Author: RagManX

How cigarette smoke causes cancer

That title might need a question mark following it, as I’m not absolutely convinced that this is definitive, but recent research appears to point to hydrogen peroxide as the source of cancer from cigarette smoke.

In the research study, Goldkorn and colleagues describe how they exposed different sets of human lung airway cells (in the laboratory) to cigarette smoke and hydrogen peroxide. After exposure, these cells were then incubated for one to two days. Then they, along with unexposed airway cells, were assessed for signs of cancer development. The cells exposed to cigarettes smoke and the cells exposed to hydrogen peroxide showed the same molecular signatures of cancer development, while the unexposed cells did not.

I wonder what implications this has for folks who use that same stuff to bleach their hair? How much trouble does the evaporating liquid cause to those exposed to it briefly and infrequently?

And a bonus quote for those that believe in the Bill of Rights:

“Guns kill, bombs kill and cigarettes kill,” said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “While biologists can’t do much about the first two, studies like this will help in the fight against tobacco-related death and disease.

Sounds like a gun-control advocate to me, no? (via QJ Science)

[tags]Cigarettes, smoking, cancer, hydrogen peroxide, FASEB, science, It works bitches, QJ, Gun control, Bill of rights[/tags]

The “Duh!” news of the week

A recent study shows that men are more likely to get addicted to games than women. I think this is a surprise to substantially less than 100 people in the world.

The study looked at how the brains of 22 young gamers – half of them male, half female – reacted when playing a simple video ball game. The researchers found that men’s brains had a higher activity in the mesocorticolimbic system.

. . .

Acquiring as much territory in a computer game environment is more rewarding for men than for women, the study showed. Reiss wasn’t surprised: “I think it’s fair to say that males tend to be more intrinsically territorial. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who historically are the conquerors and tyrants of our species – they’re the males.”

Might explain the jealous boyfriend thing, too, I’m guessing.

[tags]Games, Territorial, Gaming addiction[/tags]

How to solve Indiana Jones on the Atari 2600

My brother just sent me a link to a SharkBait article which references an old VHS video series from Vestron Video in 1982 that tells you how to beat a variety of Atari 2600 games.  The article has this Raiders of the Lost Ark game guide, and since I remember so well playing the game, I thought I’d put it here so I can always remember how great it was (well, always meaning until YouTube removes the video or shuts down).

If you click on that video and go to the YouTube patch, you’ll find links to other video guides, plus a number of other Atari 2600 game-related videos.  Oddly, when I look there is a link to a “worst games on the 2600” video, which suggests Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the worst games on the Atari 2600.  The video below that is the video guide for the game Superman, which actually is on my list of worst Atari 2600 games ever.

If you’d like to know more about the Raiders game shown in the video, I highly recommend Atari Age as the source for pretty much all 2600 and other Atari console information.  Click on the little Pac-Man looking icon in the top right corner of the screen to get the ROM, and then get the open source emulator Stella for running it.

[tags]Atari, 2600, Atari 2600, Emulator, Game, Gaming, Console, Raiders of the Lost Ark, YouTube, Vestron[/tags]

CryENGINE2 vs. reality

See how powerful the CryENGINE2 is, assuming you have a sufficiently powerful machine to drive this.

[gametrailers 31022]

Not as good as looking out real-world locations, but extremely impressive for a game engine.  Most of the engine driven stuff is flatter or duller than the real-world video, but I’m still looking forward to being able to run something with CryENGINE2 when I make my next system upgrade.  (via Joystiq)

Anti-Ralph activity returns

No, no. It’s not a movement to prevent vomiting (well, not exactly). What I’m talking about here is the revival of people opposed to Ralph Nader running for President. Since Nader announced on Sunday his plans to improve John McCain’s chances of winning the White House, there has been a good bit of activity from those who believe all Nader does in entering the arena is take away votes from the Democratic candidate. Of course, Nader actually appears to consider himself a serious candidate, and I think he doesn’t see his entrance as a “Let’s let John McCain win” event. However, I think most people with political awareness who AREN’T Ralph Nader at least suspect this to be the outcome of Nader staying in the race (although, there are those who will say his presence did not cause the Gore loss in 2000, except the results they use don’t appear to quite support their argument to me). He probably killed an Al Gore win 8 years ago, and seems ready to do the same for Obama or Clinton this go around.

Now, I wonder if he really is after the White House, or if he’d just prefer McCain to win of the candidates we’re getting for the coming election. Sure, sure – he’ll say he’s serious about the run. And he certainly doesn’t seem like the type to support McCain over Obama or Clinton. Regardless, there are anti-Nader web sites lumbering back to life, and I expect we’ll start getting more of the so-called grass roots movement stuff going (door-to-door, pamphlets, TV ads maybe) to try shutting him down.

It should make for an interesting end of campaigning for the party nominations and a fun twist in the lead-up to this fall’s elections, though, wouldn’t you say?

[tags]Nader, Ralph Nader, McCain, Election, Presidency[/tags]

Domino homebrew

I can’t recall having seen any moderate or large scale domino setups lately, but recall them being quite the fashion when I was much younger.  Below is a video done by some kinetic artists for a museum.  The real action starts at around 3:30 mark, with leadup showing the already set up domino string, a bit of interview time with the artists, and a few stills of final domino break inserts (when setting up long domino strings, it is typical that one leaves some large holes in case of an accident along the chain and then fills them in when everything else is finished).

The whole action section gets started by the young attendee who guessed closest to the actual number of dominoes used in the display.  (via boingboing)

[tags]dominoes, museum, kinetic artist[/tags]