Arriving home from a month in India and Nepal was great. Hugging my wife at the airport and then driving up to the northern beaches of Sydney always reminds me of how fortunate I am. How, in the scheme of things, I live in a kind of ‘heaven realm’ with clean air, food and water. There is a lack of noise and visual pollution and a feeling of general safety that follows-on from the incredibly fortunate life I was born into.

Amoebic dysentery seems to have a way levelling the playing field of life. Sitting in our bathroom, five or six times a day and expressing this stuff that is partly of my body. Stuff, that if I didn’t know intimately where it came from I would swear originated from some rather dubious industrial process. Makes me realise that the procedure is no different for the untouchable caste Indian rickshaw driver, the high Brahman priest or this white man sitting on his pristine porcelain and looking out over blue skies and the waves of the Pacific Ocean.

Life is life. By that I mean people are ostensibly the same. I didn’t meet more angry, or unhappy people in India and Nepal, than I meet here on a daily basis. Yes, many have a lot less than I have. But I have not seen an increase in despondent people. I have not seen more unhappiness than what I generally see here. What I have seen are people getting on with their lives the best way they can. What I have seen are mothers suckling kids and fathers going to work each morning. What I have seen are people whose fears, hopes and dreams are not that much different from mine.

Okay! I know this is all a tad simplistic. But sitting on the loo doing what comes naturally, even if it is recovering from amoebic dysentery, has kind of helped me fill my heart with the realisation that we are much the same — and that, as the saying goes ‘those things that unite us tend to be far greater than those that divide us’.

There’s no doubt about it — this world gets crazier by the day!

It seems to me that if we create genetically identical animals, it’s going to have repercussions we don’t yet know about (because they haven’t been around long enough) — isn’t it genetic diversity that provides the resilience and strength of a species against illness and adverse conditions?

This is just one more reason to read the label and make sure were your food is coming from — you won’t get me eating these frankenfoods intentionally.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there’s nothing more dangerous than a scientist! Well, one thing maybe: a corporation that gets the scent of a profit making possibility.

Three years after the Food and Drug Administration first hinted that it might permit the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals, prompting public reactions that ranged from curiosity to disgust, the agency is poised to endorse marketing of the mass-produced animals for public consumption.

The decision, expected by the end of this year, is based largely on new data indicating that milk and meat from cloned livestock and their offspring pose no unique risks to consumers. | Link

For a while now, I’ve been reading how calorie restriction may extend life so I thought it was time to stick something about it on my blog.

This is another study that seems to suggest that when people substantially cut their calorie intake they may also enjoy the 30% increase in longevity discovered a while back when these tests were performed on rats and lower life forms.

In a nutshell: cutting calories may work to extend life by reducing body temperature and levels of insulin, as well as by decreasing DNA damage.

These traits are also associated with maintaining a low-carb or a carbohydrate controlled diet.

Maybe I’m just an old cynic but I don’t seem to find that many people who inspire me these days. Nevertheless, when I read this article about Steve Vaught and his walk across America, I was inspired.

Like a real-life Forrest Gump, Vaught’s journey from coast to coast is touching the lives of millions. Last month his website had more than 700,000 hits. Fans travel thousands of miles to walk with him for a little way.

The article reminded me of a book I read a few months back about a cyclist who does a similar thing and I started to wonder if Steve Vaught had read The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty.

In the book, Smithy Ide — an overweight, friendless, chain-smoking, 43 year-old drunk is motivated to cycle across America by the loss of his entire family. One day he just rolls down the driveway of his parents’ house on his old Raleigh bicycle and begins his epic journey.

I’m not a book reviewer, I’ll leave that to the wife, but I did find ‘The Memory of Running’ a very enjoyable and somewhat touching read and just like Vaught’s journey it had a real inspirational quality to it.

No need to scare yourself silly about Global Warming — well not yet anyway. Take a look across the pond at Indonesia they have just confirmed a 27-year-old woman who died on Monday in Jakarta had bird flu — that’s 20 people who have died of bird flu in Indonesia since July.

Meanwhile the French are also getting worried. One little old Turkey with the flu has caused their poultry industry to drop by more than thirty percent. French scientist and politicians (who we all love and trust) are saying that it’s okay to eat well-cooked eggs and chicken meat.

I suppose if you like your Sunday eggs fried (or poached) with hard shrivelled up yokes and without any hollandaise sauce, well then, that’s okay. Personally, I’m off to cook some good old Aussie lamb chops for breakfast. Honey, where’s the barbecue sauce?

Here’s a little something for all you hygiene nuts.

For the gross news of the day – a twelve year old schoolgirl, Jasmine Roberts, took part in a science fair at the New Tampa school and took the top prize for her project that compared the level of bacteria found in ice used in drinks served at a fast food restaurant with the level of bacteria in the toilets at the restaurant.

Her discovery: Seventy percent of the time, the ice had more bacteria than the toilet water.

Weight of the Evidence | Link

The cow that was found last week to have mad cow disease spent its whole life in Texas, making it the first domestic case of the disease, the United States Department of Agriculture said yesterday.

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas issued a statement urging citizens to remain calm and be reassured that they could trust the state’s beef.

“I, for one, will continue to eat red meat, and intend to do so later tonight with complete confidence,” Mr. Perry said. He later issued a revised statement that dropped the reference to his dinner plans but added that Texas beef was “as safe today as it was yesterday.”

DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. | NYTimes | Link

One question for you Gov. Perry: Exactly how safe was it yesterday?