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New AHA Study: There Appeared To Be No Survival Advantage, For 20,000 Adults — From Cardio-Vascular Related Risks — In Eating Everything During An 8 Hour Window…

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I’ve long intuitively felt that “grazing” — eating smaller bits — over say a 16 hour period more closely approximated our lives, speaking in evolutionary terms, some 100,000 years ago — and probably conveyed a survival advantage, if healthy food-stuffs were the main component of the grazing diet (compared to fatty overly-generously-portioned “banquet style “dinners). But I’ve never looked for a study on it.

So, in my mind — portion control, and not over-taxing the digestive system. But what we now have, is a large study that suggests intermittent fasting, on the other hand — restricting one’s eating to only a narrow eight hour window, during the daylight. . . may not be of any help, on cardio-vascular death risks, either.

Here’s the latest, from Heart.org, in Chicago:

…“We were surprised to find that people who followed an 8-hour, time-restricted eating schedule were more likely to die from cardiovascular disease. Even though this type of diet has been popular due to its potential short-term benefits, our research clearly shows that, compared with a typical eating time range of 12-16 hours per day, a shorter eating duration was not associated with living longer,” Zhong said.

“It’s crucial for patients, particularly those with existing heart conditions or cancer, to be aware of the association between an 8-hour eating window and increased risk of cardiovascular death. Our study’s findings encourage a more cautious, personalized approach to dietary recommendations, ensuring that they are aligned with an individual’s health status and the latest scientific evidence,” he continued. “Although the study identified an association between an 8-hour eating window and cardiovascular death, this does not mean that time-restricted eating caused cardiovascular death….”

Approximately half of the participants self-identified as men, and half self-identified as women. 73.3% of the participants self-identified as non-Hispanic white adults, 11% self-identified as Hispanic adults, 8% self-identified as non-Hispanic Black adults and 6.9% of adults self-identified as another racial category, including mixed-race adults and adults of other non-Hispanic races….

Now you know. Onward… grinning with the Buffs up, tomorrow night; and the CSU Rams up, tonight.

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ESA’s Euclid Space ‘Scope Is De-Icing Now — On A Schedule…

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While being assembled on Earth, it is always the case that even with lots of dry rooming, and careful prep, space ‘scopes (and spacecraft, more generally), retain at least a tiny fraction of the water molecules naturally present in the air, in between the layers of the various sub-assemblies.

And since space is. . . a vast vacuum — it sucks those little water molecules (from the inside, outward), toward the surfaces of the ‘scope — and then, in the near negative 290 degrees, they tend to freeze onto the nearest flatish surfaces. And the mirrors are a very large — and nearly flat — natural collecting surface. So it is that Euclid will now have to de-ice the mirrors, with its pre-installed heaters, from time to time. Heating however, in deep space… amounts to raising the temp to only minus three or so.

But that will be enough for the water to detach and float away. . . it is believed. Here’s that story, from ESA.int:

…A few layers of water ice — about the width of a strand of DNA — are starting to impact Euclid’s vision; a common issue for spacecraft in the freezing cold of space, but a potential problem for this highly sensitive mission that requires remarkable precision to investigate the nature of the dark Universe. After months of research, Euclid teams across Europe are now testing a newly designed procedure to de-ice the mission’s optics.

If successful, the operations will validate the mission teams’ plan to keep Euclid’s optical system as ice-free as possible for the rest of its life in orbit….

What a time to be alive… and “awake” — pushing back against the dark of ignorance, is the bright face of mirrored space science. Or… “woke“, if you prefer. Smile….

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BHO 44 Has Posted His Men’s And Women’s 2024 Bracketology… And We Differ In Only Likely Immaterial Respects.

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For well-over 14 years now, I’ve picked in March Madness against our former President; he’s bested me all but three times. [You may see his hand-written 2024 picks, at barackobama.org — here.]

I’ll likely not post the full version of our completed / compared sheets (as I have, in past years), as we are very, very similar.

The graphic at right almost certainly sets out who will win this year, between us.

If Kentucky makes it to the Championship game, and loses to UConn, he wins our mini pool. If Marquette ends up as UConn’s opponent, and loses to them… I will best him (though I do have the Buffs — improbably, I admit — meeting Marquette, but losing).

We will only revisit these prognostications, if somehow UConn gets knocked out before the Finals. Then the early games will matter, to deciding whose bracket beat. . . whom.

Onward… grinning. All green… all green. We both agree that Purdue makes the finals, and North Carolina rounds out my final four — while Baylor is his fourth invitee, for the Final dance. [On the women’s side — I see a rematch of last year, but this time, with Iowa’s Kaitlin Clark besting Angel Reese & LSU; then beating SC in the Championship. Mr. Obama has SC winning it all.] Heh!

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I Am Not Convinced That Kavanaugh Is Becoming A Centrist, But This Is… Encouraging, Just The Same.

~ condor ~ 2 Comments

Two normally nominally conservative Justices: Kavanaugh (on putative asylee rights of review), and Gorsuch (on “no-fly” lists) have this morning authored definitive opinions siding with a majority of the more liberal Justices, and in the putative asylee case, putting even Roberts, the Chief, in the minority / dissent. Fascinating.

Vox proclaimed (a day ago) that Kavanaugh was “fed up” with the far right’s rhetoric — and while I think that overstates Kavanaugh’s actual leanings, it is correct, directionally. Yesterday that foolish injunction authored by Doughty (out of Louisiana) was excoriated by all nine justices, at oral argument — on First Amendment grounds. It will go down in flames, when the opinion is issued, as we long predicted.

But this morning, in evidence that he is skewing toward the center of the Court, Kavanaugh authored a majority opinion that holds federal courts — and courts of appeal — have jurisdiction to review denials of asylum-status at the administrative (ICE) level. That is a break with more than a decade of the Supremes ducking this issue — every time it was presented — on cert. Here’s a bit of Kavanaugh’s breakthrough:

…When an IJ finds a noncitizen removable for violating the immigration laws, Congress provides several avenues for discretionary relief. Relevant here, an IJ may “cancel removal” of a noncitizen who meets certain statutory criteria. Immigration and Nationality Act, 66 Stat. 163, as added and amended, 8 U. S. C. §§1229b(a)–(b). Cancellation of removal permits a noncitizen to remain in the country lawfully. An IJ deciding a non-citizen’s request for cancellation of removal proceeds in two steps. First, the IJ must decide whether the noncitizen is eligible for cancellation under the relevant statutory criteria. Second, an IJ decides whether to exercise his discretion favorably and grant the noncitizen relief in the particular case.1 A noncitizen bears the burden of proving that he both “satisfies the applicable eligibility requirements” and “merits a favorable exercise of discretion.” §1229a(c)(4)(A).

Congress enumerated certain statutory criteria to govern the first step of an IJ’s cancellation-of-removal determination. For a noncitizen who never received lawful permanent residence (i.e., a green card), those criteria are stringent. He is eligible for cancellation of removal only if he meets four requirements….

Wilkinson was born in Trinidad and Tobago. After police officers beat, robbed, and threatened to kill him in 2003, Wilkinson fled to the United States on a tourist visa. He has remained in this country ever since, beyond the expiration of his visa. In 2013, Wilkinson had a son, M., with his girlfriend Kenyatta Watson. Both M. and Watson are U. S. citizens.

Wilkinson lived in Pennsylvania and worked to support M. and Watson. M. lived with Wilkinson and Watson for the first two years of his life. Then, because Wilkinson could not take care of his son and work at the same time, he and Watson decided M. would have a better quality of life in New Jersey with his mother and her mother. Wilkinson took the train to visit his son every weekend and provided almost half his monthly wages ($1,200 per month) in informal child support. M. suffers from severe asthma, which requires hospital treatment multiple times a year. Wilkinson helped M. with his inhaler and medications and knew his regimen well. Watson suffers from depression and does not work, so she also relies on Wilkinson’s financial and childcare support….

Wilkinson conceded before the IJ that he was removable under §1227(a)(1)(B) for overstaying his tourist visa. He asked for relief from that removal, claiming eligibility for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. Relevant here, he also applied for cancellation of removal based on hardship to his U. S.-citizen son, M….

The administrative IJ denied; and the Third Circuit said it had no authority to review that denial, even sitting as a federal appellate court — despite looking squarely at a clear statute from Congress authorizing such review.

Today, Kavanaugh and the liberal wing of the Court called BS on this ducking of judicial review responsibility. Wilkinson’s case (and that of his son, M.) are sent back down, likely to be permanently granted so-called “hardship relief”. M. is a citizen, since he was born here, to a US citizen, Ms. Watson. Now you know. Onward — rather encouraging, but not yet a cause for celebration at the Supremes.

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Trump Has Been Unable To Find A Bond Insurer/Issuer, For The $454 Million He Needs, To Appeal His Fraud Loss In NY State At The Hands Of The Able AG’s Office…

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So his lawyers report, into the court, by letter this morning. It seems obvious, that if one claims to be worth many billions, one should not expect that the court will “waive” a bond, on a figure one owes to the people of the State of New York, to appeal.

Trump was found liable, at trial for $454 million (and over $500 million, when interest is added). That is money he owes to the State of New York. His own IOU — as a fraudster — cannot be adequate. So, it is likely he will not appeal — since there is no “right” for fraudsters to escape paying their judgment debts, on time. From The Hill’s reporting, now:

“…Defendants’ ongoing diligent efforts have proven that a bond in the judgment’s full amount is ‘a practical impossibility,’” the lawyers wrote, citing an affidavit signed by an insurance broker who testified for Trump during the trial last year.

Trump’s attorneys claim they have spent “countless hours negotiating with one of the largest insurance companies in the world” and have approached 30 companies to back the bond, efforts they said they were pursuing before the judgment was made.

“The amount of the judgment, with interest, exceeds $464 million, and very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude,” Trump’s lawyers wrote….

Cry me a river.

If you hadn’t defrauded the hard-working taxpayers of New York, you wouldn’t be in these straights. Time to sell Mar-a-Lago? I’d hope so, but he probably cannot close the sale, and raise the cash before next week. He may be… done. [And the court may accept an IOU, but I’d say that looks a lot like the rich get better treatment at law, even after being found liable for a half-billion in frauds. The vast scale of his frauds should not be rewarded, now that he cries… poor.] Grin.

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Tangerine Is Planning On RE-Hiring Paul Manafort, A Formerly Convicted Felon (One Effectively Sentenced To “Life”) — As A Fundraiser, In Milwaukee This Summer?!?

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There are some things you can’t even fathom.

Recall that Trump pardoned Paul Manafort (mostly to avoid Manafort’s diming Tangerine himself out, in all of this), who was then on home confinement (due to COVID-19, having been released from prison due to his age and frail immune system), but was still serving a 73 month multi-count felony sentence, for secretly taking money from enemy governments, and money laundering (among other things). Recall that Manafort was deeply implicated in consorting with contacts of Russian spies, during the time when HRC’s internal campaign docs turned up in Russia’s hands.

But as EmptyWheel makes plain this morning, this jamoke (who had previously been sentenced to what amounted to “life“, pre-COVID-19, and was incarcerated for what would be “life“, in all likelihood, given his age) is likely to be rehired by Trump, as he gets the gang back together in Milwaukee, at the GOP Convention this summer.

A convicted felon, running fundraising, for the GOP?

This is not Abe’s party — nor even Tricky Dick’s party. Trump is simply an extended, but inept… criminal enterprise.

A mob operation. Damn.

[U: Full Video Below!] Elon Musk Has (Again) Established That He Only Cares For Free Speech That Flatters… Him.

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Admittedly, this is a bit of a tangent… but since my Buffs will ultimately face Marquette, if they can get past Florida, in the big dance… I am going to be swaying off-topic anyway, this week (picking brackets again, against Mr. Obama — assuming he fills some out this week).

The good news is… they are in. The bad news, is that I now have to pick between Marquette, a legit final four team — and my heart: the Buffs (in a round of 32 game). Ah… first world problems, to be sure.

Speaking of which — Elon Musk apparently doesn’t like answering non-fawning questions — and doubly so, if it is a smart-mouth man of color as his uncontrolled interlocutor. Do enlarge and read the entire statement at right. And as soon as the interview is posted in full on YouTube, I will place it below.

Musk should have been smarter than this. Once he agreed to sit, he was never going to prevent its very wide airing. And all he’s done is give Mr. Lemon and even wider, more committed opening audience. One he can no longer monetize, via his X-itter.

Hilarious. Look in, right here — for an update with the video tomorrow evening. Onward.

नमस्ते

So Hayward Cannot Read Polls — And Tangerine Offers “Bloodbath” Comments. Charming.

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Well… not surprising, but Trump also thinks Mr. Biden ran against Mr. Obama prior to 2016, and Mr. Biden won. [That’s… because Tangerine’s teleprompter went out in the high winds, at his rally yesterday.]

But the more ominous remarks are worthy of full-quotation, here — per the UK’s Guardian:

…Trump insisted during comments about the auto workers and the car industry, was headed for “a bloodbath” if he was rejected again at the polls in favor of Biden….

“Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s gonna be a bloodbath. That’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country,” he said, without clarifying what he meant….

[…D]uring his speech, he repeating unsubstantiated claims that foreign countries were “emptying” their prisons and mental institutions into the US. Trump took a familiar swipe at immigrants, calling some of them “animals”.

“I don’t know if you call them people. They’re not people, in my opinion,” he said. “But I’m not allowed to say that because the radical left says that’s a terrible thing to say….” [You just did, you monster.]

[For his part, Mr. Biden offered this last night at the Gridiron dinner:]

“We live in an unprecedented moment in democracy,” Biden said. “An unprecedented moment for history. Democracy and freedom are literally under attack. [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s on the march in Europe. My predecessor bows down to him and says to him, ‘do whatever the hell you want….’

And… Hayward. Cannot. Read… his own data. Hilarious.

Onward.

More Promising Ebola Replication Research — Montreal, Rutgers And Texas Collab: Using Ubiquitin As Camouflage

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A few months ago, we reported on this same Texas team’s discovery that Ebola virus (like HIV) can travel over 200 microns, along nanotubes — to escape antibody defenses, and reprogram new and otherwise healthy human cells to corrupt purposes.

Now, along with Canadian colleagues, and biologists at Rutgers, the team has sussed out that a naturally produced human protein, called ubiquitin, is being used as “camouflage” — for the virus to stealthily take over cells, while evading the white cell hoards of the body’s defense mechanisms.

Here’s the latest, from Phys.org:

…By shedding light on how the virus interacts with a human protein called ubiquitin, the researchers have also identified a potential target for new drugs to prevent the disease.

Published in PLOS Biology, the study involves pharmacologists at Université de Montréal, infectious-disease specialists at Rutgers University, and microbiologists, immunologists and pathologists at the University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston)….

“Advanced computational modeling by our team here at UdeM predicted the binding interface between a viral protein, VP35, and the ubiquitin chains in human cells, and identified potential chemical compounds that could disrupt this interaction,” he said.

“This discovery not only deepens our understanding of how the virus works, but also offers a promising avenue for the creation of more effective therapies. In particular, it paves the way for the design of drugs capable of disrupting this interaction and slowing down viral replication….”

Now you know. Onward, with a crinkly eyed Irish smile… be excellent to all you meet, today and always.

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The Icelandic Eruptions On Reykjanes Peninsula — Renewed. And Wear Green…

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We’ve been tracking this for about six months, and it seems like the Earth is shuddering on St. Patrick’s, so we will mention it again on a quiet Sunday morning here.

Here’s the latest — on the new eruption, via The UK Guardian:

…Emergency teams worked through the night to bolster defensive barriers around the evacuated fishing town of Grindavik as lava from the fourth volcanic eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula since December flowed towards it.

After weeks of warnings that semi-molten rock was building up under the ground, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said the eruption, at 8.23pm local time (2023 GMT) on Saturday, had opened a nearly three km-long fissure in the earth between two mountains.

Lava was flowing mainly south and south-east at a rate of about one km an hour overnight and could reach the ocean, the IMO said. Defensive dykes and barriers were being reinforced to stop the “significantly wider” lava bed wrecking the main coastal road….

Wild Earth sciences. In addition, another one of those shiny silver 12 foot tall monoliths was spotted last week, in Wales, atop a knoll called Hay Bluff. But it is pretty clearly a clever knock off, so we won’t cover it (ref. 2020 and 2021 coverage). Onward!

In addition, the Buffs are waiting to hear if they’ve made the NCAAs — or if they are relegated to the NIT, after a tough loss to Oregon in the last ever PAC-12 championship game. Sending some mo jo to… Boulder, now! And that’s all the trivia I’ve got for the morning — with a newly-replaced 2021 masthead, from their last March Madness NCAA berth. Grin.

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