I have always told them not to worry, but the truth is I carry a “faulty” gene, BRCA1, which sharply increases my risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman.

Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 percent risk of getting it, on average.

Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy.

My Medical Choice - NYTimes.com

Angelina Jolie is BRCA-1 positive.

I’ve been adjacent to this world for a couple of years now. My father tested positive for the gene mutation, and told my sister and I we needed to be tested. I was negative. But Dana tested positive. 

She elected to have the surgeries. They were long and torturous but she’s come through the other side.  She now does a lot of work with the advocacy group FORCE.  My father also does work with them, fundraising and about genealogical research.

The thing you need to know, that is of the essence, is that last month the Supreme Court heard a case about the right of the lab that developed the test for the BRCA-1 mutation to hold a patent on the gene and charge whatever they want. The test can cost anywhere from $300 to $3000.

When Dana first found out, we all did a lot of research and reading. These were the ones I found most helpful:

In The Family, a documentary by Joanna Rudnick.

Pretty is What Changes, by Jessica Queller.

(via jaybushman)

Angelina Jolie’s op-ed will reach a lot of people and I’m very thankful for that, because it will make the choices so many women and men will have to face much less alien — but no less expensive. 

(via meganwest)

(Reblogged from meganwest)

colchrishadfield:

With deference to the genius of David Bowie, here’s Space Oddity, recorded on Station. A last glimpse of the World.

Huge thanks in the making of the video to the talented trio of Emm Gryner, Joe Corcoran and Andrew Tidby, plus Evan Hadfield and all at the CSA.

(Reblogged from colchrishadfield)
[W]hen we launch in a territory the Bittorrent traffic drops as the Netflix traffic grows. So I think people do want a great experience and they want access – people are mostly honest. The best way to combat piracy isn’t legislatively or criminally but by giving good options. One of the side effects of growth of content is an expectation to have access to it. You can’t use the internet as a marketing vehicle and then not as a delivery vehicle.
(Reblogged from caracaracara)

motleyjack:

thegoldenlasso:

Inspired by this.

No words can express my love for this… <3

more Super Femmes

(Source: stevesnotepad)

(Reblogged from caracaracara)
abbyjean:

Public Policy Polling has raised weird polls to an art form. During last year’s presidential campaign, the firm earned a bit of a reputation for its unorthodox questions; for example, “If God exists, do you approve of its handling of natural disasters?”
Today PPP released the results of a national survey looking at common conspiracy theories. Broken down by topic and cross-referenced by political preference, the results will not inspire a lot of patriotism. If you need to defend your fellow countrymen, be sure to note that the margin of error is 2.8 percent. (Atlantic)
(to be fair, this is the proportion of people who told a polling company they believed this, which may or may not reflect actual belief. i myself would report a belief that northwestern university is being threatened by attack deer engineered by the university of wisconsin…)

abbyjean:

Public Policy Polling has raised weird polls to an art form. During last year’s presidential campaign, the firm earned a bit of a reputation for its unorthodox questions; for example, “If God exists, do you approve of its handling of natural disasters?”

Today PPP released the results of a national survey looking at common conspiracy theories. Broken down by topic and cross-referenced by political preference, the results will not inspire a lot of patriotism. If you need to defend your fellow countrymen, be sure to note that the margin of error is 2.8 percent. (Atlantic)

(to be fair, this is the proportion of people who told a polling company they believed this, which may or may not reflect actual belief. i myself would report a belief that northwestern university is being threatened by attack deer engineered by the university of wisconsin…)

(Reblogged from abbyjean)
(Reblogged from daughtersmedicine)

Herndon pulled up an Excel spreadsheet containing Reinhart’s data and quickly spotted something that looked odd.

“I clicked on cell L51, and saw that they had only averaged rows 30 through 44, instead of rows 30 through 49.”

What Herndon had discovered was that by making a sloppy computing error, Reinhart and Rogoff had forgotten to include a critical piece of data about countries with high debt-to-GDP ratios that would have affected their overall calculations. They had also excluded data from Canada, New Zealand, and Australia — all countries that experienced solid growth during periods of high debt and would thus undercut their thesis that high debt forestalls growth….

After consulting his professors, Herndon signed two of them — Pollin and department chair Michael Ash — on as co-authors, and the three of them quickly put together a paper outlining their findings. The paper cut to the core of a debate that has been dividing economists and politicians for decades. Fans of austerity believe that governments should cut spending in order to grow their economies, while anti-austerians believe that government spending in times of economic duress can create growth and reduce unemployment, even if it increases debt in the short term. What Herndon et al. were claiming, in essence, was that the pro-austerity movement was relying on bogus information.

Grad Student Who Shook Global Austerity Movement — Daily Intelligencer

Always check your math. The fate of the world might depend on it.

(via jaybushman)

(Reblogged from jaybushman)

hitrecordjoe:

jaredgeller:

<3

(image via TheIlluminator)

For information on how you can help, please CLICK HERE

(Reblogged from hitrecordjoe)

shananaomi:

“I really, honestly think that anybody who is openly gay and visible is powerful. It doesn’t matter what you do, you are impacting people.”

Portia de Rossi in OUT’s May 2013 issue.

In my new cover story with Portia de Rossi, she talks about taking the plunge into producing, happy home life with Ellen and how she feels about having the gayest TV husband ever on Arrested Development.

Read it here.

(Reblogged from lizlet)
(Reblogged from maddieonthings)