Saturday morning coffee [June 6 2015]

“Three things you cannot recover in life: the word after it’s said, the moment after it’s missed, and the time after it’s gone.” – unknown

So much happens each and every week, and it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

The mug below is the sister of the one from my May 16 2015 SMC post. I picked them up from the Starbucks Roastery & Tasting Room in Seattle, Washington at the same time. I liked them both. Couldn’t leave one behind.

San Andreas was #1 at the box office last weekend, easily outgaining Pitch Perfect 2 by more than two fold. My wife and I decided to catch San Andreas on Wednesday night at our new theater in Fresno, the Maya. The theater was great, but the movie not so much. San Andreas was really cheesy. I expected a little cheese, but not that much. If you haven’t seen it already, I’d recommend waiting for the DVD release.

Summer in the Central Valley has arrived. We’re expecting temperatures in the triple digits most of next week. So if you find yourself in the mood for some coffee, you might as well make it in the form of popsicles. Mashable has some great iced coffee popsicle recipes. My favorites on the list include Mocha and vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

As you probably already know, FIFA is a mess. Several officials were arrested for corruption and bribery, and their president, Sepp Blatter has resigned amid the scandal. Hear what John Oliver had to say about it. Dude loves soccer, but hates FIFA.

This week I’ve been writing with a Monteverde Impressa. It was a gift from wife. I have the gunmetal gray and red version with a fine nib. It’s currently inked with Noodler’s Red Black. It’s a nice enough pen, but the ink is too wet. I can’t use it in any kind of notebook that I close. The drying time is simply too long to be convenient.

Medical Express: “New technology developed by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers makes it possible to test for current and past infections with any known human virus by analyzing a single drop of a person’s blood. The method, called VirScan, is an efficient alternative to existing diagnostics that test for specific viruses one at a time. With VirScan, scientists can run a single test to determine which viruses have infected an individual, rather than limiting their analysis to particular viruses…The comprehensive analysis can be performed for about $25 per blood sample.” – Basically this means that physicians can get a history of all viruses you’ve experienced instead of testing for one at a time. Epic. You can read more about it in the June 5, 2015 issue of Science.

When sword-wielding robots come for us, remember this moment.

PillPack raised another $50 million for their “multidose drug dispensing (MDD)” system. “PillPack offers online and by-mail pharmacy services, which previously cost the user $20 per month, but are now free (other than the user’s copay). After a doctor eprescribes or faxes in a prescription, PillPack sends a customer all of his or her medications for the next 14 days, prepackaged by dose…Using web tools, customers can monitor their shipments and add over the counter medications and vitamins to their orders. PillPack will also send the user a message asking if they need to update medications before each shipment so they can make any necessary changes.” (via mobihealthnews) – I’ve written about PillPack previously. The concept reminds me of the early days of mail-order pharmacy. Only time will tell if PillPack will work or just be a flash in the pan.

Great things coming out of Computex this week. I’m absolutely in love with all the new Windows 10 ultrabooks and tablets I’ve seen. If you want to see what I’ve been reading, and watching, stop by the UMPC Portal or Mobilegeeks’ sites and YouTube channels.

How’s this for a crazy computer concept: Project Christine from Razer. Fully modular and just plain cool looking.

I’m telling you people now, the ability to “print” things at home is going to change the way we live. Check out this article at ELSEVIER: “Dr. Turner and his collaborators at Acreo Swedish ICT have developed an instrument that looks like a business card and can analyze blood and saliva samples. It is simple to use: you switch it on by pressing a button, then apply your sample to a circle in the bottom right corner and wait for a digital reading to be displayed and even sent to your mobile phone…The whole instrument is printed on the card using a screen-printing technique.” Carry a couple around in your pocket “just in case”. Seriously, this is amazing stuff.

Minocycline is an antibiotic that’s been around for a long time and often gets overlooked in lieu of other, more sexy drugs. But don’t feel sorry for Minocycline. The drug is getting some much deserved love this week. According to an article in ScienceDaily “A new promising combination therapy has been discovered for the treatment of one of the most deadly and difficult cancers to manage. Scientists developed a novel combination of an experimental drug and a common antibiotic that has shown encouraging results in treating pancreatic cancer in preclinical experiments.” And the common antibiotic? Minocycline, of course. “The researchers found a potent synergistic effect when they combined the drug Sabutoclax and the antibiotic Minocycline.” Nothing like a repurposed drug to make a pharmacist smile.

Apparently sertraline (trade name Zoloft) was a little jealous of minocycline’s dual role. “The common antidepressant Zoloft may be an effective treatment for Ebola, according to a new study on mice…Drugs like Zoloft,… which have already been proven safe for people, could bypass in vitro studies, animal testing, and the first phase of clinical trials to go straight to final stage clinical trials….Lead author Lisa Johansen and her colleagues started with a library of about 2,600 compounds, which they tested against Zaire ebolavirus in the lab…Ultimately, based on cellular studies, the researchers selected four drugs to try on mice. They infected the mice with Ebola and then started treating them with the drugs an hour after exposure….Thirty days after infection, 70 percent of the mice treated with Zoloft (chemical name sertraline) had survived. All the control mice had died by day nine.” (via Discover Magazine)

Fortune: “In April, Facebook hit 4 billion views per day, matching the latest estimates available for 10-year-old YouTube.” – This is truly fascinating. Go read the article. You’ll be amazed at what Facebook did to make it happen. A little tweak here, another there. Brilliant. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The things Facebook is able to do is staggering when you stop and think about it.

There are mistakes, and there are $100 million mistakes. “The Carolina Panthers were reportedly willing to invest $103.8 million in a five-year extension for quarterback Cam Newton because they believe the two-time Pro Bowl selection can lead them to a Super Bowl.” And that’s why the Carolina Panthers are, well, the Carolina Panthers. (via ESPN)

Less than 90 days until NFL opening day. Can you feel it?

Have a great weekend everyone.