Monthly Archives: September 2008

Therapeutic Landscapes – Landscape design for prisons and autistic children plus gardening tips

September 19, 2008
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Therapeutic Landscapes – Landscape design for prisons and autistic children plus gardening tips

New on the blogroll is  Therapeutic Landscapes Database Blog Who knew this was an area of study? Two recent posts were of interest:

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Friday Dysfunctional Roundup: The Killa in Wasilla! (one story)

September 19, 2008
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Friday Dysfunctional Roundup: The Killa in Wasilla! (one story)

Via Alaska Dispatch (“How We Live on the Last Frontier“)

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Auburn Tigers Fans With Yard Crap-O-La Twice As Likely To Vote As Those With Non-Branded Yard Crap-O-La

September 16, 2008
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Auburn Tigers Fans With Yard Crap-O-La Twice As Likely To Vote As Those With Non-Branded Yard Crap-O-La

People with political yard signage are more likely to vote than those who have only, say, a garden gnome, and now research shows that this goes for football team crap-o-la spread over the front yard. Expressiveness reflects group identification/affiliation and signals trustworthiness and also reflects the individual’s desire to ‘cheer’ or ‘boo’ favored or...

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Friday Dysfunctional Roundup: Headlines from “Government Executive”

September 12, 2008
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From Government Executive the past few weeks: Interior officials probed about illicit sex, gifts 09/10/08 Alleged transgressions involve 13 employees in Denver and Washington. Audit: FEMA wasted millions on no-bid contracts 09/10/08 Report finds that the agency did not always properly review the invoices submitted. House Democrats slam Bush administration for failure to comply...

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“Mosaicism is common in a single person,” sez criminal defense lawyers in variation of “the other dude did it” defense.

September 11, 2008
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“Mosaicism is common in a single person,” sez criminal defense lawyers in variation of “the other dude did it” defense.

Let’s say you leave your DNA at the scene of a crime. The prosecutor puts up the  expert on DNA analysis: it’s a one in a bazillion chance that it wasn’t you that did the crime. Should the expert be disqualified (and busted down to being a fact witness)  for failing to consider that,...

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Neurological Correlates Is One Year Old Today!

September 11, 2008
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Neurological Correlates Is One Year Old Today!

Has it been a year? Maybe I should explain that I unintentionally chose the 9/11 date – but it’s here, and perhaps it’s a small symbol of defiance against those who are evil. So, thanks for stopping by, and see you in Neurological Correlates, Year 2.

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White matter volume shrinks with advancing schizophrenia. Is the next step becoming one with the universe?

September 8, 2008
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White matter volume shrinks with advancing schizophrenia. Is the next step becoming one with the universe?

Schizophrenia progressively worsens.  According to a new paper, in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, the more cognitive impairment, the less white matter volume.  All patients had about the same amount of gray matter (which was less than controls).  The “near normal” patients had the highest white matter volumes; the most affected had the lowest white matter...

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Google Offshore Data Centers and Transoceanic Dark Fiber: Thoughts without borders

September 7, 2008
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Google Offshore Data Centers and Transoceanic Dark Fiber: Thoughts without borders

Google’s biggest threat? Google is planning offshore data centers.  Datacenters in international waters are outside political boundaries. That means no jurisdiction by any sovereign authority except by international treaty. (Pirates notwithstanding).    We are entering an era of information without borders. As a technical matter, combined with Google transoceanic dark fiber, Google airwaves, satellites, white spaces and...

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Depression may be genetic in Fragile X premutation carriers.

September 4, 2008
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Depression may be genetic in Fragile X premutation carriers.

This post is about depression and genetics — fragile x premutation is statistically associated with depression. That’s news. I keep an eye on Fragile X research because there seems to be an “epigenetic” component. (Molecular wonks: I’m using the term “epigenetic” to basically mean non-Mendellian — spontaneous mutations of any sort , rather than...

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Second-generation addiction, autistic spectrum, bipolar, schizophrenia, and obesity as artifacts of stress-induced epigenetics?

September 3, 2008
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Second-generation addiction, autistic spectrum, bipolar, schizophrenia, and obesity as artifacts of stress-induced epigenetics?

Epigenetics - the long arm reaches out for generations.

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