the entire piece. While the outward intent of the film is to capture the 3-day Event in Houston, I personally found the film to be more of a criticism of desperation. The guru, he's just there, serving as the master of this bizarre three-ring circus.

A friend of mine wrote a great review of this documentary. Definitely worth watching (even for the opening theme alone).

the grand piano that props up my mortal remains... -

A Chinese man who had lost his penis in an accident earlier this year received a transplanted member from a brain-dead man. The operation. performed at Guangzhou General Hospital, was reportedly a success, but the man suffered emotional trauma and after just two weeks insisted that the penis be removed. The story of the procedure will be told in next month's issue of the scientific journal European Urology. From The Guardian:

Boing Boing: Tale of the first penis transplant