and numbers,

then the old classic, "Hacker's Diet" may be for you.

It's strong on monitoring, check-ins, calorie counting/tracking, and metabolism calcs.
-And as such is at least a good starting framework. -Even if you look Only at the "Rubber Bag" page that gives the basic Daily-Calorie-Burn guidelines.

But feel free to ignore (Autodesk founder) John Walker's assertions that all food types are the same, proper Macro+Micro-nutrition is unimportant, and that frequency does not matter, if you like.


Photos:
"TFT screen close-up 2", by Henk L.

Links:
Hacker's Diet Site
Wikipedia
Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools

"365:04112009" of hamster 'Chuy', by uberculture / Jeremy Noble

"Wonder Woman", photo of Lokelani McMichael, by Tonne Goodman & Alexandra Kotur for ?Womens' Health or Vogue?

"Matt Damon as Ilario", by Edward Zwick and Fox2000 Pictures

I had tight muscles around the neck and jaw, was feeling flu-like and absolutely positive the major arteries in my neck had all been circulating pure, uncut, lab-grade hydraulic concrete.

So, thought I: it's probably Lockjaw, Scarlet Fever, Malaria or something else curmudgeonly, but not immediately fatal.

And instead of going straight to the doctor, I should just play Human Guinea-Pig!

Again!

So: I trotted trudged down to my local vitamin store and got a few bottles of the Immune-Boosters mentioned in the headline.

I bought 1 box of GermMD EZ-Swallow Rapid Tabs Ultra-Convenient Immune Health Formula, 1 bottle of 500mg Garlic Caps, a bottle of 2004-VITY-Award-Winning Source Naturals Wellness Formula Herbal Defense Complex , and eventually, begrudgingly, 1 bottle of 250mg AHCC caps.

And here are the anecdotal results of my suffering, all for you; and your edification:

Result: Some mild weirdness reduction, but nothing I'd call significant; at best ~7% improvement.

With that providing less of a change than I'd hoped, I swapped out the GermMD for the Wellness Formula for the next ~day and a half. It Smelled Worse, so I thought it must surely Work Better.

Result: A small improvement again on their Maintenance Dosage of 1-2 tabs per day.

With that added change encouraging me a little, I decided to move up to the full, "I-Think-I've-Got-Ebola"-Dose of 3 Tabs every 3 Hours in addition to the 3 caps/day I'd been taking of Garlic and then backing off the previous Echinacea, since the WF has it in the formula.

Result: Surprisingly enough, over about 3-4 days, I can say I felt Noticeably better; with about a 30%+ Improvement.

It must surely be Yellow Fever,
Ghost-Cat Toxoplasmosis-Gondii,
And Scrapie.

-Probably the early stages of Pneumonic Plague in there, too.

So, I tried the odd 1 or 2 doses of AHCC of 4 capsules before a meal 1x daily.

Despairingly however, AHCC is a little bit CRAZY Expensive where I live, -even store brand.

And despite the promises of one of the local herb dudes saying that when antibiotics or the like fail at hospitals,

people come to them and start taking the top-secret, cold-extruded, ion-exchange, lepton-doped, underground CERN lab brand of AHCC,

which always sells out in 2 days and somehow does what the Antis can't,

killing the buggies and leaving you feeling pleasantly mushroomy, like the afterglow following a nice Fall/Winter soup appetizer or light lunch.

...If you're into that kind of thing.

And as the recommended "I-Just-Know-I've-Got-Dengue-Fever"-Dosage of AHCC is a Wallet-Draining 12 caps/day (250mg), I was just not in for that as an experiment of any duration.

=>At which point, I Chickened-Out and went up town to see my local Witch Doctor, who said I was definitely dying imminently, and I should make out my will right there in the office, but first go down to CVS and get some of these tactical-nuke antibiotics before signing it.

And so, at least in my case, for the IB tabs effectiveness on whatever Dread-Mahocus I had, the answer is:

KINDA.

JUMP BONUS, SICKOS!!!: An interesting point. Or, in-fact, THE point.

... On a hidden camera commercial, we've secretly replaced this man's Campbell Soup with Progresso, let's see..

OK, OK! -A short while before I'd decided to go all poultry, I stopped taking the supplements. -Especially because there are So Very Many ingredients in the Source Naturals and AHCC was nomming my wallet. And something interesting happened...

The man liked Progresso -BETTER- than Campbell's!!! TAKE THAT, OLD SCHOOL!

-OK, OK, OK! Look, I'm just trying to get as much mileage out of this as I can, see. OK, anyway:

I GOT VERY NOTICEABLY WORSE.
Yup. It was clear to a Cyberchondriac like me, that I was clearly in even deeper Lockjaw than I'd been before. About twice as bad from the night I stopped to the next day.

So there you have it: The improvements(s) may have been slow or inscrutable over the +/-week, and the regimen I followed may not have been as Medicated, Regular, Long or Mushroomy as it should be, BUT:

The Immune Boosters WERE clearly helping out very noticeably.

[... but the Antibiotics are what finally cleared it up in the end]

And I'm still alive;

until the next outbreak...

nobody at mV was compensated in any way, hook, crook, frontkick or kickback, by any of the manufacturers mentioned in this highly-informal experiment; no testing samples, nada.

Photos:
"Miracles", by Insane Clown Posse
"Dramatic Chipmunk"
"Chanterelles", by Paweł Zawistowski, http://www.milionporad.pl
"Bugatti Veyron Super Sport", by Bugatti, http://www.bugatti.com/en/home.html

Links:
Source Naturals Wellness Formula
GermMD
AHCC-Wikipedia
Know Your Meme-F***ing Magnets, How Do They Work

Full awesome version w/enlargements at Source Link below.

Source:
Wired Magazine, Found:Future, Liquid-Plumr Cardio

-I know. Hard to believe, right? But apparently so.

(btw, hipsters don't count)

For the longest time, the most At-Risk personality type for health concerns, specifically Cardiovascular; myocardial infarctions, stroke, etc. was thought to be the Type A. Ie: The "Coffee Achievers".

But LO! Johan Denollet and colleagues hath delved into the land of milk and honey, and on the seventh day, published "A General Propensity to Psychological Distress Affects Cardiovascular Outcomes: Evidence From Research on the Type D (Distressed
) Personality Profile" in the journal of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. a new study in a cardio journal. -One which is a meta-analysis of previous work, it seems.

And it turns out that Type D, the "Grouch"-type (Anxious/Depressed/PTSD/Irritable/Pessimistic) has a risk Several Times Higher for cardio events than the previously-maligned Type A.

So Rejoice Type As, Rejoice!

And even if you're not a Type A; -REJOICE!

(apparently, it's good for you)

((that, and LOLcats))

Photo: "Dick Cheney" "The Emperor", Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Lucasfilm, Ltd.

Source:
CircOutcomes-A General Propensity to Psychological Distress Affects Cardiovascular Outcomes: Evidence From Research on the Type D Personality Profile

Via:
InventorSpot

More Coverage:
MSNBC

In the works, is a small, sometimes gel-dissolvable patch bristling with teeny-tiny needles. The purpose: get drugs into the body that would ordinarily be administered by means originally designed as much for physical pain and psychological torture as they were for chemical-delivery.
-And always administered in the Ministry of Love's Room 101.

In whatever form they take, either gelatinized cast media, or drug powder-coated solid material patches, the net effect on the patient is the same.

It's like gluing a very mildly-abrasive square of sandpaper to your arm for a short while.

Oh, and no paint-shredding screaming tirades of, 'WHYYYYYY DOC, WHYYYY!!!!! ... MOOMMM!!! I WANT MY MOOMMMM!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH..."

"Er, Jim? -You're Forty-Seven..."
[uncontrollable sobbing ensues...]

And while the original intent of the new delivery system may have been just to reduce pain and soothe neurotic patients, an interesting side-effect has come out in the trials.

Not only are the microneedle patches less scary, uncomfortable and distressing, but:

JUMP BONUS!:
***In some cases, the net effect of the drug/vaccination was actually BETTER with patch-injection than single-needle-into-muscle/tissue method!

So...: WIN-WIN!

(the gel ones also eliminate some biological waste in the form of "sharps", +win again!)

Photo: Microneedle Sheet Micrograph, by Zosano Pharma

Source:
Nature-Dissolving Polymer Microneedle Patches..., Access
Journal of Pain-Effect of Microneedle Design...

via:
Amber Dance, LaTimes
Neatorama

More Coverage:
CNN-PagingDrGupta w/Video (PLEASE TO IGNORE ALI VELSHI'S ZOMG, DUDE!!! --12,000 PEOPLE DEAD IN 2010! TEH SKY IS FALLING! WE'RE, ALL, GONNA, ...DIIIIIEEEEE!!! FEAR-MONGERING ktxbai)
Zosano Pharma

[moving on] Thank GOD there was a study that did not actually appear in the New England Joural of Medecine as far back as 2009 or 1997, that had not actually been conducted over the course of 5 years and 500 participants.

The hoax study asserts that 10 minutes of boob-staring is equivalent to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise for men, due to the increased circulatory effects that the women had.

-Not that I'm putting ANYthing past ze crazy Germans in Frankfurt.

The point is NOT that the alleged study has been debunked by Snopes.com. Let's face it, the people at Snopes are no fun, and they're also out to ruin your fun, too and depress the entire planet while trying to feel better about themselves because they're insecure cynics and their Moms never loved them.

So I say, DIY! --Get together with your own cardiologist, your favorite strippers, girlfriends, mistresses, total strangers, and high-powered telescopes if necessary and carry out the lord's work in the name of the probably-entirely-fictional Dr. Karen Weatherby and Validate This Hypothesis regardless!!!

And post your results, with Restraining Orders and Court Orders redacted please, in the Comments Section.

TO THE RAMPARTS!!!

Photo:
Flickr user lady_wolf_star as Power Girl in "Bountiful Strength", by Nathan Rupert


Links:
Xenophilia
Snopes

via:
Twitter-Lindy West

Shoddy restaurants and produce growers are currently costing the US economy $152B.

Photo: "Insect World 2", by Andrzej Pobiedziński, Olsztyn, Warmińsko-Mazurskie, Poland

Links:
BusinessWeek
via ElspethJane

Now that cold+flu season is in full swing, I thought it would be a plus to the site for one of our commenters to have his say come up in a post.

Our pal Zach had a very detailed read of one of the full studies cited in the Cheeky Monkey Stomach Flu post awhile back.

He was nice enough to cook down some of the conclusions into his comment which is cited here:

"I am fortunate enough to have full access to the study that you mentioned, and was able to read the actual data.

First of all, it turns out that the infectivity studies were done in vitro, and as far as I can tell, only measured the ability of antibodies to react to the viruses, and not the ability of the virus to reach, bind to, or infect cells along the intestinal lining; although, it is a dense read, and I'm still going through it.

Lucky for all of us, [Activated] Charcoal was not only the best at adsorbing the viruses studied (and also the lowest at desorbing), but it reduced the infectivity by almost 5 times! That's the only material studied to do so.

Oh, and I can't find the study at the moment, but proteases were actually tested for enterovirus effectiveness in gerbils I believe, and it was found that proteases significantly INCREASE symptoms and virus levels, killing most of the rodents studied. Proteases might be an effective immune boosting tool once they reach your bloodstream, but they do you no good in the digestive tract. Another study showed this to be the same case for Salmonella."

I'm still going to be making good on my Human Guinea Pig promise of conducting the experiment on myself next time King Montezuma pays a visit.

-But after Zach's empassioned research+comment, I'm now going to try it with Activated Charcoal instead of Clay or even Protease/Enzyme stuff.

There you go! And again: big Thanks + Hat Tip to Reader Zach!

Photos:
"Ring-Tailed Lemur 1", by Nigel Clarke, Lisburn, UK
"Dogs 2", by Tony Hathcock

Links:
Clay-Eating Cheeky Monkeys And The Elusive Stomach Flu / Viral Gastroenteritis Remedy

Enyzmedica Virastop

Terramin Clays

Scientific Journal Links:
PubMed   ScienceDirect   BioInfoBank   NCBI   Clay In Digestive Disturbances (old)

Without increased precautions, these are probably the first of many confirmed cases in the future of death due to nanoparticle exposure.

It's a terrible thing to have been right about, but here's the original article where we called exactly this type of health risk about ~2 years ago: Nanotech Ultra...

Hit the Reuters Link for the full beans, here: Reuters-Nanoparticle deaths in China

Big Hat Tip to Dan at Dan Sherman Design (!) for sending this tip in, and who may or may not also be a science fiction writer.


Original Photo: "Silica", by the brilliant and intuitive Ann Kristin Edvartsen, avariz.carbonmade.com


Links:
Reuters-Nanoparticle deaths in China
Nanotech Ultra...
Dan Sherman Design
Ann Kristin Edvartsen

So above, you see the choices. Please have a look and click in with your thoughts.

Your Opinion Is Really Valuable!!!
Please share it and help out the site. Any other thoughts, put 'em in the comments section. Please vote only once.

Thanks Very Much + Best Regards!!,

Management

PS: Thanks Very Much also to everyone who participated in either email or in-person focus-group surveys!! -Including, but not limited to:

The Mad-Genius Yoda to my Ewok, Undisputed Welterweight Champion of The World, Mr. Seth Godin!!!
The Impossibly Generous, Cool, Positive, And I Admit, Much Better Looking Than Me, Mr. Guy Kawasaki!!!!!
Ellie Rountree
The Brilliant But Half-Cyborg Jon Bell
The Also-Brilliant and Resourceful Matt
Connie
Jay
Angel -who I wish I had a link for.
Pat
Monica
My 2 Favorite Reference Librarians
Mystery Lady + her friend Cindy who phoned it in from Portofino
Jackie -the only person besides me to actually get the current title; -thank God for you! :P
Gloria
Sandy, my legal advisor
2 surprisingly nice marketers out trying to destroy the world with crude oil
Matt's 2 CollegeHumor-loving friends
My favorite 80-hour work week PT intern + Friend

and others...

Note: This post will be moved up so it stays on the front page of the site, so if you notice changing dates, don't be alarmed.

-Hopefully one that won't kill everything else.

These odd little assassins are the things that eventually kill you in all Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseases, like Mad Cow Disease, and my personal favorite: Kuru. (arrrrgggh, BRAAIINNZZZZ!!!! ZOMMMBIEEEZ; grrrrh!)

The only problem is, they are Extremely Dangerous to study and they're also very tough; -it's even hard to clean them off the lab equipment.

For example: they cannot currently be bleached, heated, or otherwise removed from any tissue, the way you can kill parasites in food by cooking it.

They can only be 'removed' by destroying their structure, either through nasty chemicals like Sodium Hydroxide or burning them to a crisp.

I don't know if that would-be prion-killer is Enbrel, as in the Alzheimer's Reversal Post, but perhaps somewhere there is a biochemical Bruce Lee sitting on a shelf at Big Pharma, just waiting to be released.

Links:
Nature   SciAm   SCFP   SFGate

-Bummer.

If you believe that study.

There may be light at the end of the tunnel, though...

This post by UVA Med + Turner himself reveals something interesting about Echinacea versus other herbal supplements; especially tricky ones like Kava.

DUN, DUNN DUUUNNNNNN!!!! -There is No Standardization for Echinacea.

Yups, you read that right.

No standardization.

... A-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!11!!!!

-Like saying a Hamburger could be made out of ANY part of a cow, and that there was No minimum protein, fat, +whatever, content recipe for that burger.

(OK, you win; -entirely possible at McDonald's. -Not very possible at an actual restaurant or supermarket)

((-or: Believe the Results of a Drug Study if the active concentration of every pill dispensed was all over the place.))

SO:
-How do you know what you're getting? -If the particular compounds have been identified at all? -Which of the 9 species were used? -What time of the year were they harvested? -What was the plant's condition? -If there's a difference between: Roots, Stems, Flower, Seeds, or Ill-Tempered Dalmatian Gremlins loitering in the neighborhood?

*Ask anyone who doesn't want Liver Damage from taking Kava, like the islanders who discovered it, and they'll tell you there's One Hell of a difference between the Root vs. the Leaves & Stems; (which they discard).

A Little History:
The Big E is a Native American folk remedy that's been used for thousands of years.
The people back then, whose Lives may have depended on its effectiveness, may have had a Particular way of prepping the stuff to use. -Ie: Fresh, dried, stems only, roots only, flowers but no seeds, etc. And their way of doing it probably had the highest success rate given the tools & techniques available.

{-cue Light in Tunnel:*BLING!*}
SO: I think that's one of the reasons why a Recent Meta-Analysis that reviewed 14 other previous studies on Echinacea, found that it was -on average- 58% effective in Butt-Whomping the common cold. (yes, Butt-Whomping is a Highly Scientific term).

They also found it was Even More effective if taken as a Preventative; -or with Vitamin C.

And as a few smart Digg commenters have opined: Herbal Tinctures (ie: alcohol solution) of the stuff may have a better guarantee at potency than just any old Capsule with green stuff in it.

So the next time, the SECOND I feel like I'm getting even a minor sniffle, I'll run the experiment on myself, using the Tincture forms of each plant part, by the most reputable herbal company I can find reviews on.
((((that is, Instead of Listening to Studies Conducted by People Affiliated With, or Once and Future Employees of, Big Pharma Companies (who as yet, have not cured the common cold). ))))

Note: Some of the Side-Effects of Echinacea are Allergic Reactions and Bad Interactions with Immune Disorders and Immune-oriented Drugs.

Photo 1: "Icy", by Linda6
Photo 2: "Ice Flower", by Sabine Simon, http://www.saflora.de.vu/

Links:
Turner+Pals @ NEJM   Digg-Echinacea-Colds   UVA-No Standards   Foxnews-Echinacea Review   Meta-Analysis @ The Lancet   Echinacea at e-herbal   Wikipedia-Echinacea   HerbDoc