December 08, 2005
Thanks (Again)
Thanks to all who've written with such nice words about this blog and it's return.
It's very humbling to read 'thank you' notes from people I've never met. It means a lot.
Posted by Dave at 06:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 22, 2005
We're Back!
What a nightmare! After being off line for three weeks we are now back. So what happened?
Making a long story shorter...
The absolutely horrendous 'Melbourne IT', an Australian company, shut down access to the domain name 'huntingtons.info'. When we contacted them they wanted 10 times the normal fee to reinstate the domain name. Left without options, we sent in the paperwork with the payment information.
Nothing happened. We sent it in again. And again. And Again. And Again. And Again. Four days after the last time they finally reinstated the domain. During this period I could not even get a reply to an email as to the status. I got one response when I submitted a 'ticket' via their website and they promptly answered THREE days later.
Melbourne IT may quite possibly be the worst company in it's industry.
So that's why we were shut down for three weeks.
Posted by Dave at 09:19 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 15, 2005
Thank You
After months of extremely irregular posting, I post two messages in a row and in response I get two quick (and very nice) comments welcoming me back!
Thank you. I'm surprised anybody is checking back after the irregular posting the last few months.
I started the blog almost two years ago. I am not at risk for getting Huntington's Disease but it has deeply affected my life. Starting the HD Blog was something I wanted to do to help the community at large. In response to my postings I received so many kind comments and emails from people who said that the website had made a difference in their lives. I can't tell you how gratifying that is to hear that!
The last few months have been a challenge for me. Suffice it to say, I have not participated in local HD activities out of respect to the wishes of another in the community. Between that, a hectic work life, and merging a family (I'm getting married next month)...the blog (and the readers) has suffered. My apologies. You deserve better.
There really has been a tremendous amount of wonderful news for the Huntington's Disease community that I have not posted here. I'm hoping to change that in the months ahead.
Do not give up hope! We are entering an amazing age in medicine and scientific research. The HD community is one of the early beneficiaries of these new advances.
Posted by Dave at 08:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 14, 2005
Engaged!
Hmmm, this blog sure isn't getting updated like it used too!
It'll eventually get back to (near) daily updates, but here's one of the life reasons for the reduced postings...I'm now engaged to be married. I asked my future wife to marry me last Friday night while on a ski trip with her family and preparations leading up to the wonderful event have kept me busy.
The important thing is...she said 'yes'!
It looks like the marriage will be in late July.
Posted by Dave at 05:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 16, 2005
Great News Coming
There has been a lot of great & interesting HD news in the last few days. I'll have it up shortly!
Posted by Dave at 06:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 01, 2005
Happy New Year!
We've survived another year!
2004 was a big year for Huntington's Disease research and 2005 looks even better. We may see two drugs approved this year for the treatment of Huntingon's Disease - no magic cures just yet ones that may help those with the disease.
Keep the faith!
Posted by Dave at 11:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 26, 2004
I'm Back!
My unplanned break is over and I'll be posting regularly again.
For those who are wondering, my health and energy are finally starting to bounce back and I'm looking forward to once again bringing you the latest news that affects our community.
Thanks for all the kind comments and concerns. I appreciated them all!
Posted by Dave at 07:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 13, 2004
What's Going On?
I received an email this weekend asking about what was going on with this website. I gave a quick answer to the email but here is a longer response to all of you...
I've made a point to try to post at least once a day to this website for nearly a 1 1/2 years. I am grateful that I've had the opportunity to do so. But...I'm sick and tired. Literally. I've been sick the last couple of weeks and I've been drained at the end of the each day. It's nothing serious and I'm (hopefully) getting better.
I'm also at one of the many crossroads that we reach in our lives. The crossroads, this time, involves a dear, dear friend who is HD gene-positive (and the inspiration for this website). I must respect her privacy, so there is little I can say here. If you are a religious person, I ask that you pray for her. Her family wants her and Loves her, but she does not believe this to be true as there has been a terrible miscommunication.
One thing I have found out the last couple of weeks is that HD is "in my blood". While I am not "at risk" but my attachment to the HD community couldn't be stronger. I also agree with my girlfriend said to me...
"HD is Evil"
And, typically, she is right.
But, HD is now being beaten. We are now in the last generation of Huntington's Disease.
We...can't...stop...now.
Posted by Dave at 06:44 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
November 10, 2004
My Time Flies
The break was totally unplanned but welcome. More posts to come.
Posted by Dave at 06:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 03, 2004
Thank You
Some may find this surprising but I'll go months without checking my my "traffic" - how many people visit this website.
I took a look tonight to see how much of a bump this website got from Command-Post.org. It wasn't much of a bump, but...
I was shocked at how much traffic continues to steadily grow. October was the busiest month ever.
Thank you for your support!
Posted by Dave at 09:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 01, 2004
Welcome Command-Post Visitors
If you've clicked through to here from the Command-Post website you may have noticed we are not a current affairs/political blog. The HD Blog is one of the first blogs devoted to a disease - Huntington's Disease (HD).
HD is a (currently) incurable disease that generally strikes after the age of 35. It's been described as a combination of Alzheimers, Parkinson's, & Manic Depression all rolled into one disease. It's a hereditary disease where offspring have a 50% chance of getting the disease.
HD was one of the first diseases to have its root genetic cause found. The gene was identified in 1993. Data from HD research was used in the Human Genome project (identified markers).
Today there is no cure for the always-fatal Huntington's Disease and too little money put into support and research. Despite that, treatments and potential cures are now finding real success in the lab and its believed that they will reach patients in the next 6-10 years. It appears that HD may be one of the first diseases to be successfully treated through RNAi research.
If you wish to help please take the time to learn more about the disease. Urge your politicians to support the ban on genetic discrimination which hits our community hard. Too many of our community members must hide this disease in order to maintain their jobs and insurance.
Thank you for visiting and please come back!
Posted by Dave at 11:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 31, 2004
Command-Post
As mentioned before. I'll be blogging the election for Command-Post.org. You can see my Colorado postings here.
I'll be one of 85 bloggers voluneering for this effort. Stay tuned!
Posted by Dave at 06:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 30, 2004
Trackback Spam
Imagine my surprise this morning (4am) when I noticed the spam hitting the website. I had gotten up early to do some client work but instead found myself trying to stop the spam. Turns out this version of the software doesn't have an easy way to stop it. I ended up 'breaking' the trackback system to stop the spam.
As you may know, I redid the coding on this website about a month ago to reduce the comment spam. I had to do this when I started to get well over 100 spam comments a night. I had to delete them one at a time.
It's now harder for automated programs to drop comment spam on this website and, so far, not one has succeeded.
Now there's a new type of spam...trackback spam. Blogs, such as this one, use 'Trackbacks' to notify readers of other blogs that have referenced an article. Now the spammers are using this feature to post their spam on blogs.
Before I broke the trackback feature, the website received 20 highly-pronographic (misspelling on purpose, unlike the other ones) messages in the span of 50 minutes.
Looks like I'll need to make more changes.
Posted by Dave at 11:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 24, 2004
Spreading The Word
Suppose you had a website devoted to covering Huntington's Disease and you had an opportunity to introduce it to 100's of thousands of people. Would you take the opportunity?
I did. Next week a popular blog/website will be covering the election and they've asked for volunteers to cover events in each of the 50 states. I've volunteered to cover Colorado (I probably won't be the only one) and in return they'll reference this blog.
The website is http://www.command-post.org and (I believe) they expect 1,000,000-2,000,000 page hits that day. It could be higher. I'll be posting something on this website explaining Huntington's Disease to those who've never heard of it.
I'll keep you posted!
Posted by Dave at 11:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 06, 2004
Comments Are Working Again
We're slowly getting the new site fully functional. You can now post comments to messages.
The process has changed slightly as comments are now authenticated by Typekey. Hopefully this will stop the spammers who use automated programs to dump 100's of ads on this site.
Posted by Dave at 09:53 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 02, 2004
Getting Closer
It's been a challenge, but the rebuild of HD Blog is almost done. Keep checking back!
Posted by Dave at 03:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 20, 2004
Some Comments Not Showing
A hangover from making changes to stop the comment spammers...
Some (non-spam) comments are not showing at the moment. They have not been deleted. They will show up again once I've identified the problem in the code.
Posted by Dave at 11:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 19, 2004
Oops
I received a very nice note from Dr. LaVonne Goodman regarding her guest editorial last week and my comments on her editorial.
It appears I read her articles out of order. When I wrote my comments I misstated what she had to say. After I've had a chance to reread both items, I'll post revised comments. Until that time, so that my error does not cause any misunderstandings I've moved my original comments off-line.
Posted by Dave at 09:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 07, 2004
The Spam Battle Continues
A little bit of a break from the HD front...
This last weekend this website got hit with 100's of spam comments. These are fake comments generated by a computer program to create links to websites. This is done by unethical websites to raise their rankings in the search engines.
The sheer volume required a considerable amount of my time and, as a result, I've had to rewrite some code to this website to make it more difficult for these automated programs to post their links to pron (intentionally misspelled as that word hurts web rankings), casino, & drug websites.
This is a temporary fix and I'll be doing some more work over the next month on this website. Much of the work has been long overdue (more than a year).
So...excuse the dust as we go through our remodeling!
Posted by Dave at 11:15 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 06, 2004
Oops
Everybody makes mistakes, but I'm an expert at it!
I made (another) one a little while back. Michael Fumento had written an article on Ron Reagan's speech at the Democratic convention. After some internal debate I decided to write a piece on it and I had these 'nice things' to say about Michael Fumento's article: "heavy-handed in his criticism of Ron Reagan" and I said that it "isn't true" that embryonic stem cells had never been used in human testing. I even referenced a study as proof. (As I'm sure you know, anybody who references a study is always right!)
Well, Mr. Fumento read what I had to say and he had some choice words to say to me...
And they were all pleasant and polite. If you read the comments on that posting you'll see he wrote:
"Thanks for the mention, but I'm right even on that one part. The abstract you link to explicitly refers to "fetal neural tissue," which is exactly that. It is not embryonic stem cells. A fetus by definition has developed past the embryonic stage and contains no ESC cells.
Best,
Mike Fumento"
And, yes, he's right. I missed the distinction, which in an important one in this discussion. Not only is he a good writer, he's nice also. Where would the world be if everybody was like this? Probably much more pleasant with skinnier newspapers.
I guess I better buy his book.
Posted by Dave at 08:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 04, 2004
Know A Good Lawyer?
I've spent a chunk of the today deleting spam messages that have been added to this website. They do this knowing that most website won't delete them and the extra links move them up on the search engines. And this takes time, which I am out of for today.
If there are any lawyers who would like to work on a percentage basis, I've got an idea....Since these websites are so eager to post their spa...err, advertising on my website. I'll let them do that, for a $10,000 fee per message. Of course I can't promise that the message will remain on the website for very long, but that is the chance they'd take.
Think some enterprising lawyer would like to collect on that? Could add up to millions of profits for the ambitious attorney. I bet web sites would sign up for miles around to offer this advertising, if they knew it would be collected.f
Doubt I'll find one tongiht. One other thing...
Tell your loved one's that you love them. It's one of the greatest gifts you can give.
Posted by Dave at 10:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 17, 2004
500...Really?
Yep, this website passed 500 posts this past week. And it's only been a little over a year. Wow!
It hasn't been easy at times, it can be hard to write something everyday about a 'rare' disease. But I can tell you, it has definitely been worth my time.
We live in a wonderful age! There are amazing things happening in medicine and science.
In the next few years, the Huntington's community is going to benefit from these advances. While most don't realize it, we've entered a whole new age of medicine. Doctors and researchers are now learning to understand diseases at the DNA level and Huntington's is going to be one of the first beneficiaries of this knowledge.
But it is going to be humanity that is going to benefit from Huntington's research...and almost nobody knows it. It was Huntington's research that identified the 'huntingtin' protein.
In order to create a cure, researchers had to understand just what the 'good' huntingtin protein did and what the 'mutated' protein did. The results are surprising. The huntingtin protein is at the heart of cell life and death - the signaling which helps determine when a cell lives or dies. This not only has implications to the 'prion' diseases such as ALS or Mad Cow disease, but in 'mainstream' diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
The knowledge that researchers gleam from the research of the huntingtin protein may one day lead to the ability to slow or stop the aging process. What an impact that will have on humanity! (I'll leave the rest of you to argue whether that is good or bad!)
I know, I know...that sounds like science fiction. But think about it, researchers for this little known disease are uncovering the secrets to why cells die and why the DNA/RNA replication process goes haywire (and how to prevent it). The methods that are developed involving RNAi (siRNA) will be altered in attempt to control other diseases, even stop viruses such as the cold and flu.
As I sit here, I see some wonderful things happening. Huntington's WILL be cured in my lifetime. I really believe that.
No! I know that! I believe we are seeing the last of people who will die from this disease, just as we saw polio end it's toll a generation ago.
I believe we'll see an effective cure, available to the public, within nine years. Already we are seeing the emergence of treatments that will slow the progression of the disease. Your children, and other who are not symptomatic, may never experience the ravages of Huntington's Disease. At this rate, even some who may be symptomatic today might be saved.
This is the end of a sad era and we are going to see it happen!
I know, I know... Some of you reading this have been told a thousand times... "a cure is around the corner" and the continued disappointment now makes it hard to be optimistic. I understand, but let me tell you this... our children and grandchildren are not going to have to experience the heartache that our parents and grandparents endured (or even us).
I'm looking forward to the next 500 posts on this website and I'm looking forward to what is on the horizon. I'll do my best to let you know what is happening. But most of all, don't forget...
Now there is hope!
Posted by Dave at 07:45 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
June 26, 2004
Blogiversary
Yep! The HD Blog is celebrating it's blogiversary today. It's hard to believe that it has been one year since we opened up. We are one of the first medical blogs to focus on one specific disease - Huntington's Disease.
We never expected to receive Instapundit traffic or be the recipient of an Instalanche, but the goal has been to provide up-to-date news on matters that affect those in the Huntington's Disease community.
I especially wanted to bring some hope with this website. Last year I saw that there was a lot of good news in the research community but so few in our community seemed to know about it and I wanted to do my part in changing that.
At times it's been hard. My schedule last fall went crazy and there was less time to spend on the blog. I've kept up the posting schedule but I've slacked on updates to the code, design, and links. My schedule also prevented me from attending wonderful symposium in Florida, the HDSA convention in St. Louis, and the HDDW kickoff meeting in California. I've also had days, just like everybody else in our community, where it gets to be overwhelming.
Then there were the deaths in our community. Too many to mention of course, but two in particular hit hard: Jerry Lampson from cancer and Lou Wilkinson from a Canadian health system failure.
Other deaths, tragic as they were, brought something to our community. Reagan's death turned, at least for a while, the national discussion on health care away from cost cutting to medical research. Bert Eymberts was memorialized in a bronze statue showing that those with the HD gene can save lives and make a difference in this world. Rev Ivy Ayris and the Rev Norman Gunn left over $400,000 to be used in the Australian Huntington's community.
But this was also a year that brought much hope!
There was the incredible news about 'curing' SCA1 in animals. The difference between SCA1 and Huntington's is very slight, the polyglutamine string is just in a different location. The same treatment can be targeted to the HD's polyglutamine string. This was just one of many advances in RNAi.
On other fronts...
UC Irvine found the protein, SUMO-1, that makes mutated huntingtin protein toxic. This discovery provides a new and, more importantly, a single target for researchers to attack in the search for an effective treatment.
HDDW, through much hard work and determination, is now delivering promising treatments to those in new, innovative drug trials around the country.
Nancy Wexler and a whole host of researchers came out with a huge HD study, again from Lake Maracaibo in Venezuala on the role of environmental factors in affecting Huntington's Disease.
In one of the most under-covered and important health stories in the last year...NIH restructured changed their focus in a way that will speed up research for diseases such as Huntington's.
A small and imperfect study showed amazing results from Creatine.
Recent research has found promise in Pyruvate, CoQ10, fish oil/EPA, trehalose, cysteamine, ursodiol, & minocycline as treatments that may slow the progression of Huntington's Disease.
I'm looking forward to this coming year as there is expected to be many exciting developments in the world of Huntington's Disease research. This blog will be reporting them as they are announced along with other related news. There is hope!
Posted by Dave at 08:19 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 20, 2004
Happy Father's Day!
Today's been a full day, so no new articles. I hope the holiday went well for everyone.
Posted by Dave at 11:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 18, 2004
Day Off
I'm taking a day off today. No postings todays.
Back again tomorrow.
Posted by Dave at 10:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 11, 2004
Spammed By A Blogger
I suppose it was inevitable, I got spammed by a blogger.
Some jerk with a blog posted an irrelevant comment that was only meant to drive traffic to his anti-Bush website.
Now this is quite a change as I'm usually deleting 'comments' that advertise 'bedroom' medications or the latest gambling site. Like this one, they all get deleted immediately.
So I checked this punk's website, he's made three posts on his blog in the last month. All the posts were "cut & paste" collections of Internet flotsam that is popular with the MoveOn crowd, but is largely false or inaccurate. None of it had anything to do with Huntington's Disease or health care.
This is going to be an ugly political season, folks. It's only just begun.
Posted by Dave at 10:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 15, 2004
Long Day
It's been a long day and I've run out of time. I know I promised a presidential candidate health care write up tonight, but I'm postponing it until tomorrow night.
There'll be a double-dip tomorrow with Gephardt and Kerry. See you then!
Posted by Dave at 10:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 07, 2004
Those Dumb Spammers...
One of the downsides of running a blog is that some spammers use automated software to post their ads in the comment section.
Just today I got hit with another round of spam which I quickly deleted. I decided to visit their website and would you believe....
there was absolutely no way to actually purchase what they were selling. The bought a domain name, setup a nice looking website, purchased and ran software that spammed thousands of websites and they forgot to include a way for people to actually give them money!!!
Makes you wonder if they'd forget to send the product even if they thought to collect the money!
Posted by Dave at 05:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 26, 2003
Happy Anniversary!
Well...it's been six months since this blog started. To the best of my knowledge, HD Blog was the first blog dedicated to a specific disease. Since that first post on June 26th, there has been over 250 posts.
Traffic to the website has been surprisingly strong and it is continuing to grow. Today, HD Blog is one of the most heavily visited HD websites and it is one of the busiest health/medical blogs on the internet. All this with almost no websites linking to us. That means we are growing by 'word-of-mouth'. Thank you!
There is still much to do here. I'm adding a section focused on the 2004 elections. There will also be a slight redesign with more links to other websites. I'll also be increasing efforts to let other blogs know about Huntington's. I'll also be adding a glossary and other reference material.
Keep visiting and be sure to tell your friends about this website!
Posted by Dave at 05:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 27, 2003
Giving Thanks
Today is Thanksgiving. This is the traditional day when we give thanks for all we have been given. I'd like to use this occasion to thank the many people who are working on behalf on Huntington's Disease.
THANKS to the researchers who do so much with so little money.
THANKS to the caregivers whose love keeps them going through the hard times.
THANKS to the doctors and nurses who take care of us.
THANKS to the counselors who give us the strength to continue.
THANKS to the friends who care and help knowing we can't do it all.
THANKS to the philanthropists that help finance our many needs.
THANKS to the nursing home staff who do what we can no longer do.
THANKS to the media who let others know about our reality.
THANKS to the politicians who are trying to get us the help we need.
THANKS to the volunteers who do so much with so little recognition.
THANKS to the webmasters who provide the information we need.
THANKS to the support group members who help and care for each other.
THANKS to the social workers who help us find the resources we need.
But most of all...I would like to thank those with Huntington's Disease who teach us so much about perseverance, hope, and courage.
We are a community filled with boundless love and compassion. I thank you all!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted by Dave at 10:47 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 15, 2003
Caveat Emptor or Buyer Beware
I was wrong.
What I wrote on the HD Blog was incorrect. The only problem is…
I don’t know what it is I wrote that is incorrect. Confused? Don’t be. This is just a friendly reminder to not trust everything you read here (or elsewhere) on Huntington’s Disease to always be accurate. I’m a layman who is offering my thoughts on HD here on a daily basis. I’ve spent many years in college and I’ve got multiple degrees but…none are in HD related fields such as genetics, biology, chemistry, etc. … I am not a medical professional nor do I play one on TV!
That does not necessarily mean I’m wrong on a particular point any more than it would mean that a person with an ‘appropriate’ college degree is always correct. Just take a look through a few study abstracts and you’ll find that two highly educated and professional research groups can come to opposite conclusions on a particular point. One or both are wrong; we just don’t know who it is.
Fortunately, we have a number of laypeople and professionals in the Huntington’s Disease community who provide information and opinions. Read as many of them as you can and don’t just rely on any one source for your information, including this website. We don’t all agree on everything!
I recently had a very pleasant email exchange with a college professor who gently took issue with a statement that I had made regarding environmental factors affecting the age of onset in Huntington’s Disease. Simply put, he believes that there is less evidence of this than I do. It may very well be that he is right on this and I am wrong. He certainly has more experience and training in this area than I do. I haven’t changed my mind (stubbornness?) but I will certain weigh his opinion when I read and write on related matters.
One area where there is disagreement is the nutritional supplement coQ10. Currently, I believe that in adequate doses (600mg/ed or higher) it appears to offer a ‘mild’ benefit to those with Huntington’s Disease. I can cite a few peer-reviewed studies that support my opinion. Another person, with more years of involvement with HD than me, believes that coQ10 offers no benefit and may in fact be harmful to those with Huntington’s. They can also point to real studies that support their opinion. One or both of us is wrong but if you read what both of us have written and consult with your doctor you can make a more informed decision on whether this supplement is right for you.
Speaking of doctors…don’t expect them to be always right either. Yes, they have the years of training and experience but they are human also. Even a specialist such as a neurologist has to keep up with research (some of it contradictory) for dozens of neurological (and other) diseases. It isn’t humanly possibly to be up to date on all the latest research for all the neurological diseases and have lots of real world experience in each of them.
Also, a neurologist is not a psychiatrist or a geneticist. They have some knowledge in these areas but there are others with more knowledge and experience. Finally, some doctors have better work ethics and people skills than others. Some just shouldn’t be doctors who see patients. Remember to trust your instincts and don’t be afraid to get referrals and second opinions. Ultimately, you are the ‘case manager’; the one who is ultimately responsible for your own health care and that of your family.
Be careful of those with their own “axes to grind” and ulterior motives. I’ve seen people make deliberately false statements about HD organizations and others in the community. The motives for this vary, but the effects are equally destructive.
I even know of one person who went on disability for Huntington’s Disease who was almost certainly asymptomatic at the time (and still is). This person now states that their surprisingly good state of health years later is due to a ‘miracle’ treatment gotten outside of normal medical circles. There is no one else in the entire world with Huntington’s Disease that has shown any similar benefit from this so-called treatment. (Of course it is possible to conceive of circumstances that would not involve of any intentional falsehood.)
So, in conclusion…
There are almost certainly errors on this website (and maybe even in this post). Since the first day of this blog, I’ve enabled comments so that you can post a correction or clarification should you find a problem. As a result I’ve had several readers through emails and comments point out errors and concerns and I give a special thanks to all of you who have done so.
Posted by Dave at 10:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 07, 2003
Changes Due To Spam
In the past few days I've had to delete 'comments' left on the blog that were nothing more than advertisements for x-rated websites, Viagra, and prescription diet pills. Since I'm sure my visitors are able to find such things on their own, I'll be making a change to the blog that will add a step to leaving a comment. This should end most of the spam.
Posted by Dave at 09:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 29, 2003
Bleepin Spammers
Some unethical organizations post commercial advertisements in the comments sections of Blogs. Forcing the bloggers to cover the cost of their advertising. The spammers use computer programs that can post thousands of SPAM's an hour using valuable disk space and bandwidth that the blogger must pay for.
I got hit tonight by a spammer offering prescription Viagra. When I looked up the company I found that this company used a .US domain name and yet they were based in Canada. They are spammers but they used a fake email address so they couldn't be spammed. They were violating several rules that must be met in order to have a .US domain name.
I turned them in to Neustar, the company that handles the .US domain. We'll see if they follow through. Bleepin spammers.
Posted by Dave at 10:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 21, 2003
Attack Update
This website has been unreachable for much of the day. The company that hosts this website has made changes that will make it harder for the pro-terrorist hackers to take us down.
Here's a link to one terrorist supporter talking about this and here's one update from Winds of Change and another.
Update: I'm throwing in a link to Laughing Wolf also (only because he makes a great wine recommendation!)
Update: Irreconcilable Musings has a good post on this. (Hat tip to Captain's Quarters).
Posted by Dave at 06:23 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
You're Not Going To Believe This
There has been instances the last couple of days where this website has been effectively knocked off line.
It's not because the bill hasn't been paid, it's because of an Al Qaeda related hacker attack.
I told you you wouldn't believe this!
This blog is hosted with the internet service provider "Hosting Matters", a popular ISP for bloggers. One blog, Internet Haganah, has been involved in shutting down as many as 300 Al Qaeda and terrorism websites around the world. Supporters of some of these shutdown websites have declared a holy war on Internet Haganah and have flooded Hosting Matter's network with a denial of service attack in an attempt to shut the site down.
These attacks end up affecting all of the other websites at Hosting Matters. So far these attacks haven't been covered by the major press but you can read about them Here, Here, Here, Here, and Here.
Update: Hosting Matter's comments on the attacks.
Posted by Dave at 12:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 15, 2003
Maybe Next Year
Blogs (web logs) can be based from anywhere, the HD Blog happens to be based in Colorado. One of the local papers, the Rocky Mountain News, had an excellent article today on Colorado blogs. Unfortunately, this blog wasn't mentioned (we are one of the first blogs ever to focus on a specific disease), but we'll withhold our disappointment long enough to congratulate the Colorado blogs who did get recognized:
TalkLeft.com
WalterInDenver.com
TBOTCOTW
Colorado Compound
Dave Cullen
Coyote Gulch
Dial 'M' For Maxwell
My Life Is A Mess
The Speculist
VodkaPundit
The World Wide Rant
Support the neighborhood and visit these blogs!
Posted by Dave at 03:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 04, 2003
The True Meaning Of Class
From time to time this blog will go 'off topic' and link to a story on another blog.
This is one of those times. Here is a wonderful story at the 'Petrified Truth' blog taken from San Diego Union-Tribune.
Thanks to Instapundit for the pointer. You can reach the piece here.
Semper Fi
Posted by Dave at 09:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 31, 2003
PETA Delayed
I know I promised the PETA article today but I've taken a personal day to spend time with friends and enjoy the holiday weekend. I'll have the finished PETA article tomorrow!
Posted by Dave at 09:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 21, 2003
No Blogging Today
Even though I started the day at 4am, it just ended with getting back late from an HD meeting. I'll post a fresh update tomorrow. Go check out Jerry's HD Lighthouse, he's got several new items on the front page.
Posted by Dave at 10:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 17, 2003
A Sad Day In The Blogosphere
Warning: This post has nothing to do with Huntington's Disease.
It's a sad day.
A friend of this blog is going through a difficult time. Venomous Kate’s Electric Venom blog has been a support of the HD Blog since the beginning. She has provided support, advice, and even some code for this blog. As far as I know, she did this without even knowing what Huntington’s Disease is. Because of her kindness and generosity, she is the only non-HD, non-medical website that I link to. She is one of the reasons this blog is what it is today. She’s a class act.
So what happened? First a little background. A common element in the blogosphere is the use of wit and repartee. Kate plays off this trait with her ‘Venomous’ moniker. At times the blogosphere’s wit and repartee is lighthearted and silly such when Frank J. blames Glenn of blending puppies. At other times the wit can get razor-sharp and nasty. The blogosphere has become a virtual Algonquin Round Table.
Like in the real world, with blogs misunderstandings can happen and feelings do get hurt. Sometimes this leads to a war between blogs where all stops are pulled out and people get hurt. A few weeks back, one blogger was reported fired from her job when a reader from another blog called her employer.
So what does this have to do with our friend Kate? A daughter she loves dearly did something she shouldn’t have done…she read her mom’s email. Her 12-year-old daughter found some private correspondence that, to her, indicated her mom had been attacked (the aforementioned wit & repartee). As 12-year-olds are want to do, she acted without thinking. Believing she was defending her mom, the daughter posted a nasty and very un-ladylike comment on the other blogger’s website – dagoddess.com. It wasn’t hard to trace the comment back to Kate’s house.
This is where the ugly part of the story begins. Other people posted rebuttal comments protecting Joanie (dagoddess). Some charged Kate with faking everything, being a drunk, and with being an abusive parent. So that I’m being clear here…Joanie didn’t say these things, people commenting on her blog did.
If it had stopped here things might have blown over quickly, but somebody then did something really stupid. Some anonymous reader (who will now be referred to as ‘idiot’) of the websites escalated the situation and decided to call child protective services on Kate and accuse her of drunken child abuse. This idiot, probably in some drunken stupor, thought he/she was protecting Joanie and now some people no doubtedly believe that Joanie made the call.
It’s extremely unlikely that it was Joanie, these types of actions are typically done by individuals who feel they have no other option. Joanie has the ‘power of the press’. If she chose to, she has the option to use her blog to attack and respond. It would even raise her readership. Frankly, it does her no good to make an anonymous (and illegal) attack. Thanks to ‘guilt by association’ now this (probably drunken) idiot has unintentionally smeared Joanie for something she almost certainly wasn’t involved in and wouldn’t condone.
Now a lot of people have been hurt and this is what makes it a sad day. Kate, who was been cleared by Child Protective Services, feels attacked and has been hurt by all this. Joanie has been attacked and hurt by Kate’s daughter and readers who feel she is responsible. Supporters of both bloggers have been attacked, especially those tarnished by the actions of the one idiot. Now there is a lot of anger, hate, and mistrust. All of this because of a child’s stupid mistake and an idiot’s vicious action.
This is a sad day for all.
UPDATE: Fixed horrible misspelling of Joannie's name.
UPDATE: Joni of JoniElectric.com would like it to be known she IS a four-letter word (and not Joannie).
Posted by Dave at 08:45 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
July 27, 2003
Day Off
No HD news today. I took a day off to visit Rocky Mountain National Park. Here's a picture for your enjoyment!
Posted by Dave at 11:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 30, 2003
Thanks Venomous Kate
Welcome to those of you visiting this us from Venomous Kate's Blog!
I'm sure many of you do not know what Huntington's Disease is. HD is a genetic disease where every child of an HD parent has a 50% chance of getting the HD gene. There is no cure or effective treatment at this time.
HD causes a gradual deterioration of the brain. If you combined Alzheimer's and Parkinson's into one disease and added some behavioral degeneration you would have an approximation of HD. The symptoms usually start to show between age 35-45 and take 10-20 years to run their course. The suicide rate in HD is 8-12 times that of the general population. It's not pretty.
While this disease is as common as Lou Gerig's Disease (ALS) and Muscular Distrophy (MD) it's not as well known. Researchers have made the most of the limited money and are developing many possible therapies which could end up benefiting Alzheimers, Parkinson's, Lou Gerig's, Mad Cow and many others. Research that was done for HD was a valuable part of the human genome project.
Effective treatments and a cure is on the way, but it will take a few years. This blog is an attempt to follow this exciting research!
Thanks for visiting the HD Blog and thank you Kate for your generousity!
Posted by Dave at 02:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 29, 2003
HD Blog FAQ's
What is a 'blog'?
A blog, short for 'weblog', is a website that contains a log of messages. HD Blog will focus on news that relates to Huntington's Disease research. When possible, the information will be linked with commentary. This is a community, so feel free to add your comments.
Can I suggest a link?
Please do! If you found something interesting it might be of interest to others.
You haven't returned my email, are you rude or did I offend you?
No! I receive hundreds of personal, business and blog related emails. If I answered all my emails I wouldn't have time to update this blog. Also, I own a business that takes quite a bit of my time.
Who is this Dave at the bottom of the messages?
My name is Dave Bowdish and I live in Colorado.
How do I reach you?
You can email me at: Dave-at-Huntingtons-dot-info
Are you an Expert?
Nope, not even close. I'm not a medical expert, legal expert or financial expert. Always consult a qualified expert before acting on anything you read here or anywhere else.
Is the HD Blog associated with any particular HD organization?
No. Though this blog supports many HD organizations, it is independent.
Do you have Huntington's Disease?
No. Huntington's Disease does not run in my family. I became involved in HD when I became close friends with a family that was hit hard (aren’t they all?) by the disease. I'm now involved in two HD support groups and I support the local HDSA chapter office.
Why did you start this blog?
When I first started researching HD, like many I had a difficult time finding current information. Especially information that was 'understandable' to the layman. The more I read, the more excited I became about the rapid advances in research.
Eventually I was emailing the information (with translations) to friends and family. As my email list got longer, it became apparent that there is a real thirst for information in the HD community. The HD Blog is a way to distribute this information, along with some hope and support, to a broader audience.
How is this site funded?
Right now all the expenses are paid by "Starving Geeks", a technology consulting company. In the future we will be accepting contributions online to help cover the costs of this website and other expenses such as the purchase of reports and medical journals.
If you'd like to contribute now you can send a check to:
Centennial Business Services LLC
PO Box 371257
Denver, CO 80237
Make the check payable to "Centennial Business Services" and mention it is for the HD Blog. Thanks in advance.
Is there hope?
Yes, there's hope! For ten years we've been hearing that a cure is "right around the corner". As it turns out, it wasn't. However, the progress in research is now starting to accelerate. Why the recent acceleration? Because, as Huntington’s Disease becomes better understood, the research is better targeted. Which, in turn, further increases the knowledge of HD.
So are you then saying a cure is "right around the corner"?
Even if it is who would believe it now?
Seriously though, they are now identifying drugs and supplements that slow the progression of the disease. Nobody can predict the future but I expect to see drugs (that are already approved for other uses) that significantly slow HD progression by the end of 2005. I expect to see approved treatments that are very effective against HD by 2007-2008 and I believe we'll see a 'cure' or equivalent approved by 2008 to 2010. A cure or effective treatment could come sooner, but I believe these are realistic estimates.
It's important for anybody who has Huntington's, or is at risk, to do every thing they can to stay as healthy as possible so that they can get the maximum benefit from the coming treatments (and cure).
What can I do to “stay as healthy as possible”?
The best resource is HD Lighthouse’s HDL Triad.
If all this information is too intimidating, here is a good rule of thumb to follow:
”If they say it is good for your heart (exercise, diet, anti-oxidants, etc.), it’s probably good for HD.”
Posted by Dave at 09:54 PM | TrackBack
June 28, 2003
Email Information
If you would like to email me comments or suggestions I can be reached at:
Dave-at-Huntingtons-dot-Info
Please don't be upset if you don't get a response from me. Between personal emails, business emails, and blog emails I get hundreds of messages. Its just not practical to respond to all of them.
So if you don't hear from me I'm not being 'stuck up', I'm just trying to keep the 'Blog Life' from overtaking my personal and business life.
Thanks for understanding!
Posted by Dave at 10:12 AM
June 26, 2003
Welcome!
HD Blog is the first weblog dedicated to the topic of Huntington's Disease. In fact, it is one of the first weblogs dedicated to following a single disease.
We'll be following the research on HD and offering a layperson's analysis of ongoing events. Hopefully you'll find this weblog to be informative and useful. We'll be offering regular updates so be sure to check in from time to time.