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“Never ask for a name. Ask instead what those you meet would like to be called” – Doctor Occult

Well, I got boosted from bedski at the all-to-early hour of 5am, so I’m up up up, now. I’m pleased that the server is behaving the way it should, now, as there were errors getting into the primary login database last night.. I’m glad we have multiple servers for just such an occasion.

Error Diagnostic Information:
ODBC Error Code = ()

Unknown connection error for the data source, ‘CODEREDDB.’

SQL = “SELECT * FROM Users WHERE Login=’—–‘ AND Password=’——‘ AND Good=1”

Data Source = “CODEREDDB”

The error occurred while processing an element with a general identifier of (CFQUERY), occupying document position (24:1) to (27:37).

Date/Time: 11/24/03 21:08:58
Browser: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; YComp 5.0.0.0; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Remote Address: 69.154.98.63
HTTP Referer: https://www.coderedweb.com/login/

It was remedied quickly by a remote reboot of the server, but it shouldn’t have happened at all. That’s just pesky.

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I scored 8/10 on my LJ Friends Quiz.

How well do you know your Livejournal friends?

LJ Friends Quiz by hutta

Argh.. I didn’t recognise paidmembers (I thought it was news), and I thought gael was nomi. Reasonable confusion, given the snippets, I think.. 80% is not too shabby. I like the idea of it taking little bits and pieces like it does. it’s good for “cut-ups”.

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otakukin : A livejournal community for people who sincerely believe that they’re the reincarnated souls of cartoon/movie/literary characters (frequently more than one). Found via this rant. The people there seem nice enough.. it amazes me that LJ can group of *any* kind of folks together. I wonder how many folks actually believe, how many are just play acting for fun, and how many are play acting to see what sort of replies they’ll get? I wonder how this extrapolates from the “I’m Napoleon” sort of belief of folks in an earlier time, imprinting on a famous person (or persona) out of some need to be someone else?

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Lost and Found Sound at NPR, including the only known recording of the lost South African language of Kukasi.

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Is this *the* Sally Brunot’s daughter? Also in Virginia.. Sally and Bill were great friends of the family, and Sally worked with my mother at the hair place in the 70s. I’m inclined to send her an email, and see what’s what. She looks quite a bit like the Sally we knew, too. I found out about the person by reviewing my web-hits.

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Does Paul Shaffer sing the Aladdin cartoon theme? It’s sort of funny picturing a little bald dude with Lennon-glasses singing it. I know he’s the voice of Hermes on Hercules.

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I hear that Michael “I’ve never turned down a role yet” Caine is in talks to play Alfred Pennyworth the new Batman film. That’s kind of wacky, but par for the course. The live-action Thunderbirds movie is just wrong… though…It’d be cool, but screwed up if they had live action people *MADE UP* as puppets. I’d pay money to see that.

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Cinnamon spice produces healthier blood (via flying_blind)

Just half a teaspoon of cinnamon a day significantly reduces blood sugar levels in diabetics, a new study has found. The effect, which can be produced even by soaking a cinnamon stick your tea, could also benefit millions of non-diabetics who have blood sugar problem but are unaware of it.

The discovery was initially made by accident, by Richard Anderson at the US Department of Agriculture’s Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland.

“We were looking at the effects of common foods on blood sugar,” he told New Scientist. One was the American favourite, apple pie, which is usually spiced with cinnamon. “We expected it to be bad. But it helped,” he says.

Sugars and starches in food are broken down into glucose, which then circulates in the blood. The hormone insulin makes cells take in the glucose, to be used for energy or made into fat.

But people with Type 1 diabetes do not produce enough insulin. Those with Type 2 diabetes produce it, but have lost sensitivity to it. Even apparently healthy people, especially if they are overweight, sedentary or over 25, lose sensitivity to insulin. Having too much glucose in the blood can cause serious long-term damage to eyes, kidneys, nerves and other organs.

Molecular mimic

The active ingredient in cinnamon turned out to be a water-soluble polyphenol compound called MHCP. In test tube experiments, MHCP mimics insulin, activates its receptor, and works synergistically with insulin in cells.

To see if it would work in people, Alam Khan, who was a postdoctoral fellow in Anderson’s lab, organised a study in Pakistan. Volunteers with Type 2 diabetes were given one, three or six grams of cinnamon powder a day, in capsules after meals.

All responded within weeks, with blood sugar levels that were on average 20 per cent lower than a control group. Some even achieved normal blood sugar levels. Tellingly, blood sugar started creeping up again after the diabetics stopped taking cinnamon.

The cinnamon has additional benefits. In the volunteers, it lowered blood levels of fats and “bad” cholesterol, which are also partly controlled by insulin. And in test tube experiments it neutralised free radicals, damaging chemicals which are elevated in diabetics.

Buns and pies

“I don’t recommend eating more cinnamon buns, or even more apple pie – there’s too much fat and sugar,” says Anderson. “The key is to add cinnamon to what you would eat normally.”

The active ingredient is not in cinnamon oils. But powdered spice can be added to toast, cereal, juice or coffee.

Anderson’s team were awarded patents related to MHCP in 2002. But the chemical is easily obtained. He notes that one of his colleagues tried soaking a cinnamon stick in tea. “He isn’t diabetic – but it lowered his blood sugar,” Anderson says.

The group now plans to test even lower doses of cinnamon in the US, and also look at long-term blood sugar management with the spice.

Journal reference: Diabetes Care (vol 26, p 3125)