by Ian Punnett

 

Did you see this piece in the Wall Street Journal:

By KEITH J. WINSTEIN

Sharply cutting calories in the diets of rhesus monkeys was found to reduce aging-related deaths, according to a study that followed 76 monkeys for two decades.

The findings, published Thursday in Science magazine by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, give new impetus to researchers and companies, including GlaxoSmithKline PLC, that are searching for a drug to mimic the beneficial effects of a meager diet in humans without the feeling of near-starvation.

I think I’ll wait for the pill.  Still, I’m continuing with my five-day-a-week workout schedule and my low-carb diet.

   Here’s a link to another version of that story with some startling photos:

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8141082.stm

You needn’t have bothered to try to sell Henry Allingham on the benefits of a calorie restricted diet:

Henry Allingham has died but was 113!

He went to war as a teenager, helped keep flimsy aircraft flying, survived his wounds and came home from World War I to a long — very long — and fruitful life.

But only in his last years did he discover his true mission: to remind new generations of the sacrifices of the millions slaughtered in the trenches, killed in the air, or lost at sea in what Britons call the Great War.

Allingham, who was the world's oldest man when he died today, attributed his remarkable longevity to "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women."

Jokes aside, he was a modest man who served as Britain's conscience, reminding young people time and time again about the true cost of war.

He was the last surviving original member of the Royal Air Force, which was formed in 1918. He made it a personal crusade to talk about a conflict that wiped out much of a generation. Though nearly blind, he would take the outstretched hands of visitors in both of his, gaze into the eyes of children, veterans and journalists and deliver a message he wanted them all to remember about those left on the battlefield.

"I don't want to see them forgotten," he would say quietly. "We were pals."

Only a handful of World War I veterans remain of the estimated 68 million mobilized. There are no French veterans left alive; just one left now in Britain; and the last living American-born veteran is Frank Woodruff Buckles of Charles Town, West Virginia. The man believed to have been Germany's last surviving soldier has also died.  (aol.com)

I’m not sure how long Allingham stayed with his “cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women” diet but if he’s right, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.  The wildest thing I ever do is this show, church and the occasional TV appearance:

fm1071.com/show_elements/link.php?entryI...

Anyway, airman Allingham thank you both for your dedication to duty and your dedication to reminding people of the horrors of war.

That spirit reminds me of the immortal words of the poet/physician, Col. John McCrae who write “In Flanders Fields,” the greatest poem of WW I.  Recite along, Canadians.

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow 

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago 

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

There is a growing world war against the Swine Flu according to the Physorg.com:

Swine flu has swept the globe at "unprecedented speed," the World Health Organisation said Friday, as a study warned the pandemic could tip the world into deflation and delay the economic recovery.

Argentina, meanwhile, issued a nationwide alert after pigs were confirmed to have the swine flu virus, health authorities said.

"We have detected clinical cases of the A(H1N1) influenza in a pig farm in Buenos Aires province, they have been confirmed by laboratory tests," the national farm and food standards agency said.

The WHO said in an information note on its website the influenza pandemic had "spread internationally with unprecedented speed."

"In past pandemics, influenza viruses have needed more than six months to spread as widely as the new H1N1 virus has spread in less than six weeks."

And the conflicts aren’t limited to Earth, almost forty years to the date of the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing:

The Apollo 11 astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, who became the first men to walk on the Moon, have split over whether to send missions to Mars, according to reports.

Armstrong and Aldrin, who landed on the lunar surface on July 20 1969, are said to be tussling with differences of opinion over mankind's next space destination ahead of a joint lecture to mark the 40th anniversary of the first ever moonwalk.

Aldrin, 79, has called for the world to forget about the Moon and press on with establishing a human settlement on Mars to escape the ravages of climate change on Earth.

But Armstrong, 78, is said to disagree with his former Nasa colleague. "He does not really feel the same way about some of these current policy issues that Aldrin does, and here’s Buzz out there hawking his book and being the one that everyone’s interviewing," Armstrong's friend and biographer James Hansen told The Times. (Telegraph UK)

With just a few days to go to the fortieth anniversary of Apollo 11, here are some fun facts to impress your friends with:

Buzz Aldrin, a Presbyterian, had communion on the Moon but it was kept secret from the public as Nasa was fighting a lawsuit by atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair who objected to the Apollo 8 crew reading from the Book of Genesis. Aldrin's communion kit was prepared by the pastor of his church.

The first and last--so far--”com-moon-ion.”

Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the Moon but Buzz Aldrin was the first to pee there.  “That’s one small squirt for man, one giant leak for mankind.” 

Buzz, Neil and Michael suffered from excessive and 'fragrant' flatulence caused by hydrogen bubbles in their water.  (The Daily Mail)

Thank God they were all wearing spacesuits.  Let’s hope their air hoses weren’t connected.