Re: OU and New Caledonia - was RE: [GZG] NSL Geopolitical Composition

[Zoe and Carmen Brain <aebrain@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

john tailby wrote:

> I'd be interested if someone would put together some proposals about the 
> TO&E for an invasion of a Pacific Island. We could then do a gap 
> analysis between current capabilities and the mission requirements. Be 
> interesting to see what % of GDP would be required.

Ummm... it's called a Rapid Intervention Brigade or some such.

I did a logistical analysis of what transportation requirements there 
were for it as part of the TAIL project a few years ago. How many 
Herc/C-17 flights, how many choppers to be carried on them, refueling, 
ferry ranges from nearby airfields, that kind of stuff.

Of course we had to stress the civilian aspects in public.

See Paper 56 at
http://www.consec.com.au/simtect2004/abstracts.html?confid=STT2004

Look, an LAV is nothing if not an outsized vehicle load...

Of course that was in a previous incarnation.....


And that leads me to something completely Off-Topic, yet quite 
applicable to any SF genre.


It looks like they *might* have found out what the heck happened in 
May-July 2005. It takes two simultaneous mutations, both fairly common 
in the general population, plus administration of a statin.

One mutation on its own produces chronic sex hormone starvation and high 
LDL Cholesterol levels, as the Leydig cells cannot make use of blood 
cholesterol to manufacture testosterone and oestrogen: they have to rely 
on local cellular production. It also produces slight hypoplasia of the 
adrenal glands - a bit bigger than normal - as they try to reduce the 
deficit. It increases the chance of CNI - congenital neurological 
intersex - to about the same level as you get from administration of the 
drug DES during pregnancy. About 1 in 10 rather than 1 in 2500. CNI is 
when you have a body that doesn't match the brain's morphology, our 
brains are far more sexually dimorphic than we dreamed even 10 years ago.

OK, Guys and Gals think differently, OK? No news there.

The other mutation produces a large frame, and due to high levels of 
cortisol, an inability to convert nutrition to muscle tissue, so you get 
fat even on a starvation diet. The abnormal fat deposits also store 
virtually all the body's production of oestrogen, because the level is 
so low.

Statins, especially lipitor, shut down cholesterol production at the 
glands other than the liver first - so would nearly zero testosterone 
and oestrogen production from the Leydig cells in the testes, though 
some of both would occur from the slightly enlarged adrenals. Basically, 
no more male sex hormone. This usually just causes loss of libido and 
erectile dysfunction in susceptible males, usually temporary.

Statins also terminate the abnormal cortisol production from the other 
mutation, so you get very rapid (lbs/day) weight loss, with a consequent 
massive bolus of released oestrogen (female sex hormone). Not *much* of 
 a problem, usually, except because of the first mutation, the cellular 
receptors which would normally be near-saturated are empty: Instant 
female puberty, as if a 7 year old child had been administered huge 
amounts of oestrogen, far too fast for normal hormonal effects, 10 weeks 
rather than the 5 years puberty would normally take.

So a somewhat undervirilised 114kg male with a female brain becomes an 
80kg intersexed female in 10 weeks. Simple, really.

But terribly complicating to one's social life. Even though the brain 
now fits the body, which cures a truly hellish psychological condition 
called "Gender Dysphoria" (GD), something that causes at least 30% of 
sufferers to suicide. About 1 in 10,000 guys have CNI, with consequent 
GD. They have female bodies. About 1 in 2500 girls have it too, they're 
the ones born with male bodies. I think objectively the guys have it 
worse, but as their brain cells are male, they don't suffer as much as 
the girls do, it's all to do with cellular response to various 
neurotransmitters. As I said, Gals and Guys differ neurologically, right 
down to the cellular level.

Oh yes, this hypothesis also explains the near-constant serum oestrodiol 
levels I have despite increasingly large quantities of hormones being 
taken : my cells are still nowhere near saturation point. Hence the 
levels are 1/3 of what they should be for any normal person, male or 
female, taking that medication. The same as before I started taking them.

Sorry to be so OT, but I find this stuff *fascinating*. For mammals, 
humans are just so genetically and metabolically unstable. We mutate at 
the drop of a hat, no wonder evolution has been so rapid for us in the 
last quarter millennium!

For those who don't know what happened, just see
http://www.webone.com.au/~aebrain/sextuplet0.JPG

The traditional picture worth 1k words. Though the pictures don't really 
do it justice, most of the changes happened in 10 weeks, the rest is 
just consequent fat re-distribution.

All the best,
Zoe


--
Zoe & Carmen Brain
http://aebrain.blogspot.com
mailto:aebrain@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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