Seven years in Oregon (and SecondLight, air cars)

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

I’ve lived in Oregon for seven years now. So, how true is the myth that all atoms in the human body get turned over, or regenerated, every seven years? Has my body become 100% Oregonian? Well, the seven-year-regeneration idea may actually be true of some cell types, on average, but probably not all. According to the foremost authority on atomic regeneration, ahem, WikiAnswers, “it seems likely that the idea of a turnover of the atoms in the human body every seven years is the result of experiments observing the turnover of radioisotopes in animals.” Following some additional explanation, this WikiAnswers user concludes that “it seems quite plausible to me that the average time for the turnover of the atoms in your body could be around seven years.” Hmm, in true MythBusters style: Plausible?

Air-powered car OK, I have many non-political bits that I’ve been storing up while otherwise preoccupied with the election. Here are a few:

In tech news, here’s a quasi-X-ray Surface table: “Microsoft SecondLight Caught on Video: It’s Like Surface, With Magic.”

In environmentally friendly news, a compressed air-powered car: “Air Cars: A New Wind for America’s Roads?

In organically grown news, Monsanto strikes again: “Oregon’s organic farmers fight genetically modified seeds.” (Also see my post from April 2007: “Conspiratorial ramblings: Fanta, Coke, Big Pharma and Monsanto.”)

In real-life X-Files news, here’s an interesting article, exhumed from a 1995 issue of Discover Magazine: “Analysis of a Toxic Death.”

How To Poop - English Subtitles In sporting history, did you know that college football started 139 years ago this month? If you want to see how weird the rules were back then (e.g., each team had 25 players on the field) and read an account of the first game, check out this article: “FSD History Flashback: November 6, 1869.”

In nonsense YouTube cartoon news, I found these old videos a couple of weeks ago: How To Poop – English Subtitles and Snorlax.

In Flash cartoon news, David Firth released a creepy new video this month: Dog Of Man.

If you can’t get enough of funny political news, let me suggest this political comedy site: 23/6, mainly for the Get Your War On Flash cartoons (since the GYWO webcomic has apparently been retired).

That’s enough for now.

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