Posted 12-7-2009
This Foxnews article could be relevant for anyone experiencing vision difficulties. It seems there is such a thing as an artificial lens that can be implanted into an eye that can help persons be able to see in high definition. It looks like it is only available in the UK and British ophthalmic surgeons indicate the lens actually allows vision to be better than 20/20.
This is extremely good news to me and even to my husband who vows over and over that if they ever come up with a sure fire way to improve vision he will jump on it and have it done. Until then, we are both skeptical about all the current surgical procedures for vision improvement and the percentage of successful vision rates that are not 100% OK.
I would rather continue to use eyeglasses instead of going through any corrective laser surgery on my lens if the outcome turned out to be worse than what I had to begin with. I have always known that with advances in medicine there will be a better technique if I just wait it out and it looks like this British technique is the one. Cataract surgery is quite common and the technique starts out just like the implanting of a new lens in a cataract patient. However the great thing about this particular lens is that it can be adjusted while it is in the eye. The article describes the process of adjustment by detailing, “The lens is made from a special light-sensitive silicone, and it can correct both cataracts and the long-sightedness that usually comes with age. By shining ultraviolet light on specific parts of the lens, surgeons can change its shape and curvature, sharpening the image seen by the patient.” The first surgeon to use the lens reports, “We have the potential here to change patients' vision to how it was when they were young. The change is so accurate that we can even make the lens bifocal or varifocal, so as well as giving them good vision at distance we can give them good vision for reading.” “They won't need their glasses at all." And the procedure seems foolproof because the lens can be adjusted over several days until there are no distortions caused by flaws in the eye and once vision is perfect it is permanently fixed in shape. I would love to have perfect vision again as I have not been without glasses since 8th grade.
I think it is great when there are advances in medicine and science made to real problems such as vision difficulties. One thing that I am puzzled about though is that a lot of really cool advances are made abroad and not available here in the US. The article does not say if this will be available to the general public and at what cost, but only that they are successfully implanting the lens into real patients. Hopefully my excitement about this procedure is not in vain and I will start seeing commercials on TV offering this technology in my home town.
Monday, December 7, 2009
HIV-Positive Man Reportedly Injects Blood Into Sleeping Wife
Monday, December 07, 2009
This story on Foxnews is so outrageous that I included the link embedded into the reported story if you want to read more about it. Click here for more from Sky News.
In New Zealand a woman is now HIV positive because her husband wanted to have sex with her. He intentionally took a needle and dipped it into his own blood that was infected with HIV and pricked her leg with the needle on two occasions while she slept. On the second occasion she just happened to wake up after being pricked and confronted him and he confessed he wanted to make her HIV positive so she would start having sex with him again. Four months after being pricked with the infected needle, the woman tested positive with HIV.
I am so sorry for this woman who thought she was doing the best she could for her children by staying with her husband after she discovered he was HIV positive during a health screening shortly after moving to New Zealand. I’m sure though that she probably had no idea he was ever capable of doing such an atrocious thing or she would not have stayed with him. Why oh why can’t hindsight be foresight?
This should be a time in history where a murder victim gets to actually sit through her own murder trial and see the murderer tried and sentenced for punishment while she is still alive. I don’t know how this man was infected with the virus himself but I’m sure it was not by being husband of the year. I would not want to have sex with him either but not because he had HIV and that I would get the disease but because he obviously is an adulterer and not worthy of such an intimate privilege. I cannot imagine what this husband could be thinking as a simple fix to their relationship problem by maybe saying to himself…Well I’ll just make her HIV positive too, and then our marital problems will be solved…Let’s see I’ll even use one of her sewing needles to stick her with so it won’t hurt so bad…..Now what is my plan in case she wakes up after I stick her? Oh I know I’ll just confess and then we’ll kiss and make up and then have sex………and live happily ever after. Oops I guess he forgot about the happily ever after because there is no happy left, only death and orphaned children. I wonder if the courts of New Zealand even have a precedent for charging this man with a crime bigger than assault. If so, it should be a murder trial because this woman is going to eventually die of AIDS just as he is, however even the death penalty verdict would not seem like justice since he is going to die of AIDS anyway.
This has got to be one of the most heinous of crimes I have heard of yet in the name of family and love. This guy is a psycho and keeps letting his male parts get him in deeper and deeper trouble and it is too bad he can’t get the death penalty twice for each time he pricked his wife with the infected needle.
This story on Foxnews is so outrageous that I included the link embedded into the reported story if you want to read more about it. Click here for more from Sky News.
In New Zealand a woman is now HIV positive because her husband wanted to have sex with her. He intentionally took a needle and dipped it into his own blood that was infected with HIV and pricked her leg with the needle on two occasions while she slept. On the second occasion she just happened to wake up after being pricked and confronted him and he confessed he wanted to make her HIV positive so she would start having sex with him again. Four months after being pricked with the infected needle, the woman tested positive with HIV.
I am so sorry for this woman who thought she was doing the best she could for her children by staying with her husband after she discovered he was HIV positive during a health screening shortly after moving to New Zealand. I’m sure though that she probably had no idea he was ever capable of doing such an atrocious thing or she would not have stayed with him. Why oh why can’t hindsight be foresight?
This should be a time in history where a murder victim gets to actually sit through her own murder trial and see the murderer tried and sentenced for punishment while she is still alive. I don’t know how this man was infected with the virus himself but I’m sure it was not by being husband of the year. I would not want to have sex with him either but not because he had HIV and that I would get the disease but because he obviously is an adulterer and not worthy of such an intimate privilege. I cannot imagine what this husband could be thinking as a simple fix to their relationship problem by maybe saying to himself…Well I’ll just make her HIV positive too, and then our marital problems will be solved…Let’s see I’ll even use one of her sewing needles to stick her with so it won’t hurt so bad…..Now what is my plan in case she wakes up after I stick her? Oh I know I’ll just confess and then we’ll kiss and make up and then have sex………and live happily ever after. Oops I guess he forgot about the happily ever after because there is no happy left, only death and orphaned children. I wonder if the courts of New Zealand even have a precedent for charging this man with a crime bigger than assault. If so, it should be a murder trial because this woman is going to eventually die of AIDS just as he is, however even the death penalty verdict would not seem like justice since he is going to die of AIDS anyway.
This has got to be one of the most heinous of crimes I have heard of yet in the name of family and love. This guy is a psycho and keeps letting his male parts get him in deeper and deeper trouble and it is too bad he can’t get the death penalty twice for each time he pricked his wife with the infected needle.
Man Arrested for Throwing Tomatoes at Sarah Palin, Police Say
Updated December 07, 2009
This story on Foxnews is about a man who apparently got himself arrested because he was on an upper level of the Mall of America in Minnesota, and supposedly threw two tomatoes at Sarah Palin the former 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, as she sat below signing copies of her new book for fans. However Palin was not hit by the tomatoes, but instead the tomatoes hit a policeman nearby so, the arrested man may face assault charges.
I thought this story was rather hilarious because I did not know people still threw fruit or vegetables at people they did not like. I’ve never been to the Mall of America. Do they sell tomatoes there? Was this premeditated and were the tomatoes brought with the assailant? Were the tomatoes rotten or the grocery store green ripened kind? How did the authorities know he was aiming at Sara, when the article reported that neither tomato came close to hitting her? Maybe he was trying to hit the police instead.
People are so funny and even the article compared this book signing event to an event like Black Friday. People do strange things on Black Friday so I can imagine the frenzy scene but a little put out that the writer for this article called the people in line "die hard supporters" of Palin, like it was a bad thing, and made the supporters appear as if crazed because they were in line at 5 a.m. and standing in freezing temperatures. I kind of like Palin myself and I am glad it was only tomatoes that were thrown at her and that she was not hurt. I feel bad for the policeman because you know that must have hurt very bad hitting him in the face. This assailant aught to be ashamed of himself for throwing anything from a second story Mall balcony as it could have severely injured or even killed someone such as a small child or an infant. In a busy Mall, from that height he is lucky he did not strike a small child or heaven forbid an infant since I’m pretty sure children were present in the crowd with some of the people in line. So as you can see my first laughter about this story has turned into outrage, not that he threw something at Sara, but because he even threw anything at all from the balcony above people. People are insanely stupid these days and have no common sense and it is getting dangerous to be around even non criminals. This assailant reminds me of the people I watched in a movie portrayal of a guy, who is not too bright in his present life, and somehow goes through a time machine experiment and he wakes up in the future and finds he is the smartest person on the planet. He can’t believe how utterly stupid people are and he is trying desperately to educate the masses into realizing the decline of their ways from past mistakes and how to correct their problems now.
The rest of the story was void of any interest with small details of the time Palin arrived, what she was wearing, who she was with, an interview with a high school age fan standing in line, and that Palin did not give any speeches or talk to reporters. I imagine the reporter of this article was probably standing in line at 4:45 a.m. behind the 16yr old he interviewed and sorely disappointed the only story he could make up was that a couple of tomatoes hit a cop but came very close to Sara Palin.
This story on Foxnews is about a man who apparently got himself arrested because he was on an upper level of the Mall of America in Minnesota, and supposedly threw two tomatoes at Sarah Palin the former 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, as she sat below signing copies of her new book for fans. However Palin was not hit by the tomatoes, but instead the tomatoes hit a policeman nearby so, the arrested man may face assault charges.
I thought this story was rather hilarious because I did not know people still threw fruit or vegetables at people they did not like. I’ve never been to the Mall of America. Do they sell tomatoes there? Was this premeditated and were the tomatoes brought with the assailant? Were the tomatoes rotten or the grocery store green ripened kind? How did the authorities know he was aiming at Sara, when the article reported that neither tomato came close to hitting her? Maybe he was trying to hit the police instead.
People are so funny and even the article compared this book signing event to an event like Black Friday. People do strange things on Black Friday so I can imagine the frenzy scene but a little put out that the writer for this article called the people in line "die hard supporters" of Palin, like it was a bad thing, and made the supporters appear as if crazed because they were in line at 5 a.m. and standing in freezing temperatures. I kind of like Palin myself and I am glad it was only tomatoes that were thrown at her and that she was not hurt. I feel bad for the policeman because you know that must have hurt very bad hitting him in the face. This assailant aught to be ashamed of himself for throwing anything from a second story Mall balcony as it could have severely injured or even killed someone such as a small child or an infant. In a busy Mall, from that height he is lucky he did not strike a small child or heaven forbid an infant since I’m pretty sure children were present in the crowd with some of the people in line. So as you can see my first laughter about this story has turned into outrage, not that he threw something at Sara, but because he even threw anything at all from the balcony above people. People are insanely stupid these days and have no common sense and it is getting dangerous to be around even non criminals. This assailant reminds me of the people I watched in a movie portrayal of a guy, who is not too bright in his present life, and somehow goes through a time machine experiment and he wakes up in the future and finds he is the smartest person on the planet. He can’t believe how utterly stupid people are and he is trying desperately to educate the masses into realizing the decline of their ways from past mistakes and how to correct their problems now.
The rest of the story was void of any interest with small details of the time Palin arrived, what she was wearing, who she was with, an interview with a high school age fan standing in line, and that Palin did not give any speeches or talk to reporters. I imagine the reporter of this article was probably standing in line at 4:45 a.m. behind the 16yr old he interviewed and sorely disappointed the only story he could make up was that a couple of tomatoes hit a cop but came very close to Sara Palin.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Man Who Killed 4 Washington Police Officers Shot Dead
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
I found a story on Foxnews about the man who recently gunned down four police officers as they sat in a coffee shop. The article highlighted how the shooter was killed when he approached an officer sitting in his patrol car making out a report on a stolen car. The officer recognized the shooting suspect because of a large mole on his cheek and when the suspect went for his gun the patrolman shot him dead.
I am so glad that this criminal will never again hurt anyone. He obviously had a history of violence and crime and also a history of mental illness. I am glad the residents of Tacoma are rid of this menace and closure can be brought to the families of the victims and fellow police officers.
I was surprised to see reported in the article that there was little blame thrown toward the family that helped this man escape capture for days and even aided him in his belly wound from a bullet fired by one of the slain officers in the coffee shop, however some big names were thrown out to blame for this man to even be out in society and not locked up. One of the big names blamed was former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee who in “in 2000 commuted his 108-year prison sentence for armed robbery and other offenses.” The other blame went to a Washington state court where “A psychological evaluation in October found he was a risk to public safety, but not enough of one to justify committing him” But the kicker to the blame game is how this man was able to post bail for charges of raping a child six days before shooting the police in the coffee shop. He should have still been locked up for that and never let out in the first place. A few things reported in the article bothered me. One was that the sheriffs spokesman reported hearsay as if paramedics were the ultimate authority on medical conditions when he said, “Paramedics were stunned that Clemmons lived as long as he did with the bullet wound.” One more use for duct tape as the wound actually was found to have duct tape over it. The other thing that bothered me was reported “Police said Clemmons would have died eventually of the gunshot wound he suffered in the coffee-shop rampage.” What made them the medical authority on his wound? And why was that important to include in the story. Were they trying to justify his being killed by the officer as if,…Well he would have died anyway so it was OK that we shot him? After all the man was up walking around and even supposedly trying to gun down another policeman days after he had been shot. Didn’t sound like a dying man to me. No I’m not siding with the criminal, against law enforcement I know belly wounds are so infectious and painful, I just think it was odd to include this piece of reporting in the article. Seemed kind of like souping up the truth and I just wanted to bring attention to it.
Anyway I am very glad this criminal is no longer a threat to society and I hope justice will also be served to his accomplices in the murders of the policemen.
I found a story on Foxnews about the man who recently gunned down four police officers as they sat in a coffee shop. The article highlighted how the shooter was killed when he approached an officer sitting in his patrol car making out a report on a stolen car. The officer recognized the shooting suspect because of a large mole on his cheek and when the suspect went for his gun the patrolman shot him dead.
I am so glad that this criminal will never again hurt anyone. He obviously had a history of violence and crime and also a history of mental illness. I am glad the residents of Tacoma are rid of this menace and closure can be brought to the families of the victims and fellow police officers.
I was surprised to see reported in the article that there was little blame thrown toward the family that helped this man escape capture for days and even aided him in his belly wound from a bullet fired by one of the slain officers in the coffee shop, however some big names were thrown out to blame for this man to even be out in society and not locked up. One of the big names blamed was former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee who in “in 2000 commuted his 108-year prison sentence for armed robbery and other offenses.” The other blame went to a Washington state court where “A psychological evaluation in October found he was a risk to public safety, but not enough of one to justify committing him” But the kicker to the blame game is how this man was able to post bail for charges of raping a child six days before shooting the police in the coffee shop. He should have still been locked up for that and never let out in the first place. A few things reported in the article bothered me. One was that the sheriffs spokesman reported hearsay as if paramedics were the ultimate authority on medical conditions when he said, “Paramedics were stunned that Clemmons lived as long as he did with the bullet wound.” One more use for duct tape as the wound actually was found to have duct tape over it. The other thing that bothered me was reported “Police said Clemmons would have died eventually of the gunshot wound he suffered in the coffee-shop rampage.” What made them the medical authority on his wound? And why was that important to include in the story. Were they trying to justify his being killed by the officer as if,…Well he would have died anyway so it was OK that we shot him? After all the man was up walking around and even supposedly trying to gun down another policeman days after he had been shot. Didn’t sound like a dying man to me. No I’m not siding with the criminal, against law enforcement I know belly wounds are so infectious and painful, I just think it was odd to include this piece of reporting in the article. Seemed kind of like souping up the truth and I just wanted to bring attention to it.
Anyway I am very glad this criminal is no longer a threat to society and I hope justice will also be served to his accomplices in the murders of the policemen.
Man Forced to Choose Who to Save: Wife or Son
Monday, November 30, 2009
I found this story on Foxnews and I couldn’t help but be drawn in to this terrible tragedy about a boy who died in a car wreck by allegedly drowning because his father could not save both he and his mother who was in the same accident.
This story reminded me of a movie called Sophie’s Choice that I watched many years ago about a Jewish woman who was in a Nazi transport line and could only take one of her children on the train transporting them to a camp. The German soldier made her choose between her young son and younger daughter. She basically went crazy over her choice to keep the son and give up the daughter. The article stated very well about the husband’s choice to save his wife and not his son in the car accident, “It is the choice no parent — or spouse — should ever have to make.”
At first when I started reading this article I was heart sickened for the husband who saved his wife instead of his son thinking how bad he must feel and how could he ever be comforted again, but then as I read more about the story my opinion changed as the story unfolded. What I deduced was that he really did not have a choice because he had no way of saving his son so he should not be feeling as the article implied in the title that he was forced to make a choice about which one to save. It was reported that his wife was driving the car and their 13 year old was in the front seat when the car “cart wheeled down a steep 32 foot bank into the water,” somewhere near the family home in New Zealand. I don’t know if he heard the accident but the article reported the husband arrived at the scene in about 2 minutes and heard his wife screaming in the water and the son still trapped in the submerged car that was sinking deeper into the water. He tried to dive down and get his son out of the car but it was too deep. He turned to save his wife who was about to drown in the water. He made a statement to reporters, “I made a call to pull my wife to safety. I looked back and I could see the tail-lights but it was too far and I couldn't get him." I really don’t see the choice if he could not reach his son. After all he gave it a try but it was out of his hands. Besides, if the car went end over end down a 32 foot bank, his son might not have even lived though the crash even though the article said the boy drowned in the river. I may not believe that he drowned unless the article could site autopsy results which it did not. I think this father did everything he could, and he was fortunate to be able to quickly come upon the scene and even get the chance to save his wife.
I wish the reporter had not titled the article as it was that the man was forced to choose who to save because I don’t think that is what happened and if this husband and father reads this article it could only add to his grief and suffering which will not help his recovery from this terrible tragedy.
I found this story on Foxnews and I couldn’t help but be drawn in to this terrible tragedy about a boy who died in a car wreck by allegedly drowning because his father could not save both he and his mother who was in the same accident.
This story reminded me of a movie called Sophie’s Choice that I watched many years ago about a Jewish woman who was in a Nazi transport line and could only take one of her children on the train transporting them to a camp. The German soldier made her choose between her young son and younger daughter. She basically went crazy over her choice to keep the son and give up the daughter. The article stated very well about the husband’s choice to save his wife and not his son in the car accident, “It is the choice no parent — or spouse — should ever have to make.”
At first when I started reading this article I was heart sickened for the husband who saved his wife instead of his son thinking how bad he must feel and how could he ever be comforted again, but then as I read more about the story my opinion changed as the story unfolded. What I deduced was that he really did not have a choice because he had no way of saving his son so he should not be feeling as the article implied in the title that he was forced to make a choice about which one to save. It was reported that his wife was driving the car and their 13 year old was in the front seat when the car “cart wheeled down a steep 32 foot bank into the water,” somewhere near the family home in New Zealand. I don’t know if he heard the accident but the article reported the husband arrived at the scene in about 2 minutes and heard his wife screaming in the water and the son still trapped in the submerged car that was sinking deeper into the water. He tried to dive down and get his son out of the car but it was too deep. He turned to save his wife who was about to drown in the water. He made a statement to reporters, “I made a call to pull my wife to safety. I looked back and I could see the tail-lights but it was too far and I couldn't get him." I really don’t see the choice if he could not reach his son. After all he gave it a try but it was out of his hands. Besides, if the car went end over end down a 32 foot bank, his son might not have even lived though the crash even though the article said the boy drowned in the river. I may not believe that he drowned unless the article could site autopsy results which it did not. I think this father did everything he could, and he was fortunate to be able to quickly come upon the scene and even get the chance to save his wife.
I wish the reporter had not titled the article as it was that the man was forced to choose who to save because I don’t think that is what happened and if this husband and father reads this article it could only add to his grief and suffering which will not help his recovery from this terrible tragedy.
Beauty Queen Dies After Cosmetic Surgery on Her Buttocks
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
I found this article on Foxnews And it is a pretty short story, but really pretty sad because it is about the death of an Argentina woman who underwent elective surgery to increase the firmness of her buttocks and suffered a complication as a result of the needless surgery.
I get so troubled when I hear of a death of a perfectly healthy person taking the risk of surgery so lightly that they would rather take a chance at death in order to improve their looks. Any elective surgery is dangerous and people should think long and hard if the procedure is worth risking death for. This woman probably had previously undergone other surgeries and did not think a thing about this latest procedure. I bet the last thing on her mind going to surgery was that she would never wake up.
I can not imagine why such a beautiful woman would think that her buttocks would need an improvement. She was either very vain or very insecure or very desperate to maybe keep a job that required keeping perfect bodily proportions. Even a close friend of hers said, "A woman who had everything lost her life to have a slightly firmer behind" This woman was a former beauty queen of Argentina in 1994 and was also a mother of twins so I can’t imagine why she would put herself at risk. Maybe it was because she was getting older as the article said she was 38 years old and she did not like the changes her body was going through. It seems like after 30 the body does not cooperate as well and tends to start losing shape. She was getting close to 40 and no matter how hard she might try to keep up with plastic surgery her body was going to continue to change and all the plastic surgery in the world is not going to stop time. I occasionally watch plastic surgery shows on TV and most of the results I think looks very unnatural. Particularly the tummy tucks. I don’t care how good the plastic surgeon is, they can not recreate the belly button position or the natural curves that women were born with. The other thing reported in this article was that the woman arrived in a hospital which makes me wonder if she was in one of those outpatient surgery centers where they are not equipped to handle extreme medical conditions that might develop during surgery. I think it is crazy to have surgery anywhere except a hospital where immediate emergency care can be provided. This woman had respiratory complications and was in intensive care for 3 days before she finally died of a pulmonary embolism which is one of the risks of having any surgery. The same close friend was reported as saying, “the procedure involved injections and the liquid "went to her lungs and brain." which also makes me wonder if she went to a reputable surgeon who knew what they were doing.
I know this may sound harsh but I am glad that she was famous enough to have her funeral publicized on Argentine TV because I hope it serves as a warning to other women who might take the risks of having elective surgery too lightly. It is just such a waste and I really do not think too much of Miss Argentine for her decision. I feel sad for her family.
I found this article on Foxnews And it is a pretty short story, but really pretty sad because it is about the death of an Argentina woman who underwent elective surgery to increase the firmness of her buttocks and suffered a complication as a result of the needless surgery.
I get so troubled when I hear of a death of a perfectly healthy person taking the risk of surgery so lightly that they would rather take a chance at death in order to improve their looks. Any elective surgery is dangerous and people should think long and hard if the procedure is worth risking death for. This woman probably had previously undergone other surgeries and did not think a thing about this latest procedure. I bet the last thing on her mind going to surgery was that she would never wake up.
I can not imagine why such a beautiful woman would think that her buttocks would need an improvement. She was either very vain or very insecure or very desperate to maybe keep a job that required keeping perfect bodily proportions. Even a close friend of hers said, "A woman who had everything lost her life to have a slightly firmer behind" This woman was a former beauty queen of Argentina in 1994 and was also a mother of twins so I can’t imagine why she would put herself at risk. Maybe it was because she was getting older as the article said she was 38 years old and she did not like the changes her body was going through. It seems like after 30 the body does not cooperate as well and tends to start losing shape. She was getting close to 40 and no matter how hard she might try to keep up with plastic surgery her body was going to continue to change and all the plastic surgery in the world is not going to stop time. I occasionally watch plastic surgery shows on TV and most of the results I think looks very unnatural. Particularly the tummy tucks. I don’t care how good the plastic surgeon is, they can not recreate the belly button position or the natural curves that women were born with. The other thing reported in this article was that the woman arrived in a hospital which makes me wonder if she was in one of those outpatient surgery centers where they are not equipped to handle extreme medical conditions that might develop during surgery. I think it is crazy to have surgery anywhere except a hospital where immediate emergency care can be provided. This woman had respiratory complications and was in intensive care for 3 days before she finally died of a pulmonary embolism which is one of the risks of having any surgery. The same close friend was reported as saying, “the procedure involved injections and the liquid "went to her lungs and brain." which also makes me wonder if she went to a reputable surgeon who knew what they were doing.
I know this may sound harsh but I am glad that she was famous enough to have her funeral publicized on Argentine TV because I hope it serves as a warning to other women who might take the risks of having elective surgery too lightly. It is just such a waste and I really do not think too much of Miss Argentine for her decision. I feel sad for her family.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Bigger Brains Not Always Smarter
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
This foxnews story was about the most informative and interesting article I have read recently. It is about the human brain and the argument that the bigger the brain does not always mean the smarter the person. This argument is being carried out in the magazine called Current Biology by a variety of researchers on the subject of brains in comparison to the size of brains in animals.
I’ve always thought that the bigger the brain the more intelligent a person could be. But this article suggests that even though there are more neurons in the bigger brain that the only advantage that has been found is possibly memory might be better and not a persons thinking ability. How disappointing I think to be compared as one university professor did in this statement to a computer saying, "To use a computer analogy, bigger brains might in many cases be bigger hard drives, not necessarily better processors." "In bigger brains we often don't find more complexity, just an endless repetition of the same neural circuits over and over. This might add detail to remembered images or sounds, but not add any degree of complexity."
I don’t really have any opinions on this article as it is written very informative about the human brain and does not seem to have any bias written into it. I’m still wondering why some research says our brain is shrinking though, as this is not explained at all. I found it very interesting to think that insects have brains and are capable of thinking and even counting. I always thought that they were just hard wired for instinct and not thought processes. I’m wondering how the researchers also completed this study to learn that honeybees could count. The article does explain that maybe certain parts of a brain are the reason some animals are smarter than others. I guess that could account for the fact that some dogs are smart and other breeds like the cocker spaniel is quite dumb. I think the same could be for people even though our brains weigh about 3 pounds according to the article, some people might use their very tiny amount of neurons very well indeed and some may never use any neurons for thinking at all. This research also helps explain to me how you can develop a brain by exercising some neurons no matter what the size of brain. I had read something in the past about babies and how you could stimulate their brains and make them smarter by exposing them to things like tasting pickle juice in order to help nerve cells react and grow.
I really don’t care about brain size at all but this article was an interesting read and I will probably not try and strike up a conversation with a honeybee or anything. If I ever see a whale I’ll be thinking he only has a big brain to make his huge body work even though as a child I thought Moby Dick was extremely clever and must have been using every bit of his brain to get at that ship captain.
This foxnews story was about the most informative and interesting article I have read recently. It is about the human brain and the argument that the bigger the brain does not always mean the smarter the person. This argument is being carried out in the magazine called Current Biology by a variety of researchers on the subject of brains in comparison to the size of brains in animals.
I’ve always thought that the bigger the brain the more intelligent a person could be. But this article suggests that even though there are more neurons in the bigger brain that the only advantage that has been found is possibly memory might be better and not a persons thinking ability. How disappointing I think to be compared as one university professor did in this statement to a computer saying, "To use a computer analogy, bigger brains might in many cases be bigger hard drives, not necessarily better processors." "In bigger brains we often don't find more complexity, just an endless repetition of the same neural circuits over and over. This might add detail to remembered images or sounds, but not add any degree of complexity."
I don’t really have any opinions on this article as it is written very informative about the human brain and does not seem to have any bias written into it. I’m still wondering why some research says our brain is shrinking though, as this is not explained at all. I found it very interesting to think that insects have brains and are capable of thinking and even counting. I always thought that they were just hard wired for instinct and not thought processes. I’m wondering how the researchers also completed this study to learn that honeybees could count. The article does explain that maybe certain parts of a brain are the reason some animals are smarter than others. I guess that could account for the fact that some dogs are smart and other breeds like the cocker spaniel is quite dumb. I think the same could be for people even though our brains weigh about 3 pounds according to the article, some people might use their very tiny amount of neurons very well indeed and some may never use any neurons for thinking at all. This research also helps explain to me how you can develop a brain by exercising some neurons no matter what the size of brain. I had read something in the past about babies and how you could stimulate their brains and make them smarter by exposing them to things like tasting pickle juice in order to help nerve cells react and grow.
I really don’t care about brain size at all but this article was an interesting read and I will probably not try and strike up a conversation with a honeybee or anything. If I ever see a whale I’ll be thinking he only has a big brain to make his huge body work even though as a child I thought Moby Dick was extremely clever and must have been using every bit of his brain to get at that ship captain.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Wife of Cop Who Killed Himself Over Taser Death Sues NYPD
Saturday, November 14, 2009
This article on Foxnews is about a Mother who called the police because her grown son was acting strangely and she was afraid he was going to hurt himself. When the police arrived he ran out of his Mothers apartment and dashed around until he slipped out the fire escape and on to an overhanging platform all the while naked. Police were on the fire escape above him out of reach and also 10 feet below him on the ground. When the man picked up a long glass floreswcent light bulb and began pointing and jabbing with it, the supervising officer on the ground gave the order to another officer to tase the man. After being tased the man fell to the ground, where he hit his head and died. The supervising officer later commits suicide and the wife of the officer is suing the police departmant in order to clear her husbands name.
Wow, the wife of the dead police officer must really believe in her husband because after reading the article and the background information to the incident, it does seem to me that the police officer was in the wrong for his choice to tase the man. However I thought the whole article was riddled with choices.
The first choice was the Mother who called the police. She also had the choice of calling an ambulance. Her son was not doing anything criminal at the time, which is what the police are used to dealing with. Her son might have been helped by ambulance personel in his mental condition at the time. The second choice is when the supervisor of the police gave the order to tase the man. If he was worried about his officers safety he should have had them back off and not confront the man and certainly not tase a man standing on a 10 foot elevated ledge. And the officer who was given the order could have chosen to refuse the order to tase, which could have saved the man's life. The supervising officer who chose to kill himself after the incident, put his family through shame and scrutiny could have chose to live, clear his name or live and put his family through scrutiny and serve punishment. The wife of the dead policeman could have chosen to let the matter drop after the death of her husband and let the department take the heat for the victims death, but instead chose to clear her husbands name and now everything is going to come out and she may not be successful.
I'm suprised at why I focused on how many choices were presented in this article which prompted my 'what if' reaction. The most dumbfounding thing in the whole article was the very last line in which the author of the story wrote about the suicide note, "I love you all I'm sorry for the mess!!" he wrote to his family, signing the letter with careful, flowery script, "Michael Pigott." What in the world was the relevance to be biased in his description of the signature? Instead of just saying the note was signed, was I supposed to feel something about the man who killed himself leaving a flowery signed suicide note? I remain dumbfounded.
This article on Foxnews is about a Mother who called the police because her grown son was acting strangely and she was afraid he was going to hurt himself. When the police arrived he ran out of his Mothers apartment and dashed around until he slipped out the fire escape and on to an overhanging platform all the while naked. Police were on the fire escape above him out of reach and also 10 feet below him on the ground. When the man picked up a long glass floreswcent light bulb and began pointing and jabbing with it, the supervising officer on the ground gave the order to another officer to tase the man. After being tased the man fell to the ground, where he hit his head and died. The supervising officer later commits suicide and the wife of the officer is suing the police departmant in order to clear her husbands name.
Wow, the wife of the dead police officer must really believe in her husband because after reading the article and the background information to the incident, it does seem to me that the police officer was in the wrong for his choice to tase the man. However I thought the whole article was riddled with choices.
The first choice was the Mother who called the police. She also had the choice of calling an ambulance. Her son was not doing anything criminal at the time, which is what the police are used to dealing with. Her son might have been helped by ambulance personel in his mental condition at the time. The second choice is when the supervisor of the police gave the order to tase the man. If he was worried about his officers safety he should have had them back off and not confront the man and certainly not tase a man standing on a 10 foot elevated ledge. And the officer who was given the order could have chosen to refuse the order to tase, which could have saved the man's life. The supervising officer who chose to kill himself after the incident, put his family through shame and scrutiny could have chose to live, clear his name or live and put his family through scrutiny and serve punishment. The wife of the dead policeman could have chosen to let the matter drop after the death of her husband and let the department take the heat for the victims death, but instead chose to clear her husbands name and now everything is going to come out and she may not be successful.
I'm suprised at why I focused on how many choices were presented in this article which prompted my 'what if' reaction. The most dumbfounding thing in the whole article was the very last line in which the author of the story wrote about the suicide note, "I love you all I'm sorry for the mess!!" he wrote to his family, signing the letter with careful, flowery script, "Michael Pigott." What in the world was the relevance to be biased in his description of the signature? Instead of just saying the note was signed, was I supposed to feel something about the man who killed himself leaving a flowery signed suicide note? I remain dumbfounded.
Report: Push Back Age of Cervical Cancer Tests
Friday, November 20, 2009
This article found on Fox news Fox news is about new guidelines for cervical cancer screening. The new guidelines are for women to start getting Pap smears at the age of 21 years old and then they do not need annual screening after that. These guidelines are put out by the reputable American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and is intended to benefit women by eliminating the need for certain procedures that now are seen as needless. The guidelines go on to say "Women younger than 30 should undergo cervical cancer screening once every two years instead of an annual exam. And those age 30 and older can be screened once every three years."
Amazing how if you don't go to the doctor, they won't do anything to you isn't it? I do find that doctors seem to want to perform things that will be compensated for such as testing and procedures albeit benign, but in the best interest of screening for health concerns. However if the 'shoe doesn't fit' they can't wear it anymore and this is how I acquaint this new evidence, which indicates early treatment of abnormal Pap smears is actually causing problems later in life with pregnancy and preterm deliveries as reported by the chairman of the ACOG in this article.
I like the way the author of this article brought up the recent change in breast cancer screening guidelines, in comparison to the guidelines put out by the ACOG on cervical screening. Apparently the American Cancer Society did not like whoever put out the breast cancer screening information from the quote in the article by the deputy chief medical officer, he said "The guidelines …. were largely based on computer projections." showing that it is necessary to make changes in medicine only on evidenced based science. This article included the reason that causes cervical cancers in a very nonjudgmental way, which I thought, was pretty decent. It involves a sexually transmitted disease called HPV. One medical expert explained "Women do not get cervical cancer first. They acquire HPV, the sexually transmitted virus that causes precancerous abnormalities of the cervix and cervical cancer. It takes years to progress from an HPV-infection to full-blown cervical cancer." So really nothing has changed about getting Pap smears. It sounds like women can start at any age or get screened as often as a woman wants, except what has changed is there will not be any more "Overdiagnosing and overtreating adolescents and very young women" as stated by another medical expert.
Though I'm involved in health care. I am also a healthcare consumer and have a bit of skepticism when new information is put out to follow as best advice. I think the author for this article reported fairly, with ethical bias on the relevancy of this information. This was achieved by the use of competent sources and melding of different types of information in common with the topic of cervical screening such as the HPV information. Bottom line, I found this news story credible and helpful.
This article found on Fox news Fox news is about new guidelines for cervical cancer screening. The new guidelines are for women to start getting Pap smears at the age of 21 years old and then they do not need annual screening after that. These guidelines are put out by the reputable American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and is intended to benefit women by eliminating the need for certain procedures that now are seen as needless. The guidelines go on to say "Women younger than 30 should undergo cervical cancer screening once every two years instead of an annual exam. And those age 30 and older can be screened once every three years."
Amazing how if you don't go to the doctor, they won't do anything to you isn't it? I do find that doctors seem to want to perform things that will be compensated for such as testing and procedures albeit benign, but in the best interest of screening for health concerns. However if the 'shoe doesn't fit' they can't wear it anymore and this is how I acquaint this new evidence, which indicates early treatment of abnormal Pap smears is actually causing problems later in life with pregnancy and preterm deliveries as reported by the chairman of the ACOG in this article.
I like the way the author of this article brought up the recent change in breast cancer screening guidelines, in comparison to the guidelines put out by the ACOG on cervical screening. Apparently the American Cancer Society did not like whoever put out the breast cancer screening information from the quote in the article by the deputy chief medical officer, he said "The guidelines …. were largely based on computer projections." showing that it is necessary to make changes in medicine only on evidenced based science. This article included the reason that causes cervical cancers in a very nonjudgmental way, which I thought, was pretty decent. It involves a sexually transmitted disease called HPV. One medical expert explained "Women do not get cervical cancer first. They acquire HPV, the sexually transmitted virus that causes precancerous abnormalities of the cervix and cervical cancer. It takes years to progress from an HPV-infection to full-blown cervical cancer." So really nothing has changed about getting Pap smears. It sounds like women can start at any age or get screened as often as a woman wants, except what has changed is there will not be any more "Overdiagnosing and overtreating adolescents and very young women" as stated by another medical expert.
Though I'm involved in health care. I am also a healthcare consumer and have a bit of skepticism when new information is put out to follow as best advice. I think the author for this article reported fairly, with ethical bias on the relevancy of this information. This was achieved by the use of competent sources and melding of different types of information in common with the topic of cervical screening such as the HPV information. Bottom line, I found this news story credible and helpful.
Accident Victim Fitted With 'Bionic Bottom'
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
This article on Fox news is about a man who was in a motor cycle accident that seriously injured his abdomen and he was repaired by having a colostomy procedure and the use of a colostomy bag to collect his bowel movements. The accident victim named Galvin, lives in England and is only 55 and was self-conscious and did not like having to manage emptying and changing the bag. In this article it referenced the New York Daily News as saying the man had "an operation called the Electrically Stimulated Gracilis Neosphincter, which ultimately gave him a "pacemaker-like stimulator to activate the opening and closing of (his) sphincter muscle for bowel movements." Also he is known as the "the man with the bionic bottom" by the British press as reported in this article.
I did not believe this story when I first read it as I had heard of many new approaches to colostomy care and have never heard of this as an alternative option. Being in the healthcare field I need to check this out in case I ever have to consider it a viable option. I am very happy for this gentleman in his efforts for achieving a better quality of life and many more like him could benefit. I had an uncle who had a colostomy for a while and he was a different man. Until his was reversed we barely saw him, after he was back to normal he was his old humorous self again.
Since I thought this might be a bogus article my first reaction was to dismiss the idea that it could be true except in this article it also referenced the ABC news report on the doctor who invented the surgical procedure. It describes how the technique is performed where the doctor "cut Galvin’s leg muscle from the groin to the knee and wrapped it around Galvin’s anus. A device was also implanted - complete with a remote control – and that controls the muscles." "There are lots of people in the same situation as me that potentially this operation could help," Galvin said. "It changed my life." After reading about the remote control I started thinking of all the worst-case scenarios that might happen to the remote control. Apparently when this guy wants to go to the bathroom he pushes a button on the remote control. What would happen if he lost his remote, or the batteries went dead or a toddler finds it, or he forgot to lock it and he rolled over on it in his pocket? And what if he is in an athletic event and he pulls a muscle?
I see great advances in technology all the time in healthcare and should not be surprised by this device, but I admit that I am mildly shocked by this invention. Who would have ever thought that the remote could be used for more than just the garage door opener and the entertainment set?
This article on Fox news is about a man who was in a motor cycle accident that seriously injured his abdomen and he was repaired by having a colostomy procedure and the use of a colostomy bag to collect his bowel movements. The accident victim named Galvin, lives in England and is only 55 and was self-conscious and did not like having to manage emptying and changing the bag. In this article it referenced the New York Daily News as saying the man had "an operation called the Electrically Stimulated Gracilis Neosphincter, which ultimately gave him a "pacemaker-like stimulator to activate the opening and closing of (his) sphincter muscle for bowel movements." Also he is known as the "the man with the bionic bottom" by the British press as reported in this article.
I did not believe this story when I first read it as I had heard of many new approaches to colostomy care and have never heard of this as an alternative option. Being in the healthcare field I need to check this out in case I ever have to consider it a viable option. I am very happy for this gentleman in his efforts for achieving a better quality of life and many more like him could benefit. I had an uncle who had a colostomy for a while and he was a different man. Until his was reversed we barely saw him, after he was back to normal he was his old humorous self again.
Since I thought this might be a bogus article my first reaction was to dismiss the idea that it could be true except in this article it also referenced the ABC news report on the doctor who invented the surgical procedure. It describes how the technique is performed where the doctor "cut Galvin’s leg muscle from the groin to the knee and wrapped it around Galvin’s anus. A device was also implanted - complete with a remote control – and that controls the muscles." "There are lots of people in the same situation as me that potentially this operation could help," Galvin said. "It changed my life." After reading about the remote control I started thinking of all the worst-case scenarios that might happen to the remote control. Apparently when this guy wants to go to the bathroom he pushes a button on the remote control. What would happen if he lost his remote, or the batteries went dead or a toddler finds it, or he forgot to lock it and he rolled over on it in his pocket? And what if he is in an athletic event and he pulls a muscle?
I see great advances in technology all the time in healthcare and should not be surprised by this device, but I admit that I am mildly shocked by this invention. Who would have ever thought that the remote could be used for more than just the garage door opener and the entertainment set?
Friday, November 13, 2009
Virginia Family Claims H1N1 Vaccine Sickened Son
Friday, November 13, 2009
A Foxnews article reports that a 14 year old boy in Virginia, who was given the H1N1 vaccine is now experiencing a deterioration in health soon after receiving the shot. Doctors are trying to diagnose and find out why the youth is having symptoms of muscle weakness. The family claims the boys failing health is due to receiving the H1N1 shot or commonly called swine flu shot.
Bingo! You could have seen that coming. As in the past, infant and child vaccines have been the target of scrutiny over whether they have caused perfectly normal children to develop autism and other such ailments including even death, so this article does not surprise me one bit. I have been a skeptic of sorts about the whole hyped swine flu drama in the first place and I do not think we have a pandemic of sorts waiting to happen. At least I'm not worried this year, maybe next year or the year after that when the virus has gone through a few mutations.
I would have liked to have read a little more about this story, but the additional link in the story would not open up for me. The story reports the boy was given his usual seasonal flu vaccine as well as the H1N1 vaccine, but the father blames the boy’s symptoms on the H1N1 vaccine because he has not had any problems with the seasonal flu vaccine on previous occasions times four. The article describes the boy as “An avid young athlete who was unable to walk without the aid of a walker just one day after getting his flu shots. A doctor who has examined the boy is trying to determine if the boy is indeed suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome which has on occasion caused paralysis in some victims of the disease. I have heard of this syndrome being blamed on numerous things with one being the preservative used in the vaccine and not the vaccine component itself. I think it is a preservative that only some will react to and others do not have any problems with it when added to vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say in the article “About 1 in 1 million people who receive seasonal flu vaccines will be infected with GBS. The CDC adds that GBS is a condition that strikes people who have never received a flu vaccine.” The boy’s father finds this announcement hard to believe because his son has had the regular flu vaccine several times with out problems.
I knew there would probably be controversy over this H1N1 vaccine if someone who received it, got sick, because it was certainly rushed though approval by the government with changing stories from health officials about how many vaccines would be needed in a series in order to gain protection from the swine flu. Apparently there are five cases of reported Guillain-Barre syndrome in patients that have received the vaccine so far. By the time the CDC have figured out the connection between the H1N1 vaccine and health problems of people receiving the shot, it will be too late to do anything but attend the feeding frenzy the lawyers will be having.
A Foxnews article reports that a 14 year old boy in Virginia, who was given the H1N1 vaccine is now experiencing a deterioration in health soon after receiving the shot. Doctors are trying to diagnose and find out why the youth is having symptoms of muscle weakness. The family claims the boys failing health is due to receiving the H1N1 shot or commonly called swine flu shot.
Bingo! You could have seen that coming. As in the past, infant and child vaccines have been the target of scrutiny over whether they have caused perfectly normal children to develop autism and other such ailments including even death, so this article does not surprise me one bit. I have been a skeptic of sorts about the whole hyped swine flu drama in the first place and I do not think we have a pandemic of sorts waiting to happen. At least I'm not worried this year, maybe next year or the year after that when the virus has gone through a few mutations.
I would have liked to have read a little more about this story, but the additional link in the story would not open up for me. The story reports the boy was given his usual seasonal flu vaccine as well as the H1N1 vaccine, but the father blames the boy’s symptoms on the H1N1 vaccine because he has not had any problems with the seasonal flu vaccine on previous occasions times four. The article describes the boy as “An avid young athlete who was unable to walk without the aid of a walker just one day after getting his flu shots. A doctor who has examined the boy is trying to determine if the boy is indeed suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome which has on occasion caused paralysis in some victims of the disease. I have heard of this syndrome being blamed on numerous things with one being the preservative used in the vaccine and not the vaccine component itself. I think it is a preservative that only some will react to and others do not have any problems with it when added to vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say in the article “About 1 in 1 million people who receive seasonal flu vaccines will be infected with GBS. The CDC adds that GBS is a condition that strikes people who have never received a flu vaccine.” The boy’s father finds this announcement hard to believe because his son has had the regular flu vaccine several times with out problems.
I knew there would probably be controversy over this H1N1 vaccine if someone who received it, got sick, because it was certainly rushed though approval by the government with changing stories from health officials about how many vaccines would be needed in a series in order to gain protection from the swine flu. Apparently there are five cases of reported Guillain-Barre syndrome in patients that have received the vaccine so far. By the time the CDC have figured out the connection between the H1N1 vaccine and health problems of people receiving the shot, it will be too late to do anything but attend the feeding frenzy the lawyers will be having.
Humans Still Evolving as Our Brains Shrink
Friday, November 13, 2009
BY Charles Q. Choi
I think this story reported on by Foxnews from LiveScience is full of fallacy, however it does have a cool looking picture of a brain which is what the article is about. The author is reporting that our brains are shrinking as we evolve as humans. The research is based on skull measurements which are getting smaller which suggest that our brains are shrinking and has been occurring for over 5,000 years. The research also suggests that our genes have been changing for the past 10,000 years during human evolution. John Hawks is a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin and he says, "When it comes to recent evolutionary changes, we currently maybe have the least specific details with regard the brain, but we do know from archaeological data that pretty much everywhere we can measure — Europe, China, South Africa, Australia — that brains have shrunk about 150 cubic centimeters, off a mean of about 1,350. That's roughly 10 percent."
Any story on evolution is a fictional story, so it goes with out saying what I think of evolution. And this very emotional reaction I have to this story and any other story like it concerning evolution will never change. Forgive me if I do not seem to understand this story very well.
Now because there is other information in this story to be read, it is probably not fair to just stop at the word 'evolution' and judgmentally dismiss the research as thinking it is about the theory of evolution. It reports some things that are attributed to the development of human conditions, or changes that occur, if you will, in the human brain. The silliest thing in the article is the thought that “Evolution in humans is commonly thought to have essentially stopped in recent times.” You think? I should have developed gills by now so I could swim like a fish as much time as I spend in the water at the lake. Now this article suggests that the “Human race is still evolving, and even accelerating.” Here is what the article goes on to say, "As to why is it shrinking, perhaps in big societies, as opposed to hunter-gatherer lifestyles, we can rely on other people for more things, can specialize our behavior to a greater extent, and maybe not need our brains as much." Wow, and I thought the hunter gatherers were the simple types. Now I know it is the scientist who came up with this article’s research who is the simple type. I’m so glad that is cleared up.
The article goes on to babble about the body’s defenses and mutations against malaria. That is just our immune system working as installed with the original model that God guarantees. And the evolutionary change explained about lactose intolerance is crazy. Please, somebody explain it to me, this whole genome theory and what that has to do with the human brain shrinking. Our discovery of all the wonders of the human body and what it is capable of, is not evidence of evolution, but just a greater understanding of how wonderfully we were put together by an awesome Creator.
BY Charles Q. Choi
I think this story reported on by Foxnews from LiveScience is full of fallacy, however it does have a cool looking picture of a brain which is what the article is about. The author is reporting that our brains are shrinking as we evolve as humans. The research is based on skull measurements which are getting smaller which suggest that our brains are shrinking and has been occurring for over 5,000 years. The research also suggests that our genes have been changing for the past 10,000 years during human evolution. John Hawks is a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin and he says, "When it comes to recent evolutionary changes, we currently maybe have the least specific details with regard the brain, but we do know from archaeological data that pretty much everywhere we can measure — Europe, China, South Africa, Australia — that brains have shrunk about 150 cubic centimeters, off a mean of about 1,350. That's roughly 10 percent."
Any story on evolution is a fictional story, so it goes with out saying what I think of evolution. And this very emotional reaction I have to this story and any other story like it concerning evolution will never change. Forgive me if I do not seem to understand this story very well.
Now because there is other information in this story to be read, it is probably not fair to just stop at the word 'evolution' and judgmentally dismiss the research as thinking it is about the theory of evolution. It reports some things that are attributed to the development of human conditions, or changes that occur, if you will, in the human brain. The silliest thing in the article is the thought that “Evolution in humans is commonly thought to have essentially stopped in recent times.” You think? I should have developed gills by now so I could swim like a fish as much time as I spend in the water at the lake. Now this article suggests that the “Human race is still evolving, and even accelerating.” Here is what the article goes on to say, "As to why is it shrinking, perhaps in big societies, as opposed to hunter-gatherer lifestyles, we can rely on other people for more things, can specialize our behavior to a greater extent, and maybe not need our brains as much." Wow, and I thought the hunter gatherers were the simple types. Now I know it is the scientist who came up with this article’s research who is the simple type. I’m so glad that is cleared up.
The article goes on to babble about the body’s defenses and mutations against malaria. That is just our immune system working as installed with the original model that God guarantees. And the evolutionary change explained about lactose intolerance is crazy. Please, somebody explain it to me, this whole genome theory and what that has to do with the human brain shrinking. Our discovery of all the wonders of the human body and what it is capable of, is not evidence of evolution, but just a greater understanding of how wonderfully we were put together by an awesome Creator.
Tea Party organizer vows to burn pelosi and Perriello in effigy
Posted: November 13th, 2009
From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby
In this article on CCN I usually steer away from anything too political but found the title interesting. I also tend to steer away from protest, but this was an article about a Tea Party organizer who borders on the edge of desperation by planning to burn the likeness of two House Representatives and one of them is the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This will all take place in Virginia and the organizer thinks about one hundred people will be showing up to participate in the demonstration. The protest is against the health care legislation that is being pushed through the house against the peoples will.
I love the thought of being able to speak out against the government in this free country with out the fear of repercussions. In any other country the threat of being run over by a tank is real and here protest is a form of free speech. I especially like the idea this man had of burning the image of Pelosi because I have to change the channel on the TV every time I see her goofy face with her mouth open and speaking words of nonsense and lies.
I consider this organizer a genius as he is still protesting peacefully and he is not anti- American like the flag burners. Flag burning protesters are despicable. This man is just anti-stupid, anti-immoral, anti-unethical, anti- unconstitutional and he explains himself rather well in his statement, “We're not going to actually set Perriello on fire or Mrs. Pelosi on fire," Coleman said. "But we have been trying for months to get our point across just how vehemently we are opposed to this health care legislation. For the House vote to come so close and to know that Mr. Perriello is on the other side, it's a kick in the stomach that a lot of people couldn't take." Coleman's weekend rally is to protest mainly the Democrats in their efforts to fix the healthcare system. The article included the reaction of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen who condemned the plans as "shocking and despicable." But I agree with Coleman when he rebutted, "Something shocking and despicable is how they've handled this health care legislation," "Going behind closed doors, writing a bill that is going to fundamentally change what America is. More people are going to be killed by this health care legislation than this bonfire."
I rather enjoy the spunk this man has for getting the attention of the Democratic leaders as Democrats do not seem to respond to the American people until it starts to get personal. Then it is all about them as victims of outrage and they turn their focus to making the offender look bad, instead of focusing on what the offender is trying to get them to pay attention to, like the Healthcare Reform bill and how it will not work and will be actually damaging to the entire American system. I only hope the expected number of attendees to this rally will be in the thousands and not just a hundred.
From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby
In this article on CCN I usually steer away from anything too political but found the title interesting. I also tend to steer away from protest, but this was an article about a Tea Party organizer who borders on the edge of desperation by planning to burn the likeness of two House Representatives and one of them is the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This will all take place in Virginia and the organizer thinks about one hundred people will be showing up to participate in the demonstration. The protest is against the health care legislation that is being pushed through the house against the peoples will.
I love the thought of being able to speak out against the government in this free country with out the fear of repercussions. In any other country the threat of being run over by a tank is real and here protest is a form of free speech. I especially like the idea this man had of burning the image of Pelosi because I have to change the channel on the TV every time I see her goofy face with her mouth open and speaking words of nonsense and lies.
I consider this organizer a genius as he is still protesting peacefully and he is not anti- American like the flag burners. Flag burning protesters are despicable. This man is just anti-stupid, anti-immoral, anti-unethical, anti- unconstitutional and he explains himself rather well in his statement, “We're not going to actually set Perriello on fire or Mrs. Pelosi on fire," Coleman said. "But we have been trying for months to get our point across just how vehemently we are opposed to this health care legislation. For the House vote to come so close and to know that Mr. Perriello is on the other side, it's a kick in the stomach that a lot of people couldn't take." Coleman's weekend rally is to protest mainly the Democrats in their efforts to fix the healthcare system. The article included the reaction of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen who condemned the plans as "shocking and despicable." But I agree with Coleman when he rebutted, "Something shocking and despicable is how they've handled this health care legislation," "Going behind closed doors, writing a bill that is going to fundamentally change what America is. More people are going to be killed by this health care legislation than this bonfire."
I rather enjoy the spunk this man has for getting the attention of the Democratic leaders as Democrats do not seem to respond to the American people until it starts to get personal. Then it is all about them as victims of outrage and they turn their focus to making the offender look bad, instead of focusing on what the offender is trying to get them to pay attention to, like the Healthcare Reform bill and how it will not work and will be actually damaging to the entire American system. I only hope the expected number of attendees to this rally will be in the thousands and not just a hundred.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Fake Cops Wanted in Fast-Food Robberies Sought in Rape of Wendy's Worker
Thursday, November 05, 2009
I found this story on Foxnews about men who disguised themselves as fake police officers in order to gain entrance to fast food restaurants in order to rob them. The story now reports that the criminals have escalated to raping a victim as well. The story has a link in it with more information and even a video to show the robberies. They have struck at least three times and are waiting until the restaurants close and then follow the employee as they go to their cars and flash police like lights. The victim is then forced to go back to the restaurant and open the door so they can rob the safe.
My response to this story is “see I told you so” because I was once followed home just yards from my home by a sheriff deputies car and read the riot act for not pulling over. I was not going to pull over until I felt safe in my driveway where I knew my husband would be greeting me.
I was ending an 11pm shift at the hospital and was just arriving home at 1: 30 am on a country road with in sight of my driveway when a car passed me going the opposite direction. I saw the car turn around and came speeding up to my tailgate and then it turn on flashing lights. Being a woman and knowing I had done nothing wrong I proceeded on at a slow rate and turned on my turn signal and slowly entered my driveway and did not stop until I was parked in front of my garage with my husband opening the garage door. I stayed in the truck until the officer exited his car and proceeded to chew me out about not pulling over. I calmly explained that at 1:30 am on a dark country road and knowing I had no moving violation and so close to my driveway I would pull over as indicated by my turn signal and slow speed and find out whatever it was when I was safely near my husband. I told him I knew of a recent fake pullover in a neighboring town where a girl had been raped and I was concerned for my safety. He admonished me as that only happens rarely and I should have pulled over because he did not know what to expect coming up my driveway to which I told him, his safety was not my concern. After he went back to his car and canceled ‘back up’ he must have settled down because he came back and talked to my husband and I (still sitting in the truck) and explained that someone had called in a description of a blue truck sitting sideways in a road. I was unfortunate to have been driving a blue truck. He could see I was in scrubs and went on to talk about his wife also working late shifts at a hospital.
I’m glad the article reported that this type of criminal incidents are still happening and all young persons aught to not blindly succumb to visuals associated with law enforcement such as flashing lights. I just wish I could have had a news article to show the sheriffs deputy in my case.
I found this story on Foxnews about men who disguised themselves as fake police officers in order to gain entrance to fast food restaurants in order to rob them. The story now reports that the criminals have escalated to raping a victim as well. The story has a link in it with more information and even a video to show the robberies. They have struck at least three times and are waiting until the restaurants close and then follow the employee as they go to their cars and flash police like lights. The victim is then forced to go back to the restaurant and open the door so they can rob the safe.
My response to this story is “see I told you so” because I was once followed home just yards from my home by a sheriff deputies car and read the riot act for not pulling over. I was not going to pull over until I felt safe in my driveway where I knew my husband would be greeting me.
I was ending an 11pm shift at the hospital and was just arriving home at 1: 30 am on a country road with in sight of my driveway when a car passed me going the opposite direction. I saw the car turn around and came speeding up to my tailgate and then it turn on flashing lights. Being a woman and knowing I had done nothing wrong I proceeded on at a slow rate and turned on my turn signal and slowly entered my driveway and did not stop until I was parked in front of my garage with my husband opening the garage door. I stayed in the truck until the officer exited his car and proceeded to chew me out about not pulling over. I calmly explained that at 1:30 am on a dark country road and knowing I had no moving violation and so close to my driveway I would pull over as indicated by my turn signal and slow speed and find out whatever it was when I was safely near my husband. I told him I knew of a recent fake pullover in a neighboring town where a girl had been raped and I was concerned for my safety. He admonished me as that only happens rarely and I should have pulled over because he did not know what to expect coming up my driveway to which I told him, his safety was not my concern. After he went back to his car and canceled ‘back up’ he must have settled down because he came back and talked to my husband and I (still sitting in the truck) and explained that someone had called in a description of a blue truck sitting sideways in a road. I was unfortunate to have been driving a blue truck. He could see I was in scrubs and went on to talk about his wife also working late shifts at a hospital.
I’m glad the article reported that this type of criminal incidents are still happening and all young persons aught to not blindly succumb to visuals associated with law enforcement such as flashing lights. I just wish I could have had a news article to show the sheriffs deputy in my case.
Amateur Treasure Hunter Finds Iron Age 'Bling'
Thursday, November 05, 2009
This story on Foxnews is another one of those good luck stories about a man who took up the hobby of metal detecting and upon his first real try at treasure hunting, actually pulled in a rare treasure worth approximately 1.65 million dollars. The find was four gold necklaces that date between 300BC and 100BC which is pretty much described as the Iron Age. This was all found on private land in Stirlingshire Scotland.
My first thought was lucky dog, but he may not receive anything for it because apparently he told the local museum about it and they are taking possession of the necklaces. “Under Scots law, the Crown has the right to claim any find, with any payments made at their discretion.” Now I’m thinking the trouble he may have caused himself by reporting it will be evident when he has to hire a lawyer in the future in order to be compensated. That’s just a guess because I’m thinking the Museum of Scotland will probably try to cheat him out of anything. After all he is just a recreational hobbyist and not a professional of any kind. He also is only 35 years old and only a game warden with a safari park. I’m sure they are not familiar with the phrase ‘finders keepers’. Sounds like they are more comfortable with ‘you find, we keep’, but we’ll let you look at it anytime you come to the museum.
I thought the story was nice on the part of describing how the man found the jewelry. I’m all for those people who come into good fortune because it has got to be the most wonderful feeling in the world. I’m sure this has been a life changing event for him. I’m sure many people have taken up the hobby of metal detecting, but how many of them took it up and in five days after getting used to the equipment, take it out and find a fortune on the first try? "I found it by accident," he said. "I had a field in mind, so set off there. I walked seven steps from where I parked my jeep and that's when I discovered them. It was just sheer luck.”
I like lucky stories because there is still a chance for every person out there to appreciate that this could happen to me…..probably not, but it still could. Even if this man does not get paid for the worth of the jewelry, he hopefully will get paid enough to change his life economically. At his age this could really do things for him. If it were an old man, possibly just receiving the notoriety of finding the treasure might be rewarding enough but if it were me I would want the money. He did look on the internet to see what this type of jewelry was worth so I know he is interested in money. I just think he made a big mistake by emailing a picture of his find to the museum.
This story on Foxnews is another one of those good luck stories about a man who took up the hobby of metal detecting and upon his first real try at treasure hunting, actually pulled in a rare treasure worth approximately 1.65 million dollars. The find was four gold necklaces that date between 300BC and 100BC which is pretty much described as the Iron Age. This was all found on private land in Stirlingshire Scotland.
My first thought was lucky dog, but he may not receive anything for it because apparently he told the local museum about it and they are taking possession of the necklaces. “Under Scots law, the Crown has the right to claim any find, with any payments made at their discretion.” Now I’m thinking the trouble he may have caused himself by reporting it will be evident when he has to hire a lawyer in the future in order to be compensated. That’s just a guess because I’m thinking the Museum of Scotland will probably try to cheat him out of anything. After all he is just a recreational hobbyist and not a professional of any kind. He also is only 35 years old and only a game warden with a safari park. I’m sure they are not familiar with the phrase ‘finders keepers’. Sounds like they are more comfortable with ‘you find, we keep’, but we’ll let you look at it anytime you come to the museum.
I thought the story was nice on the part of describing how the man found the jewelry. I’m all for those people who come into good fortune because it has got to be the most wonderful feeling in the world. I’m sure this has been a life changing event for him. I’m sure many people have taken up the hobby of metal detecting, but how many of them took it up and in five days after getting used to the equipment, take it out and find a fortune on the first try? "I found it by accident," he said. "I had a field in mind, so set off there. I walked seven steps from where I parked my jeep and that's when I discovered them. It was just sheer luck.”
I like lucky stories because there is still a chance for every person out there to appreciate that this could happen to me…..probably not, but it still could. Even if this man does not get paid for the worth of the jewelry, he hopefully will get paid enough to change his life economically. At his age this could really do things for him. If it were an old man, possibly just receiving the notoriety of finding the treasure might be rewarding enough but if it were me I would want the money. He did look on the internet to see what this type of jewelry was worth so I know he is interested in money. I just think he made a big mistake by emailing a picture of his find to the museum.
China Bans Beatings After Death at Web-Addict Camp
Friday, November 06, 2009
I found this story on Fox news and it is eerily similar to the hard love camps for troubled teens in the U.S. where they submit them to tough treatment such as hiking in the desert ect. However this story is about Chinese teens addicted to the web. Apparently the Chinese beat their young campers to cure the internet addiction and now it is receiving attention by the media because one of the teenagers has died. Also in July, the Chinese government had banned electric shock treatments used on teenagers because of a “controversial psychiatrist” and his practice. Now also the government has banned punishment beatings.
And I thought the Chinese were so smart with all the attention to education and everything. I would think utilization of the booming internet resources would be adventitious to excelling in this world. Instead the parents of these teens choose to send their kids to over 200 organizations “set up across the country to "treat" adolescents obsessed with the world wide web. "Patients" are forced to substitute time spent staring at a monitor with strenuous physical exercise — or even more extreme forms of "therapy."
I think there is more to this story than is being reported but still think it is outrageous to think this is a beneficial treatment method for this type of problem. I’ve got an easy treatment. Just take the computer away from the child. There is no reason a 15 year old boy should be dead just hours after checking in to a camp. That is just plain murder. What parent would put their child into an institution without checking on the practices of the institution first? Apparently the government has issued new guidelines telling these camps to “be more careful with their patients.” This was issued after another teen “was taken to hospital with water in the lungs and kidney failure following time spent” in one of the camps. "When intervening to prevent improper use of the internet, we should... strictly prohibit restriction of personal freedom and physical punishments," the health ministry said in a draft guideline for Internet use by minors.” "The goal of intervention is... to urge the target people to use the Internet in a healthy way," they said. "It's not to stop them from using the Internet."
OK, now we are getting somewhere with the story that should continue here, but did not. I would be interested in knowing what they think improper use of the internet is, and why parents are choosing to send their kids to these torture camps instead of just taking the computer away, or supervising the use of the computer. There has got to be more to this story such as is this a cultural thing? What could be so improper in the use of the internet that you could not discipline your own child yourself? The Chinese government does so many improper things themselves, I would think the parents would want to protect their children instead of willingly send them to a camp that emulates the cruelty of their own regime.
I found this story on Fox news and it is eerily similar to the hard love camps for troubled teens in the U.S. where they submit them to tough treatment such as hiking in the desert ect. However this story is about Chinese teens addicted to the web. Apparently the Chinese beat their young campers to cure the internet addiction and now it is receiving attention by the media because one of the teenagers has died. Also in July, the Chinese government had banned electric shock treatments used on teenagers because of a “controversial psychiatrist” and his practice. Now also the government has banned punishment beatings.
And I thought the Chinese were so smart with all the attention to education and everything. I would think utilization of the booming internet resources would be adventitious to excelling in this world. Instead the parents of these teens choose to send their kids to over 200 organizations “set up across the country to "treat" adolescents obsessed with the world wide web. "Patients" are forced to substitute time spent staring at a monitor with strenuous physical exercise — or even more extreme forms of "therapy."
I think there is more to this story than is being reported but still think it is outrageous to think this is a beneficial treatment method for this type of problem. I’ve got an easy treatment. Just take the computer away from the child. There is no reason a 15 year old boy should be dead just hours after checking in to a camp. That is just plain murder. What parent would put their child into an institution without checking on the practices of the institution first? Apparently the government has issued new guidelines telling these camps to “be more careful with their patients.” This was issued after another teen “was taken to hospital with water in the lungs and kidney failure following time spent” in one of the camps. "When intervening to prevent improper use of the internet, we should... strictly prohibit restriction of personal freedom and physical punishments," the health ministry said in a draft guideline for Internet use by minors.” "The goal of intervention is... to urge the target people to use the Internet in a healthy way," they said. "It's not to stop them from using the Internet."
OK, now we are getting somewhere with the story that should continue here, but did not. I would be interested in knowing what they think improper use of the internet is, and why parents are choosing to send their kids to these torture camps instead of just taking the computer away, or supervising the use of the computer. There has got to be more to this story such as is this a cultural thing? What could be so improper in the use of the internet that you could not discipline your own child yourself? The Chinese government does so many improper things themselves, I would think the parents would want to protect their children instead of willingly send them to a camp that emulates the cruelty of their own regime.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Most Women End Up Looking Like Their Mothers
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
I'm truly convinced by this article on Foxnews, that just about any subject can be written about, but I question why is it newsworthy? This article suggests that “There may be some truth to the saying that all women will eventually turn into their mothers….”. Wow, I could have told you that for free by looking in a mirror, instead of producing a study that shows “Daughters age and wrinkle like their mothers.” All my life I have been told I look like my mother and in the 4th decade of my life that is not looking so good, as my mother is in her 7th decade. I’m not saying my mother is ugly or anything, just that it is harder and harder to tell in pictures if we are mother-daughter or sisters.
My first response to this article was ‘Duh’ because I am a realist when it comes to biological processes. Even if I could look gorgeous at 70 years of age I would still have old protoplasm, so it’s not much of an enlightening trade off to see where this article was going in the hopes of “cosmetic rejuvenation of the eye region.”
However this was another attempt to show off the technology for the vain, where “Plastic surgeons used facial imaging and 3D computer modeling to study the aging process and found that daughters' faces tend to follow their mothers in terms of sagging and volume loss, particularly around the corners of their eyes and lower eyelids.” "This study applies state-of-the-art facial imaging and three-dimensional computer modeling to measure changes in the aging female face." This is exciting obviously to them to be able to report this factually instead of just by “observational and subjective," data. My excitement of reading this news turned from gaseous to nausea, when I read further and found that they only based the study using “10 sets of similar looking mother-daughter pairs aged from 15 to 90 to measure changes in the aging female face.” This is not a valid study at all, as it is well know by the educated that it would take at least 100 sets of subjects to make a valid study. I suppose this information could be helpful to the singer Kenny Rodgers if they had maybe studied his Dad in this way before plastic surgeons took a knife to him. My perspective on that note is changing to compassion for all the women who have had botched eyelid surgeries and live scarred for life as monsters behind dark glasses. Yes, I do believe that if this kind of research would help prevent those tragedies, then I find the information in this article empowering.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) as reported in this article “shows that it, (eyelid surgery) was the fourth most popular cosmetic surgical procedure in the United States in 2008. The researchers in the study say their “findings may act as a further guideline for Eyelid surgery is one of the most common cosmetic procedures, used to get rid of crows' feet around the eyes and sagging to make the face appear younger." I guess only time will tell if this is true.
I'm truly convinced by this article on Foxnews, that just about any subject can be written about, but I question why is it newsworthy? This article suggests that “There may be some truth to the saying that all women will eventually turn into their mothers….”. Wow, I could have told you that for free by looking in a mirror, instead of producing a study that shows “Daughters age and wrinkle like their mothers.” All my life I have been told I look like my mother and in the 4th decade of my life that is not looking so good, as my mother is in her 7th decade. I’m not saying my mother is ugly or anything, just that it is harder and harder to tell in pictures if we are mother-daughter or sisters.
My first response to this article was ‘Duh’ because I am a realist when it comes to biological processes. Even if I could look gorgeous at 70 years of age I would still have old protoplasm, so it’s not much of an enlightening trade off to see where this article was going in the hopes of “cosmetic rejuvenation of the eye region.”
However this was another attempt to show off the technology for the vain, where “Plastic surgeons used facial imaging and 3D computer modeling to study the aging process and found that daughters' faces tend to follow their mothers in terms of sagging and volume loss, particularly around the corners of their eyes and lower eyelids.” "This study applies state-of-the-art facial imaging and three-dimensional computer modeling to measure changes in the aging female face." This is exciting obviously to them to be able to report this factually instead of just by “observational and subjective," data. My excitement of reading this news turned from gaseous to nausea, when I read further and found that they only based the study using “10 sets of similar looking mother-daughter pairs aged from 15 to 90 to measure changes in the aging female face.” This is not a valid study at all, as it is well know by the educated that it would take at least 100 sets of subjects to make a valid study. I suppose this information could be helpful to the singer Kenny Rodgers if they had maybe studied his Dad in this way before plastic surgeons took a knife to him. My perspective on that note is changing to compassion for all the women who have had botched eyelid surgeries and live scarred for life as monsters behind dark glasses. Yes, I do believe that if this kind of research would help prevent those tragedies, then I find the information in this article empowering.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) as reported in this article “shows that it, (eyelid surgery) was the fourth most popular cosmetic surgical procedure in the United States in 2008. The researchers in the study say their “findings may act as a further guideline for Eyelid surgery is one of the most common cosmetic procedures, used to get rid of crows' feet around the eyes and sagging to make the face appear younger." I guess only time will tell if this is true.
Gas-Mask Bra and Panda Poop
In this article dated Friday, October 02, 2009 on Fox News , I found a plethora of cute stories with social significance. The article is cleverly written and contains information about an annual event called the Ig Nobel awards. Scientists are rewarded for their research in such unusual topics as spoofed by the article, “Can't get milk from a cow? Try calling her Bessie or Buttercup.” The article goes on to describe why what sounds like a waste of time and money could actually be of some use economically and in some cases life saving like using a woman’s bra to cover the face in case of a poison gas attack.
I absolutely abhor the giving of grant money to spend on such frivolous research that seems pointless and wasteful of taxpayer money, so when I started reading this article I thought it would be more of the same. Instead what I found was a voice of reasoning that explained why these talented scientists have come up with some of the things they’ve invented or discovered that might actually be beneficial.
Why I thought the story would be pointless, was in the first case reported to be given an award was for “scientists who found that empty beer bottles are much better weapons in a bar brawl than full bottles”. Another was for a scientist who discovered bacteria in panda poop could reduce kitchen waste. And then there was the “researchers who found that dairy cows with names yield more milk than unnamed cows.” As I continued to read the article it carefully explained the process of each of the researched items and also gave the helpful implications of using the discoveries and surprisingly it seemed to make sense. The answers were simple, for example it was found that "The empty beer bottles were much sturdier than the full ones,"…. "However, although the empty bottles would therefore be better clubs, both full and empty bottles suffice in breaking the human skull." The researcher justified that the findings could be used by lawyers and judges to decide court cases where a beer bottle had been used as a weapon. And being nice to a herd of cows could make a big impact overall in milk production. Apparently affectionate cows give more milk.
Although the being nice to cows in order to get more milk production seems practical, my favorite award was given to the medical researcher in this article, who invented the bra that could convert to a gas mask in the event of a nuclear plant disaster or events such as the 9/ 11 terrorist attack, or for women caught in dust storms. The article reported “Dr. Elena Bodnar won for her bra that converts into a pair of gas masks — one for the wearer, the other for a friend.” "You have to be prepared all the time, at any place, at any moment, and practically every woman wears a bra," she said, noting that a bra cup, no matter what size, is the perfect shape to fit over the human mouth and nose.
I absolutely abhor the giving of grant money to spend on such frivolous research that seems pointless and wasteful of taxpayer money, so when I started reading this article I thought it would be more of the same. Instead what I found was a voice of reasoning that explained why these talented scientists have come up with some of the things they’ve invented or discovered that might actually be beneficial.
Why I thought the story would be pointless, was in the first case reported to be given an award was for “scientists who found that empty beer bottles are much better weapons in a bar brawl than full bottles”. Another was for a scientist who discovered bacteria in panda poop could reduce kitchen waste. And then there was the “researchers who found that dairy cows with names yield more milk than unnamed cows.” As I continued to read the article it carefully explained the process of each of the researched items and also gave the helpful implications of using the discoveries and surprisingly it seemed to make sense. The answers were simple, for example it was found that "The empty beer bottles were much sturdier than the full ones,"…. "However, although the empty bottles would therefore be better clubs, both full and empty bottles suffice in breaking the human skull." The researcher justified that the findings could be used by lawyers and judges to decide court cases where a beer bottle had been used as a weapon. And being nice to a herd of cows could make a big impact overall in milk production. Apparently affectionate cows give more milk.
Although the being nice to cows in order to get more milk production seems practical, my favorite award was given to the medical researcher in this article, who invented the bra that could convert to a gas mask in the event of a nuclear plant disaster or events such as the 9/ 11 terrorist attack, or for women caught in dust storms. The article reported “Dr. Elena Bodnar won for her bra that converts into a pair of gas masks — one for the wearer, the other for a friend.” "You have to be prepared all the time, at any place, at any moment, and practically every woman wears a bra," she said, noting that a bra cup, no matter what size, is the perfect shape to fit over the human mouth and nose.
Pilots Were Distracted by Laptops, Discussion in Cockpit
Monday, October 26, 2009
This article on Fox News is revealing of the deleterious effects of communication technology and the misuse of that technology inappropriately, by so called professionals in public servant employment positions. This article is about a pilot and a co-pilot that failed to heed procedure and protocol and were oblivious to the fact they had missed their bus stop and totally disregarded communications with ground crews. The article reports "The Northwest Pilots who overshot a Minnesota runway by 150 miles last week told investigators they were using their personal laptops in the cockpit, a violation of company policy, according to a National Transportation Safety Board advisory."
I’ve heard of auto pilot, but this sounded ridiculously like ‘no pilot’ and should be an embarrassment to the pilots and also to the company for having hired such incompetent individuals. This was not an accident or an oversight or whatever you want to call the action of the pilots. This was willful negligence on their parts to not do their job while on the time clock. The article reports “The two pilots, interviewed separately on Sunday, told investigators they lost track of time when they used their laptops while in a “concentrated period of discussion” about the new monthly crew flight scheduling system.” OOPs, I’d say they forgot they were flying a plane altogether and thought there were sitting in the coffee shop at the airport. Only thing the pilots were not guilty of was lying because they “told NTSB officials that they had not been monitoring the airplane or calls from Air Traffic Control at that time, according to the report.”
The story get better, because when the pilots did not respond to ground communications for over an hour even though they heard “conversation on the radio”, “fighters from two North American Aerospace Defense Command sites were put on alert for the plane”. Too bad they didn’t just send them an email since they were on their laptops. Can you imagine what the bill is going to be to Northwest airlines from NORAD? Guess who finally saved the flight? It was the flight attendants who noticed they had passed the airport and called the pilots. I guess flight attendants really are in charge of passenger safety.
I know this seems comical in ways that no one was flying the plane and thankfully all 144 passengers landed safely, but it could just as well have been a report of another crash with tragic consequences. Public transportation is becoming very risky to take and it is not always due to equipment malfunction, but more human error caused by distraction away from job performance. We see it with cell phone calls and texting ect. in other reports of car crashes, train wrecks, ship wrecks. I’m even seeing it in the medical field and wonder how much time is taken away from patient care when staff are surfing the internet at work or glued to their every cell phone call and texting up a storm. Technology is great, but the responsibility of job performance does not seem to be increasing with the responsibility of using it appropriately, but seems to be taking this generation of professionals on a downhill slide. Personally I hope these two pilots lose not only their jobs but also their pilot’s license. They should never be allowed to put the public in that kind of danger again. Based solely on the facts reported in this article I say hopefully undisputedly no second chances for these pilots.
This article on Fox News is revealing of the deleterious effects of communication technology and the misuse of that technology inappropriately, by so called professionals in public servant employment positions. This article is about a pilot and a co-pilot that failed to heed procedure and protocol and were oblivious to the fact they had missed their bus stop and totally disregarded communications with ground crews. The article reports "The Northwest Pilots who overshot a Minnesota runway by 150 miles last week told investigators they were using their personal laptops in the cockpit, a violation of company policy, according to a National Transportation Safety Board advisory."
I’ve heard of auto pilot, but this sounded ridiculously like ‘no pilot’ and should be an embarrassment to the pilots and also to the company for having hired such incompetent individuals. This was not an accident or an oversight or whatever you want to call the action of the pilots. This was willful negligence on their parts to not do their job while on the time clock. The article reports “The two pilots, interviewed separately on Sunday, told investigators they lost track of time when they used their laptops while in a “concentrated period of discussion” about the new monthly crew flight scheduling system.” OOPs, I’d say they forgot they were flying a plane altogether and thought there were sitting in the coffee shop at the airport. Only thing the pilots were not guilty of was lying because they “told NTSB officials that they had not been monitoring the airplane or calls from Air Traffic Control at that time, according to the report.”
The story get better, because when the pilots did not respond to ground communications for over an hour even though they heard “conversation on the radio”, “fighters from two North American Aerospace Defense Command sites were put on alert for the plane”. Too bad they didn’t just send them an email since they were on their laptops. Can you imagine what the bill is going to be to Northwest airlines from NORAD? Guess who finally saved the flight? It was the flight attendants who noticed they had passed the airport and called the pilots. I guess flight attendants really are in charge of passenger safety.
I know this seems comical in ways that no one was flying the plane and thankfully all 144 passengers landed safely, but it could just as well have been a report of another crash with tragic consequences. Public transportation is becoming very risky to take and it is not always due to equipment malfunction, but more human error caused by distraction away from job performance. We see it with cell phone calls and texting ect. in other reports of car crashes, train wrecks, ship wrecks. I’m even seeing it in the medical field and wonder how much time is taken away from patient care when staff are surfing the internet at work or glued to their every cell phone call and texting up a storm. Technology is great, but the responsibility of job performance does not seem to be increasing with the responsibility of using it appropriately, but seems to be taking this generation of professionals on a downhill slide. Personally I hope these two pilots lose not only their jobs but also their pilot’s license. They should never be allowed to put the public in that kind of danger again. Based solely on the facts reported in this article I say hopefully undisputedly no second chances for these pilots.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Lawyer: Nurse Assistant Denied Care After Patient Attack Leaves Her in Vegetative State
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
In this article I found on FoxNews is a mystery of sorts that any mystery writer would love to take on and solve. However it will be up to a lawyer, an insurance company, and a workers compensation board to decide how the mystery will be defined, instead of solved. This article describes the sad story of a husband caring for a wife that has been rendered an invalid after a devastating stroke. But unlike other stories, this husband claims he needs compensation whether the stroke was a work related injury or not, and he is trying to get help from a lawyer to prove his case so he can be compensated for the loss of his wife’s income. The husband claims his wife’s last words stated “she was afraid she would be fired for reporting that she had been assaulted at her hospital nursing job.” The coverage he needs to care for her is being disputed between her insurance and workers compensation as both are refusing to pay.
I’m interested in anything of a medical nature and also in the people who provide medical care. This certified nurse assistant was apparently assaulted while providing care to a patient at a hospital where she was employed, but the hospital says that her current condition is not the result of the injury and so they are not liable. But then conveniently the insurance company Blue Cross denies coverage because they say it is a workers compensation case. Mostly I am just in favor of this woman getting fair treatment.
I’m hoping the one who has to pay the most, is the one who is responsible for this woman. She has paid her dues both in insurance premiums and in job performance for the hospital. She did not ask to be attacked nor did she ask to have a stroke. Somebody now owes her whether it is the insurance company or workers compensation. There seems to be no compassion on the faultless woman who is now in a vegetative state. There do seem to be clear facts listed in the article to work with, on trying to decide who is responsible to pay for this woman’s care, but it does have other sides to the story. You have the hospital side, the insurance side, the lawyer’s side, the husband’s side and the medical records side. However it still has an ere of mystery surrounding the facts, like why was she attacked on April 14 and 16, told to make an appointment on April 20, but then turned away from that appointment for some reason, yet medical records from April 20th note in Mendoza's medical records says she was "in her usual state of health until about a week ago when she was bitten at work and had increased anxiety about her work injury." “The records also note that Mendoza had developed high blood pressure since the incidents.” Then there is the mystery of why she was afraid to report to her boss what had happened, but apparently she did report it because otherwise why would she have been asked to make a clinic appointment? Her husband stated at dinner on April 20 "she was terrified, and very tired, and had a headache, and wondering if her boss was going to fire her," said Ralph Mendoza. "Her last words were that her boss was going to get mad at her for reporting what had happened."
Agreeably there is nothing that can be done to help this woman, nor is anyone at fault for what happened to this woman in the attack or the stroke, but there is a responsibility on the part of someone to help this woman’s husband care for her. Instead of the usual murder mysteries of ‘who did it’, this one could be ‘who is going to do it’!
In this article I found on FoxNews is a mystery of sorts that any mystery writer would love to take on and solve. However it will be up to a lawyer, an insurance company, and a workers compensation board to decide how the mystery will be defined, instead of solved. This article describes the sad story of a husband caring for a wife that has been rendered an invalid after a devastating stroke. But unlike other stories, this husband claims he needs compensation whether the stroke was a work related injury or not, and he is trying to get help from a lawyer to prove his case so he can be compensated for the loss of his wife’s income. The husband claims his wife’s last words stated “she was afraid she would be fired for reporting that she had been assaulted at her hospital nursing job.” The coverage he needs to care for her is being disputed between her insurance and workers compensation as both are refusing to pay.
I’m interested in anything of a medical nature and also in the people who provide medical care. This certified nurse assistant was apparently assaulted while providing care to a patient at a hospital where she was employed, but the hospital says that her current condition is not the result of the injury and so they are not liable. But then conveniently the insurance company Blue Cross denies coverage because they say it is a workers compensation case. Mostly I am just in favor of this woman getting fair treatment.
I’m hoping the one who has to pay the most, is the one who is responsible for this woman. She has paid her dues both in insurance premiums and in job performance for the hospital. She did not ask to be attacked nor did she ask to have a stroke. Somebody now owes her whether it is the insurance company or workers compensation. There seems to be no compassion on the faultless woman who is now in a vegetative state. There do seem to be clear facts listed in the article to work with, on trying to decide who is responsible to pay for this woman’s care, but it does have other sides to the story. You have the hospital side, the insurance side, the lawyer’s side, the husband’s side and the medical records side. However it still has an ere of mystery surrounding the facts, like why was she attacked on April 14 and 16, told to make an appointment on April 20, but then turned away from that appointment for some reason, yet medical records from April 20th note in Mendoza's medical records says she was "in her usual state of health until about a week ago when she was bitten at work and had increased anxiety about her work injury." “The records also note that Mendoza had developed high blood pressure since the incidents.” Then there is the mystery of why she was afraid to report to her boss what had happened, but apparently she did report it because otherwise why would she have been asked to make a clinic appointment? Her husband stated at dinner on April 20 "she was terrified, and very tired, and had a headache, and wondering if her boss was going to fire her," said Ralph Mendoza. "Her last words were that her boss was going to get mad at her for reporting what had happened."
Agreeably there is nothing that can be done to help this woman, nor is anyone at fault for what happened to this woman in the attack or the stroke, but there is a responsibility on the part of someone to help this woman’s husband care for her. Instead of the usual murder mysteries of ‘who did it’, this one could be ‘who is going to do it’!
See what you think about this poorly written article
Monday, October 19, 2009
I'm interested in historical sites so I started reading Clinton Childhood Home to Become National Park on Fox News under leisure topics. Well forget the topic. I was so entralled, better yet appalled, that such an article could be published as is. I would expect better from professionals of journalism. Since it was an Associated Press release I'm not sure of the authorship.
I love the power of words. Even the way I titled my blog post "See what you think about this poorly written article" I've hoped to sway you to my side. I could have just said "See what you think about this written article", but by adding the word "poorly", the reader is already expecting to see something distasteful to the senses. This article was awkwardly written and confusing in flow of paragraphs and I never changed my opinion that reading it was uncomfortable.
I could not get past the first sentence and kept reading it over and over for my brain to comprehend the sentence structure. I knew what the sentence meant, but it was not telling me in the correct order. My brain thought Clinton lived in Julia Chester Hospital until age 4 instead of the house. In the very second sentence why did the author even bother to tell me this information? Who cares if the home was occupied if they are not going to tell me who occupied it? The article jumps around and is not organized in any fashion as my brain is also forced to jump around and sort out suitable information. For instance, next I’m reading about when the house became a museum and oh,... a visitor’s gift shop was added later. Then it skips to how the house was the center of Clintons life for 10 years, then back to the furniture in the house, then to profound statements of the museum director, then to Clintons grandfather, then to this dumb statement by the museum director out in the middle of no where "This is not lost on a little child with wide eyes and big ears". Reading further, I wanted to gag with this statement by the same director, "People want to stand on sacred ground". At one point my brain just stalled on when it started talking about “Virginia’s bedroom”. I’m assumingVirginia is Mr. Clinton’s mother? It would have been nice to have been introduced properly. That did not feel right just being thrown in there by the author. There seemed to be lots of name dropping in the article in order to give the boyhood home of Clinton some credence. Vince Foster is mentioned, Uncle Buddy, some vague other house not opened to visitors, the date Hillary’s father died, and then this stray sentence ended the article with, “Clinton said in his autobiography, "My Life," that the South Hervey Street home "certainly is the place I associate with awakening to life" and that it "still holds deep memories."
Reading the article about the boyhood home of Clinton was uncomfortable because of the structure of the article itself. It was as if the author had put a whole bunch of sentences into a box, shook up the box and then dumped the box of sentences upside down on a piece of paper and let stay where they fell in no particular order. I did not feel endeared by this article. I had no desire to visit this place. I did not learn any new facts from this story. I was only more confused by the lack of description, and misplaced information and that is why I chose to write about this article and not necessarily the subject matter. If I were the editor and was paying someone to write this article, I would definitely expect a rewrite before it would be published.
I'm interested in historical sites so I started reading Clinton Childhood Home to Become National Park on Fox News under leisure topics. Well forget the topic. I was so entralled, better yet appalled, that such an article could be published as is. I would expect better from professionals of journalism. Since it was an Associated Press release I'm not sure of the authorship.
I love the power of words. Even the way I titled my blog post "See what you think about this poorly written article" I've hoped to sway you to my side. I could have just said "See what you think about this written article", but by adding the word "poorly", the reader is already expecting to see something distasteful to the senses. This article was awkwardly written and confusing in flow of paragraphs and I never changed my opinion that reading it was uncomfortable.
I could not get past the first sentence and kept reading it over and over for my brain to comprehend the sentence structure. I knew what the sentence meant, but it was not telling me in the correct order. My brain thought Clinton lived in Julia Chester Hospital until age 4 instead of the house. In the very second sentence why did the author even bother to tell me this information? Who cares if the home was occupied if they are not going to tell me who occupied it? The article jumps around and is not organized in any fashion as my brain is also forced to jump around and sort out suitable information. For instance, next I’m reading about when the house became a museum and oh,... a visitor’s gift shop was added later. Then it skips to how the house was the center of Clintons life for 10 years, then back to the furniture in the house, then to profound statements of the museum director, then to Clintons grandfather, then to this dumb statement by the museum director out in the middle of no where "This is not lost on a little child with wide eyes and big ears". Reading further, I wanted to gag with this statement by the same director, "People want to stand on sacred ground". At one point my brain just stalled on when it started talking about “Virginia’s bedroom”. I’m assumingVirginia is Mr. Clinton’s mother? It would have been nice to have been introduced properly. That did not feel right just being thrown in there by the author. There seemed to be lots of name dropping in the article in order to give the boyhood home of Clinton some credence. Vince Foster is mentioned, Uncle Buddy, some vague other house not opened to visitors, the date Hillary’s father died, and then this stray sentence ended the article with, “Clinton said in his autobiography, "My Life," that the South Hervey Street home "certainly is the place I associate with awakening to life" and that it "still holds deep memories."
Reading the article about the boyhood home of Clinton was uncomfortable because of the structure of the article itself. It was as if the author had put a whole bunch of sentences into a box, shook up the box and then dumped the box of sentences upside down on a piece of paper and let stay where they fell in no particular order. I did not feel endeared by this article. I had no desire to visit this place. I did not learn any new facts from this story. I was only more confused by the lack of description, and misplaced information and that is why I chose to write about this article and not necessarily the subject matter. If I were the editor and was paying someone to write this article, I would definitely expect a rewrite before it would be published.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Doctor says near-death experiences are in the mind
updated 10:04 a.m. EDT, Fri October 16, 2009
By Saundra YoungCNN Senior Medical Producer
For a change I search CNN news and found a story I am interested in because I have been around the medical field for many years and have encountered resuscitation efforts but have not encountered any stories about the phenomenon of near death experience except maybe one person and I thought he was kind of wacky. This article was written about a near death experience of a woman who was alerted by pain in her arm and chest that she might be having a heart attack and summoned help. Help arrived shortly and she indeed suffered from a cardiac arrest with immediate initiation of CPR and automated external defibrillator. After she was brought back to life she describes what happened to her during the time that she was dead.
I think something happens to persons who are clinically dead and I equate it with the fact that if they are being resusitated they are getting some oxygenated blood driven to their head by artificial means, but it is not as adequate as the normal process while alive. It is a well know fact that persons suffer from hallucinations of sort when they have lack of blood supply to their head, sometimes it is of a pleasant sort such as those that try to have a heightened sexual experience through near asphyxiation. Others have incredible frightening delusions when not enough oxygen gets to their brain and they see bugs crawling on the walls. So if a heart stops pumping blood to the head and we try and do it artificially I can see how spurts of oxygenated blood might induce such memories of being present in the room watching the whole thing take place as an out of body experience except, since you are dead you don’t have enough brain power to let anyone know.
I have no reason to believe that this person is making her near death experience up as she describes it as "I floated right out of my body. My body was here, and I just floated away. I looked back at it once, and it was there." She even saw dead people. "It was very peaceful and light and beautiful. And I remember like, when you see someone you haven't seen in a while, you want to hug them, and I remember trying to reach out to my ex-husband, and he would not take my hand. And then they floated away." After that was "massive energy, powerful, very powerful energy." "When that was happening, there were pictures of my son and my daughter and my granddaughter, and every second, their pictures flashed in my mind, and then I came back."
I enjoyed reading this article for the information it contained about the studies that have been done in order to explain the near death experience and why these experiences sound similar in each person involved. The brain is such a fascinating place and in sleep we dream much like the person experiences in near death as expressed by some experts who have compiled studies listed in the article. Mostly it seems to leave the person changed for the rest of their natural life which is not altogether positive as one would think.
By Saundra YoungCNN Senior Medical Producer
For a change I search CNN news and found a story I am interested in because I have been around the medical field for many years and have encountered resuscitation efforts but have not encountered any stories about the phenomenon of near death experience except maybe one person and I thought he was kind of wacky. This article was written about a near death experience of a woman who was alerted by pain in her arm and chest that she might be having a heart attack and summoned help. Help arrived shortly and she indeed suffered from a cardiac arrest with immediate initiation of CPR and automated external defibrillator. After she was brought back to life she describes what happened to her during the time that she was dead.
I think something happens to persons who are clinically dead and I equate it with the fact that if they are being resusitated they are getting some oxygenated blood driven to their head by artificial means, but it is not as adequate as the normal process while alive. It is a well know fact that persons suffer from hallucinations of sort when they have lack of blood supply to their head, sometimes it is of a pleasant sort such as those that try to have a heightened sexual experience through near asphyxiation. Others have incredible frightening delusions when not enough oxygen gets to their brain and they see bugs crawling on the walls. So if a heart stops pumping blood to the head and we try and do it artificially I can see how spurts of oxygenated blood might induce such memories of being present in the room watching the whole thing take place as an out of body experience except, since you are dead you don’t have enough brain power to let anyone know.
I have no reason to believe that this person is making her near death experience up as she describes it as "I floated right out of my body. My body was here, and I just floated away. I looked back at it once, and it was there." She even saw dead people. "It was very peaceful and light and beautiful. And I remember like, when you see someone you haven't seen in a while, you want to hug them, and I remember trying to reach out to my ex-husband, and he would not take my hand. And then they floated away." After that was "massive energy, powerful, very powerful energy." "When that was happening, there were pictures of my son and my daughter and my granddaughter, and every second, their pictures flashed in my mind, and then I came back."
I enjoyed reading this article for the information it contained about the studies that have been done in order to explain the near death experience and why these experiences sound similar in each person involved. The brain is such a fascinating place and in sleep we dream much like the person experiences in near death as expressed by some experts who have compiled studies listed in the article. Mostly it seems to leave the person changed for the rest of their natural life which is not altogether positive as one would think.
Man, 22, Dies After Tongue-Piercing Causes Brain Abscesses
Friday, October 16, 2009
Fox news
This article was really kind of short and sweet, but it includes two links to read more so I will include in my post. Click here to read more about this story from BBC News.
Click here to read the report in Archives of Neurology.
As reported by Fox news health, this article refers to a BBC News report that stated “They may seem cool to teenagers and young adults, but having your tongue pierced can be deadly”. This article is of a healthy 22 year old man who dies from brain abscess, after a history of a recent tongue piercing.
I see a lot of persons with tongue piercings these days and I can not imagine why anyone would willingly do this to themselves. I can hardly stand to have an occasional swelled taste bud in my mouth much less a piece of metal sticking in my tongue. Though I’m sad for the death of this man I think sticking holes in such a germy place as the mouth no matter how strict the hygienic technique used, is just asking for a risk.
Even if death caused by infection is not deterrent enough the fact that Dentists are reporting "There are many potential complications, ranging from pain and swelling to chipped or cracked teeth. Patients who have oral piercings can also suffer with recession of the gums and prolonged bleeding.” "Piercing of oral sites also carries with it a risk of infection. The clear message is that oral piercing is ill-advised and should be avoided." For those of you who might be reading this and also have a tongue piercing, I could use some feedback on why this is such a popular trend these days. I have heard reports of ‘recreational use’ of the appendage, but still, every time I see one silver flash in the mouths of those I find myself staring and asking why, why, would you do that to yourself. Most persons I’ve run into who have a piercing talk funny. They have sort of a lisp and they are always curling up their tongues from the sides. Also they talk funny because it looks like they are trying to conceal the fact that they have one. I remember the old days when a person was being prepped for surgery we would ask them to take out contacts, hairpins, earrings and dentures. Now we have to look in every orifice that might hold an artificial pinning of sorts and again I wonder why, why, why.
The reason I am so curious about this phenomenon of tongue piercing, is it does not seem to be of particular stereotype. It crosses gender lines as well as social standing. I’ve seen young persons, older persons, professional persons, studious persons of all walks of life having this infliction without so much as a bat of the eye. I don’t get it and I am desperately trying to understand the reasoning behind what seems to me a nuisance in the mouth and a hindrance of normalcy that most people strive for. To get a pimple is a shame and humbling, but what... no growth on the tongue? We can fix that…puzzling.
Fox news
This article was really kind of short and sweet, but it includes two links to read more so I will include in my post. Click here to read more about this story from BBC News.
Click here to read the report in Archives of Neurology.
As reported by Fox news health, this article refers to a BBC News report that stated “They may seem cool to teenagers and young adults, but having your tongue pierced can be deadly”. This article is of a healthy 22 year old man who dies from brain abscess, after a history of a recent tongue piercing.
I see a lot of persons with tongue piercings these days and I can not imagine why anyone would willingly do this to themselves. I can hardly stand to have an occasional swelled taste bud in my mouth much less a piece of metal sticking in my tongue. Though I’m sad for the death of this man I think sticking holes in such a germy place as the mouth no matter how strict the hygienic technique used, is just asking for a risk.
Even if death caused by infection is not deterrent enough the fact that Dentists are reporting "There are many potential complications, ranging from pain and swelling to chipped or cracked teeth. Patients who have oral piercings can also suffer with recession of the gums and prolonged bleeding.” "Piercing of oral sites also carries with it a risk of infection. The clear message is that oral piercing is ill-advised and should be avoided." For those of you who might be reading this and also have a tongue piercing, I could use some feedback on why this is such a popular trend these days. I have heard reports of ‘recreational use’ of the appendage, but still, every time I see one silver flash in the mouths of those I find myself staring and asking why, why, would you do that to yourself. Most persons I’ve run into who have a piercing talk funny. They have sort of a lisp and they are always curling up their tongues from the sides. Also they talk funny because it looks like they are trying to conceal the fact that they have one. I remember the old days when a person was being prepped for surgery we would ask them to take out contacts, hairpins, earrings and dentures. Now we have to look in every orifice that might hold an artificial pinning of sorts and again I wonder why, why, why.
The reason I am so curious about this phenomenon of tongue piercing, is it does not seem to be of particular stereotype. It crosses gender lines as well as social standing. I’ve seen young persons, older persons, professional persons, studious persons of all walks of life having this infliction without so much as a bat of the eye. I don’t get it and I am desperately trying to understand the reasoning behind what seems to me a nuisance in the mouth and a hindrance of normalcy that most people strive for. To get a pimple is a shame and humbling, but what... no growth on the tongue? We can fix that…puzzling.
Snakes a threat to U.S.
Foreign Pythons and Anacondas Threaten U.S.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
This snake story may not seem important just now because it seems to be a problem plaguing the southern part of Florida especially in the Everglades where the Burmese python and the yellow anaconda have been proliferating in the wild. Two causes for the problem have been sited by scientists who “believe pet owners have freed their snakes into the wild once they became too big to keep. They also think some Burmese pythons may have escaped in 1992 from pet shops battered by Hurricane Andrew and have been reproducing ever since.” The article indicated this could become a national problem as liken to the non native brown snake that took over Guam and killed out most of the bird population there. Similarly these rather large snakes are now being studied to see if they can live in other climates that might have colder winters.
I’m creeped out by any snake much less non native humongous body crushing snakes. I think the only good snake is a dead snake, so I hope I live in one of the States that the scientist find inhospitable for these constrictors. Yes, I know native snakes serve a purpose for vermin control, but they are still creepy.
One of the creepiest things the article informs is “Officials say the constrictors can produce up to 100 eggs at a time. Dr. Robert Reed, a research biologist with the U.S. geological survey, said everything from small wood storks to alligators and bobcats have been found in the stomachs of dead pythons.” And one of the saddest things reported was this same Reed guy stated” these free-range snakes pose a "minuscule" threat to people.” Well I’m not convinced because the article had a link to a python strangling a 2 year old girl as she slept in her crib and I think it could have easily been a child playing in the front yard and I can’t imagine having to worry about this type of predator. An occasional mountain lion sighting or bear sighting I can handle, but I don’t think I would sleep nights know these slithering monsters could be about. Interestingly the article reported that permits have been issued that would allow hunting and killing of these snakes but not in the Everglades National Park where 270 Burmese pythons have been removed in the last nine months. I don’t know, but if you ask me I think they need to lift their restriction on hunting in the park for awhile.
I hope I have not offended any snake lovers out there. I actually work with a man who keeps exotic snakes in his basement. And we live a few miles from a reptile zoo, so I can’t say that the information in this article does not apply to me living in this area. Florida has their hurricanes but we have tornados. Imagine what might happen to this area if the buildings housing these snakes suddenly blew apart. I wish the article had given a little advice to what to do if you are surprised by one of these snakes.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
This snake story may not seem important just now because it seems to be a problem plaguing the southern part of Florida especially in the Everglades where the Burmese python and the yellow anaconda have been proliferating in the wild. Two causes for the problem have been sited by scientists who “believe pet owners have freed their snakes into the wild once they became too big to keep. They also think some Burmese pythons may have escaped in 1992 from pet shops battered by Hurricane Andrew and have been reproducing ever since.” The article indicated this could become a national problem as liken to the non native brown snake that took over Guam and killed out most of the bird population there. Similarly these rather large snakes are now being studied to see if they can live in other climates that might have colder winters.
I’m creeped out by any snake much less non native humongous body crushing snakes. I think the only good snake is a dead snake, so I hope I live in one of the States that the scientist find inhospitable for these constrictors. Yes, I know native snakes serve a purpose for vermin control, but they are still creepy.
One of the creepiest things the article informs is “Officials say the constrictors can produce up to 100 eggs at a time. Dr. Robert Reed, a research biologist with the U.S. geological survey, said everything from small wood storks to alligators and bobcats have been found in the stomachs of dead pythons.” And one of the saddest things reported was this same Reed guy stated” these free-range snakes pose a "minuscule" threat to people.” Well I’m not convinced because the article had a link to a python strangling a 2 year old girl as she slept in her crib and I think it could have easily been a child playing in the front yard and I can’t imagine having to worry about this type of predator. An occasional mountain lion sighting or bear sighting I can handle, but I don’t think I would sleep nights know these slithering monsters could be about. Interestingly the article reported that permits have been issued that would allow hunting and killing of these snakes but not in the Everglades National Park where 270 Burmese pythons have been removed in the last nine months. I don’t know, but if you ask me I think they need to lift their restriction on hunting in the park for awhile.
I hope I have not offended any snake lovers out there. I actually work with a man who keeps exotic snakes in his basement. And we live a few miles from a reptile zoo, so I can’t say that the information in this article does not apply to me living in this area. Florida has their hurricanes but we have tornados. Imagine what might happen to this area if the buildings housing these snakes suddenly blew apart. I wish the article had given a little advice to what to do if you are surprised by one of these snakes.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Cleavage Creek Wines
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
By Elena Ferretti
I totally changed my perspective of this story which went from negative to positive in this endearing story on Fox news "Cleavage Creek Wines Fighting Breast Cancer One Bottle at Time" about a man who lost his wife to breast cancer. In honor for his deceased wife and as a tribute to the 25th anniversary of National Breast Cancer Awareness month of October, he is releasing the name of his newest wine as “Cleavage Creek”. He named his wine after the landscape of his Nevada ranch in which he describes the attributes of a woman’s anatomy. “I got a creek running through the middle of two rounded hillsides. So, Cleavage Creek Wine. You know, it just really fit my ranch,” Brown says.” On each bottle of wine is a provocative picture of a woman, but each of them have survived breast cancer.
The reason I first had a negative response to this article was because I thought it was just another article where sex sells in titles of articles. However this turned out to be such a sweet article about a man doing something so beyond himself that you couldn’t help but continue to read. He was so much in love with his late wife and he was giving back to other women in memory of her, instead of what I thought he was doing which was to sell wines off of the pictures of women’s cleavage to make a profit.
My eyes are tired of scanning all the articles that sometimes involves eye-catching titles including sexually explicit words in order to get you to read the article. I thought this was just such an article and almost did not get past the title. What made me read more was the title contained the words “Breast Cancer” and so I was intrigued to find out what a wine named Cleavage had to do with it. This man I think is very clever and also very kind as he does have award winning wines, but it is most special that he “gives ten percent of gross sales to funding breast cancer research.” “Not profits, because they can be off some years,” he says, “but 10 percent right off the top.” He also tells the story of each woman pictured on the wines to increase awareness of this devastating disease. The article tells how he took the tragic loss of his wife and turned it into a positive life’s work in order to survive after the death of his wife. The article states “Wasn’t any grand plan,” he recalls. “It all just came together. A lot of wines have forgettable names, but people remember ‘Cleavage.’” Even though $40,000 sounds like not very much money, the fact that he uses it in a different manner than most, makes this article poignant. Here is what he said when he donated money to “launch an Integrative Oncology Research Clinic at Bastyr University in Kenmore, Washington. “It’s a start,” he says. “The big places get lots of money. The smaller ones need us,” he explains. Integrative medicine, which combines traditional and alternative medicine, is a priority. “If Arlene had had access to this type of treatment she would still be alive today.” Some $20,000 also has gone for women who can not afford treatment.
I like the way the article ended after talking about such a horrible disease because it was on a very light note in a helpful way. It simply said “So the next time you want something nice for dinner, don’t feel embarrassed to check out some Cleavage.”
By Elena Ferretti
I totally changed my perspective of this story which went from negative to positive in this endearing story on Fox news "Cleavage Creek Wines Fighting Breast Cancer One Bottle at Time" about a man who lost his wife to breast cancer. In honor for his deceased wife and as a tribute to the 25th anniversary of National Breast Cancer Awareness month of October, he is releasing the name of his newest wine as “Cleavage Creek”. He named his wine after the landscape of his Nevada ranch in which he describes the attributes of a woman’s anatomy. “I got a creek running through the middle of two rounded hillsides. So, Cleavage Creek Wine. You know, it just really fit my ranch,” Brown says.” On each bottle of wine is a provocative picture of a woman, but each of them have survived breast cancer.
The reason I first had a negative response to this article was because I thought it was just another article where sex sells in titles of articles. However this turned out to be such a sweet article about a man doing something so beyond himself that you couldn’t help but continue to read. He was so much in love with his late wife and he was giving back to other women in memory of her, instead of what I thought he was doing which was to sell wines off of the pictures of women’s cleavage to make a profit.
My eyes are tired of scanning all the articles that sometimes involves eye-catching titles including sexually explicit words in order to get you to read the article. I thought this was just such an article and almost did not get past the title. What made me read more was the title contained the words “Breast Cancer” and so I was intrigued to find out what a wine named Cleavage had to do with it. This man I think is very clever and also very kind as he does have award winning wines, but it is most special that he “gives ten percent of gross sales to funding breast cancer research.” “Not profits, because they can be off some years,” he says, “but 10 percent right off the top.” He also tells the story of each woman pictured on the wines to increase awareness of this devastating disease. The article tells how he took the tragic loss of his wife and turned it into a positive life’s work in order to survive after the death of his wife. The article states “Wasn’t any grand plan,” he recalls. “It all just came together. A lot of wines have forgettable names, but people remember ‘Cleavage.’” Even though $40,000 sounds like not very much money, the fact that he uses it in a different manner than most, makes this article poignant. Here is what he said when he donated money to “launch an Integrative Oncology Research Clinic at Bastyr University in Kenmore, Washington. “It’s a start,” he says. “The big places get lots of money. The smaller ones need us,” he explains. Integrative medicine, which combines traditional and alternative medicine, is a priority. “If Arlene had had access to this type of treatment she would still be alive today.” Some $20,000 also has gone for women who can not afford treatment.
I like the way the article ended after talking about such a horrible disease because it was on a very light note in a helpful way. It simply said “So the next time you want something nice for dinner, don’t feel embarrassed to check out some Cleavage.”
Researchers Develop Memory-Boosting Nasal Spray
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
This article I found on Fox News is another attempt on my part to find something interesting And enlightening as well as to vary my response to the content of which it speaks. The article is short, but contains two sources that originally reported this story. Click here to read the study in the FASEB. Click here to read more on this story at the Daily Mail. As reported, researchers have developed a “memory-boosting nasal spray”. Instructions indicate “A short spray of the inhaler – taken at bedtime – will help the brain to hold in memories acquired during the day.” The researchers are suggesting that it could possibly be used for those students who are cramming for tests that if they take this nasal spray at bedtime it would help them remember what they had studied when they are awake the next morning.
I was excited to hopefully read some comments to the study and find this actual article credible, but instead as I read on it contained very little information and it also was not a credible study. I could probably take a group of individuals myself, have them read something before they go to bed, give them all a saline nasal spray and have some that would remember better the next day than others.
If it sounds too good to be true it probably is not, as this article did not pan out to include anything newsworthy. I find Fox News credible so the source does not disturb me, after all they do have a slogan that says “We report, you decide”. The other two sources listed for reading were interesting in that one was informative and the other raised a reaction from me that kind of disgusted me as it referred to the study written about in the journal of the “Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology” in which a statement sarcastically made a reference to using the spray "If a nasal spray can improve memory, perhaps we're on our way to giving some folks a whiff of common sense, such as accepting the realities of evolution," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal”. I pretty much take offense to that statement because I don’t believe in evolution or his condescending language. You also don’t have to be a genius to see the study is pretty much bogus as they only used 17 individuals to test the spray on before they announced the results in the journal. For a study to be relevant you need to have at least one hundred individuals participating. The other thing they discovered is the spray only works if you get a good night's sleep as evidence by REM sleep. Even though they used two groups (only men) and had a placebo (control group) I don’t see why this was reported as “Researchers have developed a memory-boosting nasal spray, London’s Daily Mail reported” I think the Fox news story should have responsibly titled theirs may have instead of “Researchers Develop Memory-Boosting Nasal Spray”.
The only thing I thought was interesting about this article is it mentioned the test took place at the “University of Lubeck in Germany” and “the spray was made using a molecule in the body’s immune system known as interleukin 6”. Since this article was first reported in the journal of Experimental Biology it makes me wonder if Fox is keeping an eye on German science. History was possibly not so fond of some of the things German scientists did in the past. Who knows?
This article I found on Fox News is another attempt on my part to find something interesting And enlightening as well as to vary my response to the content of which it speaks. The article is short, but contains two sources that originally reported this story. Click here to read the study in the FASEB. Click here to read more on this story at the Daily Mail. As reported, researchers have developed a “memory-boosting nasal spray”. Instructions indicate “A short spray of the inhaler – taken at bedtime – will help the brain to hold in memories acquired during the day.” The researchers are suggesting that it could possibly be used for those students who are cramming for tests that if they take this nasal spray at bedtime it would help them remember what they had studied when they are awake the next morning.
I was excited to hopefully read some comments to the study and find this actual article credible, but instead as I read on it contained very little information and it also was not a credible study. I could probably take a group of individuals myself, have them read something before they go to bed, give them all a saline nasal spray and have some that would remember better the next day than others.
If it sounds too good to be true it probably is not, as this article did not pan out to include anything newsworthy. I find Fox News credible so the source does not disturb me, after all they do have a slogan that says “We report, you decide”. The other two sources listed for reading were interesting in that one was informative and the other raised a reaction from me that kind of disgusted me as it referred to the study written about in the journal of the “Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology” in which a statement sarcastically made a reference to using the spray "If a nasal spray can improve memory, perhaps we're on our way to giving some folks a whiff of common sense, such as accepting the realities of evolution," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal”. I pretty much take offense to that statement because I don’t believe in evolution or his condescending language. You also don’t have to be a genius to see the study is pretty much bogus as they only used 17 individuals to test the spray on before they announced the results in the journal. For a study to be relevant you need to have at least one hundred individuals participating. The other thing they discovered is the spray only works if you get a good night's sleep as evidence by REM sleep. Even though they used two groups (only men) and had a placebo (control group) I don’t see why this was reported as “Researchers have developed a memory-boosting nasal spray, London’s Daily Mail reported” I think the Fox news story should have responsibly titled theirs may have instead of “Researchers Develop Memory-Boosting Nasal Spray”.
The only thing I thought was interesting about this article is it mentioned the test took place at the “University of Lubeck in Germany” and “the spray was made using a molecule in the body’s immune system known as interleukin 6”. Since this article was first reported in the journal of Experimental Biology it makes me wonder if Fox is keeping an eye on German science. History was possibly not so fond of some of the things German scientists did in the past. Who knows?
Good for Your Brain
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
"Freetetris.org, the free online version of the classic puzzle game, may help cognition"
I found this report on Fox News and even though this article is rather short it packs a lot of punch when it comes to telling you how you can improve ones ability to possibly boost brain power. It is common knowledge that stimulating the brain cells early in life can help infants develop and advance cognitively far beyond their peers and advance faster in school, but now there is a study that is showing a certain game can help you to develop cognitively if you play it on a regular basis. Of course you need a computer, but it is free for the taking and it is suggested that the game Tetris can easily give you more brain function. Among the list of things you will gain are improved complex planning skills, critical thinking, reasoning and language.
I chose to look for some interesting enlightening articles this week and found this article to be stimulating me already. I am saving this game to my favorites and will give it a try in order to possibly give me a boost from the humdrums of daily brain activity I use now. We’ll see how this goes, but I am willing to check out this study's research.
I know that almost any puzzle game can stimulate the brain such as doing daily crossword puzzles and such, and being in the healthcare field, I know there is evidence of keeping the elderly from early dementia by stimuating their brains with reading and puzzle type games have been found to be helpful. The reason this sounded interesting is that they actually performed the study using MRI technology to see what effect playing games had on the brain. This game also does not require huge amounts of knowledge to play so almost anyone could play. The rules are to “think quickly enough to slot various-sized cascading blocks into homogenous shapes on the screen.” I’m sure there are other games out there that offer the same effect on the brain but this one is the first studied by MRI so I would pay more attention to using something proven. And apparently Tetris is not anything new to the market, as the article says it has been around for 25 years and is estimated to have been circulated to millions of people. In as short as three months the Mind Research Network found that “adolescent girls who played Tetris not only displayed greater brain efficiency but developed a thicker brain cortex, a sign of increased grey matter.”
Now I know the article said that the game so far has been found to improve your “attention, hand-eye co-ordination, memory and visual spatial problem solving” and I know that I am not an adolescent girl, but if the study indicates playing Tetris will increase my brain power I am all for it. Maybe I should play it before I write my next paper. Well at least it can’t hurt if not for writing content, the article said it increases grey matter in the motor areas of the brain and my typing skills could use some improvement.
"Freetetris.org, the free online version of the classic puzzle game, may help cognition"
I found this report on Fox News and even though this article is rather short it packs a lot of punch when it comes to telling you how you can improve ones ability to possibly boost brain power. It is common knowledge that stimulating the brain cells early in life can help infants develop and advance cognitively far beyond their peers and advance faster in school, but now there is a study that is showing a certain game can help you to develop cognitively if you play it on a regular basis. Of course you need a computer, but it is free for the taking and it is suggested that the game Tetris can easily give you more brain function. Among the list of things you will gain are improved complex planning skills, critical thinking, reasoning and language.
I chose to look for some interesting enlightening articles this week and found this article to be stimulating me already. I am saving this game to my favorites and will give it a try in order to possibly give me a boost from the humdrums of daily brain activity I use now. We’ll see how this goes, but I am willing to check out this study's research.
I know that almost any puzzle game can stimulate the brain such as doing daily crossword puzzles and such, and being in the healthcare field, I know there is evidence of keeping the elderly from early dementia by stimuating their brains with reading and puzzle type games have been found to be helpful. The reason this sounded interesting is that they actually performed the study using MRI technology to see what effect playing games had on the brain. This game also does not require huge amounts of knowledge to play so almost anyone could play. The rules are to “think quickly enough to slot various-sized cascading blocks into homogenous shapes on the screen.” I’m sure there are other games out there that offer the same effect on the brain but this one is the first studied by MRI so I would pay more attention to using something proven. And apparently Tetris is not anything new to the market, as the article says it has been around for 25 years and is estimated to have been circulated to millions of people. In as short as three months the Mind Research Network found that “adolescent girls who played Tetris not only displayed greater brain efficiency but developed a thicker brain cortex, a sign of increased grey matter.”
Now I know the article said that the game so far has been found to improve your “attention, hand-eye co-ordination, memory and visual spatial problem solving” and I know that I am not an adolescent girl, but if the study indicates playing Tetris will increase my brain power I am all for it. Maybe I should play it before I write my next paper. Well at least it can’t hurt if not for writing content, the article said it increases grey matter in the motor areas of the brain and my typing skills could use some improvement.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Rio de Janeiro Wins 2016 Olympic Games
Friday, October 02, 2009
This story in Fox NewsApparently the world now knows that the 2016 Olympics are going to be held in Rio de Janeiro as chosen by the International Olympic Committee. This will be the first time that South America has hosted any Olympics. Highly publicized was the issue of our very own President going to put in his bid for the city of Chicago which happens to be his old stomping grounds, to be the receiver of the committee’s choice. However Chicago was not even given a slight glance when it came to narrowing down the choice for host site. In fact Chicago was the first site to be eliminated from the competition.
I’m glad that Chicago was not chosen which says nothing against the Olympics or America, but gives the participants a chance to compete in a part of the world not seen by the viewing audiences of the world in any Olympic Games.
In the article it stated “Rio spoke to IOC members' consciences: the city argued that it was simply unfair that South America has never hosted the games, while Europe, Asia and North America have done so repeatedly.” and "It is a time to address this imbalance," Brazil's charismatic president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told the IOC's members before they voted. "It is time to light the Olympic cauldron in a tropical country." I think the writer of this article by the associated press also seems just as delighted in Rio being picked because it added “Football great Pele had tears in his eyes.” Now we know who has more pull than our President as the article stated “Former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch who ran the IOC for 21 years made an unusual appeal for the Spanish capital, reminding the IOC's members as he asked for their vote that, at age 89, "I am very near the end of my time." This writer must have not like our Presidents handling of the situation because it included statements against him by others saying his brief stop and alleged lack of respect to the IOC was cause for Chicago not to be chosen. Others though thought it was unfair as the article reported "To have the president of the United States and his wife personally appear, then this should happen in the first round is awful and totally undeserving," Boo Hoo. We have enough to worry about here in America besides hosting the Olympics.
Personally I think the Olympics are ok but last time they seem to have an unsettling effect on the whole world. Last time they were held in a place where the smog was so bad from the factories that they had to shut down manufactures of certain medical supplies for the duration of the games. That resulted in the shortage of available supplies during that time and the medical facilities in the U.S were forced to scramble to find other suppliers. This directly affected my place of employment so I am not terribly fond of the whoha that comes with the Olympics in general
This story in Fox NewsApparently the world now knows that the 2016 Olympics are going to be held in Rio de Janeiro as chosen by the International Olympic Committee. This will be the first time that South America has hosted any Olympics. Highly publicized was the issue of our very own President going to put in his bid for the city of Chicago which happens to be his old stomping grounds, to be the receiver of the committee’s choice. However Chicago was not even given a slight glance when it came to narrowing down the choice for host site. In fact Chicago was the first site to be eliminated from the competition.
I’m glad that Chicago was not chosen which says nothing against the Olympics or America, but gives the participants a chance to compete in a part of the world not seen by the viewing audiences of the world in any Olympic Games.
In the article it stated “Rio spoke to IOC members' consciences: the city argued that it was simply unfair that South America has never hosted the games, while Europe, Asia and North America have done so repeatedly.” and "It is a time to address this imbalance," Brazil's charismatic president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told the IOC's members before they voted. "It is time to light the Olympic cauldron in a tropical country." I think the writer of this article by the associated press also seems just as delighted in Rio being picked because it added “Football great Pele had tears in his eyes.” Now we know who has more pull than our President as the article stated “Former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch who ran the IOC for 21 years made an unusual appeal for the Spanish capital, reminding the IOC's members as he asked for their vote that, at age 89, "I am very near the end of my time." This writer must have not like our Presidents handling of the situation because it included statements against him by others saying his brief stop and alleged lack of respect to the IOC was cause for Chicago not to be chosen. Others though thought it was unfair as the article reported "To have the president of the United States and his wife personally appear, then this should happen in the first round is awful and totally undeserving," Boo Hoo. We have enough to worry about here in America besides hosting the Olympics.
Personally I think the Olympics are ok but last time they seem to have an unsettling effect on the whole world. Last time they were held in a place where the smog was so bad from the factories that they had to shut down manufactures of certain medical supplies for the duration of the games. That resulted in the shortage of available supplies during that time and the medical facilities in the U.S were forced to scramble to find other suppliers. This directly affected my place of employment so I am not terribly fond of the whoha that comes with the Olympics in general
CBS News Producer Charged in Letterman Plot Was Desperate, in Debt
Friday, October 02, 2009
This Fox News story is about Robert (Joe) Halderman, 51, a CBS news producer of "48 Hours," that allegedly tried to get money from late night talk show host David Letterman in exchange for not airing Letterman’s “dirty laundry”. He is being charged with extortion to the tune of $ 2 million where he attempted to tell Letterman if he did not give him the money he would ruin his reputation by going public with information of sexual relations he knew of that Letterman had with his women staffers. Letterman instead dropped the bombshell back in Haldeman's lap by going to the authorities and admitting to his public audience that he had indeed had sex with women on his staff.
What a silly man Mr. Haldeman must be as everyone knows you can not ruin David Letterman’s reputation. He has managed to do that all on his own. Letterman is one of the most despicable hosts of late night television and frankly I do not find him as funny and entertaining as he thinks of himself.
I agree with the comments made by Assistant District Attorney Judy Salwen that said "Halderman, was in debt… "The evidence is compelling," she said. "It shows the defendant is desperate, and he is capable of doing anything." Also showed what a dummy he was but I guess desperate people do not exactly think rationally. However he is kind of smart in one way because now he may get convicted and spend the next 15 years in prison and not have to pay his ex-wife the $6,800 monthly settlement that is contested. It is kind of sad that a man with no previous trouble with the law and a stable high paying job for 27 years would all crumble around him for such a stupid act. Another reason this is so bizarre is that Letterman finds "this whole thing has been quite scary" the article states. It just proves how uncouth he is when he is trying to tell his story to his audience they laugh because he is not even taken serious when he is trying to be serious. That is his style to be the “shock and awe” about everything so I am still quite baffled about why this Halderman thought he could find anything on Letterman that would be damaging to his career.
I know a lot of people like David Letterman but I actually found myself not feeling sorry for him but for the poor Halderman that ruined his own life over the likes of Letterman. Not that he should be extorting money from anyone else but the article just leaves you wanting more information on what would drive an otherwise stable, respected man to not realize he was going to get caught in this scheme. Surely he could have liquidated some of his assets for the $2 million he needed. Or downsized into more affordable living arrangements. And in today’s standards $2 million is not even a lot of money. Surely there has to be something more to this story than is being reported.
This Fox News story is about Robert (Joe) Halderman, 51, a CBS news producer of "48 Hours," that allegedly tried to get money from late night talk show host David Letterman in exchange for not airing Letterman’s “dirty laundry”. He is being charged with extortion to the tune of $ 2 million where he attempted to tell Letterman if he did not give him the money he would ruin his reputation by going public with information of sexual relations he knew of that Letterman had with his women staffers. Letterman instead dropped the bombshell back in Haldeman's lap by going to the authorities and admitting to his public audience that he had indeed had sex with women on his staff.
What a silly man Mr. Haldeman must be as everyone knows you can not ruin David Letterman’s reputation. He has managed to do that all on his own. Letterman is one of the most despicable hosts of late night television and frankly I do not find him as funny and entertaining as he thinks of himself.
I agree with the comments made by Assistant District Attorney Judy Salwen that said "Halderman, was in debt… "The evidence is compelling," she said. "It shows the defendant is desperate, and he is capable of doing anything." Also showed what a dummy he was but I guess desperate people do not exactly think rationally. However he is kind of smart in one way because now he may get convicted and spend the next 15 years in prison and not have to pay his ex-wife the $6,800 monthly settlement that is contested. It is kind of sad that a man with no previous trouble with the law and a stable high paying job for 27 years would all crumble around him for such a stupid act. Another reason this is so bizarre is that Letterman finds "this whole thing has been quite scary" the article states. It just proves how uncouth he is when he is trying to tell his story to his audience they laugh because he is not even taken serious when he is trying to be serious. That is his style to be the “shock and awe” about everything so I am still quite baffled about why this Halderman thought he could find anything on Letterman that would be damaging to his career.
I know a lot of people like David Letterman but I actually found myself not feeling sorry for him but for the poor Halderman that ruined his own life over the likes of Letterman. Not that he should be extorting money from anyone else but the article just leaves you wanting more information on what would drive an otherwise stable, respected man to not realize he was going to get caught in this scheme. Surely he could have liquidated some of his assets for the $2 million he needed. Or downsized into more affordable living arrangements. And in today’s standards $2 million is not even a lot of money. Surely there has to be something more to this story than is being reported.
Al Qaeda-Linked Somali Group Could Attack U.S.
By Catherine Herridge
FOXNews.com
Friday, October 02, 2009
According to the FBI director in this Fox News story, Al Qaeda-Linked Somali Group could attack the U.S. This reporter made sure it reported “on the record” what the FBI director is now admitting that the U.S. is now a target because terrorists are just not content enough to only terrorize Somalia in Africa, but would now like to terrorize the U.S. All of this came out in the hearing on Capitol Hill where the FBI Director Robert Mueller stated "I would think that we have seen some information that the leaders would like to undertake operations outside of Somalia," Mueller told the Senate Homeland Security Committee. This is apparently groups that only fought the Somali government and Ethopian forces and are members of the Al Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab but are now bored and intent on spreading terror to the U.S. in an effort to enlarge the range of the Islamic state.
In response to the writer of the story who seems altogether upset at the possibility of an attack by this new threat, I’m a little bit annoyed. The U.S. has always been Al Qaeda’s biggest target to want to hit and just because another group wants to join in does not make the threat any greater, so I am not as alarmed as the reported seems to be.
Sure this Al Qaeda group could hit the U.S. in a terrorist attack, but that is not new news to me, nor is the fact that Americans are going to Somalia and training with the Al Qaeda groups and returning to the United States. The article stated “Mueller said he is "absolutely" concerned that Americans who traveled to Somalia to train as terrorists would have U.S. legal status and would therefore be able to return to the United States and carry out attacks. Duh, if I might use a word to tell what I think of this statement. Shouldn’t it be easier to track them once they return and put surveillance on them if they know they have been out of the country especially to Somalia? I would think it would be in their favor to root out the bad guys if they did travel outside the country and then come back in. The ones we have to worry about might be the terrorist cell already training on American soil. The reporter keeps calling information from unknown U.S. counterterrorism officials as “troubling developments” further enhancing her alarm, but this does not seem like alarming news to me. I know the terror is real and a boding but more terrorists do not seem to make it seem more frightening. One terrorist is enough for me.
This reporter does not speak kindly about an American born in Daphne, Alabama and describes him as “big-eared and bright-eyed college dropout” who goes by the name "The American." The reporter even references the Muslim community as calling terrorists “angry" individuals in which this “American" got involved with. I know this evil seems to be spreading and I am glad our FBI is keeping tabs on any threats that present themselves, but this just seems like this story wasted space on something we are already aware of and pretty much crass to.
FOXNews.com
Friday, October 02, 2009
According to the FBI director in this Fox News story, Al Qaeda-Linked Somali Group could attack the U.S. This reporter made sure it reported “on the record” what the FBI director is now admitting that the U.S. is now a target because terrorists are just not content enough to only terrorize Somalia in Africa, but would now like to terrorize the U.S. All of this came out in the hearing on Capitol Hill where the FBI Director Robert Mueller stated "I would think that we have seen some information that the leaders would like to undertake operations outside of Somalia," Mueller told the Senate Homeland Security Committee. This is apparently groups that only fought the Somali government and Ethopian forces and are members of the Al Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab but are now bored and intent on spreading terror to the U.S. in an effort to enlarge the range of the Islamic state.
In response to the writer of the story who seems altogether upset at the possibility of an attack by this new threat, I’m a little bit annoyed. The U.S. has always been Al Qaeda’s biggest target to want to hit and just because another group wants to join in does not make the threat any greater, so I am not as alarmed as the reported seems to be.
Sure this Al Qaeda group could hit the U.S. in a terrorist attack, but that is not new news to me, nor is the fact that Americans are going to Somalia and training with the Al Qaeda groups and returning to the United States. The article stated “Mueller said he is "absolutely" concerned that Americans who traveled to Somalia to train as terrorists would have U.S. legal status and would therefore be able to return to the United States and carry out attacks. Duh, if I might use a word to tell what I think of this statement. Shouldn’t it be easier to track them once they return and put surveillance on them if they know they have been out of the country especially to Somalia? I would think it would be in their favor to root out the bad guys if they did travel outside the country and then come back in. The ones we have to worry about might be the terrorist cell already training on American soil. The reporter keeps calling information from unknown U.S. counterterrorism officials as “troubling developments” further enhancing her alarm, but this does not seem like alarming news to me. I know the terror is real and a boding but more terrorists do not seem to make it seem more frightening. One terrorist is enough for me.
This reporter does not speak kindly about an American born in Daphne, Alabama and describes him as “big-eared and bright-eyed college dropout” who goes by the name "The American." The reporter even references the Muslim community as calling terrorists “angry" individuals in which this “American" got involved with. I know this evil seems to be spreading and I am glad our FBI is keeping tabs on any threats that present themselves, but this just seems like this story wasted space on something we are already aware of and pretty much crass to.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
To Outfox the Chicken Tax, Ford Strips Its Own Vans
SEPTEMBER 23, 2009
This Wall Street Journal article by Matthew Dolan is so funny because it is clever to see how ingenious people can get when it comes to saving money and making a profit. This article talks about the Ford Motor Company and how it can import vans from Turkey that contain seats for passengers to sit on and windows for them to look out of. What’s funny is, Ford does not intend them to be passenger vans but instead will strip them immediately on their arrival to the U.S. of their windows and seats and convert them to delivery vans. All this concocted by the Ford Company to prevent having to pay the 25% tariff that would be charged if they were to ship over fully completed delivery vans.
Normally you might find this not funny but rather sad and say that the Ford Company is defrauding the collector of the tariff and hurting American car companies, but what is so funny is it is perfectly legal, and really seems to hurt no one. Apparently this all started almost a half a century ago when Europe put high tariffs on imported chickens with increasing sales to West Germany. In response then, President Johnson taxed imported trucks and commercial vans. A little bit of history of which I was unaware. Apparently we had our own little trade war going on.
Ford gets a lot of flack from my family because they are Chevy diehards, so I find this article telling in the way foreign car companies handled this situation. Some companies
just built their own manufactures in the U.S. to avoid the tax, while Ford just works around it. Other U.S. car companies will import just trucks in disassembled parts and then assemble them once they reach the U.S. and avoid the tax. Ford goes the extra mile by recycling the steel and glass from the seats and windows they tear out. Now of course this does cost Ford a lot of money to convert the vans into delivery vans but it also saves money considerably as the article listed making the import tax seem more like 2.5% instead of 25%. Now Ford can sell these gas efficient vans to small business owners at a more reasonable price than if they had to pay the 25% tariff. It’s cool that even the star of the Food Network’s Ace of Cakes owns one. I liked the authors light hearted description of how Ford goes about tearing down the vans and converting them. He obviously does not see anything wrong with the scruples of the Ford motor company and I guess it seems alright with me when I read it because he compares the process of removing items as “Easily as he would pop the top off a soda bottle."
Now many might say this process is wasteful of resources, but the Ford Company I think is one car company that did not have to be bailed out in the recent Government money giveaway, but I say they have found solutions to problems and have continued to produce and sell vehicles where they see a market opportunity and if they can outsmart the “chicken tax” and not hurt the American economy, I say more power to them.
This Wall Street Journal article by Matthew Dolan is so funny because it is clever to see how ingenious people can get when it comes to saving money and making a profit. This article talks about the Ford Motor Company and how it can import vans from Turkey that contain seats for passengers to sit on and windows for them to look out of. What’s funny is, Ford does not intend them to be passenger vans but instead will strip them immediately on their arrival to the U.S. of their windows and seats and convert them to delivery vans. All this concocted by the Ford Company to prevent having to pay the 25% tariff that would be charged if they were to ship over fully completed delivery vans.
Normally you might find this not funny but rather sad and say that the Ford Company is defrauding the collector of the tariff and hurting American car companies, but what is so funny is it is perfectly legal, and really seems to hurt no one. Apparently this all started almost a half a century ago when Europe put high tariffs on imported chickens with increasing sales to West Germany. In response then, President Johnson taxed imported trucks and commercial vans. A little bit of history of which I was unaware. Apparently we had our own little trade war going on.
Ford gets a lot of flack from my family because they are Chevy diehards, so I find this article telling in the way foreign car companies handled this situation. Some companies
just built their own manufactures in the U.S. to avoid the tax, while Ford just works around it. Other U.S. car companies will import just trucks in disassembled parts and then assemble them once they reach the U.S. and avoid the tax. Ford goes the extra mile by recycling the steel and glass from the seats and windows they tear out. Now of course this does cost Ford a lot of money to convert the vans into delivery vans but it also saves money considerably as the article listed making the import tax seem more like 2.5% instead of 25%. Now Ford can sell these gas efficient vans to small business owners at a more reasonable price than if they had to pay the 25% tariff. It’s cool that even the star of the Food Network’s Ace of Cakes owns one. I liked the authors light hearted description of how Ford goes about tearing down the vans and converting them. He obviously does not see anything wrong with the scruples of the Ford motor company and I guess it seems alright with me when I read it because he compares the process of removing items as “Easily as he would pop the top off a soda bottle."
Now many might say this process is wasteful of resources, but the Ford Company I think is one car company that did not have to be bailed out in the recent Government money giveaway, but I say they have found solutions to problems and have continued to produce and sell vehicles where they see a market opportunity and if they can outsmart the “chicken tax” and not hurt the American economy, I say more power to them.
McConnell Blasts Government Over 'Gag Order' on Private Health Care Provider
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
I found this story on Fox News where the U.S Government through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has told an Insurance company of Medicare recipients, that they are being investigated because they sent a letter to their customers telling them of the changes that the current administrations health care reform would have on their benefits. The private insurer is Humana and in the letter it was informing the patients that they would be facing cuts to their benefits. A quote from the letter said "millions of seniors and disabled individuals ... could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable."
Maybe I’m just paying more attention these days, but it seems like this current administration is out to squelch any opposition to its policies. If it continues in this manner, it will be no better than the original Mother country of England when the settlers were trying to escape from the confines of a dictatorial king. I’m dismayed at the present administration not being forthwith to all the information we need to make informed decisions as citizens of this country. They seem to think they know best for us and I’m not buying it.
This article used the comment on its part by a leading Republican that the “federal government resorted to bullying tactics when it ordered an investigation of Humana -- one of the country's biggest private insurers -- for its decision to send customers a letter alerting them about pending health reform legislation." This same Republican called it a “federal gag order" and wants his own investigation into why they are being investigated. I’m as outraged as the Republican Senator and agree it seems like the laws made to use against violators are in turn being used against the lawful in a manner to silence them if they disagree with any of the current administrations policies. How would you like it if they ordered a “cease and desist” order on your private mailings to customers until the investigation is over? That is exactly what they have done to Humana. And they don’t even have a clear violation named, just that they may have violated federal regulations. The kicker here is the letter sent out by Humana was supported by a nonpartisan, independent analysis of the Congressional Budget Office and not a "scare tactic" as one of the accusing investigators called the letter. I’m glad the article pointed out that the CMS has had no appointed administrator in almost 9 months and so it points a finger at the White house as the direct instigator of this investigation. They are clearly violating the First Amendment rights of the insurance company as the article alludes to, but yet the Democrats are pointing fingers at the Republicans saying they are protecting the big insurance companies.
More facts will have to come out before any final decisions are to be made as one Republican committee member said,” It is Congress' responsibility to find out the facts and protect the interests of the American people. We need to know who contacted CMS, when they did it and what was said," he said. I certainly agree and hope they find the White House with egg on their face.
I found this story on Fox News where the U.S Government through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has told an Insurance company of Medicare recipients, that they are being investigated because they sent a letter to their customers telling them of the changes that the current administrations health care reform would have on their benefits. The private insurer is Humana and in the letter it was informing the patients that they would be facing cuts to their benefits. A quote from the letter said "millions of seniors and disabled individuals ... could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable."
Maybe I’m just paying more attention these days, but it seems like this current administration is out to squelch any opposition to its policies. If it continues in this manner, it will be no better than the original Mother country of England when the settlers were trying to escape from the confines of a dictatorial king. I’m dismayed at the present administration not being forthwith to all the information we need to make informed decisions as citizens of this country. They seem to think they know best for us and I’m not buying it.
This article used the comment on its part by a leading Republican that the “federal government resorted to bullying tactics when it ordered an investigation of Humana -- one of the country's biggest private insurers -- for its decision to send customers a letter alerting them about pending health reform legislation." This same Republican called it a “federal gag order" and wants his own investigation into why they are being investigated. I’m as outraged as the Republican Senator and agree it seems like the laws made to use against violators are in turn being used against the lawful in a manner to silence them if they disagree with any of the current administrations policies. How would you like it if they ordered a “cease and desist” order on your private mailings to customers until the investigation is over? That is exactly what they have done to Humana. And they don’t even have a clear violation named, just that they may have violated federal regulations. The kicker here is the letter sent out by Humana was supported by a nonpartisan, independent analysis of the Congressional Budget Office and not a "scare tactic" as one of the accusing investigators called the letter. I’m glad the article pointed out that the CMS has had no appointed administrator in almost 9 months and so it points a finger at the White house as the direct instigator of this investigation. They are clearly violating the First Amendment rights of the insurance company as the article alludes to, but yet the Democrats are pointing fingers at the Republicans saying they are protecting the big insurance companies.
More facts will have to come out before any final decisions are to be made as one Republican committee member said,” It is Congress' responsibility to find out the facts and protect the interests of the American people. We need to know who contacted CMS, when they did it and what was said," he said. I certainly agree and hope they find the White House with egg on their face.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)