catbirdseat

I don't think it detracts one bit from the impact of your post to credit the source. It's no skin off your teeth, and besides it allow other people to go find other funny writings by the same author if they enjoyed the reading.

All kidding aside, do I think Americans should worry about eating beef? I think the answer is no. Your chances of getting VCJD are much less than getting cancer or getting struck by lightning. People should not change my habits based on the discovery of one infected cow.

Prion disease is a complex subject that I have followed closely since I happened upon some of Stanley Prusner's articles back in the mid '80's. It is not caused by viruses as prions do not contain DNA. They are a conformationally altered variant of a naturally occurring brain protein. No one knows what the function of this protein is, but it is associated with cell membranes of neurons. When prion protein comes into contact with native protein, it acts as a "scaffold" or template, if you will, to convert the normal protein to the altered state which is characterized by beta-pleated sheets. The prion proteins form self-associating aggregates which eventually grow large enough to form granules that can be seen in elecctron micrographs. All this eventually leads to death of neurons and "spongiform" lesions in the brain. The protein does not circulate in the blood stream in large concentrations, so therefore it is difficult to detect without taking a brain biopsy. There are tests being developed that can detect the prion before visible symptoms develop. The protein is tremendously stable and can survive proteases and autoclaving. In fact, infectious prion material was recovered from garden soil outside a lab where it had been poured three years before! The only way to kill it is to incinerate it. Since the normal prion protein of pigs is different from that of cows and humans, there is what is termed a "species barrier". Apparently, this barrier is high for cow to pig transmission. There is a species barrier between cows and humans too, but apparently there is a subset of individuals who possess certain protein genotypes that are more susceptible to transformation. In other words, not everyone who eats contaminated beef can get the disease called Variant Creuzfeldt-Jakob. When prion diseases were traced to recycled animal parts, it seemed clear that this practice should be stopped immediately. However, what actually happened was the feed producers asked the question, "do all animal parts harbor the prion or just some parts?". The scientists answered that "we think it is found mostly in nervous system tissue and bone." So what they did was to exclude bone, brain and spinal cord from the feed, but continued to use blood, and meat, etc. All they did was reduce the chance of infecting an animal with their feed, not eliminate it. Now comes the time of reckoning.

Haven't you ever heard of a "Born Again" Sprayer?

This is your brain. This is your brain on beef. Any questions?

I am glad that I stopped eating red meat over 20 years ago. At last count 134 Britons have died from Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Now they are dying in Canada. The United States is next.

"I had my pacemaker dialed in to the highest setting." --remarks by Cheney after successful game hunt

It's all coming soon.

I saw that. That is the stupidest thing I have seen in a truck commercial. When you load a truck, you load it pretty close to capacity. When you drop a load into a truck from four feet, it is like loading the truck with several times the static load limit. I wonder if they used fake timber, or if they went ahead and wrecked the truck they used in the commercial. At the very least, it would have broken some leaves in the springs, blew out the shocks and possibly bent the axle.

Take the test again under a pseudonym and deliberately try to flunk, or else answer at random and see what you get.

It ain't called "double U" for nothing.

Climbing is not for him. I could see my daughter getting into it though.

If you are thinking, "Wow, that sure sounds like Dave Barry", then you are not alone.

My wife and son are Scrabble fanatics. They talked me into playing even though they always beat me. For once, I drew the letter A, giving me the opportunity to go first. My first word was "cwm", which neither of them had ever seen before. I just love that word because the letter W gets to serve as a vowel. My son looked up the word in the dictionary and told me it was the same thing as "cirque". Then he asked "what is a cirque?" Well, the game went as usual and I got my ass kicked again. Family members can be the most ruthless of all competitors.

Dru would never lie. He's a climber. We depend on a climber's honesty when when he claims a first ascent and his camera doesn't work.

Yes, we believe you- just as far as we can throw you, which isn't very far.

Is his name Ed and is he from Olympia? I know this fellow from South Carolina who sounds just ol' Foghorn.

This Tickle test came up some time ago and a bunch of people took it. Dru claimed some outrageously high score that few could believe. What was it Dru? I took the test a month ago and got a 133. Supposedly I did particularly well in geometric and spatial problems. After the test was done they tried to sell me a special report for $15. What a surprise.

Our Nimrod shot 70 pheasants. At about $20 per bird, that's a lot of money. I'll bet he didn't pay a cent.

I stumbled onto this site by happenstance. Mel Blanc was a comic genius.

Oh, no, not the battery filled sock. Not that! Anything but the sock.

Blimp is the protein and u-boot is the gene that encodes it. I think they interviewed a Canadian guy. It had to be the u-boat gene, but it sounded like "boot".

Why? Insurance.