Growing aloe vera

Aloe vera gel is a dermatological panacea. It helps acne, general skin softness, burns, cuts, scrapes, rips, hair, and just about any other skin condition. I cannot remember where I read this, but I think it works by creating a coating over the skin that protects skin from oxygen in the air, similar to a bandage.

This past winter I was disappointed to find out that Trader Joe's only carries aloe vera gel seasonally (I have no idea why). So I went to Whole Foods to see if they carry it, but unfortunately, it is expensive at $10 for a 16 ounce bottles. I bought it reluctantly, but decided to grow my own when the weather was right so I would not have to pay so much in the winter.

About a week ago, I bought a small plant from Lowe's. Fortunately for someone like me with no gardening experience, all that aloe vera requires is to be brought inside during frost and watered if the soil gets very dry (but there is plenty of rain here). Better yet, it grows quickly. Moreover, it reproduces vegetatively by growing little "pups" which need to be given their own room to grow.


I would post a picture of my plant, but I lost my camera. :/

handy snowboarding items

I went snowboarding at Wilmot on Friday and went on the moguls, so I had to have my binding very tight. Foolishly, I tightened it so much that the ratchet popped off the strap! I saw all the pieces and had my screwdriver with me though so I fixed it quickly. It got me thinking how much some objects come in handy when snowboarding. I came up with a list:

1. a helmet! I think I would have died several times if I was not wearing a helmet.


2. a small screwdriver. This could save you the cost of a new binding or just help you adjust them for the powder day.


3. a lock. An easy way to prevent losing several hundred dollars.


4. your own food. Ski resorts charge so much for food and get away with it because they have no competition on the hill. But you can get around that by sticking a food bar or a bag of nuts in your pocket. ;) Plus, when you bring your own food you can make sure it is nutritious.

For home: an iron, wax, and scraper. Waxing your board by yourself is quite easy, takes only about half an hour, and is like $30 cheaper than having a store do it. It is good to wax snowboards every 3 to 5 rides.

the importance of posture

Recently I noticed that my neck felt uncomfortable and the feeling was annoying me no matter what I did and only got better when I layed down on my bed. I realized this came from tilting my head down too much, especially when reading, writing, or on a PC. I have lowered the chair at my desk to get rid of the need to look down. The bad habit is tempting, but I have started to pay more attention to my posture. Also, I remember a time several months ago when my upper back was irritating me that was caused by holding my phone with my head and shoulder (thus bending my upper spine to one side) for a long time.

Doing a quick search on Wikipedia for "posture", I came across the concept of neutral spine. This refers to the position that the human spine should ideally be in, that is, with specific curves:



So, pay attention to your posture! You might notice room for improvement.

Amarok 2.0 has finally been released.

One of my favorite pieces of software, Amarok, just reached a milestone: 2.0, after two years of development. Amarok 2 started from scratch to utilize Qt4's and KDE4's new technologies, namely Plasma and Phonon, as well as increase the maintainability of the code.

The restoration of all the features from Amarok 1.4 is incomplete, but many will come back soon. New features include a completely redesigned UI; new scripting interface with QTScript, an extension of EMCAScript (others being JavaScript and ActionScript); new Internet music service framework; biased dynamic playlists; and fuzzy biased dynamic playlists. Awesome features still there from 1.4 include automatic lyrics fetching, in-player viewing of Wikipedia articles on the music playing, and statistics.

I think the new UI is a bit crowded. Reading context information about the music playing and making a playlist is not done at the same time, but the UI shows them both. This eats quite a bit of horizontal screen space for both. I like the proposition made by this mockup (KDE-Look page).

I have been compiling from SVN (although I think they are switching to Git soonish) frequently for several months and reporting bugs for Amarok 2.0. I am continuing to help out development beyond 2.0. I have an idea for a script, but I am having trouble understanding the documentation for the Qt bindings for QTScript (or the bindings are incomplete, I am not sure).

Algal fuel & nutrition

The promise of algae



Previously, I had done a little research on alternative biofuel sources and found out that algae could be an environmentally friendly and very efficient source of biofuel. Its efficiency is because much more of the organism is devoted to oil production than a plant such as hemp, soy, or corn. It does not suck any carbon up from the ground and pump it into the atmosphere like petroleum. Instead, algae use photosynthesis in which carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is used to make organic compounds.

Powering motors with algal fuel could be a better future than electric powered motors. Everyone having electric cars would make in incredible demand on the electric grid. The demand would be so huge that renewable sources of electricity would not be able to supply it. Perhaps nuclear could, but that is not an ideal solution.

Water 4 to introduce algae DHA/EPA as food ingredient

The technology used to mass produce oil from algae has a lesser known use than biofuel: dietary supplements. It is fairly widely known that fish oil is a good dietary supplement because of its omega-3 essential fatty acids, particular EPA and DHA. There are other plant sources of omega-3s, namely flax, hemp, and pumpkin, but these are mostly APA and people need all 3 omega-3s. APA can be converted to EPA & DHA in the body, but not fast enough. Thus, fish oil is used as a dietary supplement. However, current fishing practices might not be sustainable and fish may be contaminated with mercury.

Exit poll oddities

From CNN's exit polls:

Who Has Right Experience [Obama or McCain]? 8% said neither, but 90% of those still voted for either.

Who Is In Touch With People Like You? 16% said neither, but 92% of those people still voted for one of them.

Obama's Positions on the Issues: 42% said "too liberal", but 9% of those people still voted for Obama. 4% said "too conservative", but 49% of those still voted for him.

Who Has Right Judgment? 6% said neither, but 83% of those still voted for either.

Are You Worried About Economic Conditions? 98% voted for Obama or McCain, who would both still send about half of the federal budget to the military and gave $700 billion to some of the people responsible for the poor economic conditions.

$700 Billion to Failing Financial Companies: 56% said oppose, but 98% of those still voted for either Obama or McCain, who both voted for it.

U.S. War in Iraq: 63% disapproved, but 98% still voted for either Obama or McCain, who would not get out troops out immediately. Obama says "Immediately upon taking office, Obama will give his Secretary of Defense and military commanders a new mission in Iraq: successfully ending the war. The removal of our troops will be responsible and phased." But what is success? What is the goal? That looks like a cop-out for staying in Iraq to me.

Melatonin supplements

Melatonin (not to be confused with melanin, a pigment) is a hormone that plays a role in the circadian rhythm (the daily cycle of biological activity). It is endogenously produced when in darkness. The ubiquity of electric lighting exposes people to less darkness than preindustrial times, which may cause a range of health problems. Melatonin supplements can be used primarily as a general sleep aid and to deal with jet lag.

I purchased a bottle of 100 .5mg tablets from Trader Joe's (I forgot the price) several weeks ago. I chewed and ate one each night about half an hour before going to sleep, doing this for about two weeks. It worked spectacularly. I had zero trouble falling asleep (I had a little trouble occasionally before). If I tried to stay up past when I originally intended to go to sleep, I got so tired that it was pretty much useless to try to stay up and do any other action. If I got woken up early (by, for example, my bladder) it was just as easy to fall back asleep as when I first went to sleep that night. I have been remembering my dreams a little more (I used to almost never remember my dreams). One night I remember having a dream in cartoon animation, although I forgot what it was about. I also felt a bit more rested, but this could easily just be a placebo effect.

Several days ago I tried taking 2 tablets (1mg) per night. I felt more drowsy after getting just as much sleep. I will continue trying this for I think at least a week more then update this post.

I have had some odd experiences since taking melatonin, though. One night I kept waking up for about 2 minutes every half hour to hour. Another night, I woke up about two hours earlier than my alarm, ate breakfast, then noticed the time and fell back asleep (this has happened previously when I had to get very little sleep to cram in a lot of work earlier in the week). One day, I layed down on my bed intending just to rest a few minutes, but drifted off to sleep for about five hours (I have napped at this time before, but only for about two and a half hours maximum).

A few nights I ate later than usual and the melatonin was not nearly as effective. I usually eat breakfast at 6:00 and dinner at about 15:30.

EDIT: After several weeks, I have not noticed a difference between .5mg/night and 1mg/night, so I am going back down to .5mg to save pills. Perhaps I will try much higher doses sometime, such as 3 or 4mg (some supplements come in these doses).

Breaking news!!!

From the Northbrook police blotter:

A backyard vegetable garden was vandalized between 10 p.m. Sept. 7 and 7 a.m. Sept. 8, in the 2600 block of Prince Street. Two pepper plants were pushed over and uprooted and three tomato plants were pushed down and tomatoes were removed and crushed.

Stop saying "both candidates".

Many Americans have convinced themselves that there are only two realistic presidential candidates. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If Americans did not think this way, candidates from outside the Republican or Democratic Parties would have a realistic chance of getting elected.

When George Washington finished his second presidential term, he wrote a farewell address (translated into modern American English) that was published in American newspapers. It is unfortunate that the USA has mostly forgotten the wise words he said. (This ought to be taught in US history classes.) Here is the section regarding political parties (this is from the translation into modern American English by Randall Munroe):

Getting in the way of the law for the sake of power plays similarly screws things up. Playing that game creates groups just looking out for themselves, turning crazy splinter groups into a powerful force. Let this get too bad and you’ll probably have the country tossed back and forth wildly as the various parties with their pet issues fight for power, rather than nice, consensual, unified government.

Parties are probably gonna look like they’re helping with one popular issue or another, so you’re gonna want support them, but I bet the guys in charge of them will just turn out to be power-hungry assholes who want to run everything.

To keep things going nicely, quit fighting with the government and be careful with letting folk amend the Constitution to weaken it. Just, in general, give it all time and see how it works out before being quick to judge. It’s a big country and we can’t keep everyone safe without a little centralization.

I just said that parties are no good, particularly regional ones. But lemme go a step further and say ALL parties are a bad idea.

Unfortunately, it’s pretty much human nature to gather into little factions like this. It’s worst in the freeest countries, and they suffer because of it.

Control goes back and forth between one party and another, and they just get more and more pissed, and we’ve seen that get really bad in the past. But it also leads to terrible, controlling government and general suckage. This gets the people more angry, they get behind one party leader or another, and that guy just takes that support and does whatever he wants, screwing up the country.

I’m not talking about anyone in particular here, but this isn’t necessarially too far off, and it’s always gonna be a threat, so keep an eye out.

This division distracts us, enfeebles the government, it gets everyone riled up with jealousy and false alarms, it pits us against each other, and eventually creates riots and stuff. It also opens the door to other countries getting a hand in our system, since they can reach in through the party structure, and then we just become their puppets.

Now, there’s the idea that the parties are important to defend freedom and put the government in its place. That might even be true sometimes; when you’ve got a real Nazi in charge, you can afford to rally behind a party, but you shouldn’t like it, and you should dump it ASAP. And there’s always gonna be a feeling of opposition to whatever the government is, so be sure you know what you’re doing before getting all partisan, and be very careful to know when to drop it so you don’t just make the problem worse.

Furthermore, what benefit do parties provide to candidates? By running under the name of a political party, a candidate sometimes must listen to the party bosses. Did anyone else see John McCain's face when Sarah Palin was announcing that she is his vice presidential candidate? To me, it looked like he was thinking, "Eep... what did I just do? Why I am here? Who is she?" I speculate that the Republican party bosses forced McCain into accepting Sarah Palin.

I do think there is one way parties can be good, though: if candidates run under the name of multiple parties like in the state of New Hampshire. In this system, political parties can be more focused and their name can really be meaningful. Also, radical views would have a much easier time getting attention. For example, the Pirate Party focuses on one specific issue. Under the current system, though, having a candidate for the Pirate Party alone does not give any information about the candidate's position on other issues.

Why I Support Nader - Ashley Sanders shows the backwardness of much current political thought. (Yes, I support Nader, too.)

On The Issues is a great website that shows all of the presidential candidates' platforms.

Health care, not just sick care is what we need.

A major issue in the USA's 2008 elections is how to deal with citizens that are not getting adequate "health care". This is really putting a bandage on the real problem: the government allows, even encourages, such a great number of its constituents to fall to poor health in the first place. Much of this is due to corruption in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and education system. For example:

• Due to the combination of corn subsidies and sugar tarrifs, high fructose corn syrup is the cheapest sweetener (detailed explanation). Moreover, it is allowed to be marketed as "natural" by the FDA, tricking the ignorant. Even further, stevia is classified as a dietary supplement, so it cannot legally be added to food.


• The USA is largely automobile dependent. That is, it is difficult to go anywhere outside of a municipality the size of Northbrook without using a car. This wastes a great opportunity for conveniently fitting cardiovascular exercise into a busy life by moving with feet or a bicycle. Solving this requires a paradigm shift in urban and suburban planning. Some sort of device like a bicycle that could be trivially compacted to a small enough size to carry or fit in a pocket would be incredibly useful as well. For example, one could ride it to train station, get off the train, then still have transportation faster than foot for the last part of the journey.
• Another problem with urban planning is how it can be inconvenient, especially in poorer areas, to buy healthy food. Eating Well is a Revolutionary Act
• Somehow some people have gotten the idea that the only reason to eat well is to lose weight. But the purpose of eating well is to live an overall better, longer, and tastier life. I do not think this cultural problem is any one entity's fault; perhaps it is largely due to weight loss pill/diet advertisements.
  

• Advertisements for obscenely unhealthy substances to put into a human run rampant. I am talking about alcohol advertisement during football games and marketing breakfast cereals of empty calories to young children.


• Health education is not very adequate. Most do not know what they do to themselves. Caffeine IS an addictive drug with withdrawal symptoms and tolerance that builds up quite quickly. It also can cause frequent urination, anxiety, irritability, nervousness, headaches, and sleep problems. Alcohol IS an addictive drug as well. Not just an addictive drug, a very dangerous drug as well that can cause severe impairment in judgment, brain damage, and liver damage among many other horrible effects. Just because a food is organic does not mean it is good for you, it means it is good for Earth. Just because a food has fat in it does not mean it will make you fat, it merely means that it contains triglycerides. Those things in the medicine cabinet could wreak havoc on you. Sleep is very important; getting 4 hours of sleep is not nearly enough.
  


• The government could make an effort to encourage the replacement of refined grains with whole grains, especially wheat. I think this would best be done with economic incentives for those in the food business.

If I spent the time, I am sure there is much more.

All together, these have created a culture of people that do not care what they put in their bodies. This will take time, I think several decades, to really fix. However, in the long run, this will save everyone lots of life quality and money.

Kudos to Mr. Fisher, my eighth grade PE teacher at Lodi Middle School in Lodi, California for introducing me to the idea of health care and sick care.

In Soviet science, scientist pay publisher!

Congress's copyright fight puts open access science in peril

eliciting surprise was the revelation that authors are not paid by publishers for the transfer of copyright.

In fact, many publishers charge money for the publication of scientific research, even those that obtain copyright to the work in the process.

The scientists are the one that provide service to the publishers, not vice versa. I am quite surprised that scientists have not blown the publishers off already and turned to the Internet for self-publication.

Dr. Elias Zerhouni, director of the NIH, shocked Berman when he mentioned that the NIH hands out $100 million a year to grant recipients specifically to cover the cost of publishing their results.

Wow, what a perfect example of government waste. With that kind of budget, I would think the National Institutes of Health would easily be able to host the entirety of research they fund on a new website and not rely on linking to greedy publishers for more than the abstract. This would need some system for publishing peer review as well. It should be mandated that articles on this site be available in standard formats (at least HTML, if not also OpenDocument and PDF). They should be copyable royalty-free by anyone as well.

This could be extended beyond the NIH, to all federally funded science. Actually, it would be great if the federal government collaborated with the states and other countries on this. Submissions could also come from non-publicly funded sources, such as universities or charities.