Category: Livejournal

My 9/11 memory starts with someone knocking on the bedroom door and the words more Americans heard than any other that morning.

“Turn on the TV.” 

Together, Jennifer and I watched it. The clock ticked by.

“You’re going to be late for work,” she told me.

“I’m not going,” I said.

An argument began. A cold, quiet argument. No screaming. Nothing like that. 

Cold and quiet.

After she insisted, I drove. The freeways were empty. I got to work in record time, driving across an empty Los Angeles, feeling a bit like Robert Neville. I thought of him as I drove and listened to the neverending news reports.

When I got to work, a sign on the door informed me the place was closed. I drove home.

She was there when I got there and we didn’t say anything to each other for the rest of the day.

For me, 9/11 is more than just a public memory of public tragedy. It’s also a private memory. It was the first day I knew our marriage was over.

Ladies, this is the new definition of FAT. 

And by that, I mean, this is the new standard. If you look like this (or, Heaven help you, if you look worse), then you are FAT.

Ignore all that bullshit we say about how Hollywood starlets and rockstars look like skeletons. IGNORE IT!

This is the new standard. The new shit. The new FAT.

No, we are not scaring our stars to starvation.

No, we are not mercilessly mocking them in a public forum.

No, we are not judgmental pricks who resent women because we can’t get laid.

No, not us. No, sireebob. We are the completely objective, emotionless media news.

And this is the new FAT.

Get on those exercise bikes, girls. And start peddling.

“The only thing greater than my hatred of war is my admiration of soldiers.”
— Eric Bogle

 introduced me to the band. Their first album is called Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, although I’m a bigger fan of their second album, The Black Parade. A video from each.

Boisterous, dramatic, funny, grim, and geeky. And fucking loud.

Yeah, I’ve discovered My Chemical Romance.

I don’t like rap.

I don’t like the bravado, I don’t like the violence, I don’t like calling women hos and bitches, and I don’t like… well, I just don’t like it.

But damn, I like this.

I like it’s honesty, I like its nakedness. I like it.

Damn.

Tonight, I play GURPS.

It’ll be the first time I really get to play the game for real. I’ve dabbled in Grampa Grumpy’s game, but I’ve never really played it. We’ll see how that goes.

My character is a goblin trader. He’s got eighteen kids. Yeah, I’ve got the kids with me. Also got a gobbo “wife” with severe jealousy issues. His other wives just keep disappearing. Or getting poisoned. Or drowning. Funny how that happens.

Of course, picking this kind of character is intentionally pushing the limits of what a Generic and Universal Game claims it can do. Namely, “handle any kind of character.” We’ll see.

Of course, I also have the goal “have fun.”

They say it’s your birthday but ask us who cares!
Yo ho, it’s your birthday!
We tie up your feet and throw you down the stairs!
Yo ho, it’s your birthday!

A cake with the candles all over the place!
Yo ho, it’s your birthday! 
When you blow them out they blow up in your face!
Yo ho, it’s your birthday! 

But you know we love you, yes God knows we do!
Yo ho, it’s your birthday! 
Cause no-one here quite shows their age like you do!
Yo ho, it’s your birthday!

Alzheimer’s Patients May Suffer ‘Silent’ Seizures

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) — Scientists say mice genetically altered to develop an Alzheimer’s-like illness undergo “silent” brain seizures.

According to researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine, the seizures may explain why some people with advanced Alzheimer’s have “spells” of increased confusion. The seizures observed in the mice would not be recognizable in the same way a convulsion or epileptic seizure can be noticed.

These subtle seizures may be linked to cellular changes caused by high brain levels of the Alzheimer’s-linked amyloid beta protein.

Understanding the process behind the seizures may lead to treatments that can prevent or even reverse the progression of the disease, the researchers said in the September issue of Neuron .

The research team recorded electrical brain waves in the hippocampus, deep in the mice’s brains. The hippocampus is a brain area associated with memory.

“This discovery has helped identify a new and potentially reversible neural mechanism that can explain the episodes of sudden severe confusion found in cases of advanced Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Jeffrey Noebels, director of the Bluebird Circle Developmental Neurogenetics Laboratory at Baylor College of Medicine, said in a prepared statement. “The cellular changes that give rise to this hyperexcitability appear slowly as the disease progresses, and, at a certain point, the brain networks actually become hyperexcitable, despite the loss of synapses and brain cells in this brain region. Further study may point to early treatment that might prevent these electrical brain spells, as well as slow down the progression of this debilitating disease.”

Prior to this research, spells of increased confusion were thought to be a result of degenerating nerve cells. According to the researchers, the study indicated that they may result from excess amyloid beta and could signal future cognitive failure. Amyloid beta is a toxic protein fragment found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease and similar disorders.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. More than 5 million Americans are living with the disease, which is characterized by a progressive loss of memory and cognitive function. There is no known cure for the disease.