Food Inc.

What's going on in America's kitchen?

This is an interesting video. Helped me take another step to reducing my ignorance. Didn't think the gloomy music was entirely necessary but overall a good flick...

Our government has been dominated by the industries that were meant to be regulated. People with expertise in industry some how turn out to be very good regulators.
Centralized power used against farmers, workers, consumers.
Veggie libel laws. Cheeseburger bills. Kevin's law.
It costs more to eat healthy. The carrots need to cost less than the chips.
Eat foods that are in season.
Only eat beef once a week.
Shop at farmer's markets.
Grow a garden.
We have to start demanding good wholesome food.

It was interesting to learn the impact corn has. Cows should not be forced to eat corn.

Contributing Author

Scientific Papers of which I am a contributing Author.

Full-length Characterization of Proteins in Human Populations.
C-peptide microheterogeneity in type 2 diabetes populations.
Population Studies of Vitamin D Binding Protein Microheterogeneity by Mass Spectrometry Lead to Characterization of its Genotype-Dependent O-Glycosylation Patterns.
Population Studies of Intact Vitamin D Binding Protein by Affinity Capture ESI-TOF-MS.

The Greats

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Romantic-era_composers

This is a good wikipedia article that lists many of the well-known composers from the 18th and 20th centuries.

Its nice to hear a tune from Beethoven, Pachelbel, Mozart, Bach, Tchaikovsky and Chopin. Unfortunately, this is almost the extent of my knowledge of good classical music.

Fast Genome Sequencing

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/1005/revolutionaries-science-genomics-gene-machine.html

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/140/the-gene-bubble.html

How much time and money has been spent on figuring out how to sequence the human genome? It was completed in 2001 and surprisingly humans only have ~25,000 genes. That's 3.5 billion bases. Nowadays many scientists are trying to do it faster and cheaper but to what avail? Even after a fast and cheap method of sequencing the human genome is developed we are many years away from knowing how it will cure diseases.

Dr. Weil - Integrative Medicine

This is the way medicine should be. Take a look at mind, body, and spirit - a hollistic approach. Why not first use natural healing sources, plants and our own body, then look to conventional medicine. There are many natural treatments available that may have not gone through rigorous clinical trials but are nonetheless beneficial, he says, "The greater the potential of a treatment to cause harm the stricter the standards of evidence that should be held for efficacy".

http://www.drweil.com/

Whey protein

What exactly is whey protein? Is it that beneficial? Does one manufacturer really differ from another? How much of it can the body utilize/absorb? Is casein bad for you? What amino acids should be in high quantity in the whey protein you buy?

Google search: whey protein composition or amino acid composition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whey_protein

http://www.wheyoflife.org/faq.cfm#1

http://classes.ansci.illinois.edu/ansc438/Milkcompsynth/milkcomp_protein.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/a-cure-for-cancer-eating_b_298282.html

Milk proteins contain whey protein and casein. Whey protein is mainly composed of beta-lactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin, and bovine serum albumin. The amino acid sequence can be found here. http://www.expasy.ch/

Books I've read recently

Shopclass as Soulcraft

There are serious unexpected ramifications for taking shopclass out of the public school system. My dad is a shop teacher at Powell Jr. High so this book caught my attention. It is intellectually stimulating. The author is a motorcycle mechanic with a Ph.d. in political philosophy.

The New Glucose Revolution

Control your health and weight sensibly and scientifically.