Biotech Drugs Need Only 7 Years Protection, U.S. Says -----Biologic drugs should be subject to generic competition in the U.S. after seven years, the Obama administration said, calling it a “generous compromise.”----
This "compromise" may be appropriate to Roche, Genentech, and Amgen but this will kill inovation in small biotech. Maybe I am in the wrong business.....
Its been 3 years today since I had 3 cervical vertebrae fused with donor bone and a metal plate. Its only just recently that I could stop the vicodin and can work out extensively in the gym (may have something to do with how well I feel).
I am glad I had the surgery and grateful to be this well even if its never going be the flexible neck I once had.
Its an odd time for anniversaries. 10 years at the same biotech company. 20 years since tanks rolled into that square in China.
Coldplay metaphors I have Coldplay's Viva la Vida on my workout playlist so listen to it almost everyday. My first impression of the song's meaning (and it is good enough to be open to multiple interpretations) was that it was the confession of a man who had got so powerful, arrogant and controlling in his life that the one person that kept him honest (his lover perhaps) had left him and now he is out of control ("once you go there was never an honest word"). This morning I googled for the most common interpretations and found them all very literal and specific (i.e. its about Napoleon, etc.). This is really a mirror on me that I would even be worried about staying balanced in a position of power, while most folks listen to the song without reflecting on themselves at all. http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/c/coldplay/viva_la_vida.html
Catalysis Magick is the catalyst in the chemical reaction. It is the enzyme in the biological process. It is the symbiosis in the ecological process. Magick is the booster rocket, the accelerator. The end result is possible but more difficult without the catalyst. A protein will breakdown to its component amino acids given enough heat and time, but an enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown will release that energy at an incredibly accelerated rate. I use magick as a catalyst. However, I still must work hard for results. By applying a catalyst I increase my odds of success. I must work hard in my garden to get a bountiful harvest, and by incorporating magick (techniques, potions, prayers, etc) I can be more successful. I must do the hard work as well as the magick because without hard work I will not get a good result. Of course hard work is magick as well. This approach of hard work with a magickal boost has proven useful in my lab work and in all aspects of my life.
Just the facts, Ma'am Most of you are too young to remember Dragnet and the fact is Detective Joe Friday never actually said "Just the facts, Ma'am" but it still reflects an admirable philosophy about information gathering. Well it may have been a long time ago, but I miss hearing just the facts on the news and at work, instead of all this endless speculation. Reporters can spend ages speculating about something that will be revealed in another day if we can just be patient. Speculation is not news and breeds paranoid scenarios. They are selling my company and all the staff who have no facts spend hours speculating about our fate. I have had my fill of it!
Marvin In college (~1980) I was a big fan of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, especially Marvin the Paranoid Robot. My friends were equally obsessed. One friend worked at a University library in "Marvin Hall" and stole a massive roll of tiny stickers that had the word Marvin on it and nothing else. It was about 1/2 by 1/4 inch. We hatched this plan that we were the "Church of Marvin" and divided the stickers amongst ourselves. We then proceeded to place the stickers in odd places to see if folks would start noticing and if we could find placements from others (kind of an easter egg hunt). Since we were in college and many of our friends were from other parts of the country or abroad, we began to hear that stickers were turning up on the Eiffel Tower, Sears Tower, Empire State Building etc. when folks went on vacation or back home That same year I adopted a kitten from the shelter and he seemed to have the same personality as marvin the Robot, so I named him Marvin. Most folks assumed I named him after the Looney Tunes character, but if you knew my obsession for HHGG and robots you would understand. He was the most peculiar cat I have even known and not just because he would fetch.
I wonder if there are still folks out there that remember the Marvin Sticker stunt?
I am huge fan of the band XTC because primarily they are brit pop. But the pagan in me loves the messages in their songs. Here is my list of favorite, pagan inspired songs from them (note the actual names of the songs are not listed below, only the youtube links):
I don't make this 127 stuff up. I organize a Community Involvement Committee at work and our latest effort was warm coats for the homeless. Here was the final tally email that went out today (I did not write it):
What a HUGE SUCCESS!
Our partnership with "M" has resulted in collecting a total of 127 coats for the One Warm Coat drive. Over 100 coats came from "C" employees alone!
Thanks to everyone who donated a coat and made this first ever coat drive a huge success!
There is an Eddie Izzard routine about how absurd the old practice of having women take on their husband’s last name is, especially the bit where they are being referred to as Mrs. John Smith. The woman is dissolved into the man. To point out the absurdity he suggests that when the woman is the more powerful public figure, then the man should be dissolved into the woman. He even uses Prince Phillip as an example. Should not he not be referred to as King Elizabeth?
At work yesterday I was joking with coworkers that since Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Darwin, and Abe Lincoln are having their 200th birthdays within a few weeks of each other (more aquarians) that there must be a joke there. So they challenged me to write one. Here it is:
Darwin, Poe, and Lincoln walk into a bar.
The bartender says "Happy 200th birthday fellas. Drinks are on the house"
Bartender pours them drinks and says "Cheers Mr. Lincoln to the end of slavery and the election of our first black president."
Lincoln replies "Our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
Bartender pours another drinks and says "Cheers Mr. Darwin to the end of Intelligent Design in our schools."
Darwin replies "Survival of the fittest."
Bartender pours one last drink and says "Cheers Mr. Poe to the death of Elitist New England Presidents pretending to be average-Joe Texans."
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