Monday, December 31, 2012

Jim West passed away this afternoon at Rose Medical Center in Denver.

Dear friends,

It is with great sadness that I share the following news with you on behalf of the West family. After battling ALS for more than six years, Jim West passed away this afternoon at Rose Medical Center in Denver. 743-original

Even amidst our great sorrow, we praise God that for Believers death is never the end.  Thankfully, Jim is now celebrating unconstrained in the presence of Jesus.
We will honor Jim’s life with a Visitation and Memorial Service -- both taking place at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church (8545 East Dry Creek Rd., Centennial, CO 80112). 

The Visitation will be Thursday, Jan. 3, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Please visit with the family over coffee and refreshments, and/or pay your respects to Jim's memory in the church chapel. (Please note: It was Jim's request to be cremated. His remains will be in the chapel.)

The Memorial Service will be Friday, Jan. 4, at 11 a.m. A lunch reception will follow, and everyone is welcome.

In lieu of flowers or a gift, Jim requested that you please donate in his memory to the ALS Therapy Development Institute. You can mail a donation or donate online:

ALS-TDI
300 Technology Square, Suite 400 Cambridge, MA, 02139
Online: als.net

Every dollar you donate to the ALS Therapy Development Institute advances their ability to develop cutting edge therapies to halt ALS. As we mourn the loss of a beloved friend, brother, son, father and husband, let us also remember his bravery and dedication to finding a cure for ALS.  All who knew Jim are blessed by witnessing his courage and strength.

Lecia and her family appreciate everyone’s prayers and support through this entire journey. If you have questions, please contact me at elizabethbillups@gmail.com or by calling 303-667-8831. May God hold each of you in the palm of His ever-loving hand.

In His peace,
Elizabeth Billups

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Typing, Communications and Text to Speech Systems Run-Down: An ALS Perspective

A follow-up to my Post; Foot switches, Track balls and bears, oh my!

Time For me to start looking for alternative methods of communicating. I’m comparing systems like Dynavox, TypeRight (http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/), prediction typers like Windows OSK, SoftType 4.1 and KeyStrokes for Mac. Tracking devices like Head Mouse Extreme by Origin Instruments and free tools like http://www.cameramouse.org/.

Many more products & reviews will be added so be sure to subscribe and check back soon. At my current 6-10 w.p.m., this may take a lot of time and research. My goal is 30-35 w.p.m. I was 55-60 by hand and could achieve roughly 80-100 with Dragon Naturally Speaking voice software.

win7 Text Right screenshots

stay tuned…………………..

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Origins and Meanings of the name “Roger”

Roger is a rare name for a boy.414px-Assyrian_spearman_·_HHWI469.svg

The last time Roger was in the top 1000 most popular names was in 2010, where it ranked 511. The highest popularity rank Roger has ever been was in 1945 when Roger reached a rank of 22.

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So far, I’m liking all these following definitions…

Roger

Male name. German origin. Meaning: Famous Spearman.
Roger is a boy. An amazing boy. His smile could give you the warm fuzzies!! He's a hard worker and loves chocolate. He's impulsive at times, but when he takes time to think things through he can make magic happen. You could get lost in this boy's eyes. He's a bit of a nerd, and slightly dorky at times. Often Rogers are happy go lucky, but can get depressed every now and then. A Roger would do anything for you, but you should never take advantage of them. They require love and affection. Rogers tend to lock their feelings up, but when you open them up a bit they can show you a ridiculous love like no other. They'll tease you, but protect you too. A Roger would never want to hurt you and will always make you feel loved. He has a puppy-like charm. The kind of boy you'd want to fall in love with.

Roger, I am without a doubt in love with you. <3 , Jules

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Roger

A Roger is loyal and loving.
A Roger is kind, warm-hearted and supportive.thumbsupd
A Roger is a gentleman.
A Roger will never cheat on you.
A Roger is slightly old-school.
A Roger loves cuddling and sweet, tender kisses!
A Roger is the best person you could meet.
Usually Rogers are Europeans.
A Roger is generally quirky, cool, eccentric, quiet and introspective.
Rogers have beautiful and calm souls.

"Ah, thank you so much sir! You're such a Roger."
"I wish all men could be Rogers"

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roger

An acknowledgment of something. Commonly said when using radios.  Roger, Roger…Over, Under… Roger, Under Done

Skyhawk 2:Mobius 1, this is Skyhawk 2, change heading to 180.
Mobius 1: Roger that.

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Roger

Romeo Offering Gratification
and Erotic Recreation
... roger

hey girl i didnt answer cuz i was with this Roger last night ... uuuuu he was fine ..

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roger

To roger is an English slang term commonly used to mean have sexual intercourse. However, it is used only for men towards Women, and not the other way round. It is also commonly used to describe the taking of a woman from behind. 

I am going to roger her.
I rogered her something stupid.   icontexto-emoticons-10-icon

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Roger

when one person is being so funky or busting a groove so much, that they are reminiscent of the late Roger Troutman of the infamous funk group, ZAPP.

Did you see that guy groovin to that beat?..He was definately Roger.

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Roger

A codeword for black people when you want to be very sly.

Haha roger is gangsta'

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Why you should own your kid’s domain name?

Do you own your child’s domain name? If you do, that’s great. If not, you may want to consider some of the benefits.

In a world where your online identity is becoming as important as your physical one (maybe even more so), registering your child’s domain name is a very good idea. The trend of registering your child’s firstnamelastname.com is continuing to grow with tech-savvy parents; Its not uncommon for parents in Silicon Valley to pick names for their children only if the corresponding domain is availble. Sure, little Jimmy can barely pronounce “Internet” let alone use it, but we’ve compiled a list of reasons why buying your kid a domain may be worthwhile.

2011-06-03 21.48.18There’s a reason that Angelina Jolie bought all of her kids’ names when they were born. You may not think your child will become famous enough to warrant their own website, but whether or not your child is the next Justin Bieber, everyone can utilize their own domain name. Whether your child uses the domain to display a professional portfolio, resume or even a blog, the value will be much more than the $5-12/yr. it costs to keep it in your hands.

Once you register your kid’s domain it doesn’t have to stay stagnant. Use it as a fun way to remember childhood events by posting pictures, videos and stories for family all over the world to see. So your kid’s not born yet, you say? Even if the latest member of the family has yet to arrive, you can still use the site for birth announcements or baby shower details. With Hover subdomains and forwards, it’s easy to make firstnamelastname.com/shower or /pictures or announcements.firstnamelastname.com send visitors to whatever online resources you choose.

Why not add an email address? Email your kid messages and pictures so that they have something to look back on when they get older.

Protect their (future) identity

With the domain industry expanding at a phenomenal rate (tens of thousands of domains being registered every day), it’s important to secure your child’s online identity now before somebody else grabs it… and does whatever they want with it. It may even be worthwhile to also purchase your ccTLD (.ca, .us, .fr, .asia, etc.) alongside the .com domain. Registering nicknames is also an option. A website will allow your child to build a personal and/or professional identity.

Whether you’ve got kids or are expecting, snatching up some web real estate is a valuable investment that will pay off in the long-run. The low cost of a domain means that you can secure your child’s online future affordably.

Come to my website and let me help.

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Warp drive looks more promising than ever in recent NASA studies

http://www.gizmag.com/warp-drive-bubble-nasa-interstellar/24392/

Originally By Brian Dodson

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"Interstellar travel may still be in its infancy, but adulthood is fast approaching, and our descendants will someday see childhood's end." The Starflight Handbook

The first steps towards interstellar travel have been taken, but the stars are very far away. Voyager 1 is about 17 light-hours distant from Earth and is traveling with a velocity of 0.006 percent of light speed, meaning it will take about 17,000 years to travel one light-year. Fortunately, the elusive "warp drive" now appears to be evolving past difficulties with new theoretical advances and a NASA test rig under development to measure artificially generated warping of space-time.

The warp drive broke away from being a wholly fictional concept in 1994, when physicist Miguel Alcubierre suggested that faster-than-light (FTL) travel was possible if you remained still on a flat piece of spacetime inside a warp bubble that was made to move at superluminal velocity. Rather like a magic carpet. The main idea here is that, although no material objects can travel faster than light, there is no known upper speed to the ability of spacetime itself to expand and contract. The only real hint we have is that the minimum velocity of spacetime expansion during the period of cosmological inflation was about 30 million billion times the speed of light.

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An Alcubierre warp drive bubble, showing spatial compression ahead of the bubble, and spatial expansion behind (Image: NASA)

The warp effect uses gravitational effects to compress the spacetime in front of a spacecraft, then expand the spacetime behind it. The bit of spacetime within the warp bubble is flat, so that the spacecraft would float at zero-g along the wave of compressed and expanded spacetime. The net effect is rather like surfing, where you are nearly stationary with respect to the wave, but are traveling with the speed of the wave. Whereas many of the theoretical studies consider a warp bubble moving at ten times the speed of light, there is no known limit to the potential speed.

Such a warp bubble could in principle be used to enable subluminal travel (travel slower than light) as well as superluminal travel (travel faster than light). This may seem a silly choice – why travel slow rather than fast? However, it is likely to turn out far easier to achieve a subluminal warp drive for a number of fundamental reasons. Besides, space travel at 90 percent of the speed of light is far superior to anything we currently have on the books.

This sounds too easy, and in many ways, it is. Thus far, all superluminal warp drives require negative energy and pressure to form and maintain the warp bubble. Matter consistent with such properties does not exist in classical physics. While in quantum mechanics there are certain possibilities for negative energy phenomena, they generally do not seem well suited to generate the required warp bubble.

An additional problem is that a great deal of negative energy is required to initiate a warp bubble. For Alcubierre's original model, it would take more negative energy than the total mass of the Universe to equip a small spacecraft to travel at ten times light speed. Fortunately, refinements to the model have resulted in the energy requirements reducing to the mass equivalent of a few hundred kilograms of matter with negative energy. Mind you, we don't know how to get that quantity either, but it feels a more likely prospect.

Matter with negative energy and negative pressure is usually called exotic matter, and we don't know of any. However, another possibility is to use dark energy to expand spacetime – after all, that is how we know dark energy exists, through observing the accelerated expansion of the Universe. Although nearly three-quarters of the mass-energy of the Universe is dark energy, it is spread thinly, at the equivalent of about ten hydrogen atoms for every liter of space. Given this, harnessing dark energy for warp drives might seem an overwhelming task.

That doesn't mean it's impossible however. To put this into perspective, consider magnetism. The interstellar magnetic field is about a nanoTesla, or about one-fifty thousandth of the Earth's field. If this is all we knew of, harnessing magnetism for any practical purpose would seem unlikely. However, a tiny rare earth magnet exhibits magnetic fields 100 million times stronger than the interstellar field. It isn't wise to recklessly eliminate possibilities.

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Schematic illustration of the warp bubble symmetry problem (Image: NASA)

All warp bubbles have unknown difficulties concerning turning them on and off. It isn't that models for this process can't be composed – rather the models are too complex to analyze. In addition, to date warp bubbles are symmetrical, so how do they decide which direction to move? A recasting of the relativistic theory of warp bubbles suggests a solution to this dilemma, but the theoretical analysis appears to be faulty. It isn't clear if the faults can be patched without losing the result.

Other problems with superluminal warp bubble drive include the apparent need to generate the front edge of the warp field, which is moving faster than light. In some cases it becomes impossible to control a superluminal warp drive from the spacecraft within the bubble, which would be embarrassing to all concerned as the ship continued to travel forever, or at least until it hit something. Speaking of hitting something, we presently have no idea what happens if a warp bubble hits an external object.

Many models of superluminal warp bubbles also have visible event horizons which are likely to generate high levels of Hawking radiation. Some researchers believe the spacecraft would be incinerated by this radiation, some believe it would not present a problem. The jury is still out, but it seems likely that such problems can be avoided.

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NASA's White-Juday Warp Field Interferometer can detect the warping of space in the 1 cm experimental volume of a part in ten million (Image: NASA)

Before creating a warp bubble, it would be nice to know something about how various sorts of physical inputs can actually warp space. This is the intent of NASA's new White-Juday Warp Field Interferometer (WFI). The WFI is a conventional interferometer, capable of measuring changes in the various path lengths of as little as a nanometer. In this case, however, the path lengths are not changed by moving the mirrors, but by warping spacetime in the small experimental volume. Length changes as small as one part in ten million will be detectable.

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A positive signature of space warping in the WFI (Image: NASA)

The apparatus will first be tested to see if warping due to the electric field of an extremely high voltage ring electrode can be detected. If so, an optical signal similar to that seen on the left side of the figure above will result. Once the signal is analyzed, a plot of the amount of warping as a function of position within the charged ring will be generated.

The takeaway message is that, while practical warp drive is a long way off, serious efforts to learn more about the possibility are, on a small scale, being undertaken now. In 2022, a version of this article will probably be relatively certain whether an Alcubierre-style warp drive is a reasonable possibility or not.

Source: NASA Eagleworks

Plant the Seed…and It Will Grow!

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Sunday, October 07, 2012

Earth Has Less Water Than You Think

http://www.universetoday.com/95054/earth-has-less-water-than-you-think/#more-95054

If you were to take all of the water on Earth — all of the fresh water, sea water, ground water, water vapor and water inside our bodies — take all of it and somehow collect it into a single, giant sphere of liquid, how big do you think it would be?

According to the U. S. Geological Survey, it would make a ball 860 miles (1,385 km) in diameter, about as wide edge-to-edge as the distance between Salt Lake City to Topeka, clip_image001Kansas. That’s it. Take all the water on Earth and you’d have a blue sphere less than a third the size of the Moon.

Feeling a little thirsty?

And this takes into consideration all the Earth’s water… even the stuff humans can’t drink or directly access, like salt water, water vapor in the atmosphere and the water locked up in the ice caps. In fact, if you were to take into consideration only the fresh water on Earth (which is 2.5% of the total) you’d get a much smaller sphere… less than 100 miles (160 km) across.

Even though we think of reservoirs, lakes and rivers when we picture Earth’s fresh water supply, in reality most of it is beneath the surface — up to 2 million cubic miles (8.4 million cubic km) of Earth’s available fresh water is underground. But the vast majority of it — over 7 million cubic miles (29.2 cubic km) is in the ice sheets that cover Antarctica and Greenland.

Of course, the illustration above (made by Jack Cook at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) belies the real size and mass of such a sphere of pure liquid water. The total amount of water contained within would still be quite impressive — over 332.5 million cubic miles (1,386 cubic km)! (A single cubic mile of water equals 1.1 trillion gallons.) Still, people tend to be surprised at the size of such a hypothetical sphere compared with our planet as a whole, especially when they’ve become used to the description of Earth as a “watery world”.

Makes one a little less apt to take it for granted.

Read more on the USGS site here, and check out some facts on reducing your water usage here.

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.

– from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Never Thought I’d be Writing This

Well, I never figured it, but 7 years has passed.

Sept. 22

Our family 7yrhas been affected greatly by ALS, but less than I would have estimated 4, 5, 6 or especially 7 years ago. Still so much to come, it’s overwhelming every day. Thank you to every friend, neighbor, volunteer and family member that has helped and continues to help our family every day, week & month.

It is amazing how fast time has gone.

als_genetics-annotated-copyimage002

My progress from PLM…

http://blog.patientslikeme.com/tag/rilutek/

Capture PLM sheronemus

I’ve never taken Rilutek… but here’s how others have done on it.

Friday, September 21, 2012

New Phase 2b Trial of Tirasemtiv (CK-2017357) in ALS

Article Highlights:

  • A new phase 2b clinical trial of tirasemtiv (formerly CK-2017357) in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is set to launch in late 2012.

  • The new phase trial is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy (how well the therapy works) of tirasemtiv in people with ALS.

  • Investigators will measure trial participants’ images musclepulmonary, respiratory and skeletal muscle function.

  • Tirasemtiv is thought to increase the sensitivity of muscle fibers to calcium, resulting in a potential increase in muscle force generation.

See more info here

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Desperate Patients are Prime Targets for Scams !

A continuation of my last post…
Fraudulent, False Hope 4 ALS, MS, PARKINSONS & MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY Runs Rampant on the Internet   As I said, it’s gone too far and I’m not the first to notice, nor do I think it’s ok to remain quiet. Blogs and sites are popping up everywhere to warn patients and families out there. Being on disability income is hard enough..
Well, now it’s coming word-of-mouth right to us. I normally wouldn’t bring this up, but it’s coming to us! Getting truth out there about so many miraculous supplements… A billion $ + market that I once invested hundreds a month in. Not just the supplements’ science, but exact science of the disease related to the supplement touted by so many irrelevant stories. (trying to link the two to the unwary)
Recently, a new friend mentioned ALS to a new random acquaintance at a local Curves gym and wham! There it is… you need to try this! “Here, let me give you some info about this supplement and about this “New Opportunity”. On four independent occasions now, reps and unknown new contacts have approached or sought us out and claim their botanical supplement will help (or could even affect) the progression of ALS, help with Diabetes, even with anti-aging.
It may help with oxidative stress reduction (as they claim) and I can guarantee that there are plenty of studies on their website that prove it. I don’t dispute this! That’s not the issue! The issues arise by using valid study findings, then saying our product helps with that, loosely associating the two, then “insinuating” through legal personal testimonials (not corp.) that it has cured almost everything.
In completely unassociated diseases, what must be the logical outcome and result from taking it is not science (it’s placebo)... Testimonials written by people with financial $take in selling anything are virtually worthless and almost always biased. (fine print… “we make no claims….. yada, yada…)
I’m focusing on ALS here, but we personally know people with fibromyalgia, MD, autism and diabetes who have all been encouraged to try so many various miracles by Amway, MMS, Herbalife, Life Vantage and Mannatech, and more.
I wanted to express my thoughts on these apparently amazing blends that must baffle the entire scientific community with their miraculous healing potentials. One example being associated with ALS is Protandim by Life Vantage.
read the comments! A fight between skeptics and reps…
Along with their reps, LV doesn’t “officially claim” that their product “does” actually anything at all other than oxidative stress reduction (which 100’s of things do). They’re not allowed to under FDA regs for supplements. The rest is left all to innuendo by reps not their corporations.
time codes below refer here…
The point is; even having people “insinuate” that it “could” help is propagating absolute false claims and playing on people’s emotions. It makes me so angry. (personal opinion is not science fact). Even if they use the personal experience (MLM Feel, Felt, Found) “your mileage may vary” approach as a legal cop-out, it’s still wrong. A review by Science-Based Medicine of eight peer-reviewed studies found insufficient evidence to support its usefulness. Dr. Harriet Hall states, "We simply don’t know enough at this point to recommend Protandim for treatment or prevention of any disease, for anti-aging, for making people feel healthier or more energetic, or for anything else." (ALS-TDI) See more of Dr. Harriet Hall HERE minutes 19:30 – 20:10 & @ 23:20
Don’t you think every lab, institute or neurology researcher in the world would test, reverse engineer and sell this in a minute if it really worked? (ALS-TDI, a leading institute, has a reputable forum post Here!)  “Ohhh, but it has 3 patents and a special blend you can’t copy”, you say. Hmmm, and I can’t find cheap illegal Chinese purse knock-offs anywhere on the internet either. “Ohhh, But what if I didn’t take it?”  That’s a sales tactic that’s been called FUDFear, uncertainty and doubt since the 1920’s
I have done my homework, being in the game, so to speak. I’ve even looked into the cost of a stem cell treatment @ $125,000 with the means to pay it. That, was later found to be fraudulent in a federal investigation after a 60 Minutes special. The two men now in prison for selling stem cell procedures to two ALS patients now deceased.
Anyway, the 5 everyday, OTC botanicals in Protandim may cure anything and may even have magical properties. But as with Eric Edney and his new book, detox and diet regimens, there is always a an extremely slow progression (of any disease) for 15-20 years which may be genetic. But if something is being done or taken, then Shazam… it has to be it! @ 15:55, (disclaimer> your results may vary… now you can’t sue me)
If it’s something people believe in, then credibility goes WAY up when there’s not a financial conflict of interest. I believed that 3000mg of CoQ-10 daily could slow ALS, but trials have disproved this and even at levels of 5000mg+. I still take 300mg daily, but I don’t own stock in a coq10 factory and I don’t persuade people to buy it. Again, watch this minutes 10:02, 24:40
Deceptive to say the least.  The fact that these various supplements are now being touted by companies like Amway, MMS, Herbalife, Life Vantage and Mannatech, and many more “homeopathy” & “flower remedy” companies @38:18, for huge mark-ups to support their network marketing infrastructure makes this so much worse.  Making money on people through false hope screams unethical and just plain wrong. Reps are duplicated to “insinuate” the same “non-committal” claims to their down line through calls and rallies...

Direct sales companies are great, ones that “lead” the customer to believe their products can slow progression of major diseases without specific disease related science is not ok. The business model is fine, it works for a variety of products, but profit can ruin the original intent.
Discovery: People will modify original core values for ones that better suit sales and advancement.
Watch this: Link to 60 Minutes stem cell fraud story: HERE
Link to email fraud & sales pitch example: here and here
Link to other claims: ClinicalTrials.gov
 

FTC rules could hurt MLM supplement companies





Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Fraudulent, False Hope 4 ALS, MS, PARKINSONS & MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY Runs Rampant on the Internet

Wow, everyone is out to make a buck these days, regardless of the consequences. It can be anything from Lyme disease treatments, sure-fire systems & regimens, Stem cell transplant scams or the latest miracle elixirs from the MLM (aka network marketing) company of the month. How about the “Financial Placebo Effect”. It’s gone too far and I’m not the first to notice. Blogs and sites are popping up everywhere to warn patients and families out there. Scams are abundant! Just search “supplement scams” or “stem cell cures for ALS

Having a public profile and being a vocal online ALS advocate means that I am a target for some incredibly sincere “sounding” emails and guinea pig requests and even the occasional psycho that bothers to track down a phone number. It takes some balls to phone in your scam to an ALS patient. Here’s just the tip of the iceberg…

========= Fraudulent False Hope Email Example =========

Dear [your name here],

I hope you are doing well in the midst of your ALS ordeal.  Please feel free to email or call me after you read this account of my experience and that of Eric Edney and others.  If my memory is correct, Eric was in a wheel chair and had lost the use of most of his left arm when he begin his program of recovery.  I was fortunate to begin my program mush earlier.
MY ALS RECOVERY AND THAT OF ERIC EDNEY
www.ericiswinning.com/
I have had all the symptoms of ALS except the muscle wasting  I would like to share what I learned and the peer reviewed science I have found with you and all other PALS.  
According to my neurologist, I had all the symptoms of ALS IN 2OO3 except muscle wasting.Since then I have successfully lessened my problems.
By detoxing mercury in many ways including taking OSR which the FDA took off the market because "it was too effective" ??, high doses of selenium as "sodium selenite" and in yeast bound form (absolutely not, I repeat not "selenomethionine"), taking sweat baths, and supplementing with manganese, various forms of sulfur and antioxidants, most of my symptoms are greatly diminished. Manganese helped me control cramps and fasiculations.  I am actually healthier and my muscle cramps and fasiculations have almost completely disappeared.  If I stop talking manganese I have choking problems and leg cramps.
I also begin to supplement with large dose of glutamine powder about 2005, which I believe helps prevent muscle wasting BUT YOU HAVE TO DETOXIFY FIRST BEFORE TAKING GLUTAMINE.  IT CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS SUCH AS MUSCLE WASTING IF YOU HAVE NOT DETOXED SUFFICENTLY.
I also discovered that MAGNESIUM STEARATE was contributing to my very severe leg cramps.  When I eliminated all magnesium  stearates from my supplements my cramps ceased.  
My mercury came from my mercury/silver fillings (I have none) and flu shots (I never have them!) and some sea food (Rarely).
Mercury is probably the major factor in causing most neurological disorders such as ALS, Alzheimer's. MS and Parkinson's Disease. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) tell us:

"The nervous system is very sensitive to all forms of mercury."
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts46.html#bookmark05

Metallic mercury vapors come off mercury/silver fillings for the life of the fillings. This is explained in detail in Petition to Reconsider filed with FDA. See www.iaomt.org/articles/files/files314/petition%20for%20reconsideration%20090309.pdf   at page 24.for the science for the connection between mercury and neurological disorders. For ALS read pages 34-36 for the science to support the connection between mercury and this devastating neurological disorder.  The above website summarizes the ten peer reviewed science/medical papers connecting mercury exposure to ALS.  Lead is probably also a factor as it is highly synergistically toxic with mercury.
Mercury/silver fillings are by far the largest source of mercury, much more so then fish. Unfortunately most MDs are unaware of this or that mercury might be a factor in causing ALS. The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT.org) is pushing this issue with the FDA by demanding a ban of mercury/silver fillings.
If considering having your fillings removed, be sure your dentist insures minimal exposure to the mercury vapor created by drilling to to remove. Most dentist do not realize the dangers to the patient & dental staff at the time of removal.  Many PALS have not benefited from this procedure because they were not probably protected from the large amounts of mercury vapor and particulate matter generated.    See
http://www.iaomt.org/articles/category_view.asp
Here is a trailer to an unfinished documentary trailer on people who have slowed and even stopped the progression of their ALS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjMLsa6I5tI&context=C34bbd2cADOEgsToPDskKqsOXOIar17QVmiyd5RBUV

Go to www.ericiswinning.com for more information on ALS,  Eric Edney has a compelling story of overcoming ALS. Eric says:

"If you have any neuro-degenerative illness, you could benefit from our book. Actually, there are over forty neuro-degenerative illnesses for which they do not have a CURE. That includes Multiple Sclerosis - Parkinson's - Alzheimer's - Fibromyalgia, and more. This is only my opinion, but I am convinced that almost all of these neuro illnesses are caused by the same thing; toxins such as pesticides, and heavy metals including mercury, lead, and arsenic." [1 person’s opinion]

I can explain what I did and am doing in much more detail.  I genuinely believe the progress of most ALS can be dramatically slowed or stopped if the symptoms have not progressed too far.  
I can be called at a/c 859   H-266-0364  C-619-7001  O-226-0700 or emailed
robertereeves1@gmail.com.  Please at least let me know you received this even if you want no more information.  
Best wishes to you for health, Bob Reeves

__________________

Watch out! Express your views to people who spread false hope for profit. Let them know how you feel. Notify authorities if what they’re doing is illegal !

Monday, September 10, 2012

Falling and ALS; A How “not” to guide…

PALS (people w/ ALS)… FALLING? You’re not the only one. 
Well, it’s official, I’ve mastered the art of falling… after a few (4-5) previous tumbles and a few stitches…  This one took the “cake”.
I’m still recovering 4 days later, but westminster_lghave dizziness and concussion ambulanceaffects as well as headaches. I am always in my chair when out and about. but this happened in transition.  It won’t happen again.
I was unconscious for about a minute while 911 was called to the Target parking lot.  Julie held my head and people in the parking lot came to our aide.  So happy she didn’t faint at the site of my heavily bleeding head.  She tends to do that and was an incredible trooper through this.
2012-09-06_17-24-10_555She is the most amazing women on the planet. ouchI don’t remember anything until the Emergency Room and I was told that I kept repeating the same questions over and over (which the paramedics told Julie was totally normal).  “what happened?, what happened?”

2012-09-06_14-07-01_618So, I was put in a neck brace and 2 CAT-scans later they determined that there was no brain swelling or torn arteries in my neck.  I wear a simple foam neck brace now until my muscles feel better.  The 6 stitches come out in 7 days. 
2012-07-21 11.29.43All that excitement of an ambulance ride and paramedics attention and I don’t remember any of it.photo











Now I’m on the way to recovery!
2012-07-11 14.39.25
Clarification:
I still walk and fell backwards while standing there… I wasn’t in the chair! Just waiting while it was being unloaded … She ran to help me and left the chair which ended up falling off the other way. Two independent, yet related incidents. Chair is fine too.

Friday, August 24, 2012

ALS Update on Steve Gleason, wow!

Steve Gleason, NCAA and NFL Football player diagnosed with ALS, is a role model for living in the face of adversity.


ALS fight and progression …

Steve Smith...


I’m working on another update video. A lot has changed since this one.
My old update

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

JPL's Curiosity mission comes down to this: the Martian surface

I am so excited for this!


Neil Mottinger from NASA, who will be sitting in the room across the hall from the command center when the 7 Minutes of Terror takes place, sent me this article from the Los Angeles Times which does a great job of describing the landing sequence of the Mars Rover Curiosity (and as usual I added a bunch of photos).

We’ll be watching !
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On Aug. 5 (this Sunday evening), as nervous Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers watch, the fate of the rover — capable of pulverizing rocks and ingesting soil — will rest on a landing sequence so far-fetched that some scientists were skeptical it could work. More than half of missions to Mars, dating to a series of fly-by attempts by the Soviet Union in the 1960s, have failed, and JPL remains the only institution to deposit a successful robot on the Red Planet.
By Scott Gold
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The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's David Oh, left, and Ray Baker, right, discuss the Curiosity rover's mission to Mars.
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After a journey of nearly nine months, the six-wheel laboratory above is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet at 10:31 p.m. PDT on Sunday, Aug. 5.
Three weeks from tonight, an amiable, whip-smart engineer named Ray Baker will be staring into his computer screen at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, hopeful and helpless — or, as he puts it, "sweating blood."
The night will have been 10 years and $2.5 billion in the making, incorporating the work of 5,000 people in 37 states. And then, 154 million miles from home, the fate of the most ambitious machine humans have sent to another planet will rest on a seven-minute landing sequence so far-fetched it looks like something Wile E. Coyote devised to catch the Road Runner.
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After a journey of nearly nine months, the six-wheel laboratory NASA has dubbed Curiosity is scheduled to touch down on Mars at 10:31 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5.
Curiosity's science could captivate the public like no other space mission in recent memory. The robot is equipped with a nuclear-powered lab capable of vaporizing rocks and ingesting soil, furthering the search for signs of life, revolutionizing the study of Mars and potentially paving the way for human exploration.
Initially, though, the allure of the mission will come in its daredevil landing on the floor of a crater. In the time it takes to drive to the grocery store, the spacecraft will change shape like a toy Transformer six times, slowing from 13,000 mph to 1.7 mph while using 76 pyrotechnic devices, ropes, knives and the largest supersonic parachute ever built.
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"When you work through the engineering, it actually makes a lot of sense," said Baker, who has been an engineer since 2001 at La CaƱada Flintridge's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managing the mission for NASA. "But it looks crazy."
What's more, the entire sequence must run on its own, because Mars is so far away that scientists can't fly the craft remotely; they will have sent their last command to the spacecraft two hours earlier.
Curiosity will send an alert when it enters the Martian atmosphere, but it will take the message roughly 14 minutes to reach Earth. So, by the time the message is received, the craft will have already been on the surface for seven minutes, either intact or wrecked. NASA has labeled this period "seven minutes of terror."
Mars is a notoriously difficult place to land a machine. "It's known for eating spacecraft," said Devin Kipp, another of the 30-odd JPL engineers responsible for Curiosity's landing sequence.
Beyond the travel involved, Mars' atmosphere is 100 times thinner than Earth's — just enough to cause problems but not enough to slow down a spacecraft to a manageable speed without powerful assistance. More than half of missions to Mars, dating to a series of fly-by attempts by the Soviet Union in the 1960s, have failed, and JPL remains the only institution to deposit a successful robot on the Red Planet.
The elaborate landing sequence for Curiosity grew out of necessity. As it was being designed, scientists began ratcheting up their ambitions. That meant new gadgets, which begot more gadgets needed to power and protect them. "The rover started to grow," Baker said. Before long, the plan called for a 2,000-pound rover the size of a small car — five times heavier than NASA's previous Mars rovers.
Landing sequences used in the past wouldn't work. The contraption that in 2004 allowed the Spirit and Opportunity rovers to bounce in an air bag to resting positions became too heavy to launch when scaled up for Curiosity. Engineers initially wanted to land Curiosity on a platform, then pilot it down a ramp. But the platform design grew to unmanageable proportions.
So the engineers came up with something new — a sequence so odd that even some of the scientists tasked with building the thing were highly skeptical.
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Curiosity, folded inside a heat shield, will hit the Martian atmosphere at 13,000 mph, firing thrusters to stabilize its course and steer it toward the crater. Atmospheric friction will heat the shield to 1,600 degrees and begin to slow the craft.
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When it reaches about 1,000 mph, an explosive charge will release a massive parachute that is packed to the density of wood and capable of withstanding 65,000 pounds of force.

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NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission will use the largest parachute ever built to fly on a planetary mission. The parachute uses a configuration called disk-gap-band. It has 80 suspension lines, measures more than 165 feet (50 meters) in length, and opens to a diameter of nearly 51 feet (16 meters). The parachute is designed to survive deployment at Mach 2.2 in the Martian atmosphere, where it will generate up to 65,000 pounds of drag force.
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In this photo above from October 2007, engineers check out an early parachute design for the MSL descent being tested in a wind tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center.
(Credit: NASA/JPL, Pioneer Aerospace)

The craft will then discard its heat shield, which would otherwise act like a lens cap on a camera — Curiosity's radar couldn't "see" the ground to find its target.

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NASA’s Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory Rover inside the entry aeroshell
Technicians are connecting Curiosity's Heat Shield and Back Shell. At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the "back shell powered descent vehicle" configuration, containing NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, is being placed on the spacecraft's heat shield. Launch is set for Nov. 25, 2011 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In less than two minutes, the spacecraft will slow to about 200 mph. It will then jettison the parachute and, for a brief moment, be in free fall.
"Here's where it gets really exciting," Baker said with a laugh.
Eight rocket engines pointed at the ground will erupt, arresting the fall. But the discarded parachute will be falling right behind; Curiosity could stick the landing, only to find itself smothered by the massive chute. So the craft will use the engines to lurch about 350 yards, out of the chute's path.
The spacecraft will then be about a mile above the ground. In the next 35 seconds, the rockets will slow the craft to less than 2 mph.
In theory, the rockets could provide a gentle enough landing to finish the job. But in practice, they would kick up such a dust storm that it could ruin the rover. So at 66 feet, the rover will fall yet again. As the craft descends, Curiosity will be spat out by a "sky crane," lowered by 25-foot ropes as the rover unfurls its wheels.
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A last critical moment will come when Curiosity's wheels touch down, because the spacecraft will suddenly lose half its weight. If it begins to drift, the ropes could drag the rover. So Curiosity has 0.7 of a second to fire pyrotechnic charges that send blades sweeping across the nylon tethers. Once the ropes are cut, the craft above — its job completed — will rocket off, crash-landing a safe 450 meters away.
Then, finally, the rover will be alone, and safe, and prepared to begin the mission.
"I've been trying to imagine it," Baker said. "I'm looking forward to seeing what my reaction will be. We'll be celebrating like mad. We're down safe. The descent stage is over — and it's game time for the science team."
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The engineers are spending their final days tinkering with the system to ensure that they are prepared for any problems, such as unusually high winds.
On a recent morning, a dozen engineers gathered at JPL in the same room they'll be in the night of the landing. They were sending a software patch to the rover as it flew toward Mars, intended to make the craft more impervious to unusual atmospheric conditions.
Inside the room, there was little sound other than the hum of 100 computers and occasional engineer-speak: "Niner Eight Bravo." "Load the binary." The file was a mere 190 kilobytes; a desktop computer would load that amount of information in seconds, but because Curiosity was 140 million miles away, it took 29 minutes. Engineers watched the clock warily. One tapped his wristwatch as if he were waiting for a train.
"Just waiting on the speed of light," Baker said under his breath. "Too slow for us."
Then, the spacecraft responded — success.
There are few days left to tinker. Before long, engineers will send their last commands and hope for the best. "We talk to the spacecraft every day," Baker said. "But pretty soon it's time to just watch it fly."
Engineers are a superstitious sort — they'll be eating their traditional peanuts the night of the landing, some wearing their lucky mission shirts — but they're confident about the landing sequence, most of the time.
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In the beginning, "there were a lot of questions," said Steve Sell, a member of the entry, descent and landing engineering team. A large group, including engineers and astronauts — even pilots who had flown Sikorsky Skycrane heavy-lift helicopters — weighed in with concerns and corrections. By now, after hundreds of tests and fixes, "we're very comfortable," Sell said.
"There's always a little bit of you that thinks there is an 'unknown unknown,' and that's the thing we always fear," he said. "On landing day, we'll all be nervous. But I don't think any of us will be thinking that there was something else we should have done."
Engineers ran many tests on the parachute, for instance, in a massive wind tunnel. They're confident the chute will withstand the force needed to slow the craft down. But it was more difficult, because of atmospheric differences, to make sure the chute will inflate the same way above Mars that it did in the tunnel.
"It's not really possible to do an end-to-end test on Earth — because Earth is not Mars," Kipp said. "The whole program was based on doing it in pieces, and putting those pieces together will prove that the system will work as a whole. But the first time we do that end-to-end test, it's not a test. It's the real thing. On Mars."
When time permits and you want to see some amazing animation showing the voyage, landing, and Curiosity at work without the narration watch this 11:20 minute video. Very well done!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4boyXQuUIw
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