I believe that it has been long recognized that exercise increases core body temperature. I’ve wondered if, perhaps, this is one of the (many) reasons why people who exercise are generally healthier than those who do not. In more recent years, we’ve seen hyperthermia used in cancer treatments as well. So, could it actually benefit us to occasionally raise our body temperatures into the 38-39 range for a few hours per week? This article makes me wonder a bit more…

Exercise causes a large number of temperature changes throughout the body, particularly in this case there is no single “body temperature”. The temperature inside working muscles during high intensity, long-term exercise can reach 45C or higher. The limiting factor during exercise is actually the “battle” for blood between muscles and skin – the former to provide energy and eliminate wastes, the latter to cool the blood through sweat and radiation. Eventually too much blood perfuses the skin, the muscles run out of sugar and simply shut down. The physiological changes that occur with exercise are widespread and go far beyond just a rise in temperature (here is a starting point, though it does note that changes in temperature is often ignored in in vitro experiments )

You have generated an hypothesis.
I trust you know what comes next.
Your problem will be accounting for confounding variables.
Good luck!

Honestly, I can see a bit of outrage. Try substituting “blacks” or “Jews”, or “atheists” in instead of the current subject and it becomes considerably more uncomfortable, and yet that’s essentially the same thing that’s being done.

I didn’t realise conservative libertarians were a marginalised group, a persecuted minority denied rights, treated as subhuman, with a history of persecution, torture, death and grave poverty.

As someone who happens to (unfortunately) belong to three or four such minority groups, I’ve experienced verbal, physical and sexual abuse/assault, been made homeless, denied work and medical treatment, and currently live on one third of the income that my government considers to represent a poverty level existence.

I cannot change any of the factors that render me a minority group member, they’re not affectations or allegiances, they’re who I am. Some hard-coded before birth, others the result of factors beyond my control, all mark me as less-than, or unworthy of basic human dignity, to a large number of people in society. All of them have played a part in the deaths of people like me, all over the globe.

I’m not even factoring in the part of me that aches for the loss of my grandfather’s family in the Nazi death camps.

Thank Hawking I’m not black or transgender, or I’d be in an even worse position, relatively speaking.

If the most that whinging Libertarians have to worry about is an aside so mild that I had to look for it three times (I only found it because Dr Gorski mentioned the asterisk), then comparing them to groups who continue to suffer from discrimination and bigotry on a daily basis is not only offensive, it’s so bloody mind-blowingly stupid that I’m surprised you can type and breathe at the same time.

Comparing disadvantaged, targeted and abused populations to a group that’s comprised of mostly middle-class white men, is just incredible. It’s one of those things that provoke the ‘laugh or cry?’ reaction.

Nevertheless, the wailing, tantrum-chucking, dummy-spitting Libertarians can be assured that all the moisture in my body, in the form of my tears, is currently being shed because some pillock has taken the huff over being compared to a lizard.

Oh wait, no. I’m crying for the lizards, who are fabulous dinosaur beasties, and do not deserve to be compared to mewling man-children who spend their days bemoaning any hint of a social contract, and shrieking “MAH TAX DOLLARS!” at the slightest provocation.

But then, I’m one of those dirty European socialist types, who thinks taxes should be increased when there’s a public services deficit, so I’m clearly not to be trusted.

*whistles ‘The Red Flag’*

Dr Crislip – never change. All the best to you (and almost everyone else) for 2013.

As an analogy, I would not go into a person’s home (blog) and be a bad guest by telling them the soup is too salty, the wine off, the main course too tart, the wife in need of a facelift and the whole house in need of total redecoration.

That would just be rude.

Was, “(Note: fast forware to about 20 sec into the video, the first few seconds are part of the story.)”

Should be:
(Note: fast forward to about 20 sec into the video, the first few seconds are NOT part of the story.)

Sorry.

It does happen. This video shows a sailor getting sucked into the intake of what the History Channel says in an A-6 Intruder (though they continuously show and EA-6B Prowler in their recreation videos – something likely only noticed by pedantic aircraft nerds). This occurred on the the USS Teddy Roosevelt in 1991 during the 1st Gulf War. The sailor survives and needs follow up. He is lucky to be alive. (Note: fast forware to about 20 sec into the video, the first few seconds are part of the story.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF3Iz7b95-8&NR=1&feature=endscreen

A shorter version of the story is here (Spike channel refers to it as an “A-6 Fighter Jet” while the A-6 was an attack aircraft (hence the “A”) and did not shoot down other aircraft but dropped bombs (turned big dirt into little dirt)):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF3Iz7b95-8&NR=1&feature=endscreen

Sometimes the left does boneheaded things (opposition to vaccination being one of them, mocked here with vigor) and sometimes the right (opposition to teaching evolution).

Actually, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that antivaccinationism is a sadly bipartisan bit of quackery. Yes, there’s the stereotype that antivaxers are mainly crunchy lefty ex-hippies or entitled affluent lefties with more money than sense (to steal from the famous Mitchell and Webb sketch about homeopathy), but there is a very hard core right wing antivaccine contingent, particularly on the fringe libertarian side, more commonly referred to as “health freedom.” (Think General Bert Stubblebine, for example.) Lefty antivaxers tend to justify their beliefs through their extreme distrust of big pharma while the right-wing antivaxers tend to justify their opposition to “forced vaccination” on the basis of their distrust of government. Indeed, the biggest antivaccinationist in Congress (fortunately, soon to be out of Congress in four days) is a Republican, Dan Burton. In fact, I’m hard-pressed to think of a single Democrat antivaxer currently serving in Congress, although I’m sure if there is such a person someone will correct me. Even the biggest quackery supporter in Congress, Tom Harkin (who is the Democratic Senator who used his clout to create NCCAM) is not antivaccine, at least not to the best of my knowledge.

What I’m saying is that at least the issue of antivaccine views is more complex than a simple left-right dichotomy. It is not at all clear that there is more antivaccine sentiment on the left than there is on the right, as discussed by my “friend” here:

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/03/01/politics-versus-science/

I do concede, though, that if there is an issue on which the left tends to be way more antiscience than the right it’s definitely GMOs.

Frankly, I usually spread my insults and ridicule pretty evenly to avoid prejudice.

Hmmm…my post was directed against me2earth. I hope that was clear.
What I’m saying is…it’s your blog post, so you can conduct it however you damn well please, and if someone doesn’t like it they can just f…yeah.

And wouldn’t it be boring it everyone obeyed the same rules, if everyone was nice and and accommodating and politically correct. I wouldn’t want to live in a world where everyone was a Neil deGrasse Tyson clone. Boring. Nothing against Neil deGrasse Tyson…except that the most exciting thing about him is his name (I’m joking of course).

And who the hell is me2earth anyway…an intelligent, conservative, atheist, libertarian? You have to be kidding, right? I mean, I’ll give him the atheist bit, but really…intelligent conservative libertarian? Come on.

I’m not sucking up (okay, maybe), but I like how you think. I have a disabled kid who may never be able to have a job, but is not disabled enough to qualify for our state’s Department of Developmental Disabilities (he has been rejected already). Along with some spurious mental health issues, he may become one of the great uninsured if our efforts to prevent that are not successful.

Le sigh.

Considering the number of times Dr. Crislip makes something fairly close to the same joke, I’m just surprised I beat him to it The classics never get old.

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