(56b) The Age of Aquarius, "Ass-Straggle-Us", and The End of Time.
Einstein and Quest for the Holy Grail of More Time.
The cloud image (56a) reminds me somewhat of the encounter scene (56b) in NGC 2264 above the Cone Nebula to the left of Orion, which appears in Monoceros beneath Gemini. Perhaps this is Jim Green, armed with his WUF-resume (Gemini) encountering the new President Barack Obama at the end of an era. This year 2008 corresponds to the star Aquarius 108, the last star Aquarius seems to find to the East as he fishes through the bull in front of the plow of Cetus, which my alternative ego format heroic Orion seems to be driving like a plowman in the opposite direction as an engineer in industry flashing his can-cut-it resume Gemini, intent on the girlfriend Andromeda he is aiming for, who he toasts with the wineglass of Taurus. Aquarius 108 will pass the ray defined by the Vernal Equinox by 2154 AD. The stars Aquarius 88-108 correspond to my scientific period discoveries by year in 1988-2008. My biggest discovery in 1994 of a unified quantum field theory of forces coming out of a consideration of internal problems in general relativity is the one closest to the nose of Aquarius as the star Aquarius 94. In 2008 I realized that off-the-shelf astragalus extracts (pronounced "ass-straggle-us") such as GAIA Herbs astragalus extract in glycerin, can be used to activate telomerase and reconstruct cellular telomeres in a way that restores the youthful phenotype to senescent cells, causing the patient to de-age at a rate between 7 and 9 years per year, up to 0.75 years per month. The associated experiment was started in May 2007. At 8 years per year rejuvenation rate, it sould take 5 years to go from actual age 60 to effective model age 20, as the astragalus extract restores the youthful phenotype of stem cells that repair somatic defects such as grey hair. That was the last discovery of Aquarius before the End of Time, that is, just before the Vernal Equinox at the zero hour of sidereal time. For a similar antiaging approach to rejuvenation based on astragaloside-related chemicals, see TA Sciences, which uses "TA-65", probably the astragaloside IV-derived smallest astragaloside molecule, cycloastragenol, based on patents (A, A', A'', B) from Geron Corporation. The year 2008 was the year I prepared the Holy Grail (4) from powdered Chitosan to improve bioavailability of the astragalosides in astragalus extract, mixing the contents of 4 capsules of Natural Balance Chitosan with 150 drops of GAIA Herbs astragalus extract in glycerin, (about 1 tablespoon full, or 180 drops, recently 1 mg astragalosides per 30 drops). The Vernal Equinox is the ray from the North Star that passes through Pices just in front of constellation Aquarius, culminating at midnight around September 20-22 as the ray passes through the viewer's zenith. The precession of the equinoxes has transported the polar ray of the Vernal Equinox from Aries westward towards Aquarius at the rate of 1 degree every 71.6 years since 1000 BC, so that it is also called the First Point of Aries. As the precession of the equinoxes continues, the ray will enter the constellation Aquarius, and that is why we say that this is "the dawning" of the Age of Aquarius, who is pictured like "ass-straggle-us" in the constellation Aquarius as well as in S. Monocerotis. The Vernal Equinox will appear in Aquarius in about 2062, when I will be 113 years old. By 2906 it will have reached the star Aquarius 88. Our work in antiaging medicine will no doubt extend the maximum life span of the human species, enabling us to retain our youthful good looks for many more years than previously possible, so that the "Age of Aquarius" will become the mystery of this period as our higher intelligence breaks through to unified field theory and the possibility of physical immortality at about the same time. TA-65 was announced in 2007. The Vernal Equinox will pass the corresponding star Aquarius 107 about midway through 2245 AD, when I will be 296 years old, if everything goes according to plan.
Music: The Age of Aquarius - The Fifth Dimension, Magical Mystery Tour - Paul McCartney.
References:
[1] John Sanford, Observing the Constellations, Simon & Schuster, February 1990. Contains a chart of constellation Aquarius with the stars Aquarius 88 through Aquarius 108, and in addition a nice introduction with a description of the Vernal Equinox (First Point of Aries) on whole-sky maps.
[2] James A. Green, Astronomical Maps: The Structure of the Celestial Sphere, Greenwood Research. Includes a treatment of the precession of the Equinoxes.
[3] Anti-Aging Medicine, Longevity, and Life Extension
at http://greenwoodstore.tripod.com/longevity.html by James A. Green.
[4] Measurements of the progress of the Vernal Equinox to various stars were taken from star maps of Aquarius prepared by Wil Tirion [1] valid for January 1, 2000, using a millimeter measuring stick and the circumstance that there are 15 degrees in each hour of the celestial sphere's 24 hours of sidereal time, plus the knowledge that the Vernal Equinox precesses towards the West at 71.6 years per degree. 1074 years are required for the westward precession of the Vernal Equinox to cross 1 hour (15^o) of the celestial sphere.

If memory serves, turkey breast is rich in carnosine, a valuable anti-aging medicine that can endow cells normally dividing 50 times with up to 20 extra cell divisions. This change is accompanied by recovery of many senescent cells to the youthful phenotype and pattern of gene expression. However, astragalosides seem to be capable of providing 400 or more extra cell divisions, making them the popular king of rejuvenation pharamaceuticals in astragalus extracts and as specific astragalosides such as astragaloside IV. Life Extension on the order of 8x the present maximum human lifespan or longer (75x8 = 600 years) may be achievable when presently available pharmaceuticals are properly applied. However, since astragalosides provide rejuvenation at the glacial rate of just 400 to 460 base pairs per year, or 8 to 9 years of rejuvenation per year as senescent cells recover, extensive research is being applied to the problem of faster, more effective rejuvenating drugs. Suddenly 0.75 years younger after a month of treatment does not amount to the sense of instant gratification conveyed by fast food. The slow, glacial nature of astragalus-based de-aging transformations, plus the expense of astragalus extract, made the antiaging nature of astragalus extract treatment largely invisible to the scholarly community until Geron's patent on small molecule telomerase activators was published in 2005. Some Chinese medical scholars seem to have noticed it, however, touting astragaloside IV as a conveyor of the life force. The public in the West was more firmly alerted by the announcement of TA Sciences of astragalus-derived TA-65 in the Spring of 2007.

This image appeared after I replied to a form letter from Noel Patton of TA Sciences concerning his recommendation of an article about the telomerase activator TAT2, which is used to treat HIV. I summarized what I believe to be the primary experimental results so far with regard to the rejuvenation rates available with TA-65, and mentioned that it might be possible to restore a 60 year-old to 20 year-old condition in 5 years, which would probably restore women to premenopausal condition.

I have had some communications for the last couple of days with Noel Patton of TA Sciences in New York City concerning the status and history of small molecule telomerase activators for anti-aging medicine applications involving regrowing chromosomal telomeres by activating the DNA telomere-repair enzyme telomerase. This allows senescent mitotic cells such as adult stem cells to recover from cellular senescence as they close the telomere t-loop at the end of the chromosome that generates the transition to senescence when the loop comes open after too many cell divisions and the loose DNA tip produces a DNA damage signal. The northwestern Hat Man image shows his nose dangling by Wichita, Kansas, as if it were a sign concerning what medicine to take. On the other hand, the cat reaching down to Mexico from the East Coast seems to think a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Perhaps the cat image signals "catalyst", or simply that Noel's poker hand is for "catching" that bird, who reminds us of lovely Greta Blackburn.