Yeah baby....did pretty well on the Physics Test. Today I had one in Marketing that I think went ok, hopefully the A range or at least high B. Two more down, two incredibly intimidating ones to go. School does not let up.
I have been listening to Randy Newman's new Cd quite a bit lately. Its called Harps and Angels if your interested. He is a great story teller. Most people hear that name and think Toy Story/Pixar films, and although I think the songs he wrote for those films are amazing, it not close to his best work. Sail Away is probably his very best stuff, but I am fan of all his phases because the writing is always incredible. Sail Away is particualarly good. I am a big fan of the song Memo to my Son on that one. Randy Newman also has this thing about writing love songs, he hardly does it at all. But when he does they are amazing. Here is Feels Like Home from his latest record and it is pretty amazing. I want to learn to play it, so I got the music.
Still good even in old age. Few artists like that.
I am going to start updating you periodically with a few different types of updates that I find interesting. The first type of update that I will present today has been inspired by my Physiology class. I am part grossed out and part intrigued by unique deformities in Human Physiology, and how they are going about being cured or fixed. This may be a bit graphic for people, so you may not want to watch these clips
THE TREEMAN
This really interested me. This guy Dede from Indonesia cut his knee as a teenager and was exposed to the paplliae virus which caused root-like warts to spring all over his body, making him appear to be a tree. In one interview he claims to have had dreams as a child about becoming swallowed by trees. That is pretty spooky, I am sure he is a very superstitious guy. Anyways, the sad part is that he couldn't do work anymore, his wife left him, and he had to get a job in a travelling Freak Show to support his kids. When doctors initially tried to cure him, he figured that he was better off just keeping his freakshow job. Eventually they convinced him to undergo some tests. Turns out, he has an extremely rare immunity deficiency and the fungal growths invaded the cells with absolutely no resistance whatsoever. See for yourself.
The good news is that they figured out how to help him. An American doctor was watching a documentary about him and thought he could help. He discovered that high doses of vitamin A are for some reason helpful in eliminating the papillae virus. Dede agreed and has made much progress since then into eliminating the tree like projections. Here is an update,
I am glad to see he is getting better. That is a really sad story. I am sure he was ostracized from alot of his community. It happens in the U.S. all the time with deformities to a much lesser degree.
His dream about becoming a tree as a child reminded me of the final seconds in this music video of one of Radiohead's best songs. I wonder if this is inspired by Dede?
Ok thats enough. Sorry no funny videos today,
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