June 28, 2014

Weird DNS/firefox under linux problem

Ok, I'm hoping someone can tell me where to go to change a setting or config so this quits happening.

I use firefox under fedora, and it seems like every time I have trouble getting DNS, firefox suddenly decides that whatever website I was trying to reach should simply be assigned to my own IP address. And refreshing won't help, it then has decided that my IP IS the correct IP for that website until I kill off firefox and restart it. Iirc, even doing 'server network restart' doesn't even fix the issue unless I've also done a killall on firefox, so wherever the screwed up DNS mapping is being kept, it's in memory used by the browser, not by the system.

Any ideas? I've had these same problems across multiple versions of both the browser and the OS.

June 23, 2014

UC Davis study links autism to pesticides.

I'm not entirely sure where to post this, so I'm going with the generic 'health' forum.

In the Fresno Bee, Barbara Anderson writes UC Davis study links autism to pesticides.

The study by the UC Davis MIND Institute found mothers exposed to organophosphates had a two-thirds increased risk of having a child with autism.

And the risk was strongest when exposures occurred during the second and third trimesters of pregnancies, the research showed.

...

Using the pesticide data maps, researchers overlaid addresses of about 1,000 participants in a Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and Environment study — a population-based, case-control study of children ages 2-5 with autism, developmental delay and typical development. The study area primarily was within a two-hour drive of Sacramento.

The whole article is worth reading, and, as always with journalistic interpretations of scientific info, it doesn't hurt to go to the original study - Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Prenatal Residential Proximity to Agricultural Pesticides: The CHARGE Study.

Now obviously, most Americans don't live right around fields sprayed with pesticides, but as we all know, not all pesticides are thoroughly cleaned off of or out of the foods we buy.

June 18, 2014

America Divided Over Hillary Clinton Presidency, NBC/WSJ Poll Finds

America Divided Over Hillary Clinton Presidency, NBC/WSJ Poll Finds

Hillary Clinton remains the overwhelming front-runner among Democrats for the 2016 presidential race, but the American public at large is equally divided about voting for her, according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.

“It’s not surprising that, as she moves from being secretary of state to being the 2016 candidate, she’s going through a different filter in how she’s being viewed,” said Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the poll along with Democratic pollster Fred Yang and Hart Research Associates. “And how she’s being viewed is through an increasingly partisan lens.”

...

She enjoys overwhelming support from the Democratic base -- with three-quarters of Democrats suggesting they’re likely to check her name on their 2016 ballot. But 70 percent of Republicans and a sizable 40 percent of independents say there’s “no chance” they will vote for her.

June 17, 2014

Question about the use of 'ignore'.

If I put someone on the ignore list, are they still capable of commenting on my posts?

Cause it seems to me if that's the case, that they can troll the heck out of me, and it'll look like I have no good reply to them.

So will ignore stop them from commenting under my comments, or am I better off simply not using ignore?

June 16, 2014

Raspberries coming in nicely, despite the brutal winter.

We had a nice hot sunny day yesterday, so I was able to pick a solid pint of black raspberries today, up from the handful or so I've gotten the last couple of days. We really are looking like we're headed for a bumper crop year with our originally wild cultivar that I used to start a couple of patches around my and the parents' yards. I'm given to understand, though, that many of the commercial patches in the area were hit hard by the winter and won't be producing much this year.

Got my fingers crossed that we'll get maybe 3.5 - 4 gallons this year, up from last year's 3 gallons.

June 11, 2014

Tomato helps heal heart disease - research

Tomato effects on narrowed blood vessels

A daily dose of tomato could significantly improve the functioning of blood vessels in patients with heart disease, research suggests.

...

Participants in the study were given a pill containing a supplement called Ateronon that contains seven milligrams of the tomato ingredient lycopene. Lycopene is 10 times more potent than vitamin E and previous research showed its potency appears to be enhanced when it is consumed pureed, in ketchup or in the presence of olive oil.

...

Of 36 patients with heart disease, those taking the pill every day for two months saw their blood vessels widen by 53 per cent. This was due to improved functioning of the endothelium, the inner wall cell lining of blood vessels, scientists believe.

Sounds pretty good to me...

June 11, 2014

Morning Joke ongoing false equivalency BS on mass shootings

In the neverending stream of false equivalency that is Morning Joe, Mika, Joe, and one of the guests (Joe Heilmann maybe?) spent a few minutes at the end of their talk about the Oregon school shooting blaming the fact that nothing had been done since Newtown on 'the far left and the far right', saying 'everyone goes to their corners', with Democrats pushing gun control, Republicans blaming 'video games, Hollywood, ...'.

The reality, of course, is that the left blocked NOTHING, and the far left, along with 80-90% of the rest of America would have been happy to see even moderate reform on issues such as straw purchases, universal background checks, and maybe, MAYBE bullet limits on clips, drums, etc.

To give him his due, the guest did say it was more a failure of the middle, but he did nothing to push back on the false equivalency and added a little himself.

74 school shootings since Newtown. Anything done? No. Thanks exclusively to the NRA and their wholly owned Congresspeople.