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.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
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.
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