1971's "Vanishing Cape Breton Fiddler" documentary

The end of this segment has twelve-year-old John Morris Rankin talking about his fiddle playing, and a very young Rankin Family playing. Just, wow, is all. What a treasure it is.&hearts

If anyone has the rest of this program, please let me know? I'll pay postage, copying fees, anything. I don't hold out much hope, but maybe somebody has it somewhere. Apparently it might still be available in some libraries. I have a at least a couple of people on my flist from Nova Scotia, so, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I really, really have to look into lessons, very soon.

ETA: Apparently this documentary was the catalyst for the Glendale Festival of Cape Breton Fiddling in 1973, which in turn gave birth to The Cape Breton Fiddlers' Association, and began a revival of an art form that had been in danger of dying out completely. Without the documentary as a wake-up call, a real tragedy might have happened, which makes it even more wow.

and though the rules of the road have been lodged, it's only people's games that you got to dodge

I remember hearing bout this in 2003:

Stem Cells Reverse Diabetes in Mice

I remember thinking that this was a giant breakthrough that might very well mean the beginnings of a cure for diabetes. But the weeks and months went on and on, and I didn't hear anything else. I thought back to it a lot, basically with a lot of wtf? kinds of thoughts.

So now I read this:

Canadian Scientists Reverse Diabetes in Mice

This research project is about pain receptors and their affect on insulin production. The first one was about stem cells from bone marrow.

So okay, I have a lot of questions about these two studies. Like what happened in the three years between them? I looked around some more and found out that both of these projects (studies? What do you call them?) had various researchers in common (i.e. scientists from the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine and the Robarts Research Institute in London, Ontario).

I realise that a lot of research has to be done before an official cure can be announced. What confuses me is that (at least to me) the first study sure looked like a giant step, and maybe even an actual cure. But so far I've not seen anything else, like trials on humans or any more announcements. Granted I haven't looked obsessively or anything, but still.

The second study appears to be looking at an entirely different approach to the problem. Yay for more research, and yay for good results, but my question is, what's happened in the three years between these projects? Has there been any forward motion towards human clinical trials for the stem cells? I'm not condemning, here, I'm just continuing with the wtf? Any scientist-types are welcome to 'splain, Lucy, because I don't understand.

Also, and I am griping a little here, um. Why is it that the ONLY major news source on the most recent study is the CBC? Why isn't CNN or NPR covering it? I might have missed it, but I did what I thought was a pretty good search. And I'm sorry, but I really think it's a little more newsworthy than the misbehaviour of Miss USA.

It might be my cynical little mind at work, here, but I can't help thinking about those news stories that say, "A blahblahblah jet crashed today in blahblah. There were no Americans killed."

There's no excuse for CNN or NPR (or the BBC, for that matter?) not covering the recent research results. I've seen diabetes do terrible things to people, and any good thing happening should be shouted from the highest hills. I know it's a sacrifice, America, but couldn't we wait a day or so to learn that Dubya is Happy for Pregnant Mary Cheney? *headdesk*

I couldn't find any major news source anywhere with a headline on the first study. It's probably dropped off Google in the past three years. I probably heard it on NPR originally, because that's my main US news source and I don't watch broadcast TV.


In other news,

Dear Lady Macbeth Rummy,

Don't let the door hit you in the arse on your way out. Please use provided basin to wash the blood from your hands before you leave.

Oh, and this one's for you:

Elton John - Goodbye

No Love at All,

Me (and millions of others, say true)

P.S. Please ignore strikeout. Any comparison between you and the aforementioned lady is incongruent, because well, she developed a conscience before she checked out.

you're a beauty like I've never witnessed and I've seen the Northern Lights dance in the air

Raw Video: Northern Lights


ETA: Also this, which has nothing to do with the first link. I just didn't want to spam too much. :D